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NAME : NESTOR ABIANGANG ABIAWUH

Mat. No. : FE15A151

Course : CEF205/INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTING

Exercise 1:

1. The CPU consist of three components that is;

-Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU)

-Control unit

-Register unit

2. Registers are special memory locations which are used for temporary storage of information
within the CPU and will be used in subsequent processing.

3. MAR (Memory Address Register): This register holds the address of memory where CPU
wants to read or write data. When CPU wants to store some data in the memory or reads
the data from the memory, it places the address of the memory location in the MAR.

4. MDR/MBR (Memory Data Register/Memory Buffer Register): This register holds the contents
of data or instruction read from, or written in memory. The contents of instruction placed in tis
register are transferred to the Instruction Register, while the contents of data are transferred to
the accumulator or I/O register. In other words this register is used to store data/instruction
coming from the memory or going to the memory.

5. Data bus: This is a hardware line used purposely for transfer of data within the CPU and
computer system as a whole.

6. Address bus: This is a communication or hardware line that carries the addresses (locations)
where data items are to be found and retrieved.

7. Control bus: This bus carries control signals used to trigger and control the access of
components within the computer system.

8. keyboard port, mouse port, printer port, modem port, monitor port, SCSI port(Small
computer system interface port), microphone and speaker port, USB port.

Exercise 2:
1. Plug and play: This is a set of specification that allows a PC to configure itself
automatically to work with peripherals such as monitor, modems, and printers. A user
can “plug” in a peripheral and “play” it without manually configuring the system.
2. SD RAM: Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory.

3. DDR RAM: Double Data Rate Random Access Memory.


4. USB Port (Universal Serial Bus Port): The USB port is a small socket that offers superior
performance to the serial port connections. They are designed for a new generation of
printers, scanners, CD ROM drives and modems. They are much faster than standard
serial or parallel ports and presently there 3types present that is USB 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0
with the different values indicating faster rate. A single USB can be used to connect up
to 127 devices.
5. The specifications of a laser printers include;
-it is a highly expensive non-impact printer (that is the printing mechanism does not
make contact with the paper).
-it receives and processes the data from the computer , writes the electrical
mirror(reflected) image on the drum and then transmits the image from the drum to the
paper with the help of laser light.
-it has major advantages of laser printers are: extremely high print quality, wide
selection of type fonts and very quiet and very fast, print graphics as well as text.
-it has disadvantages of high cost prices and high running costs.
6. Specifications of dot matrix printers include;
-cheapest types of printers.
-prints with the use of dots thus every character or graphics is created out of dots
-it has major disadvantage of poor image quality and low speed.
7. Specifications of inkjet printer include;
-it is a non-impact printer.
-it works with an ink cartridge instead of an ink-ribbon.
-characters are developed one dot at a time that is produced by creating one dot using a
tiny ink jet to place a droplet of ink on the paper.

Exercise 3:

1. Computer maintenance is the process of taking measures to ensure that a hardware,


software, or database system is functioning properly and is up to date. It can be divided
into software and hardware maintenance.
Software maintenance involves taking out measures to ensure that a software is
efficient and accurately functional for example a Microsoft package, ensuring that the
software is rightfully configured and accurately functional.
Hardware maintenance on the other hand is ensuring that the various hardware
components are functional and properly installed to enable the machine function well.
2. The possible threats to a computer system include
-viruses which are computer software which attack and infects files in a computer
making the files not to function well. examples include worms, Trojan, shortcut viruses
etc.
-hacking
-cracking
-session hijacking which happens when an intruder takeover another user’s network
session when he/she gets up to go somewhere without terminating his/her network
session.
-masquerading which arise when an unauthorized person uses uses someone else’s ID to
access a computer.
-credit card fraud.
The typical ways to ensure computer security include;
-Encrypting messages, information, or data into a form unreadable by anyone except the
intended recipient.
-Passwords which are confidential sequences of characters that give approved users
access to computer systems.
-Firewalls which is a computer program or device that filters access to a network and
allows a company for example to protects its network from undesired intrusion from the
internet whilst permitting its employees to gain access to the internet.
-Backup and Recovery which keeping a copy of data and information and a separate
location in the computer system to avoid lost during a threat.
-Antivirus software which are programs that helps to prevent viruses from entering the
computer system. Some anti-viruses include; Avast, Smadav, AVG, Kapesky, Avira , etc.

