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Ebkust Ict Notes

This document contains lecture notes for a course on Information and Communication Technology (ICT 111) being offered at Ernest Bai Oroma University of Science and Technology. The notes cover four units: [1] Introduction to Computer Fundamentals; [2] Basics of Operating Systems; [3] Introduction to Business Communication Tools; and [4] Use of Computer in Commerce. Some of the topics that will be discussed include the components and functions of a computer system, operating systems like Windows, business software like MS Word and Excel, computer applications in fields like accounting and banking, and e-commerce. The notes are intended to provide students with foundational knowledge of computers, operating systems, software, and how computers are used in business

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100% found this document useful (1 vote)
53 views

Ebkust Ict Notes

This document contains lecture notes for a course on Information and Communication Technology (ICT 111) being offered at Ernest Bai Oroma University of Science and Technology. The notes cover four units: [1] Introduction to Computer Fundamentals; [2] Basics of Operating Systems; [3] Introduction to Business Communication Tools; and [4] Use of Computer in Commerce. Some of the topics that will be discussed include the components and functions of a computer system, operating systems like Windows, business software like MS Word and Excel, computer applications in fields like accounting and banking, and e-commerce. The notes are intended to provide students with foundational knowledge of computers, operating systems, software, and how computers are used in business

Uploaded by

mansaraymusa788
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 72

ERNEST BAI OROMA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT


MAKENI CAMPUS
2023/2024 ACADEMIC YEAR
FIRST SEMESTER LECTURE NOTES
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
ICT 111

UNIT NO. TOPIC


1. 1. Introduction to Computer Fundamentals
Introduction to Computer
Computer System
HardwareComputer Memory
Input and Output Devices
Interaction between User and Computer Introduction to Free and Open-Source
Software
Definition of Computer Virus, Types of Viruses, Use of Antivirus software
2. Basics of Operating System
Definition of Operating System
Objectives, types, and functions of Operating Systems Working with Windows Operating
System: Introduction, The
Desktop, Structure of Windows, Windows Explorer, File and Folder Operations, The Search, The
Recycle Bin, Configuring the Screen, Adding or Removing New Programs using
Control Panel, Applications in windows (Paint, Notepad, WordPad,
Calculator)
3. Introduction to Business Communication Tools [
MS-Word: Introduction, Starting MS-Word, MS-Word Screen and its Components, Elementary
Working with MS-Word
MS-Excel: Introduction, Starting MS-Excel, Basics of Spreadsheet,MS-Excel
Screen and Its Components, Elementary Working with MS-Excel MS-Power point: Introduction,
Starting MS-PowerPoint, Basics of PowerPoint, MS-PowerPoint Screen and Its Components,
Elementary
Working with MS Power Point
4. Use of Computer in Commerce
Data Processing, Files and Records, File Organization (Sequential,Direct/Random, Index )
Computer Applications in Business – Need and Scope
Computer Applications in various fields of Commerce: PersonnelAdministration,
Accounting, Cost and Budgetary Management, Purchasing, Banking,
Insurance
and Stock-broking, e-governance

Lecture notes1prepared
by: Mr Alie Conteh
Introduction to E-Commerce, Evolution of E-Commerce, Role of E-Commerce,
E-Commerce Framework, E-Commerce Categories

LECTURE TWO
UNIT NO TOPIC

1. Internet and Internet application Introduction, Internet


evolution Working of Internet, Use of Internet
Overview of World Wide Web (Web Server and Client)Introduction to Search engine and
Searching the Web Downloading files
Introduction to Web Browsers
Working with E-mail (creation and use of the same)
2. Electronic Data Interchange
Introduction to EDI EDI Architecture
Financial EDI
Overview of the technology involved in EDI
3. Electronic Payment System
Introduction to EPS
Introduction to EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer) Introduction to SET (Secure Electronic
Transaction) Business requirement addressed by SET
Introduction to Digital Signature and Digital Certificates , Stages of SET
Types of Payment System: Digital Cash, Electronic Cheque, Smart Card,
Credit/Debit Card
4. Introduction to HTML.
Introduction to HTML. Working of HTML Creating and loading HTML page, tags
Structure of on HTML, Document, Stand Alone Tags Formatting text, Adding Images
Creating hyper Links, Tables Sending E-mails through Web Page
Sample web pages
5. Internet Security
Security, Privacy
Ethical Issues & Cyber Law

Lecture notes2prepared
by: Mr Alie Conteh
LECTURE 1
LECTURE 1. Introduction to Computer Fundamentals
1.1 Introduction to Computer

Computer is an advanced electronic device that takes raw data as input from the user and processes it
under the control of set of instructions (called program), gives the result (output),and saves it for the
future use.

This Computer Fundamentals tutorial covers a foundational understanding of computer hardware,


software, operating systems, peripherals etc.

These lecture notes provide a general introduction to computers systems. A computer system is madeup
of hardware, software and liveware. Software is another term for computer program. Software controls
the computer and makes it do useful work. Without software a computer is useless. Hardware refers to
the physical components that make up a computer system that we can touch. Liveware refers to the user
of the computer system. The hardware include the computer's processor, memory, monitor, keyboard,
mouse, disk drive, printer and so on. In these lectures, we take a brief look at the functions of the different
hardware components. In addition, we describe the some of the essential software required for the
operation of a computer system.

1. Functionalities of a computer

Any digital computer carries out five functions in gross terms:

• Takes data as input.


• Stores the data/instructions in its memory and use them when required.
• Processes the data and converts it into useful information.
• Generates the output
• Controls all the above four steps.

Definition

Computer is an electronic data processing device which

• accepts and stores data input,


• processes the data input, and
• generates the output in a required format.

Lecture notes3prepared
by: Mr Alie Conteh
1.1.3 Advantages
Following list demonstrates the advantages of computers in today's arena.

1) High Speed
• Computer is a very fast device.
• It is capable of performing calculation of very large amount of data.
• The computer has units of speed in microsecond, nanosecond, and
even thepicosecond.
• It can perform millions of calculations in a few seconds as compared to man
who willspend many months for doing the same task.
2) Accuracy
• In addition to being very fast, computers are very accurate.
• The calculations are 100% error free.
• Computers perform all jobs with 100% accuracy provided that correct input has
beengiven.
3) Storage Capability
• Memory is a very important characteristic of computers.
• A computer has much more storage capacity than human beings.
• It can store large amount of data.
• It can store any type of data such as images, videos, text, audio and many others.
4) Diligence
• Unlike human beings, a computer is free from monotony, tiredness and
lack ofconcentration.
• It can work continuously without any error and boredom.
• It can do repeated work with same speed and accuracy.

5) Versatility
• A computer is a very versatile machine.
• A computer is very flexible in performing the jobs to be done.
• This machine can be used to solve the problems related to various fields.
• At one instance, it may be solving a complex scientific problem and the very
nextmoment it may be playing a card game.

6) Reliability
• A computer is a reliable machine.
• Modern electronic components have long lives.
• Computers are designed to make maintenance easy.

7) Automation
• Computer is an automatic machine.
• Automation means ability to perform the given task automatically.
• Once a program is given to computer i.e., stored in computer memory, the program and
instruction can control the program execution without human interaction.

Lecture notes4prepared
by: Mr Alie Conteh
8) Reduction in Paper Work
• The use of computers for data processing in an organization leads to
reduction inpaper work and results in speeding up a process.
• As data in electronic files can be retrieved as and when required, the
problem ofmaintenance of large number of paper files gets reduced.

9) Reduction in Cost
• Though the initial investment for installing a computer is high but it
substantiallyreduces the cost of each of its transaction.

1.1.4 Disadvantages
Following list demonstrates the disadvantages of computers in today's arena

1) No I.Q
• A computer is a machine that has no intelligence to perform any task.
• Each instruction has to be given to computer.
• A computer cannot take any decision on its own.

2) Dependency
• It functions as per a user’s instruction, so it is fully dependent on human being

3) Environment
• The operating environment of computer should be dust free and suitable.

4) No Feeling
• Computers have no feelings or emotions.
• It cannot make judgement based on feeling, taste, experience, and knowledge
unlike ahuman being.

1.1.5 Components of computer


All types of computers follow a same basic logical structure and perform the following
fivebasic operations for converting raw input data into information useful to their users.
Sr.No. Operation Description
The process of entering data and instructions into the computer
1 Take Input
system

Lecture notes5prepared
by: Mr Alie Conteh
Saving data and instructions so that they are available for
2 Store Data
processing as and when required.
3 Processing Data Performing arithmetic, and logical operations on data in
order toconvert them into useful information.
Output The process of producing useful information or results for the
4 Informatio
n user, such as a printed report or visual display.
Control
5 Directs the manner and sequence in which all of the above
the
workflow operations are performed.

1. Input Unit

This unit contains devices with the help of which we enter data into computer. This unit makes
link between user and computer. The input devices translate the information into theform
understandable by computer.

2. CPU (Central Processing Unit)


CPU is considered as the brain of the computer. CPU performs all types of data processing
operations. It stores data, intermediate results and instructions(program). It controls the operation
of all parts of computer.

CPU itself has following three components


• ALU(Arithmetic Logic Unit)
• Memory Unit
• Control Unit

3. Output Unit
Output unit consists of devices with the help of which we get the information from computer.This
unit is a link between computer and users. Output devices translate the computer's output into
the form understandable by users.

Lecture notes6prepared
by: Mr Alie Conteh
1.2. CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
There are the different types of computers available these days. The function of each type of computer is to
process the data and provide some output to the users. However, the methods or techniques used by these
computers to process and handle the data may be different. We can classify the computer according to the
following three criteria:

1. Based on operating principles


2. Based on applications
3. Based on size and capability

1. Based on Operating Principles


On the basis of the operation performed and methods used to store and process the data information,
computers can be classified into the following categories:

1. Analog computers
The analog computers represent data in the form of continuous electrical signals having a specific magnitude.
These computers are very fast in their operations to be carried out at the same time. They are a powerful tool
to solve differ ential equations.
2. Digital Computers
The digital computer is also known as the digital information processing system, is a type of computer that
stores and processes data in the digital form. Therefore, each type of data is usually stored in these computers
in terms of 0s and 1s. The output produced by these computers is also in the digital form.
3. Hybrid Computers
The hybrid computer is a combination of analog computer and digital computer because it encompasses the
best features of both these computers. Therefore, the hardware components of hybrid computers are usually
the mixture of analog and digital components. The hybrid computer is also less expensive than the digital
computers.

2. BASED ON APPLICATION
Different computers are designed for a different purpose so that they can perform their tasks according to
their capabilities. On the basis of different applications or purpose, computers can be classified into the
following categories:

1. General purpose computers


They are designed in such a manner that they can work in all environments. The general purpose computers
are versatile and can store a number of programs meant for performing distinct tasks. The general purpose
computers are not efficient and consume a large amount of time in generating the results.
2. Special purpose computers
They are designed in such a manner that they can perform only a specified task. The special purpose
computers are not versatile and their speed and memory size depend on the task that is to be performed. The
special purpose computers are efficient and consume less amount of time in generating the results.

Lecture notes prepared


7
by: Mr Alie Conteh
3. BASED ON SIZE AND CAPABILITIES
Computers differ from each other in terms of their size, shape, and weights. Each type of computers perform
some unique functions and can be employed in the fields suited to them. On the basis of size, shape the
computers can be classified into the following categories.

1. Microcomputers
A microcomputer is a small and cheap digital computer that is designed to be used by individuals. It is built
around a microprocessor, a storage unit, and an I/o channel. The microcomputers are generally in the form of
PCs, workstations and notebook computers.
2. Mini computers
A minicomputer was first introduced in the year 1960 by Digital Equipment Corporations(DEC). They were
called minicomputers because of their smaller size than the other computers of those time.
3. Mainframe computers
A mainframe computer is a very large computer that is employed by the large business organization for
handling major applications such as financial transaction processing.
4. Super computers
A super computer is the fastest type of computers that can perform complex operations at a very high speed.
The super computer was first presented in the year 1960s by Seymour Cray at Control Data Corporation (CDC).
They are more expansive than the other categories of computers.

