If you’re one of the many millions that still regarded yourself as being computer illiterate, you may sometimes see terms used in advertising that mean nothing to you.
Just a sample of these little gems may include:
- Software
- Package
- Comms software
- Peripherals
- Downloads
- Etc!
The Computer (or PC) As A ‘Box Of Tricks’
What you call your computer or ‘PC’ (personal computer) actually breaks down into a number of major building blocks – at least in conceptual terms.
The big central box into which you plug other devices and insert disks is called the processor unit. Inside this is the heart of the PC and the actual electronics, which make everything else happen. Part of all of this electronic wizardry is what’s called ‘the processor’ and this is also sometimes called ‘The CPU’ (central processing unit) or ‘the chip’ though these latter terms are becoming a little less common.
It is the processor that does much of the calculations and control of everything else that’s going on.
It’s around the processor that you’ll hear some discussions about ‘performance’. The performance of your PC is the speed at which it does things such as display your pictures, play your videos or whatever. In fact, many things, not just the speed of the processor, affect the speed of your PC. Even so the processor speed is an important factor.
If you have an old and slow processor, your PC may perform ‘slowly’ though that may not, in fact, be exclusively attributable to the processor itself. Confused? Hang in there!
Memory, Disk and Storage
To actually be able to do anything at all, your PC needs to load information (figures, images, videos etc) into its ‘memory’ so that it can process them. The memory also typically exists inside the processor unit.
Memory is, though, limited and it would be impossible to store huge amounts of data in the form of videos or images in it permanently. Therefore much information is usually stored on ‘hard disk’ inside the processor unit. It can also be stored on removal small devices often called ‘memory keys’ which often look like small key rings and the familiar CDs and DVDs.
Memory may be another huge constraint on how fast your PC runs. This is best thought of in terms of your desk. You probably only want papers on your desk (memory) that you need to work on and keep the rest in a filing cabinet (disk). If your desk is tiny and doesn’t have much space, you’ll have to keep frequently getting up and going to the filing cabinet to store and retrieve pieces of paper.
This may be very time consuming whereas if your desk was larger you would be able to bring more back at one go from the filing cabinet and save yourself a lot time overall in going to-and-fro.
This is exactly the same as memory and disk. The smaller your memory the more it will have to go to-and-fro, storing and retrieving things from disk. That takes time and your computer slows down.
Peripheral Devices
Everything that’s connected to your processor unit may be referred to sometimes as a ‘peripheral device’. This may include printers, scanners and copiers etc. For your processing unit to be able to communicate with and make work (often referred to as ‘drive’) such devices, your PC needs things called ‘software drivers’ – we’ll come back to those shortly.
Internet & Communications
In today’s world, your PC won’t be of vast use to you unless it is capable of communicating with the outside world – usually through the Internet. Almost all PCs today are what’re called ‘Internet enabled’. This just means that they have built into them just about everything you’ll need to connect them to the Net.
Many PCs now connect via a radio or microwave connection that is typically called, somewhat unimaginatively, ‘wireless technology’. What this means is that you don’t have to physically plug it into anything before it can talk to the Net. Sometimes PCs can be physically plugged in to a network of PCs and a communications device that itself communicates through a single point to the Net and the Net is them sent around the local network to all attached PCs – this is often called a ‘cabled LAN (Local Area Network) solution’.
The speed with which your PC is able to access Internet sites and display pages is a product of a number of components including:
- Your PC itself in terms of memory and processor speed available
- The speed of your LAN or wireless connection to the Net (often called ‘the bandwidth’)
- The speed and capabilities of the Internet site you’re accessing.
Software
Your PC consists of basically hard bits such as the disk, memory chips, removable storage, printers and scanners etc. These are traditionally called ‘hardware’.
It also consists of a very large number of computer programs to make everything work and these are collectively called ‘software’. This would usually include your Internet browser, any games, photo processing, the software drivers described above and word processing facilities etc.
Back in the days of pre-history (in Information Technology that’s anytime before the 1970s or 80s) a lot of software was often bespoke-written for the corporate computers of the time. Quickly though, companies started to produce increasing amounts of software that could be purchased ‘off the shelf’ ready to do a certain job such as run all the various accounting process.
Those pre-written and theoretically ready-to-go programs were often called ‘packages’ and the name has stuck to today. You’ll sometimes still see software for sale described as (e.g.) “a visual design package”. It just means that it’s a series of software programs that do something.
Finally, one last set of terminology. The software that controls all the other software running on your PC is usually called the ‘operating system’. This will typically be something like WINDOWS, VISTA, LINUX and so on. The programs that do things such as image editing and video construction are often called ‘application software’ and those that control your Internet or other external connections are referred to as ‘communications software’.
So, you have your lexicon of the basic terms. There’s no longer any need to feel intimidated!
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