Q1: What is data?
of data by people or machine to increase their
Ans: A collection of raw facts and figures is called
data. Data is collected from different sources. Data
may consist of numbers, characters, symbols or
picture etc. Data is collected for different purposes.
In general, data is any set of characters that has been
gathered and translated for some purpose, usually
analysis. It can be any character, including text and
numbers, pictures, sound, or video. If data is not put
into context, it doesn't do anything to a human or
computer.
Within a computer's storage, data is a collection of
numbers represented as bytes that are in turn
composed of bits (binary digits) that can have the
value one or zero. Data is processed by the CPU,
which uses logical operations to produce new data
(output) from source data (input)
Data can be defined as a representation of facts,
concepts, or instructions in a formalized manner,
which should be suitable for communication,
interpretation, or processing, by human or electronic
machine.
Data is represented with the help of characters such
as alphabets (A-Z, a-z), digits (0-9) or special
characters (+,-,/,*,<,>,= etc.)
Q2: Define the term information?
Ans: The process data is called information.
Information is an organized and processed form of
data. It is meaningful than data and is used for
making decisions. Information is stimuli that
have meaning in some context for its receiver. When
information is entered into and stored in a computer,
it is generally referred to as data. After processing
(such as formatting and printing), output data can
again be perceived as information. Information is
organized or classified data, which has some
meaningful values for the receiver. Information is the
processed data on which decisions and actions are
based. For the decision to be meaningful, the
processed data must qualify for the following
characteristics
 Timely − Information should be available
when required.
 Accuracy − Information should be accurate.
 Completeness − Information should be
complete.
Q3: What is data processing?
Ans: Data process is a process of converting data into
meaningful information. Data is the input and
information is the output of a data processing system.
Data processing is the re-structuring or re-ordering
usefulness and add values for a particular purpose.
Data processing consists of the following basic steps
- input, processing, and output. These three steps
constitute the data processing cycle.
Input − in this step, the input data is prepared in some
convenient form for processing. The form will
depend on the processing machine. For example,
when electronic computers are used, the input data
can be recorded on any one of the several types of
input medium, such as magnetic disks, tapes, and so
on.
Processing − in this step, the input data is changed to
produce data in a more useful form. For example,
pay-checks can be calculated from the time cards, or
a summary of sales for the month can be calculated
from the sales orders.
Output − at this stage, the result of the proceeding
processing step is collected. The particular form of
the output data depends on the use of the data. For
example, output data may be pay-checks for
employees.
Q4: What is electronic data processing?
Ans: In electronic data processing, all calculation and
processing is performed by computers. The input of
data is given to the computer, which convert this data
into information by applying the required processing.
Electronic data processing (EDP) can refer to the use
of automated methods to process commercial data.
Typically, this uses relatively simple, repetitive
activities to process large volumes of similar
information. For example: stock updates applied to
an inventory, banking transactions applied to account
and customer master files, booking and ticketing
transactions to an airline's reservation system, billing
for utility services. The modifier "electronic" or
"automatic" was used with "data processing" (DP),
especially c. 1960, to distinguish human clerical data
processing from that done by computer.
Q5: What is important of electronic data
processing in business?
Ans: In any business organization, it becomes more
difficult to process large amount of data manually. In
order to get quick result and timely information,
electronic data processing is used in almost all
organizations. Importance of data processing
includes increased productivity and profits, better
decisions, more accurate and reliable. Further cost
reduction, ease in storage, distributing and report
making followed by better analysis and presentation
are other advantages. The need to process data is now
widely realized and reflected in every field of work.
Let the work be done in a business atmosphere or for
educational research purpose. It is
multidimensional process which is involved in
almost every field of human life. Generally speaking,
the term “Data Processing” is used where you have
to collect innumerable data files from different
sources. You have to arrange them in a way that can
be practically beneficial for the purpose you have
gathered all that material. It is a task of synchronizing
collected data from different sources and convert it
to an organized form. This makes it easy to
understand and retrieve the specific information
anytime. There are various data processing
methods which include manual data processing,
mechanical data processing and electronic data
processing. Data processing is one of the most
important daily tasks especially when doing data
mining. All those fields where we can expect a huge
data available to settle down like education, banking
or transportation now realizes this need.
