FUNDAMENTALS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

COMPUTER BASICS

EVOLUTION OF COMPUTERS

The modern computer took its shape with the advent of time. It was around 16th
century when the evolution of computer started. The initial computer faced many
changes, obviously for the betterment. It continuously improved itself in terms of
speed, accuracy, size, and cost to get the shape of the modern day computer. This
long period can be conveniently divided into the following phases called computer
generations:

1. First Generation Computers (1940-1956)

2. Second Generation Computers (1956-1963)
3. Third Generation Computers (1964-1971)
4. Fourth Generation Computers (1971-Present)
5. Fifth Generation Computers (Present and Beyond)

First Generation Computers: Vacuum Tubes (1940-1956):

The technology behind the First generation computers was a fragile glass device,
which was called vacuum tubes. These computers were very heavy and very large
in size. These were not very reliable and programming on them was a very tedious
task as they used high level programming language and used no operating system.
First generation computers were used for calculation, storage and control purpose.
They were too bulky and big that they needed a full room and consume rot of
electricity.

Main first generation computers are:

 ENIAC: Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, built by J. Presper Eckert

and John V. Mauchly was a general purpose computer. It was very heavy, large
and contained 18,000 vacuum tubes.
 EDVAC: Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer was designed by Von
Neumann. It could store data as well as instruction and thus the speed was
enhanced.
 UNIVAC: Universal Automatic Computer were developed in 1952 by Eckert and
Mauchly.
Second Generation Computers: Transistors (1956-1963):
Second generation computers used the technology of transistors instead of bulky
vacuum tubes. Another feature was the magnetic core storage. Transistor is a device
composed of semiconductor material that amplifies a signal or opens or closes a
circuit.

Transistors were invented in Bell Labs. Use of transistors made it possible to

perform powerfully and with due speed. It reduced the size and cost and thankfully
the heat too, which was generated by vacuum tubes. Central Processing Unit (CPU),
memory, programming language and input and output units were also came into the
force in the second generation.

Programming language was shifted from high level to assembly language and made
programming comparatively an easy task for programmers. Languages used for
programming in this era were FORTRAN (1956), ALGOL (1958) and COBOL
(1959).

Examples: PDP-8, IBM1400 series, IBM 1620, IBM 7090, CDC 3600.

Third Generation Computers: Integrated Circuits. (1964-1971):

During the third generation, technology envisaged a shift from huge transistors to
integrated circuits, also known as IC. Here a number of transistors were placed on
silicon chips, called semiconductors. The main feature of this era’s computer was
the speed and reliability. IC, were made of silicon and also called the silicon chips.

A single IC, has many transistors, registers and capacitors built on a single thin slice
of silicon. The cost size were reduced and memory space and working efficiency
was increased in this generation. Programming was now done in Higher level
language such as BASIC (Beginners All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code).
Mini computers find their shape in this era.

Examples: NCR 395,

B6500.. IBM 360,370

Fourth Generation Computers: Micro-processors (1971-Present):

In 1971 First micro-processors were used, large scale of integration LSI circuits built
on a single silicon chip called microprocessors. The main advantage of this
technology is that a single microprocessor can contain all the circuits required to
perform arithmetic, logic and control functions on a single chip. The computers
using microchips were called microcomputers. This generation provided even
smaller size of computers, with larger capacities. That is not enough, after that Very
Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuits replaced LSI circuits. The Intel 4004chip,
developed in 1971, located all the components of the computer from the cpu and
memory to input/ output controls on a single chip and allowed the size to reduced
drastically.

Technologies such as multiprocessing, multi programming, time-sharing, operating

speed, and virtual storage made it more user friendly and common device. The
concept of personal computer and computer networks came into being in the fourth
generation. Examples: Apple II, Alter 8800

Fifth Generation Computers: Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The technology behind the fifth generation computers is of artificial intelligence. It
allows the computers to behave like humans. It can be seen in programmers like
voice recognition, area of medicines and entertainment. In the field of games playing
also it has shown remarkable performance where computers are capable of beating
human competitors.

The speed is highest, size is the smallest and area of use has remarkably increased
in the fifth generation computers. Though not hundred per cent artificial intelligence
has been achieved till date but keeping in view the current developments, it can be
said that this dream will also become a reality very soon.

In order to summarize the features of various generations of computers it can be said

that a gigantic improvement has been seen as far as the speed and accuracy of
functioning is concerned, but if we talk about the size, it is being small over the
years. The cost is also diminishing and reliability is of course increasing.

The first generation computers used the technology of vacuum tubes, which has been
replaced by transistors in the second generation and integrated circuits in the third.
The fourth generation envisaged the use of microprocessors and now is the era of
artificial intelligence.

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTER

Computers are divided into different types based on different criteria. Based
on the size, a computer can be divided into five types:
 1. Micro Computer
2. Mini Computer
3. Mainframe Computer
4. Super Computer
5. Workstations

1. Micro Computer
It is a single-user computer which has less speed and storage capacity than the other
types. It uses a microprocessor as a CPU. The first microcomputer was built with 8-
bit microprocessor chips. The common examples of microcomputers include
laptops, desktop computers, personal digital assistant (PDA), tablets, and
smartphones. Microcomputers are generally designed and developed for general
usage like browsing, searching for information, internet, MS Office, social media,
etc.
2. Mini Computer:
Mini-computers are also known as "Midrange Computers." They are not designed
for a single. They are multi-user computers designed to support multiple users
simultaneously. So, they are generally used by small businesses and firms.
Individual departments of a company use these computers for specific purposes. For
example, the admission department of a University can use a Mini-computer for
monitoring the admission process.
3. Mainframe Computer:
It is also a multi-user computer capable of supporting thousands of users
simultaneously. They are used by large firms and government organizations to run
their business operations as they can store and process large amounts of data. For
example, Banks, universities, and insurance companies use mainframe computers to
store the data of their customers, students, and policyholders, respectively.
4. Super Computer:
Super-computers are the fastest and most expensive computers among all types of
computers. They have huge storage capacities and computing speeds and thus can
perform millions of instructions per second. The super-computers are task-specific
and thus used for specialized applications such as large-scale numerical problems in
scientific and engineering disciplines including applications in electronics,
petroleum engineering, weather forecasting, medicine, space research and more. For
example, NASA uses supercomputers for launching space satellites and monitoring
and controlling them for space exploration.
5. Work stations:
It is a single-user computer. Although it is like a personal computer, it has a more
powerful microprocessor and a higher-quality monitor than a microcomputer. In
terms of storage capacity and speed, it comes between a personal computer and
minicomputer. Work stations are generally used for specialized applications such as
desktop publishing, software development, and engineering designs.

APPLICATION OF COMPUTER

Computers play a role in every field of life. They are used in homes, business,
educational institutions, research organizations, medical field, government offices,
entertainment, etc.
Home
Computers are used at homes for several purposes like online bill payment,
watching movies or shows at home, home tutoring, social media access, playing
games, internet access, etc. They provide communication through electronic mail.
They help to avail work from home facility for corporate employees. Computers
help the student community to avail online educational support.
Medical Field
Computers are used in hospitals to maintain a database of patients’ history,
diagnosis, X-rays, live monitoring of patients, etc. Surgeons nowadays use robotic
surgical devices to perform delicate operations, and conduct surgeries remotely.
Virtual reality technologies are also used for training purposes. It also helps to
monitor the fetus inside the mother’s womb.
Entertainment
Computers help to watch movies online, play games online; act as a virtual
entertainer in playing games, listening to music, etc. MIDI instruments greatly help
people in the entertainment industry in recording music with artificial instruments.
Videos can be fed from computers to full screen televisions. Photo editors are
available with fabulous features.
Industry
Computers are used to perform several tasks in industries like managing inventory,
designing purpose, creating virtual sample products, interior designing, video
conferencing, etc. Online marketing has seen a great revolution in its ability to sell
various products to inaccessible corners like interior or rural areas. Stock markets
have seen phenomenal participation from different levels of people through the use
of computers.
Education
Computers are used in education sector through online classes, online examinations,
referring e-books, online tutoring, etc. They help in increased use of audio-visual
aids in the education field.
Government
In government sectors, computers are used in data processing, maintaining a
database of citizens and supporting a paperless environment. The country’s defense
organizations have greatly benefitted from computers in their use for missile
development, satellites, rocket launches, etc.
Banking
In the banking sector, computers are used to store details of customers and conduct
transactions, such as withdrawal and deposit of money through ATMs. Banks have
reduced manual errors and expenses to a great extent through extensive use of
computers.
Business
Nowadays, computers are totally integrated into business. The main objective of
business is transaction processing, which involves transactions with suppliers,
employees or customers. Computers can make these transactions easy and accurate.
People can analyze investments, sales, expenses, markets and other aspects of
business using computers.
Training
Many organizations use computer-based training to train their employees, to save
money and improve performance. Video conferencing through computers allows
saving of time and travelling costs by being able to connect people in various
locations.
Arts
Computers are extensively used in dance, photography, arts and culture. The fluid
movement of dance can be shown live via animation. Photos can be digitized using
computers.
Science and Engineering
Computers with high performance are used to stimulate dynamic process in Science
and Engineering. Supercomputers have numerous applications in area of Research
and Development (R&D). Topographic images can be created through computers.
Scientists use computers to plot and analyze data to have a better understand.

COMPUTER MEMORY & STORAGE

Computer memory is just like a human brain. It is used to store data and instructions.
Computer memory is the storage space in the computer, where data is to be
processed and instructions required for processing are stored. The memory is
divided into large number of small parts called cells. Each location or cell has a
unique address, which varies from zero to memory size minus one. For example, if
the computer has 64k words, then this memory unit has 64 * 1024 = 65536 memory
locations. The address of these locations varies from 0 to 65535.
Memory is primarily of three types −
 Cache Memory
 Primary Memory/Main Memory
 Secondary Memory
Cache Memory
Cache memory is a very high speed semiconductor memory which can speed up the
CPU. It acts as a buffer between the CPU and the main memory. It is used to hold
those parts of data and program which are most frequently used by the CPU. The
parts of data and programs are transferred from the disk to cache memory by the
operating system, from where the CPU can access them.
Advantages
The advantages of cache memory are as follows −
 Cache memory is faster than main memory.
 It consumes less access time as compared to main memory.
 It stores the program that can be executed within a short period of time.
 It stores data for temporary use.

Disadvantages
The disadvantages of cache memory are as follows −
 Cache memory has limited capacity.
 It is very expensive.

Primary Memory (Main Memory)

Primary memory holds only those data and instructions on which the computer is
currently working. It has a limited capacity and data is lost when power is switched
off. It is generally made up of semiconductor device. These memories are not as
fast as registers. The data and instruction required to be processed resides in the
main memory. It is divided into two subcategories RAM and ROM.
Characteristics of Main Memory
 These are semiconductor memories.
 It is known as the main memory.
 Usually volatile memory.
 Data is lost in case power is switched off.
 It is the working memory of the computer.
 Faster than secondary memories.
 A computer cannot run without the primary memory.

Secondary Memory
This type of memory is also known as external memory or non-volatile. It is slower
than the main memory. These are used for storing data/information permanently.
CPU directly does not access these memories, instead they are accessed via input-
output routines. The contents of secondary memories are first transferred to the
main memory, and then the CPU can access it. For example, disk, CD-ROM, DVD,
etc.

Characteristics of Secondary Memory

 These are magnetic and optical memories.
 It is known as the backup memory.
 It is a non-volatile memory.
  Data is permanently stored even if power is switched off.
 It is used for storage of data in a computer.
 Computer may run without the secondary memory.
 Slower than primary memories.

Common types of secondary storage

Secondary storage devices are generally separated into three types:
 magnetic storage devices, such as hard disk drives
 optical storage devices, such as CD, DVD and Blu-ray discs
 solid state storage devices, such as solid state drives and USB memory sticks

Magnetic devices
Magnetic devices such as hard disk drives use magnetic fields to magnetized tiny
individual sections of a metal spinning disk. Each tiny section represents one bit. A
magnetized section represents a binary '1' and a demagnetized section represents a
binary '0'. These sections are so tiny that disks can contain terabytes (TB) of data.
As the disk is spinning, a read/write head moves across its surface. To write data,
the head magnetizes or demagnetizes a section of the disk that is spinning under it.
To read data, the head makes a note of whether the section is magnetized or not.
Magnetic devices are fairly cheap, high in capacity and durable. However, they are
susceptible to damage if dropped. They are also vulnerable to magnetic fields. A
strong magnet might possibly erase the data the device holds.
Optical devices
Optical devices use a laser to scan the surface of a spinning disc made from metal
and plastic. The disc surface is divided into tracks, with each track containing many
flat areas and hollows. The flat areas are known as lands and the hollows as pits.
When the laser shines on the disc surface, lands reflect the light back, whereas pits
scatter the laser beam. A sensor looks for the reflected light. Reflected light (lands)
represents a binary '1', and no reflection (pits) represents a binary '0'.
 Optical media also come in different types:
 ROM media have data pre-written on them. The data cannot be overwritten.
Music, films, software and games are often distributed this way.
 R media are blank. An optical device writes data to them by shining a laser onto
the disc. The laser burns pits to represent '0's. The media can only be written to
once, but read many times. Copies of data are often made using these media.
 RW works in a similar way to R, except that the disc can be written to more than
once.
Solid state devices
Solid state devices use non-volatile random access memory (RAM) to store data
indefinitely. They tend to have much faster access times than other types of device
and, because they have no moving parts, are more durable.
Since this type of memory is expensive, solid state devices tend to be smaller in
capacity than other types. For example, a solid-state drive that holds 256 GB might
be of a similar cost to a hard disk with several terabytes capacity.
Solid state devices require little power, making them ideal for portable devices
where battery life is a big consideration. They are also portable due to their small
size and durability.

Compact disc (CD)  a molded plastic disc containing digital data that is
scanned by a laser beam for the reproduction of recorded sound and other
information. Since its commercial introduction in 1982, the audio CD has
almost completely replaced the phonograph disc (or record) for high-fidelity
recorded music Convened by Philips electronics NV and Sony
Corporation in 1980, the compact disc has expanded beyond audio recordings
into other storage-and-distribution uses, notably for computer (CD-ROM) and
entertainment systems(DVD).
Compact disk is the part of Secondary storage device.
 RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (RAM)
RAM (Random Access Memory) is the internal memory of the CPU for storing
data, program, and program result. It is a read/write memory which stores data until
the machine is working. As soon as the machine is switched off, data is erased.

