Translate your expertise
When I started using Windows 2000 Server in early 1999, one of the first things I noticed about the OS was that I couldn't find any of the tools I wanted. More than a year later, navigating the OS is straightforward, but my first attempts at using Win2K Server were frustrating: I felt as if I didn't know how to do anything.
Because Win2K Professional and Windows 9x are more alike than Win2K Server and Windows NT 4.0, Win9x users who are getting acquainted with Win2K Pro won't experience quite the same frustration. However, Win9x users will still find many differences between the Win9x user interface (UI) and the Win2K Pro UI. Although some features remain the same, some contain new options not available in Win9x, and some are completely different or entirely new to Win2K Pro. A plethora of minor differences (e.g., changes in wording) exist, but I want to concentrate on the Win2K Pro changes most likely to confound power users who have been using Win9x and need to translate their expertise to the new OS.
Finding My Tools
Let's open Win2K Pro and examine the potential new locations for your essential tools. Start at Control Panel, which you'll find under Start, Settings, just as in Win9x. (You can also access Control Panel from the My Computer window or from Windows Explorer, which you'll find in Accessories instead of in Programs.) Control Panel contains applets for many system settings—similar but not identical to the applets in the Win9x Control Panel—and contains links to the Network and Dial-up Connections, Printers, and Administrative Tools folders. Network and Dial-up Connections contains tools that let you edit network settings; Printers contains printer-management tools; and Administrative Tools contains a suite of advanced system management tools that are generally new to Win9x users. In Win2K Pro, the System Tools folder (which you find under Programs, Accessories, System Tools) contains disk-management and data-management tools (e.g., backup, defragmentation), just as Win9x's System Tools folder does.
The new Administrative Tools folder contains shortcuts to advanced configuration and management tools. The tools you're likely to use are the following:
- Computer Management: Serves as the interface for many different computer-management tools, such as disk management, performance logging, and local user account administration. Computer Management is a catchall location for several of Win2K Pro's systems administration tools.
- Event Viewer: Lists system events for applications, the OS, and security auditing. Logged events are messages that inform you whether something happened as expected (e.g., a successful virus check that finds no viruses), warnings about conditions in which something might go wrong (e.g., nearing a disk quota), or messages informing you that something has gone wrong (e.g., an inability to find the master browser).
- Local Security Policy: Configures local security policies for auditing, passwords, and user account lockouts.
- Performance: Gathers performance data for user-specified objects on the computer (or on other computers).
- Services: Edits service settings on the computer. Services are "helper applications" that run in the context of the System account and provide support for hardware and software. For example, the print spooler, which collects print jobs for the print device, is a service. Services are different from applications primarily in terms of the security settings associated with them. An application runs according to the security settings of the person who started it. (If a user runs Microsoft Word, Word can't do anything that the user doesn't have permission to do.) Typically, the System account, which can do anything, starts services.
- Telnet Server Administration: Edits the settings for the Telnet server (which lets people telnet into your computer).
The Administrative Tools folder contains fewer tools than you might think. Although you see many tools, some are redundant. For example, you can also access Services from Component Services. Computer Management, which Figure 1 shows, contains Services, Event Viewer, and all the disk-management tools in the System Tools folder.
Grouping the Tools
The simplest way to discuss Win2K Pro's tools is to group them into six functions—computer management, disk maintenance, UI settings, user account management, network settings, and troubleshooting. Although I don't have space to describe all these options in great detail, after reading this article you should know how to find and use these tools within the Win2K UI.
Computer Management
How do I back up my computer's configuration and my data?
Like NT, Win2K has mechanisms for backing up configuration data, copying current Registry settings to a backup directory, and creating an Emergency Repair Disk (ERD). Remember that an ERD isn't the same as the Win9x Startup Disk—an ERD isn't bootable and is useful only for repairing data. (For more information about the Win2K ERD, how to use it, and how it compares with NT's ERD, see "Windows 2000 Server Recovery Tools," Winter 1999.)
To create an ERD, go to Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Backup and click Emergency Repair Disk. To update the Repair information on your computer, make sure that you select the Update repair information check box. If you don't select this check box, when you repair your installation, you'll restore the system to the configuration you specified when you installed the OS. Always update the Repair information before you make any major changes to your OS.
Creating an ERD and updating the Repair information backs up only the Registry. You can also back up the COM+ database and class associations—as well as system boot files—with the Backup tool's data component. Click Backup Wizard, and while following the wizard, choose to back up System State data (or select the System State check box on the Backup tab). You can also back up System State data by choosing to back up all data on your computer. Although the default backup location is a 3.5" disk (if you don't have a tape drive installed), the System State data won't fit on one disk. Instead, you'll need to back up to your hard disk or to another network location. (For more information about backing up System State data, see Sean Daily, "Daily Answers," October 2000.)
To back up your data, run the Backup Wizard and choose the option to back up all data or the option to back up selected files, disks, or network data. Alternatively, on the Backup tab, you can select the specific files and folders you want to back up. Again, the default backup destination is a 3.5" disk, but Win2K Backup supports backups to most media.
How do I find files?
Win2K's Search option, which you see when you access the Start menu, gives you the same functionality that Win9x's Find option offers. However, if you often search the same areas of your hard disk, you have a quicker option. Win2K offers an indexing service that you can use on your computer's local disks. To find a file on your computer, go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management. In the Services and Applications folder, click the Indexing Service icon. To add indexable areas, right-click in the right pane and choose New from the context menu. In the Add Catalog dialog box, click Browse or type the path to the volume you want to index. The path must exist on your local computer.
The Indexing service not only lets you perform faster searches (because it catalogs your hard disk) but also gives you far more control over how you perform searches on your hard disk than you have with the standard Search tool. For example, you can use vector-search queries that weight certain word combinations to have a higher ranking. If you use Indexing Service and are interested in powerful searches, be sure to check the Help files for information about how to use the query language.