COMPUTER STUDIES

INTRODUCTION

Definition : A Computer is an electronic device that can perform

activities that involve Mathematical, Logical and graphical
manipulations. Generally, the term is used to describe a collection of
devices that function together as a system.
It performs the following three operations in sequence.
1. It receives data & instructions from the input device.
2. Processes the data as per instructions.
3. Provides the result (output) in a desired form.
Data : It is the collection of raw facts, figures & symbols.
Ex : Names of students and their marks in different subjects listed in
random order.
Information : It is the data that is processed & presented in an organized
manner.
Ex : When the names of students are arranged in alphabetical order,
total and average marks are calculated & presented in a tabular
form, it is information.
Program : Set of instructions that enables a computer to perform a given
task.
Advantages of computers :

1. High speed : Computers have the ability to perform routine tasks

at a greater speed than human beings. They can perform millions
of calculations in seconds.
2. Accuracy : Computers are used to perform tasks in a way that
ensures accuracy.
3. Storage : Computers can store large amount of information. Any
item of data or any instruction stored in the memory can be
retrieved by the computer at lightning speeds.
4. Automation : Computers can be instructed to perform complex
tasks automatically ( which increases the productivity).
5. Diligence : Computers can perform the same task repeatedly &
with the same accuracy without getting tired.
6. Versatility : Computers are flexible to perform both simple and
complex tasks.
7. Cost effectiveness : Computers reduce the amount of paper
work and human effort, thereby reducing costs.
Limitations of computers :
1. Computers need clear & complete instructions to perform a task
accurately. If the instructions are not clear & complete, the
computer will not produce the required result.
2. Computers cannot think.
3. Computers cannot learn by experience.
Generations of computers :
Generation Component used
First Generation Vacuum tubes
(1946-1954 )
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 Second Generation Transistors
(1955-1965)
Third Generation Integrated Circuits (IC)
(1968-1975 )
Fourth Generation Very Large Scale Integrated
( 1976-1980) Circuits
(VLSI)
Fifth Generation Ultra Scale Integrated Circuits
(1980 – till today ) (ULSI)
Micro Processor (SILICON CHIP)
ANATOMY OF COMPUTERS
The computer system consists of three units:
1. Input device 2. Central
Processing Unit (CPU) 3. Output
device Block diagram of a Computer :
CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT

Memory unit

INPUT DEVICE
OUT PUT DEVICE

AL
U

Control Unit

The various functions of these units can be summarized as Unit

Function
1. Input device : Reads information
from input media and enters to the computer in a coded form
2. CPU
(a) Memory unit : Stores program and data
(b) Arithmetic Logic unit : Performs arithmetic and logical functions
(c) Control Unit : Interprets program instructions and controls the
input and
output devices
3. Output device : decodes information and presents it to the user
Central Processing Unit: It is the part of the computer that carries out
the instructions of a computer program. It is
the unit that reads and executes program instructions. Hence it is
known as the
―brain‖ of the computer. The CPU consists of storage or memory unit,
Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) and control unit.

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 (a). Memory Unit: It is also known as the primary storage or main
memory. It stores data, program instructions, internal results and final
output temporarily before it is sent to an appropriate output device. It
consists of thousands of cells called ―storage locations‖. These cells
activate with ―off-on‖ or binary digits(0,1) mechanism. Thus a
character either a letter or numerical digit is stored as a string of (0,1)
Binary digits ( BITS). These bits are used to store instructions and data
by their combinations.
(b) Arithmetic and Logical Unit(ALU): It is the unit where all
Arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction etc.) and logical functions
such as true or false, male or female are performed. Once data are fed
into the main memory from input devices, they are held and transferred
as needed to ALU where processing takes place. No process occurs in
primary storage. Intermediate generated results in ALU
(c) are temporarily placed in memory until needed at later time. Data may
move from primary memory to ALU and back again to storage many
times before the process is finalized.
(d) (c).Control Unit : It acts as a central nervous system and ensures that
the information is stored correctly and the program instructions are
followed in proper sequence as well as the data are selected from the
memory as necessary. It also coordinates all the input and output
devices of a system .

Input Devices
Devices used to provide data and instructions to the
computer are called Input devices. Some important input
devices are
Key board, Mouse, Scanner, MICR, Web camera, Microphone etc.
1. Keyboard: The Key board is used for typing text into the computer.
It is also known as standard Input device. A computer keyboard is
similar to that of a type writer with additional keys. The most
commonly available computer keyboard has 104 keys.
There are different types of keys on the keyboard. The keys are
categorized as :
 Alphanumeric keys , including letters & numbers.
 Punctuation keys, such as colon (:), semicolon (;) Question
mark (?), Single & double quotes (‗,‖)
 Special keys such as arrow keys, control keys, function keys (F1 to
F12), HOME, END etc.

2.. Mouse: It is a device that controls the movement of the cursor on a

monitor. A mouse will have 2 buttons on its top. The left button is the
most frequently used button. There will be a wheel between the left and
right buttons. This wheel enables us to smoothly scroll through screens
of information. As we move the mouse, the pointer on the monitor
moves in the same direction. Optical mouse is another advanced
pointing device that uses a light emitting component instead of the
mouse ball. Mouse cannot be used for entering the data. It is only useful
to select the options on the screen.
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3. Scanner: : It is an input device that can read text or
illustrations printed on paper and translate into digital form. The main
advantage of these scanners is that the data need not be entered
separately resulting in saving lot of time.

Scanners are of two types: i) optical scanners ii) MICR

i) Optical scanners:
a. Optical character Recognition(OCR): In this, characters are
read with the help of a light. This is used in office atomization,
documentation in library etc.
b. Optical mark recognition(OMR): It is a technology where an
OMR device senses the presence or absence of a mark such as a pencil
mark. OMR is used in tests such as aptitude tests.
c. Optical barcode recognition(OBCR): Barcode readers are
photoelectric scanners that read the bar codes or vertical zebra striped
marks printed on product containers. This is used in super markets,
book shops etc.
ii. MICR: This is widely used in banks to process the cheques. This
allows the computer to recognize characters printed using magnetic
ink.

4. Magnetic Ink Character Recognition(MICR): : It is a character

recognition technology used primarily by the banking industry to
facilitate the processing of the cheques. MICR characters ( cheque No.,
Acc.No.etc) are printed in special ink usually containing iron oxide.
When a document that contains the ink needs to be read, it passes
through a machine which magnetizes the ink and there will be a reader
sorter unit which translates the magnetic information into characters.
MICR provides a secure, high speed of scanning and processing
information. It scans about 2600 cheques/min.
Output devices

Any device that is capable of representing information on a

computer is called an Output device. Output devices receive
information from the CPU and present it to the user in the desired
form.
Some important Output devices are : Monitor, Printer

1 .Terminal/Monitor: It is similar to TV screen- either a

monochrome (black & white) or colour – and it displays the output. It is
also referred as Visual Display Unit(VDU). Several types of monitors
are in use. Some of them are Colour Graphic Adapter(CGA), Enhanced
Graphics Adaptor(EGA) , Video Graphics Adapter (VGA) and Super
Video Graphics Adapter (SVGA).
The screen sizes differ from system to system. The standard size is 24
lines by 80 characters. Most systems have provision for scrolling which
helps in moving the text vertically or horizontally on the screen.

2 . Printer: A printer is used to transfer data from a computer onto

paper. The paper copy obtained from a printer is often referred as
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 ―printout‖. The different printers and their speeds are as follows:
( CPS: Characters Per Second; PPM: Pages Per Minutes; LPM : Lines
Per Minute)

Laser printer

MEMORY OF THE COMPUTER

Memory or storage capacity is one of the important components
of a computer. Any storage unit of a computer system is classified on
the basis of the following criteria:
1. Access time: This is the time required to locate and retrieve
stored data from the storage unit in response to program
instructions.
2. Storage capacity: It is the amount of data that can be stored in the
storage unit.

3. Cost per bit of storage.

3Units of memory: The computer stores a character in the storage cells with
binary (0,1) mechanism. Thus the basic unit of memory is a bit (binary
digit – 0,1). To store a character, a computer requires 8 bits or 1 byte. This
is called the ― word length‖ of the storage unit. Hence the storage capacity
of the computer is measured in the number of words it can store and is
expressed in terms of bytes. The different units of measurement are
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ASCII – American Standard Code for Information Interchange.

This code has given alphabets like some numbers which can be
converted to Binary form.
A- 65 …….Z – 90................and a – 97 z – 121
By using these codes the alphabets can be converted to digital & hence to
Binary form.
Types of Memory : A computer memory is of two types
1. Primary Memory ( Internal storage) 2. Secondary Memory (
External storage)

Primary Memory : Primary memory is also called internal memory and

is an important part of a computer. It is the main area in a computer
where the data is stored. The stored data can be recalled instantly and
correctly whenever desired. This memory can be quickly accessed by
the CPU for reading or storing information. Primary memory is further
classified into two types:
Random Access Memory (RAM) and Read-
Only Memory (ROM ) RAM:
RAM is also known as read/write memory as information can be read
from and written onto it. RAM is
a place in a computer that holds instructions for the computer, its
programs and the data. The CPU can directly access the data from
RAM almost immediately. However, the storage of data and
instructions in RAM is temporary, till the time the computer is running.
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 It disappears from RAM as soon as the power to the computer is
switched off. i.e it is volatile memory.