Access time in RAM is independent of the address, that is, each storage location
inside the memory is as easy to reach as other locations and takes the same amount
of time. Data in the RAM can be accessed randomly but it is very expensive.
RAM is volatile, i.e. data stored in it is lost when we switch off the computer or if
there is a power failure. Hence, a backup Uninterruptible Power System (UPS) is
often used with computers. RAM is small, both in terms of its physical size and in
the amount of data it can hold.
RAM is of two types −
 Static RAM (SRAM)
 Dynamic RAM (DRAM)
Static RAM (SRAM)
The word static indicates that the memory retains its contents as long as power is
being supplied. However, data is lost when the power gets down due to volatile
nature. SRAM chips use a matrix of 6-transistors and no capacitors. Transistors do
not require power to prevent leakage, so SRAM need not be refreshed on a regular
basis.
There is extra space in the matrix, hence SRAM uses more chips than DRAM for
the same amount of storage space, making the manufacturing costs higher. SRAM
is thus used as cache memory and has very fast access. The accessing time is much
faster approx. 10 millisecond.

Characteristic of Static RAM

 Long life
  No need to refresh
 Faster
 Used as cache memory
 Large size
 Expensive
 High power consumption

Dynamic RAM (DRAM)

DRAM, unlike SRAM, must be continually refreshed in order to maintain the data.
This is done by placing the memory on a refresh circuit that rewrites the data several
hundred times per second. DRAM is used for most system memory as it is cheap
and small. All DRAMs are made up of memory cells, which are composed of one
capacitor and one transistor. The accessing time is 50 ns faster but slower than S-
RAM .

Characteristics of Dynamic RAM

 Short data lifetime
 Needs to be refreshed continuously
 Slower as compared to SRAM
 Used as RAM
 Smaller in size
 Less expensive
 Less power consumption

ROM (READ ONLY MEMEORY)

ROM stands for Read Only Memory. The memory from which we can only read
but cannot write on it. This type of memory is non-volatile. The information is
stored permanently in such memories during manufacture. A ROM stores such
instructions that are required to start a computer. This operation is referred to
as bootstrap. ROM chips are not only used in the computer but also in other
electronic items like washing machine and microwave oven.
Let us now discuss the various types of ROMs and their characteristics.
MROM (Masked ROM)
The very first ROMs were hard-wired devices that contained a pre-programmed set
of data or instructions. These kind of ROMs are known as masked ROMs, which
are inexpensive.
PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory)
PROM is read-only memory that can be modified only once by a user. The user
buys a blank PROM and enters the desired contents using a PROM program. Inside
the PROM chip, there are small fuses which are burnt open during programming. It
can be programmed only once and is not erasable.

EPROM (Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory)

EPROM can be erased by exposing it to ultra-violet light for a duration of up to 40
minutes. Usually, an EPROM eraser achieves this function. During programming,
an electrical charge is trapped in an insulated gate region. The charge is retained for
more than 10 years because the charge has no leakage path. For erasing this charge,
ultra-violet light is passed through a quartz crystal window (lid). This exposure to
ultra-violet light dissipates the charge. During normal use, the quartz lid is sealed
with a sticker.

EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory)

EEPROM is programmed and erased electrically. It can be erased and
reprogrammed about ten thousand times. Both erasing and programming take about
4 to 10 ms (millisecond). In EEPROM, any location can be selectively erased and
programmed. EEPROMs can be erased one byte at a time, rather than erasing the
entire chip. Hence, the process of reprogramming is flexible but slow.
Advantages of ROM
The advantages of ROM are as follows −
 Non-volatile in nature
 Cannot be accidentally changed
 Cheaper than RAMs
 Easy to test
 More reliable than RAMs
 Static and do not require refreshing
 Contents are always known and can be verified.

THE MOTHERBOARD
The motherboard serves as a single platform to connect all of the parts of a computer
together. It connects the CPU, memory, hard drives, optical drives, video card,
sound card, and other ports and expansion cards directly or via cables. It can be
considered as the backbone of a computer.

Features of Motherboard

A motherboard comes with following features −

 Motherboard varies greatly in supporting various types of components.
 Motherboard supports a single type of CPU and few types of memories.
 Video cards, hard disks, sound cards have to be compatible with the
motherboard to function properly.
  Motherboards, cases, and power supplies must be compatible to work properly
together.

MEMORY HEIRARCHY

In computer architecture, the memory hierarchy separates computer

storage into a hierarchy based on response time. Since response time,
complexity, and capacity are related, the levels may also be distinguished
by their performance and controlling technologies.[1] Memory hierarchy
affects performance in computer architectural design, algorithm predictions,
and lower level programming constructs involving locality of reference.
Designing for high performance requires considering the restrictions of the
memory hierarchy, i.e. the size and capabilities of each component. Each of
the various components can be viewed as part of a hierarchy of memories
(m1, m2, ..., mn) in which each member mi is typically smaller and faster than
the next highest member mi+1 of the hierarchy. To limit waiting by higher
levels, a lower level will respond by filling a buffer and then signaling for
activating the transfer.
There are four major storage levels.[1]
 Internal – Processor registers and cache.
 Main – the system RAM and controller cards.

 On-line mass storage – Secondary storage.

 Off-line bulk storage – Tertiary and Off-line storage.

This is a general memory hierarchy structuring. Many other structures are

useful. For example, a paging algorithm may be considered as a level
for virtual memory when designing a computer architecture, and one can
include a level of near line storage between online and offline storage.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Information technology (IT) refers to everything that businesses use computers for.
Information technology is building communications networks for a company,
safeguarding data and information, creating and administering databases, helping
employees troubleshoot problems with their computers or mobile devices, or doing
a range of other work to ensure the efficiency and security of business information
systems. Demand for professionals in this field is high and growing, and people
entering the field have a range of career paths to choose from.

The Role of Information Technology

Information technology (IT) is the use of any computers, storage, networking and
other physical devices, infrastructure and processes to create, process, store,
secure and exchange all forms of electronic data. Typically, IT is used in the context
of business operations, as opposed to technology used for personal or entertainment
purposes. The commercial use of IT encompasses both computer technology and
telecommunications.
The Harvard Business Review coined the term information technology to make a
distinction between purpose-built machines designed to perform a limited scope of
functions, and general-purpose computing machines that could be programmed for
various tasks. As the IT industry evolved from the mid-20th century, computing
capability increased, while device cost and energy consumption decreased, a cycle
that continues today when new technologies emerge.
Uses Of Information Technology
We can see the uses and role of of information technology in our society in many
fields:

Business
Since the arrival of computers, the entire face of the business world has been
changed. To run the different departments of business swiftly, use of Information
Technology is important and it is possible with computers and softwares. The use of
information technology can be seen in departments such as finance, human
resources, manufacturing, and security. Role of IT can’t be ignored.
Education
Technology enables teachers to be up to date with new techniques and help their
students to be updated with latest technologies such as use of tablets, mobile phones,
computers, etc. in education. Information technology not only helps students to learn
new things but also helps students of college dropouts.
Finance
Information Technology opens the doors for traders and common people to do online
purchases. Banks keep records of all the transactions and accounts through
 computers. Unlike before, now the transactions and other deals have become faster
and easier.
Healthcare
With Information Technology, the field of medicine and health has been seeing
tremendous improvements. For doctors, sending and receiving information,
checking patients, and discussing with other experts have become very convenient.
Also, it reduces the time taken in paperwork.
Security
Online transactions and keeping records of all the online transactions are now more
safe than earlier times. Only proper management and a person responsible for the
system can access the data online. It prohibits any random person from checking the
details. All these have been made possible by keeping the system passwords proof.
Only permissible authority can access your information.
Communication
With improvements in information technology, globalization has increased. The
world is brought closer, and the world’s economy is quickly becoming a single
interdependent system. Information can be shared quickly and easily from all over
the glob, and barriers of linguistic and geographic boundaries can be torn down as
people share ideas and information with each other.
Employment
With Information Technology, new jobs have been introduced. It creates new jobs
for programmers, hardware and software developers, systems analyzers, web
designers and many others. Information Technology has opened an entirely new
fields and thousands of jobs for IT professionals.

Benefits Of Information Technology

Information technology has changed our lives drastically. You are only a
single click away from everything. So here is a list of the benefits of
information technology in our lives and also there is a need of the
Information Technology in every field.
1. With the advancement in IT, one can access the system of the company
from any place. It is not necessary for the authority to be in the office only.
They can submit their work from home as well. Easy access to the system
has surely increased one’s productivity without any physical presence of the
person in the office.
2. There is a huge demand for IT professionals in various fields. The
demand opens an immense opportunity for IT professionals to explore the
field and show their talent. The IT field offers people to work for computer
programming, system analysis, testing, software and hardware
development, web application design etc.

3. With the advancement of information technology, the education field has

transformed its outlook and has adopted a modern way of teaching and
learning. Teaching on the blackboard is now an old thing. Teachers and
institutions are using modern gadgets to teach their students. A computer
with an internet connection helps students to learn new things and
understand the topics easily and deeply.

4. Information technology helps patients as well. They can now connect

with physicians and take advice online. Also, there are many virtual
healthcare applications available to provide guidance. Electronic health
records and tele-medicines are delivering efficient and quality health to
patients.

5. In the technology world, with information technology, the drawback of

time and distance in business activities has been removed. Now, buying and
selling are too easy. Customers can buy online from their locals and
international vendors as well.

6. With wireless communication mediums, news broadcasts have become

so easier. Only a few seconds are needed to know the news from any corner
of the world.

7. Use of the internet on mobile phones, tablets, laptops, iPods, and other
gadgets has been offering us unlimited access to entertainment mediums.
People can watch movies or new songs on OTT platforms.
8. With the Information technology, communication between people has
become cheaper, easier and faster than ever before. Texting, video calling,
sending e-mails are so easy nowadays. There are so many apps available
online to provide these services.

9. With the Information technology, we have seen and understood the

meaning of globalization. Today, the world is on one platform and there are
no physical barriers between nations. People are now ‘global’ citizens.

Roles of Information Technology

 Data scientist
 Network Administrator
 System Administrator
 System analyst
 Technology Specialist
 Data scientist
 Database administrator
 IT Manager
 Support Analyst
 Database developer
 A software tester, Engineer, Architect
 Software Development Manager
 Network engineer
 Software / Application developer
 Technical consultant

Q. Write about an Internet?

Ans - The Internet is the most commonly used term in today’s world and plays a
very important role in the everyday life of people. But there are many questions,
answers to which people need to know. In this article, we shall help you find answers
to these questions; discuss the evolution of the Internet, its usage, benefits, history
and how the Internet works.
WWW- is the collection of web pages. That can be easily be published on the
Internet, and read by millions of users on the internet.

History and Evolution of Internet

The Internet completely revolutionized communication and technology across the
Globe. Initially, computerized devices were only used for large industries but later
its usage increased massively.
It is also mandatory for people to know that it is not possible for a single person to
develop something as broad and wide as the Internet all by himself/herself. It was a
combined effort of multiple researchers and programmers that the Internet was
discovered.
Given below are a few important points which played an extremely important role
in the development of the Internet and making it one of the most widely used
resources across the world.
 The first development was the introduction of host-to-host network interactions.
This was first observed in ARPANET in 1969. It was developed by Advanced
Research Projects Agency (APRA) of the Department of Defense, U.S. It was
one of the first general usage of computer networks.


 Next step was commercializing the usage and making the transistors and
transmitters fit in smaller devices for convenient Internet usage for the general
public. This was introduced in the 1970s

 Moving forward, satellites and wireless communication was the main target.
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (formerly ARPA), supported
satellite-based radio packets for mobile usage of networks

 The next was the development of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). This
enabled different machines and networks across the world to assemble data
packets. It was in the 1980s that the TCP/IP approach was adapted by
researchers and technologists, following the footsteps of the U.S. Department of
Defence.
  With the introduction of personal computers, the demand for commercial
Internet usage increased. This was the time when Ethernet and other Local Area
Networks cam in the foreground

 In 1993, the web browser was introduced, which followed the point-and-click
approach and is now a widely used operation for Internet users

The late 1990s was the time when thousands of Internet Service Providers has
taken up the market and most of them were from the U.S.
 And then the 21st century brought in an amalgamation of technology and
wireless Internet accessibility for its users. Wherein, wireless broadband
services came in as a boon for Internet users
Amid all these developments which were made, a lot of successes and failures came
in but today, the Internet is one such commodity which has made lives easier and
brought in a wider pace for development across the globe.
In India Internet was started from 15th of August, 1995.

