UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2017/2018
EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN
APPLIED COMPUTING
BAC1105 INSTALLATION AND CUSTOMIZATION
FULL TIME/PART TIME/DISTANCE LEARNING
DATE: APRIL, 2018 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer Question One & ANY OTHER TWO questions.
Question One (Total Marks – 30 – Compulsory)
(a) Explain the difference between secure boot and legacy boot. [4 Marks]
(b) Briefly explain the difference between SIMM and DIMM memory modules.
[4 Marks]
(c) With respect to computer networks, there are two types of addressing schemes: physical
and logical addressing. By use of examples, explain the two (2) types of addresses.
[6 Marks]
(d) Describe any six (6) general safety guidelines observed to prevent damage to self and
computer equipment during hardware installation [6 Marks]
(e) Peter had some application in his USB memory stick that he wanted to install in his
Desktop. As he connected the flash disk to his computer, a message popped up at the
bottom right corner of the screen saying “the attached device can not be recognized,
remove and try attaching again”. Explain why this might have happened. [4 Marks]
(f) Explain the difference between Power-On password and BIOS password. [4 Marks]
(g) There are two (2) interfaces that a user may use to interact with the computer system:
GUI and CLI. Give the main features of the GUI. [2 Marks]
Question Two (Total Marks – 20)
(a) Explain briefly why it is important to consider recommended requirements than
minimum requirements when installing software. [4 Marks]
(b) Briefly explain why it is important to careful when downloading drivers for a Windows
Server. [4 Marks]
(c) Describe how you can customize the following in office:
(i) In MS Word, normal.dot such that when a new document is created it will have double
line spacing, fully justified and of font type Times New Roman, size 12. [2 Marks]
(ii) In MS Excel, the default file saving location changed from “My Documents” to
D:\Myfiles\Spreadsheet\ [2 Marks]
(d) Describe any four (4) safety precautions that need to be observed in a maintenance
workshop [4 Marks]
(e) What is virtualization? Why is it important to install your software in a virtual
environment before the actual/live environment? [4 Marks]
Question Three (Total Marks – 20)
(a) (i) With regard to Windows Server installation, licensing is a vital component. Explain the
two (2) main licensing approaches. [4 Marks]
(b) What is the difference between:
(i) Role-Based and Remote Desktop Management servers. [2 Marks]
(ii) Primary Domain and Back-Up domain Controllers [2 Marks]
(iii) A Client and a Server [2 Marks]
(c) A student at KCA University pursuing BBIT has approached you to advise on the
purchase of a laptop. List and briefly explain the factors that need to be considered when
choosing a laptop. [6 Marks]
(d) Windows uses MBR as its boot manager while Linux uses GRUB.
(i) Write MBR and GRUB in full. [2 Marks]
(ii) Advise your colleague who intends to have his computer dual boot both Windows and
Linux in terms of these boot managers. [2 Marks]
Question Four (Total Marks – 20)
(a) As a Linux enthusiast, give appropriate command(s) to accomplish the following:
(i) Create a user with installation as the username [2 Marks]
(ii) Give the user installation the password customization [2 Marks]
(iii) Switch user to installation and change directory to his home [2 Marks]
(iv) Copy files starting with pas from etc to installations Download folder [2 Marks]
(b) In backing up your system and data files, one needs to know both relative and absolute
paths. Briefly explain these paths. [4 Marks]
(c) Explain the difference that exists between installing a local printer and a network printer
in Linux [4 Marks]
(d) Briefly explain the difference between a virus and a worm on how they infect computer
systems. [4 Marks]
Question Five (Total Marks – 20)
(a) Describe, briefly, the process of customizing a Server. [8 Marks]
(b)(i) Explain the difference between Low Level Format (LLF) and High Level Format (HLF).
[2 Marks]
(ii) When do you have to do a Low Level Format? [4 Marks]
(c) List and briefly explain any three (3) responsibilities of a system administrator.
[6 Marks]
