Computer Awareness Questions

The Correct Answer is Virus.

• A piece of programming code inserted into another program to cause damage is called Virus.
• A computer virus is a type of computer program that replicates itself when executed by altering other programs on the computer and adding its own code. The affected areas are then said to be 'infected' with a computer virus when this replication succeeds.

Important Points

• The collective name for a variety of malicious variants of software, including viruses, ransomware and spyware, is malware. Malware, shorthand for malicious software, usually consists of cyber-attacker-developed code designed to inflict significant data and device harm or to obtain unauthorized access to a network.
• Spam is some form of unwanted digital correspondence that is sent out in bulk, unsolicited.

The correct answer is Bugs.

Key Points

• In computing, a bug is an error in the source code that makes a program to produce unexpected results or crash altogether.
• Computer bugs can affect an application’s performance, so developers need to make sure they are corrected before the software gets sold to customers.
• Back when mainframe computers were still state-of-the-art, some programmers kept getting wrong results from their programs.
• When they checked under the hood, they discovered that a moth got into the circuitry, causing errors in computations.
• That’s why programming errors are called “bugs.”

The correct answer is Router.

• The Router is not an operating system.

Key Points

• An operating system is software that performs all the basic tasks like file management, memory management, process management, handling input and output, and controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives and printers.
• A router is a physical or virtual appliance that passes information between two or more packet-switched computer networks.
• A router inspects a given data packet's destination Internet Protocol address (IP address), calculates the best way for it to reach its destination, and then forwards it accordingly.
• It is a common type of gateway. It is positioned where two or more networks meet at each point of presence on the internet. 
• Android, iOS, and Windows are examples of the operating system.

The correct answer is MS Office.

• Software is a set of instructions given to the computer to control and coordinate computer hardware.
• The software cannot be sensed by touch. 
• MS Office is an example of computer software.
• Other examples for software are:
  • Office suites.
  • Database programs.
  • Web browsers.
  • Communication platforms.
  • Word processors.

Additional Information

• Hardware is the physical equipment of a computer that can be seen and touched.
• Examples of important computer hardware are:
  • CPU.
  • Joy Stick.
  • Keyboard.
  • Mouse.
  • Printer.
  • Scanner.

The correct answer is Kernel.​Key Points

• The kernel is an essential center of a computer operating system.
• It is the core that provides basic services for all other parts of the operating system. 
• It is the main layer between the OS and hardware.
• Kernel helps in the process and memory management, file systems, device control, and networking.
• It is the first program after bootloader which is loaded and controls everything in the OS.
• It acts as an interface between application and hardware.
  It is responsible for memory management.
• There are five types of the kernel:
  • A microkernel
    • It only contains basic functionality
  • A monolithic kernel.
    • It contains many device drivers
  • Hybrid Kernel
  • Exokernel
  • Microkernel

The devices which send data or control signals to the computer or processing unit are known as Input devices.

• Examples of input devices are- Mouse, Keyboard, Microphone, Scanner, Joystick, etc.
• From the given options, Joystick, scanner, and Keyboard are input devices. 
• The scanner is an input device used for direct data entry from the source document into the computer system.
• It converts the document image into digital form so that it can be fed into the computer. 
• The keyboard is the device that is used to enter all the data into the computer. 
• It directs the computer through instructions.
• Normally the keyboard has 104 buttons called the keys.

Hence, only a printer is not an input device, it is an output device.

Printer:

• A printer is basically an output device that prints a hard copy of the electronic data that is stored in the computer or any other device.
• The electronic data may include documents, text, images, or even the combination of all three.
• Particular printers are available for printing particular data types.

Hence, a printer is the correct answer here.

A number system includes the number of independent digits used in the number system (the base), the place values of the different digits constituting the number, and the maximum numbers that can be written with the given number of digits.

The Binary Number System: 

• The binary number system with only two independent digits, 0 and 1, is a base-2 number system.
• All larger binary numbers are represented in terms of ‘0’ and ‘1’.

Decimal to Binary Conversion:

Step 1: Divide 22 by 2 to get the Quotient. Keep the Whole part for the next step and set the Remainder aside.

25 / 2 = 12 with 1 remainder

Step 2: Divide the Whole part of the Quotient from Step 1 by 2. Again, keep the Whole part and set the Remainder aside.

12 / 2 = 6 with 0 remainder

Step 3: Repeat Step 2 above until the Whole part is 0.

