Technical handout

Types of Web Browsers Web browsers are used by everyone who works on a computer. It's an application to access the Internet and the contents that are stored on your computer. To know about the different types of web browsers, A web browser is an interface that helps a computer user gain access to all the content that is on the Internet and the hard disk of the computer. It can view images, text documents, audio and video files, games, etc. More than one web browser can also be installed on a single computer. The user can navigate through files, folders and websites with the help of a browser. When the browser is used for browsing web pages, the pages may contain certain links which can be opened in a new browser. Multiple tabs and windows of the same browser can also be opened.

Web browsers is an old concept in computers. As time passed, browsers with advanced functionality were developed and updated. The primary and secondary features and facilities offered by web browsers include downloads, bookmarks, and password management. They also offer functions like spell checking, search engine toolbars, tabbed browsing, advertisement filtering, HTML access keys and pop-up blocking.

Types of Web Browsers?

Ans. Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Opera, Google Chrome,Netscape navigator/Netscape Operating System An operating system (OS) is software, consisting of programs and data, that runs on computers and manages computer hardware resources[1] and provides common services for efficient execution of various application software.

What is networking?

Components of computer?

Routers?

All in one priters?

What do you mean by computer configuration ?

Ans . a configuration is an arrangement of functional units according to their nature, number, and chief characteristics. (Important parts of the computer like Hard disk, Ram, Processor (make, speed and capacity).

2. Major Parts of a computer Ans. Processor Hard disk RAM ROM Motherboard SMPS PCI SLOT. DATA cable USB port 5. what is HUB, Switch and Router ?

Answer. HUB: A hub is a device that connects PCs together. In general, what is called a hub in today’s market is a "dumb" device. In a hub, when one PC sends data onto the wire, the hub simply forwards the packets to all the other devices connected to it. Each device is responsible for determining which packets are destined for it and ignoring the others. Current "hubs" typically share bandwidth between all the ports. In the days of coaxial networking, hubs were often called "bridges". Because they forward every packet that they receive, they do nothing to streamline the traffic on your local network.

Switch: A switch is a little smarter than a hub, in that it records the IP and MAC addresses in a table of all the devices connected to it. Thus, when a packet is put onto the wire by one device, the switch reads the destination address information to determine if the destination device is connected to it. If it is, the switch forwards the packet only to the destination device, sparing the other devices connected to it from having to read and deal with the traffic (making your network more efficient).

Router: It is the "smartest" device of them all. A router records the address information of everything connected to it like a switch. But it also records the address of the next closest router in the network. A router reads even more of the information in the address of a packet and makes an intelligent decision about what to do with the data based on the address. For example, if a router receives an outbound packet that has a destination address that is not in its table, it forwards the packet to the default gateway, rather than every device attached like a switch does. This is how data moves onto, and through, the Internet. Routers are also capable of looking at the source address of a data packet and making decisions based on that as well. This means they can tell the difference between traffic that originates on your network and traffic that comes from outside.

6. What is an IP address? What are its classes? How to release/ renew IP address.

Answer. IP address: An IP address is identifiers used by network layer of TCP/IP protocol to recognize an identifier any host that wishes to connect to the internet. An IP address is unique which means that no two machines on same network can have same IP address at same time. Each IP address is of 32 bits which is further divided into four octates of 8 bits and each octets will resume a value from 0 to 255.

IP Classes: In the original Internet routing scheme developed in the 1970s, sites were assigned addresses from one of three classes: Class A, Class B and Class C. The address classes differ in size and number. Class A addresses are the largest, but there are few of them. Classes Cs are the smallest, but they are numerous. Classes D and E are also defined, but not used in normal operation.

To say that class-based IP addressing in still used would be true only in the loosest sense. Many addressing designs are still class-based, but an increasing number can only be explained using the more general concept of CIDR, which is backwards compatible with address classes.

Suffice it to say that at one point in time, you could request the Internet NIC to assign you a class A, B or C address. To get the larger class B addresses, you might have to supply some justification, but only the class A was really tough to get. In any case, NIC would set the network bits, or n-bits, to some unique value and inform the local network engineer. It would then be up to the engineer to assign each of his hosts an IP address starting with the assigned n-bits, followed by host bits, or h-bits, to make the address unique.

Internet routing used to work like this: A router receiving an IP packet extracted its Destination Address, which was classified (literally) by examining its first one to four bits. Once the address's class had been determined, it was broken down into network and host bits. Routers ignored the host bits, and only needed to match the network bits to find a route to the network. Once a packet reached its target network, its host field was examined for final delivery.

