Testing and configuring a computer.
Boot time test
The boot time test, test how long it takes for the computer to get to the logon screen, to do this I will turn my computer off than have a stop watch ready to start when I press the power button, once I press the power button I will start the stop watch and will stop the stop watch when the computer get to the logon screen. I am doing this because it give me an idea of how well my computer perform when starting up, it also allows me to see if I need to upgrade my computer to improve on this time.
I conducted this test 3 times to get an average time, the result was on average it took 1 minuet and 4 seconds to turn on, this is a fairly good time but could be improved on, the time may be due to there being a virus on the computer, another thing that could slow the computer down is there might not be an SSD in the computer, the CPU could be an old outdated model or there might not be enough RAM. To Improve the time it takes for the computer to boot up, you could run a antivirus program to see if there are any viruses on the computer to slow it down, you could also install an SSD to improve the speeds of the boot up, if there is already a SSD in the system you could change the SATA cable from SATA II to SATA III to take advantage of the faster transfer speed, if the SSD isn’t SATA III you could buy a new one that is. Another way to improve the boot up speed of the computer is to upgrade the CPU to a better model e.g. and i7. Increasing the RAM to 8GB and a high clock speed will decrease the boot time for the computer because it can hold more programs at once and it can transfer the information quicker.
Software applications open and Work
This test is to see if all of the applications on the computer open and work correctly, to do this I will open 5 applications to see if they all open and work correctly. I am doing this to make sure there aren’t any corrupt files on the HDD/SSD that could make the application unusable and have to resort to reinstalling the application. Out of the five I tested only one didn’t work, this may be because a virus may have done something with the files; the user mistakenly deleted the file, the disk that the program may have the corrupt file on it or the file may have been corrupted while downloading form the internet. To improve this you could make sure that you run weekly virus checks to ensure that there are no viruses on your computer, you could also take backups weekly so that if any files were deleted they are still on the back up, another way of improving this is if the file has gotten corrupted while downloading you get a disk and install it from a disk, If the CD is corrupt then you download the files and install the application from there.
Desktop Shortcuts go to the right places
This test is to see if any desktop shortcuts that are made go to the correct place e.g. if the “My Computer” shortcut takes you to my computer. To do this I will click on all of the shortcuts on my desktop and see if all of them take me to the right place. I am doing this so that I can know if any of my shortcuts are broken so I can fix them for ease of use on my computer.
Out of all of the shortcuts on my desktop only 3 of them didn’t work, now this could be due to I have uninstalled the program or game and the shortcut didn’t get removed, or the location to where the shortcut goes to has changed or the shortcut cannot find it, because of a rename or deletion . To fix these errors I could make sure that I delete the shortcut if I have removed the program so that I don’t mistakenly click on it thinking I still have installed. Another way I could fix it is find out where the files that the shortcut goes to and remake the shortcut to that path or I could get the file from the recycle bin so the shortcut can find the file.
Correct Device Drivers are installed
This test makes sure that all the device drivers for the peripherals and components are working correctly. To do this I will go into the device manager in windows and check that all of the devices are connected and that the device drivers are working properly. I am doing this because if I didn’t and my mouse suddenly stopped working I would think that it is the mouser breaking and have to waste money on getting a new one when actually the device driver isn’t working,
Out of my device drives 2 needed updating and the rest where fine this may be due to the manufacture bringing out new software that makes the device more efficient for example a graphics card driver, when these come out that normally enhance the performance of the graphics card in certain areas. To improve on this I could makes use that I keep checking for updates on my device drivers because they normally make the device more efficient, or some are need for the device to work with certain software.
Correct paper size for Printers
This test is to make sure that the correct paper size is selected for the printer; you would do this because when you click print and the paper size is A5 instead of A4 it will not print, and display a message saying wrong paper size or type inserted. I will test this by going into the print section of Microsoft Word and making sure that the paper is selected on A4 which is in the printer, then I will print to see if it prints okay.