ROM:
It is called Read-only memory as information can only be read from
and not written or changed onto ROM. ROM is the ‗built-in‘ memory
of a computer. It stores some basic input – output instructions put by
the manufacturer to operate the computer. The storage of data and
instructions in ROM is permanent. It does not depend on the power
supply. i.e it is non-volatile memory.
Secondary memory: The primary memory which is faster (and hence
expensive) is generally not sufficient for large storage of data. As a
result, additional memory, called the ―auxiliary‖ or ―secondary
memory‖ is used. It is also referred as ―backup storage‖ as it is used
to store large volume of data on a permanent basis which can be
transferred to the primary memory whenever required for processing.
Data are stored in secondary storage in the same binary codes as in the
main (primary memory) storage. Some of the devices of secondary
storages are Floppy Disk, Hard Disk, CD-ROM, DVD and Flash drive.
Floppy Disk: It is also referred as ―Diskette: and is made of flexible Vinyl
material. It has a small hole on one side called ―Right protect
notch‖, Which protects accidental writing/deleting the information
from the disk. There is a hole in the centre through which the spindle of
drive unit rotates the disk. The disks are available in two sizes of 5.25 and
3.5 inches and these could be either low- density or high-density floppies.
Storage capacity of floppies are measured in kilobytes (KB) and megabytes
(MB). The details about the storage capacities of the floppies are presented
below:

1.

1. Hard Disk: The hard disk can hold more information than the floppy
disk and the retrieval of information from hard disk is faster when
compared to floppies or tapes. A hard disk is fixed inside the CPU and its
capacity ranges from 20 MB onwards. The hard disk is made up of a
collection of discs (one below the other) known as platters on which the data
is recorded. These platters are coated with magnetic material. It is less
sensitive to external environmental disorders and hence the storage in hard
disk is safe. A small hard disk might be as much as 25 times larger than a
floppy disk. Storage Capacity of hard disks varies from 20 MB to several
Gega bytes like 80GB, 160GB.

2. of information. Its main advantage is that it is portable and can

hold a large amount of data.. The storage capacity of most CD-ROMs is
approximately 650 MB or 700 MB.
CD-ROMs have the following variations:
(i) CD-R(Compact disc Recordable): Data can be written onto it just
once. The stored data can be read. Data once written onto it cannot be
erased.
(ii) CD-RW(Compact disc Rewritable): It is also called erasable CD.
Data once written onto it can be erased to write or record new
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information many times.
To use a CD-ROM, a device called CD drive is needed.

3. DVD: DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disc. It is similar to a CD-

ROM, except that it can store larger amounts of data. The storage
capacity of a DVD is at least 4.7MB. DVDs that can store up to 17GBs
are also available. Because of their capacity, DVDs are generally used to
store a very large multimedia presentations and movies that combine
high quality sound and graphics.
4. Flash Drive: It is a small, portable device that can be used to
store, access and transfer data. Due to its small size, it is commonly
called Pen drive. It is also called USB drive. We can read, write, copy,
delete, and move data from computer to pen drive or pen drive to
computer. It comes in various storage capacities of 2GB, 4GB, 8GB etc.
It is popular because it is easy to use and small enough to be carried in
a pocket. This device is plugged into the USB port of the computer and
the computer automatically detects this device

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 CD-ROM: CD-ROM for Compact Disk–Read Only Memory. It is used to
store a wide variety

HARDWARE and SOFTWARE

Hardware: The physical components of the computer are known as

―Hardware‖. It refers to the objects that we can actually touch.
Ex: input and output devices, processors, circuits and the cables.

Software: Software is a program or set of instructions that causes the

Hardware to function in a desired way. The basic difference between
the Hardware and Software is just the same as that exists between TV
and TV studio. Without TV studio (software) from where the programs
are telecast, the TV (Hardware) is a dead machine.

There are five categories of software. They are:

1. Operating System 2. Translators 3. Utility programs

4. Application programs
5. General purpose programs

1. Operating System (OS) : The software that manages the resources of

a computer system and schedules its operation is called Operating
system. The operating system acts as interface between the hardware
and the user programs and facilitates the execution of programs.
Generally the OS acts as an interface between the user and the
Hardware of the computer.
i.e It is a bridge between the user and the Hardware.
The User interface provided by the OS can be character based or
graphical.
CUI -- Character user Interface
GUI -- Graphical user Interfac
CUI : It is operated with keyboard only. Ex: MS-DOS, UNIX
GUI : The system can be operated with mouse and keyboard. Ex:
Windows 95, Windows XP etc
 Disk Operating System (DOS): It was developed as early as
1980 by Bill Gates at the age of
19. It is suited for personal computers. Dos is a single user and single
task operating system
 WINDOWS :
 It works with DOS and it supports single user and multitask
system.
 It requires a powerful PC with a minimum RAM of 8 MB .

 UNIX AND XENIX: It is suited for multi-user and multi-task

system
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 2. Translators : Computers can understand instructions only when they
are written in their own language – the machine language .
Therefore, a program written in any other language should be
translated into machine language. The software that
―translates‖ the instructions of different languages is known as
translators .
There are two types of translators. They are compilers and Interpreters
A Compiler checks the entire user – written program (known as
the source program) and if it is error free, produces a complete
program in machine language (known as object program). The source
program is retained for possible modifications and corrections and the
object program is loaded into the computer for execution. If the source
program contains errors, the compilers produce a list of errors at the
end of the execution of the program. i.e a compiler translates the whole
program before execution.

An interpreter does a similar job but in a different style. The

interpreter translates one statement at a time and if it is error – free,
executes. This continues till the last statement. Thus an interpreter
translates or executes the first instruction before it goes to the second,
while a compiler translates the whole program before execution.
The major difference between compiler and interpreter is
1. Error correction is very much simpler in the case of
interpreter as it translates the statements in stages. The
compiler produces an error list of the entire program at the
end.
2. Interpreter takes more time for the execution of the program
compared to compilers as it translates one statement at a
time
Programming Languages: There are three types of programming
languages.

Machine Languages: Computers respond only to machine

1.
language. This language is in terms of binary codes (0,1). i.e. all
programs should be written with these codes, which is difficult,
time consuming and leading to errors while writing the programs.
There is no unique standard machine language. Rather there are
many machine languages. These are machine dependent. These are
referred as the first generation languages.
2. Assembly Languages : It uses mnemonic codes rather than numeric
codes (as in machine languages). Ex. Add or A is used as a symbol for
addition. It requires translators to convert into machine language. Like
machine language, writing program in assembly language is also time
consuming. These are also machine dependent.
3.

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 4. High Level Languages (HLL): These are referred as problem
oriented languages (POL). These are referred as third generation
languages. The advantages of these languages are
 The high level languages are convenient for writing programs as
they can be written without any codes. These languages follow
rules like ―English‖ language.
 Because of their English like nature, less time is required to write a
program.
3.General Purpose Packages: These packages are developed to suit
the needs of research workers / scientists in different fields. These
packages are categorized as :
 Data Analysis ii) Word Processing iii) Spread Sheet iv) Graphics
and v) Databases

Data Analysis
Ex: SPSS (Statistical Package for
Social Science), MSTAT,
MICROSTAT, GENSTAT,
SAS etc.
Word Processing
Ex: WORD PERFECT, WORDSTAR, MS-Word,
CHIRATOR, NORTON EDITOR etc.

Spread Sheet
Ex: LOTUS, Qpro, VP-PLANNER, SYMPHONY, MS-Excel etc.
Graphics
Ex: LOTUS, STORY-BOARD, POWER-POINT etc.
Databases
Ex: dBASE, FOX-BASE, FOX-PRO, ORACLE, MS-Access etc.

Functions of Operating System :

Today most operating systems perform the following important
functions :
1. Processor management : It manages the assignment of
processor to different tasks being performed by the
computer system.
2. Memory management : It manages the allocation of main memory
and other storage areas to the system programmes as well as user
programmes and data.
3. Input / Output management : It manages the co-ordination and
assignment of different Input and Output devices while one or
more programmes are executed.
4. File management : It allows all files to be easily changed and
modified through the use of text editors or some other file
manipulation routines.
5. Establishment and enforcement of a priority system : It
determines and maintains the order in which jobs are to be
executed in the computer system.
6. Interpretation of commands and instructions.
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 7. Facilitates easy communication between the computer system and
the computer operator.

Classification of Computers

Computers are classified according to the storage capacity, speed

and the purpose for which they are developed. These can be classified
into three types:
1. Analog Computes 2. Digital Computers 3. Hybrid
Computers
1. Analog computers: They operate by ―measuring‖ instead of
―counting‖. The name (derived from greek word analog) denotes
that the computer functions by establishing similarities between
the two quantities. They are powerful tools for solving differential
equations.
2. Digital Computers: These computers operate by ―counting‖. All
quantities are expressed as discrete digits or numbers. These are
useful for evaluating arithmetic expressions and manipulations of
data.
3. Hybrid Computers: Computers which combine the features of
analog and digital computers are known as Hybrid computers.
A majority of the computers that are in use are digital. These
computers were essentially developed for computations. Later, the
developments in the computers led to the use of digital computers in
variety of applications. Depending on the use of applications, the
digital computers are classified into 1) Special Purpose Computers
and 2) General Purpose Computers
1. Special Purpose Computers: These are developed with a specific
purpose. Some of the areas where these computers are being used
are – soil testing, drip irrigation, medical scanning, traffic signals,
spacecraft, rocket technology etc.,
2. General Purpose Computers: These are developed to meet the
requirements of several areas such as simulation, solving
mathematical equations, payroll and personnel database. These
computers are available in different sizes and capabilities and are
further classified (based on memory, speed, storage) as follows.
a) Super Computers b) Mainframe Computers c) Mini
Computers d) Micro Computers

a) Super Computers: These have extremely large storage

capacities and computing speeds which are atleast 10 times
faster than other computers. These are used for large scale
numerical problems in scientific and engineering disciplines
such as electronics, weather forecasting etc.,. The first super
computer was developed in U.S.A. by CRAY computers. In
India the indigenous super computer was developed under
the name Param.
b) Mainframe Computers: They also have large storage and high
computing speed (but relatively lower than the super
computers). They are used in applications like weather
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 forecasting, space applications etc., they support a large
number of terminals for use by a variety of users
simultaneously, but are expensive
c) Mini Computers: It is a medium sized computer with
moderate cost, available indigenously and used for large
volume applications. It can serve multi-users simultaneously
d) Micro Computers: A micro computer is the smallest general
purpose processing system. Micro computers are also
referred as ―personal computers‖(PC). These are self
contained units and usually developed for use by one person
at a time but can be linked to very large systems. They are
cheap, easy to use even at homes and can be read for variety
of applications from small to medium range. These are
available in three models:
1. PC : Personal Computer
2. PC-XT : PC with Extended Technology
3. PC-AT : PC with Advanced Technology