4 Computer failures can arise based on either hardware related failure or software failure.
Hardware related failures involve either damage of the hardware or failure of the
hardware to respond due to damage of a line joining this hardwares in order to function
properly. For example a damage to the computer power system will cause the computer
not to start or not function very well during operations.
Software related failures are attributed to failures caused by a malfunctioned
software that can have direct access to hardware components. For example a software
that has crashed or not functioning properly which can access hardware components
through addresses may write or access an entirely different address which may cause
the computer not to function properly.
5 Computer Viruses are small program that hide themselves on your disks (both
diskettes and your hard disk). Unless you use virus detection software the first time that
you know that you have a virus is when it activates. Different viruses are activated in
different ways.
Viruses hide on a disk and when you access the disk (either a diskette or another
hard disk over a network) the virus program will start and infect your computer. The
worst thing about a computer virus is that they can spread from one computer to
another, either via use of infected floppy disk, or over a computer network, including
the Internet.
There are a number of third party antivirus products available. Most of these are better
than the rather rudimentary products available within DOS and Windows, but of course
you do have to pay for them! The main thing about your virus checker is that it should
be kept up to date. Many companies supply updated disks on a regular basis or allow
you to receive updates through an electronic, on-line bulletin board
6 Cache memory is a portion (perhaps several hundred KB) of High-speed memory located
within the CPU itself. In this special memory area, the machine attempts to keep a copy
of that portion of main memory that is of current interest. In this setting, data transfers
that normally would be made between registers and main memory are made between
registers and cache memory. Any changes made to cache memory are then transferred
collectively to main memory at a more opportune time. The result is a CPU that can
execute its machine cycle more rapidly because it is not delayed by main memory
communication. In this case the larger the cache memory the faster the performance of
the system.
There are two types involve: memory cache and disk cache. Memory cache also
known as cache store or RAM cache helps to speed up the processes of the computer
because it stores the instructions and data which are frequently used. The processor is
likely to request these items repeatedly so the items are stored for quick access. When
the processor needs an instruction, it first searches the cache and if it cannot locate the
item, it then searches for the RAM.
Memory cache can be further divided into three types or layers of memory. That is
Level 1(L1), Level 2(L2), and level 3(L3). L1 cache is the primary cache or internal cache
because it is built directly into the processor chip and this cache usually has a very small
capacity ranging from 8KB to 64KB. L2 or external cache is slightly slower than the L1
cache but has a much higher capacity ranging from 64KB to 4MB and is not part of the
processor as the case of the L1 cache which the processor can get access to it very fast.
Disk cache is used during disk access. So when a disk is being access, the data is
been copied into the disk cache so that the processor can access it very fast without any
waist of time and interruption.

7 The motherboard consists of several components which work together to produce


results. Some of these components include;
-Processor which is a circuitry which contains other components which include control
unit, computing unit, internal memory unit and internal input and output unit.
-Main memory otherwise known as the RAM is the main general purpose storage which
the processor has directs access.
-Support circuitry such as fan which functions in cooling the processor and components
when hot, condensers.
-Bus controller and connector which are circuit components that help in control and
extension of the board components such as expansion cards and other input/output
boards.

7. The different factors affecting the CPU speed include;


-RAM: The higher the capacity of the RAM the faster the computer will execute
processes. This is because more memory will be reserved to hold the next instruction to
be executed.
-Processor speed: this is the time used by the processor to execute and instruction. It is
usually measured in hetz(Hz) which is frequency and implies machine circles per
second. This means a 1GHz or 1 000 000MHz processor means the processor will carry
out 1 000 000 instructions per second which implies the higher the value of the
processor speed, the faster the CPU will execute it’s processes.
-Number of registers present in the CPU.
-Size of buses found within the CPU. The larger the buses, the faster processing and
transfer of data by the CPU will be carried out.

8. A CPU consists of three parts :


-The arithmetic/logic unit: Performs operations on data (such as addition and
subtraction)
-The control unit: Coordination of machine’s activities
-The register unit: Contains data storage cells called registers.
Some of the registers are general-purpose while others are special-purpose registers.
General-purpose registers serve as temporary storage for data being manipulated
by the CPU. These registers hold the inputs for the arithmetic/logical unit and provide
storage space for results produced by that unit. To perform an operation on data stored
in main memory, the control unit transfers the data from memory into the general-
purpose registers, informs the arithmetic/logic unit which registers hold the data,
activates the appropriate circuitry within the arithmetic/logic unit, and tells the
arithmetic/logic unit which register should receive the result.
For the purpose of communication, computer components use a collection of wires
called a bus. Through this bus, the CPU reads data from main memory by supplying the
address of the cell along with a signal informing the memory of its intention. In a similar
manner, the CPU writes data to the memory by providing the address of the destination
cell together with the appropriate electronic signal telling main memory that it is
supposed to store the data being sent to it. In the early computers, the steps that each
device executed were built into the control unit of the CPU as a part of the machine. To
gain more flexibility, some of the early electronic computers were designed so that the
CPU could conveniently be rewired.
A breakthrough came with the realization that a program can be encoded and
stored in main memory, like data. The control unit can then extract it, decode and
execute the decoded program. This way, programmes can be changed by merely
changing the contents of the program instead of rewiring the CPU. The idea of storing a
computer’s program in its main memory is called the stored-program concept and has
become the standard approach used today. Before this concept was conceived,
programs were thought as part of the CPU.

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