1) PC (Personal Computer)
A PC can be defined as a small, relatively inexpensive computer designed for an individual user.
PCs are based on the microprocessor technology that enables manufacturers to put an entire CPU
on one chip. Businesses use personal computers for word processing, accounting, desktop
publishing, and for running spreadsheet and database management applications. At home, the
most popular use for personal computers is playing games and surfing Internet.
Although personal computers are designed as single-user systems, these systems are normally
linked together to form a network. In terms of power, now-a-days High-end models of the
Macintosh and PC offer the same computing power and graphics capability as low-end
workstations by Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell.

Lecture notes prepared


8
by: Mr Alie Conteh
2) Workstation
Workstation is a computer used for engineering applications (CAD/CAM), desktop
publishing, software development, and other such types of applications which require
a moderate amount of computing power and relatively high quality graphics
capabilities.
Workstations generally come with a large, high-resolution graphics screen, large amount
of RAM, inbuilt network support, and a graphical user interface. Most workstations also
have amass storage device such as a disk drive, but a special type of workstation, called
a diskless workstation, comes without a disk drive.
Common operating systems for workstations are UNIX and Windows NT. Like PC,
Workstations are also single-user computers like PC but are typically linked together
to forma local-area network, although they can also be used as stand-alone systems.

3) Minicomputer
It is a midsize multi-processing system capable of supporting up to 250 users simultaneously.

Lecture notes9 prepared


by: Mr Alie Conteh
4) Mainframe
Mainframe is very large in size and is an expensive computer capable of supporting
hundreds or even thousands of users simultaneously. Mainframe executes many
programs concurrently and supports many simultaneous execution of programs

5) Supercomputer
Supercomputers are one of the fastest computers currently available. Supercomputers
are very expensive and are employed for specialized applications that require immense
amount of mathematical calculations (number crunching). For example, weather
forecasting, scientific simulations, (animated) graphics, fluid dynamic calculations,
nuclear energy research, electronic design, and analysis of geological data (e.g. in
petrochemical prospecting).

Lecture notes10prepared
by: Mr Alie Conteh
1.3.COMPUTER SYSTEM HARDWARE
Hardware represents the physical and tangible components of a computer i.e. the components
that can be seen and touched.
Examples of Hardware are following:

Input devices -- keyboard, mouse etc.


Output devices -- printer, monitor etc.
Secondary storage devices -- Hard disk, CD, DVD etc.
Internal components -- CPU, motherboard, RAM etc.

1.4. Relationship between Hardware and Software


• Hardware and software are mutually dependent on each other. Both of them must
work together to make a computer produce a useful output.
• Software cannot be utilized without supporting hardware.
• Hardware without set of programs to operate upon cannot be utilized and is useless.
• To get a particular job done on the computer, relevant software should be loaded into
the hardware
• Hardware is a one-time expense.
• Software development is very expensive and is a continuing expense.
• Different software applications can be loaded on a hardware to run different jobs.
• A software acts as an interface between the user and the hardware.
• If hardware is the 'heart' of a computer system, then software is its 'soul'. Both are

Lecture notes
11 prepared
by: Mr Alie Conteh
complimentary to each other.

1.5 Computer Memory


• Memory is used to store the information (programs and data) that the computer is
currently using. It is sometimes called main or primary memory. One form of memory
is called
RAM - random access memory. This means that any location in memory may be
accessed in the same amount of time as any other location. Memory access means one
of two things, either the CPU is reading from a memory location or the CPU is writing
to a memory location. When the CPU reads from a memory location, the contents of the
memory location are copied to a CPU register. When the CPU writes to a memory
location, the CPU copies the contents of a CPU register to the memory location,
overwriting the previous contents of the location. The CPU cannot carry outany other
operations on memory locations.
• RAM is a form of short term or volatile memory. Information stored in short term
storage is lost when the computer is switched off (or when power fails e.g. if you pull
out the power lead!). There is therefore a requirement for permanent or long term storage
which is also referred to as secondary storage or auxiliary storage. This role isfulfilled
by disk and tape storage.

1. Random Access Memory (RAM)


RAM(Random Access Memory) is the internal memory of the CPU for storing data, program
and program result. It is read/write memory which stores data until the machine is working.
As soon as the machine is switched off, data is erased.
Access time in RAM is independent of the address that is, each storage location inside the
memory is as easy to reach as other locations and takes the same amount of time. Data in the
RAM can be accessed randomly but it is very expensive.
RAM is volatile, i.e. data stored in it is lost when we switch off the computer or if there is a
power failure. Hence a backup uninterruptible power system(UPS) is often used with
computers. RAM is small, both in terms of its physical size and in the amount of data it can
hold.

RAM is of two types


1. Static RAM (SRAM)
2. Dynamic RAM (DRAM)

1) StaticRAM (SRAM)
The word static indicates that the memory retains its contents as long as power is being
supplied. However, data is lost when the power gets down due to volatile nature. SRAMchips
use a matrix of 6-transistors and no capacitors. Transistors do not require power toprevent
leakage, so SRAM need not have to be refreshed on a regular basis.
Because of the extra space in the matrix, SRAM uses more chips than DRAM for the same
amount of storage space, thus making the manufacturing costs higher. So SRAM is used as
cache memory and has very fast access.

Lecture notes
12 prepared
by: Mr Alie Conteh
Characteristic of the Static RAM
• It has long life
• There is no need to refresh
• Faster
• Used as cache memory
• Large size
• Expensive
• High power consumption

2) Dynamic RAM (DRAM)


DRAM, unlike SRAM, must be continually refreshed in order to maintain the data. This is
done by placing the memory on a refresh circuit that rewrites the data several hundred times
per second. DRAM is used for most system memory because it is cheap and small. All DRAMs
are made up of memory cells which are composed of one capacitor and one transistor.

Characteristics of the Dynamic RAM


• It has short data lifetime
• Need to be refreshed continuously
• Slower as compared to SRAM
• Used as RAM
• Lesser in size
• Less expensive
• Less power consumption

1.5.2 - Read Only Memory (ROM)


ROM stands for Read Only Memory. The memory from which we can only read but cannot write on it.
This type of memory is non-volatile. The information is stored permanently in such memories during
manufacture. A ROM, stores such instructions that are required to starta computer. This operation is referred
to as bootstrap. ROM chips are not only used in the computer but also in other electronic items like washing
machine and microwave oven.

Following are the various types of ROM

1) MROM (Masked ROM)


The very first ROMs were hard-wired devices that contained a pre-programmed set of data or
instructions. This kind of ROMs are known as masked ROMs which are inexpensive.
2) PROM (Programmable Read only Memory)
PROM is read-only memory that can be modified only once by a user. The user buys a blank
PROM and enters the desired contents using a PROM program. Inside the PROM chip there
are small fuses which are burnt open during programming. It can be programmed only once
and is not erasable.
3) EPROM (Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory)
The EPROM can be erased by exposing it to ultraviolet light for a duration of up to 40 minutes.
Lecture notes
13 prepared
by: Mr Alie Conteh
Usually, an EPROM eraser achieves this function. During programming, an electrical charge
is trapped in an insulated gate region. The charge is retained for more than ten years because
the charge has no leakage path. For erasing this charge, ultra-violet light is passed through a
quartz crystal window(lid). This exposure to ultra-violet light dissipates thecharge. During
normal use the quartz lid is sealed with a sticker.

4) EEPROM(Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory)


The EEPROM is programmed and erased electrically. It can be erased and reprogrammed
about ten thousand times. Both erasing and programming take about 4 to 10 ms (milli second).
In EEPROM, any location can be selectively erased and programmed. EEPROMs can be
erased one byte at a time, rather than erasing the entire chip. Hence, the process of re-
programming is flexible but slow.

Advantages of ROM
The advantages of ROM are as follows:
• Non-volatile in nature
• These cannot be accidentally changed
• Cheaper than RAMs
• Easy to test
• More reliable than RAMs
• These are static and do not require refreshing
• Its contents are always known and can be verified

6. Input/Output Devices:

1. Input Devices
Following are few of the important input devices which are used in a computer:
1. Mouse
2. Joy Stick
3. Key board
4. Light pen
5. Track Ball
6. Scanner
7. Graphic Tablet
8. Microphone
9. Magnetic Ink Card Reader(MICR)
10. Optical Character Reader(OCR)
11. Bar Code Reader
12. Optical Mark Reader(OMR)

1)Keyboard
Keyboard is the most common and very popular input device which helps in inputting data to
the computer. The layout of the keyboard is like that of traditional typewriter, although there
are some additional keys provided for performing additional functions.
Keyboards are of two sizes 84 keys or 101/102 keys, but now keyboards with 104 keys or108
keys are also available for Windows and Internet.

Lecture notes
14 prepared
by: Mr Alie Conteh
THE KEYS ON THE KEYBOARD ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Sr.No keys Description


1 Typing Keys These keys include the letter keys (A-Z) and digit keys (0-9)which generally give
same layout as that of typewriters.
It is used to enter numeric data or cursor movement. Generally, it consists of a set of
2 Numeric Keypad 17 keys that are laid out inthe same configuration used by most adding machines
and calculators.
The twelve function keys are present on the keyboard whichare arranged in a row at
3 Function Keys the top of the keyboard. Each function key has unique meaning and is used for some
specific purpose.
These keys provide cursor and screen control. It includes fourdirectional arrow keys.
4 Control keys Control keys also include Home, End, Insert, Delete, Page Up, Page Down,
Control(Ctrl), Alternate(Alt), Escape(Esc).
Special Purpose Keyboard also contains some special purpose keys such as Enter, Shift, Caps Lock,
5 Keys Num Lock, Space bar, Tab, and PrintScreen.

2) Mouse
Mouse is most popular pointing device. It is a very famous cursor-control device having
a small palm size box with a round ball at its base which senses the movement of mouse
andsends corresponding signals to CPU when the mouse buttons are pressed.
Generally it has two buttons called left and right button and a wheel is present between
the buttons. Mouse can be used to control the position of cursor on screen, but it cannot
be usedto enter text into the computer.

Advantages
• Easy to use
• Not very expensive
• Moves the cursor faster than the arrow keys of keyboard.

Lecture notes15prepared
by: Mr Alie Conteh
3) Joystick
Joystick is also a pointing device which is used to move cursor position on a monitor
screen.It is a stick having a spherical ball at its both lower and upper ends. The lower
spherical ball moves in a socket. The joystick can be moved in all four directions.
The function of joystick is similar to that of a mouse. It is mainly used in Computer
AidedDesigning(CAD) and playing computer games.

1) Light Pen
Light pen is a pointing device which is similar to a pen. It is used to select a displayed
menu item or draw pictures on the monitor screen. It consists of a photocell and an
optical system placed in a small tube. When the tip of a light pen is moved over the
monitor screen and penbutton is pressed, its photocell sensing element detects the screen
location and sends the corresponding signal to the CPU.

2) TrackBall
Track ball is an input device that is mostly used in notebook or laptop computer, instead
of a mouse. This is a ball which is half inserted and by moving fingers on ball, pointer
can be moved. Since the whole device is not moved, a track ball requires less space than
a mouse. Atrack ball comes in various shapes like a ball, a button and a square.

3) Scanner
Scanner is an input device which works more like a photocopy machine. It is used
when some information is available on a paper and it is to be transferred to the hard
disc of the computer for further manipulation. Scanner captures images from the
source which are thenconverted into the digital form that can be stored on the disc.
These images can be edited before they are printed.

Lecture notes16prepared
by: Mr Alie Conteh
4) Digitizer
Digitizer is an input device which converts analog information into digital form.
Digitizer canconvert a signal from the television or camera into a series of numbers that
could be stored in a computer. They can be used by the computer to create a picture of
whatever the camera had been pointed at. Digitizer is also known as Tablet or Graphics
Tablet because it converts graphics and pictorial data into binary inputs. A graphic tablet
as digitizer is used for doing fine works of drawing and image manipulation applications.
5) Microphone

Microphone is an input
device to input sound that is then
stored in digital form. The
microphone is used for
various applications like adding sound to a multimedia presentation orfor mixing music.

