The speaking module

III. Speaking exercises:

Exercise 1. Describe utility program, disk checker, virus scanners, system utilities, registry cleaners using the suggested words and expressions:

Utility program Manage\ maintain\ control\ computer resources\ day-to-day chores \associated \personal computing \ keep your system running \at peak performance.

a disk checker scan\ the contents\ hard disk\ find files\corrupted\ not correctly saved\ eliminate\ efficiently\ operating\ hard drive

Virus scanners utility programs\ protect\ designed\ your computer\ computer viruses

System Utilities Provide\ perform\a convenient method\ routine data management tasks\ deleting\ renaming\ cataloging\ moving\ copying\ merging\ generating\ modifying data sets\

Registry cleaners Clean\optimize\ registry\ removing\ no longer in use\ old registry keys

Exercise 2. Ask questions to the given answers:

1. Question: ____________________________________ ?

Answer: A system profiler can provide detailed information about the software installed and hardware attached to the computer.

2. Question: ____________________________________ ?

Answer: Application launchers provide a convenient access point for application software.

The writing module

IV.Writing exercises:

Exercise 1. Complete the sentences with the suggested words:

Computer resources/ compression software/ backup /profiler.

Utility programs help manage, maintain and control…….. A system …..can provide detailed information about the software installed and hardware attached to the computer…… software can make a copy of all information stored on a computer, and restore either the entire system or selected files. Disk …….can transparently compress the contents of the hard disk, in order to fit more information to the drive.

Exercise 2. Fill in the table with words and expressions from the text:

Virus Scanning Software are utility programs designed	What for	from computer viruses.
Encryption utilities use a specific algorithm	What for?	when provided with a key and a plaintext.
Compression utilities output	what?	when provided with a stream or file.

Exercise 3. Compose a story on one of the topics (up to 100 words):

“What kind of utility software do you know?”.

“What kind of utility software do you consider to be the most important”.

“Antivirus programs’.

Lesson 7 what is a user interface? the reading module

I.Read the text:

The user interface is the junction between a user and a computer program. An interface is a set of commands or menus through which a user communicates with a program. It is how you interact with the computer. The term ‘user interface’ refers t the standard procedures the user follows to interact with a particular computer. There are two common user interfaces:

A command-driven interface is one in which you type in commands to make the computer do something. You have to know the commands and what they do and they have to be typed correctly. DOS and Unix are examples of command-driven interfaces.

In fact only the experts used the computers so thee was no need for a user friendly interface.

A graphical user interface (GUI) is one in which you select command choices from various menus, buttons and icons using a mouse. It is a user-friendly interface. Macintosh computers- with a user interface based on graphics and intuitive tools-were designed with a single clear aim: to facilitate interaction with the computer. Their interface is called WIMP (Window, Icon, Mouse, Pointer) and software products for the Macintosh have been design to take full advantage of its features using the interface. In 1984, the Apple Company introduced the first GUI computer, the Macintosh. Windows 95/98, NT, ME, 2000 and XP are all GUI operating systems. Today the most innovative GUIs are the Macintosh, Microsoft Windows and IBM OS\2 Warp. These three platforms include similar features: a desktop with icons, windows and folders, a printer selector, a file finder, a control panel, various disc accessories. The three platforms differ in other areas such as device installation, network connectivity or compatibility with application programs. These interfaces have been so successful because they are extremely easy to use, It is well known that computers running under an attractive interface simulate users to be more creative and produce high quality results, which has a major impact on the general public.

Text user interfaces (TUI) share with GUIs their use of the entire screen area and exposure of available commands through widgets like form entry and menus. However, TUIs only use text and symbols available on a typical text terminal, while GUIs typically use high resolution graphics modes. This allows the GUI to present more detailed information and fine-grained direct manipulation.

Zooming user interface or zoomable user interface (ZUI, pronounced zoo-ee) is a graphical environment where users can change the scale of the viewed area in order to see more detail or less. A ZUI is a type of graphical user interface (GUI). Information elements appear directly on an infinite virtual desktop (usually created using vector graphics), instead of in windows. Users can pan across the virtual surface in two dimensions and zoom into objects of interest. For example, as you zoom into a text object it may be represented as a small dot, then a thumbnail of a page of text, then a full-sized page and finally a magnified view of the page. Some experts consider the ZUI interface paradigm as a flexible and realistic successor to the traditional windowing GUI. But little effort is currently spent developing ZUIs, while there are ongoing efforts for developing GUIs.