Computer Awareness Mixed Quiz: Set 33

The correct answer is B, the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce. The model law was adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law in 1996 and recommended to member states by the General Assembly, and India's Act follows its scheme for giving legal recognition to electronic records and signatures. Option A is wrong because the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime of 2001 is a Council of Europe treaty to which India is not a party. Option C is wrong because the General Data Protection Regulation is a European Union law of 2016 that came much later and concerns data protection, not electronic commerce. Option D is wrong because the Berne Convention of 1886 deals with copyright in literary and artistic works. The model law was adopted to let member states give electronic records the same standing as paper, and India's sections 4, 5 and 10A follow it almost directly.

The correct answer is B, 2000. The Information Technology Act was passed by Parliament in 2000, received assent on 9 June 2000 and came into force on 17 October 2000; it is therefore cited as the Information Technology Act, 2000. Option A is wrong because 1998 precedes the Act, though the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce on which it is modelled dates from 1996. Option C is wrong because 2005 is the year of the Right to Information Act, which is often confused with it in lists of early twenty-first century legislation. Option D is wrong because 2008 is the year of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, which substantially rewrote the parent Act and came into force on 27 October 2009; that amendment year is the commonest distractor in this question.

The correct answer is C, Basic Input Output System. The BIOS is held in a read only memory chip on the motherboard; when the machine is switched on it tests the hardware through the power-on self test and then loads the operating system from the disc into main memory, a process called booting. Option A is wrong because the final word is System and not Software, and the BIOS handles both input and output rather than output alone. Option B is wrong because the first letter stands for Basic, not Binary, even though the chip of course stores binary code. Option D is wrong because the BIOS is not itself an operating system; it only starts the machine and hands control to the operating system, whose core is called the kernel. Because the BIOS sits permanently in a chip it is the standard textbook example of firmware, which is the term examiners pair with it.

The correct answer is A, Subscriber Identity Module. The SIM is a small smart card issued by the operator that stores the subscriber identity, the authentication keys used to prove that identity to the network, and a limited amount of contact and message data. Because the identity lives on the card, a subscriber can move the number to another handset simply by moving the card. Option B, Single Identity Module, resembles the right answer but is not the standard expansion. Option C, Subscriber Internet Module, is wrong because the card is not tied to internet service; it authenticates voice, message and data service alike. Option D, Secure Identity Memory, is invented, although the card is indeed a secure element. Note the contrast with the IMEI, which identifies the handset rather than the subscriber.

The correct answer is C, a will. The First Schedule to the Act excludes certain documents from electronic form: a negotiable instrument other than a cheque, a power of attorney, a trust deed, a will or other testamentary disposition, and any contract for the sale or conveyance of immovable property. Option A is wrong because a cheque is specifically carved out of the exclusion of negotiable instruments. Option B is wrong because a contract for the sale of goods may be made electronically, and section 10A expressly confirms the validity of contracts formed by electronic means. Option D is wrong for the same reason; purchase orders and similar commercial communications are exactly the transactions the Act was passed to facilitate. Section 10A, added in 2008, puts the matter beyond doubt by providing that a contract formed through electronic means is not unenforceable merely on that ground.

The correct answer is A, the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. The HEC-2M, brought from Britain, was installed at the Indian Statistical Institute in 1955 and is counted as the first computer to work in India; the institute later added a Soviet URAL machine and in 1966 built the ISIJU with Jadavpur University. Option B is wrong because the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research built TIFRAC, completed in 1960, which is the first computer designed and built in India but not the first installed here. Option C is wrong because the Indian Institute of Science, although a major computing centre today and an implementing agency of the National Supercomputing Mission, did not host the first machine. Option D is wrong because the Trombay work came later, through ECIL and the TDC series. The Soviet URAL machine that followed at the same institute is sometimes offered as a distractor here.

The correct answer is B, SMTP, the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, which carries a message from the sender's programme to the mail server and onward between servers. Option A is wrong because POP3, the Post Office Protocol version 3, works in the other direction: it downloads mail from the server to the user's computer, usually removing it from the server. Option C is wrong because FTP, the File Transfer Protocol, moves files between a client and a server and has nothing to do with mail delivery. Option D is wrong because SNMP, the Simple Network Management Protocol, is used to monitor and manage network devices such as routers and switches; its similarity to SMTP by one letter is exactly why it is offered here. The third mail protocol worth knowing is IMAP, the Internet Message Access Protocol, which reads mail while leaving it on the server.