6) Magnetic Ink Card Reader(MICR)


MICR input device is generally used in banks because of a large number of cheques to
be processed every day. The bank's code number and cheque number are printed on
the chequeswith a special type of ink that contains particles of magnetic material that
are machine readable. This reading process is called Magnetic Ink Character
Recognition (MICR). The main advantages of MICR is that it is fast and less error
prone.

Lecture notes17prepared
by: Mr Alie Conteh
Lecture notes18prepared
by: Mr Alie Conteh
Optical Character Reader(OCR) OCR is an input device used to read a printed text.
OCR scans text optically character bycharacter, converts them into a machine readable
code and stores the text on the system memory.

1.
7) Bar Code Readers
Bar Code Reader is a device used for reading bar coded data (data in form of light and
dark lines). Bar coded data is generally used in labelling goods, numbering the books
etc. It may be a hand held scanner or may be embedded in a stationary scanner. Bar
Code Reader scans abar code image, converts it into an alphanumeric value which is
then fed to the computer to which bar code reader is connected.

1.6.2 Output Devices


Following are few of the important output devices which are used in a computer.
1. Monitors
2. Graphic Plotter
3. Printer
1.6.3 Monitors
Monitors, commonly called as Visual Display Unit (VDU), are the main output device
of acomputer. It forms images from tiny dots, called pixels that are arranged in a
rectangular form. The sharpness of the image depends upon the number of pixels.
There are two kinds of viewing screen used for monitors.
1) Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT)
2) Flat- Panel Display
3) Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) Monitor
The CRT display is made up of small picture elements called pixels. The smaller the
pixels,the better the image clarity, or resolution. It takes more than one illuminated pixel
to form whole character, such as the letter ‘e’ in the word help.
A finite number of characters can be displayed on a screen at once. The screen can be
dividedinto a series of character boxes - fixed location on the screen where a standard
character can be placed. Most screens are capable of displaying 80 characters of data
horizontally and 25 lines vertically. There are some disadvantages of CRT:

• Large in Size
• High power consumption

Lecture notes19prepared
by: Mr Alie Conteh
2) Flat-PanelDisplay Monitor
The flat-panel display refers to a class of video devices that have reduced volume,
weight andpower requirement in comparison to the CRT. You can hang them on walls
or wear them on your wrists. Current uses of flat-panel displays include calculators,
video games, monitors, laptop computer, graphics display.
The flat-panel display is divided into two categories:

• Emissive Displays - The emissive displays are devices that convert electrical energy
into light. Example are plasma panel and LED (Light-Emitting Diodes).
• Non-Emissive Displays - The Non-emissive displays use optical effects to convert
sunlight or light from some other source into graphics patterns. Example is LCD
(Liquid-Crystal Device)

1.6.4 Printers
Printer is an output device, which is used to print information on

paper.There are two types of printers:

1. Impact Printers
2. Non-Impact Printers
A) Impact Printers
The impact printers print the characters by striking them on the ribbon which is then
pressedon the paper.
Characteristics of Impact Printers are the following:
• Very low consumable costs
• Very noisy
• Useful for bulk printing due to low cost
• There is physical contact with the paper to produce an image
These printers are of two types
• Character printers
• Line printers

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Character Printers
Character printers are the printers which print one character at a time.

These are further divided into two types:

• Dot Matrix Printer (DMP)


• Daisy Wheel
1) Dot Matrix Printer
In the market one of the most popular printers is Dot Matrix Printer. These printers are
popular because of their ease of printing and economical price. Each character printed
is inform of pattern of dots and head consists of a Matrix of Pins of size (5*7, 7*9, 9*7
or 9*9) which come out to form a character that is why it is called Dot Matrix Printer.
Advantages
• Inexpensive
• Widely Used
• Other language characters can be printed
Disadvantages
• Slow Speed
• Poor Quality

1) Daisy Wheel
Head is lying on a wheel and pins corresponding to characters are like petals of Daisy
(flowername) that is why it is called Daisy Wheel Printer. These printers are generally
used for
Word processing in offices which require a few letters to be sent here and there with
very nicequality.
Advantages
• More reliable than DMP
• Better quality
• The fonts of character can be easily changed

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Disadvantages
• Slower than DMP
• Noisy
• More expensive than DMP

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2) Line Printers

Line printers are the printers which print one line at a time.
These are of further two types
• Drum Printer
• Chain Printer
3) Drum Printer
This printer is like a drum in shape so it is called drum printer. The surface of drum is
dividedinto number of tracks. Total tracks are equal to size of paper i.e. for a paper width
of 132 characters, drum will have 132 tracks. A character set is embossed on track. The
different character sets available in the market are 48 character set, 64 and 96 characters
set. One rotation of drum prints one line. Drum printers are fast in speed and can print
300 to 2000 lines per minute.

Advantages
• Very high speed
Disadvantages
• Very expensive
• Characters fonts cannot be changed
4) Chain Printer
In this printer, chain of character sets are used so it is called Chain Printer. A standard
character set may have 48, 64, or 96 characters.
Advantages
• Character fonts can easily be changed.
• Different languages can be used with the same printer.

Disadvantages
• Noisy
B) Non-impact Printers
Non-impact printers print the characters without using ribbon. These printers print a

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completepage at a time so they are also called as Page Printers.
These printers are of two types
• Laser Printers
• Inkjet Printers

Characteristics of Non-impact Printers


• Faster than impact printers.
• They are not noisy.
• High quality.
• Support many fonts and different character size.

1) Laser Printers
These are non-impact page printers. They use laser lights to produce the dots needed to
formthe characters to be printed on a page.
Advantages
• Very high speed
• Very high quality output
• Give good graphics quality
• Support many fonts and different character size
Disadvantages
• Expensive.
• Cannot be used to produce multiple copies of a document in a single printing.

2) Inkjet Printers
Inkjet printers are non-impact character printers based on a relatively new technology.
Theyprint characters by spraying small drops of ink onto paper. Inkjet printers produce
high quality output with presentable features.
They make less noise because no hammering is done and these have many styles of
printing modes available. Colour printing is also possible. Some models of Inkjet
printers can producemultiple copies of printing also.
Advantages
• High quality printing
• More reliable
Disadvantages
• Expensive as cost per page is high

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• Slow as compared to laser printer

1.5 Interaction between User and Computer


\Human–computer interaction (HCI) involves the study, planning, design and uses of the
interfaces between people (users) and computers. HCI (human-computer interaction) is the
study of how people interact with computers and to what extent computers are or are not
developed for successful interaction with human beings.
HCI is a very broad discipline that encompasses different specialties with different concerns
regarding computer development: computer science is concerned with the application design
and engineering of the human interfaces; sociology and anthropology are concerned with the
interactions between technology, work and organization and the way that human systems and
technical systems mutually adapt to each other; ergonomics is concerned with the safety of
computer systems and the safe limits of human cognition and sensation; psychology is
concerned with the cognitive processes of humans and the behavior of users; linguistics is
concerned with the development of human and machine languages and the relationship
between the two.

1.6.Introduction to free and open source software


Open Source Software:
Software for which:
The source code is available to the end-user;
The source code can be modified by the end-user;
There are no restrictions on redistribution or use;
The licensing conditions are usually intended to facilitate continued re-use and wide
availability of the software, in both commercial and non-commercial contexts;
The cost of acquisition to the end-user is often minimal.

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1.7.Definition of computer virus
A computer virus is a program or piece of code that is loaded onto your computer without
your knowledge and runs against your wishes. Viruses can also replicate themselves. All
computer viruses are man-made. A simple virus that can make a copy of itself over and over
again is relatively easy to produce. Even such a simple virus is dangerous because it will
quickly use all available memory and bring the system to a halt. An even more dangerous
type of virus is one capable of transmitting itself across networks and bypassing security
systems.
In computers, a virus is a program or programming code that replicates by being copied or
initiating its copying to another program, computer boot sector or document.
A computer virus is a program designed to harm or cause harm on an infected computer. Itsspreads through
e-mail attachments, portable devices, websites containing malicious scripts and file downloads. A
computer virus attaches itself to the host files and always activate whenever you open the infected files.
The virus can replicate itself and then infect the other files on your computer causing more damage. Below
is a list of different types of computer viruses and what they do

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.

1. 7.1. Types of computer virus


2. Resident Viruses
This type of virus is a permanent which dwells in the RAM memory. From there it can overcome and
interrupt all of the operations executed by the system: corrupting files andprograms that are opened,
closed, copied, renamed etc.
Examples include: Randex, CMJ, Meve, and MrKlunky.
3. Multipartite Viruses
Multipartite viruses are distributed through infected media and usually hide in the memory. Gradually,
the virus moves to the boot sector of the hard drive and infects executable files onthe hard drive and later
across the computer system.
4. Direct Action Viruses
The main purpose of this virus is to replicate and take action when it is executed. When a specific
condition is met, the virus will go into action and infect files in the directory or folderthat it is in and in
directories that are specified in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file PATH. This batch file is always located in the
root directory of the hard disk and carries out certain operationswhen the computer is booted.

5. Overwrite Viruses
Virus of this kind is characterized by the fact that it deletes the information contained in thefiles that it
infects, rendering them partially or totally useless once they have been infected.
The only way to clean a file infected by an overwrite virus is to delete the file completely,thus losing
the original content.
Examples of this virus include: Way, Trj.Reboot, Trivial.88.D.

6. Boot Virus
This type of virus affects the boot sector of a floppy or hard disk. This is a crucial part of a disk, in which information
on the disk itself is stored together with a program that makes itpossible to boot (start) the computer from the disk.
The best way of avoiding boot viruses is to ensure that floppy disks are write-protected andnever start
your computer with an unknown floppy disk in the disk drive.
Examples of boot viruses include: Polyboot.B, AntiEXE.

7. Macro Virus
Macro viruses infect files that are created using certain applications or programs that containmacros.
These mini-programs make it possible to automate series of operations so that they are performed as a
single action, thereby saving the user from having to carry them out one by one.
Examples of macro viruses: Relax, Melissa.A, Bablas, O97M/Y2K.

8. Directory Virus
Directory viruses change the paths that indicate the location of a file. By executing a program(file with
the extension .EXE or .COM) which has been infected by a virus, you are unknowingly running the virus
program, while the original file and program have been previously moved by the virus. Once infected it
becomes impossible to locate the original files.

9. Polymorphic Virus
Polymorphic viruses encrypt or encode themselves in a different way (using differentalgorithms
and encryption keys) every time they infect a system.
This makes it impossible for anti-viruses to find them using string or signature searches (because
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they are different in each encryption) and also enables them to create a large numberof copies of
themselves.
Examples include: Elkern, Marburg, Satan Bug, and Tuareg.

10. File Infectors


This type of virus infects programs or executable files (files with an .EXE or .COM extension).
When one of these programs is run, directly or indirectly, the virus is activated,producing the
damaging effects it is programmed to carry out. The majority of existing viruses belongs to this
category, and can be classified depending on the actions that they carry out.

11. Encrypted Viruses


This type of viruses consists of encrypted malicious code, decrypted module. The viruses use
encrypted code technique which make antivirus software hardly to detect them. The antivirus
program usually can detect this type of viruses when they try spread by decrypted
themselves.

12. Companion Viruses


Companion viruses can be considered file infector viruses like resident or direct action types.They
are known as companion viruses because once they get into the system they "accompany" the other
files that already exist. In other words, in order to carry out their infection routines, companion
viruses can wait in memory until a program is run (resident viruses) or act immediately by making
copies of themselves (direct action viruses).
Some examples include: Stator, Asimov.1539, and Terrax.1069

13. Network Virus


Network viruses rapidly spread through a Local Network Area (LAN), and sometimes throughout
the internet. Generally, network viruses multiply through shared resources, i.e., shared drives and
folders. When the virus infects a computer, it searches through the networkto attack its new
potential prey. When the virus finishes infecting that computer, it moves on to the next and the
cycle repeats itself.
The most dangerous network viruses are Nimda and SQLSlammer.

