The advantages and disadvantages Essay Example for Free

The advantages and disadvantages Essay The difference it will make is that it will not have colour and will only be in black writing. It is good for beginners to practice typing. You can not put in pictures or borders. It takes very little memory. It is not a good application for professionals. Microsoft Access Open Office Base It is the same but the steps of doing things are totally different. It is very fast and reliable. It is rare so if you need help then you are less likely to get help. If I used it then I can do my work faster because it is very easy to use. It is similar to Microsoft Access so it is easy to use. It has much less features than Microsoft Access. It is easy and straight forward. It takes up a lot of memory. Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 Mozilla Firefox It works almost the same but it is faster. Mozilla Firefox is faster than Microsoft Internet Explorer 7. It takes quite a bit of time to download from internet. The difference it will make if I used it is that I will be safer on the web. It is good because it has security which stops viruses and hackers. You have to pay for it because it does not come free. You can get information, play games and email really fast. It is a bit advanced so it may be hard to use for some users. Paint Adobe Photoshop It works almost the same as paint. You are able to change the colour of the picture. The images take up a lot of hard disk memory. The difference it will make is that I will be able to draw more accurate images than paint. It has more options and tools than paint. It does not come with the computer; you will have to buy it. You can also make changes in photos etc. It is a bit hard to use, so experienced people can use it. Microsoft Word Microsoft Access Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 Paint Input An input device is that hardware which allows you to put data into the computer. The main input devices I have used are keyboard, mouse and scanner. Device Speed Errors that can be made Way to correct errors Keyboard The keyboard does not have a set amount of speed it all depends how fast the typist is typing. The speed is calculated in Words Per Minute (WPM). The errors which can be made are that you can type in a word by mistake or do spelling mistakes. If you have typed a word wrong then you have to press back space or if it is a spelling mistake then put the spell check on which underlines the mistake in red. It then gives you a list of words to correct to. Mouse The speed of the mouse actually depends on how fast you move the mouse. You may click on icon which you did not want to press. You have to press back or if t has opened an application then exit it. Scanner The speed of the scanner depends on how powerful the scanner is. The more powerful the faster. Latest models will have more power. You might want to see what goes on in scanner and will lift the lid up. You have to wait till the scanning finishes then you have to repeat it all over again. Keyboard The way I detected my errors is that I checked my work twice. The way I corrected my errors is that I clicked the underlined words and chose a suitable word from the list. Spelling mistakes are underlined in red like this and grammatical mistakes are underlined in green like this. If there was none suitable then I would re-type the correct word. Thereafter I gave it to friend for proof reading. Mouse The way I detected the errors is that when I went on an unwanted page. The way I corrected it is that I simply went back. To prevent such errors; I done my work slowly. If I was on the internet and I made a mistake then I would click the button called BACK which is on the top left corner. Scanner After the image was been scanned, I checked if there were any mistakes in the digital image. If there were any then I restarted the scanning. The way I prevented these errors was that before scanning I made sure that the page was the right way round and having no creases on the paper. Effects of Inaccurate Data Inaccurate data will affect the system by mainly consuming time and causing problems for customers. Data Effect Way it can be prevented Name spelt incorrectly If the name is spelt incorrectly then when the tickets reach the person and the name does not match the name on the passport then the person can not go abroad. The way it can be prevented is that tell the customer to repeat it twice. Also tell the customer to say it in phonetics. And lastly, confirm before putting the phone down. Address not correct, such as postcode If the address or the postcode is not correct then letters may not reach the person and go elsewhere. The way it can be prevented is that tell the customer to repeat it twice. Also confirm before putting the phone down. For the postcode I shall also keep an input mask which is LL0\ 0LL. Recommendations not checked correctly If the recommendation is not checked correctly then customers may not get the offers which they have the right to get. The way it can be prevented is that make sure that the recommendation is there and recheck it at a later stage. Gender not entered correctly If the gender is not entered correctly then a staff could put a customer to shame if it is said wrong over the phone. The way it can be prevented is that tell the customer to repeat it twice. Also confirm before putting the phone down. Also I will make sure that nothing other than male or female is entered into the gender. I will do this by entering a validation rule and validation text. This means that every time something is typed wrong in that field than it will not be valid and then a message will come up say what to do. Date of birth not entered in correct format If the date of birth of birth is not entered in the correct format then part of the database could go wrong and it would also cause problems to the customers if it is in the wrong format on tickets and letters. The way it can be prevented is that keep a strict format that all the staff could stick to. Also recheck if it is entered according to the format. And if talking to the customer over the phone then ask which format it is. For example; DD/MM/YY or MM/DD/YY or YY/DD/MM. I have also thought of having a set format for the date of birth. To maintain this I shall have an input mask which is 00/00/0000;0;; Subscriptions not entered in correct format If the subscription is not entered in the correct format then the subscription could go on and on for ever if the expiry date is not entered correctly. The way it can be prevented is that recheck if the date is there and it is entered correctly with the correct format. For this also I will have a set format and to maintain this I will an input mask which is 00/00/0000; 0;; I think that the overall best method of checking the accuracy of the data is that it is rechecked and confirmed. Also I would prefer having an input mask where possible in places like date of birth and post code. Validation It is very important that you have correct and accurate data or else this could lead to many major problems. Validation is a very good way to ensure that you have the correct data. Validation is when the computer itself automatically checks the work and makes sure that the data entered is reasonable but it does not check the accuracy. The main aim of validation is that it makes sure that the data entered is reasonable, allowable and sensible. For example; if you typed in the date of birth of a secondary school student then it is likely to be between 1988 and 1995. If 1955 was entered then it would definitely be wrong and the computer will not accept. This is making sure that the data is reasonable. If Sams date of birth is 1992 and 1989 was typed then it will be still accepted but the data is not true. This is not checking the accuracy of the data. The following are a few methods of validation: 1. Presence check This checks that data has been entered into a field. An example of this method is; * In most databases a key field can not be left empty. 