A manager wishes to replace the current manual system with a computerized one. Describe three areas that must be evaluated to justify the replacement  (6 marks)

• Technical feasibility

• Does the current technology suffice

• Economic feasibility

• Benefits outweigh costs/ whether the project is cost effective

• Schedule feasibility

• Can it be done within the schedule

Headache, back and neck pain may result from the use of computers. State how each of them can be minimized (2mks)

• Proper lighting
• Regular breaks
• Use of antiglare
• Correct position of the screen
• Ergonomic furniture

Students of a school intended to elect their school Captain by secret ballot.  State three ways in which computers can be used to improve the election process                           (3mks)

• Registrations of voters
• Voter identification
• Actual voting
• Tallying

• Data Integrity: they provide ways or mechanisms for enforcing data integrity constraints, such as referential integrity. If a record in the parent table is deleted, related records in the child table also get deleted. This ensures accurthe acy and consistency of data stored in the database
• Data Security
• Concurrency control
• Reduces data redundancy
• Data retrieval and querying
• Data indexing
• Data consistency and acid transaction
• Data backup and recovery
• Data sharing and collaboration
• Convenient data maintenance

• Share peripherals/devices (e.g. printers, scanners)
• Communicate (e.g. email, instant messaging, play games)
• Share data (e.g. files/music/videos/backups on servers)
• Deploy/update applications
   
   

• Labels
• Values
• Formula
• Functions

State the characteristics of each of the following network topologies (KCSE COMPUTER STUDIES 2021 )

i) Mesh Topology  (2mks)

• a host/node is connected to one or multiple hosts
• a   host/node in point to point connection with every other host or a few hosts
• hosts/nodes in mesh topology also work as relays for other hosts which do not have point-to-point links

(ii) Ring Topology (2mks)

• each host/node connects exactly to two other hosts
• data travels around the ring in one direction through all intermediate hosts
• failure of any host results in the failure of the whole ring

Network Failure - when the network becomes faulty or the network is down, users may not access network resources hence operations of an organization may be brought to a standstill

Security Issues:  A computer network can be accessed thus there is an increased chance of hacking

The rapid spread of viruses: Viruses can easily spread to terminals of a computer network which may be very expensive to clear

Cultural and moral effects: adult content may be shared in a networked environment which may be of negative impact on teenagers

• once instructions are given, the processing runs automatically hence requiring little supervision
• tasks are processed as a group hence reducing the cost
• It is faster since the since runs automatically
• there is increased output since the processor works without any interruption

• problem recognition involves the system analyst identifying and accepting the existence of a problem in the current system
• problem definition involves the analyst studying the system to understand its operations and shortcomings

Trojan (horse); a program which misleads the user into thinking it is another

piece of software which, when run, executes another program;

Spyware; a program which records data such as usernames and passwords on

a host system and forwards the information to a third party;

Adware; code embedded or attached to program files which will persistently

show adverts (that attempt to generate revenue);

Worm; code which will run autonomously and replicates itself on a host system;

Ransomware; a program that encrypts user’s data to make it unreadable until

they pay for the key;

Remote Access Tool (RAT); allows access to control and monitor a computer

from a remote network location;

Rootkit; malware that has managed to gain ‘root’ admin privileges;

Bots/Zombies; a program installed on a computer that performs a job for the

remote owner of the bot/zombie such as sending spam or sending web requests

to perform a DOS or attacking a computer system;

Scareware; malware that tells you something is wrong with your system in an

attempt to get you to make a purchase;

Keylogger; a program that monitors/records a user’s keystrokes in order to steal

passwords/confidential details;

• Font Formatting:

  • Font Style: You can change the font style (e.g., Arial, Times New Roman) for cell content.
  • Font Size: Adjust the size of the text within cells.
  • Bold, Italic, and Underline: Apply these formatting options to emphasize text.
  • Font Color: Change the color of the text.

• Cell Formatting:

  • Number Formats: Apply various number formats, such as currency, percentage, date, and time.
  • Cell Borders: Add or remove borders around cells or cell ranges.
  • Fill Color: Change the background color of cells.
  • Text Alignment: Control how text is aligned within cells (left, right, center, top, bottom).
  • Text Wrapping: Allow text to wrap within a cell if it's too long to fit in one line.

highest = -1
for student = 1 to 3000
total = 0
for exam = 1 to 8
input mark
total = total + mark
if mark > highest then highest = mark
next
average = total/8
output average
next
output highest

Python code:

highest = -1
for student in range(1, 3001):
    total = 0
    for exam in range(1, 9):
        mark = int(input("Enter mark: "))
        total += mark
        if mark > highest:
            highest = mark
    average = total / 8
    print("Average:", average)
print("Highest mark:", highest)

VBA Code

Option Explicit

Sub CalculateAverageAndHighest()
    Dim highest As Integer
    Dim total As Integer
    Dim mark As Integer
    Dim average As Double
    
    highest = -1
    
    For student = 1 To 3000
        total = 0
        For exam = 1 To 8
            mark = InputBox("Enter mark:")
            total = total + mark
            If mark > highest Then
                highest = mark
            End If
        Next exam
        average = total / 8
        MsgBox "Average: " & average
    Next student
    
    MsgBox "Highest mark: " & highest
End Sub

• connecting wireless headphone to a phone
• Using a wireless mouse, keyboard etc
•  

• Standards specify a set of rules for hardware and/or software used in network communications. Because all manufacturers must adhere to the standards when manufacturing network hardware or software, it means that all devices should be able to communicate, regardless of manufacturer.

(a)

• Hardware required by each computer to connect to a network is a Network Interface Card / NIC / network adapter

(b)

• Computer A adds computer D’s address to packet
• Computer A sends packet to switch
• Switch looks at address on packet  Switch compares to stored list of addresses on network
• Switch forwards packet to computer D’s address

(a) One from:

• Background checks
• Access control
• Physical security
• User policies

(b) To prevent unauthorised access (1) so that data remains confidential (1) by making it unintelligible (1) because it is scrambled (1)

(a) State two items of data that are stored on the barcode.

• check digit
• product number/item number/code
• country of origin
• manufacturers number/code
• weight
• price

(b) Describe how the computer system checks that the barcode has been read correctly.

• check digit calculation is performed on the check digit, remainder = 0 if the barcode has been read correctly
• weights and modulus 11 and use remainder
• or subtractions and addition and use answer

(c) State the type of file access that is used to get the price from the central computer.

• random/direct/online

(d) Explain how the system updates the file when an item has been sold.

• search file/master file using barcode number/product code and decrease number in stock/increase quantity sold

• it has a header that contains the destination address, the packet number, and the originator’s address
• it has a payload
• it has a trailer.

• star - if one computer goes down the others can still be used
• ring - if one computer goes down the others can not be used

ICT is used to create e-commerce platforms that have made business transactions easier and convenient by allowing customers make purchases and payments from anywhere at any time

ICT is used by marketing agents to create exciting multimedia presentations concerning products or services and present them to the target customers using presentation software such MS PowerPoint

Using multimedia, presentation and animation software, it is possible to design attractive advert materials and video clips to display on billboards, broadcast over a television or uploaded on the internet

• holds an indexed sequence of variables of the same data type
• Arrays can be used to store values of the same data type and the array is then used as a singular variable to increase efficiency