A+ Guide to Software Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting THIRD EDITION Chapter 8 Managing and Supporting Windows XP

2A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition You Will Learn… How to use Windows XP features to secure the PC and protect users and their data About Windows NT/2000/XP registry About tools for troubleshooting and maintaining Windows XP How to troubleshoot the Windows XP boot process

3A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Security Using Windows NT/2000/XP Two goals of security 1. Secure system resources, including hardware and software, from improper use 2. Secure users’ data from improper access Concept of user accounts is key to understanding Windows XP

4A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition User Accounts and Profiles Defines a user to Windows Records information about the user (e.g., user name, account password, group memberships, rights and permissions assigned to the account) Three types  Global (domain) user accounts  Local user accounts  Built-in user accounts

5A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition User Profiles Created by the system after user logs on for first time Types  Roaming user profile Mandatory user profile Group profile

6A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Viewing Profiles

7A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Administering Local User Accounts Password guidelines for users and administrators: Usernames can consist of up to 15 characters Passwords can be up to 127 characters Do not use a password that is easy to guess

8A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Administering Local User Accounts (continued) Use combination of letters, numbers, and non-alphanumeric characters for greatest security Always set a password for the Administrator account Passwords can be controlled by administrator, but generally, users should be allowed to change their own

9A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Creating a User Account 1. Log on as the Administrator 2. Open Computer Management 3. Expand Local Users and Groups, right-click Users, select New User, enter user data, click Create

10A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition To Change User Account Type 1. Click Change an account, click the account to be changed 2. Select account data to be changed and click Change the account type 3. Select account type, click Change Account Type, click Back twice

11A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Creating a User Account (continued)

12A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Controlling How a User Logs On Welcome Screen (default) Logon Window: User must press Ctrl+Atl+Del to get to logon window Fast User Switching: enables more than one user to be logged on at a time Logon Options

13A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Controlling How a User Logs On (continued)

14A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition User Groups Efficient way for administrator to manage multiple user accounts that require same privileges and similar profiles Groups installed by Windows XP  Administrators  Backup Operators  Power Users  Limited Users  Guests

15A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Creating a New User Group 1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, select Manage 2. Expand Local Users and Groups 3. Right-click Groups folder, select New Group 4. Enter group name, description, click Add to add users, click Create

16A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Creating a New User Group (continued)

17A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Assigning User Rights

18A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Group Policy Another way to control how the system can be used Normally intended to be used on a domain, but can also be used on a standalone or computer in a workgroup Can be applied to the computer or can be applied to each user who logs on

19A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Disk Quotas Limit how much disk space user has access to Does not specify location of files, just total space allowed on a volume Can be set only if you are using NTFS

20A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Setting Disk Quotas 1.Log on as Administrator, open My Computer 2.Right-click disk, select Properties 3.Click Quota tab, check Enable quota management

21A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Setting Disk Quotas (continued) 4.Click Limit disk space to, enter limit 5.Enter size for Set warning level to 6.Click Deny disk space to users exceeding quota, click OK

22A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition EFS (Encrypted File System) Encryption is the process of putting readable data into code that must be translated before it can be accessed Protects data even when someone not authorized to view files or folders has full access to computer’s data storage Applies only to Windows 2000/XP NTFS file system

23A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition How to Use Encryption Can be implemented at either the folder or file level Folder level is encouraged and considered a “best practice” strategy

24A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Encrypting Folder Contents 1. Locate the folder to be encrypted 2. Right-click the folder, choose Properties 3. On the General tab, click Advanced 4. Check Encrypt contents to secure data and click OK

25A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Encrypting Folder Contents (continued)

26A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Encrypting Folder Contents (continued) 5. Click Apply 6. If necessary, click Apply changes to this folder, subfolders, and files, click OK 7. A file saved in this folder is automatically encrypted

27A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Encrypting Folder Contents (continued)

28A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition The Cipher Command For use when encrypting a large number of files or folders from a command prompt or using a batch file CIPHER [/E, /D] [/S:dir] [pathname[…]]  /E encrypts specified files or folders  /D decrypts specified files or folders  /S:dir applies the action to the specified folder (directory) and all its subfolders  Pathname is the name of the file/folder and its path that is to be encrypted/decrypted

29A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) Designed to protect a PC from unauthorized access from the Internet when the PC is connected directly Examines every communication that comes to the PC to determine if it has been initiated by the PC (permitted) or is being initiated by an outside device/computer (refused)

