How Computers Work (EMMA) Orientation



EMMA HS3 Advanced Hardware Semester 1 Outline Week #1

Software - POST – Power-on Self Test

Device Drivers

Windows Update

Windows Service Packs

Account Setup – , login, Create New Account

Create wish list and save with name, email wish list

PC Specification Project Review

Handouts

POST

Device Driver

Windows Update

Windows Service Packs

PC Specification Project

Homework

Read the handouts

POST Online Quiz

Windows Updates & Service Packs Quiz

HS3 Computer Repair/Advanced Hardware – Course Information

Contact Information – Dwight Saffer, 230-0855, mrlogic@

Course Introduction

Students will review hardware and software topics covered in HS Computer Level 1. These topics will be covered in detail with the addition of current information relating to technological improvements.

Students will also complete the PC Specification Project. This project requires the student to specify computer components to build a PC within a certain budget using an online ordering system. Also, computers will be built and loaded with software in this class.

Occasionally we will cover an additional topic relating to computer hardware or a digital device whose operation is based on computer related hardware (such as Fax Machines, Flash Memory Cards, or GPS devices). A mini-project will be completed using a digital device.

Flow chart PC troubleshooting with hands-on experience will be included in this course. Each PC hardware item specified in the PC Specification Project will include a troubleshooting lecture.

There will be a homework assignment and/or online quiz after each class. There will be a take-home final exam at the end of the semester. Grading will be based on homework, class participation, project work, and the final exam.

Note: Much of the homework will be completed via the internet. Also, the internet will be a valuable reference for much of the work. It is the responsibility of the student to complete all assignments prior to the due dates. It is also the responsibility of the student to make other arrangements to complete the online work in case of internet or computer problems. In other words:

DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE!!! THERE IS NO CREDIT FOR LATE WORK!!!

Student Requirements

Students must have internet access available outside of the classroom for research, online quizzes, and reference material for the final exam.

There are no textbooks required for this class. All course materials will be supplied.

Class Grading

Class Participation 15%

Projects 20%

Homework/Quizzes 40%

Final Exam 25% (The final exam is take-home)

Power-on self-test

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Power-on self-test (POST) is the common term for a computer, router or printer's pre-boot sequence. The same basic sequence is present on all computer architectures. It is the first step of the more general process called initial program load (IPL), booting, or bootstrapping. The term POST has become popular in association with and as a result of the proliferation of the PC.

General internal workings

On power up, the main duties of POST are handled by the BIOS, which may hand some of these duties to other programs designed to initialize very specific peripheral devices, notably for video and SCSI initialization. These other duty-specific programs are generally known collectively as option ROMs or individually as the video BIOS, SCSI BIOS, etc.

The principal duties of the main BIOS during POST are as follows:

• verify the integrity of the BIOS code itself

• determine the reason POST is being executed

• find, size, and verify system main memory

• discover, initialize, and catalog all system buses and devices

• pass control to other specialized BIOSes (if and when required)

• provide a user interface for system's configuration

• identify, organize, and select which devices are available for booting

• construct whatever system environment that is required by the target OS

The BIOS will begin its POST duties when the CPU is reset. The first memory location the CPU tries to execute is known as the reset vector. In the case of a hard reboot, the northbridge will direct this code fetch (request) to the BIOS located on the system flash memory. For a warm boot, the BIOS will be located in the proper place in RAM and the northbridge will direct the reset vector call to the RAM.

During the POST flow of a contemporary BIOS, one of the first things a BIOS should do is determine the reason it is executing. For a cold boot, for example, it may need to execute all of its functionality. If, however, the system supports power savings or quick boot methods, the BIOS may be able to circumvent the standard POST device discovery, and simply program the devices from a preloaded system device table.

The POST flow for the PC has developed from a very simple, straightforward process to one that is complex and convoluted. During POST, the BIOS must integrate a plethora of competing, evolving, and even mutually exclusive standards and initiatives for the matrix of hardware and OSes the PC is expected to support. However, the average user still knows the POST and BIOS only through its simple visible memory tests and setup screen.

Device driver

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A device driver, or software driver is a computer program allowing higher-level computer programs to interact with a computer hardware device.

A driver typically communicates with the device through the computer bus or communications subsystem to which the hardware is connected. When a calling program invokes a routine in the driver, the driver issues commands to the device. Once the device sends data back to the driver, the driver may invoke routines in the original calling program. Drivers are hardware-dependent and operating-system-specific. They usually provide the interrupt handling required for any necessary asynchronous time-dependent hardware interface.