Q6: What do you understand by Word
processing?
Ans: Word processing is the process of writing
documents of different types. It includes writing
letters, applications and other documents using
different software. Word processing software is used
to manipulate a text document, such as a resume or a
report. You typically enter text by typing, and the
software provides tools for copying, deleting and
various types of formatting. Some of the functions of
word processing software include:
 Creating, editing, saving and printing
documents.
 Copying, pasting, moving and deleting text
within a document.
 Formatting text, such as font type, bolding,
underlining or italicizing.
 Creating and editing tables.
 Inserting elements from other software, such
as illustrations or photographs.
 Correcting spelling and grammar.
Word processing includes a number of tools to
format your pages. For example, you can organize
your text into columns, add page numbers, insert
illustrations, etc. However, word processing does not
give you complete control over the look and feel of
your document. When design becomes important,
you may need to use desktop publishing software to
give you more control over the layout of your pages.
Q7: Describe Microsoft Word?
Ans: Microsoft Word is the most popular word
processor. It provides many facilities for writing
a professional documents of different types such as
letters, applications etc. Microsoft Word is a word
processing program that allows for the creation
of both simple and sophisticated documents.
The program is equipped with templates and wizards
to help you create useful documents such as resumes
letters and fax cover sheets. There are also features
that allow you to add professional
looking graphics to your documents.
Title Bar: This bar lists the name of the program
and the title of the current document.
Menu Bar: This bar displays the headings for each
drop-down menu. Commands are grouped under
each of these menu headings according to function.
Standard Toolbar: This toolbar contains short cuts
to some of the most frequently used commands from
the menu bar.
Formatting Toolbar: This toolbar contains short
cuts to some of the most frequently used commands
found under the FORMAT menu item.
Status Bar: This bar displays information about the
active document.
Q8: What is a spreadsheet?
Ans: spreadsheet is computer software that is used to
organize and calculate data quickly. Time-
consuming numeric calculations like can be
performed easily using spreadsheet. A spreadsheet is
a sheet of paper that shows accounting or other data
in rows and columns; a spreadsheet is also a
computer application program that simulates a
physical spreadsheet by capturing, displaying, and
manipulating data arranged in rows and columns.
The spreadsheet is one of the most popular uses of
the personal computer.
In a spreadsheet, spaces that hold items of data are
called cells. Each cell is labeled according to its
placement (for example, A1, A2, A3...) and may
have an absolute or relative reference to the cells
around it. A spreadsheet is generally designed to hold
numerical data and short text strings. Spreadsheets
usually provide the ability to portray data
relationships graphically. Spreadsheets generally do
not offer the ability to structure and label data items
as fully as a database and usually do not offer the
ability to query the database. In general, a
spreadsheet is a much simpler program than a
database program.
Q9: What is MS Excel?
Ans: Microsoft Excel is an electronic spreadsheet
application that enables users to store, organize,
calculate and manipulate the data with formulas
using a spreadsheet system broken up by rows and
columns. It also provides the flexibility to use an
external database to do analysis, make reports, etc.
thus saving lots of time. Some data formats are
available in Microsoft Excel for data Storage.
Example:
 Number – Stores data as a number
 Currency – Stores data in the form of
currency
 Date – Data is stored as dates
 Percentage – Stores numbers as a percentage
 Text Formats – Stores data as string of texts
Q10: What is a presentation?
Ans: A presentation is a collection of slides,
handouts, speaker’s notes, and an outline, all
combined into a file that can be printed onto
transparencies or projected from a computer.
PowerPoint is computer software created by
Microsoft which allows the user to create slides with
recordings, narrations, transitions and other features
in order to present information. An example
of PowerPoint is presentation software made by
Microsoft.
Advantage easy to present and maintain eye contact
with a large audience by simply advancing the slides
with a keystroke, eliminating the need for handouts
to follow the message.
Disadvantage speakers create slides so they have
something to present rather than outlining,
organizing, and focusing on their message.
Q11: What is PowerPoint?
Ans: PowerPoint is a presentation software program
that is part of the Microsoft Office package.
