Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 11, 2nd Edition

Module 1.5 Computer management

Written module activity
1. Why do you need to know what software you are planning to use when buying a new computer?
1. All software has system requirements – i.e. the minimum requirements for a computer to be able to
run the software.
2. Give two examples of hardware requirements that a computer needs to meet to run a particular
program.
2. Any suitable example: the amount of memory, the speed of the processor, the amount of disk space
required, etc.
3. If your computer doesn’t meet the minimum requirements, how could that affect the running of the
program?
3. The program might not work, or it might work really slowly.
4. A computer game that has just been installed on a new computer keeps freezing. What is most likely
the problem?
4. The computer doesn’t meet the game’s system requirements.
5. The school wants to install an open source video editor program, which requires 2 GB to install, on a
computer that has 2.3 GB of free disk space.
Explain why this might pose a problem.
5. The hard disk space part of the requirement is the storage space just needed for installing the software
– and does not take into account the space needed by the files you will create using the software. This
is especially true of any work involving graphics, video or audio where the file sizes can get very large.
6. The amount of memory, the speed of the CPU and the free hard drive space are generally the most
important hardware requirements. Mention two other hardware requirements, or considerations, that
are generally important to a computer gamer.
6. Any two of:
 A minimum screen resolution
 Specialised hardware such as a high-end graphics card or a joystick or game controller
 A larger screen size
 A fast refresh rate etc.

7. A software requirement for a program says ‘Windows 7 or higher’.

What does this mean?
7. It means that the program must have Windows 7 or any later version installed, e.g. Windows 8 or
Windows 10.
8. After installing a program, you are asked if you want a ‘tour’ of the program. Explain what this is.
8. A tour is often in the form of a video clip or presentation which shows you the latest features of the
program and how to start using it, etc.

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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 11, 2nd Edition

9. What would determine which app store you would need to visit to download an app (besides costs
and hardware requirements)?
9. It would depend on the operating system you have installed on your device or computer – for
example, you would need to go the Google Play store if you are using the Android operating system.
10. Your sister used the ‘Open with’ option to open a file and the following dialog popped up:

a) Give two reasons why one would use the ‘Open with’ option as opposed to double-clicking on the
file?
a) To use an application other than the one assigned/designated to open that type of file, or if there
is no default application available to open the file (no application assigned with that type of file).
b) What type of file was your sister trying to open? Also, describe what type of content this type of
file is generally associated with.
b) MP4 file which is generally associated with video content.
c) What would the future consequence or significance be if one selected the ‘Always use this app to
open …’ option?
c) MP4 files would automatically be opened in that application (currently the Windows Media Player
is selected) when the file is double-clicked on.
d) What is the significance of the ‘Look for an app in the Store’ option?
d) It would take you to an online store where you can browse for a suitable app to open this type of
file.
11. What do the software requirements of application software usually refer to?
11. The operating system that needs to be on the computer for the software to work on that computer.

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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 11, 2nd Edition

12. Your mother brought home a CD to install a new version of the accounting software she uses at work.
Her boss told her that it is easy to do as she must just follow the installation wizard.
a) What is an installation wizard?
a) An installation wizard is a program that guides one through the process of installing the software.
It presents one with options and performs the installation based on your choices.
b) She inserted the CD into the DVD drive but nothing happened.
How can she go about trying to install the software?
b) She should browse the contents of the CD and run the setup file (setup.exe) to start the
installation process.
c) Your mother says there were some question about a licence agreement.
Can she just ignore this? Motivate your answer by referring to the purpose of a licence
agreement.
c) No, she needs to agree to the licence agreement, as this is a legal contract which specifies the
conditions under she may install and use the software. Usually one is not allowed to continue with
an installation unless the agreement has been accepted.
d) The installation wizard prompted your mother to enter her email address so that an activation
code can be sent to her.
Explain what an activation code is and why it is being sent via email.
d) An activation code is a code that you need to enter to be able to install software, or run the
software you installed. Activation codes are sometimes sent via email in an effort to reduce the
illegal use of software (software piracy).
e) Your mother was asked whether she wanted a full or a custom installation.
Briefly explain the difference between these two types of installations.
e) A Full installation means that all components of the package will be installed.
Custom means that the user can choose which components of the package he or she wants to
install.
f) The installation wizard prompted her to accept the default folder.
What is the default folder in this context?
f) The folder where the main part of the program (software) will be copied/installed to.
g) The wizard asked your mother if she wanted some other free software installed.
Should she accept this offer? Briefly motivate your answer.
g) In general, no, as one cannot be guaranteed of the quality or safety of these extra ‘free’
components. If the company is well-known it can be considered.
h) If your mother wants to remove this program at a later stage, should she just delete the folder
that she specified during the installation process?
Motivate your answer by outlining the correct way of uninstalling software.
h) No, to remove a program from your computer, you must not simply delete the main folder in
which the program is located. The files belonging to the program are often spread across several
folders.
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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 11, 2nd Edition