Release of IP address · Click the Start menu button on the Windows taskbar. · Click Run... on this menu. · If the computer is holding a current IP address, type 'cmd' (without the quotes) in the text box that appears. A command prompt window appears on the screen. · Type 'ipconfig' (without the quotes) to view the status of the computer's IP address(es). · If the computer is holding a current IP address, type 'ipconfig /release' to let go of the address. · Type 'ipconfig /renew' to obtain a new IP address (whether or not the computer is holding a current address).

7. What is an operating system ? (examples) Answer: An operating system is a program designed to run other programs on a computer.It acts as an interface between user and system. A computer’s operating system is its most important program. It is considered the backbone of a computer, managing both software and hardware resources. Operating systems are responsible for everything from the control and allocation of memory to recognizing input from external devices and transmitting output to computer displays. They also manage files on computer hard drives and control peripherals, like printers and scanners. The operating system of a large computer system has even more work to do.

Chrome, Flock etc.

12. What is a search engine?

Answer: Search Engine- A program that searches documents for specified Keywords and returns a list of the documents where the keywords were found. Although search engine is really a general class of programs, the term is often used to specifically describe systems like Google, Alta Vista and Excite that enable users to search for documents on the WWW and USENET newsgroup.

Typically, a search engine works by sending out a spider to fetch as many documents as possible. Another program, called an indexer, then reads these documents and creates an index based on the words contained in each document. Each search engine uses a propriety algorithm to create its indices such that, ideally, only meaningful results are returned for each query.

13. What is a modem?

Answer: Modem, short for modulator-demodulator is an electronic device that converts a computer’s digital signals into specific frequencies to travel over telephone or cable television lines. At the destination, the receiving modem demodulates the frequencies back into digital data. Computers use modems to communicate with one another over a network.

14. What is an email client?

Answer: An email client, email reader, or more formally mail user agent (MUA), is a computer program used to manage a user's email.

The term can refer to any system capable of accessing the user's email mailbox, regardless of it being a mail user agent, a relaying server, or a human typing on a terminal. In addition, a web application that provides message management, composition, and reception functions is sometimes also considered an email client, but more commonly referred to as webmail.

18. What is networking?

Ans: In the world of computers, networking is the practice of linking two or more computing devices together for the purpose of sharing data. Networks are built with a mix of computer hardware and computer software 19. What is security center?

Answer: First of all the Windows Security Center consists of three major components: A control panel, a Windows Service, and an application programming interface that is provided by Windows Management Instrumentation. The control panel divides the monitored security settings into categories, the headings of which are displayed with a background color of light blue (green in Vista), yellow, or red. A category with a blue or green background indicates that the settings in the category are "healthy". A yellow background typically indicates that some or all of the settings in that category are not being monitored. A red background indicates that there is a problem that can expose the user's computer to problems. The current state of these settings is determined by the Windows Service. This service, named "Security Center",is started automatically when the computer starts, and takes responsibility for continually monitoring the system for changes, and also informs the user via a pop-up notification balloon if there is a problem. The settings are made available to the system through a Windows Management Instrumentation provider.

20. What are SMTP / POP3 / IMAP Answer: SMTP, POP3 and IMAP are TCP/IP protocols used for mail delivery. If you plan to set up an email server such as hMailServer, you must know what they are used for. Each protocol is just a specific set of communication rules between computers.

SMTP SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. SMTP is used when email is delivered from an email client, such as Outlook Express, to an email server or when email is delivered from one email server to another. SMTP uses port 25.

POP3 POP3 stands for Post Office Protocol. POP3 allows an email client to download an email from an email server.

The POP3 protocol is simple and does not offer many features except for download. Its design assumes that the email client downloads all available email from the server, deletes them from the server and then disconnects.

POP3 normally uses port 110.

IMAP IMAP stands for Internet Message Access Protocol. IMAP shares many similar features with POP3. It, too, is a protocol that an email client can use to download email from an email server. However, IMAP includes many more features than POP3. The IMAP protocol is designed to let users keep their email on the server. IMAP requires more disk space on the server and more CPU resources than POP3, as all emails are stored on the server. IMAP normally uses port 143.

21. What is a server?

Answer: A server is primarily a program that runs on a machine, providing a particular and specific service to other machines connected to the machine on which it is found.

Nowadays, server functionality has become so rich, complex and varied in nature that there are whole very powerful computers dedicated to being exclusively servers. This has led many non-technical people to denote servers as being machines that run services.

23. What is Anti virus / Firewall / Antyspyware etc…. ?

Answer: Antivirus: Anti-virus is the name given to software that detects and (where possible) removes viruses from messages. By removing viruses at the email server, all internal mail clients are protected AND all customers are protected from receiving viruses too.

