1. Microsoft Windows 7 - Illustrated Unit P Managing Hardware

2. Understand Windows hardwareUnderstand Windows hardware Install a printerInstall a printer View printer propertiesView printer properties Share a printerShare a printer Manage printers and print jobsManage printers and print jobs 2 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated Objectives

3. Install hardware devicesInstall hardware devices View system hardwareView system hardware Remove hardware devicesRemove hardware devices Change Windows Update driver settingsChange Windows Update driver settings 3 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated Objectives

4. Unit Introduction A hardware device is any physical device that you plug into and that is controlled by your computer such as a printer or digital camera, or an internal network or sound card Windows 7 makes it easy to install and manage your hardware, using wizards and plug and play support, which means that you plug the device in and Windows sets it to work with your existing hardware and system You can view hardware properties with Device Manager Windows 7 assists in removing hardware that is no longer needed 4 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated

5. Understanding Windows Hardware Windows uses plug and play for hardware, making it easy to install and uninstall devices When you install a hardware device, Windows installs related software, known as a driver, which allows the hardware to communicate with Windows and other software applications Plug and play matches up physical hardware with software device drivers and establishes necessary communication between them Devices you install on your computer will work properly with your computer because of plug and play 5 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated

6. Understanding Windows Hardware (cont.) Windows automatically notifies all other devices of the new device to eliminate conflicts and also manages the power requirements When working in another when you install or uninstall a device, plug and play lets you know that it is about to change your computer configuration and prompts you to save your work If Windows doesn’t recognize the new hardware device, the device might be an older hardware device, known as a legacy device, which is no longer compatible 6 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated

7. Understanding Windows Hardware (cont.) 7 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated Devices and Printers window Add a device Wizard dialog box

8. Understanding printers The two main printer types are: Ink-jet, which sprays ionized ink onto paper less expensive, but slower Laser, which uses a laser beam to produce an image on a drum, which is rolled through toner and transferred to paper through heat and pressure faster and higher-quality, but more expensive 8 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated

9. Understanding printers (cont.) Two main printer characteristics: resolution, which is the sharpness of the printed page indicated by the dpi (number of dots per inch) speed, which is measured by pages per minute (ppm) speed depends on the page’s contents – graphics take longer to print than text 9 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated

10. Installing a Printer To install a printer, you do not need to turn off your computer; attach the printer cable to the connector on your computer and plug in the printer power cord If you have a USB port, location where you connect the printer cable, Windows automatically detects the device, and installs it Otherwise, you may need to use the Add Printer Wizard which asks you a series of questions to install either a network or local printer a local printer is directly connected to your computer Network, wireless, or a Bluetooth printer is connected to either a wired or wireless network to which you have access ; Bluetooth is a wireless short-range radio connection Default printer is the one used most often 10 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated

11. Installing a Printer (cont.) 11 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated Devices and Printers window Add Printer Wizard Devices and Printers with new printer

12. Understanding USB ports A printer port is called a parallel port, which sends more than one byte simultaneously A communications port is called a serial port, which sends information one byte at a time A USB port is new technology that will replace both port types USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports are external hardware interfaces that allow you to connect up to 127 peripheral devices such as mice or modems USBs support data transfers of 480 Mb per second in addition to plug and play, USBs support hot plugging, which is the ability to add and remove hardware while the computer is running and without running a wizard 12 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated

13. Viewing Printer Properties Once a printer is installed, it appears in the Devices and Printers window and is accessible in the Print dialog box you can change settings for all documents you print to the printer which is known as the default settings use the Print dialog box to make changes only for that document Viewing properties gives you information on personal preferences, network locations, installed fonts, and more 13 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated

14. Viewing Printer Properties (cont.) Spooling, also known as background printing, is the process of storing a temporary copy of the file on a hard disk and then sending it to the printer this allows you to work with a file while it is awaiting printing You can also view and change personal printer preferences, such as orientation, page order, pages per sheet, and more 14 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated

15. Viewing Printer Properties (cont.) 15 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated Devices and Printers window Printer with General tab displayed

16. Viewing Printer Properties (cont.) 16 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated Printer options tabs in the printer Properties dialog box

17. Sharing a Printer If you have a printer connected to your computer and your computer is connected to a network, you can share your printer, known as a shared printer, with other network users Before you can share a printer, you need to turn on printer sharing in the Network and Sharing Center window, which you can accomplish by using the Sharing tab in the printer Properties dialog box a shared printer is indicated by an icon of two heads attached to the printer icon in the Devices and Printers window For security purposes, if Windows Firewall is enabled (the default setting) on the computer with the shared printer, you need to select the File and Printer Sharing check box on the Exceptions tab in Windows Firewall before others can use 17 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated

