1 Activities Section1and2 Quest - Answ
1 Activities Section1and2 Quest - Answ
1 Activities Section1and2 Quest - Answ
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
7. Indicate in each of the following cases whether the phrase or definition refers to input, output
or storage:
a) Typing a WhatsApp message or an SMS.
a) input
b) A ‘please call me’ from a friend displayed on the smartphone’s screen.
b) output
c) Music that you listen to on your headphones.
c) output
d) Photos on your phone.
d) storage
e) Touching your phone’s screen to start an app.
e) input
f) Printing a document.
f) output
g) The movie on a DVD.
g) storage
8. Distinguish between data and information.
8. Data refers to unprocessed items. This can include text, numbers, images, audio and video.
Information is the result of the processing of data and should be useful and meaningful.
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
Activity 4, p. 9
11 The horizontal bar at the bottom of the desktop, which holds O Delete key
minimised programs P Shortcuts
12 Pictures or icons which have a small curved arrow in the bottom Q Taskbar
left corner R Title bar
13 The key used to cancel an option or get back to where you were S Tooltip
14 A rectangular area on the screen used to display the feedback or T Window
output of a program U GUI
15 An action which reduces a window to a button on the taskbar
16 An action which makes the size of a window as large as possible
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
H S N C L B J F R M Q P D T K I
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
8. Identify each of the following controls in the dialog box below by writing down the control and
the letter where it is found on the screenshot:
Text box, Spinner, Radio button, Command button, Combo/List box, Check box
A Text box
B Spinner
C Radio button
D Combo/List box
E Check box
F Command button
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
9. The following dialog box popped up on your screen when you tried to access the internet.
Outline a way in which you can save this message to a file instead of having to write it all down
or use a camera.
9. Perform a screen capture using the Print Screen key or a Snipping Tool. Then paste the errors
into a Word document and save it.
10. Give the type of software (not a brand or specific name) needed for each of the following
situations:
a) Your mom would like software to run a small office from home.
a) Office Suite
b) Your teacher needs to record the CAT tests marks for the class, determine the average
mark for the test and draw a graph of the symbol distribution.
b) Spreadsheet
c) The school wants to draw up a very professional looking brochure to offer all new parents
to the school.
c) Desktop publishing (DTP) software
d) You wish to look at various web pages on the internet.
d) Web browser
e) A website for the school needs to be created.
e) Web authoring software
f) The principal wants to send an electronic message inviting all the parents to a parents’
evening.
f) Communication (email) software
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
11. Fill in either the type of software, or give an example of the software, for each of the entries in
the following table:
a Web browser
b Web authoring software
c Microsoft Excel / OpenOffice Calc
d Microsoft PowerPoint / OpenOffice Impress
CorelDraw, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia
e
FreeHand, Microsoft Paint
f Database
g Office Suite
Pastel Accounting, Microsoft Money Plus Sunset, Quicken,
h
QuickBooks
i Desktop publishing (DTP) software
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
c) Briefly describe what the term RSI refers to. Do not simply expand the abbreviation.
c) Repetitive strain injury (RSI) is the name given to injuries resulting from fast, repetitive
work.
6. What is the cheapest way to add more USB ports to your computer?
6. If you need extra USB ports, you can get a USB hub, which provides extra USB ports. The hub
itself plugs into an existing USB port.
7. Bluetooth is a technology that allows devices such as mice, printers and smartphones to
communicate wirelessly. What is the main limitation of Bluetooth?
7. Its main limitation is the limited range over which it can operate.
8. Explain what the following specifications of a monitor refer to, their significance for the user
and how they are measured:
a) 19"
a) the size of the screen in inches, measured diagonally in inches
b) 1600 x 900
b) the maximum resolution of the monitor, measured in pixels
c) 5 ms
c) the response time of the monitor, measured in milliseconds
9. Give one reason why someone might choose a laser printer over an inkjet printer.
9. Laser printers are cheaper to run than inkjet printers, are more suited to printing large
volumes, and generally print faster than inkjet printers.
10. USB ports support plug-and-play.
What does this mean? Explain your answer by referring to the concept of plug-and-play.
