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Notes for computer - self - study for exams , Exams of Introduction to Computers

Secondary information on basics of computer

Typology: Exams

2017/2018

Uploaded on 04/17/2018

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1) What is a computer
A computer is a device that acceptsinformation (in the form
of digitalizeddata) and manipulates it for some result based on
a program or sequence of instructions on how the data is to be processed.
Complex computers also include the means for storing data (including the
program, which is also a form of data) for some necessary duration. A
program may be invariable and built into the computer (and calledlogic
circuitry as it is onmicroprocessors) or different programs may be provided
to the computer (loaded into its storage and then started by an
administrator or user). Today's computers have both kinds of
programming.
2) Write a short note on MS Office
Suite of products developed byMicrosoft Corporation that includes
Microsoft Word, Excel, Access,Publisher, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
Each program serves a different purpose and is compatible with other
programs included in the package. The suite of programs is compatible
with both the Windows and Macintoshoperating system. Microsoft Office
is the most common form of softwareused in the western world.
Using microsoft office can allow your business to keep everything filed
in a neat and orderly fashion to speed things up.
During your training, we will familiarize you with how to operate each
program of theMicrosoft Office Suite of products so that you will be
comfortable using them on a daily basis.
Microsoft Office can be used to type letters and envelopes, create
spreadsheets, make labels, and produce presentations for your home or
office.
Microsoft Office or Microsoft Office Systemis a collection of computer
programs made by Microsoft. The programs are created for all users.
There are different versions of the software for home users and
for businessusers. Some versions may offer moreprograms, and some
versions cost less than others, but none are for free. The current version
is Microsoft Office 2016 (Windows) and Microsoft Office for Mac 2016
(Mac).
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1) What is a computer

A computer is a device that acceptsinformation (in the form of digitalizeddata) and manipulates it for some result based on a program or sequence of instructions on how the data is to be processed. Complex computers also include the means for storing data (including the program, which is also a form of data) for some necessary duration. A program may be invariable and built into the computer (and called logic circuitry as it is onmicroprocessors) or different programs may be provided to the computer (loaded into its storage and then started by an administrator or user). Today's computers have both kinds of programming.

2) Write a short note on MS Office

Suite of products developed byMicrosoft Corporation that includes Microsoft Word, Excel, Access,Publisher, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Each program serves a different purpose and is compatible with other programs included in the package. The suite of programs is compatible with both the Windows and Macintoshoperating system. Microsoft Office is the most common form of softwareused in the western world.

  • Using microsoft office can allow your business to keep everything filed in a neat and orderly fashion to speed things up.
  • During your training, we will familiarize you with how to operate each program of the Microsoft Office Suite of products so that you will be comfortable using them on a daily basis.
  • Microsoft Office can be used to type letters and envelopes, create spreadsheets, make labels, and produce presentations for your home or office. Microsoft Office or Microsoft Office System is a collection of computer programs made by Microsoft. The programs are created for all users. There are different versions of the software for home users and for businessusers. Some versions may offer moreprograms, and some versions cost less than others, but none are for free. The current version is Microsoft Office 2016 (Windows) and Microsoft Office for Mac 2016 (Mac).

Products

The versions available are made up of some or all or more of the following programs:

  • Microsoft Word is a word processor that lets a user type text into the document and addimages, and different font or design choices. The main file formats are .doc and .docx. It also helps to check the spelling and find the meaning of words
  • Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet andmathematics program that can make calculations and graphs based on data the user enters. The main file formats are .xls and .xlsx.
  • Microsoft PowerPoint is a program that creates presentations and slideshows. They can have text, drawing, pictures and media. They can also be set up to show on aprojector.
  • Microsoft Outlook is an email client that can send and receive emails. The user can add acontact list and multiple calendars.
  • Microsoft Access is a database program where people can store data over many tables.
  • Microsoft Publisher is a program that lets people make layouts for newsletters and presentations to print.
  • Microsoft InfoPath is a program for designing, distributing, filling and submitting electronic forms containing structured data. Based on XML.
  • Microsoft Visio is a shaping program not included in Microsoft Office Suites but can be bought in volume editions. Originally included in Microsoft Office.
  • Microsoft FrontPage is a HTML WYSIWYG program included in the Office 2003 Suite. It has been replaced by Microsoft Expression Web in the Expression Series.

Intranet

An intranet is basically a network that is local to a company. In other words, users from within this company can find all of their resources without having to go outside of the company. An intranet can include LANs, private WANs and MANs,

Extranet

An extranet is an extended intranet, where certain internal services are made available to known external users or external business partners at remote locations.

