Fundamentals of Computer MCQ Questions
1. UNIVAC is
A) Universal Automatic Computer (Answer)
B) Universal Array Computer
C) Unique Automatic Computer
D) Unvalued Automatic Computer
2. The basic operations performed by a computer are
A) Arithmetic operation
B) Logical operation
C) Storage and relative
D) All the above (Answer)
3. The two major types of computer chips are
A) External memory chip
B) Primary memory chip
C) Microprocessor chip
D) Both b and c (Answer)
4. Microprocessors as switching devices are for which generation computers
A) First Generation
B) Second Generation
C) Third Generation
D) Fourth Generation (Answer)
5. What is the main difference between a mainframe and a super computer?
A) Super computer is much larger than mainframe computers
B) Super computers are much smaller than mainframe computers
C) Supercomputers are focused to execute few programs as fast as possible while mainframe uses its power to execute
as many programs concurrently (Answer)
D) Supercomputers are focused to execute as many programs as possible while mainframe uses its power to execute
few programs as fast as possible.
6. ASCII and EBCDIC are the popular character coding systems. What does EBCDIC stand for?
A) Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code (Answer)
B) Extended Bit Code Decimal Interchange Code
C) Extended Bit Case Decimal Interchange Code
D) Extended Binary Case Decimal Interchange Code
7. The brain of any computer system is
A) ALU
B) Memory
C) CPU (Answer)
D) Control unit
8. Storage capacity of magnetic disk depends on
A) tracks per inch of surface
B) bits per inch of tracks
C) disk pack in disk surface
D) All of above (Answer)
9. The two kinds of main memory are:
A) Primary and secondary
B) Random and sequential
C) ROM and RAM (Answer)
D) All of above
10. A storage area used to store data to a compensate for the difference in speed at which the different units can handle
data is
A) Memory
B) Buffer (Answer)
C) Accumulator
D) Address
11. Computer is free from tiresome and boardoom. We call it
A) Accuracy
B) Reliability
C) Diligence (Answer)
D) Versatility
12. Integrated Circuits (Ics) are related to which generation of computers?
A) First generation
B) Second generation
C) Third generation (Answer)
D) Fourth generation
13. CD-ROM is a
A) Semiconductor memory
B) Memory register
C) Magnetic memory
D) None of above (Answer)
14. A hybrid computer
A) Resembles digital computer
B) Resembles analogue computer
C) Resembles both a digital and analogue computer (Answer)
D) None of the above
15. Which type of computers uses the 8-bit code called EBCDIC?
A) Minicomputers
B) Microcomputers
C) Mainframe computers (Answer)
D) Super computer
16. The ALU of a computer responds to the commands coming from
A) Primary memory
B) Control section (Answer)
C) External memory
D) Cache memory
17. Chief component of first generation computer was
A) Transistors
B) Vacuum Tubes and Valves (Answer)
C) Integrated Circuits
D) None of above
18. To produce high quality graphics (hardcopy) in color, you would want to use a/n
A) RGB monitor
B) Plotter (Answer)
C) Ink-jet printer
D) Laser printer
19. What are the stages in the compilation process?
A) Feasibility study, system design and testing
B) Implementation and documentation
C) Lexical Analysis, syntax analysis, and code generation (Answer)
D) None of the above
20. Which of the following IC was used in third generation of computers?
A) SSI
B) MSI
C) LSI
D) Both a and b (Answer)
21. The main electronic component used in first generation computers was
A) Transistors
B) Vacuum Tubes and Valves (Answer)
C) Integrated Circuits
D) None of above
22. A dumb terminal has
A) an embedded microprocessor
B) extensive memory
C) independent processing capability
D) a keyboard and screen (Answer)
23. One millisecond is
A) 1 second
B) 10th of a seconds
C) 1000th of a seconds (Answer)
D) 10000th of a seconds
24. The output quality of a printer is measured by
A) Dot per sq. inch (Answer)
B) Dot per inch
C) Dots printed per unit time
D) All of the above
25. Which of the following was a special purpose computer?
A) ABC (Answer)
B) ENIAC
C) EDVAC
D) All of the above
26. What was the computer invented by Attanasoff and Clifford?
A) Mark I
B) ABC (Answer)
C) Z3
D) None of above
27. Which of the following storage devices can store maximum amount of data?
A) Floppy Disk
B) Hard Disk (Answer)
