In 2009, Microsoft introduced the new Windows 7 operating system. In addition to a large number of innovations, this OS implemented many management tools for almost all key settings of Windows 7. System administration gives you the ability to manage users, groups, files and folders, access to them, security system, printers, etc.
Views of Windows 7
There are several versions of the Windows 7 operating system. They are designed for various tasks and applications, and, accordingly, they have various administration capabilities and tools.
The most common modifications of Windows - the maximum, professional and home. Administration of Windows 7 has its own characteristics in each type of OS. The most comprehensive administration package is available in Windows 7 Ultimate, as it is universal for both work and entertainment. Least of all settings in Windows 7 Starter. It is designed to solve basic problems, installed on low-power laptops or netbooks, often intended for pre-sale demonstration of the capabilities of computer technology.
Why do I need to get administrator rights
To fully administer Windows 7, you must have administrator rights. The user that is created during the installation of Windows has fairly limited rights for security reasons. Under the current user’s account, malicious programs or viruses will not start, accidental deletion of important system files will not occur, and any significant damage to the files necessary for the OS will not be done. But there are also unpleasant moments. When installing some programs, for example, office ones, the user may be faced with the fact that the changes made in the system were not saved or the installed programs malfunction and do not save data. When clarifying the reasons, it turns out that the user does not have enough rights to certain operations, for example, to write files to the Program Files folder.
Ways to get administrator privileges
To have more rights to administer Windows, you need to increase your authority in the system. You can do this in many ways. Most often used two of them:
- Through the user management window. On the keyboard you need to type the combination “WIN + R”, in the window that opens, type the name of the snap-in lusrmgr.msc and click “OK”. In the window "Local Users and Groups" that opens, go to the "Users" item. On the administrator account, right-click on the menu and select "Properties", in which to uncheck the account disconnect box. Next, select the completion, click "OK" and reboot the device.
- Administration of Windows 7 may be needed for a short time, for example, to run a program that is unstable in normal mode. To do this, right-click on the program and select "run as administrator" from the menu. In this case, the program will work with elevated rights.
To enable elevated rights for permanent work, you must run the command line as administrator, enter the line “net user Administrator / active: yes” (provided that you enable the administration of Windows 7 in the Russian version), and then press Enter. After the reboot, it will be possible to select an administrator account on the welcome screen along with other accounts.
Please note that continuous work under the administrator account is carried out with a very low level of protection, since all programs, including virus and malware, will be launched with maximum privileges.
Entrance to the computer control center
This is the place where administration in Windows 7 is most conveniently carried out through the basic computer management tools. You can get there in many ways. The easiest is to right-click on the “My Computer” icon and select “Management” or “Tools” individually. There are still options for starting through the Administration panel in the Control Panel or through the command line with the compmgmtlauncher command . This snap-in contains frequently used Windows 7 administration tools such as managing services and drives, viewing events, and other management tools. Experienced users and administrators in the event of system failures can quickly find the problem by just examining the system’s lags in the "Event Viewer" branch. Logs are kept for almost all events occurring in the system, from the launch of services when the computer is turned on and ending with recording user actions in the system.
Windows Services Management
On the service management tab, you can see a list of services, their status. It is possible to change the mode and parameters of their operation and launch. Often, administration of the Windows 7 service is used to infect a computer with viruses that add themselves as a service and start when the computer boots. To combat them, you need to stop the service, and then remove it from the startup list.
Disk Management and Device Manager
No less important is the administration of Windows 7 disks. This makes it possible not only to create partitions on the hard disk, but also to resize them, assign them names and the letter identifier under which they are seen in the system. They look into this section of the control panel if a flash drive is not detected in the system or if the drive letter is not specified. When connecting new disks in a snap, you can assign them sizes, perform formatting and other operations.
Information about computer hardware can be seen in the device manager. There are cases when new equipment is not detected by the system and you have to look for drivers for it where it is not known. Administration in Windows 7 allows you to view information in the device manager not only on installed devices, but also on those for which drivers were not found. The properties of each device indicate a unique identifier for the device, the group to which the device belongs. According to these parameters, you can easily find a driver for a new device. Most often, problems arise with video card drivers, Wi-Fi adapters, etc.
Windows 7 Remote Administration
Remote administration tools allow you to configure the system and eliminate errors in the operation of programs and the operating system remotely over the internal network or via the Internet. Remote administration of Windows 7 is not possible in all types of OS, the connection is configured only with the corporate, professional and maximum versions (you can see the version of the operating system in "Computer Properties").
The built-in Remote Desktop utility allows the administrator to connect to the computer and make certain settings on it without affecting the user's session. To activate the connectivity you need to go to the Control Panel, and then make changes to the "Remote Access Settings" item in the system properties. With the Windows Firewall turned on and the remote connection allowed, it is not difficult to administer Windows 7 remotely.
Account Administration
The operating system provides administration of Windows 7 accounts. It is possible to manage not only local accounts (creating new ones, editing, deleting existing ones, changing a password, etc.), but also remote access user accounts. As mentioned above, for security reasons, it is recommended that you create a user account and log in under it. Since it is with reduced privileges, in the event of a virus infection or with little user experience, the harm to system files will be minimal.
If multiple users are working on the computer, you can create multiple accounts. The user is selected at login on the welcome screen. Each user can configure personal system parameters, such as shortcuts and desktop background, which are stored in the user's personal profile. The administrator has the ability to work with all computer user profiles.
Network administration
Another important administration subject is network configuration. To start administering Windows 7 networks , go to the "Start - Control Panel - Network and Internet" menu. Most often, administration consists of creating a home group and setting up shared access to files and folders of home devices, as well as access to the printer on the home network.
There are also convenient options such as "Diagnostics and troubleshooting", which allows you to quickly diagnose and search for network problems.