DAR ES SALAAM MARITIME INSTITUTE (DMI)

COMPUTER SYSTEM AND APPLICATION

BOGE 1/BMTNS1
 APPLICATION SOFTWARE

Application Software is a computer program designed to help people

perform a certain type of task. An application thus differs from an
operating system (which runs a computer), a utility (which performs
maintenance or general-purpose tasks), or a language translator (with
which computer programs are created).

Different computer programs with their areas of application

 Word processing- WordPad, Word perfect, WordStar, Microsoft
word
 Budgeting accounting-Lotus 1-2-3, Microsoft excel,
 Databases-oracle, Microsoft excel, Corel Paradox, dBase, SQL
 Graphics-CorelDraw, Adobe Photoshop, Jasc Paint Shop Pro,
Instant Artist, Print Artist
 Seminar presentation-PowerPoint
 Engineering drawing -AutoCAD, ArchiCAD, electronic desktop
 Statistical analysis - SPSS, SPLUS, statistical
 Web design -Microsoft FrontPage
 GENERATIONS OF COMPUTERS

• First Generation - 1940-1956: Vacuum Tubes

The first computers used vacuum tubes for circuitry and
magnetic drums for memory, and were often
enormous, taking up entire rooms.
Input was based on punched cards and paper tape, and
output was displayed on printouts and they could only
solve one problem at a time.
 GENERATIONS OF COMPUTERS

• Second Generation - 1956-1963: Transistors

replaced vacuum tubes and ushered in the second generation
of computers. The transistor was invented in 1947 but did not
see widespread use in computers until the late 50s.
The transistor was a vast improvement over the vacuum tube,
allowing computers to become smaller, faster, cheaper, more
energy- efficient and more reliable than their first-generation
predecessors. Second-generation computers still relied on
punched cards for input and printouts for output.
Using programming language called COBOL and FORTRAN
 Third Generation - 1964-1971: Integrated
Circuits
• The development of the integrated circuit was the hallmark of
the third generation of computers. Transistors were
miniaturized and placed on silicon chips, called
semiconductors, which drastically increased the speed and
efficiency of computers.
• Instead of punched cards and printouts, users interacted with
third generation computers through keyboards and monitors
and interfaced with an operating system, which allowed the
device to run many different applications at one time with a
central program that monitored the memory. Computers for
the first time became accessible to a mass audience because
they were smaller and cheaper than their predecessors.
 Fourth Generation - 1971-Present:
Microprocessors
• The microprocessor brought the fourth generation of
computers, as thousands of integrated circuits were
built onto a single silicon chip. What in the first
generation filled an entire room could now fit in the
palm of the hand. In 1981 IBM introduced its first
computer for the home user, and in 1984 Apple
introduced the Macintosh. Microprocessors also
moved out of the realm of desktop computers and
into many areas of life as more and more everyday
products began to use microprocessors.
 Fifth Generation - Present and Beyond:
Artificial Intelligence
• Fifth generation computing devices, based on
artificial intelligence, are still in development, though
there are some applications, such as voice
recognition, that are being used today. The use of
parallel processing and superconductors is helping to
make artificial intelligence a reality. Quantum
computation and molecular and nanotechnology will
radically change the face of computers in years to
come.
 COMPUTER VIRUSES AND SECURITY

• COMPUTER VIRUSES-Virus is a self-duplicating

computer program that interferes with a computers
hardware or operating system. They range from
being merely irritating (or disturbing) to the very
destructive.
 COMPUTER VIRUSES AND SECURITY
• Thousands of viruses and worms exist and can
quickly contaminate millions of computers. People
who intentionally create viruses are computer
experts called HACKERS; they also violate
confidentiality by observing computer monitors and
by impersonating authorised users in other to gain
access to the userís computer databases to steal the
identities of other people by obtaining privately
identified information about them. They also engage
in software piracy and deface website on the
internet.
 COMPUTER VIRUSES AND SECURITY

• They develop powerful software crime tools such as the

following:
• Internet eavesdropping snuffers which intercepts
internet messages sent to other computers
• Password guessers that tries millions of combinations of
characters in an effect to guess a computer’s password.
• Vulnerability testers that look for software weaknesses
• Computer services saturator
• Automatic computer virus generator.
 Types of Viruses