C) Compact Disk
D) Magneto Optic Disk
28. Which computer was considered the first electronic computer until 1973 when court invalidated the patent?
A) ENIAC (Answer)
B) MARK I
C) Z3
D) ABC
29. A physical connection between the microprocessor memory and other parts of the microcomputer is known as
A) Path
B) Address bus (Answer)
C) Route
D) All of the above
30. High density double sided floppy disks could store ----- of data
A) 1.40 MB
B) 1.44 GB
C) 1.40 GB
D) 1.44 MB (Answer)
31. A high quality CAD system uses the following for printing drawing and graphs
A) Dot matrix printer
B) Digital plotter (Answer)
C) Line printer
D) All of the above
32. Which of the following is not an input device?
A) OCR
B) Optical scanners
C) Voice recognition device
D) COM (Computer Output to Microfilm) (Answer)
33. The accuracy of the floating-point numbers representable in two 16-bit words of a computer is approximately
A) 16 digits
B) 6 digits (Answer)
C) 9 digits
D) All of above
34. In most of the IBM PCs, the CPU, the device drivers, memory, expansion slots and active components are mounted
on a single board. What is the name of the board?
A) Motherboard (Answer)
B) Daughterboard
C) Bredboard
D) Fatherboard
35. In most IBM PCs, the CPU, the device drives, memory expansion slots and active components are mounted on a
single board. What is the name of this board?
A) Motherboard (Answer)
B) Breadboard
C) Daughter board
D) Grandmother board
36. Magnetic disks are the most popular medium for
A) Direct access
B) Sequential access
C) Both of above (Answer)
D) None of above
37. A technique used by codes to convert an analog signal into a digital bit stream is known as
A) Pulse code modulation (Answer)
B) Pulse stretcher
C) Query processing
D) Queue management
38. Regarding a VDU, Which statement is more correct?
A) It is an output device
B) It is an input device
C) It is a peripheral device (Answer)
D) It is hardware item
39. A modern electronic computer is a machine that is meant for
A) Doing quick mathematical calculations
B) Input, storage, manipulation and outputting of data (Answer)
C) Electronic data processing
D) Performing repetitive tasks accurately
40. When was vacuum tube invented?
A) 1900
B) 1906 (Answer)
C) 1910
D) 1880
41. Which of the following produces the best quality graphics reproduction?
A) Laser printer
B) Ink jet printer
C) Plotter (Answer)
D) Dot matrix printer
42. Computers with 80286 microprocessor is
A) XT computer
B) AT comptuers (Answer)
C) PS/2 computer
D) None of above
43. An application suitable for sequential processing is
A) Processing of grades
B) Payroll processing
C) Both a and b (Answer)
D) All of above
44. Which of the following is not processing?
A) arranging
B) manipulating
C) calculating
D) gathering (Answer)
45. The digital computer was developed primarily in
A) USSR
B) Japan
C) USA (Answer)
D) UK
46. Software in computer
A) Enhances the capabilities of the hardware machine (Answer)
B) Increase the speed of central processing unit
C) Both of above
D) None of above
47. Today’s computer giant IBM was earlier known by different name which was changes in 1924. What was that name?
A) Tabulator Machine Co.
B) Computing Tabulating Recording Co. (Answer)
C) The Tabulator Ltd.
D) International Computer Ltd.
48. Before a disk drive can access any sector record, a computer program has to provide the record’s disk address. What
information does this address specify?
A) Track number
B) Sector number
C) Surface number
D) All of above (Answer)
49. The arranging of data in a logical sequence is called
A) Sorting (Answer)
B) Classifying
C) Reproducing
D) Summarizing
50. What is the responsibility of the logical unit in the CPU of a computer?
A) To produce result
B) To compare numbers (Answer)
C) To control flow of information
D) To do math’s works
51. Abacus was the first
A) electronic computer
B) mechanical computer
C) electronic calculator
D) mechanical calculator (Answer)
52. If in a computer, 16 bits are used to specify address in a RAM, the number of addresses will be
A) 216
B) 65,536 (Answer)
C) 64K
D) Any of the above
53. Instructions and memory address are represented by
A) Character code
B) Binary codes (Answer)
C) Binary word
D) Parity bit
54. The terminal device that functions as a cash register, computer terminal, and OCR reader is the:
A) Data collection terminal (Answer)
B) OCR register terminal
C) Video Display terminal
D) POS terminal
55. A set of flip flops integrated together is called ----
A) Counter
B) Adder
C) Register (Answer)
D) None of the above
56. People often call ------ as the brain of computer system
A) Control Unit
B) Arithmetic Logic Unit
C) Central Processing Unit (Answer)