18. Sharing a Printer (cont.) 18 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated Printer with Sharing tab Advanced sharing settings window Printer sharing options

19. Managing Printers and Print Jobs You can check the status of a print job after sending it to the printer The print queue shows the list of files to be printed You can use this window to cancel, pause, or defer print jobs, or view printer properties Deferred printing means that you can send print jobs to the printer, but they won’t print until you manually turn off the pause printing feature 19 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated

20. Managing Printers and Print Jobs (cont.) 20 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated Printing a file to a paused printer Window with paused print jobs

21. Adding a separator page to print jobs When you work on a network where many users share a printer, adding a separator or banner page can separate print jobs Banners can list the name, author, date, and time of a print job An administrator’s permission is needed to add and set up a separator page The separator files provided by Windows might not work with some printers 21 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated

22. Installing Hardware Devices Before you install hardware, read the product documentation and installation guide provided by the manufacturer If the hardware comes with its own install CD or DVD, use it as it is recommended that you do not use the Add a device Wizard provided by Windows 7 If the documentation instructs you to perform a typical plug-and-play installation, physically connect your hardware to your computer in most cases, windows automatically detects your new hardware device and installs its related device driver software 22 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated

23. Installing Hardware Devices (cont.) If Windows does not detect your new hardware device, you can start the Add a device Wizard in the Devices and Printers window and select the new hardware device the Wizard detects the hardware attached to your computer the Wizard asks a series of questions to help you set up the software for the new hardware device 23 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated

24. Installing Hardware Devices (cont.) 24 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated Windows 7 detects and installs devices Add a device Wizard

25. Creating and viewing an XPS document If you have ever used Adobe Reader to view a document or create a PDF document you can accomplish the same using Microsoft’s XPS (XML Paper Specification) With XPS you can share files with other even if your software programs are different You can set permissions and add digital signatures to protect a document from unauthorized viewing and printing You can create an XPS document by printing a file using the Microsoft XPS Document Writer printer 25 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated

26. Viewing System Hardware It is important to make sure you are using the latest software drivers with your hardware if your drivers aren’t updated, your hardware devices might not work to full capacity The Device Manager organizes all the hardware devices attached to your computer by hardware types, also known as hardware classes if an exclamation point within a yellow triangle icon appears next to a specific device, it indicates a conflict with another device to fix the conflict you can try to uninstall and reinstall the device or seek technical support from the device manufacturer using Device Manager you can determine the software driver versions, update the software driver with a newer version, or roll back to previous version after viewing driver versions, you can visit the manufacturer’s Web site or call them to determine the latest versions 26 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated

27. Viewing System Hardware (cont.) 27 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated Device Manager window Display Adapter Properties

28. Getting System Information If you have a system problem, you may need to give information about the error to a technician The System Information window in Windows 7 can quickly collect and display your system configuration data to provide to a support technician 28 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated System Information window

29. Removing Hardware Devices If you no longer need a device or you want to upgrade to a newer device, you need to remove the hardware device driver and related software before removing the physical hardware With Device Manager, you can quickly and easily remove any related device drivers if you have a USB device, you can remove it by simply unplugging it when the device is not actively in use You can also use the windows specific to a hardware device to remove that device 29 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated

30. Removing Hardware Devices (cont.) 30 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated Device Manager window Devices and Printers

31. Changing Windows Update Driver Settings When you connect a new device to your computer, you can specify how you want Windows Update to find a software driver for the device The default is to automatically check for a driver on your computer or online from the Microsoft Windows Update Web site However, if you want more control over the process, you can change the system properties to have Windows ask you each time you connect a new device before to check for drivers or never check for drivers 31 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated

32. Changing Windows Update Driver Settings (cont.) 32 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated Systems Properties Device Installation settings dialog box

33. Summary Windows 7 makes it easy to install and manage your hardware Windows uses plug and play for hardware, making it easy to install and uninstall devices Windows automatically notifies all other devices of the new device to eliminate conflicts USBs support both plug-and-play and hot plugging, which is the ability to add and remove hardware while the computer is running and without running a wizard Once a printer is installed, it appears in the Devices and Printers window and is accessible 33 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated

34. Summary You can view and change personal printer preferences A separator page can be useful if a printer is connected on a network It is important to make sure you are using the latest software drivers with your hardware If Windows does not detect your new hardware device, you can start the Add a device Wizard in the Devices and Printers window and select the new hardware device 34 Microsoft Windows 7 – Illustrated