Applications
What is an application
Applications are programs that are installed. on computers to give users the ability to do specific tasks. For example, Microsoft Word® is a program that gives the user the ability to write documents. Some program packages come in a set with multiple programs included to provide multiple capabilities such as the Microsoft Office® suite of programs. This suite of programs also includes Microsoft Outlook® which is used to send and receive e-mail. It also includes other programs with more capabilities.
How Application Programs Work
Application programs are written in a text based computer language as mentioned in the section about hardware and software. Once written, they are compiled into a binary language the computer understands. The application programs use function calls (as described in the section about operating systems) to interface to the various computer peripherals such as your keyboard, mouse, screen, printers, and other devices. Most of these function calls are provided by the operating system so the application programs are usually compiled for a specific operating system such as Microsoft Windows 2000®, Microsoft Windows XP®, or Microsoft Windows 98®.
Application Problems
An application program is a computer program. It is written by human programmers who make mistakes. Therefore there can be errors in the code even though there may be some testing before the product is released. Application programs vary widely in the quality of the code. Errors in code are referred to as "bugs". Bugs can cause unpredictable results including system crashes, inability to perform expected functions, or providing an exploit for an attacker who wants to gain control of your system.
Application Acquisition and Installation
You get applications several ways. The most common way is to purchase it in a store and you will brind a CD home and install it on your computer system. The ways you may get applications include:
* Purchase of a program from a store.
* Download a purchased program on the internet.
* Download a shareware program on the internet.
* Download a free program on the internet.
Whether purchasing a program or downloading one for free on tHe internet, you should be aware of the quality of the product you are placing on your computer system. Ask yourself the following:
* Do I know who made this product and are they a trustworthy source?
* If the product is free, do I know why it is free?
* Is there some hidden purpose for the product?
* What is the reputation of the maker of the product?
* What problems do users of the product have?
Before downloading a product or purchasing a product you should always spend at least a few minutes researching it. You should at least do a quick search on the Gigablast search engine using the product name and the name of the product producer. You should perform a Gigablast internet search and possibly Google groups search to find out where discussions about the product have taken place. There are also many product evaluation sites that can be used to obtain reviewers and users ratings of the product before you buy or install it. Downloading and install the wrong products can not only seriously impede the performance of your computer system, it can also cause your privacy to be invaded.
Bad Applications
There are many types of applications that can cause problems on your computer system.
* Applications with serious bugs.
* Applications that come with unwanted programs. Some applications come with additional software that you may not really want but is installed by default. Normally this is only annoying and may slightly slow your system down when it boots because some ot these items will load every time you start your computer.
* Adware - Most adware comes with programs that may be purchased or downloaded for free on the internet. Adware will cause advertising popups to appear nn your computer. Besides being annoying, they will slow your ability to access the internet. Many times these programs will download other ad programs. These programs are very difficult to remove from your system because they are usually hidden on your system very well. Many times it requires an expert to remove these programs but later I will give you some tips on how you can either remove them or render them ineffective, but to be able to do this you must have reasonable knowledge aboutyour system. There are some programs written to remove adware programs which I will discuss later.
* Spyware - This usually comes with some free programs and it will monitor your internet activity and send information to some corporation. This type of program is not normally seriously harmful but most people do not want to have their activities monitored. There are also programs to remove spyware but it is best to not install it in the first place.
If you do your research before installing applications you will avoid most problem applications. It is best to ask your IT support personnel about an application before you install it. In fact many corporate IT policies are set so users cannot install programs on their systems. This is because installation of the wrong programs on corporate systems can jeopardize computer security for the entire organization.
Application Files
Applications have a variety of files they use for three basic purposes.
* Executable files
* Configuration files
* Data files used by the user such as Microsoft Word® document files.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
What is the Internet
What is the Internet
The word internet is used to describe a network of networks which incorporate a very large and complicated set of equipment. To understand the internet, there are three areas of discussion which are very helpful. These include the various services provided across the internet, the functions that enable the internet to work, and the various organizations that are part of the internet.
Internet Services
The main services used on the internet include:
* Web browsing - Supported by the HTTP protocol, this functions allows users to view web pages using a web browser.
