98-349 Microsoft Windows Operating System Fundamentals – Managing applications

1. Configure Applications

We can start talking about applications in Windows Ten. We’ll start with some basics here, talk about desktop applications and how we can configure some options when it comes to Windows Ten and things that we can find inside. Let’s go for Microsoft Edge now. So let’s type edge. We right click and go for app settings. Please note we can customize what Microsoft has prepared for us.

What’s more, we can go and configure default apps. This means that if you want to create an email, you use this application maps, Music Player and so on. Here is a list of default applications and our default web browser is Microsoft Edge. You can choose default apps by file type as well. This means that if you want to open, let’s say, an MP3 file, you use, let’s say VLC, or if you want to play a video clip, you use something else and so on. I hope you have more applications than I have over here.

This is just a virtual machine, so nothing special. Of course we can go for Microsoft Store and go for top apps and we can start downloading whatever we want. Let’s say we want to have Spotify and listen to really cool music, netflix to watch some movies, WhatsApp, to have a chat, Facebook and so on. We can install all these apps. Some of them are for free. Well, some of them yes, you have to pay. Here we’ll see a really nice application that allows you to play video clips.

I recommend you give it a go. Just say get. Here you can see that. Well, please be very careful because this version does not support all options. So this is something that you have to understand that you have to have a very specific application to support all features when it comes to Windows Ten and the new interface that Microsoft created for us. Sometimes it makes more sense to go for a desktop version because you might find that some features are missing for you here.

The idea is to show you that we can use, for instance, VMC and of course Windows Store to download an application that you want. Of course you can customize everything over here, go for settings and see what you want to use. We know we can add some apps. Of course I will not show you how to create a shortcut, how to go for all these basic tasks, because that is something that you should know. I want to show you Task Manager. You’ve seen it already, but this is something that will help you troubleshoot applications that are in place. You can of course care a task that let’s say, uses your CPU and so on.

There is a really nice tool, reliable here we go reliability history, that allows you to analyze what has been going on with your PC. And especially if an application crashed, let’s say a week ago, your PC crashed and so on. It’s a good idea to check and see what has been happening with your device. It is in security and maintenance if you want to access it using Control Panel. The last thing is this one. It’s very similar to Task Manager, but gives you more options, especially if you figure out that something is really wrong with your application.

Let’s say something uses 100% of your disk input and output operations, okay, something is really wrong active time and so on. This resource monitor can give you more information and a nice graph, more details when it comes to everything that your Windows Ten is doing and especially your applications, your services and everything in the background is doing at the moment when we want to remove an application, of course we can say, I want to add or remove programs. That’s fine. We’ve seen default apps, we can configure startup apps. Okay, I want to have one drive, maybe I don’t want to use it. Windows Defender and so on. Here we go, a really long list of applications that are in place. And we have Windows features as well. We can turn Windows features on or off. And one of the things I want to show you, this is a bit beyond our discussion, but there is a protocol called Telnet that allows you to manage a device remotely. For instance, if you have a Cisco device, if you have a switch router and so on, you can manage it using Telnet or SSH. And yeah, in Windows Eight and Windows Ten. You don’t have a telenet client. Of course you can download it off the Internet, but you don’t have to because it is a feature of Windows Ten. We have to find it. Here we go, telenet client. And you say, sure, just please make sure that I have a telenet client in place.

Now when I go back to CMD, I press the up arrow, I click, I say Telenet, I press Enter, and now I can access Terrane and now I can connect to a device remotely. We all know it is all about security today, and I hope you have a really nice antivirus application on your device. Here we are going to talk about built in features of Windows Ten, and one of them is of course Windows Defender. And there is a really nice feature that allows you to make sure that if you browse the Internet, you will not click on something that can, let’s say, bring you to a website with a virus and so on. And when we go to here we go, Windows Defender Security Center, we go for up. And one of the options that you will find is Smart Screen for Microsoft Edge.

This means that Windows Defender will make sure that everything that you want to visit is okay and will not cause any problems. You can find a very similar add on when you go for Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and so on. I’ve been using McAfee Site Advisor for many, many years. I’ve been pretty happy with it. If you have an antivirus application, there is a chance that you have a plugin as well that will verify that all links you’re about to click are okay. It is especially important if you want to Google something, then you can see a green icon saying yes, this link is okay. Go ahead and click on it. Please remember we are talking about some built in features. I recommend you go for a dedicated application, for instance Kaspersky, Norton and so on Bitdefender because they will give you more features and in most cases can protect you better than built in feature of Windows Ten.

2. UAC in Action

Do you remember Windows Vista? There was a really cool feature that was introduced with Windows Vista user Account Control. Well, it was a cool feature when it comes to the security side, but people really hated it at the time because it was extremely annoying. And of course, later on Microsoft was able to fix it. The idea for User Account Control option is to make your windows more secure. In most cases, we use our Windows operating system as a local administrator.

It is not recommended in the first place to make it clear, but most people are local administrators. To make sure we’re on the same page, we go for users. Here is my info. And please note, I am a local administrator. Okay? This means I can do whatever I want on this PC. I can remove an application, I can add a driver, I can stop a service, I can do whatever I want because I am a local administrator.

