OFIMÁTICO Y PROCESO DE LA INFORMACIÓN

Work Unit UT2 2n ADG32 1

UT2. FILE SYSTEM, ELECTRONIC MAIL AND RESEARCH OF INFORMATION

1. File system.
2. Internet and browsers.
3. Tools 2.0
4. Electronic mail, e-mail. Gmail.

1. Management of files
As we saw in the previous unit, a computer system processes and stores information. We
distinguished the primary memory or RAM that is used for temporary information, is volatile and
once the computer is turned off, it loses the information contained in. The secondary memory, on
the other hand, is not volatile. Mean that once the system is turned off, the information is available
to access to it later (hard disk, CD-ROM, DVD, pen drive, on-line memory, etc.).

The operating system (OS) allows the management and organization of the files by means of a
software called “File system”.

What are files?

A file or a computer file is a group of bits that is stored in a device. A file is identified by the name
and the description of the folder or directory that contains it. It can be a program, a text, an image, a
sound, a video, and each file needs to be opened with the proper software (applications). The
programs use the files and serve to create them, modify them, erase them, etc. The file system of the
OS allows to change the place of the files, their name or erase them without using the specific
program that reads them.

The files are located in directories and must have an exclusive name inside the directory. The route
to the directory and the name identify the file uniquely. There are limitations when naming files that
are characteristics of each OS, however, the limitations are becoming less important lately. A lot of
operating systems use extensions in the name of the files to help to identify the content.

http://www.fileinfo.com/filetypes/common

The file system is organised in folders, directories or catalogues. The organisation is hierarchical
and each folder can contain an arbitrary number of files and also other folders. In this way, a
structure of tree is built growing from the “Folder Root”.

Operations with files

 Creation: by means of this operation, the user and the program indicate the characteristics
and properties of the file, so that the file system can recognise it and process it (name,
extension, date of creation, size, etc.).
 Opening: it will be necessary the suitable software to open each type of files. It could
happen errors such as the file is not at the indicated place or the user do not have access to
the file.
 Closing: end of the use. It “breaks” the connection between the program and the file.
 Compression and uncompression of files: compress a file to store it in a distinct format so
that it occupies less than the original file.
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The extension of the compressed files will not be the same that the original one and will vary
depending on the program used (Winzip, winrar, etc)

 Import and export: when you need to pass information from an application to another it is
necessary to import (to bring) or export (to carry) information. For example: in a database a
spreadsheet could be imported.
 Research: in the case that the user does not know with accuracy the name or the location of
the file wished, the search engine that offers the different OS has to be used. In the following
link there are some details about the advanced research through Windows 7
https://wefixitonline.co.uk/touch-mouse-search/windows-7/advanced-tips-for-searching-in-
windows-7

2. Internet and browsers

The origins of the Internet are in a network of communications created in the U.S. for military
purposes, to distribute information between governmental organisms (ARPANET). At the end of the
cold War the network passed to depend on the civil authorities, exerting as the vertebral column of
the Internet until its disappearance in 1990. It was substituted by the World Wide Web.
Nowadays, the Internet is an inexhaustible source of contents; a media of communications and
expression without limits and an interminable space where host files. Still like this, the Internet has
problems like the reliability of the data hosted there.

Browser
It is a program installed in the computer of the
user that allows them to access the Internet. It
interprets the language HTML to show its
content. This information is located in servers
that provide the creators of web pages with
accommodation.

At present, the most used browser in the world-

is the Google Chrome, however, and due to the
fact that it is a free included browser when you
acquire a PC from Microsoft, Internet Explorer
is present in more than 90% computers of all the
world.

To load a page web, you have to enter the URL

(Uniform Resource Locator) www... in the bar of
directions and select Intro. To cancel the load of
a page it is necessary to click the red cross. The
browser goes memorising the pages which the
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user accesses through the “Historial”.

The security in Internet Explorer can be configured through Tools/Options of Internet/window tab
Security and privacy. Choose ones of the security levels and which cookies are allowed to access
your computer.

Internet search engines

They are used to find pages with certain information when the URL is unknown by the user.
Entering in the searcher the words that are thought to contain the wished page. The searcher orders
the data according to an algorithms decided by the programmers. It is recommended to restrict the
results, using different criteria.

The metasearchers are web pages that offer a research. They do not have an own database behind,
but they use the bases of several extraneous searchers to offer us the results. An example of
metasearcher is Metacrawler.

Show the options of the GOOGLE browser

Https://www.google.es/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=yyIpVPDxFvOs8wfL2IHQDw&gws_rd=ssl

3.- Tools 2.0

The term Web 2.0 comprises those websites where the users are allowed to interact and collaborate
between themselves as creators of contents, unlike the traditional websites where the users only
observed. Examples of the Web 2.0 are the social networks, the wikis, the blogs, etc.

 Social networks: they are websites where each user has a page where publishes content
(files, images, texts, etc) and communicates with others. Examples of social networks are:
Facebook, Twitter, Tuenti, Hi5, MySpace, Instagram, etc. There are also social networks
focused on concrete subjects such as the professional development: LinkedIn, Xing,
eConozco, Neuron.
 Wikis: Are corporate web spaces organised according to references that are usually showed
in the left side of the screen, where several people elaborate content simultaneously. They
used to keep a historical file of the previous versions. There are diverse servers of free Wikis
like Wikispaces, Pbworks, etc.
 Blogs: it is a personal web space where the author writes chronologically articles and news,
and offers the readers the possibility to comment the published articles. Free services of
creation of blogs are: wordpress.com, blogger, etc.
 Applications to share resources: they constitute an immense source of resources and places
where to publish material for their world-wide diffusion:
◦ Documents and on-line storage: Google Drive, Dropbox, Copy, Skydrive, etc.
They allow to upload files, modify and share them with any people. They
usually are free up some limit of storage from which the user has to pay.
◦ Videos: Youtube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Dalealplay, etc. They contain
thousands of uploaded videos shared by the users.
◦ Photos: Picassa, Flickr, Instagram, etc. They allow to share and organise the
photos with labels and albums.
◦ News aggregator: Digg, Reddit, Menéame, Divoblogger, etc. News of any
means are added and voted by the users.
◦ Presentations: Prezi, Slideshare.
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4. Electronic post. Gmail.

It is a service of network that allows the users send and receive messages.
On the Internet there are a lot of suppliers of electronic mail. One of the most popular is the Gmail.
It has a big quantity of storage, facilitates the research of messages and uses a powerful technology
to block virus, filter the not wished mail (spam) and warns if a message comes from an intruder
(phising).

Do the exercises suggested in the moodle.