Supporting Windows 9x Chapter 12 Key Terms By Bill Ward

Bus enumerator n A component of Windows 9x Plug and Play that locates all devices on a particular bus and inventories the resource requirements for these devices.

Comment lines n Comment lines are documentation lines that are ignored by a program. n A REM in front of a line will comment out an AUTOEXEC command. n A semicolon will turn an.ini file line into a comment.

Configuration manager n A component of Windows 9x Plug and Play that controls the configuration process of all devices and communicates these configurations to the devices

Disk thrashing n A condition that results when the hard drive is excessively used for virtual memory because RAM is full. n This condition dramatically slows down processing and can cause premature hard drive failure. n Some preventative measures for this ca n Some preventative measures for this catastrophe would be: –Back up data on a regular basis. –Increase RAM.

Dr Watson n A Windows utility that tracks detailed information into a log file about a failed event and the software that caused it. n Use this information to check the Microsoft web site, support.microsoft.com, for the problem and solution.

Kernel n Core portion of an operating system that loads applications and manages files, memory, and other resources n Uses mostly 32-bit code. The 16-bit code is only retained as entry points into the kernel from 16-bit application programs.

Memory leak n A problem caused when an application does not release the memory addresses assigned to it when it unloads, causing the memory heaps to have less and less memory for new applications.

Plug and Play BIOS (PnP) n Plug and Play is a set of design specifications for both hardware and software that work toward effortless hardware installations. n For a system to Plug and Play, it must meet certain criteria: –System BIOS must be PnP –All hardware devices and expansion cards must be PnP compliant. –The OS must support Pnp. –A 32-bit device driver(VxD) must be available.

Registry n A database used by the Windows operating system to store configuration information. The Registry consists of the following major sections: –HKEY_Classes_Root - file associations and OLE information –HKEY_Current_User - all preferences set for current user –HKEY_User - all the current user information for each user of the system –HKEY_Local_Machine - settings for hardware, operating system, and installed applications –HKEY_Current_Configuration - settings for the display and printers –HKEY_Dyn_Data - performance data n Most Windows applications write data to the Registry, at least during installation. You can edit the Registry directly by using the Registry Editor (regedit.exe). However, you must take great care because errors in the Registry could disable your computer. Mr Goldman says,”Your all big Girls and Boys who need to know how to do this.”

Safe mode n n A specific way for the Windows operating system to load when there is a system-critical problem interfering with the normal operation of Windows. Safe mode allows the user to troubleshoot the operating system to determine what is not functioning properly. n n From the Startup menu, you can choose to enter safe mode yourself if you know of a problem you want to correct. n n To shutdown and restart your computer in safe mode: – –Click Start, and then click Shut down. – –Click Restart, click OK, and then press and hold the CTRL, key until the Microsoft windows 98 startup menu appears n n For some machines, you can use F8 instead of CTRL to bring up the Microsoft Windows 98 Startup Menu. – –Enter the number for Safe Mode.

Virtual machines (VM) n n A self-contained operating environment that behaves as if it is a separate computer. For example, Java applets run in a Java virtual machine (VM) that has no access to the host operating system This design has two advantages:   System Independence: A Java application will run the same in any Java VM, regardless of the hardware and software underlying the system.   Security: Because the VM has no contact with the operating system, there is little possibility of a Java program damaging other files or applications.   The second advantage could be considered a disadvantage. Because programs running in a VM are separate from the operating system, they cannot take advantage of special operating system features.