PC Hardware in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Viewing resources with Windows 9X

To view system resources with Windows 98, right-click My Computer, choose Properties, and click the Device Manager tab to display the System Properties dialog shown in Figure 1-8, which lists all installed devices. Clicking the + icon (or double-clicking a branch name) expands the list to show individual devices within that branch. If a problem exists with a device (a resource conflict, missing driver, etc.), Windows 98 automatically expands the branch that contains that device and flags the device with an alert icon.

Figure 1-8. Windows 98 Device Manager displaying all installed devices

To view a global list of resources, double-click the Computer branch to display the View Resources page of the Computer Properties dialog, shown in Figure 1-9. Choosing any of the four option buttons immediately displays a global list of assignments for that resource, allowing you to determine easily which resources are unassigned. Figure 1-9 shows that IRQ 03, normally assigned to Communications Port (COM2), is available for use by a new device.

Figure 1-9. The View Resources page of the Computer Resources dialog lists resources in use

To view all resources being used by a particular device, expand the Device Manager tree (see Figure 1-8) and double-click the device ...