Q. What is the size of an IPv6 IP address?

Ans – 128 Bits
Q. what was the first Host to Host network?
Ans- ARPANET
Q. HTML is a which kind of Language?
Ans - Scripting Language
Q 9. How long is an IPv4 address?
Ans – 32 Bits

Basic internet tools

It is important to understand that there are important Internet protocols other than
HTTP. The other protocols work in much the same way as HTTP in that there is a
piece of client software making requests to a server machine running the appropriate
server software. Here are some of the most common and useful protocols.
FTP (File Transfer Protocol): This existed before HTTP and as the name implies
is a protocol for exchanging files over the Internet. There are two types of FTP: non
anonymous and anonymous. With non nonymous FTP, you are required to have an
account name and password on the server in order to access files on the server. When
using non anonymous FTP client software you must provide three things: 1) the
name of the server, 2) the account name, and 3) your password.
When you use non anonymous FTP you are connecting to a server and have access
to certain files on the server for which your account has permission. shows the
screen when you FTP to the server gsbkip.uchicago.edu using the account kmartin
(that is, when you enter As the figure indicates, you can click on file folder icons
and "drill down" through the file structure in a hierarchical fashion just as though
the server were your own machine. Note the contrasts between HTTP and FTP. First,
when you FTP to a server and click on folder or file icons, you remain connected to
that server machine. This is in contrast to HTTP, where a click on a hypertext link
may take you to a different server altogether. The second difference between HTTP
and FTP is that with HTTP you can see the actual content of the files you request
displayed using HTML, whereas with FTP you can see only the folders and
directories where your requested file is housed. With FTP you must first download
a file from the server onto your computer and then open that file, assuming you have
the required software to read it. Note also that when using FTP, the only service we
require from the server is to serve up files. We are not using the server CPU for
computing. Using FTP.
FTP is an important protocol for Internet business. It is an excellent way for a
company to exchange files quickly and securely with customers or partner
companies. Perhaps the most common example is in distributing software. Many
software companies offer their customers the option of using FTP to download
software after making a purchase rather than sending a CD-ROM via the postal
service. Another typical example is provided by a company like Hewlett Packard.
You can go to the HP Web site and download via FTP the most current version of
their printer drivers (software used by an application such as a word processor to
communicate with a specific type of printer). Netscape has always used FTP as a
means to distribute its browser. Of course, FTP use is not restricted to software
companies. Companies might also use FTP to exchange purchase orders. It is also
quite common in the Web development process to create and design Web pages on
a client machine and then FTP the resulting work to the server machine of the Web-
hosting company. If you download software over the Internet using FTP,
it is important to understand the following distinctions:
 Public domain software3this is software that is free, carries no copyright, and
there are no restrictions on redistribution of the software. In this context, free
refers to price, not free in the sense of the GNU GPL as developed by Richard
 Stallman and described on page 65. Public domain software may well be an
executable binary file with no source code provided.
 Freeware3this is software that is free, but is copyrighted. There may be
restrictions on the redistribution of freeware. Again, in this context, free refers to
price, not free in the sense of the GNU GPL as developed by Richard Stallman
and described on page 65. Freeware software may well be an executable binary
file with no source code provided. Also, the policy on use and redistribution may
be considerably more restrictive than in the GNU GPL.
 Shareware3this is copyrighted software that is distributed on a "try-before-you-
buy" basis. You download the software using FTP. The software will often have
an expiration date. You use the software until the expiration date. If you like the
software, you purchase it after the trial period ends. Often there is no trial period
and the users are on their honor to purchase this software if they decide to keep
it. This is a surprisingly effective business model. John McAfee used this
shareware model to build a very successful software company based upon his
anti-virus software. Shareware software often requires a purchase of the software
in order to get technical support. The technical support appeals to large
corporations, which motivates them to pay for the software.

 Telnet: In a sense, Telnet is the converse of FTP. With FTP you are using a
dumb server3the server is only providing files and all the computing is done on
the client machine. With Telnet, the client machine is nothing more than a dumb
terminal. You connect to the server machine running Telnet server software and
all the computing is done on the server machine. The Telnet URL has the form
 telnet://name_of_server

 In order to use the Telnet protocol you need Telnet client software. You cannot
Telnet using a browser without this additional client software. When you Telnet
to a server machine, you are given a command line (not GUI) interface to the
server machine. This is akin to being at the 2 o'clock position in Figure 2–1, the
old time-sharing mode of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Telnet is still widely
used, especially in Unix environments. It is a great way to access the CPU of
another machine and test software. Telnet is often used by systems
administrators to connect remotely to computers they are managing.
 News: Internet newsgroups are a very common way of exchanging information.
There are newsgroups on everything from archery to zen. An example news
URL is
 news://uchinews.uchicago.edu/rec.backcountry
 In this URL, news is the service required, uchinews.uchicago.edu is the news
server, and rec.backcountry (a newsgroup devoted to backpacking) is the target
newsgroup desired. In order to access a newsgroup you need client software,
such as Microsoft Outlook, and the server needs to be running the appropriate
server software.
 Newsgroups are asynchronous. That is, you post a message, someone responds
at a later date, and you go back to the newsgroup and read the response to your
message. Chat rooms and instant messaging are becoming increasingly popular
because they are
 Synchronous.

 Mailto: Electronic mail, better known as email, is perhaps the most popular
Internet protocol. As with all Internet software tools, you need client software
and server software to use email. Indeed, when configuring your client email
software to use programs like Eudora or Microsoft Outlook, you have to provide
the name of the server where you send and receive mail. You can also send email
using your browser and the mailto protocol. There is a mail URL for the browser
that has the format
 mailto:[email protected]
 where mailto is the service required, john doe is the name of the person (or
whatever name the person chooses to go by) to whom you're sending email, and
company.comis the mail address. The mailto tool is similar to Telnet and news,
in that you can execute the URL in a browser, but additional client software is
needed in order to actually use the tool.

 File or Path: Unlike the other URLs, this URL is used on the client machine
only. It has a very useful function, which is to let a developer test a Web page
before putting it on a server. Using this URL allows the developer to view a
Web page through a browser where both the browser and Web page are on the
client machine. For example, assume you have a file test.htmlthat you wish to
view in a browser. Assume this file is in the directory tampon the C drive of a
Windows machine. Then the URL
 C:\temp\test.html
  will allow the user to view test.htmlin the browser. The client machine does not
need to be connected to the Internet in order to use the file URL.
Q. Write about Domain Name System?
Ans -The Domain Name System (DNS) is the phonebook of the Internet. Humans
access information online through domain names, like nytimes.com or espn.com.
Web browsers interact through Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. DNS translates
domain names to IP addresses so browsers can load Internet resources.
Each device connected to the Internet has a unique IP address which other machines
use to find the device. DNS servers eliminate the need for humans to memorize IP
addresses such as 192.168.1.1 (in IPv4), or more complex newer alphanumeric IP
addresses such as 2400:cb00:2048:1::c629:d7a2 (in IPv6).
Q. Write about IP Address?
Ans - An IP address is a unique address that identifies a device on the internet or a
local network. IP stands for "Internet Protocol," which is the set of rules governing
the format of data sent via the internet or local network.
In essence, IP addresses are the identifier that allows information to be sent between
devices on a network: they contain location information and make devices accessible
for communication. The internet needs a way to differentiate between different
computers, routers, and websites. IP addresses provide a way of doing so and form
an essential part of how the internet works.
How do IP addresses work
If you want to understand why a particular device is not connecting in the way you
would expect or you want to troubleshoot why your network may not be working, it
helps understand how IP addresses work.
Internet Protocol works the same way as any other language, by communicating
using set guidelines to pass information. All devices find, send, and exchange
information with other connected devices using this protocol. By speaking the same
language, any computer in any location can talk to one another.
The use of IP addresses typically happens behind the scenes. The process works like
this:
1. Your device indirectly connects to the internet by connecting at first to a network
connected to the internet, which then grants your device access to the internet.
2. When you are at home, that network will probably be your Internet Service Provider
(ISP). At work, it will be your company network.
3. Your IP address is assigned to your device by your ISP.
4. Your internet activity goes through the ISP, and they route it back to you, using your
IP address. Since they are giving you access to the internet, it is their role to assign
an IP address to your device.
5. However, your IP address can change. For example, turning your modem or router
on or off can change it. Or you can contact your ISP, and they can change it for you.
6. When you are out and about – for example, traveling – and you take your device
with you, your home IP address does not come with you. This is because you will
be using another network (Wi-Fi at a hotel, airport, or coffee shop, etc.) to access
the internet and will be using a different (and temporary) IP address, assigned to you
by the ISP of the hotel, airport or coffee shop.
As the process implies, there are different types of IP addresses, which we explore
below.
Types of IP addresses
There are different categories of IP addresses, and within each category, different
types.

Consumer IP addresses
Every individual or business with an internet service plan will have two types of IP
addresses: their private IP addresses and their public IP address. The terms public
and private relate to the network location — that is, a private IP address is used
inside a network, while a public one is used outside a network.
Private IP addresses
Every device that connects to your internet network has a private IP address. This
includes computers, smartphones, and tablets but also any Bluetooth-enabled
devices like speakers, printers, or smart TVs. With the growing internet of things,
the number of private IP addresses you have at home is probably growing. Your
router needs a way to identify these items separately, and many items need a way to
recognize each other. Therefore, your router generates private IP addresses that are
unique identifiers for each device that differentiate them on the network.

Public IP addresses
A public IP address is the primary address associated with your whole network.
While each connected device has its own IP address, they are also included within
the main IP address for your network. As described above, your public IP address is
provided to your router by your ISP. Typically, ISPs have a large pool of IP
addresses that they distribute to their customers. Your public IP address is the
address that all the devices outside your internet network will use to recognize your
network.
Public IP addresses
Public IP addresses come in two forms – dynamic and static.
Dynamic IP addresses
Dynamic IP addresses change automatically and regularly. ISPs buy a large pool of
IP addresses and assign them automatically to their customers. Periodically, they re-
assign them and put the older IP addresses back into the pool to be used for other
customers. The rationale for this approach is to generate cost savings for the ISP.
Automating the regular movement of IP addresses means they don’t have to carry
out specific actions to re-establish a customer's IP address if they move home, for
example. There are security benefits, too, because a changing IP address makes it
harder for criminals to hack into your network interface.
Static IP addresses
In contrast to dynamic IP addresses, static addresses remain consistent. Once the
network assigns an IP address, it remains the same. Most individuals and businesses
do not need a static IP address, but for businesses that plan to host their own server,
it is crucial to have one. This is because a static IP address ensures that websites and
email addresses tied to it will have a consistent IP address — vital if you want other
devices to be able to find them consistently on the web.
This leads to the next point – which is the two types of website IP addresses.

Q 3. What are the different types of Internet?

Ans. Given below are different types of Internet connections:

Dial-up Internet - Dialup internet service is a service that allows connectivity to

the internet through a standard telephone line. By connecting the telephone line to
the modem in your computer and inserting the other end into the phone jack, and
configuring the computer to dial a specific number provided by your internet service
provider (ISP) you are able to access the internet on your computer.

Dial-up internet service is provided through several ISP. The majority of internet
service providers give you a set of telephone numbers either national or local that
allows you to dial into a network that feeds into the internet. This allows you to
receive and send email, search the World Wide Web, participate in chat rooms and
plenty of other features the web has to offer.

In order to get a dial-up internet service a person must definitely have a computer
and even more important a modem. There are different types of modems, and most
of them are inexpensive to purchase. You can have an internal modem installed in a
free slot of your computer, or you can have an external modem that’s hooked up to
the computer through cables. A telephone line is linked to the modem.

The modem whether external or internal is controlled by software on the computer.

With Microsoft Windows operating system that software is the Network Connection
utility which allows you to connect to the internet. How? In the Network Connection
utility you have to set up ISP profile so that the modem knows what phone number
to dial so that you can connect to the internet.

 DSL Internet –DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Line. Users get a high speed
bandwidth connection from a phone wall jack on an existing telephone network.
DSL works within the frequencies that the telephone doesn’t so you can use the
Internet while making phone calls.
 Satellite Internet -Satellite Internet access is Internet access provided
through communication satellites. Modern consumer grade satellite Internet
service is typically provided to individual users through geostationary
satellites that can offer relatively high data speeds, with newer satellites
using Ku band to achieve downstream data speeds up to 506 Mbit/s.[3] In
addition, new satellite internet constellations are being developed in low-earth
orbit to enable low-latency internet access from space.

 Fibre-optic Internet- Fiber-optic internet, commonly called fiber internet or

simply “fiber,” is a broadband connection that can reach speeds of up to 940
Megabits per second (Mbps), with low lag time. The technology uses fiber-optic
cable, which amazingly can send data as fast as about 70% the speed of light. In
addition, fiber-optic cables are not as susceptible to severe weather conditions
as other types of traditional cables, which helps minimize outages. It also resists
electrical interference effectively.

Application of Internet
Here are the internet applications listed below
1. Smart Home
Smart Home has become the evolutionary ladder in residential and developing as
common as smartphones. It is a special feature of Google and now deployed in many
areas to make life convenient and user-friendly. The smart home is designed to save
time, money and energy.
2. Electronic Devices
Electronic devices like wearables are installed with different sensors and software,
which gather data and information of the user where data is processed to give
required info about the user. The devices mainly used to monitor fitness,
entertainment, and health. They mostly work on ultra-low power and available in
small sizes.
3. Automated Digital Technology
The automated digital technology has concentrated on the optimization of vehicles
and their internal functions. the automated car is designed with special features that
give a comfort zone to passengers with onboard sensors and internet establishment.
Popular companies like Tesla, Apple, BMW, Google is yet to aboard their revolution
in the automobile industry by installing excellent features.
4. Industrial Internet
The industrial internet is investing in industrial engineering with Artificial
intelligence and data analytics to build brilliant machines. The important moto is to
build smart machines that are accurate and compatible with a human. It holds vast
potential with good quality and reliability. The applications are deployed for tracing
the goods to be delivered, real-time data regarding retails and supplies that increase
the efficiency of the business’s supply chain and productivity.
6. Smartphones
Smartphones are also used for retailers and customers to stay connected for their
business transactions, even out of the store. They have using Beacon technology to
help business people to provide smart service to the client. They can track the
products and enhance the store dashboard and deliver premium order before the
scheduled date, even in congested traffic areas.
7. Smart Grids
The idea applied in smart grids is to gather data in an automated way to analyze the
attribute of electricity. Consumers to improve the efficiency and economics of
usage. Smart grids can easily detect the power outage and shortage quickly and fix
them shortly.
8. Major Application
Another major application of the internet is in healthcare as it is smart medical
systems installed to diagnose and cure the disease at an earlier stage. Many machine
learning algorithms are used in image processing and classification to detect the
fetus’s abnormalities before birth. The main aim applied in the medical field is to
provide a healthier life for all by wearing connected devices. The gathered medical
data of patients made the treatment easier, and a monitoring device is installed to
track the sugar and blood pressure.
Advantages of the internet
 The internet is a suitable environment to work with people all over the world
through instant communication that can provide products and services easier and
faster.
 An internet connection made the employees work from the option to create a
virtual office at home.
 The internet connection connects your laptop or pc to internet aided devices
to access cloud computing and cloud storage.
 The internet can build a supercomputer to perform and manage complex task.
 Conclusion
As discussed, the internet provides enormous application in all fields to reduce
the complexity and on-time delivery with high quality of customer relationship
management. Social media is on-trend to spread the news faster, which gets the
people closer to solve the issue irrespective of time and place.
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. You can start surfing, and then
realize far more time has passed than you realized. Internet and television
together of added to the more sedentary lifestyles of people which further
exacerbates the obesity problem.

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.

10) It can be quite depressing to be on the internet and realize just how
uneducated so many people have become in today's society.

