richard collins unit 2 computer systems · richard collins unit 2 computer systems 1 criteria name...

Richard Collins Unit 2 Computer Systems

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Criteria Name Pages

P4 Recommend a computer system for a given business purpose

3-7

P5 Set up a standalone computer system, installing hardware and software components.

10-14

P6 Configure a computer system to meet user needs.

15-19

P7 Test a configured computer system for functionality.

20-21

P8 Undertake routine maintenance tasks on a standalone computer system.

22-24

M2 Justify choice of computer system to meet a given business purpose

8-9

M3 Evaluate the performance of a computer system.

28-29

D2 Explain and justify improvements that could be made to a computer system.

30-31

Course: BTEC IT Extended Diploma, Level 3 (Software Development) – Year 1 (F1215)

Name: Richard Collins 164166

Unit: 2 – Computer Systems (Core)

Tutor: Terrence Dias

Assignment: Assignment 2

Started: 5th December 2016 (05-12-16)

Submission: 20th January 2017 (20-01-17)


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Report for ESC Technology regarding a new functioning machine for a new

Student Employee.

Contents P4 - Recommend a computer system for a given business purpose ...................................................... 3

What tasks will the user be doing on the computer system? ............................................................ 3

Are these tasks being carried out in a work environment? (network sharing) .................................. 3

Does the user have any particular needs or requirements (Disabilities)? .......................................... 3

Identify the minimum specifications for both Hardware and software ............................................. 3

Recommend an Operating System ..................................................................................................... 5

Ensure any recommended software is compatible with recommended hardware and should be

able to integrate with other systems – sound entertainment ........................................................... 6

What level of ICT skills does the user(s) already have? (any training requirements) ......................... 6

Cost; .................................................................................................................................................... 6

Need for maintenance contract, ......................................................................................................... 7

Outputs required ................................................................................................................................ 7

M2 – Justify choice of Computer system to meet a given Business Purpose ......................................... 8

P5 – Set up a standalone computer system, installing hardware and software components ............. 10

Hardware .......................................................................................................................................... 10

Software [Windows 10] .................................................................................................................... 12

P6 – Configure a computer system to meet user needs. ...................................................................... 15

P7 – Test a configured computer system to meet user needs. ............................................................ 20

P8 – Undertake routine maintenance tasks on a standalone computer system .................................. 22

M3 – Evaluate the performance of a computer system. ...................................................................... 28

D2 –Explain and Justify improvements that could be made to a computer system. ........................... 30


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P4 - Recommend a computer system for a given business purpose

What tasks will the user be doing on the computer system?

The user will be carrying out multiple tasks on this system and therefore need a system which can

run and operate many different software and be able to attach hardware as needed. Some of the

tasks may include Creating Documents, Spreadsheets or Presentations and these tasks will be

carried out on a Word Processing, Spreadsheet and Presentation software respectively. These are

simplistic tasks which any day-to-day computer or device should be able to carry out without any

problems. Since this student is working at a web development company, he is likely to be creating

Websites, so he shall require different software to carry these out. It would be likely for him to use

software such as a Notepad type of software to custom code HTML and CSS for websites and maybe

software such as Web development software e.g. Adobe Dreamweaver© for the more technical

tasks which require built in support for development of websites. Since he will be working with High-

Resolution graphics and videos, he will require applications which support the loading of these, as

some of these come in different formats, so an open source application is probably the best choice,

for this it is just a simple download and incorporation of these software, such as VLC Player, into the

system when first run.

Are these tasks being carried out in a work environment? (network sharing)

The user will be operating on a movement basis, so there will be little usage for a network sharing

system. However, we will leave the settings available in the instance that the company gets a

storage server and wishes the user to connect to it. The user will have resources downloaded and

integrated for the usage of a cloud storage system, which has yet to be determined, this will enable

the user to upload and download files from a cloud system, enabling him/her to work at someone

else’s Device (E.g. a friend’s computer), we have to make sure to enable the folders and files to be

saved onto the cloud storage system we have chosen and ensure that regular uploads of these files

occur, to ensure maximum safety.

Does the user have any particular needs or requirements (Disabilities)?

The user has not been identified or has not informed us of any particular needs or requirements that

he/she needs from the computer. However, as all operating systems come with tools and

applications which help the user to interact with the machine, these will be available if needed for

any future complications which may occur.

Identify the minimum specifications for both Hardware and software

This table outlines and lists the minimum specifications, components and software that I believe the

user will require in his day-to-day activities while on the job and while studying his undergraduate’s

degree. These parts may not necessarily be included in the final design and similar versions of each

of the items listed may also be used, as an alternative for what is listed.

HARDWARE

Component Type

Component Name Specification (Size, Capacity, Speed)

Description

Motherboard Asus Z-170-P 12in x 8.8in (W-D) 4x 7Pin Sata Ports Ram: DDR4 Max Ram: 64gb LGA1152 Socket Multilingual BIOS

This is an Asus motherboard of good quality, designed to handle high specification and high level equipment connected into this board. This board will support most hardware connected.


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Processor Intel i5-6500 4 Cores, 4 Threads Base: 3.20 Ghz Turbo: 3.60 Ghz Cache: 6 Mb’s DDR4 Memory 37.5mm x 37.5mm

Intel I5 core is considered one of the highest in quality, even better than its i7 newer release. People prefer the speed and reliability of the i5 over i7. This will be more than enough to process all tasks required by the user.

