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Some of these entries really date me! Over 25 years in the industry and I
can't even keep up. I'll be working diligently to update this page to include
the latest.
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| A number of
items make up your computer the most important is the “Box” or
“CPU.” It houses the major components; the drives (Floppy, Hard
& CD ROM,) the power supply, and the motherboard
 The Floppy Drive is removable storage for your files. It is a small
square disk that looks something like a coaster and can hold
approximately 1.44 MB’s of information (see Bytes below.)
Many new computers DO NOT come standard with floppy drives. They
have been replaced with CD's and removable USB storage devices that can
fit on your keyring. One of my personal favorites is
the Swiss Army knife design.
 Available
in 1 GB, 512MB, 256MB capacity it includes: Red LED light, ballpoint
pen, knife, scissors, file with screwdriver, and a keyring available at
www.ThinkGeek.com
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The Hard Drive is permanent storage that is located inside your
“box.” This is where
 you store your programs or software, your documents, photos, etc. Hard
Drives can hold anywhere from several hundred MB’s to multiple GB’s
(see Bytes below.) We will cover this more under File Management later
in this reference guide. |
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The CDROM is used to run and/or install programs to your hard drive. A
CD-RW is a CD that will record as well giving you the ability to copy
CD’s, and backup documents. A DVD CD lets you watch movies and
becoming increasingly popular are DVD-R’s for recording your own
movies. A CD can hold approximately 800 MB’s of information. |
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The
motherboard is where the “Cards” plug in. Cards are circuit boards
that add functionality to your computer. Some examples are internal
modems, sound cards, video cards and network cards. The
motherboard is home to the computer processor which interprets and
executes instructions. You will see the speed gauged in Megahertz (MHz,)
a frequency measure equivalent to 1 million cycles per second or
Gigahertz (GHz) which is equal to 1 billion cycles per second |
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The motherboard is also where the RAM (random access memory) or “memory
chips” are. RAM memory is active only when your computer is turned on.
It relates to short term storage and helps your software run faster by
making frequently used items readily accessible. |
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You will often see
computer components (hard drives, memory, CD’s) sold in increments
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A byte
is a character of information
A kilobyte (KB)
is 1,024 bytes of information, roughly the size of a business letter
A megabyte (MB)
is a million bytes of information, an average length novel
A gigabyte (GB)
is 1,024 megabytes of information, several dozen encyclopedias
A terabyte (TB)
is roughly one trillion bytes (look for this one soon!)
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Much like
your television, the monitor plugs into a card that is on your
motherboard. Monitors can operate at different resolutions and different
color ranges. You will find, especially with games, certain programs run
better with certain monitor settings. You may even have to change these
settings to run certain programs. Right click on your desktop and select
properties and then the settings tab. Some monitors allow you to change
settings by clicking on the icon in your startup programs along the
right bottom of your Windows screen. |
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| Monitors come
in a number of different sizes and styles. They are becoming larger in
screen size while smaller overall. Screen sizes are measured diagonally
and usually run from 15" to 21".
Flat screens are becoming the
standard by taking less desktop space while being better for your
overall eye health. |
Monitor settings
are measured by pixels per inch. Some common settings are…
Screen Areas
Colors
640 X 480
16 colors
720 X 480
256 colors
800 x 600
High Color (16 bit)
1024 x 768
True Color (24 bit)
1280 x 1024
True Color (32 bit)
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Input devices
like the keyboard and mouse come in a variety of flavors. Size, color,
and contour are some of the visual differences. No one is better than
another, it’s all in what you are used to. A Mouse can be two or three
button, have a scroll button or not, it can even be a simple touch pad. |
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The keyboard and
mouse will have a variety of connect types depending on your computer
box.
