Hardware Management in Windows XP

Device Manager  Overview of device manager list of devices and status (example)example driver details and upgrade (example)example  Plug and Play and device drivers BIOS and OS see new device and assign resources, install drivers If Windows does not have a driver: asks for disk/CD  Managing unsigned drivers use Sigverif.exe for a list of unsigned driversSigverif.exe search windows\system32\drivers directory Windows behavior for unsigned drivers (example)example

System Restore  How it works System Restore consists of two parts, file monitoring and restore point management.consists of two parts Restore points contains: snapshot of the registry and certain dynamic system files. an unsigned driver causes a restore point. automatic updates causes a restore point. monitors program/system files not user data (file types)file types you can turn off monitoring in specific drives containing only data (example)example More details in this MS articleMS article

Performance Management  Using the performance monitor introduction (last class meeting) introduction setting counters to identify problem areas  CPU usage:Processor % processor time > 80% new CPU CPU usage  Page file: Paging File % usage > 70% increase Page file  Memory : Memory pages/sec >20 more RAM Memory  Memory pool: Server pool nonpaged failures Memory pool  Disk: Physical Disk % disk time >> Physical Disk disk bytes/sec < 20 K Disk  Network: Network Interface bytes total/sec Network  Using task manager for a quick summary

Web support  Basic sites Microsoft support: general, knowledge base, home PCs, Office, TechNet, Windows Vistageneralknowledge base home PCsOfficeTechNetWindows Vista Generic sites: Computing.net, Cnet, DriverGuide.com(members), Tom’s Hardware Guide Computing.netCnet DriverGuide.commembersTom’s Hardware Guide Linux support: Fedora, HOWTOs, Linux in Laptops, Linux System Admin Guide FedoraHOWTOsLinux in LaptopsLinux System Admin Guide  Magazines PCWorld, PC Magazine, Cnet news, InfoWorld, ComputerWorld, Slashdot, Linux Journal, PCWorldPC MagazineCnet newsInfoWorld ComputerWorldSlashdotLinux Journal