Application software and systems software

What is software?

•         unlike hardware it can’t be physically touched

•         it’s the missing link between the computer hardware and the data which it is processing

•         has to be “loaded” into the computer’s RAM before it can be “run”

•         a set of pre-written instructions which the computer executes in order to perform a particular task

•         Typically written using programming languages such as C, C++, BASIC, Java etc.

     

Systems software

This type of software helps to run and organize the computer’s hardware. 

It includes a number of common features:

•        Operating System (OS)

•        Device drivers

•        File Managers

•        Graphical User Interface (GUI) and/or

•        Command Line Interface (CLI)

•        System utilities (eg diagnostic tools)

 

Utilities Software- Examples

Antivirus

Anti-virus software is used to prevent, detect, and remove malware, including but not limited to computer viruses, computer worm, trojan horses, spyware and adware. This page talks about the software used for the prevention and removal of such threats, rather than computer security implemented by software methods.
A variety of strategies are typically employed. Signature-based detection involves searching for known patterns of data within executable code. However, it is possible for a computer to be infected with new malware for which no signature is yet known. To counter such so-called zero-day threats, heuristics can be used. One type of heuristic approach, generic signatures, can identify new viruses or variants of existing viruses by looking for known malicious code, or slight variations of such code, in files. Some antivirus software can also predict what a file will do by running it in a sandbox and analyzing what it does to see if it performs any malicious actions.
No matter how useful antivirus software can be, it can sometimes have drawbacks. Antivirus software can impair a computer's performance. Inexperienced users may also have trouble understanding the prompts and decisions that antivirus software presents them with. An incorrect decision may lead to a security breach. If the antivirus software employs heuristic detection, success depends on achieving the right balance between false positives and false negatives. False positives can be as destructive as false negatives. Finally, antivirus software generally runs at the highly trusted kernel level of the operating system, creating a potential avenue of attack.

Firewalls 

A firewall is a device or set of devices designed to permit or deny network transmissions based upon a set of rules and is frequently used to protect networks from unauthorized access while permitting legitimate communications to pass.
Many personal computer operating systems include software-based firewalls to protect against threats from the public Internet. Many routers that pass data between networks contain firewall components and, conversely, many firewalls can perform basic routing functions.

Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) is a computer maintenance utility included in Microsoft Windows designed to free up disk space on a computer's hard drive. The utility first searches and analyzes the hard drive for files that are no longer of any use, and then removes the unnecessary files. There are a number of different file categories that Disk Cleanup targets when performing the initial disk analysis:


Applications software

This type of software - used in conjunction with an Operating System - performs a specific task.

• Compression of old files
• Temporary Internet files
• Temporary Windows file
• Downloaded Program files
• Recycle Bin
• Removal of unused applications or optional Windows components
• Setup Log files
• Offline files

The above list, however, is not exhaustive. For instance, 'Temporary Remote Desktop files' and 'Temporary Sync Files' may appear only under certain computer configurations, differences such as Windows Operating System and use of additional programs such as Remote Desktop. The option of removal hibernation data may not be ideal for some users as this may remove the hibernate option.
Aside from removing unnecessary files, users also have the option of compressing files that have not been accessed over a set period of time. This option provides a systematic compression scheme. Infrequently accessed files are compressed to free up disk space while leaving the frequently used files uncompressed for faster read/write access times. If after file compression, a user wishes to access a compressed file, the access times may be increased and vary from system to system. In addition to the categories that appear on the Disk Cleanup tab, the More Options tab offers additional options for freeing up hard drive space through removal of optional Windows components, installed programs, and all but the most recent System Restore point or Shadow Copy data in some versions of Microsoft Windows.

Common types of Application Software include:

•         Office software (e.g. Word-processor, Spreadsheet, Database etc)

•         Educational software (e.g. CAL – Computer Aided Learning)

•         Business & Industrial software (eg CAD – Computer Aided Design)

•         Communication software (eg e-mail, chat programs etc)

•         Games  Specialist (eg Speech recognition, route planners etc). 

Microsoft (Office) Word is a word processor designed by Microsoft.
Microsoft Word's native file formats are denoted either by a .doc or .docx file extension.
Although the ".doc" extension has been used in many different versions of Word, it actually encompasses four distinct file formats:

1. Word for DOS
2. Word for Windows 1 and 2; Word 4 and 5 for Mac
3. Word 6 and Word 95 for Windows; Word 6 for Mac
4. Word 97, 2000, 2002 and 2003 for Windows; Word 98, 2001, X, and 2004 for Mac

The newer ".docx" extension signifies the Office Open XML international standard for Office documents and is used by Word 2007 and 2010 for Windows, Word 2008 and 2011 for the Macintosh, as well as by a growing number of applications from other vendors, including OpenOffice.org Writer, an open source word processing program.
Microsoft does not guarantee the correct display of the document on different workstations, even if the two workstations use the same version of Microsoft Word, primarily due to page layout depending on the current printer. This means it is possible the document the recipient sees might not be exactly the same as the document the sender sees.