30A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Enabling ICF

31A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition The Windows NT/2000/XP Registry Hierarchical database containing information about all hardware, software, device drivers, network protocols, and user configuration needed by the OS and applications Organization Viewing contents Back up and recovery Making changes

32A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition How the Registry Is Organized Logical organization  Upside-down tree structure of keys, subkeys, and values Physical organization  Stored in five files called hives

33A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Logical Organization of the Registry

34A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Windows Registry Editor

35A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Five Subtrees of the Registry

36A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Physical Organization of the Registry Registry is stored in five files called hives

37A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Editing the Registry Modified automatically when you make a change (e.g., in Control Panel or Device Manager) Rare occasions when you might need to edit manually Changes take effect immediately and are permanent

38A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Registry Editors Two versions under Windows NT/2000  Regedt32.exe Security menu allows you to apply permissions to keys and subkeys Option to work in read-only mode  Regedit.exe Used to search and view the registry Under Windows XP, typing Regedit or Regedt32 starts Regedit

39A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Editing a Registry Subkey Value

40A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Other Maintenance and Troubleshooting Tools Executed from a command line (.exe file extension) Microsoft Management Console snap-ins (.msc file extension) Built into Windows XP (e.g., Safe Mode)

41A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition System Information Window

42A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Help on the Web Microsoft Knowledge Base at Windows Update feature Windows XP newsgroups

43A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Windows Update An automated way to update the OS, applications, and device drivers If no user interaction required, any user can perform an update If decisions must be made, only a user with administrative rights can update

44A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Windows Update (continued)

45A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Windows Update (continued)

46A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Windows Newsgroups If other sources have been exhausted, help may be available from Windows newsgroups  Click Start, Help and Support  Click “Get support, or find information in Windows XP newsgroups”  Click “Go to a Windows Web site forum”  Click “Go to Newsgroups”

47A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Troubleshooting the Boot Process Last Known Good Configuration (and sometimes Driver Rollback) Safe Mode from Advanced Options menu System Restore Windows XP/2000 Boot disk Recovery Console Automated System Recovery Reinstall Windows XP using Windows CD

48A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Advanced Options: Safe Mode and Last Known Good Configuration

49A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition System Restore Similar to ScanReg, but cannot be executed from command prompt Process does not affect user data on hard drive but can affect:  Installed software and hardware  User settings  OS configuration settings Restores system state using a restore point

50A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition System Restore (continued) 1. Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and System Restore 2. Click Restore my computer to an earlier time, then click Next 3. Select a restore point, click Next twice 4. Windows XP reboots and restores the system state To revert the system to a restore point

51A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition System Restore (continued)

52A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition MS-DOS Startup Disk Create using Windows Explorer Can access the drive and recover data files (if the hard drive is not using NTFS) Cannot launch Windows XP or be used to recover from a failed installation

53A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Creating a Startup Disk

54A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Files on the Startup Disk

55A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Windows XP Boot Disk Boot sector Master boot record Partition table Ntldr Ntdetect.com Boot.ini Ntbootdd.sys Can bypass missing or damaged:

56A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Windows XP Boot Disk (continued) Format a floppy using Windows 2000/XP and copy the following files to it  Ntldr and Ntdetect.com  If the system boots from a SCSI hard drive, copy the SCSI device driver to the floppy and rename it Ntbootdd.sys  Boot.ini Write-protect the floppy disk

57A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Automated System Recovery Restores system partition to its state when the backup was made Changes made since last backup are lost Periodically make fresh copies of ASR disk set

58A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Using ASR to Restore System 1. Boot the PC from the Windows XP CD 2. Press any key to boot from CD 3. If necessary, Press F6 to load RAID or SCSI drivers 4. Press F2 to run Automated System Recovery Process 5. Insert ASR floppy disk

59A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Using ASR to Restore System (continued)

60A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Using ASR to Restore System (continued) Loads files it needs to run Repartitions and reformats the drive Installs Windows from Windows XP CD Launches the Automated System Recovery Wizard to restore the system state, applications, and data

61A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Using ASR to Restore System (continued)

62A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting, Third Edition Summary Windows XP features that secure the PC and protect users and their data Windows NT/2000/XP registry Troubleshooting tools available under Windows XP Troubleshooting the boot process