Internet

An internet is used when unknown external users need to access internal resources in your network. In other words, your company might have a web site that sells various products, and you want any external user to be able to access this service.

VPN

A virtual private network (VPN) is a special type of secured network. A VPN is used to provide a secure connection across a public network, such as an internet. Extranets typically use a VPN to provide a secure connection between a company and its known external users or offices.

Authentication is provided to validate the identities of the two peers.

Confidentiality provides encryption of the data to keep it private from prying eyes.

Integrity is used to ensure that the data sent between the two devices or sites has not been tampered with.

4) How is computer useful in research

Computers are used many ways in research.

  1. To gather primary research data, that is to conduct surveys, polls, gather usage statistics, etc. example - a counter of users on a web page or a poll of opinions
  1. To gather secondary data - scholarly journal articles, data published by government offices, stock prices, businesses annual reports example - looking up the exxon mobile's balance sheet - http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=XOM+Bala...
  2. To store data example - a database of experiment results
  3. To analyze data - To create charts, sort data, and other ways of analyzing it example - to create a pie chart of how much is spent on each type of class

5.To write up reports and summarize findings

  1. To communicate between researchers (email, IM, etc)

5) Explain file handling in MS Windows?

On most modern operating systems, files are organized into one- dimensional arrays ofbytes. The format of a file is defined by its content since a file is solely a container for data, although, on some platforms the format is usually indicated by its filename extension, specifying the rules for how the bytes must be organized and interpreted meaningfully. For example, the bytes of a plain text file (.txt in Windows) are associated with either ASCII or UTF-8characters, while the bytes of image, video, and audio files are interpreted otherwise. Most file types also allocate a few bytes formetadata, which allows a file to carry some basic information about itself.

Some file systems can store arbitrary (not interpreted by the file system) file-specific data outside of the file format, but linked to the file, for example extended attributes orforks. On other file systems this can be done via sidecar files or software-specific databases. All those methods, however, are more susceptible to loss of metadata than are container and archive file formats.

paper. Alternatively, a file may contain an arbitrary binary image (a BLOB) or it may contain an executable.

The way information is grouped into a file is entirely up to how it is designed. This has led to a plethora of more or less standardized file structures for all imaginable purposes, from the simplest to the most complex. Most computer files are used by computer programs which create, modify or delete the files for their own use on an as-needed basis. The programmers who create the programs decide what files are needed, how they are to be used and (often) their names.

In some cases, computer programs manipulate files that are made visible to the computer user. For example, in a word-processing program, the user manipulates document files that the user personally names. Although the content of the document file is arranged in a format that the word-processing program understands, the user is able to choose the name and location of the file and provide the bulk of the information (such as words and text) that will be stored in the file.

Many applications pack all their data files into a single file called an archive file, using internal markers to discern the different types of information contained within. The benefits of the archive file are to lower the number of files for easier transfer, to reduce storage usage, or just to organize outdated files. The archive file must often be unpacked before next using. File operations The most basic operations that programs can perform on a file are:

  • Create a new file
  • Change the access permissions andattributes of a file
  • Open a file, which makes the file contents available to the program
  • Read data from a file
  • Write data to a file
  • Close a file, terminating the association between it and the program

Files on a computer can be created, moved, modified, grown, shrunk, and deleted. In most cases, computer programs that are executed on the computer handle these operations, but the user of a computer can also manipulate files if necessary. For instance, Microsoft Word files are normally created and modified by the Microsoft Word program in response to user commands, but the user can also move, rename, or deletethese files directly by using a file manager program such as Windows Explorer (on Windows computers) or by command lines(CLI).

In Unix-like systems, user-space processes do not normally deal with files at all; theoperating system provides a level ofabstraction which means that almost all interaction with files from user-space is through hard links. For example, a user space program cannot delete a file; it can delete a link to a file, and if the kerneldetermines that there are no hard links to the file, it may then allow the memory location for the deleted file to be allocated for another file. The resulting free space, is commonly considered a security risk due to the existence of file recovery software. Such a risk has given rise to secure deletion programs. Only the kernel deals with files, but it handles all user-space interaction with (virtual) files in a manner that is transparent to the user-space programs.

Identifying and organizing files

Files and folders arranged in a hierarchy In modern computer systems, files are typically accessed using names (filenames). In some operating systems, the name is associated with the file itself. In others, the file is anonymous, and is pointed to by links that have names. In the latter case, a user can identify the name of the link with the file itself, but this is a false analogue, especially where there exists more than one link to the same file.