D) Storage Unit
57. Which is used for manufacturing chips?
A) Bus
B) Control unit
C) Semiconductors (Answer)
D) A and b only
58. The value of each bead in heaven is
A) 1
B) 3
C) 5 (Answer)
D) 7
59. The first computer introduced in Nepal was
A) IBM 1400
B) IBM 1401 (Answer)
C) IBM 1402
D) IBM1402
60. Mnemonic a memory trick is used in which of the following language?
A) Machine language
B) Assembly language (Answer)
C) High level language
D) None of above
61. Instruction in computer languages consists of
A) OPCODE
B) OPERAND
C) Both of above (Answer)
D) None of above
62. Which generation of computer is still under development
A) Fourth Generation
B) Fifth Generation (Answer)
C) Sixth Generation
D) Seventh Generation
63. A register organized to allow to move left or right operations is called a ----
A) Counter
B) Loader
C) Adder
D) Shift register (Answer)
64. Which was the most popular first generation computer?
A) IBM 1650 (Answer)
B) IBM 360
C) IBM 1130
D) IBM 2700
65. Which is considered a direct entry input device?
A) Optical scanner
B) Mouse and digitizer
C) Light pen
D) All of the above (Answer)
66. A set of information that defines the status of resources allocated to a process is
A) Process control
B) ALU
C) Register Unit
D) Process description (Answer)
67. Each set of Napier’s bones consisted of ------ rods.
A) 5
B) 9
C) 11 (Answer)
D) 13
68. BCD is
A) Binary Coded Decimal (Answer)
B) Bit Coded Decimal
C) Binary Coded Digit
D) Bit Coded Digit
69. When was the world’s first laptop computer introduced in the market and by whom?
A) Hewlett-Packard, 1980
B) Epson, 1981 (Answer)
C) Laplink Traveling Software Inc, 1982
D) Tandy Model-200, 1985
70. From which generation operating systems were developed?
A) First
B) Second
C) Third (Answer)
D) Fourth
71. The first firm to mass-market a microcomputer as a personal computer was
A) IBM
B) Super UNIVAC
C) Radio Shaks (Answer)
D) Data General Corporation
72. How many address lines are needed to address each machine location in a 2048 x 4 memory chip?
A) 10
B) 11 (Answer)
C) 8
D) 12
73. Properly arranged data is called
A) Field
B) Words
C) Information (Answer)
D) File
74. A computer consists of
A) A central processing unit
B) A memory
C) Input and output unit
D) All of the above (Answer)
75. Why are vacuum tubes also called valves?
A) Because they can amplify the weak signals and make them strong
B) Because they can stop or allow the flow of current (Answer)
C) Both of above
D) None of above
76. John Napier invented Logarithm in
A) 1614 (Answer)
B) 1617
C) 1620
D) None of above
77. An integrated circuit is
A) A complicated circuit
B) An integrating device
C) Much costlier than a single transistor
D) Fabricated on a tiny silicon chip (Answer)
78. What type of control pins are needed in a microprocessor to regulate traffic on the bus, in order to prevent two
devices from trying to use it at the same time?
A) Bus control
B) Interrupts
C) Bus arbitration (Answer)
D) Status
79. Where as a computer mouse moves over the table surface, the trackball is
A) Stationary (Answer)
B) Difficult to move
C) Dragged
D) Moved in small steps
80. Which of the following is used as a primary storage device?
A) Magnetic drum (Answer)
B) Hard Disks
C) Floppy
D) All of above
81. Multi user systems provided cost savings for small business because they use a single processing unit to link several
A) Personal computers
B) Workstations
C) Dumb terminals (Answer)
D) Mainframes
82. What are the three decisions making operations performed by the ALU of a computer?
A) Grater than
B) Less than
C) Equal to
D) All of the above (Answer)
83. The word processing task associated with changing the appearance of a document is
A) Editing
B) Writing
C) Formatting (Answer)
D) All of above
84. Nepal brought a computer for census of 2028 BS. This computer was of
A) first generation
B) second generation (Answer)
C) third generation
D) fourth generation
85. Algorithm and Flow chart help us to
A) Know the memory capacity
B) Identify the base of a number system
C) Direct the output to a printer
D) Specify the problem completely and clearly (Answer)
