BASIC COMPUTER OPERATIONS

BOOTING

Booting is a process that starts operating system when the user turns on the computer.

Steps in booting a Computer:

Put on the switch on the main socket to supply power to the system.
Switch on the voltage regulator( known as stabilizer)

Switch on the UPS

Switch on the monitor before the system unit
Wait for system check until you see start up icon, if you are using window Operating system.

It is advisable to watch out for any unusual message that might be displayed on the screen during this period and respond appropriately.

The computer tests its entire hardware component to ensure that they are in working condition. The test is known as power on self-test (POST).

If booting is successful, the operating system is loaded from the disk into RAM. The screen shows icons such as the computer, recycling bin, internet explorer. At this point computer is ready for use.

TYPES OF BOOTING

We have two types of booting: warm booting and cold booting

Warming Booting: means re-starting the computer after it has been switched on and it is still currently working. This take place when any of the following problems occur.

Changing of the computer during system checks
Stopping of the booting process due to some hardware failure
Sudden power failure resulting in the abortion of a running program
Failure of some programs to execute

Cold booting: when computer is switched on from the scratch following the the above procedure of powering up a computer.

Difference between Cold Booting and Warm Booting

COLD BOOTING	WARM BOOTING
THE SYSTEM IS TURNED ON FROM THE SCRATCH	THE SYSTEM IS ALREADY ON
COLD BOOTING IS SLOWER	WARM BOOTING IS FASTER
SYSTEM CHECKS TAKES PLACE AND YOU SEE WINDOWS DESKTOP AFTER BOOTING	CONMPUTER SKIPES SOME STAGES OF THE SYTEM BOOT PROCESSES

COMPONENTS OF WINDOWS DESKTOP

Windows desktop is the area of the screen where icon task bar and background are shown after booting the computer system.

ICON: This is the graphical representation of an item in the computer e.g Recycle Bin, My computer etc

Task Bar: The task bar is the line at the bottom of the desktop. The start button, the names of programs that are currently running appear on the task bar and the quick launch toolbar can be found at the task bar.

BACKGROUND: The background of window desktop can take any colour or design. We have different types of background depending on the choice of the users.

Functions of Desktop: Within the desktop, you can create and delete, folder file can be copied from one directory to another through the desktop.

Running an Application Program:

Click on start button, menus appear
Click on programs, sub menus appear look for the application you want to run e.g MS-word.

SHUTTING DOWN THE SYSTEM

Close all open windows or running programs
Click the start button and click “shutdown”

EVALUATION

What is booting
How do we start up and shut down a computer

Mention the types of booting we have

CONCLUSION

Students are allowed to give correction on the evaluation test and summarize the lesson. Teacher allows students to ask questions for better understanding and to clear doubt