Basic Computer course book

Free University of Bolzano Bozen Dr. Paolo Coletti Edition 8. 0 (5 August 2014)
Introduction
This book contains courses lessons held at the Free University of Bolzano Bozen. It contains only the first
partofthecourses,namelythelessonson:
computerintroduction,
MicrosoftWindows,
computernetworks,
computerdangersandsecurity.
It does not contain the parts on Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, financial functions, Microsoft Access,
computer algorithms, SPSS, Visual Basic for Applications, which are very well covered by the respective
coursessuggestedbooks.
Thisbookisusuallyupdatedeveryyear,pleasetakealookattheeditiondate.
Disclaimers
This book is designed for very novice computer users. It often contains oversimplifications of reality and
everytechnicaldetailispurposelyomitted.Expertuserswillfindthisbookuselessand,forcertainaspects,
partiallywrong.
This book supposes that the user is using Microsoft Windows 7 operating system in English language.
However, most of the book is perfectly readable with other Windows versions, while some menus and
instructions can be rather different if the language is not English (Windows language may be changed on
multilanguageinstallations:seepage7forfurtherinformation).
The novice user in this book is, for simplicity, always considered male. This is not meant to be gender
discrimination.
Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................1
1. Computers....................................................2
1.1. Storage.........................................................2
1.2. Software.......................................................3
2. MicrosoftWindows......................................6
2.1. Versionsandeditions...................................6
2.2. Regionalandlanguagesettings....................7
2.3. Filesystem....................................................8
3. Computernetworks...................................14
3.1. Technicalaspects........................................14
3.2. Communication.........................................15
3.3. Internetconnections.................................18
4. Computersecurity.....................................20
4.1. Encryption..................................................20
4.2. Passwords..................................................23
4.3. Viruses.......................................................25
4.4. Emails.........................................................27
4.5. Navigation..................................................29
4.6. Attacksfromoutside.................................29
4.7. Backup.......................................................30

Dr.PaoloCo
Page2of32
1. Com
Thischapte
andofthet
1.1. Sto
1.1.1. Me
Before star
terminology
Computers
calledbitan
isaquantity
Modern co
quantities:
Kilo
Me
Gig
Ter
Usually the
(letssayre
qualityneed
1.1.2. Mo
Over the la
exponentia
transistors
hardware a
months, th
increasewit
1.1.3. De
The compu
capability,c
but very lar
Their main
are more ro
disadvantag
oletti
2
mputer
erpresentsw
typicalsoftw
orage
easures
rting with t
y,whichwill
haveavery
ndallcompu
ylargeenou
omputers are
obyte(KB),a
gabyte(MB)
abyte(GB),a
abyte(TB),a
unformatte
adytobepr
dssomeGB.
oores law
ast 40 years
lgrowth.Th
in a process
and we may
us leading t
ththesame
evices
uter uses sev
cost,speeda
The
can
exte
mov
SSD
rge memory
advantages
obust and th
geisthelimi
rs
withabriefd
warecompon
he compute
oftenbeuse
elementary
uterdataare
ghtostoreu
e able to d
pproximately
),approxima
approximate
approximate
ed text of a w
rintedonA4

, computer
isgrowthis
sor doubles
say that the
to a general
rate.
veral device
andportabili
mostusedis
notbemove
ernalharddi
ved.Itsonly
SolidStateD
y cards shape
arethatnot
hat in most
tedsizewhic
descriptiono
entsfornov
er descriptio
edinthisbo
ywaytostor
estoredasse
usuallyalett
eal with en
y1,000byte
tely1,000KB
ely1,000MB
ly1,000GBo
whole book
paper)orfo
hardware h
summarized
every 18 mo
e performan
exponentia
s to perman
ty.
stheinterna
ed.Itssizecu
skisoutside
disadvantag
Drivesarest
ed like an h
thavingmov
situations th
chcurrently
fcomputer
viceuser.
on, it is use
ok.
redata:they
equencesof
teroradigit
normous qua
es,
Boronemil
Boronebillio
oronetrillio
can fit in so
oramodern
has been con
dbythefam
onths. This l
nce (be it sp
al growth. U
nently store
alharddisk,w
urrentlyrang
ethecomput
eisbeingsli
tartingtoslo
ard disks wh
ving parts(t
hey are faste
is500GBan
maincompo
eful to beco
ycanremem
bits.Asequ
(eventhoug
antity of by
lionbytes,
onbytes,
onbytes.
ome KB, whil
songsomeM
ntinuously im
ousMoores
law can be e
eed or capa
Unfortunately
e and move
whichusuall
gesfrom500
ter,hasthes
ghtlyslower
owlyinvadet
hich can ent
hey donotr
er than hard
ndtheirhigh
Basic
E
onents,ofthe
ome proficie
mberonly0o
enceof8bit
hsometimes
ytes, forcing
e for an ima
MBarerequ
mproving its
slawwhich
extended to
city) of hard
y softwares
data, which
yisinsideth
0GBto2TB.
samesizeand
r.
themarket.T
tirely replace
rotate athig
disks (up to
price.
cComputer
Edition8.0(0
emostcomm
ent with th
or1.Avalue
tsiscalleda
s2bytesare
g us to intro
age in a goo
uired,whilea
s performan
saysthatthe
o almost eve
dware doub
s performan
h vary a lot
hecomputer
Ontheothe
dobviously
Theyarenot
e the interna
ghspeedlike
o 10 times f
coursebook
05/08/2014)
mondevices
he data size
eof0or1is
byte,which
enecessary).
oduce other
d resolution
afilminhigh
nces with an
enumberof
ry aspect of
les every 18
ce does not
in terms of
rboxand
erhand,an
canbe
tdisksatall,
al hard disk.
ehard disks)
aster). Their
k
)
s
e
s
h
.
r
n
h
n
f
f
8
t
f
,
.
)
r
BasicComp
Edition8.0
Othercomm
externaldev
1.2. Sof
Softwareca
Theoperati
arecurrentl

Mi

Ma

Lin

An

iOS

Wi
Programs a
Internetnav
Dataisever
system) to
data.
1.2.1. Sof
Softwareca
tobemodif
Subdivision
free
inst
priv
pro
putercourse
(05/08/2014
CD and
respect
written
whicha
are ava
appeared
Memory
sizeisno
isusedm
monwaysto
vicessuchas
ftware
anbedivided
ngsystemta
lythreewide
crosoftWind
acintoshcom
ux(itisafam
droid,afam
S,forApplem
ndowsPhon
re software
vigation,the
rythingwhic
store inform
ftware lice
anbedivided
fied.
bycostis:
eware, softw
titutionssuc
vate compan
ogramorLinu
book
4)
d DVD in an
tively.Theya
arerewritt
areavailable
ailable only
donthema
ystickorUSB
owupto64G
mostlytomo
storeandm
sphotocam
dintothreeb
akescareof
elyusedope
dows,which
mputershave
milyofverys
ilyofverysi
mobiledevic
ne,Microsoft
which is us
eCalculatorf
chisproduce
mation, e.g. a
enses
d,fromacom
ware which i
hasunivers
ny who do
uxoperating
alternative
aredividedin
tenseveralt
onmostcom
on some c
rket,theBlu
Bpendriveis
GB,however
ovedata.
movedataare
eras,mobile
bigcategorie
controllingc
eratingsystem
isthemarke
etheirowno
similaropera
milarLinuxb
ces,
tsoperating
ed to do pa
formathema
edeitherby
a document
mmercialpo
s completely
ities,ordev
it for dum
system;
way to stor
ntoRwhich
times.Theyr
mputers,and
computers.
raywith25
sthemostu
ritsreliabilit
ethrougha
ephonesorm
es:operating
computerha
ms:
etleader,
operatingsys
atingsystem
basedoperat
gsystemform
rticular task
aticaloperat
theuseror
file produce
ointofview,
y costless. T
eloperswho
mping reason
re data. They
mayonlybe
requireaCD
daCDwrite
A new gen
GBsize.
sedwaytot
tyisnotperf
memorycar
musicplayer
gsystems,pr
ardwareand
stemMacOS
s),whichisa
tingsystems
mobiledevic
s, e.g. Word
ions.
byprograms
ed by Word
usingtwofe
The produce
odoitforpe
ns. Some ex
y contain ab
writtenonc
readerora
rorDVDwr
eration of h
emporaryst
ect,therefor
d,usedby
s.
rogramsand
humancom
SX,
acostlessop
sformobiled
ces.
d for docume
s(sometime
is data, a d
eatures:the
rs of this sof
ersonalinter
xamples are
Dr.P
bout 700 M
ceandRWw
DVDreader
ritertobewr
high capacit
toreandmov
reit
data.
mputerintera
peratingsyste
devices,
ent writing,
esevenbyth
ownloaded
costandthe
ftware are e
restoradver
e Skype com
PaoloColetti
Page3of32
B and 4 GB,
whichmaybe
rtoberead,
ritten,which
ty discs has
vedata.Its
action.There
em,
Explorer for
heoperating
web page is
epermission
either public
rtisementor
mmunication
i
2
,
e
,
h
s
e
r
g
s
n
c
r
n
Dr.PaoloColetti BasicComputercoursebook
Page4of32 Edition8.0(05/08/2014)
shareware, software which is initially costless but after a certain period the user is asked to pay a
fee or delete it; or software which has two versions: a free one, but incomplete or with
advertisementbanners,andacompleteadvertisementfreeone,forwhichtheusermustpay.The
mostpopularexamplesaremobilephonesapps;
commercial, software for which the user has to pay a license to use it. Common examples are
MicrosoftWindowsoperatingsystemorPhotoshopimageeditingprogram;
subscriptionbased,softwareforwhichtheuserpaysaperiodicfeetouseit.Thissoftwaretypically
is also offered on the web and in this case the user does not have to care about installation nor
updates.AnexampleisMicrosoftOffice365;
private, software uniquely built, under payment, for a specific customer to fit his needs. Only the
costumer may use it. A typical example is the universitys studentscoursesexamsprofessors
databasesystem.
The permission to be modified can seem a trivial question for the novice user, however for program
developers and computer experts being authorized to modify a software is a great advantage since it can
be improved, checked for errors and tailored to specific needs. The open source versus proprietary
softwareisastrongethicalandeconomicaldebateinthecomputerscientistscommunity.Subdivisionby
permissiontomodifyis:
open source software may be studied, used and especially modified by anyone. The software
developers at the same time legally authorize any modification and they distribute the source of
thesoftwaretoputotherdevelopersinaconditiontoeasilymodifyit.Opensourcesoftwareisalso
automaticallyfreeware.ThemosttypicalexampleisLinuxoperatingsystem.
copyleft software is open source but carries the restriction that any modification must be
distributed as open source and copyleft, thus impeding that software becomes, after a
modification,proprietary.ThemostfamouscopyleftcontractlicenseistheGNUPublicLicense(see
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html).
proprietarysoftwareisdistributed(costlessasAdobeAcrobatReader,orasasharewareasWinZip,
ormostoftensoldascommercialsoftwareasMicrosoftOffice)withtheexplicitlegalwarningnot
tomodifyitandtechnicallylockedtopreventotherdeveloperstoseeormodifyitssource.
1.2.2. Software naming
Software is usually identified by a name, for example Linux or Microsoft Office, sometimes by a
distribution/edition name Linux Ubuntu, Microsoft Office Professional and very often by a version
number,asequenceofnumbers,pointsandletters(sometimes,asforWindows,commercialnames)which
distinguishesthechangesmadebydeveloperswithtime,suchasLinuxUbuntu13.10orMicrosoftOffice
Professional 2013. Obviously the version numbers of open source software changes rapidly, due to the
manydevelopersworkingonthem.
1.2.3. Data format licenses
Dataneedtobesavedwithacertainstructure,calledformats.Forexample,aplaintextfilemaybesimply
saved as a sequence of letters and symbols, which corresponds to the TXT format. More complex
structures, such as images, videos, but also formatted texts, need more elaborated formats to be stored.
Theseformatsmaybe:
closedproprietary,aformatownedbyasoftwarecompanyandkeptasatradesecret.Inthisway
only programs build by that company can use those data files and no other company is able to
BasicComputercoursebook Dr.PaoloColetti
Edition8.0(05/08/2014) Page5of32
endanger its monopoly. A famous example is DOC format which, until 2007, was kept secret by
Microsoft,thuspreventingcompetitorsfrombuildingalternativestoMicrosoftWordprogram.
open proprietary, a format publicly available but whose improvements and control are under the
ownershipofasoftwarecompany.AtypicalexampleisthenewWordformatDOCX.
open,apubliclyavailableformatwhichfollowsofficialstandardswhosecontrolisunderownership
of public organizations, such as American ANSI, German DIN or Italian UNI. Typical examples are
imagesformatGIForformattedtextsformatPDForwebpagesformatHTML.