86. Which statement is valid about computer program?
A) It is understood by a computer
B) It is understood by programmer
C) It is understood user
D) Both a & b (Answer)
87. The difference between memory and storage is that memory is ----- and storage is --
A) Temporary, permanent (Answer)
B) Permanent, temporary
C) Slow, fast
D) All of above
88. When was Pascaline invented?
A) 1617
B) 1620
C) 1642 (Answer)
D) 1837
89. Which of the following statement is valid?
A) Lady Augusta is the first programmer
B) Ada is the daughter of Lord Byron, a famous English poet
C) ADA is a programming language developed by US Defense
D) All of above (Answer)
90. A compiler is a translating program which
A) Translates instruction of a high level language into machine language
B) Translates entire source program into machine language program
C) It is not involved in program’s execution
D) All of above (Answer)
91. What is required when more than one person uses a central computer at the same time?
A) Light pen
B) Mouse
C) Digitizer
D) Terminal
92. Which of the following is the first computer to use Stored Program Concept?
A) UNIVAC
B) ENIAC
C) EDSAC
D) None of above (Answer)
93. The term gigabyte refers to
A) 1024 bytes
B) 1024 kilobytes
C) 1024 megabytes (Answer)
D) 1024 gigabyte
94. in which year was UK’s premier computing event called ?The which computer? started?
A) 1980
B) 1985
C) 1986 (Answer)
D) 1987
95. Once you load the suitable program and provide required data, computer does not need human intervention. This
feature is known as
A) Accuracy (Answer)
B) Reliability
C) Versatility
D) Automatic
96. What is a brand?
A) The name of companies that made computers
B) The name of product a company gives to identify its product in market (Answer)
C) A name of class to indicate all similar products from different companies
D) All of above
97. Machine language is
A) Machine dependent
B) Difficult to program
C) Error prone
D) All of above (Answer)
98. A byte consists of
A) One bit
B) Four bits
C) Eight bits (Answer)
D) Sixteen bits
99. Modern Computers are very reliable but they are not
A) Fast
B) Powerful
C) Infallible (Answer)
D) Cheap
100. What is the date when Babbage conceived Analytical engine
A) 1642
B) 1837 (Answer)
C) 1880
D) 1850
101 to 200 MCQs
Computer Fundamentals MCQ - Here are another hundred multiple choice questions from Computer Fundamentals
chapter. You can find other MCQs for Computer Fundamentals by visiting links at the bottom of this post.
The Computer Fundamentals chapter includes topics such as history, generation, classification, systems, peripherals,
media, CAL, CAI, SDLC, computer networking, computer security and so on.
Computer Fundamentals MCQ:
101. What was the expected feature of fifth generation computers when Japan started FGCS?
A) Operating Systems
B) Paralled Processing (Answer)
C) ULSI
D) None of above
102. Which of the following memory medium is not used as main memory system?
A) Magnetic core
B) Semiconductor
C) Magnetic tape (Answer)
D) Both semiconductor and magnetic tape
103. The storage subsystem in a microcomputer consists mainly of -- or -- media with varying capacities
A) Memory or video
B) Magnetic or optical (Answer)
C) Optical or memory
D) Video or magnetic
104. Programs designed to perform specific tasks is known as
A) system software
B) application software (Answer)
C) utility programs
D) operating system
105. Computer operators
A) writes computer programs for specific problems
B) operate the device which input and output data from the computer (Answer)
C) normally require a college degree in computer science
D) all of the above
106. Which of the following is not anti-viruses software?
A) NAV
B) F-Prot
C) Oracle (Answer)
D) McAfee
107. What is a compiler?
A) A compiler does a conversion line by line as the program is run
B) A compiler converts the whole of a higher level program code into machine code in one step (Answer)
C) A compiler is a general purpose language providing very efficient execution
D) None of the above
108. ------- computers are also called personal computers
A) Mainframe Computer
B) Mini Computers
C) Micro Computers (Answer)
D) Super Computers
109. Which of the following is not input unit device?
A) scanner
B) camera
C) plotter (Answer)
D) digitizer
110. Identify the correct statement
A) IBM PCs used RISC CPU designs
B) Macintosh used CISC CPU design
C) IBM used CISC CPU design (Answer)
D) None of above is true
111. Which of the following statement is false?
A) Mechanical analog computers have existed for thousands of years
B) There are mechanical analog computers and electronic analog computers.