The correct answer is C, eight. Each input can take one of two values, so for three inputs the number of distinct combinations is two multiplied by itself three times, that is two raised to the power three, which is eight. The same rule gives four rows for two inputs, sixteen for four inputs and thirty-two for five. A is wrong because three is simply the number of inputs, not of combinations, and no truth table has as many rows as it has input columns. B is wrong because it comes from multiplying the number of inputs by two, the commonest error on this question; the relationship is a power of two, not a product. D is wrong because nine is three squared, which reverses base and exponent; the base must always be two, since each variable is binary. Checking that the table has the right number of rows is also a quick way to catch a missing combination.

The correct answer is B, an asymmetric crypto system and a hash function. Section 3 provides that an electronic record is authenticated by affixing a digital signature created by use of an asymmetric crypto system and a hash function; the hash function reduces the record to a message digest and the signer's private key encrypts it, while anyone can verify it with the matching public key. Option A is wrong because a symmetric system uses one shared key and cannot establish who signed. Option C is wrong because a biometric scan by itself is not what the section describes, though electronic signatures added in 2008 allow other reliable techniques. Option D is wrong because a one time password authenticates a transaction, not the record itself.

The correct answer is A, Ability to operate 24/7. An online store is a website or an app and not a shop with shutters, so it can take orders at any hour of any day, and that round-the-clock selling is one of the clear gains of e-commerce. The other gains follow from the same fact: a seller reaches buyers anywhere in the country without opening branches, keeps costs down because no showroom or large sales staff is needed, and can study a customer's past orders to suggest goods that suit them. Payment is made by card, net banking or UPI, and the order can be tracked until delivery. B is wrong because e-commerce widens reach instead of limiting it, carrying a small seller to a national market. C is wrong because online sellers personalise the experience closely, using browsing and purchase history to recommend products. D is wrong because operational costs usually fall, since rent, electricity and counter staff are saved. Exam tip: the gains of e-commerce are round-the-clock service, wider reach, lower costs and personalised offers.

The correct answer is A, Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory. The family runs in a clear order: ROM is fixed when made, PROM is written once by the user, EPROM can be erased by exposing the chip to ultraviolet light, and EEPROM can be erased and rewritten by an electrical signal without removing it from the circuit. Option B is wrong on two counts, because the first word is Electrically rather than Easily and because the memory is Read Only, not Random Only. Option C is wrong because Encoded and Permanent form no part of the name, and permanence is precisely what an EEPROM gives up in exchange for being rewritable. Option D is wrong because the first E stands for Electrically; Extended belongs to EBCDIC. Flash memory, used in pen drives and solid state drives, is a development of EEPROM technology, which is why it is non-volatile.

The correct answer is B, 4 bits. A bit is the smallest unit of data, holding a single binary 0 or 1. Four bits together form a nibble, which is exactly half a byte, and a nibble is convenient because it maps neatly to one hexadecimal digit.

Option A, 2 bits, corresponds to no standard named unit. Option C, 8 bits, is a byte, the amount of memory needed to store one character, and it is the commonest distractor here because students remember the two units together. Option D, 16 bits, is often called a word on some machines, but word length varies with the processor and is not a fixed unit like the nibble. Above the byte the ladder rises in multiples of 1024: kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, terabyte, petabyte, exabyte, zettabyte and yottabyte. Learn the pair nibble four, byte eight together and read the question word carefully.

The correct answer is A, 1930. The helpline 1930 is run with the national cyber crime reporting portal by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre under the Ministry of Home Affairs, and is meant for the quick reporting of online financial fraud so that the transfer of money can be stopped. Option B is wrong because 1098 is Childline, the helpline for children in distress. Option C is wrong because 1800 is the prefix of toll free numbers in India and is not a helpline by itself. Option D is wrong because 112 is the single emergency response number for police, fire and ambulance services, and although a cyber complaint may be passed on from it, it is not the dedicated cyber fraud line. Complaints may also be filed on the national cyber crime reporting portal, and after the 2008 amendment an offence under the Act is investigated by an officer not below the rank of inspector.

