CompTIA A_ Certification All-In-One Exam Guide, Seventh Edition - Michael Meyers [55]
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EXAM TIP Even these common applets vary slightly among Windows versions. The CompTIA A+ certification exams do not test you on every little variance among the same applets in different versions—just know what each applet does.
You can use the Control Panel applets to do an amazing array of things to a Windows system, and each applet displays text that helps explain its functions. The Add Hardware applet in Windows XP, for example, says quite clearly, “Installs and troubleshoots hardware” (Figure 4-64). They are all like that. Figure 4-65 shows the User Accounts applet. Can you determine its use? (If not, don’t sweat it. I’ll cover users in Chapter 16, “Securing Windows Resources.”) Don’t bother trying to memorize all these applets. Each Control Panel applet relevant to the CompTIA A+ exams is discussed in detail in the relevant chapter throughout the rest of the book. For now, just make sure you can get to the Control Panel and appreciate why it exists.
Figure 4-64 Add Hardware Wizard of the Add Hardware applet
Figure 4-65 User Accounts window of the User Accounts applet
Device Manager
With the Device Manager, you can examine and configure all of the hardware and drivers in a Windows PC. As you might suspect from that description, every tech spends a lot of time with this tool! You’ll work with the Device Manager many more times during the course of this book and your career as a PC tech.
There are many ways to get to the Device Manager—make sure you know all of them! The first way is to open the Control Panel and double-click the System applet icon. This brings up the System Properties dialog box. In 2000/XP, you access the Device Manager by selecting the Hardware tab and then clicking the Device Manager button. Figure 4-66 shows the Hardware tab of the System Properties dialog box in Windows XP. In Vista/7, the System dialog box has a direct connection to Device Manager (Figure 4-67).
You can also get to the System Properties dialog box in all versions of Windows by right-clicking My Computer/Computer and selecting Properties. From there, the path to the Device Manager is the same as when you access this dialog box from the Control Panel.
Figure 4-66 Windows XP System applet with the Hardware tab selected
Figure 4-67 Windows Vista System applet with the Device Manager menu option circled
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NOTE Holding down the WINDOWS key and pressing PAUSE is yet another way to get to the System Properties dialog box. Keyboard shortcuts are cool!
The second (and more streamlined) method is to right-click My Computer/Computer and select Manage. This opens a window called Computer Management, where you’ll see Device Manager listed on the left side of the screen, under System Tools. Just click on Device Manager and it opens. You can also access Computer Management by opening the Administrative Tools applet in the Control Panel and then selecting Computer Management (Figure 4-68).
Figure 4-68 Device Manager in Computer Management
Why are there so many ways to open Device Manager? Well, remember that we’re only looking at locations in Windows from which to open utilities, not at the actual utilities themselves. Microsoft wants you to get to the tools you need when you need them, and it’s better to have multiple paths to a utility rather than just one.
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EXAM TIP The CompTIA A+ exams want you to know multiple ways to open Device Manager.
The Device Manager displays every device that Windows recognizes, organized in special groups called types. All devices of the same type are grouped under the same type heading. To see the devices of a particular type, you must open that type’s group. Figure 4-68 shows a Windows Vista Device Manager screen with all installed devices in good orders—which makes us techs happy. If Windows detects