Graphics Card

NVIDIA GeForce 750ti

DirectX 11 GPU Boost 2.0 3D Vision 4K Quality GeForce Experience Memory: 2 GB GDDR5 5.7inch x 4.3inch

This graphics card is considered good usage especially due to the fact that he user will be creating and working with high resolution graphics and videos. This Card is enough to run high-end games, so it should not struggle with any tasks the user requires.

Network Card

TP-LINK TG-3269 10-1000 Mbps 32-bit Single UTP/STP Half & Full Duplex Support

This network card will provide more than enough speeds for the tasks required. With up to 1000mbps available and a Single UTP or STP cable option.

USB Ports 1x USB Type-C 2x USB 3.0 2x USB 2.0

USB-C: 40GBps, 4K Quality USB 3.0: 5GBps, Universal to Devices USB 2.0: 60MBps, Universal to Devices

The motherboard has 3 types of USB ports built in, this will enable a wide range of connectivity for transferring of different types of files to and from devices.

PSU Corsair VS550 150mm X 86mm X 140mm 550 Watts 40*C Output Rated Temperature Fan Size: 120mm

This is the power supply unit, which provides the desktop unit with power from the mains. This is a Corsair which is considered one of the best makes of PS Units and at 550w, it can support this PC with plenty to spare.

RAM Cards Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB

Size: 16GB (2x 8Gb) DDR4 Dual / Quad Channel Speed: 2133MHz

Corsair is considered one of the best makers of RAM cards, at 16Gb, these cards will handle very heavy tasks. Latest DDR which is version 4 [DDR4]

HDD/SSD A. 1x Samsung SpinPoint M9T B. 1x Samsung 850 EVO

A. 2TB, 2.5inch, Sata 6Gb/s, 32Mb Cache. B.250Gb, 2.5inch.

Both of these are Samsung brand. A. is a Hard Disk Drive for general C:/ storage. While B. is for storage of anything for Video editing or developing, to enable quick access.

Optical Drive LG GP57EB40 144 x 14 x 137.5 8x Speed (DVD-RW) 1mb Buffer

Simplistic Disk drive, which will enable the usage of reading/writing to DVDs from the computer.

PC Case Aerocool GT-RS BK EDITION, Tower Chassis EN55248

4 Bays Large Case Open Ventilation

A large black case which is compatible with the Asus Motherboard chosen.


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SOFTWARE

Software Name Specification (Version) Description

Windows 10 1607 (OS Build 14393. 479)

This is Windows 10 Professional, fully licensed product. This has had all latest updates and is the latest version as of 12/12/16.

LibreOffice 5 Version 5.2.4 213Mb

The Latest version of LibreOffice as of 27/12/16. This comes with Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Base, Math. This is a free open source alternative to Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint etc..)

VLC Player Version 2.2.4 28Mb

This is a free open source multimedia player, which can play and process a wide range of different media types of files, which other players cannot.

Adobe (Trial) 1Gb per Application 2015+

The Adobe CC suite is a collection of programs which are for creative purposes. These include photo editing software, Photoshop and other media editing software for Audio and Video editing.

Notepad++ Version 7.2.2 Notepad++ is a free open source software designed for creation of HTML/CSS files. Notepad++ uses colour co-ordination to help the creator with items such as Tags.

Audacity Version 2.1.2 Audacity is a free software, open source, designed for the editing of sound files. This is a free alternative in case the Adobe Sound Editing Program fails to work.

iTunes Version 12.5.4 ITunes is a software in which people can organise their files, from Audio to Film and purchase new files from the iTunes store at certain prices.

Recommend an Operating System

The operating system I am going to be recommending is Windows 10. This is for a wide range of

reasons. Firstly, I am going with a Microsoft Operating System of Windows due to the fact that I find

the compatibility and reliance of Microsoft for designing and maintaining an operating system, or

any software, to be of high regards. Secondly, I am going for the latest version of a Windows

Operating System, which is Number 10. Windows 10 features a very sleek design that is compact and

neat, compared to the messiness of other Operating Systems. Windows 10 features compatibility

options for Apps and Programs and offers a wide range of expansion for pre-installed accessories,

which could be helpful on a daily basis. Windows 10 is now a widely used and highly regarded

Operating System for multiple purposes, hence why I believe it is best to be used for our system and

the purposes needed for our system.


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Ensure any recommended software is compatible with recommended hardware and should be

able to integrate with other systems – sound entertainment

It is assumed that all of the peripherals and hardware, along with software, will all function together

accordingly. Certain software I am 100% positive will work with pieces of hardware or a peripheral as

I have used a lot of these software’s before and have used some of these very same brands of

hardware and peripherals. Anything which does not instantly work, can be looked up online for an

easy fix, or a way to make them compatible. Sometimes pieces of software require 3rd party

downloaded add-ons to help make them run smoother and better together. These add-ons should

always be source checked before downloading and applying them to usage.

What level of ICT skills does the user(s) already have? (any training requirements)

Since the user has already achieved previous ICT qualifications and is going on to his Foundation

Degree, he/she should already have a wide range of skills on a computer. Anything else, such as

basic graphic design or tutorials for software can be found online at www.YouTube.com. These

tutorials would guide the user as needed in any software he/she is unfamiliar with but due to

previous qualifications, the user should already be versed with the programs which are being

installed onto this computer.