PERSONAL COMPUTERS
4. Personal Computer: A personal computer has a Monitor (VDU),
a keyboard , Disk Drive (s), printer and CPU. The CPU of PC
has a mother board with several chips mounted on a circuit
board. The major components of the circuit board are :
Microprocessor, RAM and ROM chips and other supporting
circuits.
5. Microprocessor: The Microprocessor chip is like a brain of
human being which contains circuits and registers to perform
arithmetic, logic and control functions. i.e it contains ALU & CU.
These chips will be able to retrieve data from the input output
devices, store, manipulate and process a byte of data at a time.
There is an address bus which is built into these chips to
determine the storage locations (of RAM) of the data and the
instructions of the program.
6. Over the years, different microprocessors were developed and the
first in the series is INTEL 8080. The other procesors are 8088,
80286, 80386, 80486, Pentium I, II, III and Pentium 4. The
Pentium 4 can execute any piece of code that ran on the original
8088, but it does it about 5000 times faster.
7. Clock Speed: The speed with which the instruction is executed or
number of pulses per second is called the clock speed. It is
measured in terms of million pulses per second (MHZs).
8. The following table gives the differences among the different
processors that intel has introduced over the years :

Peripherals: The input, output and secondary storage units like floppy
drives, keyboard, mouse, etc., are called peripherals.
Classification of PCs: PCs are mainly classified on the basis of primary
memory (RAM), Microprocessor, clock speed and peripherals. The
classification is presented in the following table:
Working with personal computers

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Drives of the computer: A computer can have Floppy Disk Drive along
with Hard Disk drives in the system. These are referred as follows:
Floppy Disk Drive : A or B
Hard Disk: C
Booting of the Computer: Booting imply ―activating‖ the
computer for working. Thus, when the computer is switched on, the
operating system residing in the floppy or in the hard disk is
transferred into the primary memory. After this, the computer is ready
to accept the commands at user terminal. If OS is not existing either in
floppy drive or in the hard disk drive, ― non-system or disk error‖ is
flashed on the screen. The booting of the computer is carried out with a
software which resides on ROM chip called BIOS ( Basic Input Output
System). Thus when a PC with system disk either in Hard-Disk Drive or
Floppy Drive is switched ―on‖, the screen finally displays one of
the following symbols with a blinking cursor at its end:
a) A:\> This imply that the computer is booted through Floppy drive
`A‘ and is ready to accept DOS commands. The symbol ―\>‖ is
referred as DOS prompt from where DOS commands can be
entered.
b) C:\> It imply that the PC is booted through the Hard-Disk Drive `C‘.

Booting is essential whenever the system is locked or switched-off.

A PC can be booted through two ways: a) Cold Bootingb) Warm
Booting.
a) Cold Booting: It is only switching OFF the system and after some time
again switching ON.

b) Warm Booting: It is carried out by pressing the

following three keys simultaneously : Ctrl + Alt + Del. It is preferable
to cold booting as it safeguards the system from sudden power
fluctuations resulting out of switching ON and OFF the system.

MS-DOS
MS-DOS is a collection of programs and other files. It is a single user
and single programming environment.
MS-DOS is designed to provide a method of organizing and using
the information stored on disks, application programs, system
programs and the computer itself.

Files and File names: A file is a collection of related information. The

files should have suitable names for their identification in later use.
Rules for naming the files:
1. File names should be of one to eight characters in length with an
option of one to three character extension
2. File names can include any one of the
following characters: A to Z (or a to z) 0
to 9, $, &, #, @. %, ( ), { }
The characters which are not allowed are:
:, ; + / \ * as these have special meaning

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 3. A period (.) is used to separate the first part of a file name from
the extension. (LETTER.TXT, RAMA.WK1, etc.,)
4. When a file name includes an extension, it should be referred
along with its extension and not only with the first part
5. Reserved devices names are not allowed. (COMMAND.COM,
DATE, etc.,
Types of files in DOS: -
There are different types of files you can create in your computer,
according to the usage. To differentiate each file, the computer will give
an extension to identify the different types of files you have created.
Executable Files: The files with extension of either .COM or .EXE are
called executable files. These files are directly executed by typing their
names (without the extension) by the computer. A file with
.COM extension refers to COMMAND file name and the other with
.EXE extension refers EXECUTABLE program file.
Batch Files: the file containing a series of DOS commands, which are
executed automatically one at a time in the order entered, is known as
the batch file. A batch file has the extension .BAT. If the batch file is
given a special name AUTOEXEC.BAT, it is automatically executed
when the computer is switched on or during booting.
Backup Files: These are backup files of a file and have extension .BAK.
These files are such that their contents can not be altered (edited). These
files are created while working with WORDSTAR package for typing a
document.
System Files: These are program files developed for system control.
They have .SYS extension. Directory: It is a collection of files, size, date
and time of creation of files. The relation between files, directories and
disk is similar to the relation between papers, filing folders and filling
cabinets. Just as a cabinet contain papers and other folders, a directory
may contain directories also. The main directory of a drive is called
Root Directory into which several directories and sub-directories may
exist.

Types of DOS commands: There are two types of commands: i) internal

and ii) external
i) Internal DOS commands: Internal commands are those commands
which manage files. They are loaded into the memory of the PC when
PC is booted. These are stored in a large file with file name
COMMAND.COM, when a PC is booted.
1. DIR: Dir displays continuously the directory of file names,
file size, date and time of creation. C:\>dir a:
This command displays the list of files and directories from the drive A
i.e. the floppy drive.

It can be specified with two options:

i) Dir/p: It pauses the listing of the directory whenever the
screen is full. The next screen load of files can be displayed
by pressing any key.
ii) Dir/w: displays the files of the directory in a five column
format. Only file names and their extensions will be
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 displayed without the date and time of creation.
The total number of files and remaining bytes are listed.
In addition, DIR can also be specified with wildcard characters
(such as * or ?) to list files sharing a common element in the file
name or extension.
Eg: DIR STATS.* : lists all files with STATS and other combinations
along with the extensions. DIR *.COM : lists all files with
extension .COM
2. DEL: Deletes a specified
file. Syntax: DEL
{filename} Del stats deletes the file ―stats‖.
Del stats.* deletes all extensions of the file ―stats‖.

Suppose you want to delete a file COMPUTER.DOC on A

drive, the command will be: C:> DEL A:
COMPUTER.DOC 
3. COPY: The COPY command is used to copy files from one
place to another. The way to execute copy command is to
type COPY leave a space followed by the source file name
again a space followed by destination file.
Syntax: copy {Drive name} <source file> {Drive name} <target file name>

Ex: 1. COPY STATS MATHS copies a file ―STATS‖ with the name
―MATHS‖ on the same drive

2. COPY PATH A:ENTO copies a file ―PATH‖ from the

current drive to drive ―A‖ with the file name ―ENTO‖.
3. COPY A:MATHS C:STATS copies a file ―MATHS‖ form
drive ―A‖ to drive ―C‖ with the file name ―STATS‖
4. COPY A:MATHS.* C:STATS.* copies all extensions of file
―MATHS‖ form drive A to drive C with name ―STATS‖.
4. REN: The REN command is used to rename the old file with
another name. The way to execute Rename command is to type
REN leave a space followed by the old file name again followed
by a space and new file name.
Ex: Suppose if you want to change the name of a file
MATHS.TXT to STATS.TXT the following command
will work:
C:\> REN MATHS.TXT RESULT.TXT

5. DATE: It displays current date and asks for new date in (mm)-
(dd)-(YY) format. If no date is to be changed, the old date can be
retained by pressing ―enter‖ key.
Syntax: C:\> Date
6. TIME: displays current time and asks for new tine and if no new
time is to be entered, pressing
―enter‖ retains the old
time
Syntax: C:\> Time

15
7. VER: displays the version of DOS
8. CLS : when you want to clear the screen, type in the following
command:
C:\> CLS 

ii) External commands: External commands are small file programs

used for doing specific jobs.

Some of the useful commands :

1. SORT: It sorts the files in alphanumeric order: either A to Z or Z to
A
DIR| SORT (or) DIR/ON : Displays all the files in A to Z order

DIR| SORT/R (or) DIR/O-N: Displays all the files in reverse

order (i.e Z to A)

2. FORMAT: Formatting a (new) disk imply organizing

the new disk into magnetic tracks and sectors that are
readable by DOS. The PC copies files only on a
formatted disk. However, if an old disk is formatted,
all the existing files on it would be erased. Hence this
command should be used carefully.
FORMAT a: formats disk in drive ―A‖

3. VOL: This command displays the volume label of the current

disk
4. LABEL: It is used to create, change or delete the volume label on
the disk
5. PATH: It is used to provide access to files located
on other directories or on other disks. Thus while in ―C‖
drive, one can directly invoke files of DOS, WORDSTAR
(WS)
(or) LOTUS directories by giving the following command:
PATH = C:\DOS; C:\WS; C:\LOTUS

This command is generally listed in the AUTOEXEC.BAT files for

its execution when the PC is booted
6. MD: It is used to make a new directory (or sub-directory)
which is subordinate to the current (or root) directory. It is
specified as follows:

C:\> MD\STATS (or) MD STATS : This command makes

(creates) a new directory with the name ― STATS‖.
7. CD : It is used to change from one directory to the other.
If we have to work with files in the directory ―STATS‖, the
directory has to be changed to ―STATS‖
Ex: C:\>CD\ STATS (or) CD STATS : This command changes
the root directory to the directory ―STATS‖.
8. RD: It removes or deletes a directory. To remove a
directory, it is essential to first delete all the files in the
16
 directory.
To remove the directory STATS, the command is C:\> RD
STATS

9. TREE: It displays the directories and sub-directories existing in

a drive with a ―TREE‖ diagram. The difference between TREE
and DIR commands is that: DIR displays all files with its size,
date and time of creation. It also displays only directories with
symbol <DIR> (without files and sub directories in that
directory) whereas, TREE displays directories
and sub directories in a drive without files.