10. If, for example, you plug a new printer in at the USB port, the printer is usually configured
automatically. This means that you can print immediately.
11. What is meant by the term default printer?
11. This refers to the printer you normally use, unless you choose otherwise.
12. A friend accidentally sent 100 copies of her research task to a printer. Is there any way she can
try to cancel this printing (besides switching the printer off)?
Refer to the concept of a printer queue in your answer.
12. Cancel the printing by cancelling the task in the printer queue.
13. Explain why the storage capacity of a computer is always much larger than its memory.
13. Storage is where all files and programs (software) are kept permanently. This requires a fairly
large storage capacity. However, if we want to run a program or work on a file, a copy of it
needs to be loaded into memory so that we can work with it. Only the files and programs we
need to work with are loaded into memory, so it does not have to be as large as storage, as it
is only there (in memory) on a temporary basis.
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
10. Your father wants to delete some of the largest files from his flash drive.
What would be the quickest way for him to identify which files to delete?
10. Sort the list of files in order of size, and then decide which ones to delete.
11. What is the difference between the Copy and Cut options for files in Explorer?
11. Copy and cut both make a copy of the file and place it on the clipboard so that you can paste it
somewhere else. With copy, the file is kept in the original location, but with cut the file is
removed from its original location.
12. Explain why one might create a shortcut to a file.
12. To be able to gain quick access to the item referenced by the shortcut (instead of having to
navigate through a path to get to the item).
13. Give two possible reasons why one might want to save a file in a different format.
13. Two reasons:
• To share data by using a common format that both programs can read and interpret.
• To allow users who are using a different operating system to access the data / allow users
who are using older versions of a program to access the data.
14. What program (or type of program) would most likely be opened when each of the following
files is double-clicked in Explorer? Briefly explain where necessary.
a) Agenda.pdf
a) pdf: Adobe Reader to read a PDF file
b) Agenda.txt
b) txt: A text editor such as Notepad or a word processor such as Word
c) Agenda.docx
c) docx: Microsoft Word to open a Word document
d) Agenda.exe
d) exe: It is a program or executable file, and double-clicking on it will cause it to run
e) Agenda.jpeg
e) jpeg: Graphics program such as Paint to open a picture (jpeg) file
f) Agenda.mp3
f) mp3: Media player to play a MP3 music/sound file
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
15. While trying to rename a file, a user was presented with the following error message:
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
11. What is a POS system? Expand the acronym and explain what it means.
11. A Point of Sale system is used in a shop. It is an ICT system designed to tally up the total cost of
goods bought quickly and accurately. Barcode scanners are used to scan each product. The
system then uses the price information attached to each barcode to create the total bill, and a
cash slip is printed at the till (pay) point. Each till (pay) point also sends information from the
products scanned to a central server, which manages a database which aids with managing and
ordering stock, etc.
12. What benefits are there to using barcodes and scanners in a POS system?
12. Benefits of using barcodes and scanners in a point-of-sale system:
• more accurate
• faster
• efficient stock control
13. Give three economic reasons why people make use of computers.
13. Three economic reasons why people make use of computers include:
• They are more reliable and accurate than people.
• They are fast – so we can do more tasks in the same amount of time by using a computer.
• They can work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and cost less than people in the long run.
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
7. Your friend Sam made a backup copy of a new program he just purchased. Is he guilty of
software piracy?
Motivate your answer by explaining what software piracy is.
7. No, he is not guilty. Software piracy refers to the illegal installation, copying and distributing of
proprietary software. You can generally only make one copy for backup purposes – you may not
make copies to give to your friends.
8. A local school has been donated hardware to start up a computer literacy programme. They
have limited funds, so they are investigating the use of freeware, shareware and open source
software.
a) What is the difference between freeware and shareware?
a) Freeware is fully functioning software that can be used, and copied without any
restrictions. Shareware is software that you can use for a trial period. You can download
and try shareware for free. The software developer maintains all the rights to the software.
