Session 1: Basic Computer Operations

ICT stands for Information and Communication

Technology. ICT refers to all the methods, tools,
concepts related to storing, recording and sending
digital information.
Information can be recorded or stored in many
ways, handwritten on paper, written using a typewriter
and so on. When information is stored and recorded
on electronic devices, it takes on a ‘digital’ form. ICT
devices are tablets, smartphones and laptops as shown
in Figure 3.1.
ICT skills help us to communicate, run our
business and stay connected with our family and
friends. Hence, every person needs to acquire
ICT skills and build them to stay updated with
the latest software and applications (apps).
Computer Hardware and Software
A computer system consists of two main parts—
the hardware and the software. The physical
parts that we can see and touch are called hardware. It is the machinery of a computer.
These are the keyboard, monitor, CPU, etc.
There is another important part i.e., the
software. Though we cannot see it, it makes the
hardware work the way we want.
The monitor is a physical device or the
hardware. When we start a program, for
example, a game, it is displayed on the monitor.
This is done by the software which displays text,
images and videos on the monitor as shown
in Figure 3.2. Hardware would not be able to
function without software.
Mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets
are also computer systems with hardware and software.
They are simply smaller in size and can be easily
carried around.
The most important software in any computer is the
Operating System (OS). This is the software that starts
working as soon as we switch on a computer. It displays
the desktop on the monitor. Some of the most commonly
used operating systems for laptops and desktop are
Ubuntu, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS.
Mobile devices also have an operating system that
helps them perform their functions. Some of the mobile
operating systems are Apple iOS and Google Android
(as shown in Figure 3.3).
All the computer applications, such as browsers,
games, Office tools, etc., are also software programs
that perform particular functions.
Starting a Computer
What is the first thing you do after you wake up in
the morning? What if your father tells you to do your
homework immediately? Can you do it? Normally you
would do some daily activities and get ready before you
start working? Similarly, when a computer is switched
on, it performs some basic processes/functions before
it is ready to take instructions from the user.
To start a computer, press the Power button on the
CPU. This will start the operating system and display
the Ubuntu desktop as shown in Figure 3.4 or the main
screen on the monitor.
Basic Functions performed when a computer
starts
Just as we go about our morning routine without
anyone telling us what to do, a computer automatically
runs a basic program called BIOS (Basic Input/Output
System) as soon as it is switched on or the power button
is pushed on.
The BIOS first does a self-test. If the self-test
shows that the system is fine, the BIOS will load the
Operating System. This means that the computer’s
operating system, for example, Ubuntu, is now ready to
take user inputs.
Login and Logout
Just like we keep our cupboards locked at home we need
to keep our computer locked when we are not working
on it. This will ensure that no unauthorised person
can see or make changes to our information without
taking our permission. To make sure your computer is
locked, you have login-IDs and passwords. A login and
password is like a key to the lock which allows you to
use the computer.
When you login to the computer with your login-ID
and password (as shown in Figure 3.5), the computer
knows that you are an authorised person and allows
you to work on the applications in the computer. Once
you finish working, you must log out or sign out so that
no one else can see your work.

Shutting Down a Computer

You can shut down the computer in Ubuntu by clicking
Systems button at the top right and then click Shut
Down as shown in Figure 3.6. When you click Shut down,
the Operating System will close all the applications and
turn off the computer.
Using the Keyboard
A keyboard is an input device used to type text, numbers
and commands into the computer.
Function Keys
Keys labeled from F1 to F12 are function keys. You
use them to perform specific functions. Their functions
differ from program to program. The function of the F1
key in most programs is to get help on that program.
Some keyboards may have fewer function keys.
(a) Control keys: Keys, such as Control (CTRL),
SHIFT, SPACEBAR, ALT, CAPS LOCK and TAB,
are special control keys that perform special
functions depending on when and where they
are used.
(b) Enter key: The label on this key can be either
ENTER or RETURN, depending on the brand of
computer that you are using. You use the ENTER
or the RETURN key to move the cursor to the
beginning of a new line. In some programs, it is
used to send commands and to confirm a task on
a computer.