Features and flaws

WordArt enables drawing text in a Microsoft Word document such as a title, watermark, or other text, with graphical effects such as skewing, shadowing, rotating, stretching in a variety of shapes and colors and even including three-dimensional effects, starting at version 2007, and prevalent in Office 2010. Users can apply formatting effects such as shadow, bevel, glow, and reflection to their document text as easily as applying bold or underline. Users can also spell-check text that uses visual effects, and add text effects to paragraph styles.
Bullets and numbering
Word has extensive list of bullets and numbering features used for tables, lists, pages, chapters, headers, footnotes, and tables of content. Bullets and numbering can be applied directly or using a button or by applying a style or through use of a template. Some problems with numbering have been found in Word 97-2003. An example is Word's system for restarting numbering. The Bullets and Numbering system has been significantly overhauled for Office 2007, which is intended to reduce the severity of these problems. For example, Office 2007 cannot align tabs for multi-leveled numbered lists. Often, items in a list will be inexplicably separated from their list number by one to three tabs, rendering outlines unreadableThese problems cannot be resolved even by expert users^. Even basic dragging and dropping of words is usually impossible Bullet and numbering problems in Word include: bullet characters are often changed and altered, indentation is changed within the same list, bullet point or number sequence can belong to an entirely different nest within the same sequence.


Games Software

A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device, but following popularization of the term "video game", it now implies any type of display device. The electronic systems used to play video games are known as platforms; examples of these are personal computers and video game consoles. These platforms range from large mainframe computers to small handheld devices. Specialized video games such as arcade games, while previously common, have gradually declined in use. Video games have went on to become an art form and industry.

The input device used to manipulate video games is called a game controller, and varies across platforms. For example, a controller might consist of only a button and a joystick, while another may feature a dozen buttons and one or more joysticks. Early personal computer games often needed a keyboard for gameplay, or more commonly, required the user to buy a separate joystick with at least one button. Many modern computer games allow or require the player to use a keyboard and a mouse simultaneously.

Video games typically use additional means of providing interactivity and information to the player. Audio is almost universal, using sound reproduction devices, such as speakers and headphones. Other feedback may come via haptic peripherals, such as vibration or force feedback, with vibration sometimes used to simulate force feedback.

Data Flow

Describe the purpose of different types of computer systems

Pc
A personal computer (PC) is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator. In contrast, the batch processing or time-sharing models allowed large expensive mainframe systems to be used by many people, usually at the same time. Large data processing systems require a full-time staff to operate efficiently.
Software applications for personal computers include, but are not limited to, word processing, spreadsheets, databases, Web browsers and e-mail clients, digital media playback, games, and myriad personal productivity and special-purpose software applications. Modern personal computers often have connections to the Internet, allowing access to the World Wide Web and a wide range of other resources. Personal computers may be connected to a local area network (LAN), either by a cable or a wireless connection. A personal computer may be a desktop computeror a laptop, tablet PC, or a handheld Pc.

Laptop

A laptop, also called a notebook, is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display  keyboard, a pointing device (a touchpad, also known as a trackpad, and/or a pointing stick) and speakers into a single unit. A laptop is powered by mains electricity via an AC adapter, and can be used away from an outlet using a rechargeable battery.
Portable computers, originally monochrome CRT-based and developed into the modern laptops, and were originally considered to be a small niche market, mostly for specialized field applications such as the military, accountants and sales representatives. As portable computers became smaller, lighter, cheaper, more powerful and as screens became larger and of better quality, laptops became very widely used for all sorts of purposes.

Netbook

Netbooks are a category of small, lightweight, legacy-free, and inexpensive laptop computers.

At their inception in late 2007  as smaller notebooks optimized for low weight and low cost — netbooks omitted certain features (e.g., the optical drive), featured smaller screens and keyboards, and offered reduced computing power when compared to a full-sized laptop. Over the course of their evolution, netbooks have ranged in size from below 5" screen diagonal to 12". A typical weight is 1 kg (2–3 pounds). Often significantly less expensive than other laptops, by mid-2009, some wireless data carriers began to offer netbooks to users "free of charge", with an extended service contract purchase.

PDA

A personal digital assistant (PDA), also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet. A PDA has an electronic visual display, enabling it to include a web browser, but some newer models also have audio capabilities, enabling them to be used as mobile phones or portable media players. Many PDAs can access the Internet, intranets or extranets via Wi-Fi or Wireless Wide Area Networks. Many PDAs employ touchscreen technology.