14. Nonresident Viruses


This type of viruses is similar to Resident Viruses by using replication of module. Besides that,
Nonresident Viruses role as finder module which can infect to files when it found one (itwill select
one or more files to infect each time the module is executed).

15. Stealth Viruses


Stealth Viruses is some sort of viruses which try to trick anti-virus software by intercepting its
requests to the operating system. It has ability to hide itself from some antivirus software
programs. Therefore, some antivirus program cannot detect them.
16. Sparse Infectors
In order to spread widely, a virus must attempt to avoid detection. To minimize the probability of
its being discovered a virus could use any number of different techniques. It might, for example,
only infect every 20th time a file is executed; it might only infect fileswhose lengths are within
narrowly defined ranges or whose names begin with letters in a certain range of the alphabet.
There are many other possibilities.

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17. Spacefiller (Cavity) Viruses
Many viruses take the easy way out when infecting files; they simply attach themselves to theend
of the file and then change the start of the program so that it first points to the virus and then to the
actual program code. Many viruses that do this also implement some
stealth techniques so you don't see the increase in file length when the virus is active inmemory.
A spacefiller (cavity) virus, on the other hand, attempts to be clever. Some program files, for a variety
of reasons, have empty space inside of them. This empty space can be used to housevirus code. A
spacefiller virus attempts to install itself in this empty space while not damaging the actual program
itself. An advantage of this is that the virus then does not increase the length of the program and can
avoid the need for some stealth techniques. The Lehigh virus was an early example of a spacefiller virus.

1. FAT Virus
The file allocation table or FAT is the part of a disk used to connect information and is a vitalpart of the
normal functioning of the computer. This type of virus attack can be especially dangerous, by preventing
access to certain sectionsof the disk where important files are stored. Damage caused can result in
information losses from individual files or even entire directories.
2. Worms
A worm is technically not a virus, but a program very similar to a virus; it has the ability to self-
replicate, and can lead to negative effects on your system and most importantly they are detected and
eliminated by antiviruses.
Examples of worms include: PSWBugbear.B, Lovgate.F, Trile.C, Sobig.D, Mapson.
3. Trojans or Trojan Horses
Another unsavory breed of malicious code (not a virus as well) are Trojans or Trojan horses, which unlike
viruses do not reproduce by infecting other files, nor do they self-replicate like worms.
4. Logic Bombs
They are not considered viruses because they do not replicate. They are not even programs in their own
right but rather camouflaged segments of other programs.
Their objective is to destroy data on the computer once certain conditions have been met.Logic bombs
go undetected until launched, and the results can be destructive
1.7.2 Use of Antivirus software
Antivirus or anti-virus software (often abbreviated as AV), sometimes known as anti- malware
software, is computer software used to prevent, detect and remove malicious software. Antivirus (or
anti- virus) software is used to safeguard a computer from malware, includingviruses, computer
worms, and Trojan horses
Antivirus software may also remove or prevent spyware and adware, along with other forms of malicious
programs. Free antivirus software generally only searches your computer using signature-based detection
which involves looking for patterns of data that are known to be related to already-identified malware.
Paid antivirus software will usually also include heuristics to catch new, or zero-day threats, by either
using genetic signatures to identify newvariants of existing virus code or by running the file in a virtual
environment (also called a sandbox), and watching what it does to see if it has malicious intent. Virus
designers, however, usually test their malicious code against the major antivirus typesof malware,
specifically ransomware, use polymorphic code to make it difficult to be detected by antivirus software.
Besides using antivirus software to keep your computer safe and running smoothly, it is also always a
good idea to be proactive: make sure your web browser is updated to the latest version, use a firewall,
only download programs from websites you trust and always surf the web using a standard user account,
rather than your administrator one.

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2.1.Working With Windows Operating System The Desktop

The desktop is the main screen area that you see after you turn on your computer and log onto Windows.
When you open programs or folders, they appear on the desktop. You can alsoput things on the desktop,
such as files and folders, and arrange them as you want.

2I,c1o.2nWs aorreksimngalwpitichtudreesskthtoaptriecpornessentfiles,
folders, programs, and other items. When

Moving icons around

Windows stacks icons in columns on the left side of the desktop. But you're not stuck with that
arrangement. You can move an icon by dragging it to a new place on the desktop.

You can also have Windows automatically arrange your icons. Right-click an empty area of the
desktop, click View, and then clickAuto arrange icons. Windows stacks your icons inthe upper-
left corner and locks them in place. To unlock the icons so that you can move them again, click Auto
arrange icons again, clearing the check mark next to it.

Selecting multiple icons


To move or delete a bunch of icons at once, you must first select all of them. Click an empty area of the desktop and
drag the mouse. Surround the icons that you want to select with the rectangle that appears. Then release the mouse
button. Now youcan drag the icons as a group or delete them

Hiding desktop icons


If you want to temporarily hide all of your desktop icons without removing them, right-click an
empty part of the desktop, click View, and then click Show desktop icons to clear thecheck mark
from that option. Now no icons are displayed on the desktop. You can get them back by clicking
Show desktop icons again.

Windows Explorer:
Windows Explorer is the file management application in windows. Windows explorer can be used
to navigate your hard drive and display the contents of the folders and subfolders youuse to
organize your files on your hard drive. Windows Explorer is automatically launched any time you
open a folder in windows XP.

The Recycle Bin


When you delete a file or folder, it doesn't actually get deleted,it goes to the Recycle
Bin. That's a good thing, because if you want that deleted file, you can getit back.
If you won't need the deleted items again, you can empty the Recycle Bin. Doing that will
permanently delete the items and reclaim any disk space they were using.
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Start Menu:
The Start menu is the main gateway to your
computer's programs, folders, and settings. It's called
a menu because it provides a list of choices.

Use the Start menu to do these common activities:


• Start programs
• Open commonly used folders
• Search for files, folders, andprograms
• Adjust computer settings
• Get help with the Windows operating system
• Turn off the computer
• Log off from Windows or switch to a
different user account.
Getting started with the Start menu

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To open the Start menu, click the Start button in the lower-left corner of your screen. Or, press the Windows logo
key on your keyboard.
The Start menu has three basic parts:

• The large left pane shows a short list of programs on your computer. Clicking AllPrograms
displays a complete list of programs.
• At the bottom of the left pane is the search box, which allows you to look forprograms
and files on your computer by typing in search terms.
• The right pane provides access to commonly used folders, files, settings, and features.It's
also where you go to log off from Windows or turn off your computer.

Opening programs from the Start menu


1. Start menu is used to open programs installed on your computer. To open a programin
the left pane of the Start menu, click it.
2. Clicking All Programs, The left pane displays a long list of programs.
3. Clicking one of the program icons starts the program, and the Start menu closes.
4. Move the pointer over its icon or name, a box appears that contains a description ofthe
program.

The search box


The search box is one of the most convenient ways to find things on your computer. The exact location of the items
doesn't matter. It will also search your e-mail messages, saved instant messages, appointments, and contacts.

To use the search box, open the Start menu and start typing. You don't need to click insidethe
box first. As you type, the search results appear above the search box in the left pane ofthe
Start menu.

A program, file, or folder will appear as a search result if:

• Any word in its title matches or begins with your search term.
• Any text in the actual contents of the file matches or begins with your search term.
• Any word in a property of the file, such as the author, matches or begins with your search
term.
Click any search result to open it. Or, click the Clear button to clear the search results and return
to the main programs list. You can also click See more results to search your entire computer.
Search box also searches your Internet favorites and the history of websites you've visited. If
any of these webpages include the search term, they appear under a heading called "Files."

The right pane includes

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1. Personal folder. This folder, in turn, contains user-specific files, including the My
Documents, My Music, My Pictures, and My Videos folders.
2. Documents. Opens the Documents library, where you can access & open text files,
spreadsheets, etc.
3. Pictures. Opens the Pictures library, where you can access and view digital pictures
and graphics files.
4. Music. Opens the Music library, where you can access and play music and other
audio files.
5. Games. Opens the Games folder, where you can access all of the games on your
computer.
6. Computer. Opens a window where you can access disk drives, cameras, printers,
scanners, and other hardware connected to your computer.
7. Control Panel. Opens Control Panel, where you can customize the appearance and
functionality of your computer, install or uninstall programs, set up network
connections, and manage user accounts.
8. Devices and Printers. Opens a window where you can view information about the
printer, mouse, and other devices installed on your computer.
9. Default Programs. Opens a window where you can choose which program you want
Windows to use for activities such as web browsing.
10. Help and Support. Opens Windows Help and Support, where you can browse and
search Help topics about using Windows and your computer.
At the bottom of the right pane is the Shut down button.
Click the Shut down button to turn off your computer.
Clicking the arrow next to the Shut down button displays a
menu with additional options for switching users, logging off,
restarting, or shutting down.

Taskbar:
The taskbar is the long horizontal bar at the bottom of your screen. It has three main sections:

• The Start button , which opens the Start menu.


• The middle section, which shows you which programs & files you have open
&allows you to quickly switch between them.
• The notification area, which includes a clock and icons (small pictures) that
Keepctormacmkuonficyaotuerthweinsdtaotwussof certain programs and computer settings.

If you open one or more program/file at a time, it's hard to


see what else is what you've already opened.

Whenever you open a program, folder, or file, Windows


creates a corresponding button on the taskbar.

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The button shows an icon that represents the open program. In the picture below, two
programs are open—Calculator and Minesweeper—and each has its own button on the
taskbar. It also highlights the icon whose window is active. Click a taskbar button to
switch to that window

The notification area

The notification area, at the right of the taskbar, includes a


clock and a group of icons. These icons communicate the
status of something on your computer or provide access to
certain settings.
When you move your pointer to a particular icon, you will see that icon's name or the
statusof a setting. Double-clicking an icon in the notification area usually opens the
program orsetting associated with it. For example, double-clicking the volume icon
opens the volume controls.
Windows hides icons in the notification area when you haven't
used them in a while. If icons become hidden, click the Show
hidden icons button to temporarily display the hidden icons.
Click the Show hidden icons button to display all icons in the notification area

Using menus, buttons, bars, and boxes

Menus, buttons, scroll bars, and check boxes are examples of controls that you operate
with your mouse or keyboard. These controls allow you to select commands, change
settings, orwork with windows.

Menus:

Most programs contain hundreds of commands that you use to work the program. Many
of these commands are organized under menus. A program menu shows you a list of
choices.To choose one of the commands listed in a menu, click it. Sometimes menus
show submenus.

Recognizing menus isn't always easy, because not all menu controls look same or even
appear on a menu bar. When you see an arrow next to a word or picture, you're probably
looking at a menu control.

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Scroll bars

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When a document, webpage, or picture exceeds the size of its window, scroll bars appear to
allow you to see the information that is currently out of
view. The following picture shows the parts of a scroll bar.To use

a scroll bar:

• Click the up or down scroll arrows to scroll the window's


contents up or down in small steps. Hold down the mouse
button to scroll continuously.
• Click an empty area of a scroll bar above or belowthe
scroll box to scroll up or down one page.
• Drag a scroll box up, down, left, or right to scroll the
window in that direction.

Command buttons

A command button performs a command when


you click it. You'll most often seethem in dialog
boxes, which are small windows that contain
options for completing a task. For example, if
you close a Paint picture without saving it first,
you might see a dialog box like this.

Outside of dialog boxes, command buttons vary in appearance.

If a button changes into two parts when you point to it, you've
discovered a split button. Clicking the main part of the button performs a command, whereas
clicking the arrow opens a menu with more options.
Option buttons

Option buttons

allow you to make one choice among two or more options. They frequently
appear in dialog boxes. The following picture shows two option buttons. The
"Color" option is selected.

Check boxes

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Check boxes allow you to choose multiple options at the same time. Click an empty
checkbox to select that option
To use check boxes:

• Click an empty square to select that option. A check


mark will appear in the square, indicating that the option
is selected.
• To turn off an option, clear (remove) its check mark by clicking it.
• Options that currently can't be selected or cleared are shown in gray.