• A boot sector virus stores itself at the start of

a disk and becomes activated by reading,
starting or restarting the computer when that
disk is in the boot drive.
• A file infector virus attaches itself to program
files i.e. files that give instructions to a
computer. These files usually have extensions
like exe, com, or bat. When the program is run,
the virus executes.
 Types of Viruses

• A macro virus affects data files, especially

Word documents and Excel workbooks. This
virus type accounts for the vast majority of
infected files. When the infected document is
opened and the macro are run, the virus is
triggered and can perform system operations
such as creating or deleting files or writing
into already existing files and thus have the
potential to cause a great deal of damage.
 Types of Viruses

• Worm or an email virus (for the purpose of

this guide) is not really a virus at all (in that it
is not self-replicating) but a chain letter
phenomenon sent through email. The
message will, for some reason or other, tell
you to pass this message on to as many
people as possible.
 Types of Viruses

• Trojan horses are programs that have some

hidden, generally malicious functionality that
the computer does not expect. They claim to
be a thing (e.g. an audio for example), when
they are actually another (e.g. code that will
overwrite a portion of your hard disk). They do
not run their own like a virus does but rely on
tricking the user to run them.
 How Viruses are Spread

• Viruses are spread by running infected programs or

opening infected files. This can occur by using any of
the following methods:
 Passing floppy disks from PC to PC
 Downloading (copying) infected files from the Internet.
 pening an email attachment
 Booting a PC with an infected bootable disk.
 Computer viruses work in two phases: infection phase
and the attack phase.
 How Viruses are Spread

• Infection phase: in order to infect a computer, a virus has to possess

the chance to get executed before it can infect the computer system
and spread to others. Events that can trigger the execution of virus
are included above.

• Attack phase: viruses do destructive things such as deleting files,

erasing data on a hard disk, sending random emails or slowing down
the processor by sending millions of looped instructions. Since most
users will try their best to delete the virus once it launches the
attack, most virus delay revealing their presence by launching their
attack only after they have had ample opportunity to spread. This
means the attack may be delayed for a long time after the infection.
 Prevention of Computer Virus

 Computer users can prepare for a viral infection by

creating backups of legitimate original software and data
files regularly so that the computer system can be restored
if necessary.
 obtain a virus checker for your own machine then register
the program with the manufacturers. They will regularly
send you updated versions of the software while your
agreement is current.
 If you are really cautious, change the set-up option in your
computerís BIOS so that it will always boot from the hard
disk, not from floppies.
 Virus Detection

• Several types of antiviral software can be used to detect the

presence of a virus. Scanning software can recognize the
characteristics of a virus computer code and look for these
characteristics in the computers files. Antivirus software
packages provide complete protection against viruses.

• Other types of antiviral software include monitoring

software and integrity-shell software. Monitoring software is
different from scanning software. It detects illegal or
potentially damaging viral activities such as overwriting
computer files or reformatting the computers hard drive.
 COMPUTER SECURITY
• Backup: Storing backup copies of software and data and
having backup computer and communication capabilities
are important basic safeguards because the data can then
be restored if it was altered or destroyed by a computer
crime or accident.
• Encryption: Another technique to protect confidential
information is encryption. Computer users can scramble
information to prevent unauthorized users from accessing
it. Authorized users can unscramble the information when
needed by using a secret code called a key. Without the
key the scrambled information would be impossible or
very difficult to unscramble.
 COMPUTER SECURITY

• Approved Users: Another technique to help prevent abuse

and misuse of computer data is to limit the use of computers
and data files to approved persons. Security software can
verify the identity of computer users and limit their privileges
to use, view, and alter files.
• Passwords: Passwords are confidential sequences of
characters that allow approved persons to make use of
specified computers, software, or information. To be
effective, passwords must be difficult to guess and should not
be found in dictionaries. Effective passwords contain a variety
of characters and symbols that are not part of the alphabet.
 COMPUTER SECURITY

• Firewalls: Computers connected to the communication

networks such as internet are vulnerable to electronic
attack because many people have access to them. They
can be protected by firewalls computer software placed
between the networked computers and the networks.
• The firewalls examines filters and reports on all
information passing through the network to ensure its
appropriateness. These functions help to prevent
saturation of input capabilities that might otherwise
deny usage to legitimate users.
 COMPUTER SECURITY

• Intrusion Detection Systems: These are

software that detect unusual and suspicious
activities and in some cases, stop a variety of
harmful actions
 END

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