Computer viruses and Vaccines:

Def: A VIRUS is a set of instructions (or program) or software

prepared to destroy a package and data.
A virus kills data and program files. Although the purpose for
developing such softwares is not known, they appear to be basically
developed for a check against the ―piracy‖ of program packages.
Functioning of viruses: viruses reside in executable files such
as .COM or .EXE. Thus when PC is switched on, the virus enters the
RAM through .COM (COMMAND.COM) file and starts destructive
work of killing data and program files. Whenever the PC is switched
off, they again go back to the executable files.
More than 1000 computer viruses have been identified. They are
classified as :

i) File Allocation Table (FAT) based viruses ii )Key board viruses and
ii) File based viruses
Some of the well known viruses are:

Joshi, Die_Hard-2, Jerusalem, Generic, Brain, May_5th, Gumnam,

World peace etc.,
VACCINE: It is a software developed for removing the viruses.

In DOS version, there are in-built programs to guard against

computer viruses. These are anti-virus programs for both DOS and
WINDOWS and a memory resident virus-safe program that guards
against the introduction of files that may be affected by virus.
Some of the anti-virus vaccines are: NASHSOFT, UTSCAN, AVG,
AVIRA, Meccaf etc.

WINDOWS

Salient features of Windows Operating System:

1. It converts the plain character based user interface provided by
DOS into a Graphical User Interface(GUI) such as pictures,
symbols and words on your screen that can be controlled by the
mouse.
2. It provides a multitasking capabilities to the PC.
3. It supports long file name rather than the limited 8 characters
17
 with extension of three letter file name (8:3) as used by DOS. In
Windows file name can have name up to 255 characters long.
4. Windows owes its name to the fact that it runs each program or
document or application in its own separate window.
5. Windows have the facility of accessories such as Word pad, Note pad,
Calculator and Paint.
6. User can paste portion of one document into another by utilizing
more advanced document linking features called Dynamic Data
Exchange (DDE), Object Linking and Embedding (OLE).
7. It provides a big facility of plug and play standard. It allows user to
simply plug a new board such as a video, audio or network card
into the computer without having a set of switches or making other
settings.
8. If a program crashes, then it will display fault error message about
its crash and you can eliminate the crashed program from the task
list without affecting other running applications.

Hardware required for Windows:

1. MS-DOS version 6.0, 6.2, 6.22
2. A PC with atleast 80386 processor.
3. Atleast 8 MB RAM.
4. A Hard disk with atleast 40-MB of free space to install Windows.
5. Monitor (Super VGA , Monochrome or Multicolored)
6. Mouse.
7. CD drive.
Parts of a window screen:
Desktop: The desktop is the on-screen work area on which Windows,
Icons, menus & dialog boxes appear. The Desktop can have
several components. Parts of the desktop include Icons & the
taskbar.
Components of the Desktop:
 Icons
 Taskbar
Icons: Icon is a small image that represents a file, folder or program.
The text below each icon is the name of the Icon. When we rest
the mouse pointer on an icon, a rectangular box appears. This is
referred to as Tooltip. It gives a brief description of the Icon.
By default, there will be 4-5 icons on the desktop.
They are:
 My Computer
 My documents
 Internet Explorer
 Recycle bin
 Network Neighborhood
My Computer: This is the icon which represents all the files & folders
which can be used in the system. It is used to access the drives, folders &
files on the computer. i.e Floppy drive(A), Local C, D, E, Printer,
Control panel etc.
My Documents: This is the default storage location for the files created in
the windows.
Internet Explorer: This is an application used to browse the internet.
18
Recycle bin: This is a folder that stores all the files & folders deleted
from windows temporarily, which can be restored again if needed.
Network Neighborhood: This is an application which display all the
computers connected in network with our computer.
Taskbar: The rectangular bar that runs horizontally across the
bottom of the screen is called Taskbar. The Taskbar has the START
menu on the left & the Notification area on the right. We can start an
application using the start menu.
Notification area holds system icons that allow for functions such as
changing the time & Volume of the Computer.
All the open applications are available on the Taskbar
Anatomy of a Window:
The window on a desktop is the rectangular area displaying content
independently of other areas of the screen.
The different parts of a window are the Title bar, Menu bar, the Toolbar,
and the min, max & close buttons. These tools are used to manage the
window & the components within it.
Title bar – This is the title of the window, like your name at the top
of a piece of paper. The Title bar is also the handle for the window.
If you click and hold the mouse button down on the title bar, you
can move it around the screen.

� Minimize – To have a window take the minimum amount of

desktop space possible, click the minimize button. This drops
the window into the Task bar like a piece of paper going into a
drawer. The Task bar will show the task whether or not the
window is minimized.
� Maximize – To have a window take the maximum desktop
space, click the maximize button. This stretches the window out
like an architect‘s floor plan being rolled out over the desk.
� Restore – A maximized window will cover over all the other
windows and icons on the desktop. The Restore button places the
window back so that more than one window can display at a time.
� Close (X) – When done with a window, you can have it taken
completely off the desktop by closing it. Use the X button to do
this.

Menu bar: The Menu bar displays a list of commands that can be used
to perform various tasks. ( this will be below the Title bar). Menu items
are commands within the menu bar that allow choosing of functions &
tasks.

Tool bar: contains a set of buttons for frequently used commands.

Scroll Bars: On the bottom and right edges of a window we find scroll
bars. They are used to pan across the information in the window, when
we have information which won‘t fit into the window. The Status
Bar :The Status bar appears at the very bottom of the window and
provides such information as the cursor position, current page number,
the number of words in the document etc.
Booting in Windows:
 When the computer is switched on, the BIOS is activated.
19
  The BIOS present in ROM searches for the operating system and
drives.
 If there is no OS, it shows non-system or disk error.
 If OS is present, then it transfers the OS from ROM to RAM.
 Then the desktop is displayed on the monitor.

WINDOWS EXPLORER

Windows Explorer is an application that provides detailed information

about your files, folders, and drives. You can use it to see how your files
are organized and to copy, move, and rename files, as well as perform
other tasks pertaining to files, folders, and drives.

Explorer uses the directory windows to graphically display the directory

structure of your disk and files. Windows Explorer displays the contents of
the entire system in a hierarchical manner.

To open Windows Explorer, click Start  All programs  Accessories 

Windows Explorer

Windows Explorer is divided into 2 panes. The left pane displays the list
of drives & folders on the computer. The right pane displays the
contents of the selected drive or folder. By using these two panes, you
can browse through the contents of your computer in a single window.
Folder is a list of files (similar to Directory in MS-DOS)

Working with Folders:

Creating a Folder:
1. From the tree pane : select the directory under which you want to
create a sub directory.
2. Choose FileNewFolder. On the right pane of the screen, a new
folder is created.
3. Type in the name of the directory and press ENTER. You can
notice the change in the tree structure immediately.

Creating files:
After creating a folder, we can move files into it or create new files within
the folder.
Selecting files & folders:
i) To select all the files in a folder:
Click the folder in the left pane  All the files will be displayed in
the right pane.
To select all --CTRL + A
ii) To select consecutive files:
Use shift key + arrow keys
iii) To select non-consecutive files:
 In the right pane of Windows Explorer, click the first item to
be selected.
 Hold down CTRL
 Click all other items that need to be selected.

20
 Copying Files & Folders:
Once we select the files to be copied, the next
step is to copy the files. To copy the files &
folders:
i) In Windows Explorer, select the file or folder to be copied.
ii) On the edit menu click copy
( the files are copied to the clip board. The clip board is a
location where the information you copy or cut is temporarily
stored)
iii) Click the destination folder in the left pane.
iv) In W.Exp, click paste in the Edit menu.

Alternatively, to copy a file or folder, select it and then press ctrl +C. To
paste, press ctrl+ V

To move the files or folders:

i) select the folder to be moved.
ii) On the edit menu, click cut
iii) Click the destination folder in the left pane
iv) On the edit menu, click paste.
Alternatively, to cut a file or folder, select and press ctrl +X & then to
paste, press ctrl +V.
Renaming files or folders:
i) Select the item to be renamed
ii) Choose File  Rename
iii) Current name gets selected, Type in the new name
iv) Press Enter.

Deleting files or folders:

If you do not want certain files or folders, you can delete them. All
the files & folders which are deleted are moved to the recycle bin.
To delete:
i) Select
ii) On the file menu, click delete or press delete.
A warning appears prompting you to confirm the file deletion.
iii) If you want to delete, click yes otherwise No.
Note: To delete a file permanently without moving it to the Recycle bin,
select the file & then press Shift+ De

WORD PROCESSING

Definition: Word-processing is essentially typing, editing, and

manipulation of a document in a desired form.
Units of the Document:

Since word-processing is concerned with preparation of a

document (in a desired form), it is essential to know the units of the
document:
1. Character: It refers to the alphabets, numerical digits,
punctuations and other special symbols which are commonly used in
21
the text.
2. Word: A word is group of characters that are separated from
other group of characters by some delimiters like, comma, full stop
and space.
3. Sentence: A sentence is a group of words preceded and followed by
appropriate delimiting characters.