Purpose

A device driver simplifies programming by acting as a translator between a device and the applications or operating systems that use it. The higher-level code can be written independently of whatever specific hardware device it may control. Every version of a device, such as a printer, requires its own specialized commands. In contrast, most applications access devices (such as sending a file to a printer) by using high-level, generic commands, such as PRINTLN. The driver accepts these generic statements and converts them into the low-level commands required by the device.

Windows Update

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Windows Update is a service provided by Microsoft that provides updates for the Microsoft Windows operating system and its installed components, including Internet Explorer. An optional feature disables access to Windows Update, enabling instead access to Microsoft Update, an expanded version of the service which provides updates not just for the operating system and Internet Explorer, but also for other Microsoft software running under Windows, such as Microsoft Office, Windows Live applications, and Microsoft Expression Studio. Updates are normally provided over an Internet connection, although there is provision for updates to be installed on computers without an Internet connection.

There are different kinds of updates. Security updates or critical updates protect against vulnerabilities to malware and security exploits. Other updates correct errors that aren't related to security, or enhance functionality.

Security updates are routinely provided on the second Tuesday of each month, Patch Tuesday, but can be provided whenever a new update is urgently required to prevent a newly discovered or prevalent exploit targeting Windows users. Windows Update can be configured to install critical updates automatically so long as the computer is connected to the Internet, without the user needing to install them manually, or even be aware that an update is required.

Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2012 provide a Control Panel to configure update settings and check for updates. The Windows Update Control Panel is also the means to download Windows Ultimate Extras, optional software for Windows Vista Ultimate Edition. For previous versions of Microsoft Windows, updates can be downloaded from the Windows Update website, using Internet Explorer.

History

Windows Update web site

Windows Update was introduced as an Internet web site with the launch of Windows 95. A link to Windows Update on the Start Menu gave access to additional downloads for the operating system. At the time of Windows 98's release Windows Update offered additional desktop themes, games, device driver updates, and optional components such as NetMeeting. Windows 95 and Windows NT 4 were retroactively given the ability to access the Windows Update website, and download updates designed for those operating systems, starting with the release of versions of Internet Explorer 4 for those operating systems. The initial focus of Windows Update was on free add-ons and new technologies for Windows; security fixes for Outlook Express, Internet Explorer and other applications appeared later, as did access to beta versions of upcoming Microsoft software, most notably Internet Explorer 5. Fixes to Windows 98 to resolve the Year 2000 problem were distributed using Windows Update in December 1998. Microsoft attributed the sales success of Windows 98 in part to Windows Update.

Windows Update requires Internet Explorer or a third-party web browser that uses Microsoft's MSHTML layout engine, as it must support the use of an ActiveX control to house the software that is executed on the user's computer. While details have changed from version to version, it has always scanned the computer to find what operating system components and software are installed, and compared the versions of those components with the latest available versions. The ActiveX component then interfaces with Windows Installer to install or update those components, and to report the success or failure of those installations back to Microsoft's servers.

The first version of the Windows Update web site (usually referred to as "v3") did not require any personally-identifiable information to be sent to Microsoft. In order for the v3 ActiveX control to determine what updates were needed, the entire list of available software on Windows Update was downloaded to the user's computer when they visited the Windows Update web site. As the number of updates offered by Windows Update grew, this resulted in performance concerns. Arie Slob, writing for the Windows- newsletter in March 2003, noted that the size of the update list had exceeded 400KB, which caused delays of more than a minute for dial-up users.

Windows Update v4, released in conjunction with Windows XP in 2001, changed this by having the ActiveX control submit a list of the hardware components to Microsoft's servers, which then returns a list of only those device drivers available for that machine. It also narrowed down the list of available updates for the operating system and related components by sending details of what operating system version, service pack, and locale are installed. German technology web site tecchannel.de published an analysis of the Windows Update communication protocol in February 2003, which received wide attention on technology web sites. The report, which was the first to contain extensive details of how the Windows Update communication protocol worked, also discovered that the make and model of the computer, the amount of free disk space, and the Windows product key, were sent.

Critical Update Notification Tool/Utility

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Screenshot of the Critical Update Notification tool in Windows 98.

Shortly after the release of Windows 98, Microsoft released a Critical Update Notification Tool (later called Critical Update Notification Utility) through Windows Update, which installed a background tool on the user's computer that checked the Windows Update web site on a regular schedule for new updates that have been marked as "Critical". By default, this check occurred every five minutes, and when Internet Explorer was started, though the user could configure the next check to occur only at certain times of the day or on certain days of the week. The check was performed by querying the server for a file, "cucif.cab", which contains a list of all the critical updates released for the user's operating system. The Critical Update Notification Tool then compared this list with the list of installed updates on the user's machine, and displayed a message to the user informing them of new critical updates if they were available. Once the check executed, any custom schedule defined by the user was reverted to the default; Microsoft stated that this was by design in order to ensure that users received notification of critical updates in a timely manner.