PS/2 a 6-pin round connection
USB a flat rectangular connection
Wireless
the transmitter will plug into one of the above connections while
the keyboard and mouse have batteries, much like a remote control |
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USB (Universal
Serial Bus) is a recent addition to the personal computers features
list. It enables multiple devices to be used and plugged in and out
without the need to restart the computer. Not only do mice and keyboards
use USB connections - cameras, scanners and printers can also be
connected this way. |
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Printer features are basically
measured by dots per inch printed, number of colors printed and the
speed of printing. They are broken down on the basis of the ink they
use. Ink jet printers are quite popular due to their low cost. They work
by spraying ink on the page. If you do a lot of printing you can soon go
broke purchasing ink jet refills. |
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| A Multi-function Unit is a
printer that can function as a scanner and fax as well |
Laser printers
offer more cost effective printing and higher speed. They transfer an
image on the paper by way of electrostatic charge via a toner cartridge.
They cost more up front, but can soon pay for themselves with lower
printing costs per page. Color laser printers are now making their way
to the market dropping in price along the way. Also emerging is dry ink
technology making full color printing price competitive with black and
white. |
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Scanners let you, with the
correct software, recreate printed documents on your computer for copying,
editing, faxing, emailing, or storage
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| Digital Cameras are sold on
the basis of resolution much like your monitor. They enable you to take pictures
and copy (download) them to your computer. Once they are on your computer you
can send them for traditional processing, email them, create a background for
your computer desktop, print them, add them to a card, tee-shirt, or anything
else you can imagine.
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 They are available in traditional still cameras and video cameras. Most
Digital Video Cameras include a still mode. In addition to transferring the
images to your computer, many give you the option of saving to a variety of
storage cards or memory “sticks.” Some printers even give you the capability
of inserting these memory “sticks” or cards into them for immediate
printing. They will even print a negative sheet giving check to select pictures
for downloading or sending off to traditional processing
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| Your computer can become a
true multi-media entertainment center. Speakers can range from simple to
unbelievable. The ability of your speakers and microphone will be determined by
the quality of the sound card inside your computer.
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Increasingly popular are
voice recognition systems. By speaking into a microphone your computer software
(with a little training from you) can automatically translate your words to the
computer. This technology has made great advancements over the past few years
and will continue to do so.
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The Operating System is the
lifeline of your computer. It is the complex software code that controls every
aspect of storing and retrieving information on your computer, launches and
tells your software programs how to run, assigns memory, allocates disk space,
schedules jobs and makes sure everything runs correctly
Every personal computer has
an operating system, and all operating systems have bugs. Bugs are programming
code with an error in logic or coding that causes the software to malfunction or
produce incorrect results. These “bugs” are usually corrected with updates
to your operating system downloaded from the internet free of charge. We will
cover this more in troubleshooting.
In the beginning there was
DOS (Disk Operating System.) It appeared as text and was difficult for
non-computer types to navigate. You could only operate one software program at a
time. It would take several lines of typing to accomplish simple tasks.
Apple Macintosh was the
first to put pictures on the screen. They also gave us the point and click
mouse.
Microsoft Windows adapted
those developments to IBM Personal computers and their clones. Microsoft courted
PC makers who licensed Windows and installed it on millions of personal
computers. Major releases of Windows have included Windows 3.1, Windows NT,
Windows 95, Windows CE (Compact Edition,) Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows ME,
and most recently Windows XP.
Other popular operating
systems include UNIX and OS/2, which are used more in corporate computing with
mainframe computers, robotics and manufacturing. There are a number of little
known operating systems among the rogue programmers. One, Linux, has made its
way to the mainstream. Linux was created and distributed on the principles of
open source. Open source allows distribution of source materials to be studied,
altered and built upon, and re-distributed for FREE.
Most popular operating systems are created by corporations who limit
access to programming code and charge licensing fees.
Refers
to the ability to run multiple software programs at the same time. For example, you can do word processing in the
foreground (on the screen) while sorting a data base file, like a customer
mailing list, in the background (off the screen). You can swap between the open
programs by clicking on them at the bottom of your screen or by holding down
your “Alt” key and hit the Tab key to toggle through them.
A
small graphic image that represents a function, an object, or a pointer tool.
Clicking on an icon will produce an action.
