Briefly discuss the copyright act.
Copyright act 1976 is a principal law that governs software piracy. Some amendments were made in this act in 1983. Software piracy is now a punishable crime. The punishment may involve huge amounts of penalties. Software is an intellectual property of the person who develops it. He has the right to sell it in market. Software piracy deprives the developer from this right. Copyright act is used to punish the persons involved in software piracy.
List some reasons of data loss.
Different reasons of data loss are as follows:
- Sabotage
Damaging data deliberately is called sabotage. Any person may deliberately damage or delete the data stored on the computer.
- Machine failure
The data stored on a computer may be lost due to failure of hardware. For example if the hard disk is damaged, the data stored on that hard disk will be lost.
- Software error
Data can also be lost due to some technical defect or failure of some software running on the computer.
- Human error
An inexperienced person can delete data accidentally.
- Power failure
Sudden break down of power or fluctuation in power may result in data loss.
What is password? What is its purpose? Give some examples of passwords.
Password is a secret word that is used to protect a computer system or program. It may consist of numbers, alphabets or both. The user has to type the password to access the computer system.
Purpose of password
The purpose of password is to protect data stored on a computer. It protects data from being lost, misused or deleted by any person. The system can be accessed by a person who knows the password. Password can be changed only by authorized person.
An unauthorized person cannot access a computer system or program that is protected by a password. So the computer and the data stored on it. Will be safe and protected.
Examples of passwords
- Every computer provides an option for setting password. If the computer is protected with password, it will ask for that password to login.
- Email facility on the internet is also protected with password. Every user has to give email id and password to check emails.
- Internet service providers provide user accounts with passwords. The user id and password is used to connect to the internet.
What is backup of data? What is purpose of backup?
An additional copy of data or information stored on secondary storage media is called the backup of data. The common media for backup are zip disk, magnetic tap, floppy disk, CD-ROM and hard disk etc.
The computer system can be damaged due to many reasons. The data stored on the system may also be lost, deleted or altered. Sometimes the data is very important and it cannot be created again. For example, computer in a bank may contain the records of all money transactions. The backup of data is used if your system crashes accidentally and the data stored in it is lost.
Purpose of backup
The purposes of taking backup of data are as follows:
- An important file can be deleted accidentally.
- The user may overwrite a part or whole of an existing file.
- A mechanical failure in computer may result in loss of data.
- A virus may damage the data stored on the computer.
- Computer system may be stolen by anybody.
- Computer system may be damaged due to fire or power failure.
It is very important to take the backup of data regularly. It should be stored at a safe and protected place. In big organization, the backup is normally stored on a centralized networked computer. In small organization, the backup is stored on floppy disks, zip disks or CD-ROM.