Shareware usually stops working when the trial period has expired, and the trial-version
also sometimes does not include all of the features of the full version. After this period, or
should you wish to get the ‘full’ version, you will need to pay for it.
b) What is the main benefit of open source software, besides any cost implications?
b) Open source software may and can be altered.
c) The teacher at the school was puzzled as he saw an open source product being sold at a
computer store when he thought it was free.
Explain why this misconception may have occurred.
c) The support and documentation can be charged for (it is the source code that is free).
d) Give an example of an open source operating system.
d) Linux
e) Give an example of an open source office suite.
e) OpenOffice / LibreOffice
f) There are obvious benefits to using open source software.
Give four potential disadvantages of using open source software.
f) No guarantee of quality or that it works correctly.
There are often many different versions of the same product.
One can generally only get open source software from the Internet.
Open source software is not as widely used.
Documentation or support for open source software may not be easy to access.
9. Utility programs also form part of system software. What is the general purpose of utility
programs?
9. Utilities are used to assist the user to perform maintenance tasks related to managing a
computer.
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
10. Your mother was told that she will need a driver to install a new printer at her work.
a) Briefly explain what a driver is.
a) A driver is software that allows your computer to communicate with hardware or devices.
b) She managed to install the printer without obtaining a driver.
Explain to her why it seems as if the printer did not require a driver to be installed.
b) The driver was automatically installed by the operating system when the printer was
added.
c) Where could she have found a driver if she had been prompted for one during the
installation of the printer?
c) Look for a driver on the installation CD/DVD or try to source it from the internet.
11. Your school has placed a limit of 2 MB on the size of any file you attach to an email message.
a) What type of software could you use to reduce the size of a file you may wish to send?
a) Compression software
b) Give one example of the type of software that you gave in your previous answer.
b) WinZip / WinRAR
c) What would the person receiving the smaller version of the file have to do before they
could open and edit the file?
c) Decompress / extract / ‘unzip’ it
12. The files on any computer system need to be backed up regularly, to prevent data loss.
a) Give three different ways in which the files on a computer can be ‘lost’.
a) Files can be accidentally deleted or overwritten with the wrong version of the file.
Files can sometimes become corrupt (their contents become ‘scrambled’) by not shutting
down properly, power failures or computer viruses.
Hardware such as a disk drive can fail.
b) Why is it better to use a specialised backup utility program to back up the data on your
hard drive, rather than performing a manual backup?
b) To make sure that all your files are backed up correctly. Also, many of these backup utilities
automatically compress the files to save space on the disk they are being copied to.
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
29. Your friends want to put together a video for a friend’s birthday, by capturing all their birthday
wishes on video.
Give three devices that they could use to record this video.
29. Webcam, smartphone, digital camera, digital video camera
30. A friend offered to ‘rip’ a CD for you. Briefly explain what this means, and why this could in fact
be a criminal offence!
30. The friend will use software to copy digital content from CDs and DVDs, and this could be an
infringement of copyright.
31. Explain how audio output can make computers more usable for people with poor eyesight.
31. It makes it easier for disabled people (people with poor eyesight) to use a computer by reading
interface items to them.
32. Briefly explain what a multi-function printer is, and give what you would consider to be the
biggest advantage, and the biggest disadvantage, of these devices.
32. These devices provide a number of functions rolled into one: printer, scanner, fax/email facility
and photocopier.
Advantages: Save space; cost much less than buying separate pieces of equipment; only need
one USB connection port on the computer
Disadvantage: If it malfunctions, all these functions are lost.
33. Your friend needs to back up his picture collection, which is around 13 GB in size. Would you
recommend that he use a DVD or a flash drive? Motivate your answer.
33. Modern flash drives would have enough capacity to store 13 GB of data. You would need two
DVDs.
The disadvantage of using a flash drive is that they are not ideally suited to act as a backup
device. They are easily misplaced or stolen and are better suited to transferring files from one
location to another.
The advantage of using a DVD disc is that the photos could not be easily erased accidentally.
The best option would in fact probably be to use an external hard drive.
34. Why should you use a card reader rather than a cable to transfer pictures from a digital camera
to a computer?