Dr.PaoloColetti BasicComputercoursebook
Page6of32 Edition8.0(05/08/2014)
2. Microsoft Windows
MicrosoftWindowsiscurrentlythemarketleaderoperatingsystem,itistheusualinterfacewhichappears
whentheuserturnsonapersonalcomputerwithWindowsoperatingsystem.
2.1. Versions and editions
Microsoft released Windows XP in 2001 and for many years it has been the main Microsoft operative
system.InJune2014itisstillinstalledonapproximately7%ofcomputers(sourcewww.w3schools.com).
WindowsVistawasreleasedin2007anditwasnotamarketsuccess.Currently
itisinstalledonlessthan2%ofcomputers.
MicrosoftreleasedWindows7in2009,whichisthecurrentlymorewidespread
Microsoftoperativesystem.Itisinstalledonapproximately55%ofcomputers.
Itseditionsare:
Starter and Home Basic, cheap versions with severe limitations, used
mostlyonsmallnotebooks;
HomePremium,homeusersedition;
Professional, personal business edition which includes more network
programs;
Enterprise/Ultimate, Professional edition with more network utilities
available to companies/individual users. Enterprise edition is currently
(August2014)installedatUNIBZ
MicrosoftreleasedWindows8in2013withanewuserinterfacecalledand
designed for tablets with touch screen, which was not welcomed by many
professionalusers,inordertoincreasecompatibilitywithitsmobiledevices
operatingsystemWindowsPhone8.WithitsfirstupdateMicrosoftdecided
to change name to Windows 8.1. It is installed on approximately 17% of
computers.Itisavailableinonlythreeeditions.
2.1.1. Computer locking problem
MicrosoftWindowssometimesbecomesunstable:itcanunpredictably,withoutanywarningandwhenthe
user does not expect it and typically when he is doing something very important and urgent, lock and
refusetorespondtousersactions.Whenthishappens,itisusuallycausedbytheprogramthatisusedand
thereforethefirstthingtodoistotrytoclosethecurrentprogram.Ifthisdoesnotimprovethesituation,
the only other solution left is to turn off the computer. The list of operations to try until the computer
answerstouserscommandsis:
HomePremium
Professional
Enterprise/Ultimate
HomeBasic
Starter
Windows8Enterprise
Windows8Pro Basic
Windows8
BasicComputercoursebook Dr.PaoloColetti
Edition8.0(05/08/2014) Page7of32
1. if the mouse works, click the X button on the
programwindoworotherwisepressALT+F4;
2. press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC; select the program from the
listandpressEndProgram;
3. pressCTRL+ALT+DELand,fromthebottomrighticon,
chooseShutDown;
4. pressthecomputeron/offbutton;
5. unplugtheelectricpower.
Inany caseallthecurrentunsavedworkwillbelost;inthe
last two cases the operating system can sometimes be
damagedbutveryoftenitwillrepairbyitselfthenexttime
the computer is turned on. Therefore it is always a very
good idea to save very often the current work, especially
whenitisimportant,urgent,ordifficulttoredo.

2.2. Regional and language settings

With a multilanguage Windows installation, keyboard settings or menus languages may be changed
clicking on the Start icon, choosing Control panel, then Clock, Language and Region, then Change
DisplayLanguage,andmodifyingtheappropriatesetting.
Another interesting
option, available on
every Windows
installation, is the
numbers and dates
formats. When in
Clock,Languageand
Region, choosing
Region and
Language and
clickingonFormats
then on Additional
Settings the user is
able to change the
format of numbers,
especially the
decimal separator,
the currency and the
date format,
especiallytheEnglish
(monthday) and
European (day
month) formats.
Moreover, it is always a good idea to check that the list separator be set always to semicolon, otherwise
Excelsfunctionswillnotworkproperly.
Dr.PaoloCo
Page8of32
Whilethek
sideofthea
2.2.1. Ke
Before start
theywillbe
English
C
A
AL
F1t
D
I
HOM
E
PGa
BACKSP
ENTE
TAB
SHIF
CAPSLO
ARROW
Inthisbook
presskeyA,
2.3. File
Beforestart
1. clic
2. ope
3. cho
4. cho
5. cho
6. des
Inthiswaye
2.3.1. Fil
Softwareis
alotoffiles
its data, an
icon.
Anotherspe
directories
clickingona
oletti
2
keyboardset
applicationb
eyboards a
ting this sec
eusedinthe
keyboard
CTRL
ALT
LTGR
toF12
DEL
NS
MEor
END
andPG
PACEor
ERor
Bor
FTor
OCKor
WS
ktheEnglish
,thenpress
e system
tingthissect
kontheStar
entheContro
ooseAppear
ooseFolder
ooseView
selectHidee
extensions(s
es and dir
storedonst
sforitselfan
d the user u
ecialobject
and is repr
adirectoryo
ttingscanbe
bar,simplyc
and langua
ction it is ne
restofthism
Germankey
STRG
ALT
ALTGR
F1toF1
ENTF
EINFG
POS1
ENDE
BILDand

nameforke
keyB,andth
m
tionitisnece
rtmenuicon
olPanel
ranceandPe
Options
extensionsfo
seesection2
rectories
toragedevic
ndforitsdat
uses some fi
isthedirect
esented wit
opensanew
eadjustedfr
lickingonke
ages
cessary to t
manualanda
yboard Ita

R
12

G
1
E
BILD PA

eyswillbein
henrelease
essarytodo
n,onthelow
ersonalizatio
orknownfile
2.3.3)aresho
cesinaspeci
ta,aprogram
les for his d
oryorfolde
th an icon d
windowwhi
omthismen
eyboardicon
ake a close
areveryuse
lianKeyboar
CTRL
ALT
ALTGR
F1toF12
CANC
INS

FINE
AGandPAG

INVIOor
TABor

ndicated.Wh
bothkeys.
thefollowin
werleftcorne
on
etypes.
ownandfile
ialcontainer
musuallyus
ata. A file is
r,whichisb
depicting a y
ichpresents
nu,itiseasie
andselectin
look at your
fulinmanyp
rd
Produce
To
G
M
henA+Bisin
ngoperations
erofthescre
etypesarebe
rcalledfile.T
sesonefilef
s represente
basicallyaco
yellow close
thedirector
Basic
E
ertoadjusti
ngtheappro
r keyboard.
programs:
Mainfu
echaractero
Deletenex
ggleinsert/o
Gotobe
Goto
Goonepage
Deletelast
Enter
Movethroug
Capitaliz
KeepSHIF
Moveth
dicated,itm
s:
een
etterrecogn
Theoperatin
foritselfand
d by a small
ontainerforf
ed or open f
rycontent.
cComputer
Edition8.0(0
itdirectlyfro
priateone.
Locate thes
unction

onthekeys

xtcharacter
overwritemo
eginning
oend
eupordown
tcharacter
rdata
ghthewindo
zeletters
FTpressed
hecursor
meansthatth
nized.
ngsystemus
dotherfilesf
l picture call
filesandoth
folder. Doub
coursebook
05/08/2014)
omtheright
e keys since
rightleft
ode
n
w
heusermust
ses
for
led
her
ble
k
)
t
e
t

BasicComp
Edition8.0
Each storag
window, w
subdirector
andsooni
anothersto
as leaves. O
contains pr
which conta
areusually

Choosing th
waystoloo
information
Eachfilean
path which
containing
Common
Files\HP\Co
C:\Program
Notethat,f
Aspecialan
the small cu
linkissimpl
user clicks o
real file or
meantime s
copy/move
probablyca
putercourse
(05/08/2014
ge device is a
which conta
ries may con
nahierarch
oragedevice
On UNIBZ co
ograms, E:
ains users r
reservedfor
he Change
okatfilesan
nonfilesand
nddirectory
appears on
directory fo
in HP
ommonasc
mFiles\HP\C
forWindows
ndtrickyobje
urved arrow
lyanaddress
on the link,
directory (if
somebody d
thelinkand
auseittoma
book
4)
a big directo
ains directo
ntain other f
icalway,for
)astheroot
omputers, th
which cont
reserved spa
rfloppydisks
your view
ddirectories
ddirectories
canbeunivo
n the addre
ollowed by
directory in
canbeseen
Common\HP
soperatingsy
ectisthelin
w on the left
stoafileor
the comput
Windows ca
deleted or m
dnottherea
lfunction.Th
ory, accessib
ories and f
files and oth
rmingatree
t,directories
he usual har
tains courses
ce. Disks dir
s,andD:o
menu of a d
s,themosti
suchasthei
ocallyidentif
ss bar of th
\ and the
n Program
fromthead
PeDiag.dll.
ystem,capit
korshortcut
corner clear
directory,it
ter behaves
an find the r
moved it). H
lfileordirec
hereforeitis
ble from My
files. Each
her subsubd
withtheha
sasbranche
rd disk are
s informatio
rectories A:
rZ:forCD
directory wi
importantw
rsizeandda
fiedbyitsa
he directory
e file name.
Files dire
ddressbar.W
talorsmallc
t.Althoughi
rly indicates
isnotareal
exactly as if
real one, wh
However, any
ctory;especi
sagoodidea
Computer
of these
directories,
rddisk(or
esandfiles
C: which
on and F:
and B:
Dreader.
ndows will p
waybeingthe
ateoflastmo
bsolutepath
window, w
For examp
ectory in t
While,theHP
apslettersin
itsiconlooks
that this ob
lfileordirec
f the user is
hich is not th
y copy/mov
iallycopying
afornoviceu
provide the
eDetailswhi
odification.
horaddress.
hile for files
ple, the abso
the C: hard
PeDiag.dllfil
npathsarep
slikeafileic
bject is a link
ctory.When
clicking on
he case if in
e operation
/movingthe
userstoavoid
Dr.P
user with fi
ichcanshow
.Fordirecto
s it is the p
olute path
d disk is
lehastheab
perfectlyequ
con,
k. A
the
the
the
on the link
elinktoanot
dusinglinks
PaoloColetti
Page9of32
ive different
winteresting
oriesitisthe
path of their
of directory
C:\Program
bsolutepath
ual.
k will simply
therdiskwill
satall.
i
2

