© S. Wilkins 22 May, 2006

Maintain System Integrity - Activities

Activity 0 – Practical Activities

Complete the following practical activities on the computers at school or at home:-

1. Use the backup program that comes with your operating system, e.g., Microsoft Backup, to backup selected files on a PC.
2. Rename some of the files you backed up in question 1, and then restore those files from your backup.
3. Use an archive program, e.g., Winzip, to compress a number of files over a number of floppy disks.
4. Use the internet to locate and download a free anti-virus program. Install the anti-virus program onto your computer.
5. Download a virus library update for the anti-virus program and install it.
6. Scan your system for viruses.

Activity 1 – Virus Protection

Read the article How Computer Viruses Work at HowStuffWorks.com and answer the questions below.

1. What are the two phases of virus activity?
2. What is the difference between a Virus and a Worm?
3. What is the difference between a boot sector virus and a macro virus?
4. List THREE steps you can take to protect your system against viruses.
5. What steps should you take if you detect a virus on your system?
6. Why is it essential to update anti-virus software regularly?

Activity 2 – Virus Research

Research TWO different types of computer viruses and explain:-

1. The type of virus and OS it affects
2. Infection length and rating
3. Summary of technical details – what does the virus actually do to your system
4. Removal instructions

Activity 3 – Anti-virus software (Homework)

1. Download a trial copy of a virus checker (or use one already installed on your workstation).
2. Use it to perform a complete scan of your hard disk.
3. Press "Print Screen" and paste into a Word document the final screen after this scan has been completed.
4. Print this out and show it to your teacher.

Activity 4 – Research Assignment / Magazine Article

You are the journalist who writes articles for The Personal Computer User in the weekend paper. This week you are to write an article to advise readers about system maintenance procedures.

The article must include information under the following headings:

• Backup
  • Why do we backup?
  • Media used for backup
  • Policies and procedures for backing up an organization’s data, including a sample flowchart of regular (weekly and daily) backup schedules
  • How to restore lost data
  • Archiving data
• Virus protection
  • What is Virus Protection and why is it important?
  • Anti-virus software review (review of software used in Activity 3)
  • Virus scanning procedures, including a sample virus scanning policy
  • Updating anti-virus software – where to get it and how to do it

The article MUST:

• Be created in Microsoft Publisher, using a Newsletter template / wizard.
• Have a layout and style similar to a newspaper page this may include a callout, headline, subheadings, a diagram/picture with title, columns, borders and small body text size.
• Include at least one screen dump labelled to illustrate at least one instruction
• Be between 2-4 A4 pages. (Use a double page spread – pages 2-3)

Activity 5 – File Organisation

1. Organise the files in your server space at school into appropriate folders.
2. Make sure all folders and files have meaning full names
3. Create an Organisational chart (in MS Word) to document the directories and file structures you have used
4. Type a paragraph describing how you have organised your files in folders, so that you will be able to find the files you need easily
5. Save this document as Maintain System Integrity Notes
   

Activity 6 – System Integrity

1. Open the document Maintain System Integrity Notes that you created in Activity 5
2. Type one or two paragraphs explaining why you should use "Add/Remove Programs" in the control panel to uninstall software, rather than just deleting its folder and files using Windows Explorer.
3. Explain why removing a shortcut from the Start menu will not remove the program. (You may also mention the use of dedicated uninstallation software.)
4. Save your answers
5. Email this document home (or take it home on a floppy disk) to complete Activity 7.

Activity 7 – File Attributes

1. Right click on the file Maintain System Integrity Notes and select Properties
2. Select the "Summary" tab and enter the following information into the appropriate locations:
   1. Title - "Maintain System Integrity Notes"
   2. Subject – “Information Technology”
   3. Author - your name
   4. Company - your school
   5. Keywords - "VET, Information Technology, Ashfield"
   6. Comments - "This task demonstrates the allocation of detailed information to file properties"
3. What is the name of the template used for this file?
4. Select the "Custom" tab and enter the following information:
   1. "Date Completed" - enter the current date, as type "Date"
   2. "Owner" - enter your name, as type "Text"
   3. "Reference" - enter your HSC student number, as type "Number"
   4. "Status" - enter "Yes" as type "Yes or No"
5. Select the "Statistics" tab and write down:-
   1. when the file was created, modified, accessed and printed
   2. who last saved the file
   3. the total editing time
   4. how many times it has been revised
   5. number of pages, paragraphs, lines, words and characters contained in the document
6. Select the "General" tab and make the file "Read-only" and "Archive".
7. Click on "OK" to save the changes you have made to the file properties.
8. Email the document to your supervising teacher. Include in your email answers to questions 3 and 5 (a-e). Clearly label / number each answer.

Activity 8 – Revision

Complete the activity located here to revise the skills you have leaned in this unit.