WEB BROWSER
A web browser is a type of software that is used to view articles, images, movies,
music, and other information on the World Wide Web or local servers, and to access
other Internet features. Web page html are written in a computer language called,
and web browsers are those HTML. Displays pages on the user's computer. Some
of the main web browsers used on personal computers are Internet Explorer, Mozilla
Firefox, Safari, Opera, Flock and Google Chrome, while the smartphone versions of
web browsers are HTML. Helps to display the pages on the user's mobile.
Each computer supports an operating system, some have Windows,
some have Linux or Unix. Each individual and company sets up an operating system
as per their requirements. The programming of each operating system is different
and the functions are also different. be the same for In such a situation, HTML
(Hyper Text Mark Up Language) came in the common programming language for
information exchange. Its programming and functions were designed to be
understood by web browsers.
Every web browser understands the HTML programming language. Many browsers
in the early days only supported HTML support, but now-a-days browsers support
other programming languages like HTML, such as XHTML, etc.

In 1991, Tim Berner-Lee laid the foundation for the web browser by combining
many technologies.
This web browser was named the World Wide Web, which is also called W.W.W in
short. The page is located as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) and this URL is
known as the web address. This web address begins with the English alphabet
'HTTP'. Many browsers support URL types other than HTTP and their protocols like
gopher, ftp etc.

History of Web Browser

 1990 – The World Wide Web (not to be confused with the World Wide Web)
was the first browser ever created by W3C Director Tim Berners-Lee, then
renamed Nexus to differentiate from the actual World Wide Web. Unlike
today, this was the only browser and the only way to access the web.

 1992 – Lynx was a texted-based browser that couldn’t display any graphic
content.

 1993 – Mosaic was the first browser to allow images embedded in text
making it “the world’s first most popular browser”.
 1994 – A noticeable improvement to Mosaic came Netscape Navigator.
 1995 – Internet Explorer made its debut as Microsoft’s first web browser.
 1996 – Opera started as a research project in 1994 that finally went public
two years later. This was also arguably the beginning of the browser wars,
mainly between IE 3 and Navigator 3 as Internet Explorer inched ahead
with new capabilities.
 2003 – Apple’s Safari browser was released specifically for Macintosh
computers instead of Navigator.
 2004 – Mozilla launched Firefox as Netscape Navigator faded out.
 2007 – Mobile Safari was introduced as Apple’s mobile web browser and
continues to dominate the iOS market.
 2008 – Google Chrome appeared to soon take over the browser market.
 2011 – Opera Mini was released to focus on the fast-growing mobile
browser market.
 2015 – Microsoft Edge was born to combat Google.

Chrome, Netscape, Opera, and Safari. They are the some Web Browsers
Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer (IE) is a product from software giant Microsoft. This is the
most commonly used browser in the universe. This was introduced in 1995
along with Windows 95 launch and it has passed Netscape popularity in
1998.

Google Chrome
This web browser is developed by Google and its beta version was first
released on September 2, 2008 for Microsoft Windows. Today, chrome is
known to be one of the most popular web browser with its global share of
more than 50%.

Mozilla Firefox
Firefox is a new browser derived from Mozilla. It was released in 2004 and
has grown to be the second most popular browser on the Internet.

Safari
Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Inc. and included in Mac OS X.
It was first released as a public beta in January 2003. Safari has very good
support for latest technologies like XHTML, CSS2 etc.

Opera
Opera is smaller and faster than most other browsers, yet it is full- featured.
Fast, user-friendly, with keyboard interface, multiple windows, zoom
functions, and more. Java and non Java-enabled versions available. Ideal
for newcomers to the Internet, school children, handicap and as a front-end
for CD-Rom and kiosks.

Konqueror
Konqueror is an Open Source web browser with HTML 4.01 compliance,
supporting Java applets, JavaScript, CSS 1, CSS 2.1, as well as Netscape
plugins. This works as a file manager as well as it supports basic file
management on local UNIX filesystems, from simple cut/copy and paste
operations to advanced remote and local network file browsing.
You can download a latest version of this browser by clicking here
→ Download Konqueror

Lynx
Lynx is a fully-featured World Wide Web browser for users on Unix, VMS,
and other platforms running cursor-addressable, character-cell terminals or
emulators.
 INTERNET USING INTERNET EXPLORER

Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer is a free web browser, commonly called IE or MSIE, that

allows users to view web pages on the internet. It is also used to access
online banking, online marketing over the internet, listen to and watch
streaming videos, and many more. It was introduced by Microsoft in 1995.
It was produced in response to the first geographical browser, Netscape
Navigator.
Microsoft Internet Explorer was a more popular web browser for many years
from 1999 to 2012 as it surpassed the Netscape Navigator during this time.
It includes network file sharing, several internet connections, active
Scripting, and security settings. It also provides other features such as:
o Remote administration
o Proxy server configuration
o VPN and FTP client capabilities
Versions of Internet Explorer
All 11 versions of Internet Explorer were released in many years. The last
IE11 web browser was introduced in 2013. At that time, Microsoft has
introduced versions of Internet Explorer for Unix machines and for Mac OS X
operating system, but those versions were discontinued as well. The below
table contains all versions of IE and release date:

Versions Release Date

Internet In 1995, it was introduced.
Explorer 1
Internet It was also introduced in 1995 for
Explorer Windows NT.
1.5
Internet It was introduced on 22 November
Explorer 2 1995 for PC and later for Mac in 1996.
Internet On 13 August 1996, it was introduced
Explorer 3 for PC and Mac.
Internet In September 1997, it was released for
Explorer 4 PC and Mac.
Internet In 1999, it was introduced for the Mac.
Explorer
4.5
Internet In 1999, it was introduced for the PC and
Explorer 5 Mac.
Internet In July 2000, it was introduced.
Explorer
5.5
Internet On 27 August 2001, it was introduced.
Explorer 6
Internet On 18 October 2006, it was introduced.
Explorer 7
Internet On 19 March 2009, it was released.
Explorer 8
Internet On 14 March 2011, the 9th version of IE
Explorer 9 was introduced.
Internet It was introduced on 26 October 2012.
Explorer
10
Internet On 17 October 2013, it was introduced.
Explorer
11
History of Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer web browser was first released on 16 August 1995 by
Microsoft. The initial version of IE was 1.0, and it came with Microsoft
Windows 95.
The IE version 2 was introduced in November 1995, which provided support
for secure sockets layer (SSL) encryption and cookies.
The next version 3 was released in August 1996, followed with the features
of Java and cascading style sheets (CSS).
The last version of IE11 was released in 2013. With the release of Windows
10 in 2015, it was replaced by the Microsoft Edge as a default browser in
Windows.

Email

Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages

("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email entered limited use
in the 1960s, but users could only send to users of the same computer. Some
systems also supported a form of instant messaging, where sender and
receiver needed to be online simultaneously. Ray Tomlinson is credited as
the inventor of networked email; in 1971, he developed the first system able
to send mail between users on different hosts across the ARPANET, using
the @ sign to link the user name with a destination server. By the mid-1970s,
this was the form recognized as email.
Email operates across computer networks, primarily the Internet. Today's
email systems are based on a store-and-forward model.
Email servers accept, forward, deliver, and store messages. Neither the
users nor their computers are required to be online simultaneously; they
need to connect, typically to a mail server or a webmail interface to send or
receive messages or download it.
Originally an ASCII text-only communications medium, Internet email was
extended by Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) to carry text in
other character sets and multimedia content attachments. International
email, with internationalized email addresses using UTF-8, is standardized
but not widely adopted.[2]
The history of modern Internet email services reaches back to the
early ARPANET, with standards for encoding email messages published as
early as 1973 (RFC 561). An email message sent in the early 1970s is similar
to a basic email sent today

PRIVACY
Mail from the U.S. Postal Service comes with a guarantee of privacy. If a
third party opens mail intended for someone else without the addressee's
permission, that person has committed a crime punishable by law. No such
privacy exists in e-mail. Courts have held that employees sending e-mail on
company computers, with company accounts and software, and using
company time have no expectations of privacy. Companies feel free to
examine an employee's e-mail. In addition, e-mail has been summoned on
court cases to prove work environment status.
Employees should never write anything in an e-mail that they would not say
face-to-face to the concerned parties. E-mail is not like private letters that
are received in the mail, torn up, and thrown away. E-mail is backed up,
placed on other servers, and will be retrievable for a long time. Also, the
person to whom e-mail is sent may decide to forward it to others without the
sender's permission.
SECURITY
E-mail is now available in many venues. Checking e-mail on office or home
computers is no longer the only option. E-mail can be transmitted to personal
digital assistants, pagers, and cell phones. These media frequently use
wireless networks. Wireless signals have more security issues than wired
systems. Just as a cell phone call can be intercepted and heard by others,
so can the related e-mail be compromised. When dealing with issues that
should be secure, how the e-mail will be received should be considered.
Most companies would not want third parties to be able to easily glance at a
cell phone display and see proprietary company information.
ACCESS
E-mail is of value only if it is sent to a valid e-mail address where it will be
reviewed by the person one is attempting to contact. Addresses may be
changed and if an address is not current, the e-mail will not be delivered,
resulting in a communication delay. One cannot communicate effectively if
one is missing e-mail addresses or has bad addresses, the other parties do
not use e-mail, or the other parties are not checking their e-mail.
ORGANIZATION
In order to keep up with a barrage of e-mail arriving daily, it is a good idea to
organize one's e-mail. E-mail is received in chronological order, but most e-
mail software will let users sort the chronological list by name of sender or
subject. This way users can find that message they remember getting but
cannot see in their mailbox at first glance. Another option is to move
messages one is finished with to specific folders. Users can even designate
that certain incoming messages be sent directly to a folder or mailbox rather
than their inbox. Users do have to remember to check their e-mail in that
special folder or mailbox, though.
Handling e-mail in a prompt and effective manner is increasingly important
as the volume of e-mail continues to build. Accuracy in responses, as well
as attention to important message details such as grammar and spelling, will
indicate professionalism in corporate communication.
ETIQUETTE
When communicating with e-mail, etiquette is an important convention that
should not be overlooked. E-mail lends itself naturally to brief messages. A
message can be so brief, however, that it is terse and may seem both rude
and abrupt to the receiver. Tone, therefore, is an important issue of etiquette.
This is especially true in communicating with international audiences who
may expect a more extensive exchange of courtesies in the e-mail message.
Correct use of e-mail etiquette includes such courtesies as asking a
message sender for permission before forwarding the sender's message to
others, using an appropriate and clearly understood subject line, and
sending messages only to people who have an interest in receiving them.
Some message senders use emoticons or symbols to indicate nonverbal
communication cues, for instance, :-) (which indicates happiness). Reviews
are mixed on whether emoticons are acceptable in the business use of e-
mail.
JUNK MAIL AND FRAUD ATTEMPTS
Along with receiving a large volume of e-mail is the issue of junk mail
including spam, viruses, and phishing. Spam is unsolicited e-mail that is
delivered usually in mass mailings to the electronic mailbox. The sheer
volume of spam can cause systems to crash. In 2003 the CAN-SPAM Act
was passed in an attempt to better regulate spam. Spam filters have been
taking a bite out of spam by excluding suspicious e-mail messages and
sending them to a quarantine area. The e-mail reader should go to the
quarantine area periodically to see if important messages have been sent
there by accident. Because the spam filter looks for a wide variety of subject
lines, care must be taken to include an explicit and appropriate subject line.
Using something such as "hi" or "it's me" might send messages straight to
the receiver's quarantine box.
Viruses can be attached to e-mail messages, usually through attachments.
A good plan is to scan attachments with a current virus scanner before
opening any that might be suspicious. As more computer users use strong
antivirus programs, this issue may become less important in the future.
Phishing occurs when a message is received that purports to be from an
entity e-mail readers would know, such as their banks, popular shopping
sites, or auction services. If the message is not examined closely, the screen
image and presentation may seem authentic. The message is phishing for
information by trying to get users to reveal valuable personal information
such as account numbers and passwords that the phisher can use for
schemes involving fraud and identity theft.
LEGAL ISSUES
Increasingly, e-mail is becoming involved when legal issues arise. When a
company is the subject of a lawsuit, a subpoena for e-mail and IM is often
served. Having a responsible program to track and save e-mail and IM is
critical to a company's success. Some companies have even made the
decision to outsource the management of electronic resources including e-
mail and IM to ensure that an acceptable program exists in case of legal
issues. Companies should have policies concerning electronic
communication so that employees will know what kind of messages are
acceptable and what are not. Regular training for employees will result in
increasing quality of messages.
TRENDS
Trends in e-mail include better filters and restrictions on spam in the
workplace, control and accountability for both e-mail and newer technology
such as IM, an escalation in the demand to supply e-mail records when legal
issues arise, and more ways to use e-mail in the future. The ability to manage
e-mail effectively will be increasingly.
Spam
E-mail, being real mail, rapidly came to be abused by organizations sending
out millions of unsolicited e-mail messages selling everything from drugs to
insurance to pornography. Such unwanted mail became known as spam.
Spam is one of the negative phenomena associated with e-mail.
Spam came under relatively mild regulation with the passage of the
Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act,
also officially called the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Public Law 108-197). It
became effective in December of 2003 and took effect on January 1, 2004.
The act requires that senders of unsolicited commercial e-mail label their
messages, but Congress did not require a standard labeling language. Such
messages are required to carry instructions on how to opt-out of receiving
such mail; the sender must also provide its actual physical address.
Misleading headers and titles are prohibited. Congress authorized the
Federal Trade Commissioned to establish a "do-not-mail" registry but did not
require the FTC do so. CAN-SPAM also has preemptive features: it prohibits
states from outlawing commercial e-mail or to require their own labeling.
Since 2003 other bills have been proposed but have not been enacted.
With CAN-SPAM in effect, it is at least theoretically possible to curb
unsolicited mail by the tedious effort of answering every piece of spam and
filling in an "opt-out" form. Software for controlling unsolicited e-mail is also
available; the simplest forms of such control require entering addresses from
which mail may be accepted; all other mail is rejected; this technique is very
effective but, obviously, turns e-mail into a private communications service.
E-mail servers also offer effective filtering services. Nonetheless, a rather
negative conclusion must be drawn: with the positive aspects of e-mail go
many negative aspects which threaten to erode the effectiveness of this new
medium.