Cost; (& Source Table)

Items Cost Source:

Hardware

Asus Z-170-P £104.99 http://www.box.co.uk/

Intel i5-6500 £194.99 http://www.ebuyer.com/

NVIDIA GeForce 750ti £94.97 http://www.currys.co.uk/

TP-LINK TG-3269 £6.99 http://www.currys.co.uk/

Corsair VS550 £44.99 https://www.scan.co.uk

Corsair Vengeance LPX 16Gb (8Gb x2) £96.96 https://www.ebuyer.com

A. 1x Samsung SpinPoint M9T B. 1x Samsung 850 EVO

A. £179.90 B. £90.98

A. https://www.amazon.co.uk B. http://www.ebuyer.com/

LG GP57EB40 £22.99 http://www.pcworld.co.uk/

Aerocool GT-RS BK EDITION, Tower Chassis EN55248

£56.33 http://www.comwales.co.uk/

Software

Windows 10 £24.99 https://softwaregeeks.co.uk

LibreOffice 5 FREE https://www.libreoffice.org/

VLC Player FREE http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

Adobe (Trial) £53.20 /month https://creative.adobe.com

Notepad++ FREE https://notepad-plus-plus.org/

Audacity FREE http://www.audacityteam.org/

iTunes FREE http://www.apple.com/uk/itunes/

Peripherals

Webcam £14.99 http://www.currys.co.uk/

Microphone £39.99 http://www.maplin.co.uk/

Headphones £24.35 http://www.storkz.com/

Speakers £9.99 http://www.currys.co.uk/

Keyboard £8.98 https://www.shop.bt.com

Mouse £8.29 http://www.currys.co.uk/

TOTAL: £1,078.87

http://www.youtube.com/


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Need for maintenance contract,

It is recommended for the Company to take out a contract with possibly a small computer shop, or

an insurance company, to insure the device and carry out any repairs should the computer fail and

breakdown. It is unlikely that it would breakdown given the general usage and lack of access to

harmful material, being that it is a company computer, but this should be taken into account. Since

the firm could be based anywhere, it would be recommended for the company to reach out to local

computer/tech shops and arrange a deal to help maintain not only this computer but all others

within the company too, for a reasonable price. Many small tech/computer shops do deals like this

with local firms and it should not be too hard to negotiate. If this proves unsuccessful, then the next

alternative would be to take out an insurance policy on the machines at the office, which would

require a monthly/yearly fee be paid to the company, so they can ensure that all machines continue

running and should they run into any issues and breakdown, they would be taken away and fixed or

replaced, depending on the level of damage.

Outputs required

Depending on the tasks being carried out, the outputs will vary from task to task. the most common

form of output is documents; users are always generating documents for many different reasons,

especially in businesses. Secondly, we can assume the next type of output will be that of coding for

Websites such as HTML, CSS, PHP etc. Finally, the user may also be creating the content for the

websites, this company focuses on high quality Graphics and Videos, so it is likely these will be

featured on many of the webpages that are developed here. Other outputs could be Audio in nature,

to accompany the Video/Graphics.


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M2 – Justify choice of Computer system to meet a given Business Purpose

There are many reasons as to why I have designed the computer the way I have and for the why I

have chosen the parts that I have, to justify this, I have to explain the purpose needed of each of the

pieces and then explain how my choice meets the requirements which are being asked of the

machine.

Firstly, we have to look at the processor, now since this is a company which produces websites for

high end graphics and videos, the processor cannot be of cheap or poor quality and must be able to

handle hard, high end tasks and quick paces. Because of the need for such a high end processor, I

chose the Intel i5-6500 due to its usage in Gaming quality computers. Gaming quality computers

require processors which can handle high end graphics and fast loading capability, exactly what we

need for this computer in this company. The i5 is not the latest core available from Intel, but based

on personal experience and the reviews of others, the i5 out performs the i7 in every aspect and the

i7 is nothing more than a newly named lower quality processor, hence my choice to go with an i5

over an i7.

Secondly, I think we have to look at the RAM Cards. The RAM has to be high to handle the amount of

items we may have open at one time and to prevent lagging, if the RAM is not high enough, the

computer will run but will run very slowly, effective the efficiency of the computer and the user

using it. The RAM I chose Corsair Vengeance LPX 16Gb (8Gb x2) are generally considered good

within the IT community. Corsair are considered one of the best makes for both RAM cards and

Power supplies, with long lasting and efficiency being credited to them as a make. In this instance, I

went with the high end Vengeance series, which again is usually used for Gaming, to be able to

handle the quantity and quality of a game. I chose this due to the high quality in speeds between the

Motherboard and the Vengeance series. With this brand, we only need 2 RAM Cards at 8Gb each,

this leaves 2 more slots for RAM cards on the Motherboard in the rare instance that the company

wishes to upgrade the RAM to 32Gb, by adding 2 more 8Gb Cards.

Thirdly, we need to look at the Graphics card. Now to some this seems not so important but due to

the fact that this company is producing high end graphics and videos, the graphics card is very

important. Now, while the card is important, I did not see the need to go too far over the top when

purchasing a graphics card and went for the NVIDIA GeForce 750ti. Despite this card being around 4-

5 years old, this graphics card still performs very well with very high end graphics and videos, which I

can personally vouch for. Should this graphics card need updating, which it might, it would be my

recommendation that it be changed for the NVIDIA GeForce 1080 which is the latest graphics card at

this current time by NVIDIA (2016).

Fourthly, I feel my choices for a HDD and SSD are relevant to the justification for this system. For my

system I chose to use 1 HDD and 1 SSD. My HDD is a 2TB Samsung SpinPoint M9T, I chose this to be

the main C:/ drive storage, which would have the Operating System and other files needed stored on

here. This would also be used as the storage for the programs used with the system. The 2TB of size

should enable for a lot of programs to be installed and for archived projects of Web Pages, Video

and Images. The SSD is a 250Gb Samsung 850 EVO which I have designated the E:/ Drive, this will be

for any and all active projects being created/used at the current time. This is to help with speeds of

loading and saving, as an SSD is much faster for Loading and Saving due to its usage of Solid State

Technology.

