Oscot - Because Education Should Be Free

Upon loading Windows for the first time after setup, you will notice a pop-up immediately. This is warning you that “Your computer may be at risk, Antivirus software might not be installed, Click the balloon to fix this problem.” Unfortunately clicking the balloon does not fix this problem in the least bit. We can ignore this for the time being as setting up the machine we will not encounter any problems that Windows firewall can’t handle. You can install an anti-virus program if you wish, but we recommend you wait till the full update process is complete.

You can click the “x” on the top right of the box and it will close.

You may also notice another pop-up on the bottom right hand side of the screen encouraging you to take a tour of Windows XP and the new features it may or may not offer.

For the purpose of this exercise, it is not not needed. We are going to show you how to properly configure your system, and then what is where and why it’s there. You can click the “x” on the top right of the box and it will close.

Let’s get started on configuring our working desktop and get started on updating our system with the latest software and hardware updates available.

Right-click on the Taskbar (the blue bar on the bottom of the screen) and a pop-up menu will unveil several options. We will cover the other options as we need to encounter them further down the line, for now we are looking to unlock the “Taskbar”. Move your mouse over where the check mark is next to “Lock the Taskbar” and right-click there to unlock it.

Once we have that done you will notice a slight shift in the Taskbar, that give us the ability to move it around should we need to later.

Next let’s make the Quick Launch Toolbar visible so it can be utilized. If you right-click the Taskbar again and navigate to “Toolbars” and just highlight the word, you will notice a side menu pops out with several options. Move your mouse over to the option labeled “Quick Launch” and simply right-click and you will now notice a new Toolbar within the Taskbar. This is the Quick Launch Toolbar and any program icon that is placed here will result in a one click launch instead of the usual “double-click”.

We are now going to want to locate the “My Computer” icon within the Start menu and make that icon visible on the Desktop.

Once you locate the My Computer icon within the menu, simply highlight it and right-click it. Navigate your mouse on the right-click menu to “Show on Desktop” and left-click while hovering over it.

You will now notice now that the My Computer icon is located at the top left of your desktop. This is done for convenience down the road.

Since we can not perform any updates unless we have them all on a disk or usb drive already prepared, we need to connect to the internet to acquire the most up to date software for our system.

Let’s put in our cd or usb drive that contains the network card drivers s we can access the internet. Shown here will be examples of the T41 executable files that only installs the drivers for the file in a location for you to then manually install. You will have to read your actual installation to see if it actually enables hardware, or just simply install files for you to then enable the hardware.

Click “Next” to begin installation.

The following setup screen will prompt you to agree with the EULA. once you have read the EULA, accept the terms and click “Next”.

Here is where you have to pay careful attention. It specifically states, “ Please enter the folder where you want these files saved. ...”. This clearly states that it will install files on your computer for you to then access. Take careful note on where it explains they will be left. We chose to leave the default location and just write it down to remember here we would then access them. You can simply click change and place them anywhere locally on the hard drive.

Once your choice is made, please click “Next”.

When installation has completed, you will read that you now have to continue the installation on your own, that this install does not physically enable the device. We already knew this, so simply click “Finish”, and we will guide through the rest of the setup process.

Please note that different manufacturers have different installation methods. When installing ethernet drivers you will need to pay attention to exactly what is going on. If the hardware is enable you will see items and icons appear in the task bar as you will see as this tutorial continues.

Upon opening System Properties you will notice a series of tabs across the top. When opening System Properties, you will always by default be brought to the the General tab. This tab contains information about your Operating System, who it’s registered to, and the type of hardware your PC currently has may or may not show up.

In order to access the Device Manager we must click on the “Hardware” tab.

Once at the Hardware tab, you will notice the first section highlights the Device Manager, and explains it as a section that lists all the hardware devices on your system.

The section underneath it labeled Drivers, enables you to make sure that drivers that are installed are compatible with Windows.

The last section is labeled Hardware Profiles. Here you can select different hardware to be enabled with each profile. For example, if at home or your office you have a docking station for your laptop, you may want to disable the internal network interface card (NIC) and the wireless lan card, and enable the NIC on your docking station only to be used.

For this exercise we want the Device Manager so let’s click the button labeled “Device Manager” to open that window.

Once the Device Manager is open you will notice a section with yellow question marks under a section named Other Devices.

If the tree Other Devices is not open, simply click the plus sign on its left to open and see all the hardware that does not have the proper software to enable it correctly yet.

We will take care of everything with due time, the most important for the time being is the “Ethernet Controller” (NIC).

Right-click the “Ethernet Controller” and highlight “Update Driver” onthe pop-up menu. Once highlighted, left-click on Update Driver.

You will then encounter a Hardware Update Wizard windows which will guide you to setup the NIC card.

For this exercise we do not and can not find updated drivers on the internet, so please select the radial “No, not this time”. After doing so, click “Next” on the bottom right of the window.