t
g
e
r
y
m
h
y
l
Dr.PaoloCo
Page10of3
2.3.2. Fil
When doub
importantd
double
double
the pro
whichp
Copying a f
Copying a d
name, toge
copyafileo
usedbeing:
dra
app
Rele
sele
co
righ
orig
sele
des
Moving a fi
meansmov
ordirectory
dra
rem
sele
bec
but
sele
des
Tocreatea
dra
unt
sele
sam
Deleting a f
trashcanis
treeofsubd
expectsand
windowsof
dra
sele
oletti
32
es operat
ble clicking
difference:
clickingona
clickingona
ogram to ope
programsho
file means r
directory me
ether with it
ordirectory,

gtheobject
pear, press C
easetheobj
ect the obje
py. Point t
htmousebu
ginallocation
ect the obje
stinationisth
ile means m
vingittoano
ywindowsof
gtheobject
moveit.Relea
ect the obje
comes lighte
tton.Select
ect the obje
stinationand
linktoafile
g the object
tilitappears.
ecttheobjec
medirectory.
file means o
emptied.De
directoriesa
dsometimes
ffersseveral
gtheobject
ecttheobjec
tions
on a file, W
aprogramru
afilecallsth
en the file.
uldopenthe
eproducing
eans reprod
ts entire tree
,Windowso
tothedesti
CTRL key to
ectinthede
ct and click
the mouse t
tton.Select
n,thefilena
ct and press
heoriginallo
oving it to a
otherlocatio
ffersseveral
tothedesti
asetheobje
ect and click
er. Point the
paste;
ect and pre
dpressCTRL+
ordirectory
t to the dest
.Releasethe
ctandclickt
.
often putting
eletingadire
ndfiles.Pay
sfilesaredel
methods,th
tothetrash
ctandclickth
Windows us
nstheprogr
eprograma
If no progra
efile.
it to anothe
ucing it to a
e of subdire
offerssevera
nation.Ifap
have it app
estination;
the right m
to the destin
paste.Ift
mechanges
s CTRL+C. Po
ocation,thef
another loca
ntogetherw
methods,th
nation.Ifap
ctinthedes
k the right
e mouse to t
ess CTRL+X
+V.
y:
tination of th
eobjectinth
therightmo
g it into the
ectorymean
specialatte
letedwithou
hemostused
canandrele
herightmou
ually starts
ramwhichw
associatedw
m is associa
er location o
another loca
ectories and
almethods,t
plussymbol
pear while d
mouse butto
nation and
hedestinati
tocopyof
oint the mou
filenamecha
tion losing t
withitsentir
hemostused
plusoralink
stination;
mouse butt
the destinat
and the ico
he link. If a
hedestinatio
usebutton.
trash can w
sputtingitt
ntion,since
utpassingth
dbeing:
easeit;
usebutton.S
a program.
wasdoublecl
withthatfile
ated with th
or to the sa
ation, or to
files. To
themost
doesnot
dragging.
n. Select
click the
onisthe
;
use to the d
angestoco
the file in th
retreeofsub
dbeing:
symboldoe
on. Select
tion and clic
on becomes
link symbol
on;
Selectcrea
where it can
othetrashc
notalwayst
roughthetr
Selectdelet
Basic
E
The user i
icked
andrunsit,
at file type,
me location
the same lo
estination a
opyof.
e original pl
bdirectories
sappear,pr
cut and th
ck the right
s lighter. Po
does not ap
teshortcut
be recupera
cantogether
thetrashcan
rashcan.To
e;
cComputer
Edition8.0(0
s often una
atthesame
Windows a
with a diffe
ocation with
and press CT
lace. Moving
andfiles.To
ressCTRLor
he icon
mouse
oint the mo
ppear, press
.Alinkiscr
ated unless t
rwithitsent
nworksasus
deleteafile
coursebook
05/08/2014)
aware of an
etimetelling
sks the user
erent name.
h a different
TRL+V. If the
g a directory
omoveafile
SHIFTkeyto
ouse to the
CTRL+SHIFT
eatedinthe
the
ire
ser
ordirectory
k
)
n
g
r
.
t
e
y
e
o
e
T
e
y
BasicComp
Edition8.0
sele
To rename
the name a
but novice
spaces,sinc
Tocreatea
Newand
S
e
v
whichmean
90%depen
theselected
Tocompres
1. sele
2. clic
3. sele
File
4. adi
5. int
ZIP
6. int
sho
unc
suc
Otherfileso
(thisisacop
Toextractf
menu choo
togetherwi
Whendoub
awindowa
compressio
window sin
directory si
extracted o
buttonofth
2.3.3. Fil
Windowsid
it is a 3 or 4
programwi
page8.The
putercourse
(05/08/2014
ecttheobjec
a file or dire
and retype it
users shou
ceotherchar
newdirecto
Folder.Aft
Sometimesfi
email;other
via email. Th
nsusingasp
dingonthe
dfilesanddi
ssasetoffile
ectthefilesa
ktherightm
ect IzArc o
e,
ialogboxapp
hisdialogbo
tobecompa
hisdialogan
ould be open
compressed
hasAES12
ordirectorie
pyandnota
filesfromaz
ose the appr
ithallitsdire
bleclickingo
asifitwere
n program,
nce it is a ve
imply draggi
or when the
hisspecialw
e types
dentifiesafil
4 character
illopenthat
emostimpor
book
4)
ctandpress
ectory, simp
t. Usually Wi
ld stick with
ractersmay
ory,simplyri
terthecreat
lesoccupya
timesfilesm
hese two op
pecialprogra
filetype)th
irectories.
esanddirect
anddirectori
mousekey,
or the insta
pearsasking
oxyoumust
atiblewitho
nencryption
ned by anybo
onlybypeop
28bit,andp
esmaybead
moveopera
ziparchivefi
ropriate extr
ectoriesstru
onacompres
adirectory.
with the list
ery unreliabl
ing them to
user wants
indow.
etypebyits
acronym. Us
file.Ifthefi
rtantfiletype
DELkey.
ply select the
indows acce
h only letter
beforbidden
ightclickthe
tion,rename
alotofspace
mustbeputi
perations are
m(WinZipo
efilesizean
tories:
iesalltogeth
lled compre
youtochoo
alsochoose
therprogram
method(se
ody, then ch
pleknowing
providethep
ddedlaterto
ation)ifitisn
ile,simplycl
ract option:
ucture.
ssedfile,ifth
Butitisnot
t of the zip
e way to m
the directo
to preserve
extension,w
sing the file
leextension
esare:
e object, clic
epts most na
rs, numbers
n.
emouseand
eit.
eandneedt
inapackage
e accomplish
orIZArcorth
ndproducea
her,
ession progra
osethezipa
thecompre
ms;
esection4.1
hoose None
aproperpa
password.
otheziparch
notencrypte
icktheright
the content
hecompress
tanormaldi
archives co
odify files! F
ory. When t
e the origina
whichisever
extension, W
ndoesnotsh
ck on
mes,
and
dchoose
obereduced
etoremaint
hed compre
heoperative
anewsingle
am and sele
rchivename
essionmetho
1onpage20
e: Otherwis
assword,cho
hivesimplyd
ed.
tmousekey
t will appea
sionprogram
irectory,itis
ntent: the u
Files can be
he entire co
al tree struc
rythingafter
Windows kno
howup,follo
dtosavedis
ogetherort
ssing a set
systemitself
filecalledz
ect somethin
anditsdest
od,whichiss
0)maybech
e, if you wa
ooseanyoft
draggingthe
onthefilea
r in the loc
misproperly
ssimplyaw
user should n
copied from
ontent of th
ture, it is be
rthelastdot
ows the file
owtheinstru
Dr.P
P

skspaceort
tobesentas
of files and
f)toreduce
ziparchiveco
ng like Add
tination;
stronglysugg
hosen.Ifyou
ant the zipa
theencryptio
monthezip
andfromthe
cation you h
yinstalled,it
indow,prod
not open fil
m this windo
he ziparchiv
etter to use
tinthefilena
type and de
uctionsatse
PaoloColetti
age11of32
obesentby
sasinglefile
directories,
(from0%to
ontainingall
d to Archive
gestedtobe
rziparchive
rchive to be
onmethods,
parchivefile
edropdown
ave chosen,
willopenin
ducedbythe
es from this
ow to a real
e has to be
e the Extract
ame.Usually
ecides which
ection2.3on
i
2
y
e
,
o
l
e
e
e
e
,
e
n
,
n
e
s
l
e
t
y
h
n
Dr.PaoloCo
Page12of3
Filetype
Program
Compress
Text
Documen
Sheet
Image
Video
Audio
Webpag
2.3.4. Fil
For each fil
Click the rig
select Pro
shows the l
object,whil
group this
importantb
rea
rea
isa
list
writ
sub
mo
writ
dele
full
The owner
groups or u
administrat
2.3.5. Ne
OnUNIBZL
fromevery
oletti
32
Typical
m
ed
nt W
Explor
ge
e permiss
le Windows
ght button o
oprieties an
list of users
lenotlisted
dialog box
being:
dpermission
dandexecu
program;
content(for
te permissio
bdirectories;
difypermiss
te permissio
ete,move,re
control,sam
of the file u
users. A spe
tionofcomp
etwork fold
LANtherear
computer.T
lprogramst
its
WinZip
Not
Word/Acroba
Ex
rer/Picture
OfficePictu
Media
MediaPlay
Exp
ions
7 operative
of the mous
nd Security
or groups o
usersmayn
x displays t
n,tocopyan
te,sameas
rdirectories)
on (for direc
sion(alsocal
on), same a
ename,save
measmodify
usually has
ecial group is
uters)which
ders at UN
esharedha
Thesearecal
hatopenit
self
p/IZArc
tepad
at/Powerpo
xcel
FaxViewer/
ureManager
aPlayer
er/WinAmp
plorer
e system use
e on a file o
y. The secu
f users who
otaccessit.
the permiss
ndopentheo
read,plusru
,toseethec
ctories), to
lled,whenre
as read and
emodificatio
y,pluschang
full control
s the Admin
hhasfullcon
IBZ
rddisksonw
lednetwork
oint
/Paint/
r
.
p
es a permiss
or directory
urity dialog
may access
Foreachuse
sions, the m
object;
untheobject
content;
create files
eferredtoa
d execute,
ons;
gepermission
on it and m
nistrators gro
ntrolonever
whichcomm
kfolders.Som
Typicalext
.exe.com
.zip
.tx
.docx.doc.rt
.xlsx.xl
jpg.jpeg.gif
.avi.mov.m
.mp3.
.html.
sion.
and
box
this
eror
most
tifit
and
file,
plus
ns.
may change p
oup (contain
yobject.
moninformat
meofthema
Basic
E
tensions
m.bat
p
t
tf.pdf.ppt
s.csv
f.bmp.png
mpg.mpeg
.wav
.htm
permissions
ning the use
tionisstored
are:
cComputer
Edition8.0(0
Typica

