The A+ Exams Guide: (Exam 220-301), (Exam 220-302) (TestTakers Guides)

Overview of Windows 2000

In case you haven’t heard, Windows 2000 was built on Windows NT technology.

If you have used Windows 2000 Professional or Windows 2000 Server to any extent, you may have noticed that the Windows 2000 family of operating systems was built with a combination of the best Microsoft operating system technologies available, including Windows 9.x and Windows NT.

As you may recall, Windows 9.x is suitable for client workstation use and supports only FAT16 and FAT32 partitions. Unlike Windows NT, it does not support file-level security. Windows 9.x offers built-in Disk Defragmenter and Device Manager utilities, which are very useful tools for maintaining hard drives and troubleshooting hardware devices and drivers, respectively.

Windows NT was developed for a domain structure environment and offers better security and administration capabilities than Windows 9.x, but it only provides support for FAT16 and NTFS partitions. Windows NT does not have a native Disk Defragmenter utility and does not offer the Device Manager that was available in Windows 9.x.

Windows 2000 combines the functionality of Windows 9.x and Windows NT by including the following features:

• Support for FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, and CDFS file systems (Windows 2000 does not support HPFS)

• A built-in Disk Defragmenter utility

• A built-in Device Manager utility

• Safe Mode support similar to Windows 9.x

• File-level and folder-level security

• Full administrative support for a client/server environment

In addition to the combined features included from the previous operating systems, Windows 2000 offers many new technologies and improvements. We will discuss many important Windows 2000 advances in this chapter. Here are some of the most notable:

• Improved security. Windows 2000 offers file- and folder-level encryption with Encrypting File System (EFS). EFS makes use of public and private encryption keys. In order to decrypt a file or folder, you must be the one who originally encrypted it or be a recovery agent.

• Better support for hardware. Windows 2000 offers better overall support for plug-and-play, USB, and infrared.

• Better support for laptops. Windows 2000 assists with the overall performance of laptop computers by providing Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) and smart battery.

• Active Directory. Windows 2000 Server provides Active Directory, which gives administrators a single point to manage network objects and resources.

• Better disk management capabilities. Windows 2000 makes use of disk quotas, which allow administrators to restrict the amount of hard drive space a particular user can use. Disk quotas can be applied to volumes or users.

• Better support for the Internet. Windows 2000 supports Dynamic HTML (DHTML) as well as Extensible Markup Language (XML), which helps Web developers create better solutions for businesses.

• Windows 2000 file system protection. Windows 2000 has a built-in backup feature called Windows File Protection that keeps a backup of important system files. If you write over important system files with programs or applications, Windows File Protection prompts you that it needs to restore the important system files you just replaced.