Finally, to justify my choice in a computer, I need to justify the software I have chosen. So to start, I

chose LibreOffice due to the fact that it is free and a very good alternative to Microsoft Office.


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LibreOffice runs less resources compared to Microsoft Office, as well as less updates and still

features all of the important features needed for an office suite. LibreOffice is open source, so add-

ons are possible too, created by the community for different purposes. LibreOffice is widely used in

industries that have not made deals with Microsoft for the Office 365 package. If the company was

to make one of these deals, it would be easier for everyone in the office, as they would have access

to the online services which come with the Office365 package, but on the assumption that the office

does not have any such deal, LibreOffice provides all of the needed software for office

documentation items.

As for the Adobe suite, I believe that the money being spent on a £54 a month fee for access to all of

the software and the cloud which comes with AdobeCC is a worthy spend. Because of how

professional the Adobe software is, it is worth the money being spent and I believe the quality of

work which it will help to produce is going to outweigh the costs of the monthly fee. Usually with

prior versions, a person or company would have to outright buy the software, each program

individually, this would cost into the thousands in an outright fee and would be very expensive, this

monthly fee setup is a much better way to use this software legally.

Despite the likelihood of usage of an Adobe product, I have included the installation of Audacity, a

free Sound Editor. I believe this to be a helpful piece of software, even when having the tools of

Adobe available already, it provides a decent backup and good secondary software, in the unlikely

case that the Adobe sound editor becomes unavailable for some reason. Audacity is also considered

a lot easier to use compared to other Sound editors, so the student may already be familiar with this

software and know how to use it to its best potential.

As for my other software choices, I do not believe there is any better alternatives. For example,

Notepad++ is a very good, free, text editor designed for the creation of HTML/CSS Coding. Since this

software has specifically been designed for the usage to create coding, it has features which other

text editors do not have, such as Notepad. For example, each of the lines where text can be entered,

has a number value to it, enabling the user to count the lines he/she has typed, this program can

also identify tags and other items and colour code/co-ordinate them with other tags, making for

easier debugging of website coding and creation of web coding in general.

These are all the reasons I believe that the computer I have designed meet the purpose needed for

the business and I believe I have given justifiable reasons for each of the pieces of hardware and

software and why I chose them over other types/brands/versions.


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P5 – Set up a standalone computer system, installing hardware and

software components -Table

Hardware Install Photo Evidence Explanation 2-3 Lines

Safety

Here I am seen with a ground line kit attached to my wrist. This kit is designed to take all static and any residual electricity within the machines that hit me and take it out of my body to the ground. This is commonly known as “grounding” just like how each plug or electrical item has Live and Earth wiring. This is always used in any industry in which PC’s are taken apart or assembled due to the risk of electrocution.

Monitor

This is the monitor which we connected to the PC via a VGA Cable. This connected directly into the graphics card. This monitor is quite old and therefore does not support HD Graphics or a HDMI line, which most new graphic cards require. The Monitor also has a 3 pin power connection port on the underside bottom of the monitor.

Keyboard

The keyboard is a standard Microsoft office keyboard, given with most default computers. This keyboard featured a USB Connectivity port unlike older models, making this keyboard universal for devices. We plugged this into one of the 3.0 ports on the back of the PC on the motherboard.

Mouse

This is a standard basic Microsoft office mouse, given with most default computers. This mouse featured a USB Connectivity port unlike older models, making this mouse universal for devices. We also plugged this device into a 3.0 port on the back of the PC on the motherboard for best connectivity speeds.

Speakers

This is a semi-advanced Sound System, which has 2 basic side speakers and 1 subwoofer speaker. This was plugged into the Motherboard speaker connectivity port via a universal 3.5mm plug. This system should be able to handle any kind of sounds from basic computer noises to full on Music at adequate to loud levels without distortion.


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RAM

These are the RAM cards present in the PC. Here we can see 2 RAM cards being placed into the slots on the motherboard inside the PC. These RAM Cards have 2 in-grooves at the end which enable for 2 latches each side to latch onto the cards and hold them into position.

Hard Drive

This is a Seagate Hard Disk Drive. Here we can see it being placed into its slot using the Blue-tray system, which enables for ease of sliding drives in and out of a PC and locking them into place by using the 2 plastic levers on the side. This makes it tidier and easier to remove the drives as needed. The drive was then connected to the Motherboard using a Sata cable. This was the main drive, so we plugged this into the Sata-0 port on the motherboard.

DVD Drive

This is a basic DVD-RW Drive which slides into place from the front of the machine. To do this, we had to remove a plastic casing around the front top of the case, slide the drive into place then place the casing back around, which provides the Drive a support to prevent it from falling out of the front but enable the user to touch the button on the front and enable enough room for the disk drive to open.

Network Card

The network card was on the top slot, which featured a standard Network cable slot to enable for cabled internet access. It also featured other slots for different types of cables, for possibly a fax machine to be connected. This slotted into one of the PCI-E slots on the motherboard

Graphics Card

This was placed in the lower slot. This graphics card featured a couple of connectivity ports, one of them being the VGA port we used to connect the monitor too. There also was 1 HDMI port, indicating that this graphics card could handle HD graphics and newer monitors. This slotted into the other of the PCI-E slots on the motherboard.