Computer Viruses are written by people who wish to gain control of your system resources and are continually updated to try and break through any barriers you may have installed. over comes this issue by providing a "signature file" update service which ensures that all new variants are caught as soon as possible.

Firewall: A firewall is a secure and trusted machine that sits between a private network and a public network.

[1] The firewall machine is configured with a set of rules that determine which network traffic will be allowed to pass and which will be blocked or refused. In some large organizations, you may even find a firewall located inside their corporate network to segregate sensitive areas of the organization from other employees. Many cases of computer crime occur from within an organization, not just from outside.

Antispyware: Antispyware is a type of malicious program, also called malware that sends information from a computer to a third party without the user’s knowledge or consent. The type of data retrieved by these programs varies, but many collect information about a user’s Internet-surfing habits, online purchases, and even keystrokes, such as passwords. Also, these programs may change the computer’s settings and functionality.

Antispyware seeks to block or remove such programs.

24. What is phishing?

Answer: Phishing is an e-mail fraud method in which the perpetrator sends out legitimate-looking email in an attempt to gather personal and financial information from recipients. Typically, the messages appear to come from well known and trustworthy Web sites. Web sites that are frequently spoofed by phishers include PayPal, eBay, MSN, Yahoo, Best Buy, and America Online. A phishing expedition, like the fishing expedition it's named for, is a speculative venture: the phisher puts the lure hoping to fool at least a few of the prey that encounter the bait.

25. What is system restore? And steps to restore system ?

Answer: System Restore is a component of Windows XP Professional that you can use to restore your computer to a previous state, if a problem occurs, without losing your personal data files 26. What is Ping. / Netstat. ?

Answer: Ping is a program that sends a series of packets over a network or the Internet to a specific computer in order to generate a response from that computer. The other computer responds with an acknowledgment that it received the packets. Ping was created to verify whether a specific computer on a network or the Internet exists and is connected.

Netstat is a common command line TCP/IP networking utility available in most versions of Windows, Linux, UNIX and other operating systems. Netstat provides information and statistics about protocols in use and current TCP/IP network connections.

27. What is BIOS? Answer: BIOS is an acronym for Basic Input/output System. It is the boot firmware program on a PC, and controls the computer from the time you start it up until the operating system takes over. When you turn on a PC, the BIOS first conducts a basic hardware check, called a Power-On Self Test (POST), to determine whether all of the attachments are present and working. Then it loads the operating system into your computer's random access memory, or RAM. 29. What is DHCP? Answer: The Internet is a vast source of information that is continuously updated and accessed via computers and other devices. For a device (also referred to as a host) to connect to the Internet, it is necessary that among other configurations, it must have an Internet Protocol (IP) address. The IP address is the computer's address on the Internet. A common comparison of an IP address is an individual's telephone number, which is an identifier for people to communicate with the individual. Up until the late 1980s, configuring a computer to connect to the Internet was a manual process. The protocol Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP) was the first Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) network configuration tool used to prevent the task of having to manually assign IP addresses by automating the process.

31. What is TCP/IP? Answer: TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is the basic communication language or protocol of the Internet. It can also be used as a communications protocol in a private network (either an intranet or an extranet). When you are set up with direct access to the Internet, your computer is provided with a copy of the TCP/IP program just as every other computer that you may send messages to or get information from also has a copy of TCP/IP.

32: various ports on the computer.

Answer: There are lots of external devices that you can connect to your computer. All external devices connect to the computer’s system unit via cables and ports (where a "port" is the slot into which you plug a cable).

Unless you’re using a portable computer, you probably have several external devices attached to your computer already, including a mouse, keyboard, monitor, microphone, and speakers Other common computer ports include: · RCA – audio/video applications · S-Video – video · VGA – monitor · DVI – monitor · RJ11 – modem · HDMI – high-definition video · Ethernet – networking · PS2 – Keyboard and mouse 33. How to configure a router.

Answer: Configuring a Router: When dealing with a router, location is important. Set it up in a place that will be in the center of all wireless needs. That way, it can broadcast around the house (or place of business) with a strong signal. If you put it in a corner in one part of the house, it might not reach another corner, so be mindful of the location.

With the modem all set up, connect the router to the power supply and turn it on. Connect the modem to the router with an Ethernet cable. Make this connection and then turn the modem off and after ten seconds, turn it back on. This will allow the router to recognize the modem so it can begin broadcasting Internet.

Connect the router to the computer with an Ethernet cable. While the computer might be able to pick up the signal, until it is configured, it might be a weak one. Therefore, use the cable to ensure maximum speed of the Internet.