4. Paragraph: It is a group of one or more sentences, paragraphs

are separated by leaving blank lines between them.
5. Pages: It is the amount of text that can be printed on one page of a paper.

6. Chapters: It is a collection of pages

7. Documents and files: It is a group of chapters. Usually, a complete
document may be very short such as a memo(or letter) or very long
such as a book consisting of several chapters. These documents are
referred as ―Files‖.
Features of Word-processing:
1. Word-wrap
2. cursor control
3. editing
4. formatting
5. spell-check
6. thesaurus
7. macros
8. printing
9. file management
10. mail merge printing

1. Word-wrap: In word-processing packages, the text can be

continuously typed and the computer automatically starts a fresh
line when a line is filled up. As soon as the length of a sentence
exceeds the right margin, the corresponding word is automatically
adjusted in the following line. This is called ―word-wrap‖. A
paragraph is created only when carriage control is externally
given for a sentence.

2. Cursor Control: The four directional keys of the keyboard (

) helps in locating the text
for editing in much the similar manner as that of a pointer or pencil.
3. Editing: Words or lines can be entered (inserted) or deleted in any
part of the text with proper alignment . Similarly, there is a facility
to ‗recover‘ the text which is deleted by mistake or accidentally.
Another important facility is that any ‗word‘ can be replaced by a
new word through out the file, wherever the old word appears. In
addition to these, a block of text(which is frequently used) can be
prepared and moved or copied wherever desired in the file.

4. Formatting : The text formatting refers to the way the text is

desired to appear on a page. This includes following functions
 setting left and right margins
 paragraph settings
22
  line spacing
 selecting font specifications such as underline, bold,
italics, superscripts and subscripts
 setting foot-notes
 number of lines per page
 printing page numbers and headings for ‗Header‘ and ‗Footer‘
 table of contents
 indexing the text
5. Spell-check: Word-processing packages provide checking of spellings
facility
6. Thesaurus: It provides synonyms (or words with similar meanings)
7. Macros: A macro is a character or word that represents a series
of keystrokes. The ability to define macros allows us to save a lot
of time by replacing common combinations of keystrokes.
8. Printing: It gives a ‗hard‘ copy of the text. The printing can be
controlled after printing a fixed number of pages or can be
resumed from any specified page number.
9. File management: This facility allows to create, delete, move & search
for files.
10. Mail merge printing: This facility helps in printing same
―original‖ letter with different addresses, so that each letter is
―original‖ and not a carbon copy.
Word-processing Packages: Several word-processing packages are
available. Some of these are listed below:
1. MSWORD (SOFT WORD) 2. WORDSTAR 3. CHIRATOR 4.
NORTON EDITOR

MS-WORD

MS- Word is a word processor. The extension name of MS- word is .doc.
It is an application used to create, edit, print and save a document. It
allows the user to insert pictures, tables, charts, drawings & features
that will make the text richer & more interactive.
( The term document refers to a file created using word processor)

Starting MS-Word:
Start  All Programs  MS-
office MS-word MS-word icon
is w.

The default Word document includes the following layout tools:

 Title bar: displays the document name and the application.

 Menu bar: Contains the list of menus available inside word, each
menu contains a specific set of commands.
 Standard toolbar: provides shortcuts in the form of buttons for
frequently performed tasks.
 Formatting toolbar: Contains a list of formatting options available
inside the format menu.
 Horizontal & Vertical rulers: used for measurement purposes
23
 like any normal ruler; the default unit of measure is in inches.
 White page area: is the space area where you type, edit and format
your document.
 Insertion point : is the blinking vertical line that indicates the
position on the screen where text or graphics will be placed.
 Task pane : is a small window within the word window that
provides shortcuts to commonly used tasks.
 Scroll bars : are used to move up and down or left and right in a
document.
 Status bar: displays the details such as the page number the
user is working on, section no., page no. out of the total pages
found in the document, line number, column number etc.

Standard Toolbar:
This toolbar contains buttons to allow you to perform the basic operations
such as opening and closing a document, moving and printing data.

Function of commonly used buttons

 New: Creates a new blank document based on the default template

 Open: Opens or finds an existing file
 Save: Saves the active file with its current file name, location and file
format
 Print: Prints the active file - for more print options go to the File
menu and select Print
 Print preview : Shows how the document will look when you print it.
 Spelling & Grammer: Spelling, grammar and writing style checker
 Cut : Removes the selection from the document and places it on the
clipboard
 Copy : Copies the selected item(s) to the clipboard
 Paste : Places the content of the clipboard at the insertion point
 Format painter : Copies the format from a selected object or text and
applies to other objects
 Undo : Reverses the last command, use pull-down menu to undo
several steps
 Redo : Reverses the action of the Undo button, use the pull-down
menu to redo several steps
 Insert table: Insert a table into the document, or make a table of
selected text
 Insert Excel worksheet: Inserts an Excel spreadsheet into the Word
document
 Columns : Changes the number of columns in a document
 Drawing: Displays or hides the Drawing toolbar
 Zoom (100%): Enlarge or reduce the display of the active document

Formatting Toolbar:
The formatting Tool bar is the easiest way to change many attributes of a
text.
24
  Style menu: Allows you to make your text Bold, Italic,
underlined… depending on the style you choose.
 Font : Allows you to change the font by clicking on the drop-
down arrow on the right of the font name box. You can view a list
of fonts available, you can scroll down to view more fonts and
select the font name you wish to use by clicking on its name.
 Font size : Allows you to change the font size by clicking inside the
Font size box and entering a value or by clicking on the drop-down
arrow on the right of the box to view a list of sizes available. Select
then a size by clicking on it.
Note : A Font size of 11 or 12 is best for paragraphs of text.
 Bold, Italic, Underline : Each button respectively allows you to
make your text appear as bold, italic or underlined.
 Alignment : Each button respectively allows you to make your
text aligned to the left, center or right side of the page. You can
also justify the text across the page using the justify button.
 Line spacing : Allows you to set the amount of space that word puts
when go to a new line.
 Text orientation : Allows you to change the typing direction of
your text, from left to right or right to left manner.

 Numbering, Bullets : Allows you to make your text appear as a

bullets list or as a numbering list.
 Increase / Decrease indent : Allows you to increase or
decrease the indentation of your paragraph in relation to the
side of the page.
 Outside Border : Allows you to add a border around a text selection.
 Highlight color : Allows you to change the color behind a text
selection.
 Font colour : Allows you to change the colour of the text.

Features of FILE MENU ( ALT F):

1. New - Opens new Word file (Blank Document file)

2. Open - Opens the existing files
3. Save - Saves the file with one name
4. Save as -Saves the file with more than one name( with different formats)
5. Save as Web page – This is used to save a document in a Web style. (with
HTML extension)
6. Versions - This is used to do the parts of work in small
parts. i.e a bulk ( big/ more) work can be done in small
parts.
7. Web Page Preview – This shows the web page in printable form.
8. Page set up - To set the margin, paper size, Orientation
9. Print - To get the printout.( Specified pages and no. of copies).
10. Properties - This gives the details about the document ( the
type of file, the size of file, the date of creation, date of
modification and file location)
11. Send - This is used to send the file document to internet mail to some
25
 other person.
12. Exit - To close the Ms-word.
To insert a new page, press Ctrl + Enter

Features of EDIT MENU (ALT E):

Undo - Will take the previous command (ctrl +Z)

Redo- Will take the opposite action of undo ( Ctrl + Y)
Cut - Can cut a selected
text ( Ctrl + X) Copy - Can copy
a selected text ( Ctrl + C) Paste -
Can paste the selected text ( Ctrl
+ V) Del - Removes the
selected text
Find - Used to find the part of text word \ character in the file (Ctrl + F)
Find Next – (F3) Finding \ finding next : Used to repeat the finding
process.
Replace - Used to replace any part of Text / word / Character with another
word/ character.(Ctrl + H)
Paste special – This will paste the copied (or) cut text in a form of an
object. It will paste in box which Cannot be altered.
Go To - Curser goes to the specified page, specified line, specified
paragraph.(Ctrl + G)
Features of FORMAT MENU ( ALT + O)

1. Font - used to change the font face, style, size etc.

2. Paragraph - Used to set the space between paragraphs and also
between the lines

3. Bullets - Used to highlight points in number wise / bullet wise.

4. Borders & Shades - Used to apply different borders to the table / to
the page.
5. Columns – Used to write the text in column wise.
To have a break in columns, a column break is used ( insert
menu  break  Columns) Ctrl + Shift + Enter
6. Drop Cap - Used to drop the letter to different lines.

7. Text direction - Used to change the direction of drop cap (Note :

To use text direction, drop cap must be used first)
8. Change case - Used to change the case of the text.
9. Toggle – This converts lower case letters to upper case & vice –versa
in a word.
10. Back Ground - This is used to change the back ground
colour of the document but the color can be seen only in the web
layout.
11. Theme - This is used to change the document,
backgrounds with some existing design background. This
shows the background only in the web layout.
26
 12. Style - This is used to change the writing fashion of the
document which are already existing.
13. Frames - Frames are used to write different documents in one
single document.

Some important features of Tools menu:

Spelling &Grammar : Used to check the spelling and correct the
words with related word. ( F7)
Thesaurus : Used to know the synonym (meaning) of the word. (Shift
+F7)
Mail merge : used to type the letters with the same matter but
different addresses.