* E-mail - Allows people to send and receive electronic messages.
Other lesser used services include telnet (allows remote login to computers), FTP (Allows quick file transmission to remote computers), and gopher (An early form of text based form of reading internet documents which is rarely used today).
Internet Functions
The internet provides for the following two functions which support communications. Without the communications support mentioned below, the internet could not function. These two functions are provided by internet service providers listed below under the "Internet Organizations" header.
* Physical lines that data is sent across.
* Routing of data - There are special machines on the internet called routers, that determine where data needs to go to get from the sender of the data to the receiver of the data.
Internet Organizations
* ISPs (Internet Service Providers) - They provide the connection to the internet for users and also provide routers that direct internet traffic.
* Corporations or Web hosting providers with mail servers and web servers - They provide the information posted on the internet and virtual data connections to other mail servers.
There are also other organizations that regulate the internet, providing communication standards and designing new communication standards for improvements. These communication standards are also known as protocols.
The word internet is used to describe a network of networks which incorporate a very large and complicated set of equipment. To understand the internet, there are three areas of discussion which are very helpful. These include the various services provided across the internet, the functions that enable the internet to work, and the various organizations that are part of the internet.
Internet Services
The main services used on the internet include:
* Web browsing - Supported by the HTTP protocol, this functions allows users to view web pages using a web browser.
* E-mail - Allows people to send and receive electronic messages.
Other lesser used services include telnet (allows remote login to computers), FTP (Allows quick file transmission to remote computers), and gopher (An early form of text based form of reading internet documents which is rarely used today).
Internet Functions
The internet provides for the following two functions which support communications. Without the communications support mentioned below, the internet could not function. These two functions are provided by internet service providers listed below under the "Internet Organizations" header.
* Physical lines that data is sent across.
* Routing of data - There are special machines on the internet called routers, that determine where data needs to go to get from the sender of the data to the receiver of the data.
Internet Organizations
* ISPs (Internet Service Providers) - They provide the connection to the internet for users and also provide routers that direct internet traffic.
* Corporations or Web hosting providers with mail servers and web servers - They provide the information posted on the internet and virtual data connections to other mail servers.
There are also other organizations that regulate the internet, providing communication standards and designing new communication standards for improvements. These communication standards are also known as protocols.
What is a Network
| What is a Network The word network can be used to describe a very large and complicated set of equipment. In its most accurate and simplest definition a network refers to the cables and electronic components that amplify the signals going through the cables. The amplifying equipment is necessary to ensure accurate communication and make the signal stronger if it needs to go long distances. Broader Definition When many people talk about a network, they are talking about a network using a very broad concept. For instance if someone cannot get to their email, they may say "the network is down". Likewise they may say this if they cannot surf the internet or get to their files. They may not stop to think that in each specific instance there is a single piece of equipment that may provide the capability which they are trying to use. Most people who work on a corporate or organizational network think about the network in component parts. The three main parts are:
|
|
Services
Services include:
- Email service
- File service - Allows users to use and share file space on a computer with a lot of file space.
- Print service - Allows printing to printers connected on the network.
- Web surfing - Allowing someone to open web pages and see web sites on the internet.
- Filtering out undesired sites on the internet.
- Allowing someone to access the network from the outside (from home).
- Updating virus definitions on workstations.
- Allowing someone to log onto the network.
- Even giving a workstation an address on the network is a service. If your computer does not have an address, it cannot access the internet or any other resource on the network.
A Typical Network
A typical corporate or organizational network is shown below:
Of course there are variations on this network layout and some details have been left out for the sake of simplicity but this drawing should give you some idea about what goes on behind the scene on the network at your organization. Some servers and server functions have not been shown here.
The firewall is the device that protects all computers in the network from many attacks. It allows some types of network traffic into the network from the outside, but usually only for mail or web services. Usually the internet traffic that that is allowed to come into the network is routed to the part of the network labeled "DMZ" on the right side of the diagram. DMZ stands for demilitarized zone and is also called a semi-private network. In this DMZ is a web server which is used to allow people surfing on the internet to see web pages posted by the organization. A mail server is also shown in the DMZ but this could be replaced by a mail relay server while the mail server is placed inside the private network. The mail relay server would forward mail traffic from the outside to the mail server. This would increase the security of the network since a direct connection from the internet to the mail server would not be allowed.