When I went onto the print area of Microsoft word and checked to see if the paper was A4, it was and when I printed, it worked fine. This could be due to the fact that I don’t normally change the paper size, however if someone in my house decided to print something out in A5 on my computer I would have got an error message. To improve on this I could always make sure I check the paper size is on A4 and the paper in the printer tray is A4, I would always check this before printing.
Menu Options work as intended
This test is to see if the menu options on the computer work correctly for example the start menu, I will test this by going onto the start menu and making sure that all of the programs that I have pinned there are all still there, another way I will test this is by going into a program and making sure that the potions for the toolbars are working e.g. all of the toolbars are where I want them and they all have the tools that I use the most of on them. I am testing this because it enables me to save time on going to the programs that I use the most on my computer .e.g. Steam or Origin. It also enables me to save time in looking for tools in Photoshop if all of the options are kept the same.
While testing this I found that not all of my programs where pinned to my start menu, however all of my toolbars where in the correct place on Photoshop. The reason why my programs didn’t pin to my start menu is because I may have thought I clicked pin but didn’t or I accidently clicked unpin. Another reason why they might have not stay pinned is because of the settings I have my start menu set to, I have it set so that the newest programs show up on there, this may remove the pinned programs, to improve on this I will make sure before I close the start menu that make sure that the program is pinned to the menu, I will also make sure to go into the control panel and sort out my start menu settings in the task bar and start menu tab.
Correct date and Time are set
This test is to see if the computers system date and time are set correctly, you would do this test because if you set your antivirus to disable at a certain time and it is using your computers time and it’s an hour off you leave your computer open to virus attack for an extra hour, also if you are doing online banking it registrars a transaction at a certain time but your computer registers it at another time it could be rejected. To test this I will go on to the internet and find an online clock and check to see if my computers time is off.
To perform this test I went onto timeanddate.com and check their time to mine and my computer is exactly the same time, this may be due to my computer using the internet to get the time and date off the internet, it could also be that when I set my computer up I set the time up on and off chance perfect. To improve on this I could check monthly that my time is always in time with timeanddate.com. I could also get a separate clock widget and put it on my desktop to ensure that my time is always correct.
The boot time test, test how long it takes for the computer to get to the logon screen, to do this I will turn my computer off than have a stop watch ready to start when I press the power button, once I press the power button I will start the stop watch and will stop the stop watch when the computer get to the logon screen. I am doing this because it give me an idea of how well my computer perform when starting up, it also allows me to see if I need to upgrade my computer to improve on this time.
I conducted this test 3 times to get an average time, the result was on average it took 1 minuet and 4 seconds to turn on, this is a fairly good time but could be improved on, the time may be due to there being a virus on the computer, another thing that could slow the computer down is there might not be an SSD in the computer, the CPU could be an old outdated model or there might not be enough RAM. To Improve the time it takes for the computer to boot up, you could run a antivirus program to see if there are any viruses on the computer to slow it down, you could also install an SSD to improve the speeds of the boot up, if there is already a SSD in the system you could change the SATA cable from SATA II to SATA III to take advantage of the faster transfer speed, if the SSD isn’t SATA III you could buy a new one that is. Another way to improve the boot up speed of the computer is to upgrade the CPU to a better model e.g. and i7. Increasing the RAM to 8GB and a high clock speed will decrease the boot time for the computer because it can hold more programs at once and it can transfer the information quicker.
Software applications open and Work
This test is to see if all of the applications on the computer open and work correctly, to do this I will open 5 applications to see if they all open and work correctly. I am doing this to make sure there aren’t any corrupt files on the HDD/SSD that could make the application unusable and have to resort to reinstalling the application. Out of the five I tested only one didn’t work, this may be because a virus may have done something with the files; the user mistakenly deleted the file, the disk that the program may have the corrupt file on it or the file may have been corrupted while downloading form the internet. To improve this you could make sure that you run weekly virus checks to ensure that there are no viruses on your computer, you could also take backups weekly so that if any files were deleted they are still on the back up, another way of improving this is if the file has gotten corrupted while downloading you get a disk and install it from a disk, If the CD is corrupt then you download the files and install the application from there.
