Desktop administrator must know about Windows tools and terminology

It is important for IT administrators to stick with the latest desktop tools, components, and products, but this is by no means an easy task.

In addition to knowing the meaning of some terms such as AppX, read-only files (prefetch folder), and BIOS passwords, you need to understand how these windows tools work and how to use them to simplify the work of yourself or your users. The following sections describe these terms, new Office 2013 features, how users personalize their desktops, and so on.

　　BIOS password

Some computers require basic output/input system (BIOS) authentication prior to startup, which is the BIOS password. The BIOS is a program on a computer's microprocessor that controls the boot sequence and hardware initialization. The BIOS password prevents unauthorized use, but if the user forgets the password, this can cause problems. The password can be reset, but it needs to contact the manufacturer and provide the instructions.

　　Desktop gadget

Desktop gadgets are placed on the user's desktop screen in the same way that applications are displayed on smartphones and tablets. Desktop gadgets can help users personalize their desktops. Often, these desktop tools have simple features, such as displaying weather forecasts, but there are sometimes security risks. IT administrators in a Windows environment can use Group Policy to limit the use of these desktop tools.

　　Application Manager
It can use the Application Manager to perform or monitor software installation, patching, updating, and access processes. The application manager can also help it monitor performance and issue alerts.

　　Application Monitoring

Application monitoring is sometimes called performance monitoring. Mainly to ensure that the use of normal performance, and to provide users with a positive user experience. Application monitoring tools provide it with the information it needs to isolate and resolve performance issues. It is important to combine separate monitoring warehouse data with relevant engines and dashboards, so TI staff does not need to be manually combined and analyzed.

　　Microsoft User State Migration Tool

IT staff can transfer users ' files and settings between computers through the User State Migration Tool (USMT). USMT is a command-line tool that transmits user accounts, files and folders, e-mail messages, contacts, images, programs, and their data, Web settings.

USMT has two windows tools, Scanstate and LoadState respectively. Scanstate scans the original computer parameters and creates a store for them. LoadState move the data store to the destination computer and put the file back to its original location.

　　Microsoft Office 2013
Office 2013 has all of the productivity applications known to administrators, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and so on. However, office 2013 has changed a lot. The suite now has gesture and touch support that helps office work on mobile devices. Office 2013 also works for traditional PC installations, and Office 365 users also have two online kits.

Office 2013 also now supports SkyDrive cloud storage, which is a collection of Third-party mail accounts in Outlook. Office 2013 is starting to support social networking, such as Skype, Yammer, Flickr, and so on.

　　Windows image format

The first introduction of Windows Image Format (WIM) is designed to simplify Vista deployments and now helps deploy new OS versions. Administrators can use WIM to create and assign disk image files. With a disk image, a developer can bind a hard drive-driven content to a separate file, and when installed, the Windows Setup Wizard extracts the disk image onto the computer's hard disk.

Because Wim is file-based rather than partitioned, it allows a separate package to host the contents of all packages, remove multiple instances of the same, and start and install faster on more disk hardware. In addition, a WIM file can store many disk images, which allows users to install partial images based on deployment.

　　appx file

App X is the name of the application assignment file format, first introduced in Windows 8. The appx file is an application package that is ready to be allocated and installed. After the appx package is uploaded to the Windows Store, the store runs security and compliance testing before it is sold. Using appx files is much simpler than using traditional wizards, and is ideal for deploying applications to a variety of device types such as PCs, smartphones, and tablets.

　　Pre-read files

Windows pre-read files are a series of files that contain startup projects and commonly used applications. It has a specially designated location within the operating system, typically in a Windows system folder, which is automatically maintained by Windows. When the computer starts, the memory manager's read-ahead process reads the application information from the Prefetch folder before it is successfully started and accessed by the user, which accelerates the subsequent boot and improves performance.

　　Desktop personalization
the experience of the Windows end-user that adjusts the structure, layout, and senses is called desktop personalization. Users often adjust the desktop to enhance the comfort of the interface, enhance vision or enhance personal interest. Employees can use Windows tools to select different themes, backgrounds, color schemes, sounds, screensavers, visual resolution, mouse settings, and so on