(c) Punctuation keys: Punctuation keys include

keys for punctuation marks, such as colon (:),
semicolon (;), question mark (?), single quotation
marks (‘ ’), and double quotation marks (“ ”).
(d) Navigation keys: Keys, such as the arrow keys,
HOME, END, PAGE UP, and PAGE DOWN are
navigation keys. These are used to move up and
down, right and left in a document. The HOME
and END keys move the cursor to the left/right
end of a line of text, respectively. The PAGE UP
and PAGE DOWN keys are used to move one page
up and one page down, respectively.
(e) Command keys: Keys, such as INSERT (INS),
DELETE (DEL), and BACKSPACE are command
keys. When the INSERT key is turned ON, it
helps you overwrite characters to the right of the
cursor. The DELETE key and the BACKSPACE
key are used to remove typed text, characters
and other objects on the right and left side of the
cursor, respectively.
(f) Windows key: Pressing this key opens the
Start menu
Using a Mouse
A mouse as shown in Figure 3.8 is a small device that
you can use to move, select and open items on your
computer screen. Let us see some of the functions that
can be performed using a mouse. Different application
will behave differently to the mouse actions. Here we use
the File Explorer to see the effect of the mouse action.
Roll Over or Hover
Some actions can be done by simply rolling over
or hovering over an item. When you bring the
mouse over a file in File Explorer, it will show
the details of that file as shown in Figure 3.9.
Point and Click
As you move the mouse on your desk, a pointer
moves correspondingly on your screen. The
mouse allows you to select an item on the screen. When you click a particular file, it
gets selected as shown in Figure 3.10.
Drag and Drop
To move an item, you need to click it, and
then holding the mouse button down, move
the item to a new location. After you move
the item to the new location, you release the
mouse button. This is called drag and drop.
When you drag a file in File Explorer, you
can pick it up from the present location and
drop it in a new location where you release
the mouse as shown in Figure 3.11.
Double-click
Double-clicking means to quickly click the
left mouse button twice. When we doubleclick on a file, it will open the file

Session 2: Performing Basic File Operations

Basic File Operations
In any school (or office), each teacher has a separate
cabinet as shown in Figure 3.13 where they keep the
files of different students or classes on separate shelves.
Similarly, information on a computer is stored in
electronic files, which can be put into separate folders.
It is easier to manage the electronic files as they can be
simply copied, moved, renamed or even deleted.
Files and Folders
All information stored in a computer is kept in
files. Different types of files store different types of
information. Each file is given a file name and has a
file name extension that identifies the file type. The file
name and file name extension are separated by a period
or a ‘dot’. For example, a document (e.g., Neha) created
using Notepad (a type of computer application to create
simple text files) will have the extension .txt. There are
other types like .doc, .xls, etc. An image file usually has
an extension .jpg while a sound file usually has .mp3.
A folder is a location where a group of files can
be stored.

Creating a File (Using a Text Editor in Ubuntu)

When a student, Neha, joins a class, the teacher creates
a file on the computer to store Neha’s information, such
as name, address, phone number, etc. Let us create a
new file using a text editor in Ubuntu.
• To open a text editor, type ‘editor’ in the search
dialog box. Then double-click the text editor
option as shown in Figures 3.14 and 3.15. This
will open a blank document. In Windows, you can
open Notepad and type in the text.
• Here you can add text, such as ‘Neha Tiwari
Shakti Nagar, New Delhi, 7856453451’
• To save the file click Save. In the Save As dialog
box, browse to the Desktop folder, type the name
as ‘Neha’ and click Save as shown in Figure 3.16.

Creating a Folder (in Ubuntu)

Folder is a location where a group of files can be stored.
For example, we can create a folder where all the files
for all the students can be stored.
Let us create a new folder in Ubuntu.
• To open file explorer in Ubuntu, click Files
option on the left as shown in Figure 3.7.
• File explorer opens up as shown in Figure 3.18.
• To create a folder:
(a) Choose a location where the folder has to be
created for example ‘Desktop’.
(b) Right-click and then choose the ‘New Folder’.
(c) Type the name of the folder as ‘Demo’.