34. The card reader allows you to put the card into the reader. Then, when you connect the card
reader to a USB port, the computer treats it like a flash drive and you can simply copy the
photos as you would copy any other file.
Using a cable to connect your camera directly to a computer wastes the camera’s battery
power, and this also often means that you have to install special software.
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
Windows 10
Intel CPU 2.1 Hz
RAM 4MB
HDD 1 TB
Free joystick
a) Two of the specifications are obviously incorrect. Identify these incorrect specifications and
suggest a suitable correction for each one.
a) Intel CPU 2.1 Hz (should be Intel CPU 2.1 GHz)
RAM 4MB (should be RAM 4GB)
b) Explain why a computer always needs more storage than RAM.
b) Storage is where all files and programs (software) are kept permanently. This requires a
fairly large storage capacity. However, if we want to run a program or work on a file, a copy
needs to be loaded into memory so that we can work with it. Only the files and programs
we need to work with are loaded into memory, so it does not have to be as large as storage
as it is only there (in memory) on a temporary basis.
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
2. Give two potential disadvantages or drawbacks of having such a wide range of electronic
entertainment means at our fingertips.
2. Any two:
Reduced socialisation
Sedentary lifestyle
No real experience (or building of muscle!) – everything virtual
Potential for unsuitable ‘friendships’ to develop
3. Give three ways in which ICTs can help people in their businesses, apart from the handling of
general office administration.
3. Three ways:
Advertising through electronic means (website, Facebook, etc.)
Communication with investors / like-minded people
More efficient creation of their products
4. One of the criticisms against ICT is that it reduces the number of people required to run a
business. This is particularly relevant in a country like ours where the unemployment rate is so
high.
Counter this criticism by referring to two positive roles that ICT can play in this context.
4. Unemployed people could be encouraged to set up small computer-based businesses for
themselves, since minimal capital expenditure is required.
ICT can be a great help to manage a business more effectively. If a business is successful and
expands, it can provide work for more people.
5. Give two ways in which ICTs can be used to improve the quality of teaching and learning.
5. Any two:
Better quality notes
Easier for teachers to share (with each other and with learners)
Lesson projections on whiteboards, and demonstration software generally (e.g. NetOp)
Interactive software
Tutoring programs (e.g. Maths) require less intensive teacher involvement with learners
Easier research and resources (e.g. a number of learners could be accessing the same
resource at the same time)
Electronic homework assignments, submitted via email
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
c) Parents receive SMSs about the information session that will be held for all parents of CAT
learners.
c) A
d) Maxwell no longer visits the library to take out books. He just downloads and reads them
on his e-book reader.
d) F, C and E
e) There is only one printer in the school’s computer room. Fortunately it is networked, so all
the learners can print to it from their own computers.
e) B
f) The learners and teachers in a school use the same network. However, the network
administrator prevents the learners from accessing the teachers’ folders.
f) G
g) A group of friends are working together on a CAT project from their home computers. The
project files are stored online in OneDrive.
g) C and E
h) Networking chain stores allow them to share data on a single, centralised database. This
allows the company as a whole to better manage and control its stock.
h) D, C and G
5. Setting up and maintaining a network costs money. Give two expenses associated with
networks, besides the cost of the hardware.
5. Additional software may be needed (such as a server edition of the operating system for the
servers and). It is often necessary to hire a network administrator to manage the network
properly.
6. How can a network make it easier to make backups, and help to avoid having unnecessary
duplicate files?
6. The backup can be done from one central place, making it simpler. The data is centralised and
everyone works from that one central place ensuring that data is not unnecessarily duplicated.
7. Server computers are generally more expensive than the ‘ordinary’ computers that most
network users work on. Explain why this is so, by referring to the general role of a server in a
network.
7. A server is a powerful computer that provides shared resources in a network. For example, a file
server typically needs several large hard drives to store all the users’ files in one central
location. By networking their computers they can allow other users to access and use files or
folders on a central computer as if the file or folder was actually on their own computer.
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
8. Most disadvantages and problems associated with networks can be prevented, or at least
minimised. Write a short paragraph in which you outline a few ways in which this can be done.