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Peripherals

Here we connected the peripherals to the computer, in this instance we only had 1 peripheral to connect at this current time, which was the Webcam, as we had already plugged everything else in. the webcam was a Logitech universal webcam using a USB connectivity port, we plugged this in at the back into one of the 2.0 slots available from the motherboard.

Software Install Photo Evidence Explanation 2-3 Lines

Windows 10

This was the first screen encountered when we were installing Windows from a disk onto our machine. This screen was asking for our language, Time and currency settings, which we set to English, United Kingdom variation. Next we were asked for our Keyboard layout, this is because Keyboards change, even in English speaking countries, such as America. We selected for the United Kingdom standard layout.

Next we were presented with a screen with 2 choices, to either install Windows 10 or to repair our computer; in the instance that a Windows 10 installation had gone wrong and corrupted. We chose to Install Now.

This took a while as the Setup loaded all of the files it needed onto the computer. This can sometimes take a while or be quick, depending on the speeds between the installation device and the PC.


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Next we were presented with the licence terms for Microsoft Software. This contains the entire terms and Conditions for using a Microsoft Software, such as an Operating System. We Accepted the terms and moved to the next screen.

Next we had to choose between Upgrading from an old version of windows/alternative operating system. This would have enabled us to keep all previous set settings, files and applications or a custom install, which would have installed just Windows on its own. We chose the Custom option.

On this screen we are selecting the space on the Hard Disk Drive where to install the operating system. This hard disk drive had only 1 partition, since that is all that is actually needed, unless you wish to install multiple operating systems or have a recovery partition. We selected this Drive 0 Unallocated Space and proceeded to the next screen.

Next we moved to the very long loading screen, of where the Installation drive was copying the Windows Files then installs them, with features and updates then being added and then finishes up. This can often take a while as it did with us, in total it took around 45 minutes.

After finishing with the previous screen it loaded onto this screen where it remained for a few minutes as it loaded in the background into Windows 10.


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Here it is seen again as it ready’s the devices connected the PC and continues with the setup of all the files needed for Windows 10 to run and perform.

Here we selected to use the Express settings, which enables Microsoft to use certain data to personalise our PC to our needs. This also sends Data about your PC to Microsoft to help better their systems for our usage.

Here is the next screen where we were asked to create an account for the PC. Firstly, we had to tell the PC my name, as the main user for the PC, this gives it a user name. Then we provided a password for it to be secured. The recommended password should have Higher and lower case letters, a couple of numbers and include a symbol or two.

This was the final loading screen, as it went through the introduction to some of Windows 10 features for new users.

Finally, it loaded into Windows 10 home screen with the basic default settings set for usage by the user. Here we could apply all of the changes required by the user as specified as well as install any further software he/she requires.


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P6 – Configure a computer system to meet user needs. How you did it, Effect.

No. Requirements Screen Print Before Screen Print After Comments 4-5 Lines

1. Enlarge the icon size, font size etc.

There are 2 steps in doing this action. Firstly, to enlarge the icons, I right clicked on the desktop and hovered over “view” which brought the sub-menu of sizes up. The choices of sizes are Small, Medium and Large. Since the user wishes for larger icons, I changed it from the default Small to Large. This then made all the icons on the screen go to a large size. Secondly, to change the font size of the system, I went into Control Panel>Appearance and Personalisation>Display. This then comes up with the options of the text size, to change the size of the text and to apply a bold filtering to it if needed. When I increased the font, the font for the entire system became bigger.

2. He also prefers the background colour Green and Plain background.

To do this, I right clicked on the background of the desktop and went to the “Personalise” option on the menu which displayed, from there I proceeded to select what I wanted for my background from the “background” drop down menu, this is a choice between colours, slideshow or images. From here I changed the drop down to Solid Colour and then a secondary option appeared, which gave me the colour wheel to choose the colour I wanted for my background, since the user specified green, I chose green. Because of this, the background is now a full solid colour green.

3. MS Word, MS Excel and Internet Explorer shortcuts on Start Menu

Since I had just fresh installed Windows, there was no icons on the menu as nothing had been used before. I went into the further menu under the “All Programs” tab and found the Icons for Word, Excel and Internet Explorer, from there I right clicked them and selected “pin to start menu”. This means that now the icons will always be there for usage, never moving unless the user specifies for them to move or unpin.


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4. MS Word, MS Excel and Internet Explorer shortcuts on Desktop

The same as I did for the Start Menu, except when I found the icons on the “All Programs” menu, I dragged them from there to the desktop, where my cursor changed and held the icon and stated “create shortcut here” after letting go of the icon, the shortcut was placed on the desktop, I repeated these steps for the Excel program and Internet Explorer and now all 3 of those icons are on the desktop.

5. Switch the Primary and Secondary buttons of the mouse

Under control panel, there is the options for the Mouse Properties, in here there are the first set of options to show, this is a simple checkbox and when it is unchecked, it means the Left and Rick click are configured for right hand usage, when the box is checked, the Left and Rick click are reversed for Left Hand usage. This option is only advised for usage by people who are left handed and can lead to confusion if the person is not left handed.

6. Change the Power Saving Options to turn off the monitor after 20 minutes

Under Control Panel>Hardware and Sound>Power Options there are plans in which to choose from, normally the common two are Balanced and Energy Saver, there are alternative plans in a drop down menu, which include plans like “High Performance”. You can select one of these plans then going into the plan settings and alter them to meet with the needs of the user. Within the “high performance” plan I have changed the Screen turning off from “Never” to “20 minutes” meaning that when the user is inactive for 20 minutes on the PC, the screen will turn off.