Of course it makes more sense to be just a user. Well, it is pretty difficult, to be honest. This is why Microsoft said, okay, let’s play this game and allow a user to be a local administrator. But even if you’re a local administrator, we want to make sure that a random application cannot take advantage of this option of your admin rights. Here we go. If I go to this PC and I want to start this application, I want to install VM Virtual Box editions. And now please note, you can see a window. User Account Control says, okay, are you really sure you want to do this?

Because first of all, we have some problems with this application. Or Are you really sure you want to do this? Because probably this application is going to make some changes. And this is what User Account Control is all about, how to change it and tweak it. Change user account control settings. And we have four main levels. First of all, we can say, forget about it, turn it off. Please note that it says, not recommended. I make changes to Windows settings, apps, try to install whatever. I will not do anything. I will not warn you.

I will not let you know. Here two more levels, and then the highest one, which is recommended if you install new software every day and visit websites, just try out some pieces of software and so on. This is the highest level that you can go for. And it’s really funny because if you want to change this option, please note it says, okay. By the way, if you want to change User Account Control options, you have to confirm using the User Account Control window. Anyway, this is how you can tweak it. Again, it is recommended you leave it as it is. If it is something that annoys you every day and makes you upset and you’re okay, you know what you’re doing, sure, turn it off. Why not? But in most cases, especially for home users. I recommend you leave it as it is.

3. Antivirus in Windows 10

Configure antivirus settings. We’ve seen Windows Defender already and we know it is extremely important to have an antivirus application on our Windows Ten device. Here we are talking about building applications in Windows. So we’ll talk about Windows defender. We’ll talk about Windows Defender settings because there is a firewall as well. And here we can see areas we have virus and thread protection, protection, account protection, firewall app device. We’ve seen app already. Let’s open windows. Defender security center. This is the main screen that you want. It’s like a dashboard. Well, it’s really funny because when you think about Spurs County virus Bitdefender semantic and so on, they have a really nice dashboard. So Microsoft said why not we’ll give you something like this? Of course, it’s not as good as all even free antivirus applications. So please do not rely on Windows Defender, but we have to understand what’s inside, especially for your exam. So we start with threat protection, okay? We can see thread history, we can see what has been happening. We can see last scan not available. This means that I have never scanned my PC. We can go for an advanced scan and decide what we wanted to scan. If you want to scan, let’s say USB drive, okay? So here you can say custom scan and then just go for, let’s say a USB disk that you want to scan. Fires and thread protection settings. This is something you want to leave it on because it’s real time protection. This is what you want every time you open the file. Every time you access a file, Windows Defender will verify if it’s okay. Cloud delivered Protection everything is in the cloud now.

So this is something that is on as well and so on. You can see a really long list of options exclusions. If Windows Defender identifies a file and says oh, there is a virus and panics about it every time you open this file and you know this file is okay, leave me alone, then you can always add this Fire and tell Windows Defender don’t bother me again, I know this file is okay, just forget about it. One tip I want to give you there is a really cool file and allows you to verify if your antivirus application is up and running. It’s not a virus, but a lot of antivirus applications identify this file and it allows you to verify that your real time protection is up and running. So here we can try and open this file and see if anything pops up. If you don’t see any warnings, this means that your antivirus application has failed to identify this file. It is not a good sign and you should verify why this is the case.

Sometimes there are some applications that fail to identify this file or this feature is off, but please make sure that you check that’s the case, because it is an easy way to verify if your antivirus application is up and running, going back to Windows Defender.

We go back, we can see account protection again. Every time you go to Control Panel, Windows Defender Five and so on, Microsoft says, oh, by the way, you have to sign in. Go for an online account. Don’t use a local account. We want to know everything about you. We want to keep everything in the cloud. Firewall and network protection.

Firewall is on. We’ll talk about Firewall later on, but this is where you can tweak all these options and turn off some features, monitor incoming and outgoing connections when we go for advanced options. Here we go. We’ll talk about Firewall later on, but this is the best place to visit Windows Defender. Firewall’s advanced security. This screen allows you to create inbound and outbound rules. Inbound I want to make sure that nobody can access my PC, and outbound rules means that I want to access the Internet. I want to access a server, and I can decide what I can do.

Okay, device security, family options, a lot of advanced options, as you can see over here, something that is available with Kaspersky, Bitdefender semantic and so on. It is a pretty basic version of all these applications. Again, I recommend you try even a free version of, let’s say Kaspersky, because now Kaspersky is available for free.

But if you want to stay with Windows Defender, okay, fair enough. You can always protect your kids online and configure some options over here as well. Trust me, there are better tools out there. Maybe not better, but in most cases you need more options.

And this is what Windows Defender will not give you, and Microsoft is extremely clear about it. Windows Defender is not designed to replace your antivirus application. It’s just to allow you to give you a starting point and allow you to use Windows Ten for a week or so. You don’t have to panic. Like ten years ago, it was impossible to use Windows without an antivirus application.

Now you’re okay and you should be okay now. Health report, you can verify if you’ve seen any issues, if your device has had any problems. You’re okay. Everything is in green, as you can see, a pretty advanced option now. When you think about Windows Ten and what you can tweak, what you can use, I recommend you play with Windows Defender was inside and then go for a full package from Kaspersky. Bitdefender semantic or anything else that you like.