Unit 2.2 P6

Witness statement
Learner name		Oran Doherty
Qualification		BTEC National 1st certificate in IT
Unit number and title		Unit 2.2 computer systems.
Assignment		Set up and maintain a computer system
Description of activity undertaken (please be as specific as possible)
Task 2 (P6) Using the computer system provided: Change the icon size to large Change the font size to large colour/background to red
Assessment and grading criteria
P6.configure a computer system to meet user needs For P6, learners must configure some basic system settings, such as left and right mouse buttons, powersaving options, screen resolution, desktop theme, font size, default language setting, default folder locations etc.
How the activity meets the requirements of the assessment and grading criteria, including how and where the activity took place
I witnessed Oran complete all of the activities listed above in IV5, an ICT room in school. I witnessed Oran change the icon size to large. Secondly, he changed the font size to large successfully. Irdi then changed the background colour to red on the computer home screen.
Witness name	Irdi Cupi		Job role	Student
	MB
Witness signature			Date	07/10/14
Assessor name	Phil Wilkinson
Assessor signature			Date	07/10/14

Unit 2.2 P5

Witness statement
Learner name		Oran Doherty
Qualification		BTEC National 1st certificate in IT
Unit number and title		Unit 2.2 computer systems.
Assignment		P5 set up a standalone computer system, installing hardware and software components [SM3]
Description of activity undertaken (please be as specific as possible)
After making a successful start in your role as an IT trainer for the IT Support Department of RS Components, you have been have been asked to prepare training material of a more advanced and practical kind. Before you are allowed to do this you are required to prove your abilities in hardware and software upgrades. Task Achieved Date achieved Connect a monitor to a computer Yes 02/10/2014 Connect a keyboard to a computer Yes 02/10/2014 Connect a mouse to a computer Yes 02/10/2014 Demonstrate where the graphics card is installed Yes 03/10/2014 Install MS Office 2003 Yes 03/10/2014 Install MS security essentials Yes 06/10/2014 Create a user account Yes 06/10/2014 Configure system software, application software and documents yes 06/10/2014
Assessment and grading criteria
P5 set up a standalone computer system, installing hardware and software components [SM3] For P5, learners must install at least one hardware and one software component in a stand-alone system. This is best evidenced with a witness statement or observation record and screen shots. Learners must use suitable safety equipment/tools and pay due regard to health and safety issues.
How the activity meets the requirements of the assessment and grading criteria, including how and where the activity took place
I witnessed Oran connect a monitor, keyboard and mouse to a computer. He demonstrated where the graphics card is installed and installed both MS Office 2003, and MS security essentials.   He then created a user account and configured system software, application software and documents. He completed all of the above with ease.
Witness name	Irdi Cupi		Job role	Student
Witness signature			Date	06/10/2014
Assessor name	Phil Wilkinson
Assessor signature			Date	06/10/2014

Unit 2 D1

Unit 2 D1

Firewalls

Firewalls are a form of security that can be installed onto a computer system. Firewalls basically act as a barrier in order to keep potential harmful elements out of a network or a computer. Their function is to block and prevent unauthorised access to a network. This means that your computer will generally run much quicker because there will be no present viruses or any other malware that can slow down the computers performance. The changes in performance may not be noticeable in well signed software. Poorly designed firewalls can slow down your computers performance, therefore you should make sure that you are using a good quality firewall. Any information that is seen as unsafe will not be allowed to pass through the firewall, it is very important to assure that there is no malicious software present in the computer, in order to improve the performance of the computer system.

Firewalls will indirectly improve the performance of a computer because they do not allowing viruses and other malware into the computer. All computers should have a firewall installed and turned on in order to browse the internet safely. If firewalls are not installed, there is a much higher risk of malicious viruses passing through and infecting the computer system, potentially taking the computer down completely. Firewalls definitely improve the performance of a computer system.

Spyware, viruses and all malware can drastically slow down your computers performance, so removing the malicious software from your computer system will definitely improve your computers performance. Setting up a firewall will prevent the malicious software from entering in the first place, therefore you computer's performance can maintain a high speed. Firewalls are a major part of the security infrastructure for both homes and businesses, and there is an impact on performance.