...PowerPoint is one of the
simplest computer programs to learn. It is the
number 1 program used worldwide for presentations.
Anyone can create stunning presentations that look
like they were designed by a professional. Microsoft
PowerPoint is a powerful presentation software
developed by Microsoft. It is a standard component
of the company's Microsoft Office suite software,
and is bundled together with Word, Excel and other
office productivity tools. The program uses slides to
convey information rich in multimedia.
Q12: What is Animation?
Ans: Animation is the style, movement, and other
special effects that can be applied to objects and text
to add interest and variety to a presentation.
Q13. What characteristic of read-only memory
(ROM) makes it useful?
a. ROM information can be easily updated. b. Data
in ROM is non-volatile, that is, it remains there even
without electrical power. c. ROM provides very large
amounts of inexpensive data storage. d. ROM chips
are easily swapped between different brands of
computers.
Q14. What is a file?
A file is a named location which stores data or
information permanently. A file is always stored
inside a storage device using file name (e.g.
STUDENT.MARKS). A file name normally has
primary and secondary name separated by a
“.”(DOT).
Q15.What Is Bios (basic Input And Output
Software)?
BIOS stands for Basic Input and Output Software.
The BIOS is software that controls the most
fundamental operations of a computer and a BIOS is
necessary in order to start a computer. Without a
BIOS, a computer would not know how to
communicate with its hard disk and other devices.
The BIOS is stored on a ROM (Read-Only Memory)
computer chip inside the computer. Many computers
in the past few years use "Flash EPROM" chips,
which means the BIOS chip can be reprogrammed
with an updated BIOS. A BIOS may need to be
updated to fix bugs, such as the year 2000 bug, or an
update may be necessary in order to support new
hardware protocols.
Q16 What Is Dialog Box?
This is a small window that is demanding your
attention (Usually to ask e.g 'Do you want to
continue?'). You must respond before you can
continue using the program that displayed the dialog
box. A dialog box does not have a minimize or
maximize button and does not show up on the
taskbar. It is only a portion of its "parent" program.
Most dialog boxes have a cancel button.
Q17. What Is Driver Software?
Driver software is software that works as a translator
between another program and some piece of
hardware. In the software industry, there are
generally standard ways to do things. There are many
different types of hardware, however, and each piece
of hardware may have its own protocol (or
"language"). The driver software receives standard
signals from another program, then translates these
into commands for a particular piece of hardware.
This way a program can be written in a standard way,
and it will work with many different devices.
Example: If you want to run CD-ROM in your
computer, you need to install CD-ROM Setup
software which is a driver software.
Q18. What Is Toolbar?
A toolbar is a collection of buttons, usually organized
by category. Some programs allow you to turn
individual toolbars on and off (to display or hide
them), and you may even be able to customize the
toolbar by changing what buttons are shown (or even
add your own buttons). Often, you can drag a toolbar
(by dragging from an edge of the toolbar where there
is no button) to move it to a different location on the
screen. If a novice user does this, though, the user
may not know what he or she did and may "lose" the
toolbar. Usually, you can turn toolbars on and off by
clicking the "view" menu, then choosing "toolbars".
Q19. Question 66. What Is Taskbar?
A bar that usually runs at the bottom of Windows
which shows all tasks that are currently being run.
The Start button is usually on the left side of the
Taskbar. A clock is usually on the right side of the
Taskbar. The Taskbar can be moved to any edge of
the screen, and the clock and Start button can be
removed if desired. task list A list of applications that
are currently running. Windows users can access the
Task list by pressing Alt + Tab.
Q20. What Is Folder?
A folder can be thought of as a location on your hard
disk or floppy disk. Folders used to be called
directories/subdirectories. A folder contains files and
can contain nested folders (subfolders). Folders and
subfolders are used to organize your hard disk.
For example, you probably already have a folder
named "My Documents" on your hard disk; you
could place a subfolder named "Work" under "My
Documents", and place all your work documents
within this subfolder. This way, you can keep your
work documents separate from your personal
documents.
Q21. What Is Text Formatting?