The correct answer is A, processing of bank cheques. MICR stands for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition. The line of characters printed along the foot of a cheque is set in magnetic ink in the E-13B font, and the reader identifies each character from its magnetic signal, so the cheque is sorted correctly even when it has been folded, stamped or soiled.

Option B, reading objective answer sheets, is the work of OMR, the Optical Mark Reader, which simply detects whether a mark has been made in a fixed position. Option C, billing at a retail counter, is done by a barcode reader that decodes the bar pattern printed on the packet. Option D, recording fingerprints, is the work of a biometric scanner. Banking papers return to MICR every year, so tie it firmly to the cheque and to the E-13B font.

The correct answer is B, Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. BASIC was designed as a teaching language with simple English-like statements, which is the reason the word Beginner appears in its name. Option A is wrong because the first word is Beginner's and not Binary, though ALGOL does stand for Algorithmic Language and is the likely source of the confusion. Option C is wrong because the last word is Code, not Compiler; a compiler is the translator that turns source code into machine code in one pass, as against an interpreter, which works line by line. Option D is wrong because business-oriented work belongs to COBOL, the Common Business Oriented Language, while scientific calculation belongs to FORTRAN, from Formula Translation. Keeping these four expansions apart, with ALGOL for Algorithmic Language, covers most of the language questions asked in general awareness papers.

The correct answer is B, kernel. The kernel is the central part of the operating system and is the portion that is loaded at boot time and stays resident in main memory for as long as the computer is running. It controls the processor, allocates memory, manages files and drives the input and output devices, and every other program reaches the hardware through it.

Option A, the shell, is the outer layer of the operating system; it accepts the command typed by the user and passes it to the kernel, but it is not the core and need not always be resident. Option C, a compiler, is a language translator that converts a high level program into machine code; it is system software but not a part of the operating system core. Option D, a loader, is the program that places an executable file into main memory just before execution and then hands control to it, so it is a small utility and not the core.

The correct answer is B, the amendment of 2008. The Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 came into force on 27 October 2009 and made the most important changes to the parent Act: it added section 3A on electronic signatures, inserted the computer-related offences of sections 66A to 66F and 67A to 67C, added section 43A on compensation for failure to protect personal data, and created sections 70A and 70B. Option A is wrong because no amendment of this kind was made in 2006. Option C is wrong because 2015 is the year of the Shreya Singhal judgment, which struck down a section rather than inserting any. Option D is wrong because 2021 is the year of the Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules, which are rules made under the Act, not an amendment to it.

The correct answer is A, Magnetic Ink Character Recognition. The row of numerals printed at the foot of a cheque is set in magnetic ink, and a MICR reader senses the magnetic pattern rather than the shape of the figures, so the code is read correctly even when the cheque is stamped or soiled. Option B is wrong because the middle words are Ink and Character; nothing in the name refers to an image. Option C is wrong because the first word is Magnetic, not Micro, although the characters are indeed small. Option D is wrong because Induction forms no part of the name. Two related readers are set against it in papers: OCR, Optical Character Recognition, which reads printed or handwritten text optically, and OMR, the Optical Mark Reader, which senses pencil marks on an answer sheet and is therefore used to evaluate objective examinations.

The correct answer is B, K. S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India. A bench of nine judges held in 2017 that the right to privacy is intrinsic to the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21, which became the constitutional basis for India's data protection framework and for the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. Option A is wrong because Shreya Singhal, decided in 2015, concerned freedom of speech and struck down section 66A of the Information Technology Act. Option C is wrong because the M. C. Mehta cases concern environmental law and the absolute liability principle. Option D is wrong because Maneka Gandhi, decided in 1978, widened the meaning of personal liberty and due process but did not declare a right to privacy.

The correct answer is B, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing. C-DAC is a research and development organisation under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and developed the PARAM series of supercomputers, India's own high performance computing line. Option A is wrong because the first word is Centre and not Council, and the second is Development rather than Digital. Option C is wrong because C-DAC is an autonomous society and not a central government department, and nothing in its name reads Applied. Option D is wrong because cryptography forms no part of the expansion, although C-DAC does work on information security. Three sister abbreviations are asked alongside it: NIC, the National Informatics Centre, which runs government networks and websites; NIELIT, the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology, which conducts the CCC course; and CERT-In, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team.