Various Testing Performed on a Computer
System
GUI SOFTWARE TESTING- uses a
graphical user interface
Graphical user interface is a type of user
interface which allows people to interact with
electronic devices
USABILITY TESTING- used to evaluate a
product by testing it on users
Usability testing is a black-box testing technique
Goals of usability testing:
-Performance - How much time, and how many
steps?
-Accuracy - How many mistakes did people
make?
-Recall - How much does the person remember
afterwards or after periods of non-use?
-Emotional response - How does the person
feel about the tasks completed?
PERFORMANCE TESTING- used to
determine the speed or effectiveness of
a computer
Compatibility TESTING- conducted on
the application to evaluate the
application's compatibility with the
computing environment
Computing environment may contain
mentioned elements:
Computing capacity of Hardware
Platform (IBM 360, HP 9000, etc.)..
Bandwidth handling capacity
of networking hardware
Compatibility of peripherals (Printer,
DVD drive, etc.)
Operating systems (MVS, UNIX,
Windows, etc.)
Database (Oracle, Sybase, DB2, etc.)
Other System Software (Web server,
networking/ messaging tool, etc.)
Browser compatibility (Firefox,
Netscape, Internet Explorer, Safari, etc.)
LOAD TESTING- practice of modeling
the expected usage of a software
program by simulating multiple users
accessing the program concurrently
Various tools are also available to find out
the causes for slow performance which
could be in the following areas:
Application
Database
Network
Client side processing
Load balancer
VOLUME TESTING- testing a software
application with a certain amount of
data, belongs to the group of non-
functional tests, which are often
misunderstood and/or used
interchangeably
STRESS TESTING- refers to tests that
put a greater emphasis on robustness,
availability, and error handling under a
heavy load
Security Testing - Is a Process to
determine that an IS (Information
 System) protects data and maintains
functionality as intended
Six Basic Security Concepts
1. Confidentiality - A security measure
which protects against the disclosure of
information to parties other than the
intended recipient
2. Integrity - A measure intended to allow
the receiver to determine that the
information
3. Authentication - A measure designed to
establish the validity of a transmission,
message, or originator.Allows a receiver
to have confidence that information it
receives originated from a specific
known source.
4. Authorization - The process of
determining that a requester is allowed
to receive a service or perform an
operation. Access control is an example
of authorization.
5. Availability - Assuring information and
communications services will be ready
for use when expected.
6. Non-repudiation - A measure intended
to prevent the later denial that an
action happened, or a communication
that took place etc.
RECOVERY TESTING- testing how
well an application is able to
recover from crashes, hardware
failures and other similar problems
ACCESSIBILITY TESTING- used to
describe the degree to which a
product is accessible by as many
people as possible
MAINTENANCE TESTING- testing
which is performed to either
identify equipment problems,
diagnose equipment problems or to
confirm that repair measures have
been effective.
Types of maintenance for which testing can be
used. Maintenance falls into the following four
categories:
Preventive maintenance - Changes to
the existing system so as to reduce the
risk of failure while operating.
Corrective maintenance - correcting
problems that arise while using the
system.
Perfective maintenance -
Enhancements (modifications) to
improve the safety, reliability, efficiency
or cost-effectiveness of operation.
Adaptive maintenance - Adaptations to
address requirements that crop up due
to changes in the environment or new
regulations.
What is Troubleshooting?
Effective troubleshooting uses
techniques to diagnose and then fix
computer problems.
A series of logical steps speeds up the
troubleshooting process.
Rarely will simply guessing potential
solutions for a problem work.
Troubleshooting is a cycle.
Troubleshooting Tools- Every technician should
have a good toolset.

Diagnostic Software- There are many

commercial software products available to
assist in troubleshooting computer problems.

Disposal Actions-Proper disposal practices

should be undertaken when disposing of
hazards materials.

Field replacement units (FRU)- devices that can

be replaced or added in the field.
 These are common FRUs:

Monitors

Keyboard/mouse

Modular expansion cards

Most microprocessors

Power supply

RAM (such as DIMMs, SIMMs,

RIMMs, and so on)

Floppy and fixed disk drives

Motherboard

POST Errors

Every time the computer is turned on, it

runs through a Power-On Self-Test
(POST).

The POST is a series of self-diagnostic

tests that the computer runs through to
test the major hardware.

The POST performs basic test routines

on the motherboard and major
hardware devices.

It does not perform in-depth testing on

the computer system.

It can only detect major failures that

will prohibit the boot up process.

CMOS/BIOS Errors

Clearing the CMOS memory is useful

when the computer will not boot at all.

The easiest way is to clear memory is to

remove the CMOS battery.