Het boot-proces van Windows XP
BIOS is een acroniem voor Basic Input Output System.
Het BIOS is een bibliotheek met een set basisinstructies voor de communicatie tussen het besturingssysteem of operating system (OS) en de hardware. Tijdens het opstarten van een pc (personal computer), wanneer het OS nog niet geladen is, is dit ook de enige software die beschikbaar is.
Wanneer een computer wordt gestart, wordt eerst de POST (Power-On Self Test) in het BIOS doorlopen.
Als alles in orde lijkt, roept het BIOS vervolgens de bootloader aan (meestal door de eerste sector van een aanwezige harde schijf te lezen). Dit opstarten wordt 'booten' genoemd: de bootstrap-routines in het BIOS zijn de eerste stap waarmee de computer zichzelf start.
Geschiedenis
Het BIOS van een computer is opgeslagen in een aparte chip op het moederbord. Vroeger (rond 1990) stond het BIOS in een EPROM en kon niet gewijzigd worden, vanaf ca. 1995 werd steeds vaker EEPROM gebruikt, waarmee een BIOS vernieuwd kon worden zonder een chip te vervangen.Top
Moderne personal computers hebben doorgaans uitgebreide setup-mogelijkheden. Doorgaans werkt dit als volgt: bij het opstarten van een computer kan men met een speciale toets (vaak Delete, F10 of F1) dit opstartproces onderbreken en "naar de setup gaan", nog voordat het besturingssysteem geladen wordt. Via meerdere schermen kunnen dan BIOS-instellingen gewijzigd worden. Na het terugschrijven van deze instellingen naar de EEPROM wordt het bootproces opnieuw gestart.
Een voorbeeld van een BIOS-instelling, is de volgorde waarin de pc informatiedragers (schijven, floppy, cd, netwerk) afloopt op zoek naar een geldig besturingssysteem om te laden (de boot sequence). Als er geen opstartinformatie op deze locatie gevonden is zal er op de volgende locatie gezocht worden.
Intel heeft voor dit reeds meer dan 20 jaar oude systeem een vervanging gemaakt met de naam Extensible Firmware Interface.
The Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) is a specification that defines a software interface between an operating system and platform firmware. EFI is intended as a significantly improved replacement of the old legacy BIOS firmware interface historically used by all IBM PC compatible personal computers. The EFI specification was originally developed by Intel, and is now managed by the Unified EFI Forum and is officially known as Unified EFI (UEFI).Top
The original motivation for EFI came during early development of the first Intel-HP Itanium systems in the mid-1990s. PC BIOS limitations (16-bit processor mode, 1 MB addressable space, PC AT hardware dependencies, etc.) were seen as clearly unacceptable for the larger server platforms Itanium was targeting. The initial effort to address these concerns was initially called Intel Boot Initiative and was later renamed to EFI.
EFI specification 1.02 was released by Intel on December 12, 2000. (Version 1.01 was the original issue; it had incorrect legal and trademark information and was quickly withdrawn).
EFI specification 1.10 was released by Intel on December 1, 2002. It included the EFI driver model as well as several minor enhancements to 1.02.
In 2005, Intel contributed this specification to the UEFI Forum, who is now responsible for its development and promotion. EFI was renamed to Unified EFI (UEFI) to reflect this; most documentation uses both terms interchangeably.
The UEFI Forum released version 2.1 of the UEFI specification on January 7, 2007; as of March 2007, it is the latest publicly available specification. It added and improved cryptography, network authentication, and the User Interface Architecture (Human Interface Infrastructure in UEFI). UEFI homepageTop
THE SHORT STORY
You should be able to enjoy your computer and keep it in good working order for many years by following these 5 simple steps:
1. PROTECTION - Install a good full featured Internet Security Software Package that includes a minimum of Antivirus, Antispyware and Firewall. Always keep an eye on it to make sure it is still working, up-to-date and NEVER let it expire.
2. MAINTENANCE - Once every few months run Disk Clean to clear your computer of unwanted temporary files, install Windows Updates and vacuum or blow out all the dust from the back of your computer once a year.