An analysis done by security researcher H D Moore in early 1999 was critical of this approach, describing it as "horribly inefficient" and susceptible to attacks. In a posting to BugTraq, he explained that, "every single Windows 98 computer that wishes to get an update has to rely on a single host for the security. If that one server got compromised one day, or an attacker cracks the MS DNS server again, there could be millions of users installing trojans every hour. The scope of this attack is big enough to attract crackers who actually know what they are doing..."

The Critical Update Notification tool continued to be promoted by Microsoft through 1999 and the first half of 2000. Initial releases of Windows 2000 shipped with the tool, but Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 were not supported. It was superseded by Automatic Updates in Windows Me and Windows 2000 SP4.

Automatic Updates

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Windows Update v4 in Windows Me.

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Automatic Updates 'Restart Required' in Windows XP SP1.

With the release of Windows Me in 2000, Microsoft introduced Automatic Updates as a replacement for the Critical Update Notification tool. Unlike its predecessor, Automatic Updates includes the ability to download and install updates without using a web browser. Instead of the five minute schedule used by its predecessor, the Automatic Updates client checks the Windows Update servers once a day. The user is given the option to download available updates then prompt the user to install them, or to notify the user prior to downloading any available updates. After Windows Me is installed, the user is prompted via a notification balloon to configure the Automatic Updates client.

The Windows Update web site itself was significantly updated to match the visual style of Windows XP.

Windows XP and Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 include Background Intelligent Transfer Service, a protocol for transferring files in the background without user interaction. As a system component, it is capable of monitoring the user's Internet usage, and throttling its own bandwidth usage in order to prioritize user-initiated activities. The Automatic Updates client for these operating systems was updated to use this system service.

Microsoft Update

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Microsoft Update in Windows XP.

At the February 2005 RSA Conference, Microsoft announced the first beta of Microsoft Update, an optional replacement for Windows Update that provides security patches, service packs and other updates for both Windows and other Microsoft software. The initial release in June 2005 provided support for Microsoft Office 2003, Exchange 2003, and SQL Server 2000, running on Windows 2000, XP, and Server 2003. Over time, the list has expanded to include other Microsoft products, such as Windows Live, Windows Defender, Visual Studio, runtimes and redistributables, Zune Software, Virtual PC and Virtual Server, CAPICOM, Microsoft Lync, and other server products. It also offers Silverlight and Windows Media Player as optional downloads if applicable to the operating system. A persistent bug in Microsoft Update affecting XP computers with limited internal memory is that it allows the update programs wuauclt.exe and svchost.exe to claim 100% of the computers' memory for extended periods of time (up to hours) making affected computers unusable.

MS Office Update

Microsoft Office Update was a free online service that allowed users to detect and install updates for certain Microsoft Office products. This update service supported Office 2000, Office XP, Office 2003, and Office 2007. On 1 August 2009, Microsoft decommissioned the service. Users are now required to use Microsoft Update. However, as Microsoft Update does not work with Office 2000, Office 2000 users no longer have any method of automatically detecting and installing updates. This is not a limitation for existing installations of Office 2000, because the product is no longer supported and so no new updates are being produced. However, it is a serious limitation for anyone re-installing MS Office 2000.

Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows 8

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Revised Restart dialog box in Windows Vista

In Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and later, the web site is no longer used to provide a user interface for selecting and downloading updates. In its place, the Automatic Updates control panel has been expanded to provide similar functionality. Support for Microsoft Update is also built into the operating system, but is turned off by default. The revised Windows Update can also be set to automatically download and install both Important and Recommended updates. In prior versions of Windows, such updates were only available through the Windows Update web site.

In versions of Windows prior to Vista, updates requiring a reboot would pop up a dialog box every number of specified minutes requesting that users reboot their machines. This dialog box was changed to allow the user to select a longer period of time (up to 4 hours) before being prompted again. The revised dialog box also displays under other applications, instead of on top of them.

In Windows 7 and Vista once automatic updates have finished, the computer will be shut down after a countdown, sometimes causing the countdown to finish and the system to reboot while the user is in the middle of using the computer (or away from the computer and not wanting it to reboot for various reasons), possibly losing data, gameplay advancement, etc.

In Windows 8, the user will have 3 days (72 hours) before the computer reboots automatically after installing automatic updates that require a reboot. Windows 8 will also consolidate the restart requests for non-critical updates into just one per month.