or add new
ers involved
d,sothatit
coursebook
05/08/2014)
alicons

w authorized
in technical
isaccessible
The linked image cannot be displayed. The file may have been moved, renamed, or deleted. Verify that the link points to the correct file and location.
k
)
d
l
e
BasicComputercoursebook Dr.PaoloColetti
Edition8.0(05/08/2014) Page13of32
\\ubz01fst\courses\course_coletti which contains utility files that will be used during the course.
These files must never be opened doubleclicking from here, otherwise they will be locked (see
section2.3.4onpage12);theyshouldbecopiedoneachusersdesktopbeforeopeningthem;
\\ubz01fst\courses\exam_coletti\, followed by users login name or the users last name and first
name,whichwillcontainexamfilesandwhichisaccessibleonlybytheuser;
\\ubz01fst\students\, followed by year, faculty and users login name, contains a copy of the
studentsdiskF,desktop,andconfiguration.
2.3.6. Roaming user profile at UNIBZ
Whenever the user logs in on a new computer, usually he should find a complete new profile (Desktop,
icons,Documents,configuration),whichisobviouslyveryannoying.Inordertolethimfindalwayshisstuff
asithasbeenleftonthelastcomputerused,whenevertheuserlogsoffallhisprofileiscopiedondirectory
\\ubz01fst\students\, followed by year, faculty and users login name (for example, for Diana Pfeifer
enrolled in 2012 it is \\ubz01fst\students\User2012\Eco\dpfeifer). Whenever he logs in again on any
universityscomputer,thatcomputerretrievesallhisprofilesstufffromthisdirectory.
This mechanism, called roaming user profile, works fine only if the user is not using too much disk space
(whichisusually300MB,butitisagoodideatostaybelow150MB).Iftheuserisoverquota,thesystem
sends a warning via email to the user and, if the user remains over quota, this mechanism does not work
anymore. Moreover, if the user still remains over quota, he will be forbidden from saving any file on the
computerheiscurrentlyusing.
Therefore it is a good idea to always work on a USB pen drive (which is then copied on another personal
computer)andtoperiodicallycheckthediskspacelookingattheproprietiesofthisdirectory.Ifawarning
email has been received or, even worse, roaming user profile does not work anymore, files need to be
deleted not from the current computer (since the mechanism is not working anymore) but directly going
throughthisdirectory.

Dr.PaoloColetti BasicComputercoursebook
Page14of32 Edition8.0(05/08/2014)
3. Computer networks
Thispartofthebookisdedicatedtocomputernetworksfromausersperspective.Nowadaysacomputer
is very likely to belong to some companys network, or to be connected to the Internet via an Internet
provider, and is therefore exposed to all the typical network problems. Without entering into technical
details,thissectionwillexplorethesituationsinwhichanoviceusercanfindhimselfintroublesandhow
hecantrytosurvivedialoguingwithnetworkadministratorsintheirownstrangetechnicallanguage.
3.1. Technical aspects
Acomputernetworkisasetofdeviceswhichcommunicateandshareresources.Thesedevicesaremostly
computers, and sometimes standalone hard disks, telephones, printers and terminals (processorless
computerswhichmustrelyonothercomputerstowork).
3.1.1. Server and client
A computer network interaction is based on the client server architecture. When considering a single
interaction,onecomputeristheserverandtheotheroneistheclient.Theserveristhecomputerwhichis
offering its resource, usually programmed to wait until someone asks for its resource. The client is the
computerwhichusestheresource,whichsendstherequesttoawaitingserver.
Forexample,whensendingadocumenttotheprinter,theuserscomputeristheclientwhiletheprinteris
the server; when retrieving personal emails, the users computer is the client which connects to the
mailserver asking for available emails. When talking to a friend on an Internet chat, the interaction is
composed of two different interactions: the users computer as a client is connected to the chat rooms
computeractingasaserver,andthefriendscomputerdoesthesameinteraction.
The same computer may be the client for a service and the server for another service. For example, a
librarycomputermayhaveaCDinsideitsreadersharedtothenetwork(serverfortheCD)andmaybeat
thesametimeusedbyausertoprinthisowndocuments(clientfortheprinter).
3.1.2. Areas
Computernetworksarecommonlydividedintothreecategories:
Local Area Network (LAN or Intranet), usually the network of computers in the same building or
belonging to the same owner. Inside the LAN every computer is well identified and usually every
userisknown.Itisconsideredatrustedarea.
WideArea Network (WANorInternet),whichiseverythingwhich connectsLANs.Computersand
usersidentificationisveryhardandanonymityispossible.Itisconsideredadangerousarea.
Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a way to recognize a computer outside the LAN as a trusted
computer: the user is identified with a password and his computer, even though connected via
Internet,willbeconsideredaspartoftheLAN,foraslongasitremainsconnected.VPNistypically
requiredtoidentifyportablecomputersconnectedviawirelessconnection.
3.1.3. Transfer speed
Thenetworkconnectingcomponentsarethecables,whichdeterminethespeedoftheLAN.Cableshavea
speed measure in bps (bits per second) which indicates how many bits can flow through the cable in one
second.
BasicComp
Edition8.0
Eth
for
sup
dur
Fast
Gig
A w
usu
To find out
connection
to find out
through an
second)and
48seconds.
3.2. Com
Insideacom
totheInter
3.2.1. We
Awebbrow
It runs dire
servers, ide
pages.The
is the brow
software w
with9%and
3.2.2. Ma
A mail read
users com
collecting
commercial
opensource
Anotherwa
enter and
downloadin
installation
be accessed
careofema
long email,
The most fa
exactly like
providers.
putercourse
(05/08/2014
ernetcables
example,a
pposing no o
ringthetrans
tEthernetca
aEthernetc
wireless netw
uallyaspeed
t how much
speedinbp
the numbe
Fast Ethern
dthendivide
.
mmunic
mputernetw
netoreven
eb browse
wserisaclie
ctly on the u
entified with
marketlead
wser from Go
with 25%, Mi
dSafari,the
ail reader
der is a clien
puter as a c
and dispatc
lproprietary
eMozillaThu
aytoreadan
read his re
ng them nor
ofamailrea
d from hom
ailsbackup.B
which can b
amous webs
e Microsoft
book
4)
shaveaspe
600MBmov
one (neither
sfer.
ableshavea
ableshavea
work, a cable
around308
h time does
sby8tofind
er of second
net connecti
e600MB(o
cation
workmanyco
tointernalc
er
ntprogramt
users comp
h the www.
erwithabou
oogle Chrom
crosoft Inter
browserfor
nt program t
client and c
ching email
ysoftware.It
underbirdan
ndsendema
eceived ema
r using any
aderprogram
e, office and
Butontheo
be costly and
site interface
Outlook, an
edof10 Mb
viecanbetr
users nor c
speedof10
aspeedof1G
eless networ
80Mbps,dep
s it take to
douttheby
s it takes fo
ion, find out
or600,000,00
ommunicatio
omputers.
tonavigatet
uter as a cli
prefix in th
ut60%(inJu
e, followed
rnet Explore
MacOSX,
to send and
connects to
s. The ma
thasmanyc
ndthefreeW
ailsisthroug
ail and send
client. It ca
m;oldreceiv
d while trave
therhandit
d, in some s
es are the M
nd the Web
bpsandcan
ransferredin
computers)
00Mbps.
Gbps.
rk where co
pendingont
transfer a f
yteratepers
or the file tr
t the speed
00bytes)by
onprograms
theWWWa
ent and con
he Internet
ne2014,see
by Mozilla F
er, a freewar
retrieve em
a mailserve
rket leader
competitors,
WindowsLive
ghwebmails
d new one
an be usefu
vedemailsa
eling, even w
requiresac
ituations, im
Microsoft Ou
bmail interfa
thus carry1
n8minutesf
is using tha
mputers use
thewireless
file with a s
secondandt
ransfer. For
of 12.5 MB
y12.5(orby
sareinstalle
andretrieve
nnects to ext
name, to re
ewww.w3sc
Firefox, an o
re proprietar
mails. It runs
er, a progra
r is Micros
,themostfa
eMail.
systems,whi
s acting dir
l for variou
realwaysav
without a pe
continuousfa
mpossible an
tlook Web A
ace, used a
1.25MBeach
fromoneco
t network t
e radio signa
generation.
size express
thendividet
example, to
B per second
12,500,000)
donIntrane
webpages.
ternal web
etrieve web
chools.com)
pen source
ry software
directly on
am in charge
oft Outlook
amousbeing
icharewebs
rectly on th
s reasons: i
vailableonth
ersonal lapto
astconnectio
d usually the
App, where t
and persona
Dr.P
P
h second,m
omputertoa
ract for oth
als to comm
sed in bytes
thefilesizeb
o transfer a
d (12,500,00
)tofindout
etcomputer

the
e of
k, a
gthe
siteswheret
he mailserv
it does not
hewebsitea
op; the mail
oneventow
e email spac
the web int
alized by mo
PaoloColetti
age15of32
eaning that,
anotherone,
er purposes
unicate, has
, divide the
bythespeed
600 MB file
00 bytes per
tthetimeof
stoconnect

theusercan
ver, without
require the
andcanthus
server takes
writeasingle
ce is limited.
erface looks
ost Internet
i
2
,
,
s
s
e
d
e
r
f
t

n
t
e
s
s
e
.
s
t
Dr.PaoloColetti BasicComputercoursebook
Page16of32 Edition8.0(05/08/2014)
3.2.3. Posta Elettronica Certificata PEC
Whensendinganemail,thesenderhasnoproofthatithasbeensent,forexampletobeusedinacourtof
justice,andnoguaranteethattheemailhasbeendispatched.Somemailreadersuseareceiptsystem,but
thereceiverisnotobligedtosendbackthereceipt.
In order to overcome these problems, many solutions have been proposed. The Italian Posta Elettronica
Certificata (PEC) system has become one of the most widespread solutions, thanks to law Decreto
Ministeriale 6 May 2009 which guarantees a free PEC email address to every citizen and thanks to law
82/2005whichdeterminesthatPECreceiptsarelegalproves.
WhenanemailissentfromaPECaddresstoanotherPECaddress,thesenderreceivestworeceipt:thefirst
one is a proof that the email has been sent with date and time, while the second one is a proof that the
email has been dispatched to the mailbox of the receiver (or, equivalently, received by the sender). This
does not represent a proof that the email has been actually read, but from the moment the email is
dispatched to the mailbox it is the receivers responsibility to read it. Under this circumstances, it is
perfectlyequivalenttoraccomandataconricevutadiritorno.EmailscanbesendalsofromaPECaddress
toanonPECaddress,andinthiscasethereceivergetsonlythesentproofbutnotthedispatchedreceived
proof,liketheraccomandatasemplice.WhenanemailissentfromanonPECaddresstoaPECaddress,
noreceiptisproducedandthisisequivalenttoastandardletter.
Moreover,eventhoughitisnotofficiallyrequired,PECtoPECalsoguaranteesthatcontentbenotaltered
andthatsendersemailaddressistheindicatedone.However,itisimportanttonotethatPECalonedoes
notguaranteethatthesenderisreallythepersonwhoclaimstobeandthatcontentremainsunreaduntil
itreachesdestination.Inordertoovercometheselasttwoproblems,encryptionanddigitalsignature(see
section4.1onpage20)mustbeused.
3.2.4. Voice over IP programs
Voice over IP (VoIP) programs are able to use the computer connection as a substitute for standard
telephone.Equippedwitheithermicrophoneandheadphonesorwitharealtelephonelikedevice,theuser
can send his voice through the Internet to remote computers or even to real remote telephones, thus
savingontelephonebills.
VoIPrequiresasubscriptiontoaVoIPswebsite,themostfamousbeingSkype,whodecidesthetelephone
fares. Typically calling other VoIPs users is free all over the world, while calling fixed telephones depends
only on the destination country and is independent from the callers country, with a fare which is
comparable to the standard local telephone call (about 2 cent/minute in February 2014). On the other
hand,callingmobiletelephonesis,forthemoment,stillveryexpensive(about7cent/minuteinFebruary
2014);forthisreason,specialVoIPtelephones,whichcanbeprogrammedtoautomaticallydecidebetween
VoIPandthestandardtelephonelineaccordingtothedialednumber,areappearingonthemarket.
A similar system is WhatsApp messaging system, in practice a SMS over IP system in which people
exchangemessagesandmultimediamaterialthroughachatsysteminstalledonmobiledevices.Themajor
differencewithrespecttomostInternetcommunicationsystemsisthatWhatsAppusesafullycentralized
architecture, i.e. all communications pass through WhatsApp companys servers and there is never a real
direct communication between two users. However, nontechnical users do not realize nor care about it
andthankstoitsverygoodusabilityitisquicklysurpassingemailsandSMSexchanges.
3.2.5. Search engines
A search engine is a special program running on a website which offers to the user the possibility of
searching other websites for specific web pages. The user needs to connect to the search engine website
BasicComputercoursebook Dr.PaoloColetti
Edition8.0(05/08/2014) Page17of32
and digit the keywords, or sometimes even a complete question, and the website returns the list of
relevantwebpages.
Search engines use a crawler technique: they continuously go through the known web pages memorizing
theircontentandtryingtodiscoverotherwebpagesthroughthecontainedlinks.Inthiswaytheyareable
tomemorizemostoftheWWWspages(morethan8billionpages),eventhoughsomenotlinkedwebsites
canremainunknowntosearchengines.
ThemostpopularsearchenginesareGoogle,thecurrentmarketleader,Yahoo!
andBing.Inordertochoosetheorderinwhichwebpagesaredisplayedtothe
user, search engines use scoring system. The most famous one is Googles
which relies on the idea that a linked page is very important and useful;
thereforeawebpagereceivesascoreproportionaltothenumberofwebpages
whichputalinktoit.Accordingtorecentresearches,thepercentageofuseof
theseenginesareGoogle83%,Yahoo6%,andBing4%.

