NOTES 2.

(a) .jpg
(b) .doc
(c) .text
(d) .txt
3. What keys do you use to copy something?
(a) Ctrl+x
(b) Ctrl+c
(c) Ctrl+z
(d) Ctrl+y
B. Subjective questions
1.
system in a school?
2.
Ubuntu?

What have you learnt?

After completing this session, you will be able to

SESSION 3: COMPUTER CARE AND MAINTENANCE

Importance of Care and Maintenance
of Computers
Taking care of our things whether it’s our books,
clothes, furniture or gadgets is important. Taking
care of electronic devices, such as computer and
mobiles helps them to work properly. Just as we take
care of our body by taking bath, brushing our teeth
and eating food every day we need to take care of our
machines. A computer is a delicate machine with a lot
of moving electronic parts. We need to protect it from
dust and damage. If we are careless, it will not work

Computers and mobiles are very expensive. When

we take good care of them on a regular basis, we
can use them for a longer time. This will help us
save money as we do not need to buy new devices
too often.

74 EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS – CLASS X

Basic Tips for Taking Care of Devices
Here are some simple ways that you can follow to take
care of your computer.

Cleaning a device, such as a computer or mobile means

to keep the screen, keyboard and mouse clean. Figure 3.21: Cleaning keyboard
with soft brush
(i) Keyboard: First we should not eat anything over
a keyboard. Crumbs can damage the internal
parts of a keyboard. You can clean a keyboard
with a soft brush as shown in Figure 3.21 to
remove crumbs and dust particles.
(ii) Screen: You can wipe the screen with a soft cloth

(iii) Be careful with food and drinks: Avoid eating Figure 3.22: Avoid keeping food
and keeping glasses of water or cups of coffee near a computer
near a computer as shown in Figure 3.22. Any
liquid spilt over an electronic device can spoil it
beyond repair.
(iv) Handle devices carefully: Handle and move your
laptop carefully and avoid dropping or banging
it against a hard surface. Even a short fall can
damage the screen or the hard disk and make the
Figure 3.23: Avoid dropping
device useless. Using a cover for your mobile and bag containing laptop
a padded case for moving your laptop as shown
in Figure 3.23 protects the device from damage.
(v) Keep the computer cool: If a computer, laptop
or mobile device gets overheated, the internal
parts can be damaged. The CPU has an internal
fan to keep it cool. We should make sure the fan
is functioning. You can also use an external fan
as shown in Figure 3.24. Avoid leaving a device in Figure 3.24: Keep device cool
the sun or in a closed car. We should be careful
when using a laptop while sitting in bed and
make sure that the fan in not covered.
(vi) Do not overcharge your battery: Sometimes
we keep a device plugged in for charging even
after it is fully charged. If we leave the device
plugged in for a long time as shown in Figure
Figure 3.25: Do not over
3.25, it can overheat the battery. This reduces charge your battery

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY SKILLS 75

 the battery life. Always unplug the device once it
is charged 100%.
(vii) Always plug in devices carefully: Any device
being connected to a laptop or computer such
as a USB drive or headphones, should be done
gently. It should not be forced into the port. If

direction and try instead of trying to force it in.

Figure 3.26: Too many (viii) Do not run too many programs at a time: When
programs running at a time too many programs are running at the same
time as shown in Figure 3.26, the computer can
become slow and even crash. If a program/app is
not being used, it should be closed so that other
programs can work smoothly.