MS WORD – working with files:

Creating a New document:

 Click the New Blank document button on the standard tool bar.
(or)
 From the Menu bar, choose File  New, the New document
task pane will open, and select Blank document.
Opening Existing documents:
 Click the open button found on the Standard tool bar. (or)
 From the task pane, select getting started and the select more (or)
 From the Menu bar, select File  Open
Saving a document:
 Click the Save button on the Tool bar. (or)
 From the Menu bar, select File  Save (or)
 Follow the key sequence Ctrl + S
Save dialog box appears. Type the name and click Save.
Printing a document :
 Select File  Print (or)
 Click on the Print button on the Standard Tool bar (or)
 Click Ctrl + P
Print dialog box appears. Select All pages (or) Current page (or)
type the page numbers and also select number of copies according
to the requirement and click O.K
Closing a document:
 Select File  close
 Click on the small X found on the right top next to the Menu bar and
the Title bar.

MS WORD - Editing Text :

Typing and Inserting Text:

To enter text in your document, position the insertion point i.e a
vertical blinking line, where you want the text to appear and type it in.
Word will automatically wrap text as it reaches the end of a
line. Press enter to start a new paragraph. When you reach the end of a
page, word will automatically break text onto the next page. If you
want, you can start a new page at any point by inserting a page break.
27
To do so, press ctrl + Enter.

Word offers two modes for adding text to your documents:

Insert mode and overwrite mode. In Insert mode, characters typed are
inserted into the text to the left of the insertion point, pushing any
characters to the right of the insertion point further to the right. In
overtype mode, the text you type will replace the existing text.
Note: The Insert key is a toggle key. This means that the same key can
be used to switch back and forth between two different modes.
Selecting Text:

In order to change the format of the text you just typed, it must be first
highlighted, i.e selected with the mouse cursor.
To highlight the whole text or part of it, locate the mouse at the start of
the text you wish to highlight and click the left button, then drag the
mouse over the desired text while keeping the left mouse button pressed.
Shortcuts used for selecting a portion of the text:
 Whole word : Double click within the word.
 Whole paragraph: Triple click within the paragraph.
 Sentence : ctrl + click in a sentence
 Entire document : Edit  select all ( ctrl + A)
Deleting text:
 Use the BACKSPACE or the DELETE key to delete text.
 BACKSPACE key will delete text to the left of the cursor and
DELETE key will erase text to the right.
 To delete a large section of text, highlight the text using any of the
methods outlined above and press the DELETE key.

Moving, copying and pasting text:

Cut text:
Highlight the text you need to move and follow one of the methods listed
below:
 From the Menu bar, select Edit  cut (or)
 From the standard tool bar, click on the cut button. (or)
 Follow the key sequence Ctrl + X
Copy text:
 From the Menu bar, select Edit  copy (or)
 From the standard toolbar, click the Copy button (or)
 Follow the key sequence Ctrl + C
Paste Text:
To paste previously cut or copied text, move the cursor to the location you
want to move the text to and follow one of the methods listed below:
 From the menu bar, select Edit  Paste (or)
 From the standard Tool bar, click the Paste button (or)
 Follow the key sequence Ctrl + V
MS -EXCEL

Spreadsheet is a software that helps to substitute the paper worksheets

in the offices. Spreadsheet displays data in the form of rows and
columns. An intersection of row and column is known as a cell.
MS-Excel is a window based spreadsheet developed by Microsoft
28
corporation. It includes all features of a spreadsheet package like
recalculation, graphs & functions. It also provides many Mathematical,
Financial & Statistical functions. Thus it is used in many scientific and
engineering environments for analyzing data. Excel can even hold
graphic objects like pictures & images.
Some important features of MS-Excel:
1. Window based application: Excel like all other applications has
Toolbars, Shortcut Menus, Auto correct, Online help and
Wizards.
2. Workbooks: Workbooks are the files in which worksheets related to a
project are held.
3. OLE support: Object linking and Embedding is a feature through
which Excel can contain any object like a document, a picture etc.
4. Maintaining high volume of data: Excel can contain large
volume of data. A worksheet can contain 65536 rows and 256
columns. A single cell can contain a maximum of 255 characters.
One workbook can contain a maximum of 256 worksheets.
5. Availability of functions: Several Mathematical, financial &
statistical functions are available in an Excel package.
 Availability of Charts & Graphs: MS-Excel allows users to view data
entered as tables in a graphical form as charts, which helps
6. the user to easily understand, analyze data & compare data.
7. Data Analysis Tools: MS-Excel provides a set of data analysis tools
called Analysis Tool pack.
8. Sorting capability: Excel has the capability of sorting any data
in Ascending or Descending order.
9. Auto fill feature: Excel has the feature which allows to fill cells
with repetitive data such as chronological dates or numbers and
repeated text.

Getting started with Excel:

An Excel document is called a workbook. By default, Excel workbook
contains 3 worksheets designated as sheet 1, sheet 2, sheet 3.
The extension name of excel workbook is .xls
We can start excel in many ways:
1. Start  Programs  Microsoft office  Microsoft Excel  hit enter.
2. Start  Run  Type Excel  hit enter
3. Double click on the Microsoft application Icon.
Components of the Excel window:
An Excel window has several unique elements identified in the figure
below:
 Rows, columns & cell: In a worksheet rows are numbered from
top to bottom. The columns are labeled with letters from left to
right. Rows are numbered from 1 to 65,536 and columns labeled
from A to IV (256 columns).
 Title bar: The title bar contains the name of the program
Microsoft Excel and the default name of the workbook Book1 that
would change as soon as you save your file and give another
name.
 Menu bar : The Menu bar contains menus that include all the
commands you need to use to work your way through Excel such
29
 as File, Edit, View, Insert, Format, Tools, Data, Window and Help.
 Tool Bar: Tool Bars are usually shortcuts for menu items.
Standard and formatting toolbars are displayed by default.
 Active cell: The cell in which you are currently working.
 Formula bar: displays the contents of the active cell.
 Name box: displays the cell address of the active cell. Column
letter followed by the row number. Ex: B6

 Worksheet area: The middle portion of screen which occupies a

major area is called worksheet area. In this area, information or
data (i.e.) either textual or numerical can be entered and the
results can be displayed. A worksheet is a large work area of
65,536 rows and 256 columns.
 Status bar: located at the very bottom of the screen displays brief
information about activating features within the worksheet area.
 Sheet tabs: appear above the status bar displaying the names of the
worksheets.

Standard Toolbar
 The Standard toolbar, located beneath the menu bar, has buttons

30
for commonly performed tasks like adding a column of numbers,
printing, sorting, and other operations. Excel let's you customize the
toolbar or even display multiple toolbars at the same time. The
Standard Excel XP toolbar appears in the figure below.

Formatting toolbar
The Formatting toolbar, located beneath the Standard toolbar bar,
has buttons for various formatting operations like changing text size
or style, formatting numbers and placing borders around cells.

Formula bar & Name box

The formula bar is located beneath the toolbar at the top of the Excel
worksheet. Use the formula bar to enter and edit worksheet data. The
contents of the active cell always appear in the formula bar. When you
click the mouse in the formula bar, an X and a check mark appear.
You can click the check icon to confirm and completes editing, or the X
to abandon editing.

Name box
The Name box displays the reference of the selected cells in the form of
column label followed by row number.
Creating a New Workbook:
The steps to create a new workbook are,
1. On the File menu, click New.
The new workbook task pane appears at the right side of the screen.
Click blank workbook.
A new workbook with 3 worksheets appears. By default, the
workbook is named as Book 1, and sheet 1 is the active worksheet &
A1 is the active cell.
Entering data:
You can enter text, numbers and dates in an Excel worksheet.
To enter data of any type,
1. Select the cell by clicking on it.
2. Type in the information.
3. Press the Enter key.
When you begin typing, your data also appears in the formula bar.
Editing text:
The easiest way to edit the contents of a cell is to select the cell and
then retype the entry. The new entry replaces the old contents.
Alternatively, to edit the data in a cell, press F2.
Ex: Suppose you find that in the cell A6, you have entered the marks
as 78 instead of 87, then click on A6 and type 87 enter

You can also edit part of the data in a cell:

1. Double click the cell you want to edit. The insertion point appears
within the cell.
2. Delete the part of the data that you do not wish to keep.
3. Retype the data & press enter.
Formatting a worksheet:
Changing the style or appearance of data in a worksheet is called
formatting. You can format the data in a worksheet by:
31
  Changing the position of data in a cell
 Changing the font, size, style & colour.
Aligning data:
By default, any text you enter in Excel is aligned to the left and any
value or number is aligned to the Right. To change the default
alignment, you can use the alignment buttons on the formatting tool
bar.

Formatting Numbers:
Formatting data in a worksheet includes changing the number of
decimal places, displaying dates, times & fractions and adding currency
symbols.
To format the number in a cell, the steps are:
Format/Cell/N/umber/Decimal places/2

Formatting Text: Text can be formatted using the buttons on the

formatting toolbar. Font of a cell, font size can be changed. The font
style can also be changed to bold, Italic etc.
Inserting Rows & Columns:

In Excel, rows & columns can be inserted or deleted without affecting

the surrounding rows, columns & cells.
To insert a row,
1. Rest the mouse pointer over the row above which you want to insert
the new row.
2. On the Insert menu, click rows.
A row is inserted and the existing row moves
down after the new row. Similarly, to insert a
column,

32
 1. Rest the mouse pointer over the column before which you want to
insert the new Column.
2. On the Insert menu, click columns.
Changing Row height & Column width:
By default, every row is 12.75 points high and every column is 8.43
characters wide. As you fill it with data, however you have to change the
size of rows & columns so that it is fitted to the length of the data. To
Resize a column:
1. Rest the mouse pointer on the column boundary on the right side.
2. The shape of the mouse pointer changes to
3. Drag the boundary until the required width is obtained.

