Choosing a Computer Lab Upgrade for Online Practice Tests
A government senior secondary school in Rajasthan has 24 desktop computers for a batch of 120 students preparing for the CET. Ten computers run Windows 7, and fourteen run Windows 10. The school must run online mock tests for four hours daily on a shared 20 Mbps internet connection. Six machines have expired antivirus licences. The school has ₹1,20,000 for the next academic year. A vendor offers three options: (i) upgrade the ten Windows 7 machines to Windows 10 at ₹3,500 each; (ii) replace those ten with refurbished Windows 11 machines at ₹9,000 each; (iii) use a cloud thin-client service at ₹1,500 per seat per year for all 24 seats. The staff can handle basic troubleshooting but has no server administrator. The school also needs a reliable backup plan for student data and question papers.
1. Evaluate the three options against cost, security, and daily usability for 120 students. Recommend one option or a mix.
Read the worked answer
Option (i) costs 10 × ₹3,500 = ₹35,000, leaving ₹85,000, but it keeps ten ageing machines and does not fix the six expired antivirus licences by itself. Option (ii) costs 10 × ₹9,000 = ₹90,000, leaving ₹30,000 for antivirus, backup, and minor repairs; it gives modern Windows 11 devices but leaves fourteen Windows 10 machines. Option (iii) costs 24 × ₹1,500 = ₹36,000 per year, but it is recurring, and 24 thin clients sharing 20 Mbps for four hours daily may struggle with simultaneous online tests, especially if content is not cached locally. A practical mix is option (ii) plus ₹10,000–₹15,000 for antivirus renewal and an external backup drive, keeping the fourteen Windows 10 machines for lighter use. That stays within ₹1,20,000, improves the weakest ten machines, and leaves a support margin. Option (i) is cheaper but does not address hardware age; option (iii) is cheap initially but adds dependency and recurring cost.
2. Six machines have expired antivirus. What immediate risk does this create during online mock tests, and what low-cost step should be taken first?
Read the worked answer
Expired antivirus on six networked machines creates a malware and keylogging risk exactly when students enter names, roll numbers, and answers. An infected machine could steal credentials, corrupt question papers, or spread through shared USB drives. The first low-cost step is not a full paid suite: update the operating system, enable built-in Windows Defender or install a reputable free antivirus, run a full scan on the six machines, and isolate any machine that cannot be cleaned. Also disable unnecessary USB ports or scan all drives, and keep the six machines off the shared network until scanned. Renewing licences for all 24 seats can follow if the budget allows, but the immediate priority is to stop an infected machine from joining the test session.
3. Propose a backup plan for question papers and student data using the remaining budget.
Read the worked answer
Use a 3-2-1 approach: three copies, two media, one off-site. With about ₹30,000 left after option (ii), buy one 2 TB external hard disk (roughly ₹6,000–₹8,000) for a weekly full backup, and subscribe to a cloud storage plan (roughly ₹5,000–₹8,000 per year) for encrypted copies of question papers and student lists. Keep the original files on a staff-only computer with password protection; do not store them on student-facing desktops. Test a restore once a month, because an untested backup is not a backup. If cloud upload is slow on 20 Mbps, schedule it after test hours. The remaining funds should go to antivirus renewal and a surge protector, not to extra hardware that lacks a maintenance plan.