Prepare a Maintenance Schedule

We need to prepare a plan or a schedule for maintenance
to keep the computer running in perfect condition for a
long time. This can include:
(a)
i.
ii.
proper folders
(b) Weekly Maintenance
i. Clean your keyboard
ii. Clean your monitor
iii.
iv. Backup your data to an external drive
(c) Monthly Maintenance
i. Transfer photographs to computer and delete
from drive
ii. Organise photos into folders or albums
iii.
iv. Uninstall unused programs and apps
v.
vi. Run full system virus scan
(d) Yearly/Annual Maintenance
(a) Clean up contacts list on social media
accounts

76 EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS – CLASS X

 (b)
(c) Update your operating system
(d)
and renew

Backing up data means to save the information present

Figure 3.27: Backup Data
on CD/DVD
drives as shown in Figure 3.28
recovered from here in case the computer stops working
completely. Computers can crash, humans can make

happen. So, it is important for companies, hospitals,

banks, etc., to keep their information safe — so that
their business can continue to function smoothly and
their customers do not face problems.

Sometimes computer viruses can enter a computer

This will prevent any viruses from entering and will also
clean any viruses that may enter our system before they
affect the data.

Increasing Computer Performance

If we have been using a computer for a long time we

down. It is important that we keep cleaning

disk cleaner software, which help us clean up

Removing SPAM from your Computer

Sometimes we get mails from companies
who are advertising a product or trying to
attract you to their website. Such mails are
called SPAM.
We should never respond to SPAM and
delete it on a regular basis. Figure 3.28: SPAM folder

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY SKILLS 77

 NOTES

have a SPAM folder as shown in Figure 3.28 and

automatically put all such emails into this folder.

Practical Exercise
Activity 1
Making a Chart
Material required
Pen, notebook, chart paper, pictures.
Procedure
Form groups and make a chart to list down all the
ways in which a device can be damaged and how it can
be prevented.
Make sure all students in the group get a chance
to participate.

Check Your Progress

A. Multiple choice questions
Read the questions carefully and circle the letter (a), (b),
(c) or (d) that best answers the question.

1. What happens if you leave a device plugged in even after

it is charged 100%?
(a) It can break.
(b) It can stop functioning.
(c)
(d)
2.
(a)
(b) It can increase its performance.
(c) It can prevent data from getting corrupt.
(d) It can backup data.
3. Which option is not required to keep a device cool?
(a) Keep the device unplugged when in use.
(b)
(c) Make sure computer’s CPU fan is working.
(d) Avoid leaving the device in the sun.
4. Which of the following is essential for maintaining
keyboard?
(a) Turn the keyboard upside down and shake it to
remove foreign material.

78 EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS – CLASS X

 (b) Blow dust and other particles with help of a blower.
(c) Use a very dilute combination of soap and water

from the keycaps.

(d) All of the above.

B. Subjective questions

1. Explain how to clean a computer on a daily basis.

2. How can you increase the performance of a computer?

What Have You Learnt?

After completing this session, you will be able to
identify the importance of taking care of computers.
list the various ways in which computers can be
damaged.
demonstrate how to prevent damage and take care
of computers.

SESSION 4: COMPUTER SECURITY AND PRIVACY

We store a lot of information on our computers and
electronic devices. For example, we keep our photos
on our mobiles, school computers store personal
information regarding every student and their parents,

of their clients and computers in hospital have important

information about patients. If any of this information
gets lost or leaked and falls into the wrong hands, it can
cause a lot of harm to the people. Figure 3.29: Computer Security

For example, if information stored in a bank’s

computer gets leaked it can cause many people to lose
a lot of money. Hence, it is essential to keep computers
secure and our data safe.

Computer Security Deals with Protecting

Computers
Computer security and privacy deals with the measures
used to prevent loss of data.

Reasons for Security Break

Security break is leakage of information stored in
a computer.

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY SKILLS

 Personal information can be lost or leaked in
two ways:
1. We are not careful in giving out personal
information over the Internet. For
example, we share our account details
and password on unsecure sites.
2. A person gets unauthorised access to
our computer. This can happen in the

logging out.
Figure 3.30: Security Breach Computer security and privacy is about
measures we can take to restrict access to
personal data stored in a computer.