Therearemanytrickstospeedupthewebsearchandarrivequicklytotherightresult:
most novice users search the WWW using only a single keyword, which often produces the right
resultbutinsomecasescanresultinlonglistsofwrongresults,forexamplewhenlookingforJava
Island using simply java. Using as many keywords as possible often avoids wrong results, even
thoughsometimesreturnsnopagesiftoomanywordsareused;
putting some words between quotation marks forces the search engine to look for the exact
phrase,i.e.exactlyforthosewordsinthatorderandwithnowordsinbetween;
intheadvancedsearchmenuoftenthereareverygoodoptions,suchasthesearchofpagesonlyin
aspecifiedlanguageoronlyinaspecifiedformat,forexample.docor.pdf;
Dr.PaoloCo
Page18of3
whe
tryi
3.3. Inte
Therearem
right now o
theISDNsy
ADSL(As
Subs
Inte
UMTS(U
Telecomm
HSDPA(Hig
Pac
LTE(Long
W
oletti
32
enlookings
ngtofindw
ernet co
manydiffere
only when no
stem,theGP
symmetricDi
scriberLine)
ernetcable
UniversalMo
unicationsSy
3G
ghSpeedDo
cketAccess)
gTermEvolu
Wireless
WiFi
WiMax
implyforso
ebpagescon
onnectio
ntwaystoc
o other mea
PRSandEDG
igital

obile
ystem)
ownlink
ution)
a
meimages,
ntainingthem
ons
connecttoth
ans is availab
GEmobileph
telephon
mode
Specialco
3Gmobile
LTEmobile
wireless
antennainlin
mode
itismoreco
m.
heInternet.
ble, such as t
honesystems
neline
em
ontract
ephone
ephone
scard
neofsight
em
onvenientto
Someareo
the old telep
s.Modernte
500Kbps
820Mbps
some
5Mbps
40M
dow
willa
30300
40M
Basic
E
ousethespe
ldtechnolog
phone line w
echnologiesa
sinupload
sdownload
eGbps
inupload
bpsin
nload
rrive
0Mbps
Mbps
cComputer
Edition8.0(0
ecificsearch
gy,ratherslo
with a speed
arecalledbr
Speedde
subscript
netwo
Speed
stron
enviro
Speedde
wirelessg
Speed
stronglyo
coursebook
05/08/2014)

ratherthan
owandused
of 56 Kbps,
oadband:
ependson
ionfeeand
rktraffic

depends
nglyon
onment

ependson
generation
depends
ondistance
k
)
n
d
,
BasicComputercoursebook Dr.PaoloColetti
Edition8.0(05/08/2014) Page19of32
Manyfastconnections,especiallyADSL,sufferfromnetworkcongestion:toomanyusersareconnectingat
thesametimeandtheInternetprovidersmaincablesarenotabletosupporttheusersmaximumspeed
multiplied by the number of users, and therefore must reduce the practical connection speed. Therefore
the maximum speed is often only theoretical and some providers are offering a minimum band
guaranteed:aminimumspeedunderwhichtheconnectionmayneverfall.
Unfortunately, even in technologically advanced countries, there are still many areas where nor ADSL
neitherUMTSarrives,mostlyduetothegeographicconditions(mountains,islandsorlongdesertdistances)
and to the low inhabitants density. This phenomenon is called digital divide: there are people (e.g.
5,000,000ofItalianinhabitants)thatevenwillinglytopaycannotgetabroadbandconnection,and,onthe
other hand, Internet services and especially the WWW is continuously going towards large size contents,
cuttingthesepeopleoff.Inordertoovercomethissocialproblem,WiMaxisspreading,asortofverylong
rangeWirelesswhicharrivesupto10Kmbutworksonlyifthetransmittingandreceivingantennasarein
lineofsightandwhosetheoreticalspeedof70Mbpsdecreaseswithdistancestoabout40Mbps.
Dr.PaoloCo
Page20of3
4. Com
Being conn
novice user
inside,with
thenonexp
Moreover,t
techniques
requiremen
personal us
requiremen
Law196/20
per
sen
tor
sen
just
gen
Law196/20
eac
per
eac
per
use
awa
alld
sec
dat
sen
peo
inst
4.1. Enc
Encryption
waythatit
encrypting,
by all the c
thus the dif
used.
Thetwofol
Thesentm
oletti
32
mputer
ected to the
rs belief tha
allitsbenef
pertuser,to
therecentIt
which mus
nts apply cle
sers who com
ntsapply.
003inparticu
rsonaldata
sitivedata:d
religious/ph
sitivedataa
ticedata,wh
neticdata,w
003prescribe
chusermust
rsonaltoken;
ch user must
rmissionsmu
ersmustrece
areoftheirr
datamustbe
urity softwa
a;
sitive data r
ople must be
teadofhisna
cryption
is a text ma
maybecorr
usuallyknow
computers o
fficulty to b
llowingsche
essagesare
r secur
e Internet m
at he is the o
fitsanddang
avoidbeing
talianlaw19
st be adop
early to all co
mmunicate d
ularsplitsda
dataaboutr
hilosophical/
bouthealth
hichhavethe
hichneedex
esthat:
beauthenti
;
t have its ow
ustberevoke
eivespecific
responsibiliti
ebackedup
re must be
receive spec
e unidentifia
ameandsur
n
sking techni
rectlyreado
wnonlytoo
r people wh
e guessed, i
emasillustrat
encrypteda
rity
means giving
one who goe
gers.Knowin
luredintotr
96/2003onp
ted by syst
ompanies an
data. To pers
tainto:
aceandethn
/political/w
andsex
esamepresc
xtremelypar
catedbyap
wn permissio
edwhenthe
trainingori
es,dutiesan
(seesection
updated at
cial care: the
able, for exa
rname.
que, derived
nlywithasp
onecompute
hich legitima
is expressed
teshowB,C
andlaterdec
g anybody a
es outside, i
galittlebit
rapsoradop
privacyissue
tem admini
nd professio
sonal users
nicity,religio
workersorga
criptionsass
rticularproce
personaluser
ons, limited o
userdoesn
nstructions
ndthepossib
4.6onpage
least every
ey must be s
ample by as
d from milita
pecialpassw
erorperson,
tely may rea
d in bits, wit
Cand Dcan
cryptedbyA
ccess to the
it is instead
ofsecurityis
ptingpotentia
scontainsin
strators but
onals which
who do not
ous/philoso
anization
sensitivedata
edureswhich
rnameanda
only to the d
otneedthem
tobeableto
bledangers;
e29)atleast
year and or
stored and t
ssigning to e
ary use, whic
wordcalledke
andaprivat
ad the infor
th 128 bits b
sendsecret
Awithhispri
Basic
E
e computer.
the Internet
ssuesisnow
allydangero
ntheAllegato
t also by n
handle data,
communica
phical/polit
a
hwillnotbe
passwordo
data he need
manymore;
ousetheira
everyweek;
r 6 months w
transmitted
each person
ch transform
ey.Itusestw
tekeyforde
mation. The
being the ty
messagesu
vatekey
cComputer
Edition8.0(0
Despite the
t world whic
wadaysneces
ousbehaviors
oBthemini
normal user
, but they a
ate data still
ticalopinion
describedh
orabiometric
ds for his wo
authenticatio
;
when handli
using encry
s data a nu
ms informati
wokeys,ap
ecrypting,us
e size of thes
pically most
singAs pub
.Incaseso
coursebook
05/08/2014)
e traditional
ch is coming
saryevento
s.
malsecurity
rs. This law
also apply to
the security
ns,belonging
ere.
cdeviceora
ork, and the
onandtobe
ing sensitive
ption or the
umeric code
on in such a
ublickeyfor
suallyknown
se keys, and
t secure size
blic key .
omebody
k
)
l
g
o
y
w
o
y
g
a
e
e
e
e
e
a
r
n
d
e
.

