Unit 12.  System Tools (V)

Formatting a disk

Before formatting a disk you need to take into consideration that this process will delete all of the stored information on the disk. This is a usefull tool if you want to delete all the content of a disk and at the same time make sure it does not have a virus.

Steps to follow:

Open Windows Explorer or click on My Computer, then select the unit you wish to format with the right mouse button to display the shortcut menu.

Select the option Format, and a window like the one shown here will be displayed.

Select Capacity of the disk; nowadays the majority are 1,44 Mb for Floppy.

In the File system for floppies you can only choose FAT. For hard disks you can choose FAT, which is the most used system to date, or NTFS, which is newer and has more restoration and error analysis capabilities.

Select Format options, quick format or create a an MS-DOS start up disk..

You can also label it: simply write the name where the Volume label appears.

Once the appropriate options have been selected click Start.

When you finish click Close.

Be careful not to format the system disk (C:) , unless you want to reinstall everything.

Freeing disk space

This tool is very usefull since it allows us to empty the disk of information that we do not use, like temporary files, Internet files, or even files in the Recycle Bin .

To access this tool you will have to open the Start menu and select All programs, next select Accessories and then System tools. Finally, select Disk cleanup

Once the Disk Cleanup window is opened select the unit from which we want to free space from. To do this we drop down the list that appears and select the desired unit; next a window will appear like the one shown to the right.

On this window we select the kinds of files that we want to delete. It is recommended to start by deleting the temporal files and the Recycle Bin , but we need to be carefull when we tell it to empty the Recycle Bin since it will delete the entire content of the Recycle Bin and we will not be able to retrieve those files.

To select a type of file check the box next to the option or options that we want done. Then Click OK and the process will begin.

There are other ways to free disk space; on the tab labeled More options. If you would like to learn these options click here

Character map

The character map is usefull to insert symbols that we do not have on the keyboard.

To access this tool you need to click Start and select All Programs, then select Accesories and then System tools; finally select Character Map.

The following window will open:

To obtain a character place the cursor on the symbol and click Select and then Copy.

On the bottom right corner it will indicate the keystroke that will allow us to use this symbol. This keystroke can be used to obtain the symbol on the screen. For example Alt + 233 allows us to retrieve the é symbol, which appears selected on the image, Alt+128 retrieve euro symbol €. Keep in mind that a character can have different combinations in different fonts.

If you do not find the symbol you are looking for you can choose another Font until you find the one that includes the symbol you are looking for.

  Exercises of Unit 12.

  Evaluation for Unit 12.