Login to the router’s home page. Consult your router manual to determine what the home page is. What you are doing while here is setting up the router, giving it a name and making sure that it can connect to the Internet.

Enter the Internet connection information. If you have DSL, this means put in your PPPoE username and password that was given to you by your ISP. Change the network name and give it a password. While the router comes with a network name–such as Linksys–that’s not a name you want to keep. It demonstrates to someone looking in that you might not have added a password and they’ll try and gain access. So, change it to something different. Add a unique password with capital letters, lower case letters, numbers and symbols Q1.) How to check an IP address of a computer?

Ans. Click on START ----> RUN ----> CMD---> Type IPCONFIG. Q2.) What all you get when you type IPCONFIG? Ans. IP address, Default gateway, Subnet mask.

Q3.) How to go to Device Manager?

Ans. Right click on My Computer ----> Click on properties, go to hardware tab then click on Device Manager.

Or Type – DEVMGMT.MSC in Run box.

Q4.) Where do you see all the hardware drivers?

Ans. Device Manager.

Q5.) If u see a yellow exclamation mark on any hardware drivers in device manager, what does that mean and how do you fix it?

Ans. It means that the driver is corrupted and we would uninstall the same and reinstall it.

Q6.) If it’s a red exclamation mark on any of the hardware drivers in device manager, what does that mean and how do you fix it?

Ans. It means that the driver is “Disabled”, we will right click on the particular driver and enable it.

Q7.) if we are getting an IP address which starts with “169.168….. Is a correct IP address, if not how do we troubleshoot?

Ans. It is not a correct IP address – its called APIPA, we will release and renew the IP address by following command in DOS prompt.

IPCONFIG/RELEASE IPCONFIG/RENEW Q8.) What is difference between “system Restore and Last known good configuration”?

Ans. System Restore: - Click on start – All programs-Accessories-system tools – system restore. It restores the system to a particular date and it’s a manual process.

LKGC: - while system is booting up – keep taping F8. Its an automatic procedure wherein system would automatically be restore to the time when it was working fine.

Q9.) What is the difference between Virus and Spyware?

Ans. Virus: - it’s a malicious which hampers the efficiency of the system, it might result in crashing the system it multiplies on his own.

Spyware: - it’s a program which steals the information and sends to the source.

Q10.) What is the difference between Safe mode and Normal mode?

Ans. Safe mode – graphics would be disabled; Antivirus would not run in safe Mode. It only uses the files which are required to boot the windows.

Normal Mode: - Graphics would be enabled, all applications would run as normal.

Q11.) What do you understand by NIC/Wireless Card?

Ans. It’s a LAN or Ethernet card which helps a user to use internet. Driver would be found in Device manager.

Q12.) Name few Antiviruses….?

Ans. MacAfee, Avast, Quick heal, Symantec, kaspersky, Norton, CA. Q13.) what all steps can be followed in case of “ slow browsing or slow performance issue”?

Ans.  Reset the browser.  Delete cookies, temporary internet files and history.  Disk Defragmentation.  Delete prefetch files.  Disk clean-up.  Increase virtual memory.  Disable startup items from Microsoft configuration utility.

Q13.) Internet is working fine still, “not able to browse”?

Ans.  We will restart the browser.  We will try opening that website with different browser.  May be that website is in blocked websites.  May be firewall is blocking the website.  We will disable all the startup items from MSCONFIG. Q14.) What do you understand by ping?

Ans. Ping command is used to check the connectivity of the internet. Command woild be PING 192.168.20.10.

Q15.) What are the versions of Windows 7?

Ans. Home Basic, Home Premium, professional, Windows 7 ultimate.

Q17.) What is the use of RAM? Ans. Ram is the virtual memory of the system. It helps in multitasking and helps in increasing the speed of the computer.

Q18.) What do you understand by SMTP and POP address?

Ans. SMTP: - (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is a TCP/IP protocol used in sending e-mails.

POP: - (Post Office Protocol) used in receiving emails.

Q19.) What do you understand by Default gateway?

Ans. It’s an IP address provided by ISP (internet service provider).

Q20.) What do you understand by Cookies?

Ans. Cookies is a piece data stored by a website within a browser, Cookies were designed to be a reliable mechanism for websites to remember things.

Q21.) What do you understand by Prefetch?

Ans. Each time you turn on your computer, windows keeps tracks of the way your computer starts which programs you commonly open. Windows saves this information as a number of the small files in the prefetch folder. The next time you turn on your computer, windows refers to these files to help speed the start process.

We can delete them by typing “prefetch” in Run Box.