Quincy Center for Technical Education
Computer Technology Department

Getting to Know Windows 98

Perhaps the best way to review an operating system for the OS Technologies exam is practice navigating around the various Properties functions of Windows 98, including those accessed by right-clicking the desktop and the My Computer icon. You should also review the functions on the Settings menu and the System, Printers, Modems, and Network icons of the Control Panel. The exam has questions about how to access each of these functions and the kinds of actions available on each.      Windows 98 (and Windows 95) supports both 16-bit and 32-bit applications through the Windows Application Programming Interface (API). The API provides application developers with a library of utilities that perform a variety of tasks in the Windows environment. The primary components of the API are the following: Kernel (KERNEL32.DLL) contains the essential operating system functions, including memory, file, and I/O management, and applicaton support. User (USER.DLL) controls the user interface including the mouse, keyboard, I/O ports, and the desktop layout. GDI (GDI32.DLL) manages graphics and controls printing.      When an application creates a window, the window resource is stored in the USER.DLL resource table; when an application loads a picture or graphic, it is stored in the GDI.DLL resource table; and when an application opens a disk file, the file's information is stored in the KERNEL.DLL resource table. If an application does all three, the resources required to support the application in memory is tripled. This arrangement creates USER, GDI, and system KERNEL resources instead of general system resources.