The. The Communicator spawned a new category of mobile phones: the "PDA phone", now called

"smartphone

Mobile phone

A mobile phone (also known as a cellular phone, cell phone and a hand phone) allows calls into the public switched telephone system over a radio link. Early mobile phones were usually bulky and permanently installed in vehicles; they provided limited service because only a few frequencies were available for a geographic area. Modern mobile phones make use of the cellular network concept, where frequencies are re-used repeatedly within a city area, allowing many more users to share access to the radio bandwidth. A mobile phone allows calls to be placed over a wide geographic area; generally the user is a subscriber to the phone service and does not own the base station. By contrast, a cordless telephone is used only within the range of a single, private base station.
A mobile phone can make and receive telephone calls to and from the public telephone network which includes other mobiles and fixed-line phones across the world. It does this by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator.

In addition to telephony, modern mobile phones also support a wide variety of other services such as text messaging, MMS, email, Internet access, short-range wireless communications (infrared, Bluetooth), business applications, gaming and photography

Network Connection

What is Bluetooth?

• Bluetooth is  a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances 
•   Sending music or pictures to other peoples phone from a short distance or long  distance.

What is wireless?

qWireless networking (i.e. the various types of unlicensed 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi devices) is used to meet many needs. Perhaps the most common use is to connect laptop users who travel from location to location. Another common use is for mobile networks that connect via satellite. A wireless transmission method is a logical choice to network a LAN segment that must frequently change locations. The following situations justify the use of wireless technology:

qTo span a distance beyond the capabilities of typical cabling,

qTo provide a backup communications link in case of normal network failure,

qTo link portable or temporary workstations,

qTo overcome situations where normal cabling is difficult or financially impractical, or

qTo remotely connect mobile users or networks.

 What is 3G?

—3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services.

—Application services include wide-area wireless voice telephone, mobile Internet access, video calls and mobile TV, all in a mobile environment.

What is 4G?

• 4G is the fourth generation of cellular wireless standards. It is a successor to the 3G and 2G families of standards.
• —  A 4G system is expected to provide a comprehensive and secure all-IP based mobile broadband solution to laptop computer wireless modems, Smartphone's and other mobile devices.

What is Network Interface Cards

 

—An Ethernet network interface card is installed in an available slot inside the computer. The NIC assigns a unique address called a MAC (media access control) to the machine. The MACs on the network are used to direct traffic between the computers. The back plate of the network interface card features a port that looks similar to a phone jack, but is slightly larger. This port accommodates an Ethernet cable, which resembles a thicker version of a standard telephone line. Ethernet cable must run from each network interface card to a central hub or switch. The hub or switch acts like a relay, passing information between computers using the MAC addresses and allowing resources like printers and scanners to be shared along with data.

—A network interface card does not have to be hard wired with physical cable. Wireless Ethernet cards are installed like their wired counterparts, but rather than a port for an Ethernet cable, the card features a small antenna. The card communicates with the central wireless switch or hub via radio waves. Wireless  LANs may have some restrictions depending on the material the building is made from. For example, lead in walls can block signals between the network interface card and hub or switch.

output devices

OUTPUT DEVICES

An output device is any piece of computer hardware  equipment used to communicate the results of data processing carried out by information processing such as a computer.  Examples of output devices Speakers,  Headphones, Screen Monitor , Printer

• A printer is used to print out documents like a word document, PowerPoint, spreadsheet

 

ž  Speakers are used to play sounds off the computer from youtube or facebook.

monitor

A monitor or display (sometimes called a visual display unit) is an electronic visual display for computers. The monitor comprises the display device, circuitry, and an enclosure. The display device in modern monitors is typically a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) thin panel, while older monitors use a cathode ray tube about as deep as the screen size.
The first computer monitors used Cathode ray tubes (CRTs), which was the dominant technology until they were replaced by LCD monitors in the 21st Century.
Originally, computer monitors were used for data processing while television receivers were used for entertainment. From the 1980s onwards, computers (and their monitors) have been used for both data processing and entertainment, while televisions have implemented some computer functionality. The common aspect ratio of televisions, and then computer monitors, has also changed from 4:3 to 16:9.

 

hardware

Hardware


Processor
Well in the simplest of terms, it’s your computers brain. The processor tells your computer what to do and when to do it, it decides which tasks are more important and prioritizes them to your computers needs.
There is and has been many processors on the market, running at many different speeds. The speed is measured in Megahertz

Memory - Ram

Is a form of computer data storage it takes the form of integrated circuits that allow stored data to be accessed in any order with a worst case performance of constant time.

Memory-Rom

Rom is a read only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices

Storage device


usb

A memory stick is a usb pen which can store music, work or any programmes or films.

H drive

In the southern regional college we have a h drive to store all our work on that we do in class.

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format

DVD originally stood for Digital Versatile Disk, or Digital Video Disk.

The acronym was dropped after DVD proved to have more uses than just storing video content. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than compact Discs while having the same dimensions.

 Flash drive

A usb flash drive is a data storage device that consists of flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface. USB flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk.