Unit 2, Task 5 - D1

Unit 2, Task 5 – D1

Firewall

Having firewall will enhance the performance of your computer and how it works as if the computer is hacked or if somebody has interfered with the connection then the computer will be slower and the connection won’t be as high of quality. Not having a firewall can also risk the information that you may have on your computer, such as personal details such as bank information. So having firewall is important for your computers performance and security reasons.

Virus protection

With a virus they tend to come from the internet and when your computer has a virus it will attach itself to a specific program and every time that programme is used then the virus will multiply within the computer and then get bigger and attach itself onto other programs within the computer. This will cause the programmes in the computer to run slower and cause some of the tools in the program to be faulty.  Having virus protection will make sure that if there is a virus within the computer then it is dealt with, if not then the applications in your computer will lose quality and start to be faulty which isn’t a good thing especially if the program is important and needed on a daily basis.

Clean up tools for removal of cookies and internet history and defragmentation

Having clean up tools is a good thing for the computer.  If you have too many cookies that have been downloaded from websites then this can cause the computer to run slower. This also applies for internet history. Having too much internet history can cause your computer to be slower as it is adding to the usage of the computer itself, and when the computer is slower the productivity of it is lower.  Defragmentation is all about the files and the sizes of them, as files can be quite big defragmentation helps this situation. Having this will also affect the speed of your computer as if the sizes of files are too large then space will fill up quickly and reduce the productivity just as internet history and cookies would.

Device formatting

Drive formatting is important as it sorts through the hard disk that is used for the computer and make sure that the hardware can be readable to the computer. Not having this then the hardware within the computer would not be able to read the hard disk as drive formatting gives it a logical structure. This would affect the computer as it wouldn’t work.

Unit 2, Task 4 - M1

Unit 2, Task 4 – M1

	Windows XP	Mac OS
Machine and Peripheral management	With Windows XP the peripheral management such as key board and mouse are bought and you can change the setting on them depending on the speed that you would like them to work, also most of this has to be bought separately.	Whereas with Mac OS most of the peripheral management for Macs have to be the hardware from apple to get the best kind of result.  Being able to change the setting on them wouldn’t be necessary as the hardware is made especially for the Mac.
Security	With security windows has the basic setting for it. This includes things like user name accounts and passwords to ensure that there isn’t any unauthorised access into the computer and the things that are inside of it.	With Mac OS the security system is a little different as they heck downloads before they are downloaded to see if they are safe and they also block the ports that are a potential security risk to the computer.
File Management	File manager in both Windows and Mac OS are very similar in how to use. It runs on different programmes as well as just windows XP, however file manager doesn’t run on all of the windows programmes. It is a simple file management and it sorts them depending on the size and it can also be customised to satisfy the person using the computer.	Mac OS have a simple and easy way to manage the files with in the computer and it makes it easier for the user to sort through them and make them easier to find and to be accessible. It uses something called ‘finder’. You can see all of the files on the hard drive and it is very similar to internet explorer.
Device drivers	Windows XP has something called device manager and this lets the user of the computer control the device driver.  Windows made the use of the device drivers easy and made the quality worth it.  If each device driver is currently updated then windows XP will be able to work it and handle it better than if it wasn’t updated to full that I can be.	Mac OS has different device drivers within the computer. A device driver is a computer programme that operates a certain type of device within the computer.  The device driver is a programme that is in the computer and runs the device internally. Mac OS has different devices that can be controlled by their own programme these include Bluetooth, and other plug in devices such as printers or scanners.
Ability to customize	Windows XP doesn’t have as many customisation tools as Mac OS does. They have their control panel which can change different features on the computer including icon sizes, colour and others features as well. Windows also has something called accessibility wizard which means you can customise your computer to suit your hearing and your vision.	With Mac OS there is a variation of customisation tools that are available. It had different downloadable tools that can make your Mac customised, this includes programmes such as mirage and candy bar. These are both available for Macs in order to customise the computer. There are also programmes available so you can customise other thing in the computer such as the way things install.
Support for connectivity of portable media	Windows supports different portable media that can be connected to the computer these feature include, USB, CD, sync, Bluetooth and WIFI.	With Mac OS it’s pretty much the same as windows XP as both of them manage to support mostly all portable media and both can do it with the same quality.
Security	Windows XP has an anti-virus system with in the programme that protects the computer from viruses that occur from downloads and pop ups that come up on the computer.  Windows also has security and has a wider range of security compared till Mac OS.	With security and Mac OS the problems that occur in computers are usually viruses, and with viruses the problem is usually in the applications rather than the OS itself. However Mac OS does have security in other ways such as privacy with in the computer which is useful for the computer user.
Stability and reliability	Stability and reliability would kind of rely of the applications that can be downloaded from the system and how they work. Windows has different types of applications and has more of them then OS so this can cause more stability problems compared to Mac OS	With Mac OS it is more stable because of the way that the hardware has been made for the computer and that it’s all tightly compact with each parts of the computer itself. It also has a cleaner code than Windows which makes it run faster with fewer crashes in the system.
Ease of management	With windows the way that it is managed is quite a simple format. However to compare both of these systems on the ease of management is difficult as it depends what the user it used to using.	With Mac the ease of management is a lot like Windows XP but with a different layout. They are both quite easy to use as they share the same similar features.
Associated utilities	With windows it does have more variety of utilities compared to Mac OS, but that doesn’t mean that it is better. The quality for some Mac OS utilities has better quality than some Windows XP utilities. Both are good though.	The associated utilities are utilities that have been created for Mac, this includes programmes such as path finder, even simpler ones such as the dimmer on the Mac itself.

Unit 2, Task 3 - P3

Unit 2, Task 3 – P3

Firewall

A firewall is a barrier with in a computer system that keeps out specific users and connections. Firewall is a program or a hardware device that filters the information coming through the internet connection and into your private network. This is how a firewall indicates whether or not the connection can come through, the filters will be flagged if it is at risk of getting hacked by unauthorised users.

Virus protection

Virus protection on computers is  a useful thing to have especially if using the internet on the computer. Viruses are caused by malicious code that is created by people.  When a virus is on a computer it attaches a specific programme in the computer and every time that programme runs it activates the virus and then the virus can multiply and attach to other programmes onto the computer. This can break your computer, and can also make documents and files in your computer disappear.  So virus protection programmes prevent unknown files into your computer and will prevent a virus. 

Clean up tools for cookies, internet history and defragmentation

On a computer you have something called cookies and internet history. Internet history is an entry of all the websites that you have visited on your computer, its basically memory of everything that you have done on a internet browser. Cookies are small files inside of the computer that download when you access a certain website, and then when you revisit that website your computer will check if it has a cookie that is relevant. If there is to many cookies and internet history it will start to slow down the speed of your computer. Clean up tools for these can be found on the internet browser itself and they are created to make your computer go at its max speed instead of it getting clogged up by useful cookies and internet history. There is also something called defragmentation and this is the process of reducing the amount of fragmentation and it does this by organising the content of the mass storage on a computer. This makes a larger space which means the files are stored in smaller fragments. This is useful as it also effects the speed of the computer.

Drive formatting

Drive formatting is the process of preparing a data storage device like a hard disk drive. Drive formatting may also create one or more file systems.  A hard drive is formatted to give it a logical structure that a computer and its operating system will understand. This makes the applications on a computer run on the hard disk.