Most computers organize files into hierarchies using folders, directories, or catalogs. The concept is the same irrespective of the terminology used. Each folder can contain an arbitrary number of files, and it can also contain other folders. These other folders are referred to as subfolders. Subfolders can contain still more files and folders and so on, thus building a tree-like structure in which one "master folder" (or "root folder" — the name varies from one operating system to another) can contain any number of levels of other folders and files. Folders can be named just as files can (except for the root folder, which often does not have a name). The use of folders makes it easier to organize files in a logical way.

When a computer allows the use of folders, each file and folder has not only a name of its own, but also a path, which identifies the folder or folders in which a file or folder resides. In the path, some sort of special character—such as a slash—is used to separate the file and folder names. For example, in the illustration shown in this article, the path/Payroll/Salaries/Managers uniquely identifies a file called Managers in a folder called Salaries, which in turn is contained in a folder called Payroll. The folder and file names are separated by slashes in this example; the topmost or root folder has no name, and so the path begins with a slash (if the root folder had a name, it would precede this first slash).

Many (but not all) computer systems useextensions in file names to help identify what they contain, also known as the file type. On Windows computers, extensions consist of a dot (period) at the end of a file name, followed by a few letters to identify the type of file. An extension of .txtidentifies a text file; a .doc extension identifies any type of document or documentation, commonly in the Microsoft Word file format; and so on. Even when extensions are used in a computer system, the degree to which the computer system recognizes and heeds them can vary; in some systems, they are required, while in other systems, they are completely ignored if they are presented.

Protecting files

Many modern computer systems provide methods for protecting files against accidental and deliberate damage. Computers that allow for multiple users implement file permissions to control who may or may not modify, delete, or create files and folders. For example, a given user may be granted only permission to read a file or folder, but not to modify or delete it; or a user may be given permission to read and modify files or folders, but not to execute them. Permissions may also be used to allow only certain users to see the contents of a file or folder. Permissions protect against unauthorized tampering or destruction of information in files, and keep private information confidential from unauthorized users.

Another protection mechanism implemented in many computers is a read-only flag. When this flag is turned on for a file (which can be accomplished by a computer program or by a human user), the file can be examined, but it cannot be modified. This flag is useful for critical information that must not be modified or erased, such as special files that are used only by internal parts of the computer system. Some systems also include a hidden flag to make certain files invisible; this flag is used by the computer system to hide essential system files that users should not alter.

Storing files

The discussion above describes a file as a concept presented to a user or a high-level operating system. However, any file that has any useful purpose, outside of a thought experiment, must have some physical manifestation. That is, a file (an abstract concept) in a real computer system must have a real physical analogue if it is to exist at all.

In physical terms, most computer files are stored on some type of data storage device. For example, there is a hard disk, from which most operating systems run and on which most store their files. Hard disks have been the ubiquitous form of non-volatile storage since the

on other media that can be taken away from the computer and stored in a safe, distant location.

The grandfather-father-son backup method automatically makes three back-ups; the grandfather file is the oldest copy of the file and the son is the current copy.

File systems and file managers

The way a computer organizes, names, stores and manipulates files is globally referred to as its file system. Most computers have at least one file system. Some computers allow the use of several different file systems. For instance, on newer MS Windows computers, the older FAT-type file systems of MS-DOS and old versions of Windows are supported, in addition to the NTFS file system that is the normal file system for recent versions of Windows. Each system has its own advantages and disadvantages. Standard FAT allows only eight- character file names (plus a three-character extension) with no spaces, for example, whereas NTFS allows much longer names that can contain spaces. You can call a file "Payroll records" in NTFS, but in FAT you would be restricted to something like payroll.dat(unless you were using VFAT, a FAT extension allowing long file names).

File manager programs are utility programs that allow users to manipulate files directly. They allow you to move, create, delete and rename files and folders, although they do not actually allow you to read the contents of a file or store information in it. Every computer system provides at least one file-manager program for its native file system. For example, File Explorer (formerly Windows Explorer) is commonly used in Microsoft Windows operating systems, and Nautilus is common under several distributions of Linux.