3. CAUTION - Be very cautious about where you surf, what you download and opening email attachments.
4. SHARING - Do not let anyone else use your computer. This includes family members and especially children and teenagers. Just kidding… Ah, Not really.
5. BACKUP - Come up with some kind of backup strategy that meets your specific needs for preserving your data in case something goes wrong.
THE LONG NOVEL
For those of you who don’t mind getting your hands a little dirty and want to go that extra mile to improve your odds of achieving years of trouble free computing at the maximum performance level.Top
1. INITIAL CLEANING – Depending on the exact make and model, your new computer probably came with tons of pre-installed trial, free and junk software. All of this stuff can slow down even the fastest computer as well as take up room on your hard drive . Take your time and go through every program that is listed in ALL PROGRAMS and determine what you want and don’t want. Uninstall everything that you do not need. Leave anything that you are not absolutely sure about. Better still, next time consider purchasing a business class computer from someone like Dell Small Business, Fujutsu, Lenovo (IBM) or some other dealer that specializes in selling to the business user. True Business computers do not come with all of the extra junk pre-installed.
2. INITIAL SETUP – The next thing you need to do is decide how and who will be using your new computer. You may want to setup User accounts and passwords, if needed, for everyone that will be using your computer. It is best to setup all children with their own accounts with NON-administrative rights. This way they will be less likely to make changes or install things that might affect the operation of your computer. I you are a forward thinker and like to plan ahead for potential disasters, I might even recommend repartitioning your hard drive to keep data and operating system separated from each other (details for another time). This is also a good time to decide how and who may need to share files and folders as well as make any internet security or privacy settings changes to each account. For example you may want to restrict internet access or filter internet content for children’s accounts. I also normally recommend setting Windows Updates so that I have a choice as to when updates get installed instead of automatically.Top
3. PROTECTION – You absolutely need some form of security software installed on your computer to protect you from viruses, spyware and other nasties that linger out in cyberspace or come attached to your emails. At the very least you will need a good Antivirus program, however I highly recommend having 1 antivirus, 1 firewall and 3 antispyware programs installed. If you like you can purchase an all-in-one package that includes many levels of protection in one package such as McAfee Total Protection, Norton 360 or even Microsoft Windows Live OneCare. Keep in mind that installing any of these all-in-one packages can really slow down your computer, especially on a slightly older or entry level computers. Chances are that your computer came packaged with some trial version of Norton or McAfee Internet Security. These will normally expire in about 30 days or so and must be renewed to continue protecting your computer. Before you actually fork out any money, check out all the possibilities that may be available to you. Many internet service providers will offer free security software to you just for the asking. Comcast, for example, offers free McAfee to its users. AOL has a free offering as well. Many colleges offer free protection software to their students and many companies offer security software to their employees. Be careful some providers like Verizon may make it sound like they are offering it for free but will charge you a monthly fee tacked on to your bill. If you don’t mind digging in and working a little there are many ways to get free security software as well. You can put together a great security net with Free Programs like Avast, AVG, SpyBot, Microsoft Defender, ZoneAlarm and AdAware. No matter which way you decide to go, the most important thing is to always check to make sure your security software is working, updated and has not expired. Beware of security contracts that will automatically charge your credit card every year for renewal even if you are no longer using their software.Top
4. MAINTENANCE – You do not need to get totally carried away but a little maintenance can go a long way toward keeping your computer in good working order.
a. Running Disk Cleanup once a month or so.
b. Check Disk with Error Checking every few months.
c. Run Disk Defragmenter about every 6 months.
d. Update and Run any manual spyware scanners each month.
e. Run Windows Update if it is not set to Automatic.
f. Check for other updates for your computer every few months.
g. Clean the dust out of all cooling vents at least once per year.
h. If you plan to keep your computer, I will often recommend replacing the hard drive every 3 or 4 years whether it needs it or not.
A new hard drive costs about $100 (that comes out to less than $30 per year). Being one of the few moving parts in a modern computer, it WILL fail at some point. Replacing it while it is still in working condition is much easier than waiting for it to fail. You can Recycle the old drive if you really want by purchasing a USB enclosure for about $29 and using it as a spare backup drive.