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7. Adjust the Regional Language Settings to English (United Kingdom)

Here in the screenshots, we can see that the language settings for the computer were set to English (United States) but we live in the United Kingdom, so changing this will change certain items and wording within the system, from standard US Spelling to UK Spelling. To do this, simply selected the drop down menu, which displays every language which Windows can operate within and found the one which was right for our country, in this case English (United Kingdom). This setting also changes the often confusing date settings. In the US the standard is Month/Day/Year but in the UK, we use Day/Month/Year as our standard format. This can be helpful if a person is a native speaker of a different language, as his/her computer can be set to be native in his/her first native language.

8. BIOS configuration e.g. setting a BIOS password,

Here is seen setting an administrative password for the computers BIOS. This is considered good practice only for certain machines in certain circumstances. For instance, within a school or workplace, but not for a home computer. This BIOS password is usually set by an administrator to prevent anyone from gaining access to the BIOS to make possibly dangerous alterations to the settings, such as boot up sequence. The danger of leaving this open in a school/work environment can be huge, due to the flaws in certain operating system security. It is well known that Windows login can be bypassed with usage from a Linux boot-up stick. Setting a BIOS password prevents this kind of danger.

9. Editing anti-virus configurations;

Here we see 2 screens of the custom settings within my own chosen anti-virus software. This Anti-virus is called 360 Total Security and enables for custom level of protection that the user wants. For me, it depends on what I am doing that my level of protection should be set at. Here we can see when certain items are enabled and when they are disabled, which will affect the security and performance of the computer once the settings are tweaked.


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10. creating start-up options;

Here are 2 screenshots from my Start-Up menu. This is the settings menu for which programs a user wishes to start with his/her computer when it first logs into his/her profile. In my first screenshot, I have a few items enabled which I need to work with certain peripherals I have, as well as standard software to run such as Anti-Virus. In my second picture, I have disabled all of the above. The effect of these will be on the performance of the boot-up/login. The login will be much faster without auto-starting this programs but the user must then remember to start any programs he/she needs for any peripherals at each login, which can effect performance and effectiveness of human-computer interactions.

11. setting file sharing/permissions;

Here are 2 screenshots relating to the sharing of my Unit 2 – Computer Systems folder. Now if I wished to share this over the pre-set up network, I just need to give every other user, whom I want to access this folder, the permission to do so, as well as define what permissions they may have. At first, my folder is not shared but in the second screenshot, I am setting it so that every user on the Network can access this folder. This can be done the same but for individual users. The current logged in owner of the folder, or administrator, must then define who is able to access the folder and their chosen level of access. This can be good in the instances of sharing for certain people or for everyone, depending. E.g. Sharing resources among just Teachers of a School but not too Pupils.

12. Creating new toolbar on Word and named as “ESC Technology”. Then add “Copy”, “Cut”, “Paste”, “Save” and “Delete” buttons on to it.

Here are two screenshots, before and after of adding our own Tab to Microsoft Words Ribbon bar at the top of the screen. In this tab we have added the resources we feel we need mostly to use when using Microsoft Word. So in the “ESC Technology” bar I have added the Copy, Cut, Delete, Paste and Save options. This are options I chose that I feel the user may be using a lot, so I have grouped them together to make it easier for user to access them.


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13. Create the default folder as “BTEC Diploma 90 Credit”

Here we can see that I am changing the default “Documents” folder from My Documents to BTEC Diploma 90 Credit folder. To do this, I had to go into the library button properties and change the location that it linked too. By changing this, anytime the user selects the “Document” button either in the Start Menu or in the Windows Explorer, they are linked to the BTEC Diploma 90 Credit folder instead of the standard default “My Documents” folder. This can be done for any of the options in the Start Menu and Windows Explorer, such as Pictures or Videos. Each of the changes can be optimized, which will optimize the library for a certain item, such as Photos or Videos etc..

14. Find and install the correct device driver for the laser printer,

Here is a screenshot from before and after of the installation of the driver for the Printer. Before the driver was installed, we plugged the printer in and it did not recognise it as a printer, therefore it would not show up in any of the “print” menus. After finding the driver automatically, Windows installed the needed files to complete the driver installation and it then detected the printer correctly, adjusting functions as needed e.g. adding it to the printer lists.

15. Set A3as the default paper size for printing,

In the default property settings for the Printer, it is auto set to print A4 paper size, this is due to the fact that standard document sizes are A4 and most of the time, printing is done in A4. These settings can be changed each time for each print if a document is needed bigger or smaller in sizes but the default is A4. Here I have changed the default from A4 to A3, meaning that when a user clicks to print a document or file, the size will auto-set to A3 and the user can then change it from there, for each print. Once that print has completed, the next print it shall revert to the default A3 size unless changed.


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P7 – Test a configured computer system to meet user needs.

Tester: Richard Collins

Test Location: East Surrey College, B305a Test Date: 06/01/16

Asset Number (if applicable):

Test No: Purpose: Test Input: Expected Result: Actual Result: Pass/Fail:

1 Software applications open and work as intended,

Double click on Photoshop Icon

Should open within a few seconds and load into the interface. No Freezing and Interface accessible.

Pass

2 Default folder settings are correct,

Click on Documents tab in Start

Should open “BTEC 90 Credit Diploma” folder. All Sub-folders are appearing as well.

Pass

3 Desktop shortcuts go to the right place,

Double click on “Internet explorer” icon on Desktop

Should open “Internet Explorer”

Pass


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4 The correct device drivers are installed,

Print Document Should send document straight to printer.

