From Textbook: Page 836 Answer questions 1, 6, 12, 18, and 27

1)What are the three core components of Windows 9x/Me?

1. The Kernel, which handles basic OS functions such as managing memory, file I/O and loading and executing programs
2. User, (not THE user, but User32.dll and User.exe) which controls the mouse, keyboard, ports, and desktop.
3. GDI or graphics device interface. Draws screens, graphic and lines and manages printing.
   

6)What are the log files Setuplog.txt, Detlog.txt, and Detcrash.log used for?
They are used during the installation process for Windows 9x/Me

1. Setuplog.txt is a hidden text file that Setup uses to recover from a crash during installation. It would have stored the data from how far the system got before the crash.
2. Detlog.txt is a text file that records information so that THE user, can see the record of hardware detected during startup by the computer.
3. and Detcrash.log is a binary file that Setup uses to help recover from a crash caused by a hardware problem.
   

12)Explain the purpose of the System Configuration Utility. How would you use it in troubleshooting? The System Configuration Utility (Msconfig.exe) reduces the startup process to the bare minimum essentials. By using this utility to add start up items back one at a time until your computer occurs again, the source of the problem will be related to the last item you added back on. You can then focus on finding your problem with that item and fixing it.

18)List the five phases of the Windows 9x/Me boot process and give a short description of each.
Phase:

1. Startup BIOS Bootstrap and POST: BIOS begins by performing POST (power on self test) then it examines the devices on the system to determining which ones are PnP compliant, it enables the devices that are not and then gives the remaining resources to the ones that are. It looks to permanent RAM to see if information about the PnP's are stored there and saves it for Windows to use later on for hardware configuration. BIOS then looks for a device with the OS, hard drive, floppy etc. Then the Bootstrap loader program is executed and it looks for the initial hidden file of Windows Io.sys to load it.
2. DOS drivers and TSRs are loaded, Io.sys creates a real-mode operating system environment. It checks Msdos.sys for boot parameters then Io.sys loads the drivers Himem.syus, Ifshlp.sys, Setver.exe, and Drvspace.bin.
3. Real mode VxDs are loaded and then Io.sys gives control to the Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) the VxDs, or virtual device drivers, create and manage virtual machines to provide access to hardware for software running in the VM.
4. Protected mode switchover and PnP configuration. Vmm32.vxd switches to protected mode and loads Configuration manager, it configures legacy and PnP devices. It uses any information that PnP BIOS might have left for it and loads the 32-bit dynamic device drivers (VxDs) for the PnP devices.
5. Loading the remaining components. With Wmm32.vxd still in control, the three core components are loaded, then the fonts and other associated resources are loaded, Win.ini is checked and commands stored there are executed to allow backward compatibility, the shell and user desktop are loaded and finally any processes stored in startup are preformed.
   

27)Name two ways to end an application that is hung without rebooting the PC.
You can press ctl +alt+del to bring up the close program dialogue box, click on the program that is not responding and click then click on "end program", if that doesn't work you can use the end program box to shut down everything else running on the computer to free up resources. Sometimes you can also manage to right click on the program's icon in the task bar and click close, this will bring up the "this program is not responding" message and allow you to click on "end task" from there.