L13/Operating System

1. An Operating System is a type of software?

• True

2. Operating systems control the loading of software applications onto a computer?

• True

3. All OSs offer use user preferences, allowing you to customize your computer?

• True

4. An Operating System prioritizes the tasks that a CPU does?

• True

5. The Following devices have an Operating System: Apple Ipod, Dell Laptop Computer, Nintendo Wii

• True

Job Shadowing

The day started out quite late, and I was so glad that happened as I got at least an hour or two more of sleep that I so crave for in a normal school weekday. After getting out of shower and eating breakfast, my dad dropped me straight at my Job shadowers house. Luckily, he was also getting out of his house at the same time, as soon as he saw our car he got off and shook hands with me and my dad, before I slowly went and sat in his car while he and my dad had a conversation about the future of the day. It was 9:00, and we had just started moving in the car, his name was Nouman Jafferz and he worked as apart of the Cisco/AT&T Partnership Router Protocols team which basically handled all the customer or premium support calls that came from AT&T workers who had problems with their routers. Cisco Website = http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/index.html    
                                                               
                                                    After we talked about his job for a while in the car, we reached his CISCO office which was a massive building, that housed up to about 6 buildings within it that each had different departments. His Office was in the Technical Support Building, and as soon as we got inside it we met many people through the lift who were Nouman uncles friends or colleagues that he had worked with before. After talking to many of them on why I was here, we entered the 4th floor which was where his office was located.

                                                   Once we entered his office or as they call it a cube, I saw three computer screens at least 10 feet above the ground that was connected to several other computers next to his cube. At first I thought it was so cool, but than thought about the reasoning and function behind why this was the way it was, and asked him, to which he didn't reply but showed me as he connected his Mac computer to the 3 computer screens as I realized that the reason they were there was so that their workers could do more than 1 or 2 tasks at the same time, or at-least communicate on one screen and work on the other. For example, he would text and message his other teammates throughout the country on once screen, work on the task given to him on the other two screens.

About 30-45 mins after we got in and he explained to me what he does and how his job works, he got a call from a customer named Donna, who was an AT&T worker that had some problems with the router in her office, and so she called Nouman who with his team spent atleast 30 mins trying to explain to her how to fix the router problem on slot 9.

After spending about 2 hrs on that call and how to solve the problem presented to him, he moved onto the simulation lessons that CISCO had assigned to all customers. The Simulation lessons were very interesting and unique in my perspective. They felt like lessons that you would take in middle or high school, but at the same time whenever they had questions the answers were quite to figure out, as the whole context of those situations depended a lot on the emotional and way you spoke to your customers. They had assigned him 4 modules with at least 10-15 lessons each to finish by Sunday. Once he completed about half of his modules, he dropped me home as I was extremely tired and exhausted after spending about 8 hours in an office room or more like a cube within an office environment.

Lesson 11/ The Internet

What is the Internet?

• The Internet is the world's largest WAN network that connects millions of smaller networks and computers across the world. The Internet is made up of everything you can find online such as web pages, emails, video games, messaging, research sites and multimedia sharing. The Internet has over 2 billion regular users, who use it on a day to day basis for work or for entertainment. The Internet was created in the early 1960s by  a US government research project for research, and high level military operations

What is a Protocol?

• Is basically a set of rules or procedures or a standard used to define methods of exchanging data over a computer network. Protocols are used because in order for computers or networks to exchange information there needs to be some sort of agreement on how each side of the transfer will send or receive it.  Protocols are usually established by international organizations that give a set of guidelines for network communications between computers. The most important protocol is the Open Systems Interconnection.

What is DNS?

• The DNS is the Domain Name System, which is like an equivalent to a phone book, as it maintains a directory of domain names and translates them to the Internet Protocol IP address. All the domain name servers across the Internet are gathered and organized together at the Central Registry, a lot of companies interact with the Central Registry regularly in order to get updated on the DNS information. The reason why people use the DNS is because its quite hard for regular people to remember the exact IP address every time they use the Internet

Explain what an ISP is and what it does?

• The ISP is the Internet Service Provider, that in basic terms helps individuals or other companies connect successfully to the Internet. The ISP was once signed up with, will give you an email address , username, password, software package and access to the phone numbers or telephone. The ISP will also give you a modem or server, that will provide internet connection for all the devices in your house or facility. In today's times people don't use ISP that often, as their cable subscribers often help you connect to the Internet.

What is a PING and Firewall?

• Ping is a networking utility program that tests whether your able to connect with the server or not. Pings usually send data packets to a server and if it receives the data packet back, than you have established an internet connection. People use the Ping test to check whether the Internet is connected to the network of access or not. Once you have access to the network, you need something to protect you from the threats outside such as hackers, viruses and worms that try to attack your computer. Firewall is what is needed which basically is a software program that helps identity hackers or protect you against viruses or worms. 

How Networks Link to the Internet?

• The Internet is made up of many smaller networks, which users set up in their own homes. These smaller networks connect to a larger network that is run by the ISP. The Internet Service Provider connects to the access points of other networks, which allow the data to run freely. Routers are responsible for moving data between networks or sections of a network. Other networks us the routers to talk to one another as if they were apart of the same network

What is an Internet Service Provider?

• The Internet Service Provider helps set up your internet connection, and once you sign up for the ISP you get a password, username, email and storage. The ISP service provider allows you to choose the kind of service would best suite what your looking for. Nowadays people don't use an ISP, as companies nowadays especially cable companies have found a way to include an ISP package along side their cable channels when your buying new channels or a TV

Connecting Your Computer to the Internet?

• They are multiple ways to connect to the Internet, all those methods involve the wot basic levels getting a modem and an ISP. Without the ISP or Modem you cannot access the Internet. If you have a broadband connection once your computer is plugged into a modem you don't need to connect to your ISP all the time. DSL connections use phone lines, and carry digital data at a higher frequency, so they you do not tie up the phone line. Cable connections work like DSL, other than the fact that they use the same coaxial lines that go to your television.