IT Helpdesk Technical Questions

1. What is NIC?
A network card, network adapter or NIC (network interface controller) is a piece of computer hardware designed to
allow computers to communicate over a computer network
2. What is USB?
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a serial bus standard to interface devices. Devices like Modem, Mouse, and Keyboard
etc can be connected.
3. Dialup vs. Broadband
A broadband connection (ADSL) provides high-speed Internet access over a standard phone line. The advantage of a
broadband connection over a standard dialup service, is that Broadband is considerably faster, and is "always-on",
meaning that once you"re logged on, your PC is online until the PC is turned off again.
Broadband offer high-speed Internet access and allows telephone calls and a permanent Internet connection to
share a single phone line simultaneously whereas in Dialup connection either Internet connection or telephone call
can made at given time.
4. LAN and WAN
A local area network is a computer network covering a small geographic area, like a home, office, or group of
buildings
Wide Area Network (WAN) is a computer network that covers a broad area (i.e., any network whose
communications links cross metropolitan, regional, or national boundaries). Or, less formally, a network that uses
routers and public communications links
5. Microsoft Access
Microsoft Office Access, previously known as Microsoft Access, is a relational database management system from
Microsoft.
6. What is RAS?
Remote Access Services (RAS) refers to any combination of hardware and software to enable the remote access to
tools or information that typically reside on a network of IT devices.
7. Difference between Client Mail and Web Mail?
Email clients download your emails onto your computer. Using a specialized email program such as Outlook Express
or Apple Mail has the advantage of giving you complete control over your email; every email you receive is placed on
your computer and you can keep as many large file attachments as you want.
Checking your email through our webmail is similar to using Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail. You never actually copy your
messages to your computer; in fact, you are looking at them through your web browser on somebody else"s
computer. When you are not online, you are not able to see your email.

8. RAM and ROM
random access memory, a type of computer memory that can be accessed randomly; that is, any byte of memory
can be accessed without touching the preceding bytes. RAM is the most common type of memory found in
computers and other devices, such as printers.
Pronounced rahm, acronym for read-only memory, computer memory on which data has been prerecorded. Once
data has been written onto a ROM chip, it cannot be removed and can only be read. Unlike main memory (RAM),
ROM retains its contents even when the computer is turned off. ROM is referred to as being nonvolatile, whereas
RAM is volatile.
9. Spam guard
Spam Guard is an Outlook add-in that filters email that arrives in your inbox. If the sender of any message cannot be
identified then the message is moved into a spam quarantine folder. Messages deposited in the spam quarantine
folder can be inspected and either deleted or approved at your leisure.
10. Firewall and Antivirus
A system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. Firewalls can be implemented in
both hardware and software, or a combination of both. Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorized
Internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet, especially intranets. All messages entering
or leaving the intranet pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet
the specified security criteria.
Antivirus is a software program which helps protect a computer against being infected by a virus.
11. DNS
Short for Domain Name System (or Service or Server), an Internet service that translates domain names into IP
addresses. The Internet however, is really based on IP addresses. Every time you use a domain name, therefore, a
DNS service must translate the name into the corresponding IP address. For example, the domain name
www.example.com might translate to 198.105.232.4.
12. IPConfig
IPConfig is a command line tool used to control the network connections on Windows NT/2000/XP machines. There
are three main commands: "all", "release", and "renew". IPConfig displays all current TCP/IP network configuration
values and refreshes Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Domain Name System (DNS) settings. Used
without parameters, IPConfig displays the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway for all adapters.
13. Trace route
Trace route is the program that shows you the route over the network between two systems, listing all the
intermediate routers a connection must pass through to get to its destination. It can help you determine why your
connections to a given server might be poor, and can often help you figure out where exactly the problem is. It also
shows you how systems are connected to each other, letting you see how your ISP connects to the Internet as well
as how the target system is connected.