Pass

5 The correct paper sizes are set for printing,

Click Print on a Document

Printer options should have A3 as automatically sized

Pass

6 Menu options work as intended,

Click on Format Painter

Format Painter works in formatting a part of the document.

Pass

7 The correct date and time are set

Hover over the clock and confirm with hand held watch

Clock is the same time and date as the day it was tested

Pass


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P8 – Undertake routine maintenance tasks on a standalone computer

system

Internal Tasks Screen Print

Organise your “BTEC Diploma 90 Credit folder” with 9

subfolders for each unit and create two sub folders for

each unit and named them as “Hand-outs” &

“Assignments”. Also make sure all your files are in correct

folders with appropriate names;

Here is the folder structure for the BTEC 90 Credit Diploma for my work at East Surrey College. Each of these folders are for a Unit I am studying at college and the assignments and handouts for each Unit.

Show evidence of online & off line back-up procedures;

These are 2 different backups, one on the Google Drive online service and the second my Linux memory stick.


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Show evidence of 3 backup media; Local

Network

Cloud These are 3 different types of backup available. Local is locations which are physically connected to the PC. Network are drives which are connected via a Network from a location on the premises as the PC. Cloud is an online storage service which stores data in an unknown location, depending on the provider.


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Set up automatic scheduling and deletion of unwanted

data;

This is the automatic set up for the computer to delete unwanted data at a certain time in the day, if the user is logged in or not.

Set up an archive folder and show evidence of data being

archived

This is an archive file of the folder called “Add” – archiving stores all the data within a folder and zips it.

show evidence of how to use defragmentation;

This orders data so that when a file is opened, it does not have to call from multiple places on a drive, therfore should load quicker.

show evidence deleting temporary files;

This is removing all temporary files on a drive. This is done under the options and properties of a disk drive. You should do this often, weekly, to save space.


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External Tasks Screen Print

Using the given resources take photographic evidence of

cleaning hardware

keyboard

Mouse

Display Screen Equipment (DSE)


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Ventilation Grills


replacing consumables e.g.

printer paper

Ink or toner cartridges


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replacing damaged components

Before

After


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M3 – Evaluate the performance of a computer system.

In this task, I am evaluating the performance of the computer system which I have designed and put

together for the purpose of the Web-development company and its new employee, in the previous

tasks.

Firstly, I would like to look at the storage performance. With a constant usage, the storage is going

to become fragmented and loaded with a ton of temporary files, after completing the maintenance

carried out in the previous task, these problems should now be resolved. I performance a Disk

Defragmentation on the C: drive to optimize the loading/saving and cleaned up all temporary files

from the C: drive as well. The C: drive is a HDD, so Defragmentation is a needed option but the

secondary drive is a SSD, Solid State Drive, and a user never defragments an SSD, as it can damage

the flash technology and render zero enhancements in the performance.

Secondly, the hardware I chose to build this PC was what I considered to be of good quality, this I

knew from either previous experience or from some form of recommendation from a person I trust,

but I did not want to go for the most top of the range or newest items for particular reasons. My

main reason is due to pricing, I felt that an i7 core is a ridiculous price for little advantage over an i5

core and secondary reasoning is due to the date of production, I find the newest items always have

the most untested bugs and glitches which cause major issues in performance and problems even in

the simplest of tasks. This is why I chose hardware which is around 2+ years old and already has a

newer version out. It is a long running myth that the newest technology advances will always reap

the most performance. As for the maintenance of the hardware involved, keeping the vents clean

and dust away from all of the insides, will always help the performance of a device. Clear vent access

must always be available otherwise risk computer overheating, but before it over heats it will slow

down a great deal due to the power consummation of the fan trying to keep it cool but working over

speeds it normally has to. The fan speeds up to try and keep things cool due to the dust preventing

clear airways, which causes problems in performance. By keeping the airways clear, a user will reap

the most performance rewards from system.

Thirdly, I am looking at the software I chose and how it works with the system. Firstly, the office

suite software, LibreOffice, was a very good choice to start with. LibreOffice does not run anything in

the background like Microsoft Office does. LibreOffice allows for the user to add add-ons onto each

of the software included in the overall Suite; Writer, Calc, Impress and Base. Now when running

these applications on such an enhanced and advanced system like the one built, it runs beyond

perfection. LibreOffice can be used with the most minimal of resources, hence why I chose it. The

idea behind choosing LibreOffice over Microsoft Office was due to running other software alongside

it. I wanted the computer to be able to have all the resources needed for such programs as the

Adobe suite, when running, as these take a lot of resources. So with LibreOffice, there are more

resources available for running both an Adobe application and a LibreOffice application at the same

time. Now these are all going to run extremely well if the user continues to keep up the maintenance

that was carried out before, this is so that when reading/writing to documents from the drive, the

location access on the C: drive is the same place and not fragmented.

Finally, I am going to look at the performance of the peripherals connected to the computer and see

how they run before and after the maintenance. Firstly, it should be noted that peripherals don’t

often require a lot of maintenance carried out inside the PC for it work with the PC, most

maintenance for peripherals is done physically to the item. The main importance when it comes to

internal maintenance and peripherals is to do with storage and cache. If the printing que cache is


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quite full then loading will take a lot longer, the same for Webcam loading if the image cache is full

of images previously taken. By deleting temporary files, these caches disappear and do not load

when these items are used, helping with the performance of these devices.