A graphic representation of an
option or a command that activates the option or executes the command when
selected. When a button is
unavailable or cannot be used, it will appear dim.
If subsequent actions make the button available, it will take on a normal
appearance. A button followed by an
ellipsis (...) opens another dialog box or window.
Point- Move the mouse until
the mouse pointer rests on the item.
Click - Press and release the left mouse button.
Point
& Click - Point arrow and hit left mouse button once.
Double
Click - click the left mouse button twice really fast (aka: double click).
Drag
– click an item and hold down the left mouse button while moving
the mouse.
Refers to the screen you
see when Windows first starts up and where shortcuts to your software programs
are placed. Think of it as your “Personal” workspace.
Refers to Icons (or small
pictures) that will launch a program when you double click them.
The taskbar runs along the
bottom of your screen. To the left is the Start Menu where you will find options
for running programs, settings, recently accessed files, programs, etc.
Directly next to the start menu are shortcuts for frequently used
programs. On the right hand of the screen icons appear for a variety of programs
that load when you start Windows including like sound levels
printer drivers and anti-virus software. You can set a variety of options
by right clicking your mouse anywhere in a blank area of the taskbar.
Located
in the upper right hand corner of the screen are three buttons, they are used to
reduce, enlarge and close the window. The “-” sign will reduce the window to
the bottom bar. You can open it again by double clicking on it. The “single
box” makes the screen large. The “double box” makes it smaller. The
“X” closes the program. You can also size a window by moving your mouse to
the edge on the window until it turns to double arrows or crossbars then hold
down your mouse key and drag.
My Computer is where you
will find most the information and control items for your computer. You can use
My Computer to view and access files and folders on your drives, set-up and
control your printers through the printers folder and find tools and
configuration settings in Control Panel.
Tip: Double Click your
“My Computer” icon, then click once on C:\. Right click your mouse button
and select “Properties” to see a graphical representation of used and free
space on your Hard Drive.
Control panel contains a
group of tools you can use to change a variety of hardware and software
settings. Here you will usually find Add/Remove Programs, Add Hardware, Monitor
Settings, Network Configurations, Desktop Themes, System (Information &
Device Manager)
Sometimes found in Control
Panel and sometimes in My Computer the printers folder is where you add and
control printers for your computer.
Tip: If you start a long
print job and want to stop it, or if your printer stops printing, this is a good
place to look for problems. Just double click on your printer icon to see print
jobs that are currently waiting to be printed and the status of the printer. You
can click on the document and hit your delete key or select options from the
Menu Bar. Many newer printers offer these functions as a task bar item loading
when you start Windows and accessed through an icon in the bottom right of your
Windows screen
You can delete a file by
clicking on it once (either in Windows Explorer or through My Computer or some
Browse Windows) to highlight it then selecting Edit-Delete, or hitting the
delete key on the keyboard, or by dragging it to the recycle bin. The files
remain in the Recycle Bin until you do something with them. There is an option
for restoring files in case you delete something accidentally. When you are sure
you no longer need the files you “take the trash out” by double clicking on
Recycle Bin and selecting Empty Recycle Bin.
This is yet another way to
view and open files and folders. The left side of the window displays the
folders while the right side shows the files and folders underneath it in a
hierarchical structure.
You can quickly install
(and safely remove) programs using the Add/Remove Programs feature normally
found in the Control Panel.
Notepad is a simple word
processor that comes with the Windows Operating System.
The
Windows “Clipboard” is a special memory resource maintained by the Windows
Operating System that runs in the background meaning you don’t actually see
the program open on your screen. The clipboard stores a copy of the last
information that was “copied” or “cut” in a Windows program. A
“paste” command will pass that information from the clipboard to the current
program. Once information is cut or copied to the clipboard, it remains there
until new information is cut or copied to it.
In
other words, you can copy text to the Windows clipboard by highlighting the
item(s), clicking on Edit and Copy. Then you can paste them to a new document by
clicking Edit and Paste. If you keep hitting Paste the item(s) will paste over
and over again. This can be very useful. For instance in creating a page of
return address labels.