Threats to Computer
Threats are the ways in which personal
information can be leaked from a computer
without our knowing.
(a) Theft: Theft means stealing of
information or hardware. These maybe
of three types:
Figure 3.31: Physical stealing
Physical: Where a person may
steal your desktop computer or
laptop.
Identity: Where a hacker steals
your personal information and
assumes your identity. Using this
false identity, the hacker can gain
access to your account information
or perform illegal activity.
Software Piracy: This is stealing
of software and includes using
Figure 3.32: Online stealing
or distributing unlicensed and
unauthorised copies of a computer
program or software.
(b) Virus:
damage the data and software programs or steal
the information stored on a computer. Major
types of viruses are Worms and Trojan Horse.
Worms: These are viruses that replicate
Figure 3.33: Worm virus

80 EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS – CLASS X

 to remove them.
Trojan Horse: A Trojan Horse disguises itself
i.e., it appears to be a useful software program
but once it reaches a computer it starts
behaving like a virus and destroying data.
Online Predator: Online predators are people
who trap you into inappropriate relationships.
They may be older people posing to be your
age, bullying you into doing illegal activities
online and sometimes face to face.
Internet Scams: Sometimes you may receive
very attractive offers saying you have won
a huge money in a lottery and that you can
claim the prize by depositing a certain amount
of money. When you deposit the money
using credit card or online banking, you not
only lose the deposit money but your card /
account information may be misused later.

To protect our data from theft and viruses we

can take the following measures:
(a) Use passwords to login to your
computer: Use passwords that are

to hack if they are a mix of small (For

example ‘a b c d’) and capital letters
(For example, ‘H J E R’), numbers (For
example ‘8 7 6 5’) and special characters
(For example, ’% ^ # $’). This would Figure 3.34: Antivirus
prevent unauthorised people from
using your computer.
(b) Install Anti-virus and Firewall:
and Firewall monitor the data coming in and
out of a computer and prevent and viruses from

viruses that may have entered a computer.

(c) Encrypt Data: This is usually done by banks
and companies in which important customer
information is stored. They can encrypt their
entire hard disk using encrypting feature in Figure 3.35: Data encryption

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY SKILLS 81

 NOTES Windows (Bitlocker). This would force users to use
a decryption password (or key) before starting the
computer thus preventing unauthorised usage.
(d) Secure sites: Give details of your credit card or
bank account only on secure sites. See in the
address bar of the browser. If the site address
starts with https://and a lock symbol, then it is
safe to give your credit card and bank details.

Practical Exercise
The teacher will facilitate these activities by showing you the
e-learning lesson athttp://www.psscive.ac.in/stud_text_book.
html. This will include videos and e-content for the above topics
as well as detailed instructions for some activities below.
Initial Thinking Activity
After watching the initial video write down the type of risk present
to the data available in different places, for example in a school,
hospital, bank, etc.

Activity 1
Group Chart Making
Material required
Pen, notebook, computer, Chart paper, colours
Procedure
Form groups depending on the number of students
available. Make a chart to show all the different threats
faced by a computer and how you can protect a computer
from such treats.

Check Your Progress

A. Multiple choice questions
Read the questions carefully and circle the letter (a), (b),
(c) or (d) that best answers the question

1. What should you do to ensure secure online transactions?

(a) Lock your computer
(b) Give credit card or bank details only on safe websites
(c) Use anti-virus
(d) Do not use pirated software
2. Which of the following trap small children into
inappropriate relations?
(a) Online predators
(b) Worms
(c) Trojan Horse
(d) Anti-Virus

82 EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS – CLASS X

 3. What should a strong password consist of?
NOTES
(a) Only letters
(b) Numbers and special characters
(c) Name of a person
(d) Letters, numbers and special characters

B. Subjective questions

1. Explain how Trojan Horse virus works.

2. List the various ways you can use to protect your data.

What Have You Learnt?

After completing this session, you will be able to
identify the importance of securing our computers
and data.
list the various threats to a computer and its data.
list the various ways to protect data.

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY SKILLS 83