(OR)
1. The column which is to be adjusted is made active by clicking on
column letter.
2. The column option is selected from the Format menu.
3. Click on the width option. A dialogue box is displayed.
4. Type in the required size of the column in the
text box column width. Similarly, Row height can
also be adjusted by selecting the rows.
Sorting: Highlight the cells that should be sorted and click the sort
Ascending (A-Z) button or Sort Descending (Z-A) button found on the
Standard toolbar.
Printing: To print the worksheet, select File  Print from the Menu bar
(or) click on the Print button
from the Standard Toolbar (or) follow the key sequence Ctrl + p
Inserting Page breaks: To set the page breaks within the worksheet,
select the row you want to appear just below the page break by clicking
the row‘s label. Then choose Insert  page break from the Menu bar.
When you attempt to print a worksheet Excel automatically inserts page
breaks view.
File menu  page break preview
The page breaks are shown in dasher lines. If the automatic allocation
of page breaks does not satisfy with your requirements, you can add
the page breaks in the required space.
Step 1: select a cell above which the page break is needed. After that,
select the full row until the data in the sheet exists.
Step 2: select insert 
page break Saving a
workbook:
To save a workbook,
 File  Save (or)
 Ctrl +S (or)
 click on the save button on the Tool bar.
Save dialogue box appears. Type the name and click Save.

Formulas:
In Excel. One of the powerful features is formulas. A formula is an
equation that is used to perform calculations on data in a worksheet.
We can use formula to perform Mathematical, Statistical & date/time
33
operations on a single value or a set of values by using operators.
The cells in which formulas are stored, display the result of the
calculation and not the formula. In Excel, a formula starts with an
equal (=) sign and should be followed by the operation to be
performed. We can use any number of operators in a single
formula. MS- Excel evaluates the formula according to the order
of precedence of the operators.

Examples of the formula expressions:

1. Suppose the values in the cells B2, C2, D2 are 34, 28, 56
respectively. To add these values and to have the result in the cell
F2,
Step i) Click on the cell in which total marks is to be displayed, i.e F2
ii) Type ― = ( B2 + C2 + D2 )‖
iii) Press Enter
The value ―118‖ will be displayed in F2.
2. Suppose the value of the cell B6 is 78345. Divide the value by 5
and have it in the cell E6: Step i) Click the cell E6.
ii) Type ― = (B6/5) ―
iii) Press Enter

The value ―15669‖ will be displayed in the cell E6.

3. Multiply the value 549 of the cell C3 with the value 43 of the
cell F3 and have the result in the cell

34
 Step i) Click the cell I3
ii) Type ― = ( C3 * F3)
iii) press Enter
The result ―23607‖ will be displayed in the cell I3.
Functions :
A function is a built-in, readymade and frequently used formula that
accepts data, perform calculations & returns results.
To enter a function in a cell,
i) Click the cell in which you want the result of the function to be
displayed.
ii) Type ―=‖ sign.
iii) Type the function name.
iv) Type the cell range & other arguments within brackets.
v) Press Enter.
Note : To specify a range of cells, a colon (:) is used between
the first & last cell addresses. Example: =Average(B1: B10)
Calculates the average of the values in the cells B1 to B10
Mathematical functions with syntax and purpose:
i) Sum( number1, number2,…) – gives the sum of the values in a
specified range
ii) Abs( number) - gives the absolute value of the number
iii) Fact( number) - gives the factorial of the number
iv) Sqrt(number) - gives the square root of the number
v) Log(number) - gives the logarithm of the number
Statistical functions with syntax and purpose:
i) Average( range of cells) - calculates the average of the values in a
specified range
ii) Stdev(range of cells) - calculates the standard deviation of the given
data
iii) Mean( range of cells) - calculates the mean of the given data
iv) Max( range of cells) - gives the maximum value within the
range specified
v) count( ) - counts how many numbers are there in the list of
arguments

Function Wizard :
The Function Wizard is a tool in Excel through which a user can enter
formulas in the correct format without any errors. It contains all the
functions according to the type such as Mathematical, Statistical,
Date/time, Financial etc.

Steps to use the function Wizard:

1. The cell in which the function is to be inserted, is selected.
2. Select the function option from the Insert menu. The Function
Wizard screen is displayed. It lists all the functions available.
3. The function needed is selected. Click O.K
4. A dialogue box is displayed in which arguments are accepted.
5. Enter the arguments. The selected cell on the worksheet will
automatically contain the formula.
6. Click O.K. The result is shown in the selected cell.
Creating Charts : 35
Charts in Excel are used to represent data pictorially. We can use
different types of charts to represent data.
Types of charts which are available in Excel:
1. Column charts
2. Bar charts
3. Line
4. pie
5. XY (scatter)
6. Area
7. Doughnut
8. Radar
9. Surface
10. Bubble
11. Stock
12. Cylinder, Cone & Pyramid
Creating a Chart :
Step i) Enter the data in a table.
ii) Open the Insert Menu and select Chart
iii) In the Chart Wizard – Step 1 of 4, select the type of chart you
want to make and click Next
iv) In the step 2 of 4, enter chart source data and click Next
vi) In the step 3 of 4, enter the chart options like label of the chart
and click Next
vii) In the step 4 of 4, give the chart location where you want the
chart to be located and press Finish.

Column Chart: Column charts are one of the most common types of
graphs used to display data.
A column chart represents data in the form of a series of vertical bars.
Each bar represents a value.
For example, to draw a column chart for the production of different
crops in a region:

36
 To construct a bar chart for the above data:
Step i) Enter the data in a table.
ii) Open the Insert Menu and select Chart
iii) In the Chart Wizard – Step 1 of 4, select Column chart and click
Next
iv) In the step 2 of 4, enter chart source data
v) In the step 3 of 4, enter the chart options like label of the chart
vi) In the step 4 of 4, give the chart location where you want the
chart to be located and press Fin

Pie Chart:

A Pie chart is used to represent the distribution of a categorical data.

In this chart, a circle is divided into sectors, whose area are proportional
to the frequencies or percentages of cases under various categories.
Data on each variable is entered in the Excel worksheet in a row or
column with suitable headings. Then we select the data of the first
series and choose pie chart and proceed as per the options given in the
dialogue box. A separate chart pie chart should be drawn for each data
set.

For example, to draw a pie chart for the production of different crops in
a region:

Statistical Analysis Tools

Microsoft Excel provides a set of data analysis tools— called the
Analysis Tool Pak— that you can use to save steps when you develop
complex statistical or engineering analyses. You provide the data and
parameters for each analysis; the tool uses the appropriate statistical or
engineering macro functions and then displays the results in an output
table. Some tools generate charts in addition to output tables.
Related to worksheet functions, Excel provides many other statistical,
financial, and engineering worksheet functions. Some of the statistical
functions are built-in and others become available when you install the
Analysis Tool Pak.

37
Accessing the data analysis tools: The Analysis Tool Pak includes the
tools described below. To access these tools, click Data Analysis on the
Tools menu. If the Data Analysis command is not available, you need to
load the Analysis Tool Pak add-in program.
Analysis Tools:
ANOVA: Single factor
ANOVA: Two-Factor with
replication ANOVA: Two-
Factor without replication
Correlation
Covariance
Descriptive
statistics
F-test two-sample
for variances
Histogram
Regression
t-test: two sample assuming equal variances
t-test: two sample assuming
unequal variances Z-test: two
sample for means
Steps to use Analysis Tools:
Step i) From the Menu bar choose Tools and click on Data Analysis
ii) When the Data Analysis dialogue box appears, click on the one you
want.
iii) The corresponding dialogue box appears. Enter the Input
range and Output range (addresses of the cells)
iv) give the address of the cell where you want the result to be shown.
iv) click OK
v) The result will be given in the corresponding output format.

Ex 1: The following are the results of 5 preschool going children at

different levels of protein content in diet. Compute the correlation
coefficient using Excel

Step i) From the Menu bar, choose Tools and click on Data Analysis.
ii) Select Correlation in the Data Analysis Dialogue box and click OK.
iii) When the Correlation dialogue box appears, enter the Input
range and also give the output range where you want the result to
be shown, clock OK.

v) the
result will be shown in the following format:
Summary output:

Protein gain in
content weight
Protein
content 1
gain in
weight 0.989783 1

38
 Ex 2: Following is the data of head and body weights of 5 insects. Find the
regression equation of y on x

Step i) From the Menu bar, choose Tools and click on Data Analysis.
ii) Select Regression in the Data Analysis Dialogue box and click OK.
iii) When the Regression dialogue box appears, enter the Input Y range
and input X range.
iv) give the output range where you want the result to be shown, clock
OK.
v) The result will be shown in the following format.
SUMMARY OUTPUT

Ex 3:
The daily production of two pesticide factories is recorded as follows.
Factory 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
A 12 16 9 13 15 17 20 23
B 8 13 21 16 11 12

Test whether there is any significant difference between two factories

at probability level 0.05. Solution:
Step i) From the Menu bar, choose Tools and click on Data Analysis.
ii) Select t-test; two samples assuming equal variances in the
Data Analysis Dialogue box and click OK.
iii) Enter the variable 1 range, variable 2 range and set Hypothesized
mean difference as zero.
iv) Click the check box against Labels in the First row.
iv) Give the output range where you want the result to be shown, click
O.K

v) the result will be shown in the following format.