Software and Hardware
Software and Hardware
Hardware
The term hardware describes the physical parts of your computer which you can physically touch or see such as your monitor, case, disk drives, microprocessor and other physical parts.
Software
The term software describes the programs that run on your system. This includes your computer operating system and other computer programs which run. Software is written in a computer language (such as Basic, C, Java, or others) by programmers. The computer language is in a text format and can be read by a person although if you do not understand the structure and rules of the language you may not understand it very well. Once a program is written, an operation is performed on it which is called compiling. Compiling is the process of changing the textual written language into a binary language which can be understood by the computer.
Writing these text files and converting them to computer readable files is the way operating systems and most application programs are created.
BIOS (Basic Input/Output System)
BIOS is a low level program used by your system to interface to computer devices such as your video card, keyboard, mouse, hard drive, and other devices. What BIOS programs provide in the computer are very simple function calls or small subprograms which can be used by higher level programs to perform simple operations on computer devices. For example a BIOS program would provide the ability to write a character to memory on a video card.
BIOS is normally written in a low level computer language and is permanently or semi-permanently written into the computer system. This type of computer program is commonly referred to as firmware since it was historically written permanently into computer systems. Although BIOS is a program, because of its permanent state, it was not quite considered to be software so the term firmware is used to describe it.
Historically BIOS programs were written into a type of memory called ROM (read only memory). This type of memory would not lose its data when the computer lost power thus ensuring these BIOS programs would always be available. There were different variants of ROM memory some of which could be written multiple times but this memory could not normally be changed or re-programmed once the computer system was sold to the customer. Once ROM memory was written to, it could not be written to again and could only be read when in the possession of the customer. In more recent years a more flexible form of memory was developed called flash ROM which allows ROM memory to be written to after the computer system is in possession of the customer.
Hardware
The term hardware describes the physical parts of your computer which you can physically touch or see such as your monitor, case, disk drives, microprocessor and other physical parts.
Software
The term software describes the programs that run on your system. This includes your computer operating system and other computer programs which run. Software is written in a computer language (such as Basic, C, Java, or others) by programmers. The computer language is in a text format and can be read by a person although if you do not understand the structure and rules of the language you may not understand it very well. Once a program is written, an operation is performed on it which is called compiling. Compiling is the process of changing the textual written language into a binary language which can be understood by the computer.
Writing these text files and converting them to computer readable files is the way operating systems and most application programs are created.
BIOS (Basic Input/Output System)
BIOS is a low level program used by your system to interface to computer devices such as your video card, keyboard, mouse, hard drive, and other devices. What BIOS programs provide in the computer are very simple function calls or small subprograms which can be used by higher level programs to perform simple operations on computer devices. For example a BIOS program would provide the ability to write a character to memory on a video card.
BIOS is normally written in a low level computer language and is permanently or semi-permanently written into the computer system. This type of computer program is commonly referred to as firmware since it was historically written permanently into computer systems. Although BIOS is a program, because of its permanent state, it was not quite considered to be software so the term firmware is used to describe it.
Historically BIOS programs were written into a type of memory called ROM (read only memory). This type of memory would not lose its data when the computer lost power thus ensuring these BIOS programs would always be available. There were different variants of ROM memory some of which could be written multiple times but this memory could not normally be changed or re-programmed once the computer system was sold to the customer. Once ROM memory was written to, it could not be written to again and could only be read when in the possession of the customer. In more recent years a more flexible form of memory was developed called flash ROM which allows ROM memory to be written to after the computer system is in possession of the customer.
Hardware Section Introduction
Hardware Section Introduction
This section is for the placement of various hardware technology categories including:
* Personal Computer(PC) platforms of the original IBM platform compatibility. Typical operating systems on these platforms are Windows and Linux, however software issues do not belong here.
* Hardware dealing with Apple brand computers.