Text formatting refers to the attributes of text other
than the actual text itself. For example: bold, italics,
underlining, color, and size, are all formatting
attributes of text. The location of text can also be
considered part of the formatting. Text can be
automatically centered, indented, or positioned in
other ways. When you wish to change the format of
text, you usually have to select the text, then do the
formatting by clicking the appropriate buttons.
Occasionally, there are exceptions to the select-then-
do paradigm. In Microsoft Word, there is a feature
called Format Painter with which you click some
already formatted text, then click the Format Painter
toolbar button, then drag the mouse cursor across
some other text. The other text will be "painted" with
the formatting of the original text selected. If you
double-click the Format Painter button, then it will
be "locked" and you can paint lots of text. When you
are done, click the Format Painter button again to
turn it off.
Q22. How does a firewall work?
A network firewall works by establishing a border
between the internet and the network it guards. It is
inserted inline across a network connection and
inspects all packets entering the network. As it
inspects, a rules engine distinguishes between traffic
that is benign and traffic that is potentially
dangerous.
A firewall is not capable of making judgments on its
own -- no computer is. Instead, it follows
programmed rules created by humans. These rules
dictate whether the firewall should let a packet
through the network barrier. If a packet matches a
pattern that indicates danger, the corresponding rule
will instruct the firewall not to let the packet through.
These rules have to be constantly updated because
the criteria for what patterns indicate a dangerous
packet change frequently.
Q23. What's the difference between hardware
and software?
The beauty of a computer is that it can run a word-
processing program one minute—and then a photo-
editing program five seconds later. In other words,
although we don't really think of it this way, the
computer can be reprogrammed as many times as
you like. This is why programs are also
called software. They're "soft" in the sense that they
are not fixed: they can be changed easily. By
contrast, a computer's hardware—the bits and pieces
from which it is made (and the peripherals, like the
mouse and printer, you plug into it)—is pretty much
fixed when you buy it off the shelf. The hardware is
what makes your computer powerful; the ability to
run different software is what makes it flexible. That
computers can do so many different jobs is what
makes them so useful—and that's why millions of us
can no longer live without them!
Q24. What is an operating system?
That's the basic idea behind an operating system: it's
the core software in a computer that (essentially)
controls the basic chores of input, output, storage,
and processing. You can think of an operating system
as the "foundations" of the software in a computer
that other programs (called applications) are built on
top of. So a word processor and a chess game are two
different applications that both rely on the operating
system to carry out their basic input, output, and so
on.
Q25. What is the Internet?
The Internet is a collection of standalone computers
(and computer networks in companies, schools, and
colleges) all loosely linked together, mostly using
the telephone network. The connections between
the computers are a mixture of old-
fashioned copper cables, fiber-optic cables (which
send messages in pulses of light), wireless radio
connections (which transmit information by radio.
waves), and satellite links.
Q26. What does the Internet do?
The Internet has one very simple job: to move
computerized information (known as data) from one
place to another. That's it! The machines that make
up the Internet treat all the information they handle
in exactly the same way. In this respect, the Internet
works a bit like the postal service. Letters are simply
passed from one place to another, no matter who they
are from or what messages they contain. The job of
the mail service is to move letters from place to
place, not to worry about why people are writing
letters in the first place; the same applies to the
Internet.
Just like the mail service, the Internet's simplicity
means it can handle many different kinds of
information helping people to do many different
jobs. It's not specialized to handle emails, Web
pages, chat messages, or anything else: all
information is handled equally and passed on in
exactly the same way. Because the Internet is so
simply designed, people can easily use it to run new
"applications"—new things that run on top of the
basic computer network. That's why, when two
European inventors developed Skype, a way of
making telephone calls over the Net, they just had to
write a program that could turn speech into Internet
data and back again. No-one had to rebuild the entire
Internet to make Skype possible.
Q27. What is a computer? How does it work?
A computer is an electronic machine that processes
information—in other words, an information
processor: it takes in raw information (or data) at one
end, stores it until it's ready to work on it, chews and
crunches it for a bit, then spits out the results at the
other end. All these processes have a name. Taking
in information is called input, storing information is
better known as memory (or storage), chewing
information is also known as processing, and spitting
out results is called output.