8. Due to the increased use of networks, users have become generally more aware of potential
risks and have, to some extent, learned how to protect their privacy and information when
going online and how to communicate safely. Many companies outsource network
management functions which can be cheaper than having to hire a full-time network
administrator. Policies can be drawn up and implemented (and users educated) to protect their
data (in terms of privacy and harmful computer software) both on the local network as well as
when they are using the internet. A duplicate server can be kept as a ‘mirror’ of the main file
server in case it becomes faulty. Regular backups should be performed.
9. Someone logged in to your friend’s network account and copied some of her PAT work. Explain
why the network administrator, whose job it is to look after network security, cannot be held
responsible for this.
9. The network administrator will allocate each user a unique username. Adequate password
protection (including not sharing the password with other users) needs to be maintained by the
user. The administrator ensures that only the user with a specific username and password has
the necessary rights to access his/her own data; so it is not the responsibility of the network
administrator, as the user has allowed another user to copy the work.
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
8. Give two reasons why a wireless HAN needs to be set up securely using some form of restricted
access.
8. If this is not done, anyone near to (in range of) the network could access your files and even use
your internet connection.
9. How is a computer connected in a cabled network?
9. One end of the network cable plugs into the network port of the computer, while the other end
plugs into a port on the switch or router.
10. What is UTP in terms of a network?
10. UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) is a type of cable used to connect devices in a network.
11. Explain why software is needed in a network and also why it is not generally necessary to
purchase additional software for this purpose.
11. Software is used to control security and communication in the network. This is already built into
the operating system software of the computing device.
12. What is the internet?
12. The internet is a large worldwide computer network, consisting of computers and networks that
are linked using some form of communication media.
13. What types of wired communication media are used to connect the various parts of the
internet?
13. Telephone lines, fibre cables and undersea cables.
14. Explain what an ISP is and the role it plays in terms of internet connectivity.
14. An ISP (Internet Service Provider) is a company that has a permanent, fast connection to the
internet. These companies sell internet access and services to individuals and organisations for
a monthly fee.
15. How does ADSL allow the user to make normal phone calls while using the same line for
internet access?
15. The ADSL connection is split into two channels, one for making normal phone calls and one for
connecting to the internet.
16. What is the main advantage of fibre over ADSL?
16. With fibre, data is transmitted along thin glass fibre tubes, making it much faster than the
electrical transmission over copper cables used in ADSL.
17. What is the main advantage of connecting to the internet using a cellular connection, compared
to using ADSL?
17. Mobile access.
18. What is 4G more commonly known as?
18. LTE
19. What is a 3G or 4G dongle used for?
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
19. To connect a computer to a cellular network provider for (mobile) internet access.
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
Types of websites
9. Windows Live and Yahoo! are examples of web portals. What is a web portal?
9. A web portal is a website that acts as a starting point for searching on the web and provides
links to different subjects, which can simplify browsing.
10. Wikipedia is the most well-known example of a wiki. What is a wiki?
10. A wiki is a website for the collaborative (joint) creating and editing of web pages.
11. Many advocacy websites exist on the web. Explain what an advocacy website is.
11. It is a website that describes an idea, opinion or cause and usually presents the views of a
particular group or organisation, e.g. SPCA.
12. How do web-based applications differ from local applications?
12. Web-based applications are applications accessed only over the internet and are not stored on
a local computer.
13. Many people use Rotten Tomatoes, which is an example of a content aggregator.
What is a content aggregator?
13. A content aggregator is a website or application that gathers different web content (such as
news and weather) from many different online sources.
Browsing and searching
14. Would you use a web browser or a search engine if you wanted to get the latest cricket score of
the Proteas? Motivate your answer.
14. A web browser (if you know the URL of a site that gives the scores) or a search engine (if you
first need to locate a site for the information).
15. Give two things you can deduce from the following URL: www.inu.ac.sa
15. It is the website of an academic institution based in Saudi Arabia.
16. Which one of the following is not an example of a web browser?
Google Docs, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Microsoft Edge
16. Google Docs.
17. Why does it sometimes happen that the Back button of the web browser is greyed out?
17. The Back button takes you to the page you were viewing previously. If you have viewed more
than one page, it will take you back one page at a time until you get to your starting point
where the button will become ‘greyed out’ and unavailable.