Sliders :

A slider lets you adjust a setting along a range of values.


Touse a slider, drag the slider toward the value that you
want.

A slider along the bar shows the currently selected value. In


the example shown above, the slider is positioned midway between Slow and Fast,
indicatinga medium pointer speed.

Text boxes:

A text box allows you to type information,


such as a search term or password. The
following picture shows a dialog box
containing a text box. We've entered
"bear" into the text box.

Text boxes that require you to enter a password


will usually hide your password as you type it, in
case someone else is looking at your screen.

Drop-down lists:

Drop-down lists are similar to menus. Instead of clicking a command, though, you
choose an option. When closed, a drop-down list shows only the currently selected option.
The other available options are hidden until you click the control, as shown below.

To open a drop-down list,


click it. To choose an option
from the list, click the
option.

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List boxes:

A list box displays a list of options that you can choose from. Unlike a
drop-down list, some or all of the options are visible without having to
open the list.

To choose an option from the list, click it. If the option you wantisn't
visible, use the scroll bar to scroll the list up or down. If thelist box
has a text box above it, you can type the name or value ofthe option
instead.

Tabs :

In some dialog boxes, options are divided into two or more tabs. Only one tab, or set ofoptions,
can be viewed at a time. The currently selected tab appears in front of the other tabs.To switch to
a different tab, click the tab.

Whenever you open a program, file, or folder, it appears on your screen in a box or framecalled a
window.

Parts of a window

Although the contents of every window are different, all


windows share some things in common. For one thing,
windows always appear on the desktop—the main work
area of your screen. In addition, most windows have the
same basic parts.

Parts of a typical window


• Title bar. Displays the name of the document and program
• Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons. These buttons hide the window, enlarge it tofill
the whole screen, and close it, respectively
• Menu bar. Contains items that you can click to make choices in a program.
• Scroll bar. Lets you scroll the contents of the window to see information that iscurrently
out of view.

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• Borders and corners. You can drag these with your mouse pointer to change
the sizeof the window.
Changing the size of a window

• To maximize window, click its Maximize button


ordouble-click the window's title bar.

• To return a maximized window to its former size,


click its Restore button or, double-click the window's
titlebar.
• To resize a window (make it smaller or bigger), point to any of
the window's borders or corners. When the mouse pointer changes to a two-headed
arrow (as in picture), drag the border or corner to shrink/enlarge the window.
• Drag a window's border or corner to resize it.

Minimizing a window:

To minimize a window, click its Minimize button . The window disappears from
the desktop and is visible only as a button on the taskbar, the long horizontal bar at the
bottom of your screen.
To make a minimized window appear again on the desktop,
click its taskbar button. The window appears exactly as it did
before you minimized it.

Closing a window

Closing a window removes it from the desktop and taskbar. To close a window,
clickits Close button .
The taskbar provides a way to organize all of your
windows. Each window has a corresponding button
onthe taskbar. To switch to another window, just click
its taskbar button. The window appears in front of all
other windows, becoming the active window—the one
you're currently working in.
To easily identify a window, point to its taskbar button.
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When you point to a taskbar button, you'll see a thumbnail-sized preview of the window.
This preview is especially useful if you can't identify a window by its title alone.

Dialog boxes:

A dialog box is a special type of window that asks you


a question, allows you to select options to perform a
task,or provides you with information. Most dialog
boxes
can't be maximized, minimized, or resized. They can be moved.

Working with files and folders


A file is an item that contains information. On your computer, files are represented
with icons; this makes it easy to recognize a type of file by looking at its icon. Here are
some common file icons:

A folder is a container you can use to store files in. If


An empty folder (left); a folder containing files
you had thousands of paper files on your desk, it would
be nearly impossible to find any particular file when you
needed it. That's why people often store paper files in
folders inside a filing cabinet. Folders can also store other
folders.You can create any number of subfolders, and
each can hold any number of files and additional
subfolders.

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Understanding the parts of a window

When you open a folder or library,


you see it in a window. The various
parts of this window are designed to
help younavigate around Windows or
work with files, folders, and libraries
more easily. Here's a typical window
and each of its parts:

Window part What it's useful for


Navigation Use the navigation pane to access libraries, folders, saved searches, and even
pane entire hard disks. Use the Favorites section to open your most commonly
used folders and searches. You can also expand Computer to
browse folders and subfolders.
Back and Use the Back button and the Forward button to navigate to other folders
Forward button or libraries you've already opened without closing the current window. These
buttons work together with the address bar; after you usethe address bar
to change folders, you can use the Back button to return to
the previous folder.
Toolbar Use the toolbar to perform common tasks, such as changing the appearance
of your files and folders, burning files to a CD, or starting a digital picture
slide show. The toolbar's buttons change to show only the tasks that are
relevant.
Address bar Use the address bar to navigate to a different folder or library or to go back
to a previous one.

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Library pane The library pane appears only when you are in a library (such as the
Documents library). Use the library pane to customize the library or to
arrange the files by different properties.

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Column Use the column headings to change how the files in the file list are
headings organized.
File list This is where the contents of the current folder or library are displayed.
If
you type in the search box to find a file, only the files that match
yourcurrent view (including files in subfolders) will appear.
Type a word or phrase in the search box to look for an item in the current
Search box folder or library. The search begins as soon as you begin typing—so if
you type "B," for example, all the files with names starting with the
letter Bwill appear in the file list.
Details pane Use the details pane to see the most common properties associated with
the selected file. File properties are information about a file, such as
the author, the date you last changed the file, and any descriptive
tags you
might have added to the file.
Preview pane Use the preview pane to see the contents of most files. If you select an
e-mail message, text file, or picture, for example, you can see its
contents without opening it in a program. If you don't see the preview
pane, click
thePreview pane button in the toolbar to turn it on.

Viewing and arranging files and folders

When you open a folder or library, you can change how the files look in the window.
Forexample, you might prefer larger (or smaller) icons or a

view that lets you see different kinds of information

abouteach file. To make these kinds of changes,

use the

Views button in the toolbar.


Each time you click the left side of the Views button, it
changes the way your files and folders are displayed by
cycling through five different views: Large Icons, List, a
view called Details that shows several columns of
information about the file, a smaller icon view called
Tiles, and a view called Content that shows some of the
content from within the file.
Windows Applications – Notepad, WordPad, Paint ,Calculator.

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Start/Accessories menu is used to access convenient tools (application programs)
included in Windows XP that can be used to perform many everyday tasks.
Notepad
Notepad is a text editor, which is a program similar to a word processor but cannot
perform any special editing. No embedded codes are inserted into the document. Text
files also called: unformatted text files and ASCII (American Standard Code for
Information Interchange).

With Notepad, you can:


• Create simple text documents
• Multi-tasking/create/edit batch files
• Print a file

Formatting with Page Setup and Printing in Notepad


To print a Notepad document, you can locate the document with Explorer or My
Computer.Open the file. Print file by using:
• File/Print command from the menu bar.
• Select Print from the shortcut menu that comes up when you right-click the file.
• Can also drag and drop to a printer shortcut.

You can also open Notepad first and then open the document from
Notepad’s File/Open command. Once the document is opened you can print it.
Advantage ofopening Notepad prior to locating file:
• Can apply page formatting before you print.
• Can add a header or footer.
• Can adjust the margins.

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Features of Notepad:
1. Notepad has minimal editing features.
2. Notepad has word wrap which prevents text from running over into the margins
andautomatically moves text to the next line.
3. Used to create/save/open/edit file.
4. Can create time log.
5. Within Notepad – cut, copy, and paste text.
6. Copy data to Notepad from other files.
7. Copy Notepad text to other word processing text or database document.

WordPad
WordPad is a simple word
processor.WordPad allows simple
formatting:
• Change fonts.
• Character level formatting.
• Margins can be changed/created.
• Insert bulleted charts/graphic and sound files.

Has menu bar and toolbar.


WordPad lacks the powerful features of other word processors such as creating columns,
tables, and spell checking.
You do not need to press <Enter> when you reach the right margin. Word processors
will move to the next line automatically. This is called a soft return. The only time you
need topress <Enter> is to create a new paragraph. This is called a hard return.

Paragraphs:
Traditional English style paragraph includes a topic sentence, supporting sentences, and
aconcluding sentence. Indented by one tab.
A paragraph, in word processing terms, is all the text between paragraph marks (¶). It
can beone character, one page, or several pages of text.
To indent a paragraph you use the <Tab> key.

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by: Mr Alie Conteh
• Features of WordPad:
Title bar/Name of document first (docucentric approach)
Menu Bar
Toolbar
Format Bar
Document Ruler
Selection Bar: unmarked column along left edge of document window.
Insertion Point: is where you begin keying in text. 2 modes – Insert mode (Default) and
Typeover -Press Insert to toggle between modes.
Status Bar: tells you the status of the document.
WordPad and Microsoft Word both claim .RTF extension.
Rich text format (RTF) allows the exchange of text files between different word
processors indifferent OS.
Problems can occur when any registered file extension is claimed by more than one
program. The default extension for WordPad documents is .doc. This extension is also
used by Word for Windows, so if Word is installed, a document you create in WordPad
might not open withWordPad when you double-click it.

• Editing a Document in WordPad


To edit text you need to move the insertion point to the correct position.
You can move the insertion point with either the mouse or the keyboard. The keyboard
isusually used for keying in data. The mouse is usually used for editing.
There are several key combinations that can be used to quickly move the insertion
point.The Format Toolbar offers shortcuts to menu commands.
• Formatting Paragraphs and Using
Tabs :You can change paragraph alignment so that it is left-justified, centered, or
right-justified. Left-aligned or left-justified means that the selected paragraph(s) will
line up on the left margin. Right-aligned or right-justified means that the selected
paragraph(s) will line up on the right margin.
Centered means that each line in the paragraph(s) will be centered between the left and
rightmargins.
The first line of a paragraph can be indented by pressing the <Tab> key. The <Tab>
keymoves the first line a preset number of spaces from the left margin.
• Printing and Page Setup in WordPad
You can use the same techniques to print a document from WordPad that you used to
print adocument from Notepad.
In WordPad, the only formatting that you can apply to the document (Page Setup) is to
alterthe margins.
Headers and Footers are not supported
Paint
Paint is a graphics application program used to create drawings or
images.Can only create/edit bitmap graphics (.bmp)
Bitmap Graphics:
• Screen divided into pixels (pels)
• Drawing = turning pixels on or off in different colors
• Detailed
• Take up lots of disk space
• Resolution is fixed

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If installed programs (such as Office) have correct graphic filters, Paint can read TIFF,
JPEG,GIF, PCX, Targa and Kodak Photo CD files. Save Paint files in GIF and JPEG
format.
Images created can stand alone or be copied to other documents.
Graphics files are identified by file extensions.

• Paint Window
The Paint window has many components, some are common to all windows programs,
othersare not.
1. Menu Bar – location of choices consistent:

• Choices available depend on program’s purpose.


• Paint choices different than word processing – task different.
• New choice – Image.

2. Tool Box - is actually a toolbar that you select your drawing tools from.

Below the Tool Box is an area called the Tool Options box where the options available
forthe selected tool are displayed.
3. Color Box - contains the colors you can use in Paint. The foreground color is the
color youdraw with. The background color is the color of your drawing area.
4. Drawing area - is like a canvas and is the area where you draw. Default drawing
tool –pencil. Cursor assumes shape of selected drawing tool.

The Tools:
1. Free-Form Select – Selects a free form cutout in a drawing.
2. Select – Selects a rectangular cutout.
3. Erase/Color Eraser – Changes the foreground color to the background color.
4. Fill With Color – Fills a bordered area with the selected foreground color.
5. Pick Color – Picks a color in your drawing and uses it as your
foreground coloror background color.