BasicComp
Edition8.0
interceptsa
isknownon
Thesamep
usingasecu
browseruse
Anotherana
private and
automatica
instructions
passwordto
putercourse
(05/08/2014
amessage,h
nlytoA.Even
processhapp
ureconnecti
esittoencry
alogoususag
d public key
lly by a prog
s howtodo
otheuserev
message
message
message
message
message
message
secret
data
book
4)
heisunablet
nwhensome
enswhenev
on(seesect
yptinformat
geofencryp
ys coincides
gram (PDF c
it)orevenb
verytime.
encr
1
2
3
encr
encr
1
2
3
encr
encr
encr
t
enc
todecryptit
ebody us
erabrowser
ion4.5onp
ionwhichca
tionistoma
and are kep
creation prog
bytheopera
G
rypt
f

ypt
ypt
G
f

rypt
ypt
ypt
crypt
tcorrectlysi
sesthepubli
rtriestosen
page29):the
anbereadon
akestoredda
pt secret. T
grams or co
ative system
G#4hg!
f@d*s
^(iw,
G#4hg!
f@d*s
^(iw,
D(
*+]dH
ncehedoes
ickeytodec
ndapasswor
ewebsitetel
nlybythear
ataunreadab
he encryptio
mpression p
(if theentir
decrypt
decrypt
decrypt
decrypt
decrypt
decrypt
decrypt
nothaveAs
crypt,itdoes
rdorsecreti
lsthebrows
rivingwebsit
bleexceptby
on and decr
programs can
redisk isenc
messa
messa
messa
Trb:-
Dr4^\|
%$&/
sec
da
Dr.P
P
sprivatekey
snotwork.
information
seritspublic
te.
ytheowner
ryption proc
n do it, see
crypted),wh
age 1
age 2
age 3

9
L
cret
ata
PaoloColetti
age21of32
y ,which
toawebsite
keyandthe

.Inthiscase
cess is done
page 11 for
hichasks the

i
2
h
e
e
e
e
r
e
Dr.PaoloCo
Page22of3
4.1.1. Dig
Adigitalsig
the same ti
Accordingt
The two fo
publish a p
key and
somethingr
from A; on
privatekey.
andemails
Whileencry
to create it
automatica
be sure tha
oletti
32
gital signa
gnature,ore
ime, the doc
oItalianlaw
ollowing sche
ublicly availa
d all the us
readable,it
the other h
.Inthisway,
content.
yptiontorec
ts own coup
llywithoutt
at the publ
secret
data
document
false
document
ature
electronicsig
cuments au
w82/2005,di
emas illustra
able docume
ers can try
meansthatt
hand, if the
,digitalsigna
ceivesecretm
ple of private
heusersint
ic key is re
t
enc
t
encr
t
encr
gnature,isan
thors ident
gitalsignatu
ate instead
ent with its s
to decrypt
thedocume
result is un
atureusedin
messagesor
e and public
tervention),f
ally the aut
crypt
ypt
G
&
ypt
Y
f
nencryption
ity and that
ureisequival
the usage o
signature. It
it with As
ntwasreally
readable, it
ncombinatio
tohideinfo
c keys (prog
fordigitalsig
thors public
D(
*+]dH
G#4$h
&?2y
Y&:[
fgj?^d
ntechniquef
the docume
enttohandw
of encryptio
t is sufficient
public key
yencrypted
means that
onwithPEC
rmationsim
grams, for ex
gnatureitis
c key, digita
decrypt
decrypt
decrypt
Basic
E
fordocumen
ents conten
writtensigna
on for digita
t for A to en
. If the
withAspriv
t encryption
canguarante
plyrequires
xample brow
notsosimple
al signature
%)(
jhgd
docum
docum
docum
2?=zx
2?=zx
2?=zx
cComputer
Edition8.0(0
ntswhichgu
nt has not b
ature.
l signature.
ncrypt it with
result of d
vatekeyand
was not do
eealsosend
theuserort
wsers, do th
e.Sinceever
requires a
(84
ds?
ment
ment
ment
:-ki
:-ki
x:-ki
coursebook
05/08/2014)

uarantees,at
een altered.
A wants to
h his private
ecryption is
thuscomes
one with As
dersidentity

theprogram
is operation
rybodymust
certification
k
)
t
.
o
e
s
s
s
y
m
n
t
n
BasicComp
Edition8.0
authority to
besurethat
havingiden
when used
automatica
Several Itali
as a smart
many servi
personal do
private cer
private use
(seesection
4.1.2. Ke
The major d
many priva
yearsitwill
each coupl
necessaryto
Documents
temporalm
4.1.3. Co

Whocansig
Whocanve
Verification
Temporald
Masssignat
Datereliabi
4.2. Pas
OntheIntra
onlytohim
and his ide
otherperso
users, even
passwords
stea
putercourse
(05/08/2014
o distribute
ttheuserdo
ntifiedhimth
d together,
llyencryptin
ian public in
card and, us
ces, even th
ocuments. T
rtification co
rs and with
n4.2.1onpa
eys expirat
drawback of
te keys
manageto
e of private
ochangethe
for which
marksignedd
mparison
gn
erify
nreliability
uration
tures
ility
sswords
anettheuse
.Thepassw
entitys respo
onisexactly
n when they
thiefcando
alpersonalin
book
4)
private and
oesnotgive
hroughagov
correspond
ngdocument
nstitutions ar
sing it as cer
hough they
The service
ompanies, w
alternative d
age25).
tion
f encryption
in sequence
findtherigh
epublic key
emandencr
it is import
directlybyth
with hand
Digitalsign
Needskey
andprope
Everybody
Sureforso
Someyear
Someseco
propertoo
Objectivei
s
erisidentifie
ordiswhat
onsibilities. I
theuser.La
y are absent
o:
nformation:
public keys.
theprivatep
vernmentali
to his priv
ts.
re now using
rtification of
do not offe
to digitally
with prices
devices such
keys is that
e and then t
htprivatekey
s has a tim
yptagainall
tant to dete
ecertificatio
dwritten si
nature
sfromcertif
rtools
y(withprope
omeyears
rs(canberen
ondsforalld
ols)
iftemporalm
edonlybyhi
makesanun
If somebody
w196/2003
from work
thethiefcan
Even thoug
passwordar
identitycard
vate key. An
g the nation
users ident
er yet the d
sign docum
currently a
h as smartca
t if a compu
to decrypt it
ywhichlead
me limited d
thepastdo
ermine the
onauthority.
ignature
ficationauth
ertools)
newed)
ocuments(w
mark
susername,
nknownpers
y else uses t
3explicitlyfo
. These are
nreadtheus
gh theoretica
round,thece
d,apasswor
n automatic
al health ca
tity, offer ac
digital signat
ments is offe
affordable a
rds or OTP d
ter is put to
t with the co
dstoacorrec
duration, usu
cuments.
exact date
.
Han
ority
Ever
Han
Subj
limit
Unti
avai
with
Som
Base
(pap
,knowntoe
sonanauthe
the right use
orbidsusers
some, often
sersemailsa
ally a simple
ertificationa
dtogetherw
c signature
re card
cess to
ture of
ered by
also by
devices
o work trying
orrect public
ctencryption
ually some y
of the signa
dwrittensig
rybodyinsta
dwritingana
jectiveindu
t
ilotherrelia
lable
mesecondsp
edonothers
persandink
everybody,a
enticateduse
ers passwor
fromgiving
n underestim
andpersona
Dr.P
P
password is
authoritygive
withasmart
program ta
g to encrypt
c key , w
ndecryption
years, after
ature have
gnature
ntly
alysts
biouscases,
blesignature
perdocumen
subjectiveel
ksage)
ndhispassw
er,withallh
rd, for the I
theirpassw
mated, malig
alinformatio
PaoloColetti
age23of32
s enough, to
eshim,after
cardwhich,
kes care of
t a text with
within some
n.Therefore,
which it is
moreover a
notime
esare
nt
lements
word,known
hisprivileges
Intranet this
ordtoother
gn actions a
n;
i
2
o
r
,
f
h
e
,
s
a
n
s
s
r
a
Dr.PaoloColetti BasicComputercoursebook
Page24of32 Edition8.0(05/08/2014)
steal privacy protected data: the thief can gain access to data about other people protected by
privacy,orreademailsreceivedfromotherpeople.Thelegalresponsibleofthisprivacyviolationis
thethiefaswellastheuserwhodidnotprotectotherpeoplesdata;
steal money: the thief can find the users bank account numbers and passwords, sometimes
directlyfromtheuserswebbrowsershistory;
delete and modify data: the thief can delete users important data, or even worse he can modify
these data without the users knowledge (bank numbers, friends email addresses, degree thesis
content,addillegalpictures);
steal identity: for the computer the thief is now the user, and therefore he can act to the outside
world exactly as if it were the user, for example answering to emails, subscribing to websites,
withdrawingfromexams;
start illegal activities: anybody who wants to start an illegal Internet activity will obviously use
somebodyelseidentity,sohewillnotgetintotroubleswhentheactivityisdiscovered.
Therefore it is absolutely necessary to keep passwords secret.
Unfortunatelymanypeopleuseverytrivialpasswords.Thisisthelist
of the most common passwords in 2014: password, 123456,
12345678, 1234, qwerty, dragon, pussy, baseball, football, letmein,
monkey,696969,abc123,12345.

There exist automatic programs which are able to try 4 billion passwords each second, and they usually
starttryingcombinationsofwordsandnumbers(thecompletesetofallItalian,GermanandEnglishwords
can be tried in less than 1 second). Check on https://howsecureismypassword.net how much time does it
taketooneoftheseprogramstodiscoveryoureasypasswords.
Law196/2003explicitlyrequiresthatpassworddohavesomefeatures:
changethepasswordoften,atleasteverysixmonths(3ifsensitivedataarehandled);
avoidwordsrelatedtoyourself,suchasnames,birthdates,birthplacesandaddresses;
useminimum8characters.
Moreover,othergoodproceduresare:
useaspasswordagoodmixofnumbers,strangecharacters,smallcapsandcapitalletters,avoiding
anycommonword(otherpeoplesnamesorwordswhichcanbefoundinadictionary);
use different passwords for different purposes. Unfortunately every website asks the user to
registerwithapasswordanduserswhousealwaysthesamepasswordaregivingitawaytoevery
website they register, even untrustworthy ones. It is a good procedure to have at least three
passwords:oneforimportantuse(bankaccount),asecondoneforeverydayuseandalastonefor
unimportantuse(registeringtounknownwebsitesortoservicesthatwillnotbeusedanymore).
bewareofpasswordsstoredinprograms:mailreaders,InternetExplorerandmanyotherprograms
store your password masked with asterisks. They
seem to be unreadable, but computer experts can
reveal them instantly. Store passwords in programs
onlyifthatcomputerhasasingleuser(i.e.thehome
computerorthepersonallaptop)orifaccesstothatcomputerisonausernamebasis,butneverin
publicplacessuchasanInternetcaf.
BasicComp
Edition8.0
4.2.1. Alt
Law 196/20
devicesorw
Usually biom
be very sec
completely
fingerprint
recognition
identificatio
For very im
signatureo
device is in
and passwo
remembere
personalde
password. T
as the nati
into a card
provide to
half of the
object. Alte
password
generated e
to users m
token (whi
inserted in
synchronize
password is
second syst
password
secondpart
expireafter

4.3. Vir
FromtheIn
and manag
firewall. If t
computers,
services are
systemadm
putercourse
(05/08/2014
ternative p
003 gives th
withbiometr
metric ident
cure and th
the passw
recognition,
, eyes ret
on.
mportant ac
rbankopera
nstead adde
ord system.
ed personal
eviceprovide
This device c
ional health
d reader or
the program
password w
ernatively t
is a OTP
every time t
mobile phone
ich can be
n a USB
ed with th
s needed. Th
tem is that,
are interce
tcanbe use
rafewsecon
uses
nternetmany
ge to reach t
these conne
todestroyI
e managing s
ministrators.
book
4)
password
he possibility
ricidentificat
tification is c
hus it is use
word system
handpalm
tina scannin
ctivities, suc
ations,usua
ed to the st
The usual
ly by the
esthesecon
can be a sm
card, whic
a USB tok
m or web sit
which is store
the second
One Time
through a te
e or displaye
either inse
plug) whic
he website
his big adva
even if both
epted or g
edonlythat
nds.
yunauthoriz
the Intranet
ections carry
Intranetdata
stock trades
devices
y to either r
tionortosim
considered to
ed to replac
m. It can b
bloodvessel
ng or voic
ch as digita
llyapersona
tandard logi
password i
user and
dpartofth
artcard, suc
h is inserte
en and the
e the secon
ed inside th
part of th
e Password
elephone ca
ed on a sma
erted or no
h is clearl
for whic
ntage of thi
h parts of th
guessed, th
timeandwi
edconnectio
t or at least
malign inte
aortostop
or telephon
replace the
mplyaddthe
o
e
e
ls
e
al
al
n
is
a
e
h
d
ey
d
e
e
d,
ll
ll
ot
ly
h
is
e
e
ll
onattempts
t to come in
entions, usua
someIntran
ne calls). Def
password a
esetechnique
arrive.Some
n contact wi
ally their aim
netservices(
fense agains
uthentificati
estoexisting

eofthesear
ith programs
m is to explo
whichisad
st these kind
Dr.P
P
ion with oth
gpasswords
remistakenly
s which are
ore and use
angerousat
ds of attacks
PaoloColetti
age25of32
her personal
.

