Manual for computer application-I by :Er.

A Yadav

A computer network is a set of connected computers. Computers on a network are called nodes.
The connection between computers can be done via cabling, most commonly the Ethernet cable,
or wirelessly through radio waves. Connected computers can share resources, like access to the
Internet, printers, file servers, and others. A network is a multipurpose connection, which allows a
single computer to do more.
Networks are used to:
• Facilitate communication via email, video conferencing, instant messaging, etc.
• Enable multiple users to share a single hardware device like a printer or scanner.
• Enable file sharing across the network.
• Allow for the sharing of software or operating programs on remote systems.
• Make information easier to access and maintain among network users.
LAN (Local Area Networks)
Is a group of computers and associated devices that share a common communications line or
wireless link and typically share the resources of a single processor or server within a small
geographic area (for example, within an office building).Usually, the server has applications and
data storage that are shared in common by multiple computer users. A local area network may
serve as few as two or three users (for example, in a home network) or many as thousands of
users.
A local area network, that transmits over the air typically in an unlicensed frequency such as the
2.4GHz band. A wireless LAN does not require lining up devices for line of sight transmission.
Wireless access points (base stations) are connected to an Ethernet hub or server and transmit a
radio frequency over an area of several hundred to a thousand feet which can penetrate walls and
other non-metal barriers.
Media: Devices can be connected by twisted-pair wire, coaxial cables, or fiber optic cables. Some
networks do without connecting media altogether, communicating instead via radio waves.
MAN stands for Metropolitan Area Network. It covers the largest area than LAN such as:Small
towns, City etc. MAN connects 2 or a lot of computers that area unit apart however resides within
the same or completely different cities. MAN is expensive and should or might not be owned by
one organization.
WAN stands for Wide Area Network. It covers the large area than LAN as well as MAN such as:
Country/Continent etc. WAN is expensive and should or might not be owned by one organization.
PSTN or Satellite medium is used for wide area network.
BASIS OF
LAN MAN WAN
COMPARISON
Expands to Local Area Network Metropolitan Area Wide Area Network
Network
Meaning A network that It covers relatively large It spans large locality and
connects a group of region such as cities, connects countries together.
computers in a small towns. Example Internet.
geographical area.
Ownership of Private Private or Public Private or Public
Network
Design and Easy Difficult Difficult
maintenance
Propagation Short Moderate Long
Delay

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Speed High Moderate Low

Fault Tolerance More Tolerant Less Tolerant Less Tolerant
Congestion Less More More
Used for College, School, Small towns, City. Country/Continent.
Hospital.
Allows Single pair of devices Multiple computers can A huge group of computers
to communicate. simultaneously interact. communicate at the same
time.

Applications
➢ Electronic Banking
➢ Electronic Bulletin Boards
➢ Electronic Mail
➢ Voice Mail
➢ Teleconferencing
➢ Online information services
➢ Telecommuting
➢ Internet
LANsTopology types
Bus
• Single cable connects all network nodes without intervening connectivity devices
• Devices share responsibility for getting data from one point to another
• Terminators stop signals after reaching end of wire
– Prevent signal bounce
• Inexpensive, not very scalable
• Difficult to troubleshoot, not fault-tolerant

Advantages of Bus Topology

• Works well for small networks
• Relatively inexpensive to implement

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• Easy to add to it
Disadvantages
• Management costs can be high
• Potential for congestion with network traffic
Ring Topology
All devices are connected to one another in the shape of a closed loop, so that each device is
connected directly to two other devices, one on either side of it. Ring topologies are relatively
expensive and difficult to install, but they offer high bandwidth and can span large distances.
Advantages
• Easier to manage, easier to locate a defective node or cable problem
• Well-suited for transmitting signals over long
distances on a LAN
• Handles high-volume network traffic
• Enables reliable communication
Disadvantages
• Expensive
• Requires more cable and network equipment at the
start
• Not used as widely as bus topology
– Fewer equipment options
– Fewer options for expansion to high-speed communication
Star topology:
All devices are connected to a central hub. Star networks are relatively easy to install and
manage, but bottlenecks can occur because all data must
pass through the hub. This is not much of a problem
anymore with the widespread deployment of switches.
Advantages
• Good option for modern networks
• Low startup costs
• Easy to manage
• Offers opportunities for expansion
• Most popular topology in use; wide variety of
equipment available
Disadvantages
• Hub is a single point of failure
• Requires more cable than the bus

Hubs
A hub interconnects two or more workstations into a local area network. When a workstation
transmits to a hub, the hub immediately resends the data frame to all connecting links. Hubs
expand one Ethernet connection into many. For example, a four-port hub connects up to four
machines

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Switches
A switch is a combination of a hub and a bridge. It can interconnect two or more workstations, but
like a bridge, it observes traffic flow and learns. When a frame arrives at a switch, the switch
examines the destination address and forwards the frame out the one necessary connection.
Major role: isolating
traffic patterns and
providing multiple
accesses. This design is
usually done by the
network manager.
Switches are easy to
install and have
components that are
hot-swappable. The
backplane of a switch is
fast enough to support
multiple data transfers at
one time.
Multiple workstations connected to a switch use dedicated segments. This is a very efficient way
to isolate heavy users from the network.