All the main parts of a computer system are involved
in one of these four processes.
 Input: Your keyboard and mouse, for
example, are just input units—ways of
getting information into your computer that it
can process. If you use
a microphone and voice
recognition software, that's another form of
input.
 Memory/storage: Your computer probably
stores all your documents and files on a hard
drive: a huge magnetic memory. But smaller,
computer-based devices like digital
cameras and cellphones use other kinds of
storage such as flash memory cards.
 Processing: Your computer's processor
(sometimes known as the central processing
unit) is a microchip buried deep inside. It
works amazingly hard and gets incredibly hot
in the process. That's why your computer has
a little fan blowing away—to stop its brain
from overheating!
 Output: Your computer probably has
an LCD screen capable of displaying high-
resolution (very detailed) graphics, and
probably also stereo loudspeakers. You may
have an inkjet printer on your desk-top to
make a more permanent form of output.
Q28. What is the difference between a LAN, a
MAN, and a WAN?
A LAN (local area network) is a group of computers
and network devices connected together, usually
within the same building. By definition, the
connections must be high speed and relatively
inexpensive (e.g., token ring or Ethernet). Most
Indiana University Bloomington departments are on
LANs.
A LAN connection is a high-speed connection to a
LAN. On the IUB campus, most connections are
either Ethernet (10 Mbps) or Fast Ethernet (100
Mbps), and a few locations have Gigabit Ethernet
(1000 Mbps) connections.
A MAN (metropolitan area network) is a larger
network that usually spans several buildings in the
same city or town. The IUB network is an example
of a MAN.
A WAN (wide area network), in comparison to a term processor is generally understood to mean the
MAN, is not restricted to a geographical location, CPU.
although it might be confined within the bounds of a Processors can be found in PCs, smartphones, tablets
state or country. A WAN connects several LANs, and other computers. The two main competitors in
and may be limited to an enterprise (a corporation or the processor market are Intel and AMD.
an organization) or accessible to the public. The The basic elements of a processor
technology is high speed and relatively expensive. The basic elements of a processor include:
The Internet is an example of a worldwide public  The arithmetic logic unit (ALU), which
WAN. carries out arithmetic and logic operations on
the operands in instructions.
Q29. What is the difference between ROM and  The floating-point unit (FPU), also known as
RAM? a math coprocessor or numeric coprocessor,
There is one major difference between a ROM (read- a specialized coprocessor that manipulates
only memory) and a RAM (random-access memory) numbers more quickly than the basic
chip: ROM can hold data without power and RAM microprocessor circuitry can.
cannot. Essentially, ROM is meant for permanent  Registers, which hold instructions and other
storage, and RAM is for temporary storage. data. Registers supply operands to the ALU
Alternate explanation and store the results of operations.
A ROM chip is a non-volatile storage medium,  L1 and L2cache memory. Their inclusion in
which means it does not require a constant source of the CPU saves time compared to having to
power to retain the information stored on it. By get data from random access memory
contrast, a RAM chip is volatile, which means it (RAM).
loses any information it is holding when the power is
turned off.
Other differences between a ROM and a RAM
 A ROM chip is used primarily in the startup
process of a computer, whereas a RAM chip
is used in the normal operations of a
computer once the operating system is
loaded.
 A RAM chip can store multiple GB
(gigabytes) of data, ranging from 1 to 256 GB
per chip. A ROM chip stores several MB
(megabytes) of data, usually 4 to 8 MB per
chip.
Q30. What is a Processor/CPU?
A processor (CPU) is the logic circuitry that responds
to and processes the basic instructions that drive a
computer. The CPU is seen as the main and most
crucial integrated circuitry (IC) chip in a computer,
as it is responsible for interpreting most of computers
commands. CPUs will perform most basic
arithmetic, logic and I/O operations, as well as
allocate commands for other chips and components
running in a computer.
The term processor is used interchangeably with the
term central processing unit (CPU), although strictly
speaking, the CPU is not the only processor in a
computer. The GPU (graphics processing unit) is the
most notable example, but the hard drive and other
devices within a computer also perform some
processing independently. Nevertheless, the