Linux Lovers? Keep a lookout for Windows.....Windows is a most powerful OS, but many users of Windows are quite noobs or in good words, simple amateurs. That is why Windows is still getting a backout when comparing the power of Linux. Windows can do all that Linux can do....I swear since I use Windows after learning to use it. I am an MCP, and so I can guarantee reliability. Coming to basics, 1. Users and Accounts : Windows has the most advantageous User management in any OS. Currently Win Users can be broadly classified into 3. Mainly, Administrators, Limited Users and Inbuilt Users. Basically Inbuilt users are taken into account as those created during the installation, namely Administrator and Guest. Guest is a disabled User. I hereby am going to approach the functions in methods A and B where A is the usual noob approach and B is a pro one. Method A: Usually people goto Control Panel>User Accounts for creating, deleting and modifying users which has the least level of functionality Method B: Goto Run>lusrmgr.msc>Local Users and Groups>Users; Now you have the facility to create, modify and delete users. The advanced features are shown in the figure and explained below.
User must change password at next logon: Prompts user to change their password at their next logon. Usually needed by accounts that are created by admins and then handed over to local users User cannot change password: Disables the feature of changing password by associated user Password Never Expires: There is a standard password expiry time (42 days) for accounts created in this method. This is a security measure but is disabled by this option Account is disabled: Creates an account but disables it Other advantageous features: Goto Run>gpedit.msc>Computer Configuration>Windows settings>Security settings>Account policies>Password policy You will see 6 options as listed below. 1. Enforce password history: remembers 'n' no. of passwords per user that the user has used. The user cannot change back to the passwords in the history list. which means if the option is set to 1 and the password now using is "test", I can change it to "test1" but then after I cannot change it to "test" until I change it to something else. 2. Maximum password age: The password is used for 42 days default which can be changed after which the user is prompted to change password in accordance with the first option. 3. Minimum password age: No of days after which the user can change the password again after a recent change. 1 means I cannot change the password more than once a day. 4. Minimum password length: Length of charecters in a password as a security measure. 5. Password must meet complexity requirements: Passwords must be complex enough for a user to use them. An example is 123!@#iii 6. Store Passwords for reverse encryption for all users in the domain: If enabled, passwords are reversed and then encrypted as a secuity measure. Goto Run>gpedit.msc>Computer Configuration>Windows settings>Security settings>Account policies>Account Lockout Policy You will see 3 options as listed below. 1. Account lockout duration: When an unknown user tries to break into your account with combinations of password, after a distinct number of tries, the account gets locked automatically to this time duration. Only an administrator can unlock the account in this time period. 2. Account lockout threshold: Defined the number of false attempts before an account is locked. 3. Reset account lockout counter after: After this period of time, the number of false attempt counter is reset to zero.
I will be adding more Windows usage methods soon. Thanks for reading
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Sreekanth in your blog, you compared Windows to Linux, but only from a security perspective. Agreed that it is very important for a novice user, but you should also have discussed about some more of the following! I use both Fedora and WinXP!! Neither am I biased to any one, neither will I be [in the long run that is, as my interest wanes in one, i switch to the other]. However, lemme try and enlist the features of both that I love and hate
Pros
WinXP!
1. Excellent UI, good looks
2. Easy to learn and use [only coz I am used to Windows]
3. GAMES RUN BEAUTIFULLY [optimized for games and vdo actually]
4. GOOD support from Microsoft [extremely useful for novice users]
5. Strong API [altho cumbersome and highly protected]
6. Cleartype
7. Fast boot up and shut down
8. Simplicity of installing and using things [InstallShield Wizard]
9. MFC code base to write programs [altho it's code heavy and weirdly structured, but tremendously useful for programmers to develop a HUGE program]
10. Excellent folder management [from a wholly user perspective] and smart, comfy looks
Linux[Fedora Core 3]
1. What a look
2. Extreme customizability
3. Open Source [wonder what use that is to the noob]
4. Free [well almost;)]
5. The satisfaction you get when you install something after about reading 2 hours of documentation and 5-6 trial runs and crashes
6. Point 5 repeated about 100 times for the things not coming with ur basic installation
7. Lucida Sans font [what a font that is]
8. Console
9. Did I say customizabililty
10. 3d icons!!
Cons
WinXP!!
1. Proprietary
2. License is kinda costly
3. Customization can be done ONLY using 3rd party apps, which again have their EULAs
4. Crappy MS Documentation [altho it's tremendously improved over the years, 95->XP that is]
5. Lacks the really cool viewing experience of Linux
6. Lot of stuff about the OS is NOT known and there is no compendium within the OS that helps you either, you have to revert to a forum/discussion group
7. Security [but still yeah fine no comments]
Linux [FC 3]
1. Terrible installation procedures, I mean for f***ing configuring PHP and Apache, I had to edit so much crap!!!!
2. Games support and graphics card driver support is terrible [getting better thanks to the ppl @ nVidia and ATi]
3. Folder management and views aren't that great
4. Shortcuts are harder to manage [well there are no shortcuts now are there ;)]
Well and now for some observations on the previous comments!
1. About big guns using FC3 to WinXX. Only companies like Google, Yahoo!, IBM [research only], HP [research + PC sales market only] and a few other software development firms use Linux. The reason is NOT because Linux is hard to learn/is more secure. It's because of these
-> Windows is still used profusely
-> Windows programming is MORE structured than ART[Revert to me for any clarifications on that comment]
-> Windows programming has amazing support and the tools are tried and tested with support for them as well
Agreed, Linux when improvised can be a far superior OS in terms of technicalities, but why DO we need an OS, especially in a s/w development scenario? We need it to help us access and utilize the underlying h/w better. We need it to rid us off the management of the basic activities, which Windows does a better job with the help of MFC, ATL, STL, and what not.
NOTE: I am not commenting too much on their programming model, esp with MFC 6.0, but that it's sometimes a pain in different parts of the anatomy [:D]! However, my limited experience with MFC 7.0 is giving me some hope :)!
Furthermore companies invest a lot in PCs for a very very important thing - INFORMATION!! And, when we code on top of that information, the OS intricacies about performance fly outta the window, as long as the information is protected and you won't get a crash that would say wipe out the data in ur HDD/crash it and make you install the whole Operating System altogether.
Yeah, I know this does not wipe out data completely, but think about the time you will lose on retrieving data back from the HDD, which can be spent on uhum coding!!
One more small point Mahadevan, it's not just Sreekanth, but I also felt that you were quite obtuse with your comments, rather should I say arguments. I agree Sreekanth may not have chosen the correct words to express his thoughts articulately! However, your refutations to prove your point are solely based on the language that Sreekanth used rather than facts! Abd I think "Dont ever ASSUME coz ur makin as ASS of U and ME" is your signature?? You could think about putting a breakline character - #19 in the "Allowed HTML tags" under Formatting guidelines. [just a thought, up2 you to take it or not].
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But I ask, if I think not, am I not? I think not, don't you think?