SEARCH ENGINE
 A search engine is a software system that is designed to carry out web
searches. They search the World Wide Web in a systematic way for
particular information specified in a textual web search query.
The search results are generally presented in a line of results, often
referred to as search engine results pages (SERPs) The information
may be a mix of links to web pages, images, videos, info graphics,
articles, research papers, and other types of files. Some search engines
also mine data available in databases or open directories. Unlike web
directories, which are maintained only by human editors, search engines
also maintain real-time information by running an algorithm on a web
 crawler. Internet content that is not capable of being searched by a web
search engine is generally described as the deep web.

1990s: Birth of search engines

The first internet search engines predate the debut of the Web in December
1990: WHOIS user search dates back to 1982, and the Knowbot Information
Service multi-network user search was first implemented in 1989. The first
well documented search engine that searched content files,
namely FTP files, was Archie, which debuted on 10 September 1990.
Prior to September 1993, the World Wide Web was entirely indexed by
hand. There was a list of webservers edited by Tim Berners-Lee and hosted
on the CERN webserver. One snapshot of the list in 1992 remains, but as
more and more web servers went online the central list could no longer keep
up. On the NCSA site, new servers were announced under the title "What's
New!"
The first tool used for searching content (as opposed to users) on
the Internet was Archie. The name stands for "archive" without the "v". It was
created by Alan Emtage computer science student at McGill
University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The program downloaded the
directory listings of all the files located on public anonymous FTP (File
Transfer Protocol) sites, creating a searchable database of file names;
however, Archie Search Engine did not index the contents of these sites
since the amount of data was so limited it could be readily searched
manually.
The rise of Gopher (created in 1991 by Mark McCahill at the University of
Minnesota) led to two new search programs, Veronica and Jughead. Like
Archie, they searched the file names and titles stored in Gopher index
systems. Veronica (Very Easy Rodent-Oriented Net-wide Index
to Computerized Archives) provided a keyword search of most Gopher
menu titles in the entire Gopher listings. Jughead
(Jonzy's Universal Gopher Excavation And Display) was a tool for obtaining
menu information from specific Gopher servers. While the name of the
search engine "Archie Search Engine" was not a reference to the Archie
comic book series, "Veronica" and "Jughead" are characters in the series,
thus referencing their predecessor.
In the summer of 1993, no search engine existed for the web, through
numerous specialized catalogues were maintained by hand. Oscar
Nierstrasz at the University of Geneva wrote a series of Perl scripts that
periodically mirrored these pages and rewrote them into a standard format.
This formed the basis for W3Catalog, the web's first primitive search engine,
released on September 2, 1993.[15]
In June 1993, Matthew Gray, then at MIT, produced what was probably the
first web robot, the Perl-based World Wide Web Wanderer, and used it to
generate an index called "Wandex". The purpose of the Wanderer was to
measure the size of the World Wide Web, which it did until late 1995. The
web's second search engine Aliweb appeared in November 1993. Aliweb did
not use a web robot, but instead depended on being notified by website
administrators of the existence at each site of an index file in a particular
format.
JumpStation (created in December 1993[16] by Jonathon Fletcher) used
a web robot to find web pages and to build its index, and used a web form as
the interface to its query program. It was thus the first WWW resource-
discovery tool to combine the three essential features of a web search
engine (crawling, indexing, and searching) as described below. Because of
the limited resources available on the platform it ran on, its indexing and
hence searching were limited to the titles and headings found in the web
pages the crawler encountered.
One of the first "all text" crawler-based search engines was WebCrawler,
which came out in 1994. Unlike its predecessors, it allowed users to search
for any word in any webpage, which has become the standard for all major
search engines since. It was also the search engine that was widely known
by the public. Also in 1994, Lycos (which started at Carnegie Mellon
University) was launched and became a major commercial endeavor.
The first popular search engine on the Web was Yahoo! Search.[17] The first
product from Yahoo!, founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo in January
1994, was a Web directory called Yahoo! Directory. In 1995, a search
function was added, allowing users to search Yahoo! Directory![18][19] It
became one of the most popular ways for people to find web pages of
interest, but its search function operated on its web directory, rather than its
full-text copies of web pages.
Soon after, a number of search engines appeared and vied for popularity.
These included Magellan, Excite, Infoseek, Inktomi, Northern Light,
and AltaVista. Information seekers could also browse the directory instead
of doing a keyword-based search.
In 1996, Robin Li developed the RankDex site-scoring algorithm for search
engines results page ranking[20][21][22] and received a US patent for the
technology.[23] It was the first search engine that used hyperlinks to measure
the quality of websites it was indexing,[24] predating the very similar algorithm
patent filed by Google two years later in 1998.[25] Larry Page referenced Li's
work in some of his U.S. patents for PageRank.[26] Li later used his Rankdex
technology for the Baidu search engine, which was founded by Robin Li in
China and launched in 2000.
In 1996, Netscape was looking to give a single search engine an exclusive
deal as the featured search engine on Netscape's web browser. There was
so much interest that instead Netscape struck deals with five of the major
search engines: for $5 million a year, each search engine would be in
rotation on the Netscape search engine page. The five engines were Yahoo!,
Magellan, Lycos, Infoseek, and Excite.
Google adopted the idea of selling search terms in 1998, from a small search
engine company named goto.com. This move had a significant effect on the
SE business, which went from struggling to one of the most profitable
businesses in the Internet.
Search engines were also known as some of the brightest stars in the
Internet investing frenzy that occurred in the late 1990s. Several companies
entered the market spectacularly, receiving record gains during their initial
public offerings. Some have taken down their public search engine, and are
marketing enterprise-only editions, such as Northern Light. Many search
engine companies were caught up in the dot-com bubble, a speculation-
driven market boom that peaked in 1990 and ended in 2000.

 Here are the some serach engines described

1. Google
Google Search Engine is the best search engine in the world and it is also
one of most popular products from Google. Google was founded by Larry
page and Sergey Brin in 4 September 1998, in California, U.S. Almost
70 percent of the Search Engine market has been acquired by Google. The
tech giant is always evolving and looking to improve the search engine
algorithm to provide best results to the end-user. Although Google appears
to be the biggest search engine, as of 2015 YouTube is now more popular
than Google (on desktop computers).
 2.Bing

Bing is Microsoft’s answer to Google and it was launched in 2009, by

Microsoft team. Bing is the default search engine in Microsoft’s web
browser. At Bing, they are always striving to make it a better search engine
but it’s got a long way to go to give Google competition. Microsoft’s search
engine provides different services including image, web and video search
along with maps. Bing introduced Places (Google’s equivalent is Google
My Business), this is a great platform for business to submit their details to
optimize their search results.

2. Yahoo

Yahoo & Bing compete more with each other than with Google. Yahoo was
founded in January 1994, by Jerry yang and David Filo. A recent report
on netmarketshare.com tells us that Yahoo have a market share of 7.68
percent. Although a leader as a free email provider, this is declining
significantly though with their recent acknowledgement that User.

INSTANT MESSAGING
 Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing real-
time text transmission over the Internet or another computer network.
Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each
user inputs text and triggers a transmission to the recipient(s), who are all
connected on a common network. It differs from email in that conversations
over instant messaging happen in real-time (hence "instant"). Most modern
IM applications (sometimes called "social messengers", "messaging apps"
or "chat apps") use push technology and also add other features such
as emojis (or graphicalsmileys), file transfer, chatbots, Voice over IP,
or video chat capabilities.
Instant messaging systems tend to facilitate connections between specified
known users (often using a contact list also known as a "buddy list" or "friend
list"), and can be standalone applications or integrated into e.g. a
wider social media platform, or a website where it can for instance be used
for conversational commerce. IM can also consist of conversations in "chat
rooms". Depending on the IM protocol, the technical architecture can
be peer-to-peer (direct point-to-point transmission) or client–server (an IM
service center retransmits messages from the sender to the communication
device). It is usually distinguished from text messaging which is typically
simpler and normally uses cellular phone networks.
Instant messaging was pioneered in the early Internet era; the IRC protocol
was the earliest to achieve wide adoption.[1] Later in the 1990s, ICQ was
among the first closed and commercialized instant messengers, and several
rival services appeared afterwards as it became a popular use of the
Internet.[2] Instant messaging remains very popular today; IM apps are the
most widely used smartphone apps: in 2018 there were over 1.3 billion
monthly users of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, and 980
million monthly active users of WeChat.

Types of instant messaging

 Email Messengers.
 Social Media Messenger.
 Instant Video Messaging App.
 Freeware and Cross-Platform Instant Messaging for smartphone.
 Emerging trends in IT

E-Commerce - E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the buying and selling

of goods and services, or the transmitting of funds or data, over an electronic
network, primarily the internet. These business transactions occur either as
business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-
consumer or consumer-to-business. The terms e-commerce and e-business
are often used interchangeably. The term e-tail is also sometimes used in
reference to the transactional processes that make up online retail shopping.
In the last decade, widespread use of e-commerce platforms such as
Amazon and eBay has contributed to substantial growth in online retail. In
2007, e-commerce accounted for 5.1% of total retail sales; in 2019, e-
commerce made up 16.0%.
How does e-commerce work?
E-commerce is powered by the internet, where customers can access an online store
to browse through, and place orders for products or services via their own devices.
As the order is placed, the customer's web browser will communicate back and forth
with the server hosting the online store website. Data pertaining to the order will
then be relayed to a central computer known as the order manager -- then forwarded
to databases that manage inventory levels, a merchant system that manages payment
information (using applications such as PayPal), and a bank computer -- before
circling back to the order manager. This is to make sure that store inventory and
customer funds are sufficient for the order to be processed. After the order is
validated, the order manager will notify the store's web server, which will then
display a message notifying the customer that their order has been successfully
processed. The order manager will then send order data to the warehouse or
fulfillment department, in order for the product or service to be successfully
dispatched to the customer. At this point tangible and/or digital products may be
shipped to a customer, or access to a service may be granted.
Platforms that host e-commerce transactions may include online marketplaces that
sellers simply sign up for, such as Amazon.com; software as a service (SaaS) tools
that allow customers to 'rent' online store infrastructures; or open source tools for
companies to use in-house development to manage.
Types of e-commerce
Business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce refers to the electronic exchange of
products, services or information between businesses rather than between businesses
and consumers. Examples include online directories and product and supply
exchange websites that allow businesses to search for products, services and
information and to initiate transactions through e-procurement interfaces.
In 2017, Forrester Research predicted that the B2B e-commerce market will top $1.1
trillion in the U.S. by 2021, accounting for 13% of all B2B sales in the nation.
Business-to-consumer (B2C) is the retail part of e-commerce on the internet. It is
when businesses sell products, services or information directly to consumers. The
term was popular during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, when online retailers
and sellers of goods were a novelty.
Today, there are innumerable virtual stores and malls on the internet selling all types
of consumer goods. The most recognized example of these sites is Amazon, which
dominates the B2C market.
Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) is a type of e-commerce in which consumers trade
products, services and information with each other online. These transactions are
generally conducted through a third party that provides an online platform on which
the transactions are carried out.
Online auctions and classified advertisements are two examples of C2C platforms,
with eBay and Craigslist being two of the most popular of these platforms. Because
eBay is a business, this form of e-commerce could also be called C2B2C --
consumer-to-business-to-consumer.
Consumer-to-business (C2B) is a type of e-commerce in which consumers make
their products and services available online for companies to bid on and purchase.
This is the opposite of the traditional commerce model of B2C.
A popular example of a C2B platform is a market that sells royalty-free photographs,
images, media and design elements, such as iStock. Another example would be a
job board.
Business-to-administration (B2A) refers to transactions conducted online between
companies and public administration or government bodies. Many branches of
government are dependent on e-services or products in one way or another,
especially when it comes to legal documents, registers, social security, fiscals and
employment. Businesses can supply these electronically. B2A services have grown
considerably in recent years as investments have been made in e-government
capabilities.
Consumer-to-administration (C2A) refers to transactions conducted online
between individual consumers and public administration or government bodies. The
government rarely buys products or services from citizens, but individuals
frequently use electronic means in the following areas:
 Education. Disseminating information, distance learning/online lectures, etc.
 Social security. Distributing information, making payments, etc.
 Taxes. filing tax returns, making payments, etc.
 Health. Making appointments, providing information about illnesses, making
health services payments, etc.

Mobile e-commerce (M-commerce) is a type of e-commerce on the rise that

features online sales transactions made using mobile devices, such as smartphones
and tablets. M-commerce includes mobile shopping, mobile banking and mobile
payments. Mobile chatbots also provide e-commerce opportunities to businesses,
allowing consumers to complete transactions with companies via voice or text
conversations.
Advantages and disadvantages of e-commerce
Benefits of e-commerce include its around-the-clock availability, the speed of
access, the wide availability of goods and services for the consumer, easy
accessibility and international reach.
 Availability. Aside from outages or scheduled maintenance, e-commerce sites
are available 24x7, allowing visitors to browse and shop at any time. Brick-and-
mortar businesses tend to open for a fixed number of hours and may even close
entirely on certain days.
 Speed of access. While shoppers in a physical store can be slowed by crowds, e-
commerce sites run quickly, which is determined by compute
and bandwidth considerations on both consumer device and e-commerce site.
Product pages and shopping cart pages load in a few seconds or less. An e-
commerce transaction can comprise a few clicks and take less than five minutes.
 Wide availability. Amazon's first slogan was "Earth's Biggest Bookstore." They
could make this claim because they were an e-commerce site and not a physical
store that had to stock each book on its shelves. E-commerce enables brands to
make a wide array of products available, which are then shipped from a
warehouse after a purchase is made. Customers will likely have more success
finding what they want.
 Easy accessibility. Customers shopping a physical store may have a hard time
determining which aisle a particular product is in. In e-commerce, visitors can
browse product category pages and use the site search feature the find the
product immediately.
 International reach. Brick-and-mortar businesses sell to customers who
physically visit their stores. With e-commerce, businesses can sell to any
customer who can access the web. E-commerce has the potential to extend a
business' customer base
 Lower cost. pure play e-commerce businesses avoid the cost associated with
physical stores, such as rent, inventory and cashiers, although they may incur
shipping and warehouse costs.
 Personalization and product recommendations. E-commerce sites can track
visitors' browse, search and purchase history. They can use this data to present
useful and personalized product recommendations, and obtain valuable insights
about target markets. Examples include the sections of Amazon product pages
labeled "Frequently bought together" and "Customers who viewed this item also
viewed."