Network Cards
A network card (also known as a Network Interface Card, NIC, Network Adapter, or Ethernet
card) is used to connect a computer to a high-speed
network. If your homebuilt computer will be on a local
network or if you connect to the Internet using DSL,
cable, fiber, or satellite Internet service, then will need
to install a NIC if one isn't built into the mobo.
Most motherboards nowadays come with NIC's built
into them, and most of the time they work well.
⚫ The network interface card (NIC) provides the
physical connection between the network and
the computer workstation.
⚫ Most NICs are internal with the card fitting into
an expansion slot in the computer.

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Modems
The word "modem" is short for "modulator/demodulator." A modem converts your computer's
digital data to analog data that can be sent over a POTS (Plain-Old Telephone Service) line, and
converts incoming analog data to digital data that the computer can understand. If you connect to
the Internet using dial-up service, then you will need either an internal modem or an external
modem. Internal modems can be purchased inexpensively; but just as with network cards, you get
what you pay for. Most cheap modems are not really modems at all. Rather, they use software and
your computer's system resources to modulate and demodulate data. Better-quality modems have
built in controllers that do the work right on the card. They produce a faster, more stable, and
more reliable connection than do cheap software modems.
External modems that connect to a computer's USB port are also available
Transmission Media

In data communication terminology, a transmission medium is a physical path between the

transmitter and the receiver i.e it is the channel through which data is sent from one place to
another. Transmission Media is broadly classified into the following types

1. Guided Media:
It is also referred to as Wired or Bounded transmission media. Signals being transmitted are
directed and confined in a narrow pathway by using physical links.
Features:
• High Speed
• Secure
• Used for comparatively shorter distances
There are 3 major types of Guided Media:
(i) Twisted Pair Cable –
It consists of 2 separately insulated conductor wires wound about each other. Generally, several
such pairs are bundled together in a protective sheath. They are the most widely used
Transmission Media. Twisted Pair is of two types:
1. Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP):
This type of cable has the ability to block interference and
does not depend on a physical shield for this purpose. It is
used for telephonic applications.
Advantages:
• Least expensive
• Easy to install
• High speed capacity
Disadvantages:
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• Susceptible to external interference

• Lower capacity and performance in comparison to STP
• Short distance transmission due to attenuation
2. Shielded Twisted Pair (STP):
This type of cable consists of a special jacket to block
external interference. It is used in fast-data-rate Ethernet and
in voice and data channels of telephone lines.
Advantages:
• Better performance at a higher data rate in comparison
to UTP
• Eliminates crosstalk
• Comparitively faster
Disadvantages:
• Comparitively difficult to install and manufacture
• More expensive
• Bulky
(ii) Coaxial Cable –
It has an outer plastic covering containing 2 parallel conductors each having a separate insulated
protection cover. Coaxial cable transmits information in two modes: Baseband mode(dedicated
cable bandwidth) and Broadband mode(cable bandwidth is split into separate ranges). Cable TVs
and analog television networks widely use Coaxial cables.
Advantages:
• High Bandwidth
• Better noise Immunity
• Easy to install and expand
• Inexpensive
Disadvantages:
• Single cable failure can disrupt the entire network
(iii) Optical Fiber Cable –
It uses the concept of reflection of light through a core made
up of glass or plastic. The core is surrounded by a less dense glass or plastic covering called the
cladding. It is used for transmission of large volumes of data.
Advantages:
• Increased capacity and bandwidth
• Light weight
• Less signal attenuation
• Immunity to electromagnetic interference
• Resistance to corrosive materials
Disadvantages:
• Difficult to install and maintain
• High cost
• Fragile
• unidirectional, ie, will need another fibre, if we need bidirectional communication
3Unguided Media:
It is also referred to as Wireless or unbounded transmission media. No physical medium is
required for the transmission of electromagnetic signals.
Features:
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• Signal is broadcasted through air