5. CAUTION – Always exercise extreme caution when surfing the internet, clicking on links or opening email. All of these have the potential of not only infecting your computer with viruses and spyware but could also result in handing over your personal information to less than desirable people. Take note of any changes to your computer and don’t just automatically click on allow, ok or continue when Windows or your security software is warning you about a system change.Top
6. SHARING – I know we were all taught to share while growing up, but if you want your computer to stay in tip top shape, DO NOT SHARE YOUR COMPUTER with anyone.
7. BACKUP – I know everyone is sick of hearing about the importance of backing up your data. I you have information on your computer that you don’t want to lose, then back it up. There are so many ways available now to backup, there is simply no excuse anymore for getting caught when a hard drive decides to quit. Enough said!
In briefing through some of the other threads, I notice that I totally forgot to mention the importance of the Surge protector. I guess since you were upgrading from a previous computer, I assumed you already had one. Surge Protectors can go bad over time from repeated surges and should be tested or replaced. But better still is the UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). A UPS is probably one of the best investments you can make for a computer. It contains a surge protector and a battery backup that will take over in the event of a power failure or brownout and continue to power your computer for several minutes or even hours if you purchase a really large one. If your power does not return within a predetermined period of time you can program it to shut down your computer in an orderly fashion thus preventing a possible major disaster. A single event such as loss of power or a lightning strike can cause irreparable damage and data loss if it occurs at just the right time or I should say at just the wrong time. Power surges can have the potential to not only cause immediate damage but can become accumulative and cause what is know as latent failures. This is where each surge stresses some of the components within the computer, weakening them and eventually causing them to fail at a later date. The price of UPS units has fallen over the years and you can get a small one for about $50 that will power your computer and LCD monitor for 10-15 minutes. If you live in an area where power outages are more common, you might want to go for one of the higher end models.Top
I forgot to mention the importance of the Surge protector. I guess since you were upgrading from a previous computer, I assumed you already had one. Surge Protectors can go bad over time from repeated surges and should be tested or replaced. But better still is the UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). A UPS is probably one of the best investments you can make for a computer. It contains a surge protector and a battery backup that will take over in the event of a power failure or brownout and continue to power your computer for several minutes or even hours if you purchase a really large one. If your power does not return within a predetermined period of time you can program it to shut down your computer in an orderly fashion thus preventing a possible major disaster. A single event such as loss of power or a lightning strike can cause irreparable damage and data loss if it occurs at just the right time or I should say at just the wrong time. Power surges can have the potential to not only cause immediate damage but can become accumulative and cause what is know as latent failures. This is where each surge stresses some of the components within the computer, weakening them and eventually causing them to fail at a later date. The price of UPS units has fallen over the years and you can get a small one for about $50 that will power your computer and LCD monitor for 10-15 minutes. If you live in an area where power outages are more common, you might want to go for one of the higher end models.
Enjoy your new computer!
Dana Wayland Computer Top
Email:
On a related note, if you are using Outlook Express...stop! Using it is even worse than using Internet Explorer. Mozilla Thunderbird is a good free email client, which I use to fetch my email from my ancient AOL email account. The only reason I use it is because AOL has a horribly slow and annoying webmail interface. There are plenty of choices for webmail that are better in that regard and have ample online storage. Google's Gmail is, in my opinion, the best webmail around. It is really good at identifying spam and notifying you exactly why they think it is spam. I also have a Yahoo webmail account and a Windows Live Hotmail account which are both pretty good.