18. Why do browsers on different computers not always open the same web page as others when
the browser is started?
18. It depends on the Home page setting - the page the user has set up as the default or home
page, in other words the first page that appears when the browser is loaded.
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
3. Does it matter if you use the Reply or the Reply All option when replying to an email? Explain
your answer by referring to a suitable set of circumstances where you might use each of these
options.
3. When you use Reply, you are replying only to the person who sent the message to you.
When you use Reply to all, you are replying to all the people who received the first message.
You would only use Reply to all when the message applies to all the people to whom the first
message was sent. For example, if a person sends you a message and you know it is a hoax or
chain mail, then you can use reply to all to inform everyone about the hoax or chain mail.
4. Why do some email messages have the text RE: and others the text FW: at the beginning of the
Subject field?
4. RE: means you are replying to a message.
FW: means you are forwarding a received message to one or more recipients.
5. Why should you be careful about opening attachments from people you do not know?
5. They could contain malicious software such as viruses or be spam or phishing emails.
6. Many email systems place a limit on the size of an attachment.
a) Briefly explain why they put this limit on the size of an attachment.
a) All email service providers place a limit on the maximum email size that an email account
can send or receive. If they did not do this, lots of huge attachments could prevent the
system from working and/or making it very slow to respond. In addition, it prevents
senders and receivers from using lots of bandwidth and data (for sending and receiving
email messages with huge attachments).
b) How can one reduce the size of an attachment?
b) One can compress the attachment using compression software and reduce the resolution
of photographs being sent.
c) How else could one send someone a large video file, if it cannot be sent via email?
c) You could post it on a social networking site or make use of cloud storage services such as
Dropbox and send a link to the files(s) to the recipients(s).
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
Activity 2, p. 118
1. The following are different e-communication tools:
A) Email B) Mailing list C) Social Networking D) IM E) Weblog F) Fax to email
Link each of the following scenarios to one of the tools above:
a) A friend has gone overseas and would like to share his experiences and photographs with
his friends and family back home.
a) C
b) A small business, which normally communicates via email, needs to send and receive faxes
but does not want to spend money purchasing a fax machine.
b) F
c) You have been following a travel journalist’s daily travels around the world.
c) E
d) You have a few friends with whom you wish to keep in contact by exchanging real-time
messages.
d) D
e) You are interested in radio-controlled aeroplanes and would like to communicate via email
with like-minded people.
e) B
f) You are having a birthday party and have typed an invitation. You don’t want to print the
invitation, but would like to send it to some of your friends.
f) A
2. Consider the statement “Email is just so old-fashioned – IM is the way to go!”
a) What is IM?
a) IM is live, text-based communication usually between two people using computers or
other devices such as smartphones.
b) What are the two main advantages of IM over email systems?
b) IM is live and much faster than email.
3. Your mother is used to using faxes. She knows that the receiving fax machine must be switched
on when she sends a fax. She has heard that this is not the case for fax to email – the receiver’s
computer does not even have to be on. Explain to her why this is this case.
3. The fax is kept at the ISP until the recipient logs on and downloads the email containing the fax.
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
Activity 3, p. 120
1. Consider the email message below and answer the questions that follow:
To… thandi.khumalo@hullbibliophiles.org.uk
Cc… bookworm@gmail.com
Bcc…
Subject:
Attach:
Our Library (60 MB)
Hi
SORRY I HAVE NOT CONTACTED YOU FOR A WHILE BUT I HAVE BEEN VERY BUSY AT
WORK. WE HAVE BEEN WORKING ON A PROJECT CALLED ‘COMPUTERS PART OF
YOUR LIFE’. IT IS A COMMINITY BASED COMPUTER LITERACY PROJECT AND IS VERY
EXCITING.
You won’t recognise the libeary since you were here last, so I attached a photo of it
after the renovtions.
Love
Ilse
BTW My boss got a huge bonus and is apparently going to use it for plastic surgery
on her nose :-0
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
2. Many schools and companies have banned the use of social networking sites.
a) Why do you think schools and companies have done this?