• Less Secure
• Used for larger distances
There are 3 major types of Unguided Media:
(i)Radiowaves –
These are easy to generate and can penetrate through buildings. The sending and receiving
antennas need not be aligned. Frequency Range:3KHz – 1GHz. AM and FM radios and cordless
phones use Radiowaves for transmission.
Further Categorized as (i) Terrestrial and (ii) Satellite.
(ii) Microwaves –
It is a line of sight transmission i.e. the sending and receiving antennas need to be properly
aligned with each other. The distance covered by the signal is directly proportional to the height
of the antenna. Frequency Range:1GHz – 300GHz. These are majorly used for mobile phone
communication and television distribution.
(iii) Infrared –
Infrared waves are used for very short distance communication. They cannot penetrate through
obstacles. This prevents interference between systems. Frequency Range:300GHz – 400THz. It is
used in TV remotes, wireless mouse, keyboard, printer, etc.
.
Network Operating system
Network operating systems (NOSs) distribute their functions over a number of networked
computers. It then adds functions that allow access to shared resources by a number of users
concurrently. NOS computers take on specialized roles to accomplish concurrent access to shared
resources. Client systems contain specialized software that allows them to request shared
resources that are controlled by server systems responding to a client request
• A NOS server is a multitasking system. Internally, the OS must be capable of executing
multiple tasks or processes at the same time.
• Some systems are equipped with more than one processor, called multiprocessing systems.
• They are capable of executing multiple tasks in parallel by assigning each task to a
different processor.
• The aggregate amount of work that the server can perform in a given time is greatly
enhanced in multiprocessor systems.
• The main features to consider when selecting a NOS include:
• Performance
• Management and monitoring tools
• Security
• Scalability
• Robustness/fault tolerance

Client/server
Computer networks have opened up an entire frontier in the world of computing called the
client/server model

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Client – Server
A very fast computer with a large amount of RAM and storage space along with a fast network
interface card, the network operating system software resides on this computer
❑ A server is a process - not a machine!
❑ A server waits for a request from a client.
❑ A client is a process that sends a request to an existing server and waits for a reply.
❑ Server returns the time-of-day.
❑ Server returns a document.
❑ Server prints a file for client.
❑ Server does a disk read or writes.
❑ Server records a transaction
File and Printer Sharing Overview
File and printer sharing is the ability of a computer running Windows to share a folder or attached
printer with other computers on a network. File sharing allows you to make files and folders in a
shared folder accessible to others on the network to view, copy, or modify. For example, with file
sharing, you can store all of your documents on a central computer and share the folder that
contains them. Then, from another computer attached to the same network as the computer that
contains the files, you can connect to the shared folder and work with the documents as if they
were locally stored. For example, you can access files that are stored on a central desktop
computer from a wireless laptop computer that you can carry from room to room in your home.
Printer sharing allows you to make an attached printer available to other computer users on the
network.
An ISP (Internet service provider) is a company that provides individuals and other
company’s access to the Internet and other related services such as Web site building and virtual
hosting. An ISP has the equipment and the telecommunication line access required to have a
point-of-presence on the Internet for the geographic area served. The larger ISPs have their own
high-speed leased lines so that they are less dependent on the telecommunication providers and
can provide better service to their customers.
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing and
using the Internet. Internet service providers may be organized in various forms, such as
commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privately owned.
Internet services typically provided by ISPs include Internet access, Internet transit, domain name
registration, web hosting, Usenet service.
Internet
Internet is a global wide area network that connects computer systems across the world. It
includes several high-bandwidth data lines that comprise the Internet "backbone." These lines are