yauthorized
behind the
the Intranet
tackifthese
is in charge
i
2
l
d
e
t
e
e
Dr.PaoloColetti BasicComputercoursebook
Page26of32 Edition8.0(05/08/2014)
While normal external attacks do not involve normal users, the virus is a special attack which arrives
directly on the users computer and must be prevented and stopped by him. The virus is a little program
whichhasthisnamebecauseitslifecycleisthesameofabiologicalorganism:surviveandduplicate.
1. It arrives on the computer through email attachments, downloaded files, CDs and floppy disks or
directly from the Intranet. It is often hidden inside other good files or programs, which are called
infected.
2. As soon as the user mistakenly runs it (often trying to run the good program or to open the good
file),thevirusordersthecomputertorunitselfeverytimethecomputeristurnedon,thusassuring
itssurvival.
3. Itstartsduplicatingitself,infectingotherfiles,CDsandfloppydisks,andtryingtosenditselfaround
byemailorontheIntranet.
4. Mostvirusesareprogrammedtododamagetothecomputerandtotheuser,alteringordeleting
files,sendingemailswithuserspersonaldata,preventingfirewallsandantivirusesfromrunning,or
turningthecomputeroff.Novirusesareknowntobeabletodamagehardware.
Manynamesareusedforvirusestypesaccordingtotheirdifferentbehaviors.
trojanhorseisaviruswhichlookslikeagoodprogramand,whendownloadedandrunbytheuser,
itperformstheuserswantedtaskbutatthesametimedoesotheractions;
keyloggerisaviruswhichrecordskeyboardsactivityandthensendsthekeystrokestoitscreator,
mostlytogetuserspasswords;
backdoorisaviruswhichopensaportonthecomputertoletexternalusersin;
adwareisaviruswhichdisplaysadvertisement;
spyware is a virus which spies users activity to get passwords or to target the user with specific
advertisement.
These types are not exclusive: for example a Trojan horse which is at the same time a spyware and an
adware.
Aninfectedcomputercanberecognizedbysomesymptoms.Thesearethemostfrequentones:
when the computer is turned on, unwanted programs start, advertisement appears, and the
desktoppresentssomenewbarsorfeatureswhichwerenotpresentnorinstalledbefore;
thecomputerstartsveryslowlyandunknownprogramsgivestrangeoperatingsystemerrors;
commercialorpornographicwebpagesappearonthewebbrowserwithouttheusersconsent;
theanalogicalmodemmakestypicalconnectionnoisesevenwhenthecomputerisnotconnected
or the operating system asks the user to stop the current connection and start a new one to a
strangetelephonenumber;
theTaskManagerwindow(seepage7)presentsunknownprograms.
Most of the time, a responsible users behavior it the best weapon against viruses: it protects him from
getting viruses, helps him removing them and prevents him from diffusing them. Responsible behavior
means:
neveropendownloadedfilesandemailattachments,especiallywhentheycomefromafriendwith
a text such as please open it, urgent!, since simulating to be a users friend is a typical virus
tactics.Toopenthesefiles,savethemonthedesktop,checkthemwithanantivirusandthenopen
them;
BasicComputercoursebook Dr.PaoloColetti
Edition8.0(05/08/2014) Page27of32
do not insert in your computer CDs, DVDs and USB pendrives coming from other people or which
were inserted in other computers, unless you have an antivirus running or unless you scan them
immediatelywithanantivirus;
avoid visiting strange websites, especially pornographic or hackers website, or websites which
openalotofpopupwindows;
have an antivirus always running or at least run an updated antivirus on your whole hard disks
every week (while Italian law currently prescribes minimum every 6 months); keep your antivirus
alwaysuptodate:morethan50newvirusesappeareveryweek;
keep communication programs and Microsoft products up to date. Microsoft and most software
companiesofferfreeupdatesandautomaticupdatingtools.
To check the computer for viruses and to try to remove viruses from the computer, the user can run a
specialprogramcalledantivirus.Theantivirusbasicallyhasthreepossibledifferentactions:
itcanscanallthestorage devices (harddisks,thefloppydiskinsidethe computer,theCD orDVD
inside the reader) for viruses. If a virus is found, it tries to remove it and to repair damaged files.
Somefilescanbeunrecoverable.Completedevicesscanningtakesusuallysomehours;
itcanscanasinglefileoranentiredirectoryforviruses.Ifthereisaninfectedfile,ittriestodelete
thevirusandrepairit.Somefilescanbeunrecoverable.Singlefilescanningtakessomeseconds;
it can be always running. In this case, whenever a virus or a suspect file is run, the antivirus
preventsitfromrunningandwarnstheuser.
A lot of antivirus programs, free and commercial, exist. Their most important feature is obviously the
possibilitytobeconstantlyupdatedthroughtheInternet.
4.4. Emails
4.4.1. Attachments
Forviruses,emailattachmentsareafirstclasswayoftraveling,sincetheyareveryoftenopenedbyusers
withoutanyprecaution.Sometimesviruseshideinsidefileswhichwerereallysentbythesender,unaware
of having an infected computer. Other times a virus takes control of the mail reader program and sends
itselftothewholeaddressbook,counterfeitingthesenderaddress(oftenusinganaddresstakenfromthe
addressbook)inordertoavoidthattherealinfectedcomputerbeidentifiedandtogainthethrustofthe
receiver,andwritingintheemailtextsmartsentencespretendingtobearegularfriendofthereceiver.The
arrivalofthiskindofemailusuallycreateshavoc,sincethereceiverissurethatthefakesenderhasavirus,
whiletheoriginalinfectedcomputerisanotherone.
Thebasicruleisneveropenanyattachmentfromthemailreaderprogram.Savetheattachedfilesonthe
desktop and run an antivirus program to check these files before opening them. Even when the email
comesfromafriend:hecannotknowthattohavegotavirus,orhecannotbetherealsender.
4.4.2. Spam
Spammessagesareunsolicitedunwantedbulkemails.Theyareunsolicited,meaningthattheuserdidnot
asktoreceivethem,theyareunwanted,meaningthattheuserdidnotwanttoreceivethem,andtheyare
bulk,meaningthattheyaresenttomillionsofaddresses.Theyareusedmainlyforfourdifferentpurposes:
Dr.PaoloCo
Page28of3
adv
vers
info
soft
mes
mis
inte
cha
circ
luck
tras
des
terr
old,
imm
com
frau
sem
aim
furt
sma
ima

phis
ema
web
to
urg
see
eve
cam
trap
web
one
cred
big
the
cruc
dire
add
imm
whe
phis
Thebestbe
senderadd
oletti
32
vertisement
sion. The em
ormation us
tware or
ssages are p
stakesorwit
erceptedbya
ain letters a
culating in th
ktoanyone
shingit,orth
siring postca
riblevirus:th
, and a sea
mediately.Se
mplainsfrom
udsareusua
milegalbarg
ms are to ge
ther illicit ac
all expense
aginarymone
shing emails
ails from ba
bsitewhich
enter their
ent actions.
m to addre
en cite the
mpaign!How
p, and the
bsite, who l
e,whoseonl
dit card num
problemfor
users bes
cial website
ectlyinthew
dresses cont
mediately hi
enever belie
shing.
ehaviortoad
ressisalway
emails are
mail messag
sually on m
investment
purposely wr
hstrangech
antispampro
are electron
he XX centu
resendingit
heycontaina
ards or an u
heircontent
rch on the
endingitaro
motherusers
allylonglette
ainorabig
et the users
ctivities and
es hoping t
ey;
s look as co
anks, credit c
handlemon
r website t
. They often
ss to the co
real webs
wever,thisw
user will b
looks exactl
lyscopeisto
mbers. Phish
rInternetba
st defenses
e always ty
webbrowser
tained in e
s own bank
eving of hav
doptagainst
ysfalse;click
e the most
ge contains
edicines, po
ts. Sometim
ritten with o
aracters,to
ograms;
nic versions
ury. They pro
andbadluc
asadstoryo
urgent warni
isprobably
WWW will
oundwillpro
;
ersproposing
lotteryprize
s bank coor
to lure him
to get the
ompletely pla
card compan
ey,askingth
to perform
n carry real
orrect websi
ites antiph
websiteaddre
e sent to a
y like the o
ogetpasswo
hing has bec
ankingsystem
are enterin
yping the a
r(neverclick
mails) and
k at the tele
ing been vic
spammessa
kingontheir
innocuous
commercial
ornography,
mes these
orthographic
avoidbeing
s of letters
omise good
ktoanyone
ofanillchild
ing about a
falseortoo
reveal this
obablycause
gtheusera
e.Theironly
rdinates for
into paying
e promised
ausible
nies or
heuser
some
logos,
te and
hishing
essisa
a false
original
ordsor
come a
m,and
ng any
address
kingon
calling
ephone
ctim of
agesistoign
links,espec
norethem.C
iallyiftheys
Basic
E
Complaining
suggesttocl
cComputer
Edition8.0(0
isworthless
ickthereto
coursebook
05/08/2014)
s,sincetheir
beremoved
k
)

r
d
BasicComp
Edition8.0
from their
readbysom
The best w
registration
thecompan
necessary,a
spam.
Therearea
theyareno
analysis of
supposed t
blacklists an
othersites.
4.5. Nav
Navigation
the users c
the user ca
browser.M
two good s
windows an
operatingsy
Theothers
data travels
www.athes
the Interne
sendingpas
intheaddre
lower right
indications
connection
websitefro
4.6. Att
Any compu
subject to a
access to t
running pro
best defens
communica
putercourse
(05/08/2014
lists, usually
meone.
ways to def
ninforums,n
nyswebsite
agoodstrate
ntispampro
otcompletely
the emails
o let spamm
nd that ema
vigation
isthesecon
computer ca
n be lured in
Moreover,the
uggestions a
nd illegal w
ystemalway
ecurityprob
s long dista
ia.it the data
et travel with
sswordsand
essbarstart
t part of the
meanthatth
guarantees
mwhichhe
acks fro
uter attached
attacks from
the compute
ograms whic
se is keeping
ationprogram
book
4)
y has the on
fend from s
newsgroups
.Thesearet
egyistohav
ograms,whic
yreliablean
s content a
mers send th
ils send from
n
dmostdang
n get viruse
nto phishing
ecomputerc
are to avoid
websites) or
ysuptodate
blemwhilen
nces, passin
a go to Padu
hout any pro
otherpriva
tswithhttps
e windows,
heconnectio
only that d
startedthec
om outs
d to the Int
m the outside
er using ope
ch open som
g the compu
ms(assugge
ly effect of
spammers a
andunnece
theplacesw
eanalternat
chputthesu
dsometime
nd on black
heir emails;
m customers
gerousIntern
s if he does
g websites if
cangetvirus
visiting stra
untrustwort
.
avigatingisd
ng through a
ua, Milan an
otection, any
tedatatoa
s://(instead
while on o
onissecure(
data are not
connection,w
ide
ternet, eithe
e WAN. The
erating syste
me computer
uters progra
stedinsecti
letting the s
re to avoid
ssarywebsit
wherespamm
tiveemailad
upposedspa
estheytrash
klists, which
it may happ
s or employe
netactivity.
not run an
he does not
sesevenwh
ange (pornog
thy websites
datainterce
a large num
nd Bologna p
y computer
website,the
ofhttp://)a
others the a
(SSL)sinced
t intercepted
whileitdoes
er directly th
typical attac
em known p
rs parts to
am always u
on4.5onpa
spammer kn
d using the
tes,andtoa
mersgetthe
ddressforre
mmessages
evengood
h contains t
pen that a g
ees of that I
Ithasmore
antivirus be
t type perso
ensimplyvi
graphic web
s and to ke
ption.When
ber of comp
passing throu
administrat
eusershoul
andonsome
ddress bar
ataaretrave
d and that t
snotguaran
hrough a mo
ck consists i
problems or
outside con
uptodate, e
age29).
ow that the
users main
voidpublish
irmillionsof
gistrations,w
sinaseparat
messages.T
he Internet
good mailser
nternet site
orlessthes
fore opening
onally the ba
sitingsome
sites, websit
ep Internet
nconnecting
puters (to co
ugh at least
or can read
dtakespeci
ebrowsera
becomes gr
elingencrypt
the user is
teedthiswe