The
clipboard will also pass information between programs. In other words, if you
have a photograph you can view in America On-line or another program, you can click on it, click Edit and Copy, open up
Word, click on File and Paste. Your picture now appears in your Word Document.
When you click the right
mouse button in a software application or on a blank area of the desktop you
will see the most frequently used commands related to the software. Cut, Copy
& Paste are items you often find here. From the desktop you can create
shortcuts, change monitor settings, or create a new folder. If you are having
difficultly figuring out how to do something, try the right mouse button. Many
times you will find the answer there.
A means of communication with
a program. A dialog box displays
warnings and messages, and it lets you select and implement options by choosing
appropriate command buttons.
Wild Cards are characters
that can be used to extend file searchs. By using wild cards you can look for
types of files, or for specific files, even if you can’t remember the entire
name.
* = everything
Example *.* = show me all
files, *.exe=show me all execute files.
? = one character
Example lett?. * = show me all
files that begin with lett.
If you hold down the CTRL
key and then hold down the Alt key just to the right at the same time and then
hit the delete key you are not only dexterious, but you have also discovered
Task Manager. A box will appear on the screen explaining the various “Tasks”
that are running (software that is open.)
WARNING: Hitting
CTRL-Alt-Delete for a second time after the task manager is displayed on the
screen will cause your computer to restart.
Tip: Many times one
software program or just a portion will stop responding. You can use the Task
Manager to “End Task” on that application so you can continue working in
another program. Once you bring up Task Manager by entering CTRL-Alt-Delete you
will see the program listed and the words “Not Responding.” Highlight the
software and click on “End Task.” Sometimes you will need to wait a few
moments and click another End Task in another Dialog box. Click Cancel when
finished. It is recommended you Reboot as soon as possible after having to end
task on an application.
When you are done working
in Windows, and have saved what needs to be saved, click the Start button and
then Shutdown. Select your option from the screen. Always exit Windows using the
Shutdown function to avoid any problems with damaged and lost files.
Tip: When shutting down, if
your computer does not shut off automatically wait for a screen indicating it is
safe to turn off your computer. Sometimes Windows will freeze up at this
shutdown screen and it is necessary to hold the power button in on your box or CPU until the unit shuts
off (usually around 30-60 seconds.)
While software programs
differ, some things are the same. Many of the components are similar in
function. Here is an example of a Microsoft Word window.
Most
every Windows computer program begins with the Menu Bar. It’s located
at the top of the screen. The row begins with the word File and ends in
the word Help. Selecting one of these options from the Menu Bar displays
additional options.
File usually contains options for starting a new document,
opening an existing one, saving and
printing
Edit is next giving you the capability of
cutting, copying and pasting text. Undo your last move here as well as
search and replace text.
View lets you zoom in or out on the document and provides for
different types of views. You will also find toolbars, headers and footers here.
Insert will enable you to add graphics, textboxes and various
effects to your document. You can insert a page break, page numbers, symbols
and many other items here.
Format will let you change the style, font, paragraph
settings and bullets.
Tools contains spelling and grammar checkers, mail merge,
templates, envelopes and labels.
Table gives you the ability to create tables of data. This
is useful when you need data to line up across the page as in forms or labels.
Window lets you access and view all your open documents.
Help is the most important one of all. Here you can get an answer
to just about any problem or question which many arise. Many include tutorials
and the ability to search for answers based on a keyword.
Just
below the Menu Bar are the Toolbars. They display pictures of items used
frequently. For instance, a picture of a printer is a shortcut to printing.
Instead of several clicks on the Menu Bar, it’s just one click on the Toolbar.
If you move your mouse pointer on top of the picture a text description of what
the item does will appear. You can have one or multiple toolbars. They can be
customized, sized and moved to other parts of the screen.
Just
below the toolbar(s) is the Ruler Bar which can show tab stops and column
breaks in documents. It also provides a gauge for aligning documents.