Clean up tools for removal of cookies

Cookie files are relatively small, however they can build up over time and make a big difference to the speed of your computers performance. Having cookies present in your computer system will slow down your computer, therefore it is vital that you use clean up tools in order to remove them before they start to build up. If you take the time out to remove all of the cookies that are present in your computer, it will drastically speed up the performance of your internet browsing software. Temporary Internet files will affect your browser speed, so removing the cookies will certainly improve the overall performance of your computer.If you find that you do not have the time to manually remove cookies from your computer system, you can create a schedule for when the cookies will be removed from the browser., for example once every month, and the cookies from all selected files will be removed automatically. This will increase the speed and performance of your computer, as well as not needing to take the time out to manually remove the cookies, thus making it even more time efficient/faster. Having too many cookies in your computer will take up a large amount of storage space in the hard drive, this will make your computer slow. Removing the cookies will improve the speed of your computer. The presence of cookies in a computer system can also disturb your privacy, hackers could possibly get hold of your personal details if the cookies are left on your computer system for too long, therefore it is advised to remove the cookies regularly.

Drive formatting

Over time, hard drives can experience malfunctions due to viruses and other malware, this can decrease the speed and performance of your computer system. If you format your drive, all of the disks’ data is removed and refreshed. This means that there will be a considerably large increase of free space on your hard drive. When you have more space on your hard drive your computer will usually being to run faster, meaning that drive formatting can improve the performance of you computer system in terms of data storage. Computer systems also tend to work more efficiently with more drive space. After formatting your drive, software conflict should be removed and the computers performance will increase drastically. Sometimes a computer can experience glitches and crashes if it has not been formatted for a long amount of time. After formatting a hard drive, these glitches and crashes should disappear and the computers performance will improve significantly. Drive formatting erases the data from an old OS so that the old files don’t corrupt the new OS install. Having a formatted, clean drive improves the loading speed of the computer as it won't have to figure out which files to boot with.

The lifetime of a computer system can also be increased by drive formating, as it erases all old files that could potentially be malicious. Deleting a file to the recycle bin icon on the desktop does not remove the file from your hard drive, so your computer system will remain slow. You should format your drive in order to remove the files you want to be gone, they will be completely erased and your computers performance will be increased.

Unit 2 M1

Function	Windows XP	Mac OS
machine and peripheral management	The Windows XP operating systems controls the whole machine along with all the components in there. It also controls peripherals like keyboards, mouse, printers etc. You can change the clicking speed by accessing the setting on the computer system. Peripheral management controls peripheral devices by sending commands in their own computer language. The OS communicates with all of the computer's peripherals via a software driver for each the individual devices. The operating systems controls the entire machine and all the components there. Seagate dashboard is Windows’ way of keeping up with the Mac dashboard, it is a software which allows the user to run diagnostics and adjust drive settings, like turning off drive lights.	MacOS control of the computer components are very similar, however almost all of devices need to be bought especially for Macs. For example a logitech keyboard couldn't be used with a Mac PC. Dashboard is an application installed in a Mac OS X operating system, it is used as a secondary desktop for hosting widgets. The widgets in the desktop can be moved around, rearranged and deleted just like in Windows. New widgets can be opened via an icon bar loading a list of available applications. The widgets are then ready for use after loading.
security	Windows XP operating system makes sure that everything works properly and that there is no unauthorised access that can be harmful to your data. Windows has security functions like user accounts with password protection, and also firewall.	MacOS has security features like blocking certain ports that could be potential security issues. Mac operating systems also have security features that check whether your downloaded content is safe or not.
file management	Windows XP operating systems all have file management which show files, create new files, delete files, edit files and other functions that are linked to the files. Windows has a process called explorer.exe which handles the file management. Windows comes with a file manager called ExplorerXP which is a very fast, small, compact and innovative free software - file manager for Windows XP. Unlike regular Windows Explorer, this displays the total size of each one of your folders and allows you to browse multiple folders from a tabbed interface. Media browser is a plug-in for Windows Media Center in Windows 7 which is like cover flow in a Mac. Windows has released its own version of iCloud, called One Drive which allows a user to upload and sync files to a cloud storage, and then access them from a Web browser or personal device, just like iCloud. It allows you to keep chosen files private, or sharing them with chosen contacts and other things like that. XWindows dock is basically a clone of Mac dock, it does the exact same thing, allows you to launch applications whilst alternating between various running applications.	The file manager for MacOS is called Finder. It’s basically the same as Windows’ explorer, it has appropriate icons for all file types. Disk Order is another file manager for your Mac. It is a more advanced replacement for Finder that comes with built-in FTP/SFTP client, and therefore has the ability to handle archives like plain folders, network browser and others. Cover flow is a graphical user interface that is integrated within a Mac OS. It allows you to visualise snapchats of documents, web bookmarks, photographs etc, and flip through them. iCloud is a cloud storage and computing service set up by Apple. It lets you store and access all of your data from your computer ready to be downloaded onto multiple devices. It also allows users to back up their iOS devices to iCloud instead of doing it manually via iTunes. Dock is an application in a Mac OS X. It is used to launch applications and alternate between different running applications. Apps can be added  and removed from the Dock via drag and drop.The trash icon is a permanent icon within the dock. The Dock is used as a repository for any program or file in the Mac OS X. The dock can store any sized file and dynamically resizes them to fit, and it also used magnification to clarify smaller resized items.
device drivers	Drivers are programs that tell the Windows XP operating system what to do with this particular device and also how to do it. For example if you bought a new graphics card, in order to make it work properly with all of its power and efficiency, you are required to install drivers provided with the card.	Basically the same as Windows’, the drivers are programs which control the devices. In MacOS, when the system is closed and you can’t upgrade anything, every driver required to run the computer is included in the system.  However if you want to install a new printer, you would have to install a version of drive specifically for MacOS.

