Computer Hardware and Software Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The largest capacity is the \(10^{8}\) Megabyte hard disk.

Convert all four to bytes, using decimal prefixes (1 KB = \(10^{3}\) bytes, 1 MB = \(10^{6}\), 1 GB = \(10^{9}\), 1 TB = \(10^{12}\)):

\[ \begin{aligned} 10^{10}\ \text{KB} &= 10^{13}\ \text{bytes} \\ 10^{8}\ \text{MB} &= 10^{14}\ \text{bytes} \\ 10^{4}\ \text{GB} &= 10^{13}\ \text{bytes} \\ 10\ \text{TB} &= 10^{13}\ \text{bytes} \end{aligned} \]

Three of the disks hold 10 TB each, while \(10^{8}\) MB is 100 TB, ten times as much.

Answer: C

The most suitable software is a word processor.

A word processor such as Microsoft Word or LibreOffice Writer creates formatted documents with different fonts, colours, styles, tables and images, laid out in pages ready for printing. An annual report is exactly such a document.

A text editor such as Notepad handles plain text without fonts or images. A spreadsheet is for tables of numbers and calculations, and a browser is for viewing web pages.

Answer: C

The operating system is software, not an internal hardware component. The CPU (the processor), the heat sink (which carries heat from the processor to the air) and the network interface card (the board that connects the computer to a network) are all physical parts that sit inside the cabinet of a desktop computer. The operating system, such as Windows or Linux, is a program stored on the drive and loaded into memory.

Answer: A

Tally is accounting application software, used to keep accounts, vouchers, inventory and GST records. MS-Word is a word processor, OpenOffice is an office suite and MS-Access is a database management system, so these three are not accounting software. Tally, which is widely used by Indian businesses, can record vouchers, produce balance sheets and handle GST returns.

Answer: C

A USB port can connect up to 127 peripheral devices.

USB uses a 7-bit device address, which gives 2⁷ = 128 addresses. Address 0 is reserved for a device that has just been connected and not yet configured, which leaves 127 addresses for devices, connected through a tree of hubs.

12 is the full-speed data rate of USB 1.1 in Mbit/s, which is a common distractor, and 17 and 172 do not correspond to any USB limit.

Answer: C

USB was introduced in 1996.

The Universal Serial Bus 1.0 specification was released in January 1996 by a group of companies including Intel, Microsoft, Compaq and IBM, to replace the many different serial, parallel and keyboard ports on personal computers with a single standard connector. USB 1.1 followed in 1998 and USB 2.0 in 2000.

Development began around 1994, but the standard was not released in 1993 or 1997.

Answer: B

Memory programmed at the time of manufacture is ROM.

Read-only memory in its original (mask) form has its contents built into the chip during fabrication. The data cannot be changed afterwards and are not lost when power is switched off, which is why ROM holds permanent startup and firmware programs.

RAM is read-write memory that loses its contents when power is removed. A PROM is supplied blank and programmed once by the user after manufacture. An EPROM can be erased by ultraviolet light and programmed again.

Answer: D

The software is an image organizer.

Image organizer (photo management) software is built for managing a collection: sorting pictures into albums by drag and drop, tagging them, doing simple resizing, and exporting them for use elsewhere.

Image editing software such as GIMP or Photoshop is for altering the picture itself: retouching, cropping, filters and layers. Graphic editing software is for drawing and design work. A digital workstation is not a kind of picture management program at all.

Answer: D

The correct matching is 1-ii, 2-i, 3-iv, 4-iii.

• An intelligent terminal is typically a personal computer with its own memory, processor and firmware (1-ii).
• A dumb terminal only sends input to and shows output from the main computer and cannot process data on its own (2-i).
• A general purpose terminal runs general applications such as Internet browsing, with some local processing (3-iv).
• A job-oriented terminal is designed for one task, such as airline reservations or hospital monitoring (4-iii).

The other options swap intelligent and dumb terminals or mix up general and job-oriented ones.

Answer: B

Mapping software is also called a Geographic Information System (GIS).

A GIS captures, stores, analyses and displays data linked to locations on the earth. It produces maps in which layers such as roads, health facilities and disease cases can be overlaid. Health programmes use it, for example, to map outbreaks.

Data visualisation software draws charts from any data, not specifically maps. Weather prediction systems run numerical forecast models. Spreadsheet analysis is tabular calculation. None of them is another name for mapping software.