Session 3: Computer Care and Maintenance

Importance of Care and Maintenance
of Computers
Taking care of our things whether it’s our books,
clothes, furniture or gadgets is important. Taking
care of electronic devices, such as computer and
mobiles helps them to work properly. Just as we take
care of our body by taking bath, brushing our teeth
and eating food every day we need to take care of our
machines. A computer is a delicate machine with a lot
of moving electronic parts. We need to protect it from
dust and damage. If we are careless, it will not work
efficiently.
Computers and mobiles are very expensive. When
we take good care of them on a regular basis, we
can use them for a longer time. This will help us
save money as we do not need to buy new devices
too often.

Basic Tips for Taking Care of Devices

Here are some simple ways that you can follow to take
care of your computer.
Keeping a Device Clean
Cleaning a device, such as a computer or mobile means
to keep the screen, keyboard and mouse clean.
(i) Keyboard: First we should not eat anything over
a keyboard. Crumbs can damage the internal
parts of a keyboard. You can clean a keyboard
with a soft brush as shown in Figure 3.21 to
remove crumbs and dust particles.
(ii) Screen: You can wipe the screen with a soft cloth
to remove any finger marks.
(iii) Be careful with food and drinks: Avoid eating
and keeping glasses of water or cups of coffee
near a computer as shown in Figure 3.22. Any
liquid spilt over an electronic device can spoil it
beyond repair.
(iv) Handle devices carefully: Handle and move your
laptop carefully and avoid dropping or banging
it against a hard surface. Even a short fall can
damage the screen or the hard disk and make the
device useless. Using a cover for your mobile and
a padded case for moving your laptop as shown
in Figure 3.23 protects the device from damage.
(v) Keep the computer cool: If a computer, laptop
or mobile device gets overheated, the internal
parts can be damaged. The CPU has an internal
fan to keep it cool. We should make sure the fan
is functioning. You can also use an external fan
as shown in Figure 3.24. Avoid leaving a device in
the sun or in a closed car. We should be careful
when using a laptop while sitting in bed and
make sure that the fan in not covered.
(vi) Do not overcharge your battery: Sometimes
we keep a device plugged in for charging even
after it is fully charged. If we leave the device
plugged in for a long time as shown in Figure
3.25, it can overheat the battery. This reduces the battery life. Always unplug the device once it
is charged 100%.
(vii) Always plug in devices carefully: Any device
being connected to a laptop or computer such
as a USB drive or headphones, should be done
gently. It should not be forced into the port. If
you find it difficult to plug in a device, change the
direction and try instead of trying to force it in.
(viii) Do not run too many programs at a time: When
too many programs are running at the same
time as shown in Figure 3.26, the computer can
become slow and even crash. If a program/app is
not being used, it should be closed so that other
programs can work smoothly.
Prepare a Maintenance Schedule
We need to prepare a plan or a schedule for maintenance
to keep the computer running in perfect condition for a
long time. This can include:
(a) Daily Maintenance
i. Clean up your e-mail inbox
ii. Download e-mail attachments and save in
proper folders
(b) Weekly Maintenance
i. Clean your keyboard
ii. Clean your monitor
iii. Dust CPU and printer
iv. Backup your data to an external drive
(c) Monthly Maintenance
i. Transfer photographs to computer and delete
from drive
ii. Organise photos into folders or albums
iii. Clean up ‘Download’ folder
iv. Uninstall unused programs and apps
v. Run disk-cleaner software
vi. Run full system virus scan
(d) Yearly/Annual Maintenance
(a) Clean up contacts list on social media
accounts
b) Clean up e-mail contact list
(c) Update your operating system
(d) Check for expiry of anti-virus software
and renew
Backup Your Data
Backing up data means to save the information present
on your computer on another device, such as CD/DVD
drives as shown in Figure 3.28 or hard disk. Data can
recovered from here in case the computer stops working
completely. Computers can crash, humans can make
mistakes and natural disasters, such as floods can
happen. So, it is important for companies, hospitals,
banks, etc., to keep their information safe — so that
their business can continue to function smoothly and
their customers do not face problems.
Scanning and Cleaning Viruses
Sometimes computer viruses can enter a computer
from such attacks we can install anti-virus software.
This will prevent any viruses from entering and will also
clean any viruses that may enter our system before they
affect the data.
Increasing Computer Performance
If we have been using a computer for a long time we
have a lot of unnecessary files and data, such as
temporary files and images. When they use too much
hard-disk space, the performance of the computer goes
down. It is important that we keep cleaning
by removing any extra files. We can use some
disk cleaner software, which help us clean up
the unnecessary files.
Removing SPAM from your Computer
Sometimes we get mails from companies
who are advertising a product or trying to
attract you to their website. Such mails are
called SPAM.
We should never respond to SPAM and
delete it on a regular basis.