Desktop Shortcuts go to the right places
This test is to see if any desktop shortcuts that are made go to the correct place e.g. if the “My Computer” shortcut takes you to my computer. To do this I will click on all of the shortcuts on my desktop and see if all of them take me to the right place. I am doing this so that I can know if any of my shortcuts are broken so I can fix them for ease of use on my computer.
Out of all of the shortcuts on my desktop only 3 of them didn’t work, now this could be due to I have uninstalled the program or game and the shortcut didn’t get removed, or the location to where the shortcut goes to has changed or the shortcut cannot find it, because of a rename or deletion . To fix these errors I could make sure that I delete the shortcut if I have removed the program so that I don’t mistakenly click on it thinking I still have installed. Another way I could fix it is find out where the files that the shortcut goes to and remake the shortcut to that path or I could get the file from the recycle bin so the shortcut can find the file.
Correct Device Drivers are installed
This test makes sure that all the device drivers for the peripherals and components are working correctly. To do this I will go into the device manager in windows and check that all of the devices are connected and that the device drivers are working properly. I am doing this because if I didn’t and my mouse suddenly stopped working I would think that it is the mouser breaking and have to waste money on getting a new one when actually the device driver isn’t working,
Out of my device drives 2 needed updating and the rest where fine this may be due to the manufacture bringing out new software that makes the device more efficient for example a graphics card driver, when these come out that normally enhance the performance of the graphics card in certain areas. To improve on this I could makes use that I keep checking for updates on my device drivers because they normally make the device more efficient, or some are need for the device to work with certain software.
Correct paper size for Printers
This test is to make sure that the correct paper size is selected for the printer; you would do this because when you click print and the paper size is A5 instead of A4 it will not print, and display a message saying wrong paper size or type inserted. I will test this by going into the print section of Microsoft Word and making sure that the paper is selected on A4 which is in the printer, then I will print to see if it prints okay.
When I went onto the print area of Microsoft word and checked to see if the paper was A4, it was and when I printed, it worked fine. This could be due to the fact that I don’t normally change the paper size, however if someone in my house decided to print something out in A5 on my computer I would have got an error message. To improve on this I could always make sure I check the paper size is on A4 and the paper in the printer tray is A4, I would always check this before printing.
Menu Options work as intended
This test is to see if the menu options on the computer work correctly for example the start menu, I will test this by going onto the start menu and making sure that all of the programs that I have pinned there are all still there, another way I will test this is by going into a program and making sure that the potions for the toolbars are working e.g. all of the toolbars are where I want them and they all have the tools that I use the most of on them. I am testing this because it enables me to save time on going to the programs that I use the most on my computer .e.g. Steam or Origin. It also enables me to save time in looking for tools in Photoshop if all of the options are kept the same.
While testing this I found that not all of my programs where pinned to my start menu, however all of my toolbars where in the correct place on Photoshop. The reason why my programs didn’t pin to my start menu is because I may have thought I clicked pin but didn’t or I accidently clicked unpin. Another reason why they might have not stay pinned is because of the settings I have my start menu set to, I have it set so that the newest programs show up on there, this may remove the pinned programs, to improve on this I will make sure before I close the start menu that make sure that the program is pinned to the menu, I will also make sure to go into the control panel and sort out my start menu settings in the task bar and start menu tab.
Correct date and Time are set
This test is to see if the computers system date and time are set correctly, you would do this test because if you set your antivirus to disable at a certain time and it is using your computers time and it’s an hour off you leave your computer open to virus attack for an extra hour, also if you are doing online banking it registrars a transaction at a certain time but your computer registers it at another time it could be rejected. To test this I will go on to the internet and find an online clock and check to see if my computers time is off.
To perform this test I went onto timeanddate.com and check their time to mine and my computer is exactly the same time, this may be due to my computer using the internet to get the time and date off the internet, it could also be that when I set my computer up I set the time up on and off chance perfect. To improve on this I could check monthly that my time is always in time with timeanddate.com. I could also get a separate clock widget and put it on my desktop to ensure that my time is always correct.
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