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6. Magnifier – Magnifies a selected area.
7. Pencil – Creates a free-form line.
8. Brush – Draws a free-form brush stroke.
9. Airbrush – Creates a spray can effect.
10. Text – Places text in the drawing.
11. Line – Draws a straight line.
12. Curve – Draws a straight line, then curves it.
13. Rectangle – Creates a rectangle or square.
14. Polygon – Draws a shape with an unlimited number of sides.
15. Ellipse – Creates a circle or ellipse.
16. Rounded Rectangle – Creates a round-cornered rectangle or square.

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• Fill Styles:
When you select a shape tool, three choices appear in the Tool Options area. Each of
thesechoices is a fill style.
The effect of each of the fill styles depends on the mouse button used to draw the shape.
• Using the Left mouse button:
Top: Outline in foreground color. No fill color.
Middle: Outline in foreground color. Fill in background
color. Bottom: Solid shape in background color. Has no
outline.
• Using the Right mouse button:
Top: Outline in background color. No fill color.
Middle: Outline in background color. Fill in foreground
color. Bottom: solid shape in foreground color. Has no
outline.
• Picture Characteristics
Paint used to view existing picture.
Paint can be used to create a new picture.
• Standard settings for new picture.
• Creates picture with default settings.

You can change these default settings.


• The Shape Tools
The Shape tools let you work with pre-defined shapes unlike the free-form
tools.Shape tools include Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, and Rounded Rectangle.
Less color means a smaller file.
• Importing and Exporting Graphics
To import is to bring a drawing into your picture from a graphic
file.To export is to save to file a graphic image.
Clip art is a collection of many, usually small, images that you can add to your graphics.
• Clip art can be purchased.
• Can alter clip art and save it as new drawing.
• Using Text and Other Pictures in a
Drawing
You can also add text to your pictures.
You can choose different fonts and styles for your text line in a word processor.
Characters from the font Wingdings can be imported to add pictures to your
drawing.
• Printing in Paint
You can print any picture that you create or view in Paint.
Graphics take much longer to print than text and the quality of the printout will depend
on thequality of the printer.
If the printer is not a color printer, the picture will print in shades of gray.
• Using Drawings as Background
Any drawing you create in Paint can be used as desktop background.

1. Using Windows XP Calculator


Like a calculator you keep in a desk drawer, the Windows Calculator is small but saves
youtime by performing all the calculations common to a standard calculator.

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by: Mr Alie Conteh
The Standard Windows Calculator, works so much like a pocket calculator that you needlittle help
getting started.
To display the Calculator, open the Start menu and choose Programs, Accessories, Calculator. The
Calculator opens in the same view (Standard or Scientific) in which it wasdisplayed the last time it
was used.
To close the Calculator, click the Close button in the title bar. If you use the Calculator frequently,
however, don't close it; click the Minimize button to minimize the Calculator to abutton on the taskbar.
The Calculator has only three menus: Edit, View, and Help. The Edit menu contains two simple
commands for copying and pasting; the View menu switches between the Standardand Scientific
views; and the Help menu is the same as in all Windows accessories.
2.Operating the Calculator
To use the Calculator with the mouse, just click the appropriate numbers and sign keys, like you
would press buttons on a desk calculator. Numbers appear in the display window as youselect them,
and the results appear after the calculations are performed. To enter numbers from the keyboard, use
either the numbers across the top of the keyboard or those on the numeric keypad (you must first
press the NumLock key if the NumLock feature is not enabled). To calculate, press the keys on the
keyboard that match the Calculator keys.

3.1 WORKING WITH E-MAIL:


E-mail (electronic mail) is the exchange of computer-stored messages by telecommunication. (Some
publications spell it email; we prefer the currently more established spelling of e-mail.) E-mail messages are
usually encoded in ASCII text. However, you can also send non-text files, such as graphic images and sound
files, as attachments sent in binary streams. E-mail was one of the first uses of the Internet and is still the most
popular use. A large percentage of the total traffic over the Internet is e-mail. E-mail can also be exchanged
between online service provider users and in networks other than the Internet, both public and private.

E-mail can be distributed to lists of people as well as to individuals. A shared distribution list can be
managed by using an e-mail reflector. Some mailing lists allow you to subscribe by sending a request
to the mailing list administrator. A mailing list that is administered automatically is called a list server.

E-mail is one of the protocols included with the Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol(TCP/IP)
suite of protocols. A popular protocol for sending e-mail is Simple Mail Transfer

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Protocol and a popular protocol for receiving it is POP3. Both Netscape and Microsoft
include an e-mail utility with their Web browsers.

3.2 How to Create a Email


Gmail has been increasing in popularity since it was first introduced in 2004. With the
decline of Yahoo!, AOL, and Hotmail, more and more people are moving to Google's
services. Creating a Gmail account is quick and easy, and also provides you access to
otherGoogle products such as YouTube, Google Drive, and Google Plus.
1 . Creating Your Account
Suppose If u want to open your account on gmail.com. then follow the steps given below
Open a Web browser ( internet explorer or google chrome or mozilla etc)

write in address bar www.gmail.com and you will get below image

Now click on "CREATE AN ACCOUNT", as shown in below (check the red arrow) .

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After clicking on "CREATE AN ACCOUNT " button you will get a window as shown
inbelow image

Fill all the details, here the user name is the desired user ID which you want to

create.after felling all the details click on "Next step" Button (check the red arrow)

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after next step it will ask for Phone number for verification, enter cell phone number
andclick on next

now click on "next step " button and you will get you inbox .

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Congs you have created your new gmail ID.

Enjoy your new Gmail account. You're finished! Click on "Continue to Gmail" to access
yourinbox, read your emails, and write new ones.

5. Use of Email

Email is one of the most important forms of communication in today's digital age. It's
the waythat millions (if not billions) of people stay in touch with each other. Luckily,
this form of near-instant communication is completely free. Make a free email account
today to start sending and receiving email immediately. Read on below the jump for
detailed instructions on registering a new email account with several of the internet's
most popular email providers.
Go to Gmail.com. The first step to creating an email account with Gmail, Google's free
email service, is to visit Gmail's main site. Type "gmail.com" into your browser's
navigation bar, or, alternatively, type "Gmail" into your search engine of choice and
click the relevant result.

The email is actually used to transfer messages between one to another. It is also used for :-

1. Group discussion by making groups in hotmail, yahoo, etc


2. Stay in touch with users attached in the group.
3. Transmitting documents through attachments
4. Group email to multiple users
5. Convineint way of sending job application.
6. Easy method of advertisement.
7. Receiving conformation of service.
8. Service subscription

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4. INTERNET AND INTERNET APPLICATION
4.1.Introduction

It is a worldwide system which has the following characteristics:

• Internet is a world-wide / global system of interconnected computer networks.


• Internet uses the standard Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
• Every computer in internet is identified by a unique IP address.
• IP Address is a unique set of numbers (such as 110.22.33.114) which
identifies acomputer’s location.
• A special computer DNS (Domain Name Server) is used to give name to
the IPAddress so that user can locate a computer by a name.
• For example, a DNS server will resolve a name
http://www.tutorialspoint.com to aparticular IP address to uniquely identify
the computer on which this website is hosted.
• Internet is accessible to every user all over the world.

4.2 Evolution of the Internet

The structure and makeup of the Internet has adapted as the needs of its community
have changed. Today's Internet serves the largest and most diverse community of
network users inthe computing world. A brief chronology and summary of significant
components are provided in this chapter to set the stage for understanding the challenges
of interfacing the Internet and the steps to build scalable internetworks.

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Origins of the Internet

The Internet started as an experiment in the late 1960s by the Advanced Research Projects
Agency (ARPA, now called DARPA) of the U.S. Department of Defense. DARPA
experimented with the connection of computer networks by giving grants to multiple
universities and private companies to get them involved in the research.

In December 1969, the experimental network went online with the connection of a four-
node network connected via 56 Kbps circuits. This new technology proved to be highly
reliable and led to the creation of two similar military networks, MILNET in the U.S. and
MINET in Europe. Thousands of hosts and users subsequently connected their private
networks (universities and government) to the ARPANET, thus creating the initial "ARPA
Internet." ARPANET had an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), which prohibited the use of the
Internet forcommercial use. ARPANET was decommissioned in 1989.

By 1985, the ARPANET was heavily used and congested. In response, the National Science
Foundation (NSF) initiated phase one development of the NSFNET. The NSFNET was
composed of multiple regional networks and peer networks (such as the NASA Science
Network) connected to a major backbone that constituted the core of the overall NSFNET.

In its earliest form, in 1986, the NSFNET created a three-tiered network architecture. The
architecture connected campuses and research organizations to regional networks, which in
turn connected to a main backbone linking six nationally funded super-computer centers.
Theoriginal links were 56 Kbps.

The links were upgraded in 1988 to faster T1 (1.544 Mbps) links as a result of the NSFNET
1987 competitive solicitation for a faster network service, awarded to Merit Network, Inc.
and its partners MCI, IBM, and the state of Michigan. The NSFNET T1 backbone
connected a total of 13 sites that included Merit, BARRNET, MIDnet, Westnet,
NorthWestNet, SESQUINET, SURANet, NCAR (National Center of Atmospheric
Research), and five NSF supercomputer centers.
In 1990, Merit, IBM, and MCI started a new organization known as Advanced Network
andServices (ANS). Merit Network's Internet engineering group provided a policy routing
database and routing consultation and management services for the NSFNET, whereas ANS
operated the backbone routers and a Network Operation Center (NOC).
The history of the Internet begins with the development of electronic computers in the
1950s. Initial concepts of packet networking originated in several computer science
laboratories in the United States, Great Britain, and France. The US Department of Defense
awarded contracts as early as the 1960s for packet network systems, including the
development of the ARPANET (which would become the first network to use the Internet
Protocol.) The first message was sent over the ARPANET from computer science Professor
Leonard Kleinrock's laboratory at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to the
second network node at Stanford Research Institute (SRI).
Packet switching networks such as ARPANET, Mark I at NPL in the UK, CYCLADES,
Merit Network, Tymnet, and Telenet, were developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s
using a variety of communications protocols. The ARPANET in particular led to the
development
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of protocols for internetworking, in which multiple separate networks could be joined
into anetwork of networks.

Access to the ARPANET was expanded in 1981 when the National Science Foundation
(NSF) funded the Computer Science Network (CSNET). In 1982, the Internet protocol
suite (TCP/IP) was introduced as the standard networking protocol on the ARPANET.
In the early 1980s the NSF funded the establishment for national supercomputing
centers at several universities, and provided interconnectivity in 1986 with the NSFNET
project, which also created network access to the supercomputer sites in the United
States from research and education organizations. Commercial Internet service providers
(ISPs) began to emerge in thelate 1980s. The ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990.
Private connections to the Internet by commercial entities became widespread quickly,
and the NSFNET was decommissioned in 1995, removing the last restrictions on the
use of the Internet to carry commercial traffic.

Since the mid-1990s, the Internet has had a revolutionary impact on culture and
commerce, including the rise of near-instant communication by electronic mail, instant
messaging, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone calls, two-way interactive
video calls, and the World Wide Web with its discussion forums, blogs, social
networking, and online shopping sites.
The research and education community continues to develop and use advanced networks
such as NSF's very high speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS), Internet2, and
National LambdaRail. Increasing amounts of data are transmitted at higher and higher
speeds overfiber optic networks operating at 1-Gbit/s, 10-Gbit/s, or more. The Internet's
takeover of the global communication landscape was almost instant in historical terms:
it only communicated 1% of the information flowing through two-way
telecommunications networks in the year 1993, already 51% by 2000, and more than
97% of the telecommunicated information by 2007.[1] Today the Internet continues to
grow, driven by ever greater amounts of online information, commerce, entertainment,
and social networking.

4.2.1 Working of Internet:


The internet is the network of networks around the world. It is a global network of
computer.It consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government
networks. The Internet connects millions of computers. These computers are called
hosts. The communication protocol used for Internet is TCP/IP. The computers on
Internet are linked through different communication media. The commonly used
communication media are telephone lines, fiber optic cables, microwave and satellite.

