Computer Knowledge For You Posts: May, 2010

Know the Different Computers

Computers apart from a physical entity have also been synchronized into the daily lives of people in several forms. Categorically a computer system can be divided into 3 main forms that are being used widely. They are the desktop, laptop and palmtop. However, part from these three categories of computer system, it has also been divide into different types depending on their use and are hence are divided basically in an uncategorized way. There has been automation in almost every sphere of human life where these uncategorized computers play a very important role. The un-categorized computers are:-

Personal Computers – Also widely known as PC these are the computers that are basically for the household and are mostly used by the people who like to work from home or is the type of computer that is completely used from the home. The configuration of a personal computer basically depends on the requirement of the user and the type of work they need to extract from the computer system.

Workstation Computers – these types of computer systems are widely used by the engineers and several technicians. The main difference between the PC and the workstation computers are the computation speed of the CPU which is enhanced by much advanced configuration as compared to the PC. The processors of these computers are designed to meet the graphics demand and designing purpose as desired by the user. These computers can handle voluminous data efficiently that is required as per the requirement.

Supercomputers – These computers are mainly used for computational purposes and are quite advanced in use as well as in the configuration as compared to the personal computers and the workstation computers. The configuration is mainly advanced in terms of its RAM and memory storage as well as the frequency of operation and the use is for tedious mathematical calculations etc.

Mainframe Computers – this category of computers is of standard configuration but is used on much wider scale by educational institutions and such large domains for as a server computer that serves the requests to around 500-600 computers.

Apart from these categories of computers based on the use, computer systems are also divided on the basis of their electronic nature. They are:-

Analog Computers – As quite obvious from the name, these computers are based on analog techniques and uses analog signals. They proceed after measuring the changes that are physical in nature such as pressure; temperature etc. and accordingly the pre decided arithmetic and logical operations are performed.

Digital Computers – They are the computers that have very high programming speed. This is because they operate on two digital states i.e. high and low which gives them an edge as compared to the analog computers.

Hybrid Computers – A mixture of both analog and digital computers yields the hybrid computers. They have operations of which some resemble to the operations of digital computer techniques and some of the analog computer techniques. In short, it is a combination of the main points of the analog and digital computers.

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Computer Basics that you must know nowadays

One can’t undermine the importance of computer in a person’s life in today’s world. No matter in which field you are working or what you are studying, if you are not using computer then it can be said that you are unnecessarily missing out on a big advantage. There are people who have this phobia for computers and they think that it is too complicated to handle. Operating a computer hardly requires any special skill that you need to possess. All that you need to do is get to know certain computer basics which will provide you with a general idea about the functioning of a computer and then nothing will seem difficult.

If you don’t have any idea about how a computer works then the first thing that you should do is to get acquainted with all the devices of a computer. Have a clear idea about the various input and output devices of a computer and know which device is used for what purpose. It may sound strange but it is true that initially people often find it difficult to put the mouse pointer at a desired place on the screen. Certain things like knowing the difference between a hardware and software or what are the various operating systems that are available and used mostly can increase your computer knowledge remarkably.

An operating system can be called as the main driver of your computer which makes it possible for you to perform various computer activities by linking different hardware to different applications. The most widely used Operating Systems are the ones made by Windows like Windows XP, Windows Vista etc. There are other Operating Systems like MAC or Linux which are mainly used for specialized purposes.

As most people use the Windows Operating Systems so if you want to know the computer basics then it is sensible for you to start with MS Office. MS Office is a program consisting mainly of MS Word, MS Excel and MS PowerPoint which makes writing, calculating and making presentations convenient for us. MS Word is used all across the globe by everyone for writing purposes. It is an application which makes you write error free English in whatever size or font you prefer. It has a built in thesaurus which can provide you with a god stock of words and it also detect any spelling mistake or grammatical error in your writing. MS Excel is mainly used by people for data entry. It is a spreadsheet where you can put quantitative details in an organized manner. By using this application, you can do long and tiresome calculations within no time. MS PowerPoint is an application used by people in order to make presentations.

Among computer basics, another thing which should be known to you is how to use the internet. Visiting a website, sending mails, chatting etc. are some of the things which you should be aware of. There are various Internet Browsers using which you can access the internet. Knowing how to use an internet browser is extremely important nowadays. Computer is also a device which you can use effectively for entertainment purposes like listening music or watching movies. So, when you are learning the computer basics, knowing how to operate a media player in a computer might also become handy.

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Computer Components that make your Computer work

Computers have become an indispensable part of our lives. From a 5 year old kid to the CEO of some big multinational company, none can think of spending a day without using computers. Be it for entertainment purposes, communication purposes or for office purposes, this is a device which invariably comes first in the minds of people. There are certain things which are responsible for the way your computer works. A single fault in one of the various computer components of your computer can result in sluggish or no performance at all. It is thus important for everyone using computers to be aware of the computer components which make a computer cater to all your requirements.

The motherboard of your computer is the most important component. It is in the motherboard that other important components like the microprocessor, memory and drive controllers reside. The performance of your computer largely depends on the microprocessor you are using. A processor is the component which receives all the instructions entered by you in the computer and then it makes the computer work accordingly. The most commonly used processors are the Pentium processors like Celeron and Xeon. Memory is the component that retains and stores data in your computer. Also referred to as RAM (Random Access Memory), the memory of a computer is directly attached on the motherboard of the computer and it excels the computer’s performance. Besides these, other devices supporting sound or graphics are also installed on the motherboard of a computer

Of the other computer components, the first thing that needs to be mentioned is the Hard Disk of your computer. A Hard Disk is the device that stores data permanently on your computer. Hard Disks generally come in sizes of 10 GB, 40 GB, 160 GB, etc. People nowadays have stopped using 10 GB disks as they have become passé. With so many information now needed to be stored in a computer, 160 GB has become a minimum. Even when it comes to memory, no one can think of a memory below 256 MB.

CD- ROMs have made way for DVD- ROMs as DVDs can contain far more data compared to CDs. A DVD- ROM is a device which makes DVDs run on your computer. If you want you can also buy a DVD Writer which will enable you to make DVDs of your own. Along with CD- ROMs people used to count on Floppy Drives when they needed to store small sized files in a floppy. Still it is also very much one among the various computer components but its use has decreased to a significant level since the advent of Pen Drives. The USB Drive of a computer has become more important as by plugging a Pen Drive into it one can store or transfer huge amount of data.

Lastly, certain computer components like Monitor, Mouse and Keyboard must be mentioned because without these, one can’t think about working with a computer. Routers and networking cards can also be an essential piece of computer hardware because they help you hook up your wireless internet broadband connection.  Other devices like speakers, printers and scanners have also contributed in making computer the most useful machine of the century.

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