Give more than one reason to motivate your answer.
a) To avoid cyber-slacking (‘keeping people out of their work’), abuse of resources such as
bandwidth, and the transgression of company rules by discussing other staff or product
development.
b) Can you think of any reasons why schools and companies should not take this action?
b) It could be seen as an infringement of a person’s privacy and rights.
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
5. The grade 10 CAT class wants to share their thoughts and ask some questions about the PAT
(Practical Assessment Task).
Motivate whether they should use a blog or a mailing list for this, by discussing the difference
between these two facilities.
5. Mailing list: ideas are shared via email (to people on the mailing list).
Blog: comments are posted on a website.
A mailing list would be better than a blog. Only those on the list will receive the messages via
email.
6. Downloaded emails from ISP-based email systems are saved on your computer.
Explain where web-based email is stored and give one advantage and one disadvantage of this
approach.
6. The messages on a web-based email system are stored on the provider’s email server.
Advantage: You are able to access your emails from anywhere that has internet access.
Disadvantage: You have to be online to edit and reply to the email.
7. Your mother said she thinks she sent a certain email message but is not completely sure.
How can she quickly check whether she sent the email message?
7. She can check to see if the message is in the Sent folder.
8. Why would it not be wise to open an attachment called Game.exe?
8. It could contain a virus or be a Trojan.
9. Many employers consult the Facebook pages of prospective employees.
Explain why they do this, and give your motivated opinion on whether you think it is acceptable
for them to do this.
9. What you post on Facebook gives a good indication of the type of person you are and what your
values are. An employer has the right to check this, as they could be taking a risk employing
you.
Remember you should never post anything unless you would not mind anyone and everyone
reading it, and this includes your parents and future employers.
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
Column A Column B
1 Any software that is written with negative intentions. A Trojan
7 Attempts by criminals to con users into giving out personal, confidential G Spam
details such as PIN numbers and passwords by pretending to be from a
legitimate organisation (often a bank), usually via email.
8 A scamming practice where a user is automatically redirected to another H Virus
(fake) website even if he/she types in the correct URL for the official
website.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
E H F A B G D C
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
44
Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
5. Give two indications that you might have a computer virus on your computer.
5. Files suddenly start disappearing.
The computer slows down dramatically.
Programs stop working properly.
Free space on the computer suddenly gets greatly reduced.
Error messages that you have not seen before start appearing.
The computer no longer boots up.
Your anti-virus software reports the threat or presence of a virus.
6. Give three measures you can take to avoid computer viruses, besides installing anti-virus
software and keeping the software up to date.
6. Scan files stored on portable media such as flash drives before using them.
Scan email attachments before opening them.
Set your anti-virus software to scan incoming and outgoing email.
Do not open email or run programs from people you do not know.
Avoid pirated software because malware is often packaged with pirated software.
Disable the autorun feature for flash drives.
7. A friend said that the only way to avoid viruses is not to use the internet or connect to any
other computer.
Briefly comment on the accuracy of this advice.
7. This is not true, as viruses can also be spread by infected files on flash drives or CDs / DVDs.
8. Your anti-virus program reports that it has quarantined a virus. What does this mean?
8. This simply means the virus is placed in an area of the disk where it cannot infect the computer.
9. Your mother says that she makes a point of updating her anti-virus software twice a year.
Explain to her why this approach is not sufficient.
9. This approach is not sufficient, as new viruses come out every day and your anti-virus package
needs to be updated regularly in order to prevent your computer becoming infected.
10. Would having a secure password for your bank account prevent you from becoming victim of
phishing? Briefly motivate your answer.
10. No, having a secure password would not help prevent you from becoming victim of phishing. In
phishing attacks users are conned into voluntarily typing in their password, while thinking they
are on a secure site. To avoid phishing entirely, you would need to follow several guidelines:
Never react to emails requesting you to confirm personal details.
Always type the URL of banking websites, never click on a link in an email to visit these
websites.
Ensure that any website where you provide confidential details, is secure.
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 10, 2nd Edition
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