The disadvantages of e-commerce

Limited customer service. If a customer has a question or issue in a physical store,
he or she can see a clerk, cashier or store manager for help. In an e-commerce store,
customer service may be limited: The site may only provide support during certain
hours of the day, or a call to a customer service phone number may keep the
customer on hold.
 Not being able to touch or see. While images on a webpage can provide a good
sense about a product, it's different from experiencing it "directly," such as
playing music on speakers, assessing the picture quality of a television or trying
on a shirt or dress. E-commerce can lead consumers to receive products that
differ from their expectations, which leads to returns. In some scenarios, the
customer bears the burden for the cost of shipping the returned item to the
retailer.
 Wait time. If a customer sees an item that he or she likes in a store, the customer
pays for it and then goes home with it. With e-commerce, there is a wait time for
the product to be shipped to the customer's address. Although shipping windows
are decreasing as next day delivery is now quite common, it's not instantaneous.
 Security. Skilled hackers can create authentic-looking websites that claim to sell
well-known products. Instead, the site sends customers forfeit or imitation
versions of those products -- or, simply collects customers' credit card
information. Legitimate e-commerce sites also carry risk, especially when
customers store their credit card information with the retailer to make future
purchases easier. If the retailer's site is hacked, hackers may come into the
possession of customers' credit card information.

E-commerce applications
E-commerce is conducted using a variety of applications, such as Email, online
catalogs and shopping carts, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), the file transfer
protocol, web services and mobile devices. This includes B2B activities and
outreach, such as using email for unsolicited ads, usually viewed as spam, to
consumers and other business prospects, as well as sending out e-newsletters to
subscribers and SMS texts to mobile devices. More companies now try to entice
consumers directly online, using tools such as digital coupons, social media
marketing and targeted advertisements.
The rise of e-commerce has forced IT personnel to move beyond infrastructure
design and maintenance to consider numerous customer-facing aspects, such as
consumer data privacy and security. When developing IT systems and applications
to accommodate e-commerce activities, data governance-related regulatory
compliance mandates, personally identifiable information privacy rules and
information protection protocols must be considered.
E-commerce platforms and vendors
An e-commerce platform is a tool that is used to manage an e-commerce business.
E-commerce platform options exist for clients ranging in size from small businesses
to large enterprises. These e-commerce platforms include online marketplaces such
as Amazon and eBay, that simply require signing up for user accounts, and little to
no IT implementation. Another e-commerce platform model is SaaS, where store
owners can subscribe to "rent" space in a cloud-hosted service that does not require
in-house development or on-premises infrastructure. Other e-commerce platforms
may come in the form of open source platforms that require a hosting environment
(cloud or on premises), complete manual implementation and maintenance.
A few examples of e-commerce marketplace platforms include:
 Amazon
 eBay
 Walmart Marketplace
 Chewy
 Wayfair
 Newegg
 Alibaba
 Etsy
 Overstock
 Rakuten

Electronic Data interchange

EDI, which stands for electronic data interchange, is the intercompany
communication of business documents in a standard format. The simple
definition of EDI is a standard electronic format that replaces paper-based
documents such as purchase orders or invoices. By automating paper-
based transactions, organizations can save time and eliminate costly errors
caused by manual processing.
In EDI transactions, information moves directly from a computer application
in one organization to a computer application in another. EDI standards
define the location and order of information in a document format. With this
automated capability, data can be shared rapidly instead of over the hours,
days or weeks required when using paper documents or other methods.
Today, industries use EDI integration to share a range of document types —
from purchase orders to invoices to requests for quotations to loan
applications and more. In most instances, these organizations are trading
partners that exchange goods and services frequently as part of their supply
chains and business-to-business (B2B) networks.

How EDI works

All EDI transactions get defined by EDI message standards. It is vital to have
proper governance processes for data quality. When information is missing
or in the wrong place, the EDI document might not be processed correctly.
Standards are the basis of EDI conversations.¹ Several organizations define
the EDI message standards, including ODETTE, TRADACOMS,
GS1, Peppol and the Accredited Standard Committee X12 (ASC X12).
In general, there are two basic types of EDI transmission:
 Point-to-point or direct connections: Two computers or systems connect
with no intermediary over the internet, generally with secure protocols.
 Value-added network (VAN): A third-party network manages data
transmission, generally with a mail boxing paradigm.
EDI internet transmission protocols include Secure File Transfer
Protocol (SFTP), Applicability Statement 2 or AS2, an HTTPS-based
protocol, Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and others. EDI data
elements include items such as sender ID and receiver ID. Data segments
combine two or more related elements to give them greater meaning. For
example, FNAME and LNAME can combine to form CUSTOMERNAME.
Envelopes structure different types of data and carry the sender and receiver
address information. EDI document flow or message flow describes the
movement of EDI messages to various inbound and outbound addresses
and departments to execute a business process or transaction.²
Metalanguages such as Extensible Markup Language (XML) or JavaScript
Object Notation (JSON) complement rather than replace EDI. Companies
must be ready to handle an ever-increasing number of document formats
and transmission options. One global manufacturer routinely exchanges
about 55 different document types with nearly 2,000 partners.
“As many as 20% of our B2B transactions were producing an error before
we began using IBM Supply Chain Business Network. We have fewer errors
now — for example, we used to have issues with transfer orders because a
client would submit a wrong code, which was painful for our client service
team. It happens probably 80% less now because all of that used to be done
manually.” Read what other EDI managers tell IDC about how they drive
strategic value with IBM Sterling Supply Chain Business Network.
Related links

Read the IDC white paper

Benefits of EDI
EDI transactions are essential to B2B processes and continue to be the
preferred means to exchange documents and transactions between
businesses both small and large.
There are five key business benefits that EDI technology delivers through
automation and B2B integration:
  EDI technology saves time and money through automation of a process
previously manually executed with paper documents.
 EDI solutions improve efficiency and productivity because more
business documents are shared and processed in less time with greater
accuracy.
 EDI data transfer reduces errors (PDF, 669 KB) through rigid
standardization, which helps to ensure information and data are correctly
formatted before they enter business processes or applications.
 EDI integration improves traceability and reporting because electronic
documents can be integrated with a range of IT systems to support data
collection, visibility and analysis.
 EDI automation supports positive customer experiences by enabling
efficient transaction execution and prompt, reliable product and service
delivery.

For large organizations, EDI enables standards to be instituted across

trading partners to achieve benefits consistently. For smaller organizations,
adherence to EDI offers greater integration with larger firms that have big
budgets and strong influence.
Related links

SMART CARD
A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC or IC card) is a
physical electronic authorization device, used to control access to a
resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an
embedded integrated circuit (IC) chip.[1] Many smart cards include a pattern
of metal contacts to electrically connect to the internal chip. Others
are contactless, and some are both. Smart cards can provide personal
identification, authentication, data storage, and application processing.
Applications include identification, financial, mobile phones (SIM), public
transit, computer security, schools, and healthcare. Smart cards may provide
strong security authentication for single sign-on (SSO) within organizations.
Numerous nations have deployed smart cards throughout their populations.
The universal integrated circuit card, or SIM card, is also a type of smart
card. As of 2015, 10.5 billion smart card IC chips are manufactured annually,
including 5.44 billion SIM card IC chips.
The basis for the smart card is the silicon integrated circuit (IC) chip.[4] It was
invented by Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor in 1959, and was
made possible by Mohamed M. Atalla's silicon surface passivation process
(1957) and Jean Hoerni's planar process (1959). The invention of the silicon
integrated circuit led to the idea of incorporating it onto a plastic card in the
late 1960s.[4] Smart cards have since used MOS integrated circuit chips,
along with MOS memory technologies such as flash
memory and EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only
memory).
Some smart card applications include:

1) SIM cards and Telecommunication.

One of the beneficial smart card applications is the development of SIM

cards (Subscriber Identity Module). These help unique identification
modules for each user.
These smart cards contain specific data of each subscriber making it easy
to identify them specifically for billing and other purposes.

The unique data stored can be used to manage the rights and privileges of
each user on different networks.
Smart cards allow secure subscriber authentication, roaming across
networks and secure mobile value-added services. Wireless providers enjoy
the benefit of reduced treachery with the help of security offered by smart
cards.
2) Physical access

There are identity cards for both employees and students in all types of
businesses and universities. The purpose is to grant access to certain
equipment, data, and departments as per one’s needs. These cards contain
identity details of all users which can be checked and scanned.
These cards can be securely used for physical access allowing access only
to authorized users. For highly secured organizations, these smart card
applications act as a tamper-proof device for storing information such as the
user’s fingerprint, image, etc.

3) Domestic purposes
The most commonly used smart cards for domestic purposes are DTH cards.
These cards provide authorized access to information receiving from
satellites. The information received by these cards gets encrypted and
decrypted within it.
4) Government Applications

The government of India issues identity cards to all citizens. It includes

details of all basic information about an individual. An example of such cards
is “Aadhar cards” provided to all citizens.
5) Banking and retail

Smart banking cards are being used wid

6) Electronic Purse
Smart cards are used to value monetary amounts for small purchases.
These smart card readers recover the amount currently stored and reduce
the amount used by the customers to make the purchase.
Cafeterias, vending machines parking, transportation tickets, taxis, groceries
are some of the areas which do not reach amounts to justify the hassle of
using credit cards.
7) Health care

The advent of smart cards in health care sectors has allowed hospitals to
securely store patients’ medical reports safely and reliably.
It helps authorities to access information quickly, can update if required,
immediate insurance processing, and refunds. Another advantage of this is,
compliance with government authorities for organ donation programs, etc.
8) ID Verification and access control

Smart cards are used for identity verification purposes. It allows mutual
authentication and public-key encryption software to identify the cardholder.
These smart card applications also store personal information including
fingerprint or user’s picture.
9) Schools

In the present-day educational system, smart cards are being used in

schools. These cards are very beneficial for students, parents, school
authorities, etc.
Student details are securely saved in this. Smart card applications in school
help in physical access, tracking, for buying things from canteens, school
stationery shops, library, fee payments, etc.
10) Computer & Network Security

Computers have begun using smart cards instead of user names and
passwords. Using these cards, users can be authenticated and authorized
to specific data based on preset privileges.
11) Securing digital content and Physical Assets

The smart card helps to ensure greater security of services and equipment
by giving access to authorized users only.
 Types of Smart Cards
Classification based on mechanism
Based on the working mechanism of the cards, they are being classified into
three:
 Contact Smart Cards
 Contactless Smart Cards
 Hybrid Cards

1. Contact Smart Cards

This is the most common smart cards in use. ATM cards, most credit cards,
SIM cards etc fall into this category.
Here the cards are being inserted into card readers, it reads the information
stored on the contact pad and carry out transactions as required.

2. Contactless Smart Cards

Just like the name implies, these cards do not require a reader. It works
using Near Field Communication technology or using radio frequencies
which establishes wireless communication between the smart card and
wherever you intend to use.
3. Hybrid Cards
Hybrid cards are cards with dual capacity. These cards can work both on
contact and contactless card readers. These cards are quite rare in use.
Classification based on configuration
Smart cards are classified into two, based on their configuration

 Memory cards
 Microprocessors

1. Memory cards
These types of cards are used for temporal purposes only. It can only read,
write or store data. A memory capacity of these cards is comparatively low
and cards are often discarded after use. The data once stored cannot be
edited or changed in this type of card.
2. Microprocessors
Microprocessors work like mini computers and have volatile memory. These
are portable and can be fitted in our pockets.
These have vast memory so that you can write, read, rewrite, edit and
manipulate data as required.
Examples of Smart Cards
Smart cards are used as-
 Used as payment cards like credit/ debit cards. These are issued by
commercial companies or banks.
 Hospitals use these cards to store patient details.
 EBT (Electronic benefits transfer) cards are used for the distribution of
government benefits.
 Smart cards are used by educational institutions, government authorities
etc for access control.

Mobile Communications

Mobile telephone service (MTS) connects mobile radio telephones with other
networks like public switched telephone networks (PSTN), other mobile
telephones and communication systems like Internet.
Basic Mobile Communications System
Mobile phones and other mobile devices, called mobile stations are
connected to base stations. Communication between the mobile stations
and the base stations are done by wireless radio signals, which may be both
data signals and voice signals. Each base station has a coverage area
around it, such that mobile stations within this area can connect provided
they have access permissions. Base stations contain transmitters and
receivers to convert radio signals to electrical signals and vice versa. Base
stations transmit the message in form of electrical signals to the mobile
switching center (MSC). MSCs are connected to other MSCs and public
networks like PSTNs. Features of Mobile Communication
The following are the features of mobile communication:
o High capacity load balancing: Each wired or wireless infrastructure
must incorporate high capacity load balancing.
High capacity load balancing means, when one access point is
overloaded, the system will actively shift users from one access point to
another depending on the capacity which is available.

o Scalability: The growth in popularity of new wireless devices

continuously increasing day by day. The wireless networks have the
ability to start small if necessary, but expand in terms of coverage and
capacity as needed - without having to overhaul or build an entirely new
network.

o Network management system: Now a day, wireless networks are

much more complex and may consist of hundreds or even thousands of
access points, firewalls, switches, managed power and various other
components.
 The wireless networks have a smarter way of managing the entire
network from a centralized point.

 Role based access control: Role based access control (RBAC) allows
you to assign roles based on what, who, where, when and how a user or
device is trying to access your network.
Once the end user or role of the devices is defined, access control policies
or rules can be enforced.
o Indoor as well as outdoor coverage options: It is important that your

wireless system has the capability of adding indoor coverage as well as

outdoor coverage.
o Network access control: Network access control can also be called as
mobile device registration. It is essential to have a secure registration.
Network access control (NAC) controls the role of the user and enforces
policies. NAC can allow your users to register themselves to the network.
It is a helpful feature that enhances the user experience.
o Mobile device management: Suppose, many mobile devices are
accessing your wireless network; now think about the thousands of
applications are running on those mobile devices.
How do you plan on managing all of these devices and their applications,
especially as devices come and go from your business?
Mobile device management can provide control of how you will manage
access to programs and applications. Even you can remotely wipe the
device if it is lost or stolen.
o Roaming: You don't need to worry about dropped connections, slower
speeds or any disruption in service as you move throughout your office
or even from building to building wireless needs to be mobile first.
Roaming allows your end-users to successfully move from one access
point to another without ever noticing a dip in a performance.
For example, allowing a student to check their mail as they walk from
one class to the next.
o Redundancy: The level or amount of redundancy your wireless system
requires depends on your specific environment and needs.
o For example: A hospital environment will need a higher level of
redundancy than a coffee shop. However, at the end of the day, they
both need to have a backup plan in place.
o Proper Security means using the right firewall: The backbone of the
system is your network firewall. With the right firewall in place you will be
able to:
o See and control both your applications and end users.

o Create the right balance between security and performance.

o Reduce the complexity with:

o Antivirus protection.

o Deep Packet Inspection (DPI)

o Application filtering

o Protect your network and end users against known and unknown

threads including:
o Zero- day.

o Encrypted malware.

o Ransom ware.

o Malicious botnets.

o Switching: Basically, a network switch is the traffic cop of your wireless

network which making sure that everyone and every device gets to
where they need to go. Switching is an essential part of every fast,
secure wireless network for several reasons:
o It helps the traffic on your network flow more efficiently.

o It minimizes unnecessary traffic.

o It creates a better user experience by ensuring your traffic is going to

the right places.