6 / 2 = 3 with 0 remainder

3 / 2 = 1 with 1 remainder

1 / 2 = 0 with 1 remainder

Step 4: Write down the Remainders in reverse order to get the answer to 25 as a binary.

When we put the remainders together in reverse order, we get the answer 11001

Hence, the binary equivalent of decimal number 25 is 11001

Memory in a computer system is required for the storage and retrieval of the instructions and data. A system uses a variety of devices for storing the instructions and data that are required for its operation.

1. CPU registers - They are part of the control unit and ALU rather than the memory. Hence their contents can be handled much faster than any content of memory.

2. Cache Memory: It stores program instruction and data that the computer uses more frequently. The processor can access this information from the cache rather than having to get it from the computer’s main memory. Hence, it is faster than RAM.

3. Primary or main memories are used mainly for primary storage. It stores programs and data which are currently needed by the CPU. The primary memory is a static device. There is no rotating part in it. Examples include RAM, ROM, etc.

• Random Access Memory (RAM): It stores data that the computer needs to use temporarily. So it is faster than the secondary storage devices. It is a volatile memory i.e. the data disappear from it when the power is off. The amount of RAM in a computer system can affect a computer’s performance.
• Read-Only Memory (ROM): The system uses ROM to boot itself. It is used to store the start-up information of the computer. This is called non-volatile memory i.e. it retains its content even if the computer loses its power.

4. Secondary Memory: It is the storage that the CPU cannot access directly. Its content firstly needs to be copied into ram and then transferred to CPU. It stores data that can be easily retrieved only by the main memory and used by the processor. For example, hard disk.

Hence, the lists of computer memory types from lowest to highest speed are- 

Secondary Storage < Main Memory < Cache Memory

Therefore, Option 2 is the correct answer.

Booting:

• Starting a computer or a computer-embedded device is called booting. Booting takes place in two steps −
• Switching on the power supply
• Loading operating system into computer’s main memory
• Keeping all applications in a state of readiness in case needed by the user
• The first program or set of instructions that runs when the computer is switched on is called BIOS or Basic Input Output System.
• BIOS is firmware, i.e. a piece of software permanently programmed into the hardware.
• If a system is already running but needs to be restarted, it is called rebooting.
• Rebooting may be required if software or hardware has been installed or the system is unusually slow.

There are two types of booting −

Confusion Points

Arithmetic operation:

• It is  a work of the Arithmetic and Logic Unit of the CPU
• Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are the four basic arithmetic operations.

Refreshing: 

• Refreshing the desktop is actually used to update the display or reproduce the look of the desktop after a change.
• It does not affect the condition of RAM and does not clean your computer.

Artificial Intelligence (AI):

• Intelligent digital personal assistants like Siri, Google Now, Cortana, Alexa are all powered by AI.
• The phrase artificial intelligence is coined at the "Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence."
• Led by John McCarthy, the conference, which defined the scope and goals of AI, is widely considered to be the birth of artificial intelligence as we know it today.
• Artificial Intelligence endeavors to simulate the natural intelligence of human beings into machines, thus making them behave intelligently.
• An intelligent machine is supposed to imitate some of the cognitive functions of humans like learning, decision-making, and problem-solving.
• In order to make machines perform tasks with minimum human intervention, they are programmed to create a knowledge base and make decisions based on it.
• AI systems can also learn from past experiences or outcomes to make new decisions.
• Artificial intelligence is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems.
• Specific applications of AI include expert systems, natural language processing, speech recognition, and machine vision.
• Machine Learning is a subsystem of Artificial Intelligence, wherein computers have the ability to learn from data using statistical techniques, without being explicitly programmed by a human being.
• Sophia is a humanoid that uses artificial intelligence, visual data processing, facial recognition and also imitates human gestures and facial expressions.

Hence, artificial intelligence endeavors to simulate the natural intelligence of human beings into machines.

• Virtual Reality (VR) is a three-dimensional, computer-generated situation that simulates the real world. The user can interact with and explore that environment by getting immersed in it while interacting with the objects and other actions of the user.
• The superimposition of computer-generated perceptual information over the existing physical surroundings is called Augmented Reality (AR). It adds components of the digital world to the physical world, along with the associated tactile and other sensory requirements, thereby making the environment interactive and digitally manipulable.
• A drone is an unmanned aircraft that can be remotely controlled or can fly autonomously through software-controlled flight plans in their embedded systems, working in conjunction with onboard sensors and GPS