odem or ind
n external c
r hoping tha
nections. Fr
especially th
Dr.P
P
e users addr
n email add
ingitonthe
faddresses.
whichwillre
tejunkema
Theseprogra
mailservers
rver ends up
are marked
samedange
g downloade
anks address
websites,an
tes with a lo
Explorer an
gtoawebsit
onnect from
13 compute
them. Ther
ialcarethat
lockiconap
reen with a
ted.Beware
connected t
ebsiteisther
directly insid
computers tr
at the user
rom the use
e operating
PaoloColetti
age29of32
ress is really
dress during
epersonalor
Ifitisreally
eceiveallthe
ilfolder,but
msrelieson
s which are
p into those
as spam by
rsasemails:
ed files, and
s in the web
ndtherefore
ot of popup
nd Windows
e,theusers
m unibz.it to
ers). Data on
efore, when
theaddress
ppearsinthe
lock: these
thattheSSL
to the same
rightone.

de a LAN, is
rying to gain
is currently
rs side, the
system and
i
2
y
g
r
y
e
t
n
e
e
y
:
d
b
e
p
s
s
o
n
n
s
e
e
L
e
s
n
y
e
d
Dr.PaoloColetti BasicComputercoursebook
Page30of32 Edition8.0(05/08/2014)
The most famous attack from outside, and the one from which it is very difficult to have an appropriate
defense, is the DoS Denial of Service attack. It is an attack which does not strike private users, but
companiesofferingservicesovertheInternet.Itconsistsinsendingmillionsofincomingconnectionswhich
pretendtousetheservicebutstaysimplyconnected,insuchawaytoovercrowdtheserveranddrainall
its resources (bandwidth, speed, memory) until the server crashes. The attacker clearly does not use his
own computer to carry on a DoS
attack, otherwise his computer
would probably crash before the
server, but uses computer of
unaware users around the world,
called zombies, which have been
hacked in the past days. In this way
the attacker has the power of
severaldozencomputers connected
from many different parts of the
world and at the same time it is
difficult to trace the responsibility
uptohim.
4.6.1. Firewall
Often programs security breaches
once discovered need some days to
be fixed and somebody can take
benefit of them in this short time,
before the security update is
installed on the users computer.
Therefore on every LAN, usually in
the point where the LAN connects to the Internet, or more often on every computer a special program
called firewall is running. The firewall examines all the incoming and outgoing traffic, using the following
analysistechniques:
whichinternalprogramisoriginating/receivingthetraffic,
from/towhichexternaladdressisthetrafficoriginated/directed,
whatamountoftrafficispassingfrom/tothesameprogramto/fromthesameexternaladdress,
whichkindofdataarepassing.
Making an analysis of these data clearly slows down the connection but lets the firewall stop potential
unauthorizedconnection,puttingtheminawaitstateuntiltheusersgiveshisapprovalordenial.
Windows Seven operating system comes with a firewall preinstalled, which lets the user customize which
kind of programs are allowed to make or receive connections and determine rules to approve or deny
automaticallyconnections.
4.7. Backup
Backup is the process of copying important data to another location to prevent their loss. Sometimes
programsandevenentireoperatingsystemsarecopied,tobeabletoimmediatelycontinueworkingeven
whenacomputerbreaks.Therearethreeverygoodreasonstodoregularbackups:
BasicComp
Edition8.0
aga
his
aga
disk
from
aga
bac
Usuallythe
explicitlyre
caseofloss
per
oth
in c
rea
som
whi
all t
from
The place w
andfaststo
nottakesti
users,theF
ase
use
onli
(giv
mo
USB
big
4.7.1. RA
Averypopu
of several i
functionalit
JBOD (Just
which all th
which they
available sp
howeverth
anythingon
putercourse
(05/08/2014
ainst the use
mind.Havin
ainst the syst
kstendtobe
mredoingal
ainstviruses
ckfromvacat
operatingsy
equiresanins
.However,t
rsonally crea
erfilewhich
case emails a
dersusually
me programs
ichareusual
the stuff wh
mforgotten
where the fil
oragedevice.
metodoit
Fridaymornin
econdhardd
ed;
inebackups
ven a broadb
stfamousan
Bpendrive,t
companiesu
AID
ularbackups
identical ha
tiesandsecu
a Bunch Of
he disks are
y can write
pace is the
hereisnofor
nthatdiskis
book
4)
er, who can a
garecentba
tem, which
eunreliable
ltheworko
andother u
tions.
ystemsand
stantaneous
therearesom
ated data file
hisaresulto
are not hand
offeraway
s require a l
llyinthepro
hich is difficu
websites.
les are copie
.Itshouldal
regularlyand
ngbackupis
disk,usedon
systems,whe
band connec
ndofferings
tobeusedo
usuallyhave
solutionisR
rd disks. Th
urity.
f Disks) is a
e seen by th
as usual. T
sum of th
rmofdatap
lost.
accidentally
ackuphandy
can suddenl
aftersomey
fthepreviou
sers,which
theprogram
sbackupfor
mefileswhic
es, including
oftheusers
dled with an
tosavethem
ot of config
ogramsdirec
ult to find ag
ed determin
sobehandy
d,whenthe
agoodtimin
nlyforbacku
ereusersda
ction), with
omeGBofs
onlyinemerg
specialtape
AID(Redund
ere are diffe
primitive fo
he user simp
The advantag
e space of
protection:if
delete some
ycanoftens
ly break due
yearsofcon
usmonths;
can deletea
msbackupar
allsensitive
chshouldbe
g all docume
personalwo
n online syste
mintofilesto
guration and
ctory;
gain, such as
es the reliab
y,sincethety
backupisto
ngsolution.
up,whichis
ataareuploa
Dropbox, G
paceforfree
gencywhen
edevicesfor
dantArrayo
erent types
orm of RAID
ply as disks
ge is that t
all the dis
fadiskbrea
e files or wh
avehoursof
e to hardwar
tinuousactiv
andalterfile
redonebys
dataandtha
takenincha
ents and im
ork;
em: the con
obeusedfo
store their
s documents
bility of the
ypicalproble
ooold,itisw
Goodstorag
veryfastan
adedandare
Google Drive,
e;
nootherapp
backups.
fIndepende
of RAID im
in
on
the
ks,
ks,

f
ho can modif
fwork;
re or softwa
vity.Arecen
es:a backup
ystemadmin
atdataarer
argebytheu
mages create
tacts, calend
rbackup);
configuratio
s from other
backup. It s
emwithback
worthless.Fo
gedevicesto
dverylarge
ereadyfrom
, Box and A
propriatesto
ntDisks)tec
plementatio
userd
ile
Dr.P
P
fy files and t
are problems
ntbackupsa
cansavea
nistrators:la
restoredwith
userhimself:
ed by the us
dar and the
on in configu
r people or d
should be a
kupisthatth
orhomeors
obeusedare
andalways
manywhere
Amazon Clou
oragedevice
chnology,wh
ons, which v
decides
PaoloColetti
age31of32
then change
s. Even hard
vestheuser
usercoming
aw196/2003
hin7daysin

ser, and any

emails (mail
uration files,
downloaded
large, cheap
heuserdoes
simpleoffice
e:
readytobe
intheworld
ud being the
isavailable;
hichconsists
vary a lot in
disk 1
disk 2
i
2
e
d
r
g
3
n
y
l
,
d
p
s
e
e
d
e

s
n
Dr.PaoloCo
Page32of3
RAID0uses
singledisk.
is written o
this. This st
doubles, wi
size of the
bothdisksis
RAID1 is th
two identic
second disk
the first on
improve an
but in case
its identica
protectdat
services. Ho
or users in
thefirstdis
RAID10 is a
writing files
RAID0 and
four.Thiste
RAID1, but
twodiskssi

All the RAI

hardware fa
another for
anotherhar

oletti
32
twoidentica
Everytimeh
on the first
trategy has
ith a total av
two disks. B
slost,sincet
e most com
cal disks but
k is simply a
ne. The disa
nd the availa
a diskbreak
al copy. This
aagainstph
owever, it is
ncidental can
kisimmedia
an overlay o
s on the firs
then duplic
echniqueha
gives the u
zes,whilefo
ID technique
ailure, but a
rm of backu
rddiskforho
aldiskswhic
hewritesaf
disk while t
the big adv
vailable spac
But if a disk
theuserwill
mmon implem
the user se
n identical a
advantage is
able space is
ks, nofileis
s is a very
hysicalfailure
not a backu
ncellations,
atelyperform
f RAID1 and
st and on th
cating their
sthespeed
ser a space
ourdisksare
es are good
re not good
up, such as t
omeusers.
hareseenb
file,thefirst
the second o
antage that
ce which is t
breaks, all t
losehalfof
mentation o
ees only the
and instanta
that the sp
s the size of
lostsinceth
good backu
e,especially
up solution a
since any m
medonthese
d RAID0. It u
e third as if
content on
ofRAID0,th
equivalent
effectivelyu
d at either
against oth
tape backup
bytheusera
partofthef
on the seco
writing spe
the sum of t
the content
allthefiles.
f RAID. It us
first one. T
aneous copy
peed does n
one disk on
heotherone
up solution
suitedfor2
against virus
modification
econdone.
uses four dis
f they were
disks two a
hereliability
to the sum
used.
improving t
er threats a
p for large c
sa
file
ond
eed
the
of

ses
The
of
not
nly,
e is
to
24h
ses
on

ks,
on
nd
of
of

the speed o
nd therefore
companies o
f
pa
f
pa
file
fil
par
pa
Basic
E
or improving
e they must
or weekly/da
file
art1
file
art2
e
le
rt1
file
art2
cComputer
Edition8.0(0
g the reliab
always be c
aily copy on
coursebook
05/08/2014)
bility against
coupled with
DVD or on
disk 1
disk 2
disk 1
disk 2
disk 1
disk 2
disk 3
disk 4
k
)
t
h
n