Windows provides an option in the Control Panel which allows you to uninstall programs. Most
programs also provide an uninstall facility of their own. The uninstall utility program ensures that
the program and its associated components are removed correctly.
13. How can you hide a file so it isn’t visible in the file manager?
13. Mark the ‘Hidden’ attribute.
14. Suppose that you’re working on a read-only document.
What could you do in order to be able to edit and save it?
14. Remove the Read-only attribute, or save it under a new name (or in a different location).
15. Briefly describe one scenario in which you would want to store a file as a different type.
15. You want to send the file to someone using an older version of the package.
You want to allow users who are using a different operating system to access the data.
You want different programs to be able to read the data.
16. You recently downloaded a file from YouTube but now you cannot find it.
List some of the search options you could use to try to locate this file.
16. You could try searching using:
 The name (or partial name) of the file
 The file type (file extension) as it is a video file – e.g. MP4
 The date it was saved (as it was recently downloaded), or you could specify a date range
 The size of the file as video files are often quite large

17. You can find out where a photo was taken by looking at the metadata of the file.
Explain what this means.
17. Metadata is ‘extra information’ about a file. The easiest way to see what extra information is stored in
a file is to right-click on it using a program like Windows/File Explorer and choose Properties from the
menu that pops up. Properties can contain extra information such as the GPS coordinates of where a
photo was taken.
18. Hardware failure is a sad reality of computing.
a) Give at least two examples thereof.
a) Any TWO valid examples.
b) List three precautions that can help prevent hardware failure.
b) Use a UPS, prevent water damage, ensure proper cooling, keep in safe places to prevent being
knocked over, use the correct consumables (ink/toner cartridges), be ‘firm but gentle’ when
connecting components, etc.

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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 11, 2nd Edition

Practical module activity

Use the search facility of Windows/File Explorer to find the following information or files in the supplied
folder, 1_5 DATA FileActivity, or in any of its subfolders:
1. You are looking for a file listing the songs that will be sung at Sela Music School’s concert, but you can’t
remember the file type or its name. However, you can remember that there was a heading in the file –
‘Songs by Sela’.
1. PlanningMeeting.docx
SONG TITLE ............................................................................................ARTIST
Show me how to live .............................................................................Audioslave
Surely Goodness ...........................................................................Israel Houghton
No woman, no cry.................................................................................Bob Marley
Never say never ..................................................................................Justin Bieber
No one knows ............................................................................Queens of the age
Change of heart .................................................................................Phil Madeira

2. A new entry form needs to be designed. Search for files that have ‘Entry form’ as part of the file name,
or that have the words ‘Entry form’ in the file.

3. List all the spreadsheet files in the SelaMusicSchool subfolder.

4. How many files are smaller than 10 KB?

4. 14

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Study Opportunities Computers, part of your life – Grade 11, 2nd Edition

5. List any files that relate to or have information about lavender.

6. How many document type files are there (Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, etc.), that are
between 10 and 100 KB in size?
6. 26