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A large number of books, newspapers, magazines, encyclopedia, and other types of materialsare available
in electronic from on the Internet. We can find information or news on about almost any thing of the
world. We can also access latest information or news on any topic. It means that Internet is an ocean of
knowledge.In addition of finding information, we can communicate with other people around the world.
Due to Internet our world has become a "global village".

Working of the InternetThere is no particular organization that controls the Internet. Different
networks of private companies, government agencies, research organizations, universities etc. are
interconnected together. You can say that the Internet is a collection of millions of computers, all
linked together.

A personal computer can be linked to the Internet using a phone-line modem, DSL or cable modem. The
modem is used to communicate with the server of an Internet Server Provider (ISP). ISP is a company
that provides the Internet connections to the users. There are many ISP companies in each country of the
world. The user has to get an Internet connection fromany ISP company to connect to the Internet.

A computer in a business or university is usually connected with LAN using Network


Interface Card (or LAN card). The LAN of university or business is connected to the server
of ISP using a high-speed phone line such as TI Line. A TI Line can handle approximately
1.5 million bits per second. A normal phone line using a modem can handle 30,000 to 50,000
bits per second.

The user's computer connects to ISP's server makes its connection to larger ISP. The largest
ISPs maintain fiber-optic lines, under sea cables or satellite links. In this way, every computer
on the Internet is connected to every other computer on the Internet.

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2. Use of Internet:
Internet is today one of the most important part of our daily life. There are large numbers of things that can
be done using the internet and so it is very important. You can say that with the progress in the internet we
are progressing in every sphere of life as it not only makes ourtasks easier but also saves a lot of time.
Today internet is used for different purposes depending upon the requirement. Here in this very article we
have mentioned then ten best uses of the internet. Here goes the list.
Internet has been the most useful technology of the modern times which helps us not only in our daily lives, but
also our personal and professional lives developments. The internet helpsus achieve this in several different ways.
For the students and educational purposes the internet is widely used to gather information soas to do the
research or add to the knowledge of any sort of subject they have. Even the business personals and the
professions like doctors, access the internet to filter the necessary information for their use. The internet is
therefore the largest encyclopedia for everyone, in all age categories.
The internet has served to be more useful in maintaining contacts with friends and relatives who live abroad
permanently. The easiest communication means like the internet chatting systems and the emails are the
best and the most common for the maintaining contacts withthe people around the world.

Not to forget internet is useful in providing with most of the fun these days. May it be all the
games, and networking conferences or the online movies, songs, dramas and quizzes, internet
has provided the users with a great opportunity to eradicate the boredom from their lives.

Internet is also used to upgrade the internet and use special software to work on the projectsand
documentation works as the internet enables the user to download a myriad of different software
for a variety of different purposes, making it much easier than buying the costly software cds.

1. Communication

Easiest thing that can be done using the internet is that we can communicate with the people
living far away from us with extreme ease. Earlier the communication used to be a daunting

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task but all that chanced once internet came into the life of the common people. Now people
can not only chat but can also do the video conferencing. It has become extremely easy to
contact the loved ones who are in some other part of the world. Communication is the most
important gift that the internet has given to the common man. Email, social networking sites
are some of the prime example of it. This is one such gift of the internet which is cherished by
everyone and has made our life easier to much extent.

2. Research

Now the point that has been placed next is research. In order to do research you need to go
throughhundreds of books as well as the references and that was one of the most difficult
jobs to do earlier.Since the internet came into life, everything is available just a click away.
You just have to search for the concerned topic and you will get hundreds of references
that may be beneficial for your research. And since internet is here to make your research
public, you can then benefit a large amount of people from the research work that you have
done. Research is one such thing which has got lots of benefit from this evolution of
internet. Research process has now got wings and has gained the most due to the internet.

Education

The next point that we have in this list is education. Yes you read it right. Education is one ofthe best
things that the internet can provide. There are a number of books, reference books, online help centres,
expert’s views and other study oriented material on the internet that can make the learning process very
easier as well as a fun learning experience. There are lots and lots of websites which are related to
different topic. You can visit them and can gain endless amount of knowledge that you wish to have.
With the use of internet for education, you are non-longer dependent on some other person to come and
teach you. There are various number of tutorials available over the internet using which you can learn
so many thing very easily. There can’t be any excellent use of the internet other than education as it is
the key to achieve everything in life.

4. Financial Transaction
Mentioned here is financial transaction. Financial transaction is the term which is used when there is
exchange of money. With the use of internet in the financial transaction, your work has become a lot
easier. Now you don’t need to stand in the queue at the branch of your particular bank rather you can just
log in on to the bank website with the credential that has been provided to you by the bank and then can
do any transaction related to finance at your will. With the ability to do the financial transaction easily
over the internet you can purchase

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or sell items so easily. Financial transaction can be considered as one of the best uses
ofresource in the right direction.

5. Real Time Updates

Real time updates have been placed at the number fifth position here. This has been mentioned
here in regards to the news and other happenings that may be on-going in different parts of
the world but with the use of internet we come to know about it very easily and without any
difficulty. There are various websites on the internet which provides you with thereal time
updates in every field be it in business, sports, finance, politics, entertainment and others.
Many a time the decisions are taken on the real time updates that are happening in various
parts of the world and this is where internet is very essential and helpful.

4.2.Overview of World Wide Web(Web Server and Client)


The term WWW refers to the World Wide Web or simply the Web. TheWorld Wide Web
consists of all the public Web sites connected to the Internet worldwide, including the client
devices (such as computers and cell phones) that access Web content.
The WWW is just one of many applications of the Internet and computer networks.

The World Wide Web (WWW, W3) is an information system of interlinked hypertext
documents that are accessed via the Internet. It has also commonly become known simply as
the Web. Individual document pages on the World Wide Web are called web pages and are
accessed with a software application running on the user's computer, commonly called a web
browser. Web pages may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia components, as
well as web navigation features consisting of hyperlinks.

The "Web", short for "World Wide Web" (which gives us the acronym www), is the name
for one of the ways that the Internet lets people browse documents connected by hypertext
links.
The concept of the Web was perfected at CERN (Centre Européen de Recherche
Nucléaire) in 1991 by a group of researchers which included Tim-Berners Lee, the creator
of the hyperlink, who is today considered the father of the Web.
The principle of the Web is based on using hyperlinks to navigate between documents (called
"web pages") with a program called a browser. A web page is a simple text file written in a
markup language (called HTML) that encodes the layout of the document, graphical
elements, and links to other documents, all with the help of tags.

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Besides the links which connect formatted documents to one another, the web uses the HTTP
protocol to link documents hosted on distant computers (called web servers, as opposed to
theclient represented by the broswer). On the Internet, documents are identified with a unique
address, called a URL, which can be used to locate any resource on the Internet, no matter
which server may be hosting it.

• http:// indicates that we want browse the web using the HTTP protocol, the
defaultprotocol for browsing the Web. There are other protocols for other uses
of the Internet.
• www.commentcamarche.net corresponds to the address of the server that
hosts the web pages. By convention, web servers have a name that begins with
www., to make it clear that they are dedicated web servers and to make
memorising the address easier. This second part of the address is called the
domain name. A website can be hosted on several servers, each belonging to the
same name: www.commentcamarche.net www2.commentcamarche.net,
intranet.commentcamarche.net, etc.
• /www/www-intro.php3 indicates where the document is located on the
machine. In this case, it is the file www-intro.php3 situé located in the
directory www.

2. Introduction to Search engine and Searching the Web

3. Introduction to Search engine

A search engine is a software system that is designed to search for information on the World
Wide Web. The search results are generally presented in a line of results often referred to as
search engine results pages (SERPs). The information may be a mix of web pages, images,
and other types of files. Some search engines also mine data available in databases or open
directories. Unlike web directories, which are maintained only by human editors, search
engines also maintain real-time information by running an algorithm on a web crawler.

1) Web Crawling
Matthew Gray’s World Wide Web Wanderer (1993) was one of the first efforts to automate
the discovery of web pages Gray’s web crawler would download a web page, examine it
forlinks to other pages, and continue downloading links it discovered until there were no
more links left to be discovered. This is how web crawlers, also called spiders, generally
operate today.
Because the Web is so large, search engines normally employ thousands of web crawlers
thatmeticulously scour the web day and night, downloading pages, looking for links to new
pages, and revisiting old pages that might have changed since they were visited last. Search
engines will often revisit pages based on their frequency of change in order to keep their
index fresh. This is necessary so search engine users can always find the most up-to-date
information on the Web.
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Maintaining an accurate "snap shot" of the Web is challenging, not only because of the size
of the Web and constantly changing content, but also because pages disappear at an alarming
rate (a problem commonly called linkrot). Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive,
estimates that web pages have an average life expectancy of only 100 days And some pages
cannot be found by web crawling. These are pages that are not linked to others, pages that
arepassword-protected or are generated dynamically when submitting a web form. These
pages reside in the deep Web, also called the hidden or invisible Web

Some website owners don’t want their pages indexed by search engines for any number of
reasons, so they use the Robots Exclusion Protocol (robots.txt) to tell web crawlers which
URLs are off-limits. Other website owners want to ensure certain web pages are indexed by
search engines, so they use the Sitemap Protocol, a method supported by all major search
engines, to provide a crawler with a list of URLs they want indexed Sitemaps are especially
useful in providing the crawler URLs it would be unable to find with web crawling.

Figure 1 below shows how a web crawler pulls from the Web and places downloaded web
resources into a local repository. The next section will examine how this repository of web
resources is then indexed and retrieved when you enter a query into a search engine.

Figure 1 - The Web is crawled and placed into a local repository where it is indexed
andretrieved when using a search engine.

2) Indexing and Ranking


When a web crawler has downloaded a web page, the search engine will index its content.
Often the stop words, words that occur very frequently like a, and, the, and to, are ignored.
Other words might be stemmed. Stemming is a technique that removes suffixes from a word
to improve the content of the index. For example, eating, eats, and eaten may all be stemmed
to eat so that a search for eat will match all its variants.
An example index (usually called an inverted index) will look something like this where the
number corresponds to a web page that contains the text:

cat > 2, 5
dog > 1, 5, 6
fish > 1, 2
bird > 4
So a query for dog would result in pages 1, 5, and 6. A query for cat dog would only result
inpage 5 since it is the only page that contains both search terms. Some search engines
provide advanced search capabilities, so a search for cat OR dog and NOT fish would be
entered which would result in pages 1, 5, and 6.

The search engine also maintains multiple weights for each term. The weight might
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correspond to any number of factors that determines how relevant the term is to its host web
page. Term frequency is one such weight which measures how often a term appears in a
web page. For example, if someone wanted to search the Web for pages about dogs, a web
page containing the term dog five times would likely be more relevant than a page containing
dog just once. However, term frequency is susceptible to spamming (or spamdexing), a
technique which some individuals use to artificially manipulate a web page’s ranking, so it
is only one of many factors which are used

Another weight that is given to a web page is based on the context in which the term appears
in the page. If the term appears in a large, bold font or in the title of the page, it may be given
more weight than to a term that appears in a regular font. A page might also be given more
weight if links pointing to the page use the term in its anchor text. In other words, a page that
is pointed to with the link text “see the dogs” is more likely about dogs since the term dogs
appears in the link. This functionality has left search engines susceptible to a practice known
as Google-bombing, where many individuals collude to produce the same anchor text to the
same web page for humorous effect. A popular Google bomb once promoted the White
House website to the first result when searching Google for “miserable failure”. Google has
recently implemented an algorithmic solution capable of diffusing most Google bombs

A final weight which most search engines will use is based on the web graph, the graph
which is created when viewing web pages as nodes and links as directed edges. Sergey Brin
and Larry Page were graduate students at Stanford University when they noted just how
important the web graph was in determining the relevancy of a web page. In 1998, they wrote
a research paper about how to measure the importance of a web page by examining a page’s
position in the web graph, in particular the page’s in-links (incoming links) and out-links
(outgoing links). Essentially, they viewed links like a citation. Good pages receive many
citations, and bad pages receive few. So pages that have in-links from many other pages are
probably more important and should rank higher than pages that few people link to. Weight
should also be given to pages based on who is pointing to them; an in-link from a highly cited
page is better than an in-link from a lowly cited page. Brin and Page named their ranking
algorithm PageRank, and it was instrumental in popularizing their new search engine called
Google. All search engines today take into account the web graph when ranking results.
Figure 2 shows an example of a web graph where web pages are nodes and links from one
page to another are directed edges. The size and color of the nodes indicate how much
PageRank the web pages have. Note that pages with high PageRank (red nodes) generally
have significantly more in-links than do pages with low PageRank (green nodes).