Feature	Windows XP	Mac OS
ability to customize	Windows has accessibility features built in to it since the introduction of Windows 95. You can use Control Panel and other features that are built-in to Windows to adjust the appearance of Windows to suit varying vision abilities. These adjustments include; colours and sizes of fonts, volume and behaviour of the mouse and keyboard.	Mac OS has a lot of Customising tools available like the ability to create or change keyboard shortcuts within your applications. You can also launch apps when you log in, for example If you always launch certain apps when you turn on your Mac, like Mail or Web browser, you can save time and clicks by having them start automatically when you log in. System preferences is an application installed in Mac OS X operating system, and it allows the user to make modifications to various system settings which are divided into separate preference panes.
support for connectivity of portable media	If you use a portable media device, like an MP3 player in Windows XP, you can use a software called Windows Media Player to keep the device's files up to date. When you synchronize a portable device with Windows Media Player, you have make sure that the portable player holds all of your latest songs and playlists.	In Mac OS, if the device has removable storage, for example a flash drive or SD card, the device will show a new icon on your Desktop. When double clicked, it will display all the contents of the device in the Finder, which could be music, pictures, or anything that is on the device.
security	The security features in Windows XP make it much safer for online shopping and browsing on the Internet. Windows XP comes equipped with built-in  Firewall software that provides a resilient defense to security threats when you are connected to the Internet. Overall, the security for Windows XP has been improved to help you have a safe, secure, and private computing experience.	The newest Mac OS comes equipped with a great set of security enhancements, some major, others incremental, and they are designed to strengthen the operating system, bolster security defenses and mainly to  make the system more resilient to security threats. Time machine is a backup storage installed in a Mac computer operating system which automatically backs up your entire Mac. It creates incremental backups for files that can be stored at a later date. It allows the user to restore the entire system or specific files.It works with several compatible programs to make it possible to restore indivudual items like phtos without leaving the application.
stability and reliability	The Reliability Monitor in Windows XP analyzes event logs and also displays a list of changes, along with crashes and errors.The program also comes in handy if you are buying a second hand computer and you want to be sure it works fine.	Mac OS X was designed from scratch, therefore Mac OS is incredibly stable. Apple controls production from start to finish, meaning every part of a Mac is designed and tested to work together. Mac OS has a rock solid Unix base which makes it even more stable.
ease of management	Windows XP is one of Microsoft's most popular and successful operating systems to date. The Windows XP IT Knowledge Exchange tutorial assists network admins when they are attempting to improve security, performance and management in their XP environments.	Mac OS is equipped with Local user management, which is a control that you can exercise over users of your computer without the use of a separate server. The history of local user management in Mac OS includes software such as At Ease.

associated utilities

Utilities that are installed in Windows XP include; Microsoft Safety Scanner, which helps to protect your PC and remove malicious software. Also Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7, which provides a collection of games and apps for your PC. You can also use Sync apps for Windows phone, which enables you to sync music, photos and more between your Windows phone and PC.

Mac OS comes equipped with AppCleaner which is an icon-based solution which finds and deletes all of the associated files that come with an application when you delete the software, which means you have more space in your computer. Drop box is another free service, once installed it enables you to sync anything that is on your Mac with all other Macs. Dropbox mimics iDisk, all Macs should have dropbox.