Security software:
Anti-virus - You mentioned that you've already got anti-virus, which is a great first step. But for completeness, I'll still go through the options. In the paid subscription world, I can only recommend NOD32. If you are going to spend any money at all, then go for the best, and this is repeatedly proven to have among the highest detection and cleansing performance around. On the free side, the choices with real-time protection (always running, making sure you don't download any viruses) are AVG Free Edition (my personal choice), Avast! Home Edition, and AntiVir Personal. Avast requires (free) registration and AntiVir shows you an ad for its paid edition each time you use it, so I mainly use AVG, but I've used all three before and they work well. You may even want an additional on-demand only (NOT real-time) virus scanner, like BitDefender Free Edition, but I found that I hardly used it, and when I did, it found nothing.Top
Anti-Spyware - Windows Defender is a surprisingly good piece of software (Microsoft bought a company that made the software and renamed it), So that should be your first line of defense. Combine it with an on-demand scanner like Ad-aware for best results. Ad-aware often flags things that aren't really all that harmful, so don't be too alarmed if it finds a ton of "infections." It catches the ones that count, so that's all that matters.
Firewall - The default Windows Firewall in Vista is supposedly better than the one in XP, which was pretty much entirely useless. Unfortunately, my preferred third-party firewall, Comodo, has not yet made a Vista-compatible version. ZoneAlarm doesn't give you as much control, but they have a version for Windows Vista. You have to go to their site to get it though. As is typical for these security software providers, they like to hide the fact that they have a free version. Here is a link, but if you go to it, make sure you click on "I only want basic ZoneAlarm protection" at the bottom. Personally I don't use my Vista install all too much, so I'm still using Windows Firewall while I wait for Comodo's Vista version. Note that I also have a router, which if you have broadband internet, you should too. It can act as a hardware firewall if you take the time to set it up right. Using both a hardware and software firewall is the best combination here.
Maintenance Utilities:
One of my favorite pieces of software to recommend to Windows users is CCleaner. It removes unused and "temporary" files that just eat up your hard drive space. Make sure you pay attention if you install though, because by default it includes Yahoo Toolbar and several unnecessary options, like adding it to context menus (the right-click menus) and running on start-up. As long as it's got a start-up menu folder, that's all you need. But aside from just cleaning your file system, you can use it to uninstall programs and clean up your registry as well.Top
Defragmenting the partitions individually will be much faster compared to defragging the whole drive. Infact, partitioning also minimzes fragmentation since your non-OS files will not fragment in the OS partition or vice versa. The best solution anyway is to install an automatic defragmenter and turn on autodefrag for the partition(s) which see the most file-modification activity (OS partition + program files partition usually). This will ensure that these partitions stay defragmented most of the time and not impact system performance. This will also remove the need for manually (archaic method!) defragging these partitions regularly since a good autodefragger will do the job intelligently during system idle without wasting your time.
If you have two physical disks, then it would be a good idea to create a small partition (2-4 GB depending on your RAM) at the beginning of the disk for your paging file. This will ensure that a dynamic page file will not cause fragmentation in your OS partition.Top
I reasonably believe Vista is as stable as XP.
(1) If you do not have a set of restore discs, check for an option to burn a set of restore discs from the hidden partition on the hard disc. This is your first back up in case of total failure.
(2) Consider adding a second hard disc internally, and store all your work files (not programs) on it. That way if you have to do a paragraph (1) restore, after you've reinstalled all you programs, your data should be as you left it.
(3) Invest in an equivalent sized external drive. At times when you are confident that your system is safe, connect the external drive and copy all your data files.
(4) Consider something like Norton Ghost for making a similar external copy of the system drive. That way you can back-ghost the drive without having to reinstall all the software.
(5) Keep firewall, spyware and virus scanners up to date.
As I have a network of multiple computers, I keep data distributed across all of them, so there are up to five copies of any one document, and when two machines "meet" they swap info to make sure all files are up to date.
I use the built-in windows fire wall AND the hardware fire wall in the ADSL router. I use AVG for virus scans and SpyBot S&D to keep crap out of my registry. Top
If windows update asks to verify that your copy is legal and you say no, or you say yes and it is not, it will refuse to work anymore. It is a new feature to avoid piracy. Nothing you can do will fix it except for purchasing and installing a legal copy.
If your copy came on your hard drive, and if you don't have install disks your copy may be illegal. Sometimes people install the same copy to different computers at home. Only the first installation to be verified as legal will be eligible for updates.