* Hardware dealing with other computers that run systems such as UNIX
* Hardware dealing with systems such as AS400 computers.
* Microprocessor hardware.
* Memory hardware.
* Other hardware dealing with circuitry such as hardware that consists of logic gates, flip flops, field programmable gate arrays.
Firmware issues are appropriate in this area.
There are sections for articles and editorials in this main hardware subsection. These articles and editorials sections are mainly reserved for articles that compare various platforms along with other general hardware subject matter. Each subsection under articles shall also have its own articles and editorials section to address issues specific to that section.
Current Documentation:
This section includes a document describing PC beep codes. There is a document in the PC section called the "Beginning Computer Hardware Guide". It describes what is inside tha case and much about how it works. It describes the microprocessor, RAM, motherbord, expansion buss (es) (including PCI, ISA, EISA, MCI, and AGP), the hard drive construction and other storage media, the characteristics of the monitor and how to select one properly. It finishes by describing how to buy computer parts and how to shop smartly on the web to get the best prices without taking the risk of being ripped off.
Two additional documents in the PC section include a document describing the booting process of the PC and a document describing modems.
This section is for the placement of various hardware technology categories including:
* Personal Computer(PC) platforms of the original IBM platform compatibility. Typical operating systems on these platforms are Windows and Linux, however software issues do not belong here.
* Hardware dealing with Apple brand computers.
* Hardware dealing with other computers that run systems such as UNIX
* Hardware dealing with systems such as AS400 computers.
* Microprocessor hardware.
* Memory hardware.
* Other hardware dealing with circuitry such as hardware that consists of logic gates, flip flops, field programmable gate arrays.
Firmware issues are appropriate in this area.
There are sections for articles and editorials in this main hardware subsection. These articles and editorials sections are mainly reserved for articles that compare various platforms along with other general hardware subject matter. Each subsection under articles shall also have its own articles and editorials section to address issues specific to that section.
Current Documentation:
This section includes a document describing PC beep codes. There is a document in the PC section called the "Beginning Computer Hardware Guide". It describes what is inside tha case and much about how it works. It describes the microprocessor, RAM, motherbord, expansion buss (es) (including PCI, ISA, EISA, MCI, and AGP), the hard drive construction and other storage media, the characteristics of the monitor and how to select one properly. It finishes by describing how to buy computer parts and how to shop smartly on the web to get the best prices without taking the risk of being ripped off.
Two additional documents in the PC section include a document describing the booting process of the PC and a document describing modems.
Operating Systems Introduction
Operating Systems Introduction
This section is reserved for documentation and information about various operating systems. Items that belong here pertain to the operating system software and associated programs and issues. At the suggestions of members or the public, more additions may be made here. A list of current and possible operating systems:
* Windows series systems, including Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, and Windows 2000.
* Linux
* Unix
* Apple Mac
* Others such as AS400
If the operating system is platform dependent, platform information will belong in the hardware section.
Current Documented Systems
This section contains information and documentation about the following operating systems.
* Linux
* Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows 2000
This section is reserved for documentation and information about various operating systems. Items that belong here pertain to the operating system software and associated programs and issues. At the suggestions of members or the public, more additions may be made here. A list of current and possible operating systems:
* Windows series systems, including Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, and Windows 2000.
* Linux
* Unix
* Apple Mac
* Others such as AS400
If the operating system is platform dependent, platform information will belong in the hardware section.
Current Documented Systems
This section contains information and documentation about the following operating systems.
* Linux
* Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows 2000
Basic Computer Section
Basic Computer Section
This section is for those who have little to no knowledge about computers. It will provide information to help readers:
* Understand the basic hardware that makes up their system.
* Know how to use their system.
* Keep their system more secure.
* Prevent viruses.
* Reduce spam.
* Secure their data.
* Avoid applications that may reduce performance
This section is for those who have little to no knowledge about computers. It will provide information to help readers:
* Understand the basic hardware that makes up their system.
* Know how to use their system.
* Keep their system more secure.
* Prevent viruses.
* Reduce spam.
* Secure their data.
* Avoid applications that may reduce performance
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