t-Test: Two-Sample Assuming Equal Variances

MS-ACCESS

The Database is an organized collection of data related to a

particular topic or purpose. The database serves as a base from which a
desired information can be retrieved, many meaningful conclusions can
be drawn. A database stored electronically has distinct advantages over
a manually organized system. A database can be maintained in a
computer by using a database management system(DBMS).
DBMS is an application that enables to maintain data in a database.
Maintaining data involves storing, organizing and retrieving data.
MS-Access is a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS)
that is used to store and manipulate large amount of information. The
extension name of Ms-Access file is .mdb.
To start MS-Access:
39
 1. Start Programs MS office  Ms-Access  Enter
2. Start  Run Ms-Access Enter
An Access Database consists of 7 different Database objects.
1. Tables : Store database data in Rows (records) and columns
(fields). Every row represents a Record. Each piece of
information in a record is called a Field.
Ex: A table can contain personal information about all the students in
a college.
Every row containing information about a student represents a
record. The records in the student table can include fields such as
Admission number, Student name, Address, Phone number etc.
2. Queries : used to retrieve information from a database
based on specific conditions. Ex: A Query can be used to
extract details about students studying in a particular class.
3. Forms : used as interfaces for users to enter, view and modify data in
a Table.
4. Reports : used to present data from tables or Queries in a format
of our choice. i.e the printable form of the table or query or form.
We cannot make changes to the data in a report. We can format
the data in a report.
5. Pages : display shortcuts to data access pages in the database. A
data access page displays data stored in a database over the
internet.
6. Macros : used to automate frequently
performed tasks. Ex: we can create a
macro to print a report automatically.
7. Modules : used to perform advanced database operations,
such as validating data against complex conditions.
Creating a Database :
A Database can be created by using the database Wizard or
by using the Blank Database command.
 The database Wizard is used to create tables, forms, queries and
reports by following a series of steps provided by the wizard.
 The Blank Database command is used to create a blank database.
All database objects should be created manually.
Click on File menu  New  Enter
A window appears  give a name to the database
Creating a Table :
1. Open the database in which the
table is to be created. The database
window appears.
2. under objects, click Tables and then click New on the
database window toolbar. The New Table dialog box
appears.
Commands in the New Table dialog bo

40
 Com Pu
mand rp
os
e
Create Used to create a table by entering values directly in a row
table by and column format
enterin
g data
Design Used to assign fields for the new table and modify field
view properties
Table Used to create a table through a guided sequence of steps
wizard
I. Create Table by entering data:
 Click on Table (object) in the main switch board.
 Click on create table on Datasheet view  now a window appears 
here we find fields ( field1, field2,……)
 Give the field names ( Name, roll no., marks etc)
 Click on close button of the table and save the table with some name
 To enter details into the table, click on table in the main switch
board and double click on the table name.
 Enter the details

Working with Database Fields :

Microsoft Access database fields are created by entering a field name

and a field data type in each row of the field entry area of the database
table window.

Data types in MS-Access :

The following list summarizes all the field data types available in MS-
Access, their uses and their storage sizes.
 Text : used for text or combinations of text and numbers, such as
addresses or for numbers that do not require calculations, such as
phone numbers, or postal codes.
Stores up to 255 characters.
 Memo : Used for lengthy text and numbers, such as notes or
descriptions. Stores upto 64,000 characters.
 Number : used for data to be included in Mathematical
calculations, except calculations involving money. Stores
1,2,4 or 8 bytes.
 Date / Time : used for dates and times. Stores 8 bytes.
 Currency : used for currency values and to prevent rounding off
during calculations. Stores 8 bytes.
 Auto Number : used for unique sequential or random numbers
that are automatically inserted when a record is added.
 Yes /No : used for data that can be only one of two possible values,
such as yes/ No, True/False, On/Off.
 OLE object : used for OLE objects like pictures, graphs and
41
 other binary data. Stores up to 1 GB.
II. Create a table in Design view:
1. click on table (object) in the main switch board.
2. Here click on ― create table in design view‖ Now a window
appears  here type the field names and their data types
respectively.
Ex:

Field Data types

name
Roll No Auto
Number
Name Text
Marks Number
3. click on the close button of the table and save it with some name
4. To enter data into the table, double click on the table created.
5. Now enter the details.
Primary & Foreign keys:
Data should be checked for redundancy before it is stored in a
database. Keys are used to maintain the integrity of data. Keys
contain unique values that help to filter redundant information
from the input data. Keys are of two types: primary & foreign.
Primary key: The field in a table that uniquely identifies each
record is called the primary key. Usually this field is sequentially
numbered.
Ex : Admission number field
Foreign key : When a primary key of one table appears as a field in
another table, the field is called the foreign key in the second table.

42
 Queries :
 By using queries we can view, change and analyze data in
different ways. You can also use them as the source of records
for forms and reports.
 You can bring together data from multiple tables and sort it in a
particular order.
 You can perform calculations on groups of records.
Forms :
 In a table, number of records are displayed at a time. But, if the
table has many fields, then it may not be possible for a user to
view all of them. The screen may be too small to fit it. The user
may have to scroll horizontally or vertically to view the rest of
the fields/ records.
 In forms, the data can be displayed as per the users
requirement. The records are generally displayed one at a time.
The fields can be arranged as the user wants it. Pictures can be
added to a form. The display and contents of the form is
controlled fully by the user.
 In forms there are 3 views,
i. Design ii. Datasheet & iii. Form view
 The datasheet view shows many records whereas form view
displays single record. You can toggle between these three
views using the View Tool.
Report:
The data shown in a table, Query and forms are meant for
displaying it on screen, but when you take the printout or the
Hard copy, it is known as Report. In the database window, the
open button is replaced by the preview button, when you click the
report tab. Reports can be viewed either in print preview mode or
design mode. Data cannot be edited in the reports. The report
preview shows how the data will appear on taking out the
printouts.
Types of Networks
Networks can range from a small group of computers linked
together in a class room to thousands of computers linked together
across the globe. Depending on the geographical location, networks can
be classified as
a) LAN ( Local Area Network)
b) MAN ( Metropolitan Area Network)
c) WAN (Wide Area Network)

Local Area Network: If a network is confined to a single location,

typically a building, it is called a LAN.
Ex : Set of interconnected computers within an office.
Metropolitan Area Network: A metropolitan area network is a network
that is larger than a LAN, it connects the computers distributed across
multiple buildings.
Ex: the computers in all branches of an office within a city.
Wide Area Network: When a network is located over wide areas such as
cities, states, countries or even continents, it is called a WAN.
43
Ex : i. Computers in different branches of a Globalised company.
ii. Internet
INTERNET

The internet is a global connection of computers. These

computers are connected via a huge network of telecommunication
links. The internet allows you to access to a whole resource of data and
information stored at different sites (called hosts) and locations around
the world. The communication links which inter connect each host
computer use a common method of transmission known as TCP/IP,
which stands for Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol.
Internet connection helps us to:
1. Read information on a wide range of topics
2. Send or receive E-mail
3. Down load useful programs such as virus detectors, file compression,
decompression utility etc.,
4. Share your opinions and your knowledge on a variety of topics
through various new groups.
5. Chat with other people any where in the world
6. View interesting video‘s listen to music or wander through a 3-D
world.
Requirements for connecting to the Internet:
a) Modem: A modem is a peripheral device that allows a
computer to connect and communicate with other computers.
Modem stands for Modulator Demodulator.
b) Web Browser: A browser is a software program that is
necessary in order to view web pages on the web. Ex: Internet
Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft
outlook express etc.
c) Telephone line: A telephone line is required to transfer data
from one computer to another. The computer is connected to
a modem, which, in turn, connected to a telephone line.
Subscription with Internet service provider (ISP):
ISP‘s are companies that provide access to the
internet. We need subscription with any ISP to get an
Internet connection. Some of the ISPs in India are
VSNL, MTNL, Sify, Specrta Net etc.
World Wide Web (WWW):
It refers to the collection of information accessible on the internet. The
web is similar to a library. It consists of millions & millions of pages of
text, pictures, sounds and animation on various topics. These pages,
called web pages are stored on different computers that are connected
to the internet. The web pages have links between them i.e when we
click a certain word or picture in a page, it will take us to another page.
These words or pictures that help to move from one page to another are
called hyperlinks. A collection of related web pages is known as a web
site. A web site can be accessed by means of a unique name assigned to
it.
Internet was initially designed for the transmission of text basing
on the protocols mentioned. In order to transmit a graphically designed
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web page complete with pictures, embedded sound and animation a
special language was designed which is referred to as Hyper Text Mark
up Language (HTML). HTML uses special text codes to define the
various elements of a web page.
The WWW support a protocol called Hyper Text Transfer
Protocol (HTTP). All internet servers cannot support HTTP and so the
web can be regarded as a subset of the larger internet.
HTTP provides a method of transmitting a professionally laid out page
over the text based internet. Uniform Resource Locator: (URL): Each
web site has a unique address commonly referred to as a URL. A URL
specifies the exact location of the web page on the internet.
A typical web address or URL looks as http://
www.microsoft.com/catalog/navigation.asp
Explanation of the example URL:

E-Mail
E-mail or electronic mail is a service for sending or receiving
messages electronically through a computer network. The electronic
mail uses various technologies that support electronic transmission of
text, data and graphics.

Some of the features of E-mail are

1. it is much faster than the normal mail. Messages can be sent
within a matter of seconds to any part in the world.
2. it can be sent to many people at the same time
3. E-mail is cheaper than a phone call and an ordinary mail
4. it can access information and file libraries on request
5. E-mail user can have a mail box which is accessed through a
computer terminal
6. an E-mail message consists of two parts
a) a header specifying the address of the sender and the address of
the receiver
b) the text of the message
7. The mailing system allows selecting messages for reading,
displaying, saving, deleting, forwarding and replying.
8. Mailing list can be created to send the same message to a group of
people

E-Mail Address: An E-Mail address consists of three parts

1. The person‘s Login name
2. @ sign
3. Domain name
A domain represents organization, network, and country name
Ex: Statisitcs@hotmial.com in this Statistics is the user name and
his account is in the domain hotmail.com. Both the names are
separated by the @symbol.
Search Engines :
Search engines are utilities used to search for information on the web. A
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 user interface is provided where you can enter the word or phrase you
are searching for. The search engine looks for the keywords we have
entered and returns the results of the search, providing links to relevant
Web sites for us to choose from. Some commonly used search engines
are MSN, Alta Vista, Google, Yahoo! search and Infoseek etc.

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