As for the physical side of maintenance and performance of peripherals, it’s important to keep the

printer area clean to ensure documents are printed neatly and not smudged or dirtied as soon as

they’re printed, to ensure that the webcam lenses are clean to ensure maximum quality in

picture/video capture and to ensure that no dirt has gotten into the microphone slots on a headset,

as this will muffle the sound of a voice. If these maintenances are carried out regularly, the

performance of all of these peripherals should work well and continue to provide the best quality

they can for a good long time.


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D2 –Explain and Justify improvements that could be made to a computer

system. The system I designed was designed to my best ability with the main purpose of the user set in mind,

with this purpose in mind, I went about choosing different components and software’s to meet the

intended purpose of the machine, what was being expected to be done on this machine and with

the highest quality it could produce. This however, does not mean there is no room for

improvement, there are a few flaws in this machine which given further thought, could use an

upgrade and/or improvement.

Firstly, the first change I can justify would be to change the C: drive to a large SSD. Now, in my design

and completed machine, I chose to use a HDD for the C: drive due to cost cutting measures, now

that I look back and realise that I have a £500 left over from the main budget of £1,500, I feel I can

justify purchasing a SSD over a HDD. This would improve the speeds of the PC throughout due to the

usage of flash technology in the loading of programs and the main Windows Operating System. I

would then keep the 2nd SSD but as a storage for when the first SSD became full. This is because

SSD’s are smaller than their HDD comparative.

With the changes made to the storage being changed to SSD’s, there should be a drastic

improvement in performance of the software installed on the system. With this we can expect the

user to have a better interaction with the software. We shall also see the file saving/loading to be

much faster and better in performance compared to when they were stored on a HDD.

Secondly, I believe changing the graphics card would benefit the performance of the graphics and

videos which would be added to the webpage, as well as benefit the overall longevity of the PC. The

Graphics card I chose, was around 5 years old. The NVIDIA GTX 750ti is the old card which I chose.

Now, I chose this card due to my actual experience with this card, which was a very positive one.

Now by changing this to a newer version, we would gain some advantages. If we updated to the

NVIDIA GTX 980ti we would gain access to the much needed updated DirectX-12, compared to the

750ti having DirectX-11 which has many faults and issues. I believe that due to the enhanced

performance of the 980ti is justification enough to change it for the already installed 750ti. Some

people would also suggest changing to a different type of graphics card all together.

If we were to change the graphics card for another brand, we would have to for an AMD type of

card. Now if we were to choose an AMD Card, it would have to be the AMD Radeon RX 460 [4Gb] as

this has many recommendations as an AMD card. AMD is a good alternative in high quality cards, so

this AMD Radeon would provide everything that a NVIDIA Card normally would. We’re also lucky, as

this card can be found for a reasonable £120 online, which means it would not break the budget in

any way if this was used to improve from the 750ti.

Thirdly, I would have to improve upon the software which is installed in the system, mainly the

Office suite. The office suite I chose was a free open source software, which I feel is very good for

the fact that it is free. But looking at the long term usage and compatibility with work place

documents, I feel that it might be in the best interest to get Office365 from Microsoft. While

Office365 is expensive and bulky, I feel my system could handle it and would benefit from the

enhanced features it would bring compared to the features which are missing in LibreOffice.

Looking at the software installed on the system we need to look at the operating system as the first

and foremost piece of software on the system. Since we have gone with Windows 10, a newly

released and designed operating system, there are bugs and tweaks needed to help improve its


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performance. As a tweak that I recommend to help improve the performance is reducing the paging

file size. The paging file is where the windows crash dumps are loaded and helps in writing items

from RAM to storage but this page file is normally set too large for the system and needs to be

reduced, otherwise it leads to bad lagging in the system. Paging files should be a quarter of your

total RAM, so since we have gone with 16gb of RAM, we shall have our paging file set to 2.5gb.

With Windows 10, they have included visual effects with the programs that run on the operating

system, a lot like MacOS does. MacOS has a visualisation that shows a program literally popping up

like a bubble, Windows has tried to re-create this kind of visualisation with Windows 10 in their own

way but it has led to issues with how the system performs compares to previous versions of

Windows. Another new feature with Windows 10 is the addition of a shadow layer around a

program when in minimized screen. Finally, I feel I need to look at the peripherals attached to the PC. First I am going to look at the Webcam. The webcam I bought was a low quality, simplistic webcam which may just give a 720p quality image but not a great resolution, so therefor I would want to upgrade this webcam to a much higher quality one, the reason is due to the fact that the user may need to use this webcam for images and for calls over VoIP software. If the user is having conference calls over VoIP, he/she would need a good quality camera to ensure that the clients can see him, if the webcam is of low quality then the customer may be discouraged during any conference calls. A good webcam should not be any more than £40, so with this purchase we are still well within the £1,500. Another peripheral I feel could be better and could use improvement is the Speaker system. In the main build, we used a cheap speaker system which did not have a high quality, now this can be bad if the user is editing any files with sounds, such as Videos, as he needs to be able to hear the good crisp quality of all audio without any problems but the speaker system we have purchased is not of high quality and has a lot of interference with it. A good speaker system would set us back around £150 but I believe it to be very worth it to help towards the editing of Videos and other Audio assets. Finally, I would improve on the Mouse and Keyboard peripherals. The basic 2 bought were Microsoft very basic and not in any ways of high quality, I believe that purchasing a good Logitech Mouse and Keyboard set would be beneficial for longevity and interaction from the user to the computer. Logitech speeds are considered better as well as the quality and comfortability of the products are much higher than compared to something like our current Microsoft products. In conclusion, there are several areas in which improvements are required to help get the most out of the machine that we have designed and given further thought, these improvements will in general be better for the machine and the user.