The system is diagrammatically shown as follows −

Generations of Mobile Phone Systems

 1G (First Generation) − They were standards for analog voice mobile

phone communications.
 This is the first generation of wireless telephone technology, mobile
telecommunications, which was launched in Japan by NTT in 1979.
 The main technological development in this generation that distinguished
the First Generation mobile phones from the previous generation was
the use of multiple cell sites, and the ability to transfer calls from one site
to the next site as the user travelled between cells during a conversation.
 It uses analog signals.
 It allows the voice calls in one country.

 2G(Second Generation) − They were standards for digital voice mobile

phone communications.
 This is the second generation of mobile telecommunication was
launched in Finland in 1991.
 It was based on GSM standard.
  It enables data transmission like as text messaging (SMS - Short
Message Service), transfer or photos or pictures (MMS ? Multimedia
Messaging Service), but not videos.
 The later versions of this generation, which were called 2.5G using
GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) and 2.75G using EDGE
(Enhanced data rates for GSM Evolution) networks.
 It provides better quality and capacity.

 3G(Third Generation) − These standards were for communications in

form of both digital voice as well as digital data.

3G is the third generation was introduced in early 2000s.

  The transmission of data was increased up to 2Mbits/s, which allows
you to sending or receiving large email messages.
  The main difference between 3G and 2G is the use of packet
switching rather than circuit switching for data transmission.
  Faster communication
  High speed web or more security
  Video conferencing
  3D gaming
  TV streaming, Mobile TV, phone calls etc. are the features of 3G.

 4G(Fourth Generation) − 4G standards provide mobile broadband

internet access in addition to digital voice and data.

o 4G is the fourth generation of mobile telecommunication which was

appeared in 2010.
o It was based on LTE (Long Term Evolution) and LTE advanced
standards.
o Offer a range of communication services like video calling, real time
language translation and video voice mail.
o It was capable of providing 100 Mbps to 1Gbps speed.
o High QoS (Quality of Service) and High security.
Disadvantages
o Uses more battery

o Difficult to implement
 o Expensive equipment are required

 5G(Fifth Generation) − It is the next step of mobile communication

standards beyond 4G which currently under development.
 this refered to fifth generation wireless connection which will be probably
implemented by 2020, or even some years earlier.
 Machine to machine communication can be possible in 5G.
 5G will be able to performs Internet of Things (IoT) for smart home and
smart city, connected cars etc.
 This generation will be based on lower cost, low battery consumption and
lower latency than 4G equipment.
 There will be much fater transmission rate of data to the previous
versions. Thus the speed of 5G will be 1Gbit/s.

MS- OFFICE
- Microsoft Office is a software which was developed by Microsoft in 1988.
This Office suite comprises various applications which form the core of
computer usage in today’s world.
From the examination point of view, questions from MS Office and its
applications are frequently asked in all the major Government
Exams conducted in the country.
In this article, we shall discuss at length Microsoft Office, its applications,
important notes to prepare for the upcoming examinations and some sample
questions and answers for the reference of candidates.
MS Office Applications & its Functions
Currently, MS Office 2016 version is being used across the world and all its
applications are widely used for personal and professional purposes.
Discussed below are the applications of Microsoft Office along with each of
their functions.
1. MS Word
 First released on October 25, 1983
 Extension for Doc files is “.doc”
 It is useful in creating text documents
  Templates can be created for Professional use with the help of MS
Word
 Work Art, colours, images, animations can be added along with the text

in the same file which is downloadable in the form of a document

 Authors can use for writing/ editing their work

To read in detail about Microsoft Word, its features, uses and to get some
sample questions based on this program of Office suite, visit the linked
article.

MS Excel
Majorly used for making spreadsheets


 A spreadsheet consists of grids in the form of rows and columns which

is easy to manage and can be used as a replacement for paper

 It is a data processing application

 Large data can easily be managed and saved in tabular format using MS

Excel
 Calculations can be done based on the large amount of data entered into

the cells of a spreadsheet within seconds

 File extension, when saved in the computer, is “.xls”

Also, visit the Microsoft Excel page to get more information regarding this
spreadsheet software and its components.
This table lists the most frequently used shortcuts in Excel.

To do this Press
Close a workbook Ctrl+W
Open a workbook Ctrl+O
Go to the Home tab Alt+H
Save a workbook Ctrl+S
Copy Ctrl+C
Paste Ctrl+V
To do this Press
Undo Ctrl+Z
Remove cell contents Delete
Choose a fill color Alt+H, H
Cut Ctrl+X
Go to Insert tab Alt+N
Bold Ctrl+B
Center align cell contents Alt+H, A, C
Go to Page Layout tab Alt+P
Go to Data tab Alt+A
Go to View tab Alt+W
Open context menu Shift+F10, or
Context key
Add borders Alt+H, B
Delete column Alt+H, D, C
Go to Formula tab Alt+M
Hide the selected rows Ctrl+9
Hide the selected columns Ctrl+0

Ribbon keyboard shortcuts

The ribbon groups related options on tabs. For example, on the Home tab,
the Number group includes the Number Format option. Press the Alt key
to display the ribbon shortcuts, called Key Tips, as letters in small images
next to the tabs and options as shown in the image below.

You can combine the Key Tips letters with the Alt key to make shortcuts
called Access Keys for the ribbon options. For example, press Alt+H to
open the Home tab, and Alt+Q to move to the Tell me or Search field.
Press Alt again to see KeyTips for the options for the selected tab.
In Office 2013 and Office 2010, most of the old Alt key menu shortcuts still
work, too. However, you need to know the full shortcut. For example, press
Alt, and then press one of the old menu keys E (Edit), V (View), I (Insert),
and so on. A notification pops up saying you're using an access key from an
earlier version of Microsoft Office. If you know the entire key sequence, go
ahead and use it. If you don't know the sequence, press Esc and use Key
Tips instead.

Use the Access keys for ribbon tabs

To go directly to a tab on the ribbon, press one of the following access
keys. Additional tabs may appear depending on your selection in the
worksheet.

To do this Press
Move to the Tell me or Search field on the Alt+Q,
Ribbon and type a search term for then enter
assistance or Help content. the search
term.
Open the File page and use Backstage view. Alt+F
Open the Home tab and format text and Alt+H
numbers and use the Find tool.
Open the Insert tab and insert PivotTables, Alt+N
charts, add-ins, Sparklines, pictures, shapes,
headers, or text boxes.
Open the Page Layout tab and work with Alt+P
themes, page setup, scale, and alignment.
Open the Formulas tab and insert, trace, Alt+M
and customize functions and calculations.
Open the Data tab and connect to, sort, Alt+A
filter, analyze, and work with data.
To do this Press
Open the Review tab and check spelling, Alt+R
add notes and threaded comments, and
protect sheets and workbooks.
Open the View tab and preview page breaks Alt+W
and layouts, show and hide gridlines and
headings, set zoom magnification, manage
windows and panes, and view macros.

Work in the ribbon with the keyboard

To do this Press
Select the active tab on the Alt or F10. To move to a
ribbon, and activate the different tab, use access
access keys. keys or the arrow keys.
Move the focus to Tab key or Shift+Tab
commands on the ribbon.
Move down, up, left, or Arrow keys
right, respectively, among
the items on the Ribbon.
Activate a selected button. Spacebar or Enter
Open the list for a selected Down arrow key
command.
Open the menu for a Alt+Down arrow key
selected button.
When a menu or submenu Down arrow key
is open, move to the next
command.
Expand or collapse the Ctrl+F1
ribbon.
Open a context menu. Shift+F10
To do this Press
Or, on a Windows keyboard,
the Context key (between
the right Alt and right Ctrl
keys)
Move to the submenu Left arrow key
when a main menu is open
or selected.

Keyboard shortcuts for navigating in cells

To do this Press
Move to the previous cell in a Shift+Tab
worksheet or the previous option
in a dialog.
Move one cell up in a worksheet. Up arrow key
Move one cell down in a Down arrow key
worksheet.
Move one cell left in a Left arrow key
worksheet.
Move one cell right in a Right arrow key
worksheet.
Move to the edge of the current Ctrl+Arrow key
data region in a worksheet.
Enter the End mode, move to the End, Arrow key
next nonblank cell in the same
column or row as the active cell,
and turn off End mode. If the
cells are blank, move to the last
cell in the row or column.
Move to the last cell on a Ctrl+End
worksheet, to the lowest used
To do this Press
row of the rightmost used
column.
Extend the selection of cells to Ctrl+Shift+End
the last used cell on the
worksheet (lower-right corner).
Move to the cell in the upper-left Home+Scroll Lock
corner of the window when
Scroll Lock is turned on.
Move to the beginning of a Ctrl+Home
worksheet.
Move one screen down in a Page Down
worksheet.
Move to the next sheet in a Ctrl+Page Down
workbook.
Move one screen to the right in a Alt+Page Down
worksheet.
Move one screen up in a Page Up
worksheet.
Move one screen to the left in a Alt+Page Up
worksheet.
Move to the previous sheet in a Ctrl+Page Up
workbook.
Move one cell to the right in a Tab key
worksheet. Or, in a protected
worksheet, move between
unlocked cells.
Open the list of validation Alt+Down arrow key
choices on a cell that has data
validation option applied to it.
Cycle through floating shapes, Ctrl+Alt+5, then the
such as text boxes or images. Tab key repeatedly
To do this Press
Exit the floating shape navigation Esc
and return to the normal
navigation.
Scroll horizontally. Ctrl+Shift, then scroll
your mouse wheel up
to go left, down to go
right
Zoom in. CTRL+ALT+=
Zoom out. CTRL+ALT+-

Keyboard shortcuts for formatting cells

To do this Press
Open the Format Cells dialog. Ctrl+1
Format fonts in the Format Ctrl+Shift+F or
Cells dialog. Ctrl+Shift+P
Edit the active cell and put the F2
insertion point at the end of its
contents. Or, if editing is turned
off for the cell, move the
insertion point into the formula
bar. If editing a formula, toggle
Point mode off or on so you
can use arrow keys to create a
reference.
Insert a note Shift+F2
Open and edit a cell note Shift+F2
Insert a threaded comment Ctrl+Shift+F2
Open and reply to a threaded Ctrl+Shift+F2
comment
To do this Press
Open the Insert dialog to insert Ctrl+Shift+Plus sign (+)
blank cells.
Open the Delete dialog to Ctrl+Minus sign (-)
delete selected cells.
Enter the current time. Ctrl+Shift+colon (:)
Enter the current date. Ctrl+semi-colon (;)
Switch between displaying cell Ctrl+grave accent (`)
values or formulas in the
worksheet.
Copy a formula from the cell Ctrl+apostrophe (')
above the active cell into the
cell or the Formula Bar.
Move the selected cells. Ctrl+X
Copy the selected cells. Ctrl+C
Paste content at the insertion Ctrl+V
point, replacing any selection.
Open the Paste Special dialog. Ctrl+Alt+V
Italicize text or remove italic Ctrl+I or Ctrl+3
formatting.
Bold text or remove bold Ctrl+B or Ctrl+2
formatting.
Underline text or remove Ctrl+U or Ctrl+4
underline.
Apply or remove strikethrough Ctrl+5
formatting.
Switch between hiding objects, Ctrl+6
displaying objects, and
displaying placeholders for
objects.
Apply an outline border to the Ctrl+Shift+ampersand
selected cells. (&)
To do this Press
Remove the outline border Ctrl+Shift+underline (_)
from the selected cells.
Display or hide the outline Ctrl+8
symbols.
Use the Fill Down command to Ctrl+D
copy the contents and format
of the topmost cell of a
selected range into the cells
below.
Apply the General number Ctrl+Shift+tilde sign (~)
format.
Apply the Currency format with Ctrl+Shift+dollar sign
two decimal places (negative ($)
numbers in parentheses).
Apply the Percentage format Ctrl+Shift+percent sign
with no decimal places. (%)
Apply the Scientific number Ctrl+Shift+caret sign
format with two decimal places. (^)
Apply the Date format with the Ctrl+Shift+number sign
day, month, and year. (#)
Apply the Time format with the Ctrl+Shift+at sign (@)
hour and minute, and AM or
PM.
Apply the Number format with Ctrl+Shift+exclamation
two decimal places, thousands point (!)
separator, and minus sign (-)
for negative values.
Open the Insert hyperlink Ctrl+K
dialog.
Check spelling in the active F7
worksheet or selected range.
To do this Press
Display the Quick Analysis Ctrl+Q
options for selected cells that
contain data.
Display the Create Table dialog. Ctrl+L or Ctrl+T
Open the Workbook Statistics
dialog.

3. MS PowerPoint
 It was released on April 20, 1987
 Used to create audiovisual presentations

 Each presentation is made up of various slides displaying data/

information
 Each slide may contain audio, video, graphics, text, bullet numbering,

tables etc.
 The extension for PowerPoint presentations is “.ppt”

 Used majorly for professional usage

 Using PowerPoint, presentations can be made more interactive

In terms of Graphical user interface, using MS PowerPoint, interesting and

appealing presentation and documents can be created. To read more about
its features and usage, candidates can visit the linked article.

Frequently used shortcuts

The following table itemizes the most frequently used shortcuts in

PowerPoint.

