Computer Terms

Commonly used computer terms

Computer terms
Operating System (OS)	An Operating System (OS) is a software program that enables the computer hardware to communicate and operate with the computer software. Your computer would be useless if it didn't have an operating system. Different OS's: Windows '98 (is almost obsolete, but some people still like them) Windows ME Windows 2000 Windows XP Home Windows XP professional Windows XP Media Editon
Bios	Basic Input/Output System The BIOS controls how your hardware and your operating system communicate. Maybe you noticed that your BIOS screen has different commands like "Hit DEL to run Setup". WARNING! If you don't know much about computers DON'T make any changes to your BIOS settings. Leave that to the technicians. Believe me - I DO!
Processor / CPU	Central Processing Unit The processor is the brain of the computer. Unlike the human brain, it doesn't "think, feel and reason" like we do, but it processes data.
Hard drive (HD)	Your storage device. The bigger your HD is the more room you have for storing data. The size normally vary from a few GIG to hundreds of GIG. Look at the HD as a huge box or a basement you can store data in. In order to find specific files again, it's neccesary to divide your box/basement into sections - your drives, folders and sub folders. You can find more details on how you organize your files and folder by clicking the navigation tab "Organizing Files"
Motherboard	The motherboad is the main circuit of your computer. This is where all your hardware - your CPU, your hard drive(s), RAM and all other hardware, is plugged into. The motherboard allows all your hardware to function together.
RAM	Ramdom Access Memory
Hardware	All the visible and touchable parts of your computer - monitor, keyboard, cards, printer, scanner, cables etc, drives etc.
Software	Programs (applications) that you can Install on your computer Describtion from the Dictionary: The programs, routines, and symbolic languages that control the functioning of the hardware and direct its operation. Youcan divide the software into two catagories: Software related to your operating system and utility software.
Modem	A device that connects the computer to a phone line. A modem allows a computer to talk to other computers through the phone system. You coukd say that modems do for computers what a telephone does for humans.
ISDN	Or Integrated Services Digital Network
(A)DSL	Or Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
NIC	Network Interface card - also called a Network Adapter is the piece of hardware you need to be able to connect to a network or another computer
Network	A network is a number of computers linked together. A network allows these computer to share data and hardware such as printers, internet connections and programs
Graphics card / Video card	The plug-in card in a computer that creates the electronic signals required by the monitor. It determines the maximum resolution, refresh rate and number of colors that can be displayed, which the monitor must also be able to support.
Sound Card	Also called a "sound board" or "audio adapter," it is a plug-in card that records and plays back sound. Supporting both digital audio and MIDI, sound cards provide an input port for a microphone or other sound source and output ports to speakers and amplifiers. Sound circuits are typically built into the chipset on the motherboard, but can be disabled if a separate sound card is installed.
Driver	A driver is the software needed to run a hardware device, such as a printer, sound card, monitor, or scanner. New computers usually come with all the drivers already installed. But if you buy a new printer later or upgrade you video card, you will have to install the driver for it from the manufacturer.
Bytes – kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes	The primary specifications of hardware are rated in bytes; for example, an 80-gigabyte (80GB) disk holds 80 billion characters of software and data. A 256-megabyte (256MB) memory allows 256 million characters of instructions and data to be held internally for processing.
USB	(Universal Serial Bus) A widely used hardware interface for attaching devices to the computer. USB ports began to appear on PCs in 1997, and Windows 98 was the first Windows to support it natively. Within a few years, USB became popular for connecting almost every external peripheral device. Replacing the serial and parallel ports on a PC. Usually todays computer comes with at least four USB ports.
Port	A pathway into and out of the computer or a network device such as a hub, switch or router. There are numerous ports on the back of every desktop computer for hooking up the keyboard, mouse, modem, printer and network. Laptops have many ports as well, because external monitors, keyboards and mice are generally supported. On network devices, the ports are for communications, typically connecting Ethernet cables or telephone lines.
Smart drives / Flash drives	Small handy storage devices used for transferring files from one computer to another. The sizes (or storage capability) varies from 64 MB to a GIG. You attach them to your computer through a USB port.

Computer help - commonly used Windows Terms

Windows Terms
Desktop	The screen background of a graphical user interface (GUI).The covering of a computer desktop is called "wallpaper," which makes no sense at all until you realize that the screen is vertical like a wall, rather than horizontal like a real desktop.
Wallpaper	A pattern or picture used to represent the desktop surface. Learn how to customize your desktop Look & Feel here
Screen saver	A utility that prevents a screen from being damaged by an unchanging image. After a specified period of time without keyboard or mouse input, it blanks the screen or displays moving objects. It would actually take many hours to burn in an image on today's color monitors, but a lot of people find screen savers nice to look at and it "covers" up your work, if you have to leave the computer for a while. Pressing a key or moving the mouse restores the screen. Learn how to customize your desktop Look & Feel here
Download	To transfer a file TO your computer FROM somewhere else, such as the Internet
Upload	To transfer a file FROM your computer TO another computer
Virus	Software used to infect a computer. After the virus code is written, it is buried within an existing program. Once that program is executed, the virus code is activated and attaches copies of itself to other programs in the system. Infected programs copy the virus to other programs. The effect of the virus may be a simple prank that pops up a message on screen out of the blue, or it may destroy programs and data right away or on a certain date. It can lay dormant and do its damage once a year. For example, the Michelangelo virus contaminates the machine on Michelangelo's birthday. Learn how to protect yourself from Virus here
Adware	(ADvertisementWARE) Software that periodically pops up advertisements on a user's computer. It displays ads targeted to the individual user based on key words entered in search engines and the types of Web sites the user visits. The marketing data is collected periodically and sent in the background to the adware Web server. Adware is known as "contextual marketing."
Spyware	Software "secretly" being installed on some ones computer to monitor the use of the computer in some way without the users knowledge. Most spyware tries to get the user to view advertising and/or particular web pages. Some spyware also sends information about the user to another computer over the Internet. Spyware is often downloaded along with a software or file download, such as music files or images
E mail	E(lectronical) mail is a transmission of a text message and optional file attachments over a network. To manage e-mails you willl need an e-mail program such as Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express or a similar program.
Web Browser	The program that serves as your front end to the Web on the Internet. In order to view a site, you type its address (URL) into the browser's Location field; for example, www.basic-computerskills.com, and the home page of that site is downloaded to you. The home page is an index to other pages on that site that you can jump to by clicking an underlined hyperlink or an icon. Links on that site may take you to other related sites.
hyperlink	A predefined linkage between one object and another. On Web pages, a hyperlink can be either text (hypertext) or a graphic element (hypergraphic).
icon	In a graphical user interface (GUI), a small, pictorial, on-screen representation of an object, such as a document, program, folder or disk drive.
Bookmarks	Browsers have a Bookmark or Favorites feature that lets you store references to your favorite sites. Instead of having to type in the URL to visit the site again, you select the bookmark.
Cookie	Basically, you can say that a cookie is a small piece of information sent to your browser program from a web server. The cookie allows your browser to recognize a website, but it might also contain certain other information, such as login or registration information, online "shopping cart" information, user preferences

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