C) All electronic computers are digital computers (Answer)
D) All of above are false
112. Which of the following require large computers memory?
A) Imaging
B) Graphics
C) Voice
D) All of Above (Answer)
113. Which of the following is machine independence program?
A) High level language (Answer)
B) Low level language
C) Assembly language
D) Machine language
114. When was the first electro-mechanical computer developed?
A) 1880
B) 1990
C) 1944 (Answer)
D) None of above
115. The first machine to successfully perform a long series of arithmetic and logical operations was:
A) ENIAC
B) Mark-I (Answer)
C) Analytic Engine
D) UNIVAC-1
116. Which one is the largest space?
A) kilobyte
B) petabyte (Answer)
C) terrabyte
D) gigabyte
117. FORTRAN programming language is more suitable for ----
A) Business Applications
B) Marketing Applications
C) Scientific Applications (Answer)
D) None of the above
118. The brain of any computer system is
A) Control Unit
B) Arithmetic Logic Unit
C) Central Processing Unit (Answer)
D) Storage Unit
119. Analog computer works on the supply of
A) Continuous electrical pulses (Answer)
B) Electrical pulses but not continuous
C) Magnetic strength
D) None of the above
120. An error in software or hardware is called a bug. What is the alternative computer jargon for it?
A) Leech
B) Squid
C) Slug
D) Glitch (Answer)
121. The advantage of COM are its -- and --
A) Compact size; speed readability (Answer)
B) Compact size, speed
C) Readability; speed
D) Low cost; readability
122. The BIOS is the abbreviation of --------.
A) Basic Input Output System (Answer)
B) Best Input Output System
C) Basic Input Output Symbol
D) Base Input Output System
123. Which printer is very commonly used for desktop publishing?
A) Laser printer (Answer)
B) Inkjet printer
C) Daisywheel printer
D) Dot matrix printer
124. IBM 1401 is
A) First Generation Computer
B) Second Generation Computer (Answer)
C) Third Generation Computer
D) Fourth Generation Computer
125. Most of the first generation computers were
A) Special purpose computers (Answer)
B) General purpose computers
C) Both of above
D) None of above
126. Floppy disks typically in diameter
A) 3
B) 5.25
C) 8
D) All of above (Answer)
127. The output quality of a printer is measured by
A) Dot per inch
B) Dot per sq. inch (Answer)
C) Dots printed per unit time
D) All of above
128. On a PC, how much memory is available to application software?
A) 1024 KB
B) 760 KB
C) 640 KB (Answer)
D) 560 KB
129. In a computer ----- is capable to store single binary bit.
A) Capacitor
B) Flip flop (Answer)
C) Register
D) Inductor
130. What does DMA stand for?
A) Distinct Memory Access
B) Direct Memory Access (Answer)
C) Direct Module Access
D) Direct Memory Allocation
131. Who invented Integrated Circuits?
A) Jack Kilby
B) Robert Noyce
C) Both of above (Answer)
D) None of above
132. Operating system, editors, and debuggers comes under?
A) System Software (Answer)
B) Application Software
C) Utilities
D) None of the above
133. One computer that is not considered a portable is
A) Minicomputer (Answer)
B) Laptop computer
C) Notebook computer
D) All of above
134. Which of the following is not an electronic computer?
A) ENIAC
B) ABC (Answer)
C) UNIVAC
D) EDVAC
135. What is the name of the display feature that highlights are of the screen which requires operator attention?
A) Pixel
B) Reverse video (Answer)
C) Touch screen
D) Cursor
136. Which is the largest computer?
A) Mainframe Computer (Answer)
B) Mini Computers
C) Micro Computers
D) Super Computers
137. Which of the following are the best units of data on an external storage device?
A) Bits
B) Bytes (Answer)
C) Hertz
D) Clock cycles
138. The personal computer industry was started by
A) IBM (Answer)
B) Apple
C) Compaq
D) HCL
139. What is meant by a dedicated computer?
A) Which is used by one person only
B) Which is assigned one and only one task (Answer)
C) Which uses one kind of software
D) Which is meant for application software
140. Which programming languages are classified as low level languages?
A) Basic, COBOL, FORTRAN
B) Prolog 2, Expert Systems
C) Knowledge based Systems
D) Assembly Languages (Answer)
141. What was the main disadvantage of vacuum tubes?
A) They were larger in size
B) They consumed a lot of electricity
C) They produced heat and often burned out (Answer)
D) The operation cost was high
142. Registers, which are partially visible to users and used to hold conditional, are known as
A) PC
B) Memory address registers
C) General purpose register
D) Flags (Answer)
143. Which is not a comptuer of first generation?
A) ENIAC
B) UNIVAC
C) IBM 360