Session 4: Computer Security and Privacy

We store a lot of information on our computers and
electronic devices. For example, we keep our photos
on our mobiles, school computers store personal
information regarding every student and their parents,
computers used in banks store the financial information
of their clients and computers in hospital have important
information about patients. If any of this information
gets lost or leaked and falls into the wrong hands, it can
cause a lot of harm to the people.
For example, if information stored in a bank’s
computer gets leaked it can cause many people to lose
a lot of money. Hence, it is essential to keep computers
secure and our data safe.
Computer Security Deals with Protecting
Computers
Computer security and privacy deals with the measures
used to prevent loss of data.
Reasons for Security Break
Security break is leakage of information stored in
a computer.

Personal information can be lost or leaked in

two ways:
1. We are not careful in giving out personal
information over the Internet. For
example, we share our account details
and password on unsecure sites.
2. A person gets unauthorised access to
our computer. This can happen in the
office if we leave are computer without
logging out.
Computer security and privacy is about
measures we can take to restrict access to
personal data stored in a computer.
Threats to Computer
Threats are the ways in which personal
information can be leaked from a computer
without our knowing.
(a) Theft: Theft means stealing of
information or hardware. These maybe
of three types:
• Physical: Where a person may
steal your desktop computer or
laptop.
• Identity: Where a hacker steals
your personal information and
assumes your identity. Using this
false identity, the hacker can gain
access to your account information
or perform illegal activity.
• Software Piracy: This is stealing
of software and includes using
or distributing unlicensed and
unauthorised copies of a computer
program or software.
(b) Virus: Viruses are computer programs that can
damage the data and software programs or steal
the information stored on a computer. Major
types of viruses are Worms and Trojan Horse.
• Worms: These are viruses that replicate
themselves and spread to all files once they attack a computer. This makes it very difficult
to remove them.
• Trojan Horse: A Trojan Horse disguises itself
i.e., it appears to be a useful software program
but once it reaches a computer it starts
behaving like a virus and destroying data.
• Online Predator: Online predators are people
who trap you into inappropriate relationships.
They may be older people posing to be your
age, bullying you into doing illegal activities
online and sometimes face to face.
• Internet Scams: Sometimes you may receive
very attractive offers saying you have won
a huge money in a lottery and that you can
claim the prize by depositing a certain amount
of money. When you deposit the money
using credit card or online banking, you not
only lose the deposit money but your card /
account information may be misused later.
Protecting your Data
To protect our data from theft and viruses we
can take the following measures:
(a) Use passwords to login to your
computer: Use passwords that are
difficult to guess. Passwords are difficult
to hack if they are a mix of small (For
example ‘a b c d’) and capital letters
(For example, ‘H J E R’), numbers (For
example ‘8 7 6 5’) and special characters
(For example, ’% ^ # $’). This would
prevent unauthorised people from
using your computer.
(b) Install Anti-virus and Firewall: Anti-viruses
and Firewall monitor the data coming in and
out of a computer and prevent and viruses from
entering. Anti-viruses can also detect and clean
viruses that may have entered a computer.
(c) Encrypt Data: This is usually done by banks
and companies in which important customer
information is stored. They can encrypt their
entire hard disk using encrypting feature in
Windows (Bitlocker). This would force users to use
a decryption password (or key) before starting the
computer thus preventing unauthorised usage.
(d) Secure sites: Give details of your credit card or
bank account only on secure sites. See in the
address bar of the browser. If the site address
starts with https://and a lock symbol, then it is
safe to give your credit card and bank details.