2. Check digit The last one or two digits in a code are used to check if all the other digits are correct. An example of this method is; Â  In shops and super markets, barcode readers use check digits. 3. Type check This checks that of a certain type is entered into a field. An example of this method is; In a clothes shop, dress sizes may range from 8 to 18. For this type of data, a number data type would be suitable. If the data type is set as number then only numbers could be entered and a person will be prevented form typing in letters and words. If size ten or eleven was entered, then it would be rejected and 10 or 11 would need to be entered. 4. Format check This checks if data is in the correct format. An example of this method is; Â  A National Insurance number is in the form LL 99 99 99 L. In which L is any letter and9 is any number. 5. Spell check This looks up words in a dictionary. An example of this method is; Â  When word processing. 6. Length check This checks that the data entered is not too long or too short. An example of this method is; A password which needs to be six characters long. 7. Range check This checks that a value fall within the specified range. An example of this method is; Number of hours worked must be no more than 50 hours and more than 0 hours. 8. Look up table This looks up acceptable values in a table. An example of this method is; Â  There are only seven possible days in a week. Verification Verification is to check if the data meets the required standards. For example; if a password is created, then you have to verify by typing it a second time to see if they both match. If the passwords did not match each other then the computer does not allow him to go through because the required standard is that the passwords must match each other and must be typed in correctly. The following are a few methods of verification: 1. Re-typing the data Re-typing the data could get rid of a lot of mistakes. This method is only ideal for small amounts of data such as passwords. However, also in small amounts of data there is also a problem which is that the mistake could be repeated in the second piece of data and this does not pick up the mistake. The reason why it is not ideal for large amounts of data is for three main reasons. They are as follows; You would end up with two copies of the data Mistakes which are repeated will not get picked up. Â  It would be time consuming to re-type large amounts of data. 2. Checking the data on the screen with the original paper document This method saves having to re-type the data. It can help where in data has been transposed or entered incorrectly. However, it is not easy and can get tough trying to move your eyes back and forth paper copy and monitor. 3. Printing out a copy of the data and then comparing it with the original copy. This is probably the easiest method because you bath copies side by side and you can check for mistakes. However, this method can also become time consuming if large amounts of data have to be checked. Also if you go too quick the mistakes could be left. Output Output device allow you to view information after it has been processed. Device Type The way it works Advantages Disadvantages Best place to use it Printer Laser In laser printers powdered ink is fused on to paper by heat and pressure. They use toners instead of cartridges. They produce a very high quality of output. Laser printers are very expensive to buy. The best place to us it is in a library or any study area because they are very quiet and fast. Laser printers are very quiet and do not disturb. Toners are used instead of cartridges this means that there may be extra costs. Hundreds of pages could be printed within an hour. They are very huge so if there are any breakdowns then repairs could be very costly. Inkjet Inkjet printers work by heating ink as it flows through small nozzles. It then creates a dot on the paper and keeps happening until a picture forms. Ink is stored in cartridges. It is quite fast but not faster than Laser printers. The quality of colour printing is very low. The best place to use it is in your house because it is cheap and it is worth the price. Print outs are very neat compared to other print outs. Print out may come out wet and this may smudge. Nozzles are much cheaper than toners. Inkjet printers are very noisy. Dot-matrix Dot-matrix printers work by using a set of steel pins which strike an inked ribbon onto paper producing a sequence of dots. Dot-matrix printers are cheap to buy. They are very noisy and disturbing. The best place to use it would be something like a factory because they make a lot of noise and in a factory printers are used very less. It is very cheap to operate. They are very slow and take ages. They are not very hard to use. You can not make colour copies. Monitor TFT Thousands of tiny dots called pixels are displayed which then create an image. TFT monitors are very slim and take up less space. TFT monitors are very slim and can easily get knocked over. The best place to use a TFT monitor would be in an office or an ICT room because It would be less stuffy and more nice and comfortable to use. They create very less heat in the room. They can produce dull and low quality images if the monitor is not good. TFT monitors are not made of glass so the screen will not break. The screen can be damaged if it is poked many times. CRT Thousands of tiny dots called pixels are displayed which then create an image. CRT monitors are big and hard to get knocked over. They create a lot of heat and it can get very stuffy in the room. The best place to use a CRT monitor would be in a nursery where there are lots of small children and the chances of getting damaged are very high as the children will be running about. CRT monitors They are very cheap. They take up too much space and they are less stylish. They are hard to be stolen because they are massive. CRT monitors can make a lot of noise. After looking at all the different types of input devices, my work has been affected greatly. I have also tried my best to use the best out of all the output devices in my task. Conclusion Most of the components and other things I used for my tasks were very suitable. For example, a CRT monitor can not be used in an office and a TFT would be the best.