6) Explain the functions of operating system

There are Many Functions those are Performed by the Operating System But the Main Goal of Operating System is to Provide the Interface between the user and the hardware Means Provides the Interface for Working on the System by the user. The various Functions those are Performed by the Operating System are as Explained below:-

Operating System as a Resource Manager

Operating System Also Known as the Resource Manager Means Operating System will Manages all the Resources those are Attached to the System means all the Resource like Memory and Processorand all the Input output Devices those are Attached to the System are Known as the Resources of the Computer System and the Operating system will Manage all the Resources of the System. The Operating System will identify at which Time the CPUwill perform which Operation and in which Time the Memory is used by which Programs. And which Input Device will respond to which Request of the user means When the Input and Output Devices are used by the which Programs. So this will manage all the Resources those are attached to the Computer System.

Storage Management

Operating System also Controls the all the Storage Operations means how the data or files will be Stored into thecomputers and how the Files will be Accessed by the users etc. All the Operations those are Responsible for Storing and Accessing the Files is determined by the Operating System Operating System also Allows us Creation of Files, Creation of Directories and Reading and Writing the data of Files and Directories and also Copy the contents of the Files and the Directories from One Place to Another Place.

  1. Process Management : The Operating System also Treats the Process Management means all the Processes those are given by the user or the Process those are System ‘s own Process are Handled by the Operating System. The Operating System will Create the Priorities foe the user and also Start or Stops the Execution of the Process and Also Makes the Child Process after dividing the Large Processes into the Small Processes.

Applications may be bundled with the computer and its system software or published separately, and may be coded asproprietary, open-source or university projects.[2]

  1. Explain the features in MS Power Point

Features of Microsoft PowerPoint With PowerPoint, you can make charts, tables, and macros, and insert images, audio, video, and other multimedia files, either by embedding them into the file or, if your version doesn’t support the particular file, linking to it in a slide.

  1. Write short notes Gmail:

Gmail is a free, advertising-supported emailservice provided by Google.[5]^ Users may access Gmail as secure webmail,[6]^ as well as via POP3 or IMAP4 protocols.[7][8]^ Gmail started as an invitation-only beta release on April 1, 2004[9]^ and it became available to the general public on February 7, 2007, though still in beta status at that time.[10]^ The service was upgraded from beta status on July 7, 2009, along with the rest of theGoogle Apps suite.[11][12]

With an initial storage capacity offer of 1 GBper user, Gmail significantly increased the webmail standard for free storage from the 2 to 4 MB its competitors such as Hotmailoffered at that time.[13]^ Individual Gmail messages, including attachments, may be up to 25 MB.[14]^ Gmail has a search-oriented interface and a "conversation view" similar to an Internet forum. Gmail is noted by web developers for its pioneering use of Ajax.[15]Gmail runs on Google GFE/2.0 on Linux.[16][17][18]^ As of June 2012, it was the most widely used web-based email provider with over 425 million active users worldwide.[19][20]^ According to a 2014 estimate, 60% of mid-sized US companies were using Gmail.[21]^ In May 2014, Gmail became the first app on the Google Play Store to hit one billion installations on Android devices.[22]

  1. What differentiate between the following
  1. Facebook & Twitter

Social medial is at the heart of every person's online life today. It is also an important part of daily life for businesses. If you are exploring the world of social media for the first time, all of the different options can seem a bit confusing. The most asked question that people seem to have, however, is what the difference is between Twitter and Facebook. The simple answer? Everything. However, it isn't really that cut-and-dry. Here are some major differences that prove just how essential it is for you to use both of these platforms to reach out to your audience.

  • Lifespan of content: Statistically, it has been reported that 92% of all activity and engagement with Tweets happens within the first hour of the post being made. With Facebook status updates, the interaction can go on for hours, and even days. Twitter is basically centered around real- time conversation, while Facebook is more of an ongoing conversation that people get to eventually.
  • Twitter is less about social friendships. People make connections on Facebook with friends, family members, and other people that they care to keep in touch with. Twitter allows people to follow important topics, people, and conversations that are relevant or interesting to them. It's a much more detached connection.
  • Timely matters versus timelessness: While content on Facebook is timeless, the information on Twitter is always here and now, important and relevant, and constantly changing. If you have instant news, Twitter is the place to go. For content that is less focused on time or timing, Facebook is a great medium.
  • Optimal times for posting are different. It has been studied and 5: P.M. seems to be the optimal time for tweeting, while noon seems to be the time when Facebook status updates get the most attention. Also, Wednesdays are more popular for tweets while Saturdays are more popular for Facebook posting. This is an obvious point of the difference in relevant news and content on Twitter versus the entertainment factor that Facebook has.

There are plenty of differences between Facebook and Twitter, but the bottom line is that Facebook is more of an ongoing social relationship