Windows Update makes use of Transactional NTFS, a file system feature introduced with Windows Vista, when performing updates to Windows system files. This feature helps Windows recover cleanly in the event of an unexpected shut-down during an update, as the transactioning system will ensure that changes are committed to the file system (in particular, to the persistent files of the registry) in an atomic fashion.

Windows Service Packs

Microsoft occasionally releases service packs for its Windows operating systems to fix problems and add features. Each service pack is a superset of all previous service packs and patches so that only the latest service pack needs to be installed, and also includes new revisions. Older service packs need not be removed before application of the most recent one. The service pack details below only apply to the 32-bit editions. Windows XP Professional x64 Edition was based on Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 and claimed to be "SP1" in system properties from the initial release. It is updated by the same service packs and hotfixes as the x64 edition of Windows Server 2003.

Service Pack 1

Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows XP was released on September 9, 2002. It contains post-RTM security fixes and hot-fixes, compatibility updates, optional .NET Framework support, enabling technologies for new devices such as Tablet PCs, and a new Windows Messenger 4.7 version. The most notable new features were USB 2.0 support, and a Set Program Access and Defaults utility that aimed at hiding various middleware products. Users can control the default application for activities such as web browsing and instant messaging, as well as hide access to some of Microsoft's bundled programs. This utility was first brought into the older Windows 2000 operating system with its Service Pack 3. The Microsoft Java Virtual Machine, which was not in the RTM version, appeared in this service pack. IPv6 support was also introduced.

On February 3, 2003, Microsoft released Service Pack 1a (SP1a). This release removed Microsoft's Java virtual machine as a result of a lawsuit with Sun Microsystems.

Service Pack 2

Service Pack 2 (SP2) (codenamed "Springboard") was released on August 6, 2004 after several delays, with a special emphasis on security. Unlike the previous service packs, SP2 adds new functionality to Windows XP, including an enhanced firewall, improved Wi-Fi support, such as WPA encryption compatibility, with a wizard utility, a pop-up ad blocker for Internet Explorer 6, and Bluetooth support. The new welcome screen during the kernel boot removes the subtitles "Professional", "Home Edition" and "Embedded" since Microsoft introduced new Windows XP editions prior to the release of SP2. The yellow or green loading bar used in Home Edition and Embedded was replaced with the standard blue bar, seen in Professional and other versions of Windows XP, making the line of operating systems resemble each other.

Service Pack 2 added new security enhancements, which include a major revision to the included firewall that was renamed to Windows Firewall and is enabled by default, Data Execution Prevention that takes advantage of the NX bit that is incorporated into newer processors to stop some forms of buffer overflow attacks, and removal of raw socket support (which supposedly limits the damage done by zombie machines). Additionally, security-related improvements were made to e-mail and web browsing. Windows XP Service Pack 2 includes the Windows Security Center, which provides a general overview of security on the system, including the state of anti-virus software, Windows Update, and the new Windows Firewall. Third-party anti-virus and firewall applications can interface with the new Security Center.

On August 10, 2007, Microsoft announced a minor update to Service Pack 2, called Service Pack 2c (SP2c). The update fixes the issue of the diminishing number of available product keys for Windows XP. This update will only be available to system builders from their distributors in Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Professional N operating systems. SP2c was released in September 2007.

Service Pack 3

Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) was released to manufacturing on April 21, 2008 and to the public via both the Microsoft Download Center and Windows Update on May 6, 2008. It began being automatically pushed out to Automatic Update users on July 10, 2008. A feature set overview which details new features available separately as standalone updates to Windows XP, as well as backported features from Windows Vista has been posted by Microsoft. A total of 1,174 fixes have been included in SP3. Service Pack 3 can be installed on systems with Internet Explorer versions 6 or 7, and Windows Media Player versions 9 and above. Internet Explorer 7 is not included as part of SP3.

EMMA HS3-1 Advanced Hardware PC Specification Project

Object: 1. Specify components to build a computer system

2. Ensure that the system is within budget

3. Verify that all components are compatible

4. Gain experience using an online ordering system

5. Learn to interpret component specifications online

Rules: 1. Limit cost of the system to $1000 (including freight)

2. All components must be compatible

3. Components specified must include

Case (with no power supply)

Power Supply

Optical Drive

Hard Drive

Motherboard (must have integrated LAN & Audio but no video)

CPU (including cooler)(Desktop CPU Only)

RAM

Graphics Card

Keyboard

Mouse

Monitor

Speakers

Operating System

4. Student must explain the reasons for selecting

each component

5. Component list must be created using the WISH LIST

feature on

6. Wish List must be emailed to the Mr. Saffer

Note: Projects will be displayed at

EMMA Arts & Sciences Night in May

(requires tri-fold project boards and/or PowerPoint)

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