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connected to major Internet hubs that distribute data to other locations, such as web
servers and ISPs.
In order to connect to the Internet, you must have access to an Internet service provider (ISP),
which acts the middleman between you and the Internet. Most ISPs offer broadband Internet
access via a cable, DSL, or fiber connection. When you connect to the Internet using a public Wi-
Fi signal, the Wi-Fi router is still connected to an ISP that provides Internet access. Even cellular
data towers must connect to an Internet service provider to provide connected devices with access
to the Internet.
The Internet provides different online services. Some examples include:
• Web – a collection of billions of WebPages that you can view with a web browser
• Email – the most common method of sending and receiving messages online
• Social media – websites and apps that allow people to share comments, photos, and
videos
• Online gaming – games that allow people to play with and against each other over the
Internet
• Software updates – operating system and application updates can
Advantages:
1) Information on almost every subject imaginable.
2) Powerful search engines
3) Ability to do research from your home versus research libraries.
4) Information at various levels of study-directed at children.
5) Message boards where people can discuss ideas on any topic.
6) The internet provides the ability of emails. mail service to anyone in the country.
7) Platform for products like SKYPE, which allow for holding a video conference with
anyone in the world who also has access.
8) Friendships and love connections have been made over the internet by people involved in
love/passion over similar interests.
9) Things such as Yahoo Answers and other sites where kids can have readily available help
for homework.
10) News, of all kinds is available almost instantaneously. Commentary, on that news, from
every conceivable viewpoint is also available.
Disadvantages:
1) There is a lot of wrong information on the internet. Anyone can post anything, and much
of it is garbage.
2) There are predators that hang out on the internet waiting to get unsuspecting people in
dangerous situations.
3) Some people are getting addicted to the internet and thus causing problems with their
interactions of friends and loved ones.
4) Pornography that can get in the hands of young children too easily.
5) Easy to waste a lot of time on the internet.
6) Internet has a lot of “cheater” sites. People can buy essays and pass them off as their own
far more easily than they used to be able to do.
7) There are a lot of unscrupulous businesses that have sprung up on the internet to take
advantage of people.
8) Hackers can create viruses that can get into your personal computer and ruin valuable
data.
9) Hackers can use the internet for identity theft.

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E-mail
Email, short for "electronic mail," is one of the most widely used features of the Internet, along
with the web. It allows you to send and receive messages to and from anyone with an email
address, anywhere in the world.
Email uses multiple protocols within the TCP/IP suite. For example, SMTP is used to send
messages, while the POP or IMAP protocols are used to retrieve messages from a mail server.
When you configure an email account, you must define your email address, password, and the
mail servers used to send and receive messages. Fortunately, most webmail services configure
your account automatically, so you only need to enter your email address and password. However,
if you use an email client like Microsoft Outlook or Apple Mail, you may need to manually
configure each account. Besides the email address and password, you may also have to enter the
incoming and outgoing mail servers and enter the correct port numbers for each one.

What is World Wide Web?

World Wide Web, which is also known as a Web, is a collection of websites or web pages stored
in web servers and connected to local
computers through the internet. These
websites contain text pages, digital images,
audios, videos, etc. Users can access the
content of these sites from any part of the
world over the internet using their devices
such as computers, laptops, cell phones, etc.
The WWW, along with internet, enables the
retrieval and display of text and media to
your device.
protocol
A protocol is a set of rules and guidelines for communicating data. Rules are defined for each step
and process during communication between two or more computers

1. Transmission Control Protocol (TCP): TCP is a popular communication protocol which is used
for communicating over a network. It divides any message into series of packets that are sent
from source to destination and there it gets reassembled at the destination.
2. Internet Protocol (IP): IP is designed explicitly as addressing protocol. It is mostly used with
TCP. The IP addresses in packets help in routing them through different nodes in a network until
it reaches the destination system. TCP/IP is the most popular protocol connecting the networks.
3. User Datagram Protocol (UDP): UDP is a substitute communication protocol to Transmission
Control Protocol implemented primarily for creating loss-tolerating and low-latency linking
between different applications.
4. Post office Protocol (POP): POP3 is designed for receiving incoming E-mails.
5. Simple mail transport Protocol (SMTP): SMTP is designed to send and distribute outgoing E-
Mail.
6. File Transfer Protocol (FTP): FTP allows users to transfer files from one machine to another.
Types of files may include program files, multimedia files, text files, and documents, etc.
7. Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP): HTTP is designed for transferring a hypertext among
two or more systems. HTML tags are used for creating links. These links may be in any form
like text or images. HTTP is designed on Client-server principles which allow a client system

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for establishing a connection with the server machine for making a request. The server
acknowledges the request initiated by the client and responds accordingly.

A search engine is a web-based program that collects and organizes content from all over the
internet. Those wishing to locate something would enter a query about what they'd like to find and
the engine provides links to content that matches what they want.

Google.com has become the most widely used search engine on the internet. Other top engines
include:

• Bing.com Baidu.com Yahoo.com Ask.com

Web Browsers
A web browser is a software program that allows a user to locate, access, and display web pages.
In common usage, a web browser is usually shortened to "browser." Browsers are used primarily
for displaying and accessing websites on the internet, as well as other content created using
languages such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Extensible Markup Language
(XML).
Mozilla Firefox Opera Web Browser Internet Explorer Netscape Browser
UC Browser

I n te r n e t E x p l o r e r After you find a computer with internet connection, first start the right
program. On most computers this is Microsoft®Internet Explorer or Netscape®Navigator. For
this Guide, we will use Internet Explorer.

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