Since we write down or selected exactly where the drivers were installed, in the next window we will select the radial option, “Install form a list or specific location (Advanced)”. Click “Next” to continue when proper radial is selected.

Since we write down or selected exactly where the drivers were installed, in the next window we will select the radial option, “Install form a list or specific location (Advanced)”. Click “Next” to continue when proper radial is selected.

When these options have been selected, click “Browse” to find the location of the drivers.

Upon clicking “Browse”, a window Browse For Folder will appear. Simply navigate to the folder where the files are stored and click “Ok” once you have found them.

Our location was, C:\Drivers\win\Ethernet, within there we see the folder PRO1000 and within there the folder WIN32. From the research prior to installation I know that this particular machine has the PRO1000 NIC card and the WIN32 folder refers to the 32 bit operating system version of Windows.

Once selection was made and I clicked OK, it has brought me back to the original Hardware Update Wizard, where you will now see the location in the text box, and upon clicking “Next” you will see see Windows search for the drivers in that location and continue the installation as soon as they are located.

The two following print screens on the next page are the drivers being installed and the completion of the Hardware Update Wizard.

Upon completion, simply click “Finish”

You will now notice a section labeled Network Adapters in the Device Manager and upon clicking the plus sign you will see the device is properly installed. If you look carefully, you will now see an icon in the bottom right of the Taskbar that resembles two computers with a red Xon the bottom right of the icon.

This is the NIC icon within Windows XP.

Let’s plug in our network cable to the network card on the laptop now. You will quickly see the icon change and show an arrow that indicates it is trying to acquire an internet connection.

Once connection has completed you will notice a pop-up window display that indicates a successful connection has been made.

Unfortunately once connection has been established the icon disappears quickly. You can bring it back and we recommend you do so as to know when your internet connection drops for any reason, or if you have limited connection. If you go to the Control Panel and click on Network Connections it will bring up the screen on the right. There you can right-click on Local Area Connection and then left-click on Properties.

Once the properties is open you want to click the checkbox on the bottom that states, “Show icon in notification area when conencted”. While here verify that the other checkbox is also active, “ Notify me when this connection has limited or no connectivity “.

Next we want to very an option within the Authentication tab up top.

Uncheck the “Enable IEEE 802.1x authentication for this network”.

You will now notice that everything is greyed out that was active prior. This setting has been known to cause problems in connectivity through our experiences.

Click “Ok” on the bottom of the window when completed.

You will now notice the networking icon back in the active icon section of the Taskbar (the bottom right).

if you highlight the icon with your mouse you will notice the connection information display.

Let’s verify the internet connection by clicking the Internet Explorer icon in the Quick Launch Toolbar. This will bring up Internet Explorer and the MSN website.

You will receive this pop-up window while using Internet Explorer. This pop-up window simply states that the cookie the website is leaving on your computer is restricted to your privacy settings.

For more information on cookies you can navigate to www.enterwebsitehere.com .

Make sure the check box “Don’t show this message again” is checked off and click “Ok” and this message will never appear again. If you ever need to verify privacy settings you can do so in the Internet Properties section.

This pop-up window is also very familiar to Internet Explorer users. This one states that “when sending information through the internet that it may be possible for others to see that information”. Check off the “In the future, do not show this message” checkbox and click yes to verify that you are away of this.

The print screens located here are what you can expect the first time running Windows. There will generally always be a update to the windows validation with XP installation at the very least. Upon clicking the “Download and Install Now” button in the web browser.

This will prompt the Installing Updates window that dislays what updates are being downloaded and then installed.

Let’s start to update Windows now that we have an active and working internet conenction. Navigate to the Start menu, then highlight All Programs with your mouse and you will notice the pop-out menu that lists all of the current available programs.

At the very top of the list you should find Windows Updates or Microsoft Update. Right-click on the option that is available.

This will bring up an Internet Explorer window that automatically navigates itself to Microsoft’s Windows Update page. You may be prompted to install some files before the update begins as Microsoft has changed the interal Xp files that it accesses once the update starts.

In this particular install, that was not the case. We now click “Custom” because we want the luxury of choosing the updates that are available for install.

At the top right of the window you can click the icon that resembles the shape of a “window” and it will maximize the window to occupy all of the space on your screen.

Once the software update is complete, it diaplay the message on the web browser and the Installing Updates window would have closed already. Click the button labeled “Continue”, and the update process will begin again.

You will notice at this time that Windows is doing a validation check to verify that you are not using a pirated version of Windows. Click the “Continue” button and verify that the proper radial is selected for help in validating Windows.

Once validation is complete and verified, Windows will commence the updating process.

Upon the updates being displayed you will notice there are three different updates available through Microsoft’s website; High Priority, Software - Optional, and Hardware - Optional.

We recommend that you do not use Windows Update for Hardware updates. Those updates should be supplied from the the pc or hardware manufacturers and should be installed apart.

Select ALL of the High Priority and Software - Optional updates to be installed and click the link “Review and install updates” when you have selected all the available options needed.