To do this Press
Create new presentation. Ctrl+N
Add a new slide. Ctrl+M
Make selected text bold. Ctrl+B
Change the font size for selected text. Alt+H, F, S
Open the Zoom dialog. Alt+W, Q
To do this Press
Cut selected text, object, or slide. Ctrl+X
Copy selected text, object, or slide. Ctrl+C
Paste cut or copied text, object, or slide. Ctrl+V
Undo the last action. Ctrl+Z
Save the presentation. Ctrl+S
Insert a picture. Alt+N, P
Insert a shape. Alt+N, S, H
Open text in Immersive Reader Ctrl+Shift+I
Select a theme. Alt+G, H
Select a slide layout. Alt+H, L
Go to the next slide. Page down
Go to the previous slide. Page up
Go to the Home tab. Alt+H
Go to the Insert tab. Alt+N
Start the slide show. F5
End the slide show. Esc
Close PowerPoint. Ctrl+Q

Ribbon keyboard shortcuts

The ribbon groups related options on tabs. For example, on the Home tab,
the Paragraph group includes the Bullets option. Press the Alt key to
display the ribbon shortcuts, called Key Tips, as letters in small images next
to the tabs and options as shown in the image below.

You can combine the Key Tips letters with the Alt key to make shortcuts
called Access Keys for the ribbon options. For example, press Alt+H to open
the Home tab, and Alt+Q to move to the Tell me or Search field. Press Alt
again to see KeyTips for the options for the selected tab.
In Office 2010, most of the old Alt key menu shortcuts still work, too.
However, you need to know the full shortcut. For example, press Alt, and
then press one of the old menu keys E (Edit), V (View), I (Insert), and so on. A
notification pops up saying you're using an access key from an earlier version
of Microsoft Office. If you know the entire key sequence, go ahead and use
it. If you don't know the sequence, press Esc and use Key Tips instead.

Use the Access keys for ribbon tabs

To go directly to a tab on the ribbon, press one of the following access keys.
Additional tabs may appear depending on your selection in the worksheet.

To do this Press
Move to the Tell me or Search field on the Alt+Q, then
Ribbon and type a search term for enter the
assistance or Help content. search
term.
Open the File menu. Alt+F
Open the Home tab and format slides, Alt+H
fonts, paragraphs, or drawings.
Open the Insert tab and insert slides, tables, Alt+N
images, illustrations, forms, links, text,
symbols, or media.
Open the Design tab and apply themes and Alt+G
customize slides.
Open the Transitions tab and add Alt+K
transitions between slides.
Open the Animations tab and add Alt+A
animations to slides.
Open the Slide Show tab and set up and Alt+S
play the slide show.
To do this Press
Open the Review tab and check spelling Alt+R
and accessibility and add comments.
Open the View tab and preview Alt+W
presentation layouts, show and hide
gridlines and guides, set zoom
magnification, manage windows, and view
macros.
Open the Help tab and browse the Alt+Y
PowerPoint, contact support, and leave
feedback.

Note: Add-ins and other programs may add new tabs to the ribbon and
may provide access keys for those tabs.
.

Work in the ribbon with the keyboard

To do this Press
Select the active tab on the Alt or F10. To move to a
ribbon, and activate the different tab, use access
access keys. keys or the arrow keys.
Move the focus to Tab key or Shift+Tab
commands on the ribbon.
Move down, up, left, or Arrow keys
right, respectively, among
the items on the ribbon.
Activate a selected button Spacebar or Enter
or control.
Open the list for a selected Down arrow key
command.
Open the menu for a Alt+Down arrow key
selected button.
To do this Press
When a menu or submenu Down arrow key
is open, move to the next
command.
Expand or collapse the Ctrl+F1
ribbon.
Open a context menu. Shift+F10
Or, on a Windows keyboard,
the Context key (between
the right Alt and right Ctrl
keys)
Move to the submenu Left arrow key
when a main menu is open
or selected.
Get help on the currently F1
selected command or
control on the Ribbon.

Move between panes

To do this Press
Cycle clockwise through panes in F6
the Normal view.
Cycle counterclockwise through panes in Shift+F6
the Normal view.
Switch between the Thumbnail pane Ctrl+Shift+Tab
and the Outline View pane.
Work in the Outline view

To do this Press
Promote a paragraph. Alt+Shift+Left arrow key
Demote a paragraph. Alt+Shift+Right arrow
key
Move selected paragraphs up. Alt+Shift+Up arrow key
Move selected paragraphs Alt+Shift+Down arrow
down. key
Show level 1 headings. Alt+Shift+1
Expand text below a heading. Alt+Shift+Plus sign (+)
Collapse text below a heading. Alt+Shift+Minus sign (-)

Select and edit text and objects

Select text and objects

To do this Press
Select one character to the Shift+Right arrow key
right.
Select one character to the Shift+Left arrow key
left.
Select to the end of a Ctrl+Shift+Right arrow key
word.
Select to the beginning of Ctrl+Shift+Left arrow key
a word.
Select one line up (with Shift+Up arrow key
the cursor at the
beginning of a line).
To do this Press
Select one line down (with Shift+Down arrow key
the cursor at the
beginning of a line).
Select an object (when the Esc
text inside the object is
selected).
Select another object Tab key or Shift+Tab until
(when one object is the object you want is
selected). selected
Send object back one Ctrl+Left bracket ([)
position.
Office 2010 and Office 2007:
Not available
Send object forward one Ctrl+Right bracket (])
position.
Office 2010 and Office 2007:
Not available
Send object to back. Ctrl+Shift+Left bracket ([)
Office 2010 and Office 2007:
Not available
Send object to front. Ctrl+Shift+Right bracket (])
Office 2010 and Office 2007:
Not available
Select text within an object Enter
(with an object selected).
Select all objects. Ctrl+A (on the Slides tab)
Play or pause media. Ctrl+Spacebar
Select all slides. Ctrl+A (in the Slide
Sorter view)
Select all text. Ctrl+A (on the Outline tab)

Tip: To multi-select objects with the keyboard use the Selection Pane.
Delete and copy text and objects
To do this Press
Delete one character to the left. Backspace
Delete one word to the left. Ctrl+Backspace
Delete one character to the Delete
right.
Delete one word to the right Ctrl+Delete
(with the cursor between the
words).
Cut selected object or text. Ctrl+X
Copy selected object or text. Ctrl+C
Paste cut or copied object or Ctrl+V
text.
Duplicate an object. Ctrl+D
Ctrl+drag the mouse
Office 2010 and Office
2007: Not available
Undo the last action. Ctrl+Z
Redo the last action. Ctrl+Y
Copy formatting only. Ctrl+Shift+C
Paste formatting only. Ctrl+Shift+V
Copy animation painter. Alt+Shift+C
Office 2010 and Office
2007: Not available
Paste animation painter. Alt+Shift+V
Office 2010 and Office
2007: Not available
Open the Paste Special dialog. Ctrl+Alt+V
Move around in text
To do this Press
Move one character to the left. Left arrow
key
Move one character to the right. Right arrow
key
Move one line up. Up arrow
key
Move one line down. Down arrow
key
Move one word to the left. Ctrl+Left
arrow key
Move one word to the right. Ctrl+Right
arrow key
Move to the end of a line. End
Move to the beginning of a line. Home
Move up one paragraph. Ctrl+Up
arrow key
Move down one paragraph. Ctrl+Down
arrow key
Move to the end of a text box. Ctrl+End
Move to the beginning of a text box. Ctrl+Home
Move to the next title or body text Ctrl+Enter
placeholder. If it is the last placeholder on
a slide, this action inserts a new slide with
the same slide layout as the original slide.
Find and replace text
To do this Press
Open the Find dialog. Ctrl+F
Open the Replace dialog. Ctrl+H
Repeat the last Find action. Shift+F4

Move around and work in tables

To do this Press
Move to the next cell. Tab key

Move to the preceding cell. Shift+Tab

Move to the next row. Down arrow
key
Move to the preceding row. Up arrow
key
Insert a tab in a cell. Ctrl+Tab
Start a new paragraph. Enter
Add a new row at the bottom of the table Tab key
(with the cursor in the last cell of the last
row).

Format text

Before using these keyboard shortcuts, select the text you want to format.
Change or resize a font
To do this Press
Open the Font dialog to Ctrl+Shift+F
change the font.
Increase the font size. Ctrl+Shift+Right angle
bracket (>)
Decrease the font size. Ctrl+Shift+Left angle
bracket (<)

Apply character formatting

To do this Press
Open the Font dialog to change the Ctrl+T
character formatting.
Switch between sentence case, Shift+F3
lowercase, or uppercase.
Apply bold formatting. Ctrl+B
Apply underline formatting. Ctrl+U
Apply italic formatting. Ctrl+I
Apply subscript formatting Ctrl+Equal sign
(automatic spacing). (=)
Apply superscript formatting Ctrl+Shift+Plus
(automatic spacing). sign (+)
Remove manual character formatting, Ctrl+Spacebar
such as subscript and superscript.
Insert a hyperlink. Ctrl+K
Copy text formatting
To do this Press
Copy the formatting of selected text. Ctrl+Shift+C
Paste copied formatting to the selected Ctrl+Shift+V
text.

Align paragraphs
To do this Press
Center the paragraph. Ctrl+E
Justify the paragraph. Ctrl+J
Left align the paragraph. Ctrl+L
Right align the paragraph. Ctrl+R

Work with shapes, pictures, boxes, objects, and WordArt

To do this Press
Insert a text box. Alt+N, X
Insert an embedded Alt+N, J
document or spreadsheet as
an object.
Insert WordArt. Alt+N, W
Move the focus to the first Ctrl+Alt+5
floating shape, such as an
image or a text box.
Group selected shapes, Ctrl+G
pictures, or WordArt objects.
Ungroup selected group. Ctrl+Shift+G
To do this Press
Copy the attributes of the Ctrl+Shift+C
selected shape.
Paste the attributes to the Ctrl+Shift+V
selected object.
Edit a linked or embedded Shift+F10 (to open the
object. context menu), then O,
Enter, E

Insert and reply to comments

Before using these keyboard shortcuts, use the Insert Comment command
(Alt+N, L) to open the Comments pane.

To do this Press
Insert a new comment. Ctrl+N
Reply to a selected comment. Ctrl+R

Change order of slides or sections in a slide deck

To do this Press these keys

Move the selected slide or Ctrl+Up arrow key
section up in order.
Move the selected slide or Ctrl+Down arrow key
section down in order.
Move the selected slide or Ctrl+Shift+Up arrow
section to the beginning. key
Move the selected slide or Ctrl+Shift+Down
section to the end. arrow key
Use the Selection pane

To do this Press
Open the Selection pane. Alt+H, S, L, P
In Office 2007,
Alt+J, D, A, P
Cycle the focus through the F6
different panes.
Display the context menu. Shift+F10
Move the focus to a single item or Up or Down arrow
group. key
Move the focus from an item in a Left arrow key
group to its parent group.
Move the focus from a group to the Right arrow key
first item in that group.
Expand a focused group and all its Asterisk sign (*) (on
child groups. numeric keypad
only)
Expand a focused group. Plus sign (+) (on
numeric keypad
only)
Collapse a focused group. Minus sign (-) (on
numeric keypad
only)
Move the focus to an item and Shift+Up or Down
select it. arrow key
Select a focused item. Spacebar or Enter
Cancel selection of a focused item. Shift+Spacebar or
Shift+Enter
Move a selected item forward. Ctrl+Shift+F
Move a selected item backward. Ctrl+Shift+B
Show or hide a focused item. Ctrl+Shift+S
To do this Press
Rename a focused item. F2
Switch the keyboard focus within Tab key or
the Selection pane between tree Shift+Tab
view and the Show All and Hide
All buttons.
Collapse all groups (with the focus Alt+Shift+1
must be in the tree view of the
Selection pane).
Expand all groups. Alt+Shift+9

Access and use task panes

To do this Press
Move to a task pane from another F6
pane in the program window. (You
may need to press F6 more than
once.)
When a task pane option has focus, Tab or Shift+Tab
move to the next or previous option
in the task pane.
Display the full set of commands on Ctrl+Spacebar
the task pane menu. You can, for
In Office
example, Close, Move, or Size the
2010Ctrl+Down
task pane from this menu.
arrow key
Move to the next command on the Up and Down
task pane menu. arrow keys
Select the highlighted option on the Enter
task pane menu.
To do this Press
Move or resize the task pane after Arrow keys
the corresponding command has
been selected.
Open the Clipboard. Alt+H, F, O
Close the task pane. Ctrl+Spacebar, C

Other useful shortcut keys

To do this Press
Open the Print dialog. Ctrl+P
Print all slides in your presentation as full page Alt+P, P
slides using your default printer settings (when
the Print dialog is open).
Display the Notes pane in the Normal view. Alt+W, P,
N
Show or hide the grid. Shift+F9
Show or hide guides. Alt+F9

4. MS Access
 It was released on November 13, 1992
 It is Database Management Software (DBMS)
 Table, queries, forms and reports can be created on MS Access
 Import and export of data into other formats can be done
 The file extension is “.accdb”
5. MS Outlook
 It was released on January 16, 1997
 It is a personal information management system
  It can be used both as a single-user application or multi-user software
 Its functions also include task managing, calendaring, contact managing,
journal logging and web browsing
 It is the email client of the Office Suite
 The file extension for an Outlook file is “.pst”
6. MS OneNote
 It was released on November 19, 2003
 It is a note-taking application

 When introduced, it was a part of the Office suite only. Later, the

developers made it free, standalone and easily available at play store for
android devices
 The notes may include images, text, tables, etc.

 The extension for OneNote files is “.one”

 It can be used both online and offline and is a multi-user application

Apart from the applications mentioned above, various other applications are
included in the MS Office suite but these are most commonly used
  Ms office was developed in 1988.
Microsoft Office Versions
Version name Release Date/ Year
Microsoft Office for Windows October 1990
Microsoft Office 3.0 August 30, 1992
Microsoft Office 4.x 1994
Microsoft Office 1995 August 24, 1995
Microsoft Office 1997 1997
Microsoft Office 2000 June 7, 1997
Microsoft Office XP May 31, 2001
Microsoft Office 2003 October 21, 2003
Microsoft Office 2007 January 30, 2007
Microsoft Office 2010 June 15, 2010
Microsoft Office 2013 January 30, 2012
Microsoft Office 2016 September 22, 2015