A “File” on a computer
is a basic unit of storage. A “Folder” is a means of organizing files. A
computer disk drive is just like a traditional file cabinet. In file cabinets
folders and files are stored in drawers. With a computer, folders and files are
stored on “Drives.” Some common computer drives include…
A: Floppy Diskette, removable media
C: Hard Disk Drive inside
computer box
D: CD Rom, CD-RW, or DVD
E: Removable drives (ie: Zip
disk,) removable media
Your computer may have
different types of drives and drive designations, but these are the most common.
A basic unit of storage.
Many files can be combined to make up a Program or Software. You’ll notice
when you install programs a directory will be created similar to…
C:\Program Files\Name of
Software
Documents you create like
letters, reports, etc. can be saved and given a filename. It’s usually
recommend to save everything you create on your computer (documents) to the
C:\My Documents “folder,” automatically created when Windows was installed.
It makes it easier to find things and easier to back them up in case something
happens to your computer. When you type a word processing document you may save
it as…
C:\My Documents\resume.doc
The .doc at the end is
referred to as a “file extension.” This 3-character code after the “.”
tells the computer what software program this file is associated with. Here are
some common file extensions and their associations…
.mp3 sound
sound/music files
.gif graphic
includes still graphics and animated graphics
.jpg graphic
photorealistic image
.psd graphic
Photoshop image
.htm web page
Microsoft Front Page, Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc.
.pdf document
Adobe Acrobat Reader
.xls spreadsheet
Microsoft Excel
.txt text
standard text document
.doc document
word processing document (ie: Microsoft Word)
.bat batch file
to execute series of commands
.com command
to issue commands to the operating system,
WARNING:
do not mess with!
.exe execute file
software program file that actually starts the program
.sys system file
needed to make your computer work, also known as device
drivers,
WARNING: do not mess with!
.ini
configuration file
used by Windows to set configurations for software and
hardware.
.dll dynamic link library
used by and often shared between your operating system
and software programs - they allow executable routines to be stored separately
and called up only when needed. Look for more on these under Troubleshooting.
For more information on
file extensions try http://filext.com/
File Associations –
Sometimes new software stakes a claim to existing file extensions, which means
whenever you open the file, the computer wastes time by launching the wrong
software program. For example: you go to double click on a word document emailed
to you and Adobe Acrobat opens up and tells you it’s not the correct file
type. To correct file associations – click ONCE on the filename, while holding
down the shift key right click your mouse, select with your left mouse button
“Open with” and select the program you prefer, click on the check box
“Always use this program to open this type of file.”
Now when you double click a file with the extension .doc for our example,
Microsoft Word with automatically load and open the document. This can be
particularly useful with graphic files as they often get associated incorrectly.
A folder is also known as a
“Directory.” It’s simply a means of organizing program and user files. A
folder can contain both files and more folders (or sub-directories.) For
instance under the C:\My Documents folder you may have folders for pictures,
websites, etc…
C:\My Documents\My
Pictures\birthday.jpg
C:\My Documents\My
Music\beck.mp3
You will often see layers
of directories and sub-directories for software programs as well. For
instance…
C:\Program Files\Intuit\Quickbooks
Pro\Data
C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Office\Office\Images
TIP:
Folder Options – By default Windows ships with certain functions
disabled. For instance when browsing files the option to see system files is
turned off. The result is you may not be looking at a complete list of files and
their complete names. To view all the files of a directory and view extensions
as well, first open the directory, click on View and Folder Options and the View
tab. Make sure “Show all files” is selected and “Hide file extensions for
known file types” is NOT selected, click apply and ok.
You can create
sub-directories to help organize your files. Look for the icon.
 You
will see it when you select File and Save/Save as across the top of the Save as
Window. When you click it a “New Folder” will be created. Replace the words
“New Folder” with a folder name of your choice.
There are two choices under “File.” SAVE
and SAVE AS. ”Save” will save the file under its existing name,
provided you have given it one. If not, it will prompt you to provide a
filename. “Save As” provides you with the option of giving the file a new
name, essentially making a copy of the file. In other words – your file is
saved with its original name as well as the new name.
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