Upon clicking that link you will be prompted with a page that displays the entire download size of all the updates and the estimated time that it will take to download them. The estimated time is usually inaccurate to say the least, but depending on the internet connection it can take several minutes up to and over an hour.

You will be prompted again with the Installing Updates window that will prompt you to accept the EULA for the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. After accepting the EULA Windows will continue to install its updates in the order it determins needed.

If Internet Explorer 7 was part of the updates you selected, there will be a separate install that requires user participation. You will be prompted with the following installation windows.

Upon the first upgrade window you will click “Install” to start the Installation process. At the next Window you will be prompted to read and accept the license terms, when complete click “I Accept”.Next you will be asked to verify your copy of Windows XP through validation once again. Please click “Validate” to start to process.

Once you have clicked the “Validate” button, the install will go through the proper internal procedure to verify your copy of Windows XP. Once your validation has been verified you will notice the next screen will prompt you to “Install the latest updates for Internet Explorer and the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool”. Click next to allow the installation to continue with the selected tasks.

Finally, it will download the updates needed for IE7, finish the install and continue with the rest of the updates for Windows XP.

Once Microsoft Update has finished installing all of the updates that you selected, it will prompt you with a screen displaying anything it was not able to install and to restart the machine now. At times certain installs can not be completed because of conflicts with other installations, nothing to worry about. Simply restart the machine by clicking on the “Restart Now” button within the Installing Updates window and start the updates again once the machine has rebooted.

Once you have rebooted the machine and nagivated to the Microsoft Update within the All Programs button, you will now notice a different browser. This is Internet Explorer 7, IE7. The first time running IE7 it will prompt you with an warning windows regarding a built in Microsoft Phishing Filter. You need all the built in security you can get, so make sure to have the radial button labeled, “Turn on automatic Phishing Filter”, selected and then click “Ok” to allow IE7 to continue loading Microsoft Windows Update to finish all of the updates for Windows XP.

Follow the previous steps, selecting Custom, then all the Priority and Software - Optional updates to be installed.

Following the previous steps will begin the update installation once again with all the updates that were not installed prior, and with any new updates that may have not been available before. Allow the download to begin and installation to follow.

Once complete restart and run the updates again until you no longer need to reboot, or there are no updates left to install.

For this install we only needed to run the updates one more time to complete all necessary Windows XP updates, making a total of 3 with 2 reboots. Although for other Windows XP installations, even those without Service Pack 2 as a part of the install disc, we have experienced the same amount of reboots and installs with the earliest form of XP install discs that date back almost 4 years.

Since no reboot was required, we will now begin the installation for the ThinkVantage System Update; a program that installs drivers, software, and all the updates for Lenovo Thinkpads (formerly IBM) in one simple step.

We have naviagted to www.lenovo.com, and enered the system information pertaining to this particular laptop in order to get to the appropriate support and downloads section. Once there we found the link for the required software to install all of the updates at once. We then proceeded to install the required file and run the setup.

Print screens are available, however just simply follow the default prompts and let the installation complete. Reboot once install is complete.

After the ThinkVantage System Update has been installed and you have rebooted, run the program by finding it within your Programs menu within the Start Menu.

This well designed system will enable you to download ALL needed and recommended updates at the click of a button.

Please check all the updates available in the “Recommended Updates” and the “Optional Updates” tab and then continue by clicking “Next” on the bottom right of thee screen to continue installing the updates.

Upon the completion of all the updates through the ThinkVantage program it will then prompt you to reboot. Once you have rebooted, open the Device Manager as we went over earlier in this lesson and you will now see that the “Other Devices” section is gone and all of your hardware is listed in it’s proper category.

Should you be using a different PC, laptop or desktop, you may find that all manufacturers do not write such convenient software to install all of the device’s needed drivers at the simple click of a button. Most manufacturers actually require that you install each and every one seprately and download them seperately. We can only hope this process will get better.

Windows Media Player 11 (WMP) will usually also prompt you to with a few questions and settings. However in this install we did not notice anything out of the normal, we have print screened and documented them for you to be ready should you encounter them.

You will also notice once you have WMP 11 installed that you will have some options available that were not before.

Upon first launch we experienced this first screen.

The first time we minimized WMP 11, it prompt a window that explains that their is a mini-mode available upon minimizing.

It then prompts you to right-click an empty area of the Taskbar, point to Toolbars, and then select Windows Media Player.

When we right-clicked an empty area of the Taskbar, pointed to Toolbars, and then selected Windows Media Player; we now notice there is a minituare WMP in the Taskbar.

Should you be playing any music, you can pause, stop, skip and rewind with ease. Should you be watching a movie or want to experience the visualizations WMP provides you can simply click the “Video and Visualization Window” button on the top right of the tool bar. You can highlight any element that resembles a button and with will display it’s control in a hover text box as in the one shown to your left.

Go to this website to learn more about WMP and its functionality.

This completes the Windows XP Initial Configuration tutorial.