Figure 2 – Example web graph. Pages with higher PageRank are represented with large nodes.

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3) Rank Optimization

Search engines guard their weighting formulas as a trade secret since it differentiates their
service from other search engines, and they do not want content-producers (the public who
produces web pages) to “unfairly” manipulate their rankings. However, many companies rely
heavily on search engines for recommendations and customers, and their ranking on a search
engine results page (SERP) is very important. Most search engine users only examine the first
screen of results, and they view the first few results more often than the results at the bottom of
the page. This naturally pits content-producers in an adversarial role against search engines
since the producers have an economic incentive to rank highly in SERPs.
Competition for certain terms (e.g., Hawaii vacation and flight to New York) is particularly
fierce. Because of this, most search engines provide paid-inclusion or sponsored results along
with regular (organic) results. This allows companies to purchase space on a SERP forcertain
terms.

An industry based on search engine optimization (SEO) thrives on improving their customer’s
rankings by designing their pages to maximize the various weights discussed above and to
increase the number and quality of incoming links. Black hat SEOs may use a number of
questionable techniques like spamdexing and link farms, artificially created web pages
designed to bolster the PageRank of a particular set of web pages, to increase their ranking.
When detected, such behavior is often punished by search engines by removing the pages from
their index and embargoing the website for a period of time

Vertical Search

Search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing normally provide specialized types of websearch
called vertical search [. A few examples include:

1. Regular web search is the most popular type of search which searches the index
based on any type of web page. Other on-line textual resources like PDFs and
Microsoft Office formats are also available through regular web search.
2. News search will search only news-related websites. Typically the search results are
ordered based on age of the story.
3. Image search searches only images that were discovered when crawling the web.
Images are normally indexed by using the image’s filename and text surrounding the
image. Artificial intelligence techniques for trying to discover what is actually pictured
in the image are slowly emerging. For example, Google can now separate images of
faces and line drawing from other image types.
4. Video search searches the text accompanied by videos on the Web. Like image search,
there is heavy reliance on people to supply text which accurately describes thevideo.

Other specialty searches include blog search, newsgroup search, scholarly literature search, etc.
Search engines also occasionally mix various types of search results together onto the same
SERP. Figure 3 below shows how Ask.com displays news and images along with regular web
search results when searching for harding. The blending of results from differentvertical search

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offerings is usually called universal search .

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Figure 3 - Ask.com's universal search results.

Personalized Search

In order to provide the best possible set of search results for a searcher, many search
enginestoday are experimenting with techniques that take into account personal search
behavior.
When searching for leopard, a user who often queries for technical information is more
likelyto want to see results dealing with Leopard the operating system than leopard the
animal.
Research has also shown that one third of all queries are repeat queries, and most of the
time an individual will click on the same result they clicked on before [14]. Therefore a
search engine should ideally present the previously-selected result close to the top of
the SERP whenrecognizing the user has entered the same query before.

Figure 4 below shows a screen shot of personalized search results via Google's
SearchWiki[15], an experiment in search personalization that Google rolled-out in late
2008. The user was able to promote results higher in the list, remove poor results from
the list, and add comments to specific results. The comment and removal functions are
no longer available today, but Google does allow users to star results that they like, and
these starred results appear prominently when the user later searches for the same
content.

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Figure 4 – Example of Google's SearchWiki.
As smartphones have become increasingly popular, search engines have started
providing search results based on the user's location A location-aware search
engine recognizes that when a user searches for restaurants on their mobile
device, they are likely wanting to find restaurants in theirnear vicinity.

List of search engines:


• Metasearch engines
• Geographically limited scope
• Semantic
• Accountancy
• Business
• Computers
• Enterprise
• Fashion
• Food/Recipes
• Genealogy
• Mobile/Handheld
• Job
• Legal
• Medical
• News
• People
• Real estate / property
• Television

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• Video Games
1.3.2Downloading Files:

The term downloading is distinguished from the related concept of streaming, which indicates
the receiving of data that is used nearly immediately as it is received, while the transmission is
still in progress and which may not be stored long-term, whereas in a processdescribed using
the term downloading, this would imply that the data is only usable when it has been received
in its entirety.

Increasingly, websites that offer streaming media or media displayed in-browser, such as
YouTube, and which place restrictions on the ability of users to save these materials to their
computers after they have been received, say that downloading is not permitted. In this context,
download implies specifically "receive and save" instead of simply "receive".
However, it is also important to note that downloading is not the same as "transferring" (i.e.,
sending/receiving data between two storage devices would be a transferral of data, but receiving
data from the Internet would be considered a download).

Downloading is the transmission of a file from one computer system to another, usually smaller
computer system. From the Internet user's point-of-view, to download a file is to request it from
another computer (or from a Web page on another computer) and to receive it.

When you download a file, you transfer it from the Internet to your computer. The most commonly
downloaded files are programs, updates, or other kinds of files such as game demos, music and video
files, or documents. Downloading can also mean copying information from any source to a computer or
other device, such as copying your favorite songs to a portable music player.
To copy data (usually an entire file) from a main source to a peripheral device. The term is often used to
describe the process of copying a file from an online service or bulletin boardservice (BBS) to one's own
computer. Downloading can also refer to copying a file from a network file server to a computer on the
network.
In addition, the term is used to describe the process of loading a font into a laser printer. The
font is first copied from a disk to the printer's local memory. A font that has been downloaded
like this is called a soft font to distinguish it from the hard fontsthat are permanently in the
printer's memory.The opposite of download is upload, which means to copy a file from your
own computer to another computer.
1.2 Introduction to web browser
A web browser is a software application which enables a user to display and interact with text,
images, videos, music, and other information that could be on a website. Text and images on a
web page can contain hyperlinks to other web pages at the same or different website. Web
browsers allow a user to quickly and easily access information provided on many web pages at
many websites by traversing these links. Web browsers format HTML information for display
so the appearance of a web page many differ between browsers.

Purposes: Web browser is used to run the software application that allows retrieving, presenting
andtraversing the information from one place to another.

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-Web browser provides the resources using the WWW (World Wide Web) this can be
identified by URI (Uniform Resource Identifier).

-Web browser fetches the data like web page, image, video or other piece of content from the
server and displays it accordingly.

-Web browser uses hyperlinks to display the resources and allow the users to navigate their
browsers according to the resources.

-Web browser defines the application software that is designed for the user to access and
retrieve the documents using the Internet.

Protocols and Standards

Web browsers communicated with web servers primarily using HTTP (hypertext transfer
protocol) to fetch web pages. HTTP allows web browsers to submit information to web servers
as well as fetch web pages from them. Pages are identified by means of a URL (uniform resource
locater), which is treated as an address, beginning with “http://” for HTTP access.
The file format for a web page is usually HTML (hyper-text markup language) and is identified
in the HTTP protocol. Most web browsers also support a variety of additional formats, such as
JPEG, PNG, and GIF image formats, and can be extended to support more through the use of
plugins. The combination of HTTP content type and URL protocol specification allows web page
designers to embed images, animations, video, sound, and streaming media into a web page, or
to make them accessible through the web page.

Popular Browsers

1)Firefox

Firefox is a very popular web browser. One of the great things about Firefox is that it is
supported on all different OSs. Firefox is also open source which makes its support group a
very large community of open source developers. Firefox is also known for its vast range of
plugins/add-ons that let the user customize in a variety of ways. Firefox is a product of the
Mozilla Foundation. The latest version of Firefox is Firefox 3.
Some of Firefox’s most prominant features include: tabbed browsing, a spell checker,
incremental find, live bookmarking, a download manager, and an integrated search system that
uses the user’s favorite search engine. Like mentioned before, one of the best things about Firefox
is its vast amount of plugins/add-ons. Some of the most popular include NoScript (script blocker),
FoxyTunes (controls music players), Adblock Plus (ad blocker), StumbleUpon (website
discovery), DownThemAll! (download functions), and Web Developer (web tools).

2) Internet Explorer

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Internet Explorer (IE - created by Microsoft) is a very prominant web browser for the
Windows OS. IE is the most popular web browser. It comes pre-installed on all Windows
computers. The latest version of IE is IE7 with IE8 in beta. IE was designed to view a
broad range of web pagesand to provide certain features within the OS.

IE almost fully supports HTML 4.01, CSS Level 1, XML 1.0, and DOM Level 1. It has
introduced a number of proprietary extensions to many of the standards. This has resulted
in a number of web pages that can only be viewed properly using IE. It has been subject
to many security vulnerabilities just like Windows has. Much of the spyware, adware, and
viruses acrossthe Internet are made possible by exploitable bugs and flaws in the security
architecture of IE. These are were drive-by downloads come into play (see computer
security lesson for more details on that).

3) Others

Safari (created by Apple) is a very popular web browser among Apple computers. Safari
is alsothe native browser on the iPhone and iPod touch. Safari is available for Windows,
but has not reached a very high level of Windows users since. In May 2008 Safari
controlled 6.25% of marketshare among all web browsers.
Opera (created by the Opera Software company) is another fairly popular web browser.
It handles common Internet-related tasks. Opera also includes features such as tabbed
browsing, page zooming, mouse gestures, and an integrated download manager. Its
security features include phishing and malware protection, strong encryption when
browsing secure web sites, and the ability to easily delete private data such as cookies
and browsing history. Opera runs onWindows, OS X, and Linux.
The browser's main functionality
The main function of a browser is to present the web resource you choose, by
requesting it from the server and displaying it in the browser window. The resource
is usually an HTML document, but may also be a PDF, image, or some other type of
content. The location of theresource is specified by the user using a URI (Uniform
Resource Identifier).
The way the browser interprets and displays HTML files is specified in the HTML and
CSS specifications. These specifications are maintained by the W3C (World Wide Web
Consortium) organization, which is the standards organization for the web. For years
browsers conformed to only a part of the specifications and developed their own
extensions. That causedserious compatibility issues for web authors. Today most of the
browsers more or less conform to the specifications.
Browser user interfaces have a lot in common with each other. Among the common
userinterface elements are:

• Address bar for inserting a URI


• Back and forward buttons
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• Bookmarking options
• Refresh and stop buttons for refreshing or stopping the loading of current documents
• Home button that takes you to your home page

Strangely enough, the browser's user interface is not specified in any formal specification, it just comes
from good practices shaped over years of experience and by browsers imitating each other. The HTML5
specification doesn't define UI elements a browser must have, but lists some common elements. Among
those are the address bar, status bar and tool bar. Thereare, of course, features unique to a specific
browser like Firefox's downloads manager.

The browser's main components are

1. The user interface: this includes the address bar, back/forward button, bookmarking menu, etc.
Every part of the browser display except the window where you see the requestedpage.
2. The browser engine: marshals actions between the UI and the rendering engine.
3. The rendering engine : responsible for displaying requested content. For example if the
requested content is HTML, the rendering engine parses HTML and CSS, and displays the parsed
content on the screen.
4. Networking: for network calls such as HTTP requests, using different
implementations for different platform behind a platform-independent interface.
5. UI backend: used for drawing basic widgets like combo boxes and windows. This backend
exposes a generic interface that is not platform specific. Underneath it uses operatingsystem user
interface methods.
6. JavaScript interpreter. Used to parse and execute JavaScript code.
7. Data storage. This is a persistence layer. The browser may need to save all sorts ofdata
locally, such as cookies. Browsers also support storage mechanisms such as localStorage, IndexedDB,
WebSQL and FileSystem.

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