Steve’s Tech Guide

A computer is defined as: ‘A machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions’ by Wikipedia.org. Now what does this mean for you? Not much really, except that a computer reacts to whatever you do to it by reading your set of instructions. Your set of instructions could be anything from pressing the power button to turning it on, to playing a game of solitaire, or loading the latest anti-virus program on it. Computers, down to the nitty gritty are very complex machines, but you don’t need to know all the technical stuff about them to be able to use, maintain, and repair them efficiently. You just have to have a basic understanding of what each part does and how all the parts work together.

A computer has two different kinds of parts, hardware, and software. The hardware parts are the physical components of the computer, the parts that you can touch. The software is the non-physical parts, like programs and operating systems, the part that you can’t physically touch and are stored in memory.

Hardware

The computer’s hardware is made up of the CPU, motherboard, ram, case, power supply, hard drive, graphics card, sound card. All of these parts work together to make a working machine. The motherboard is the home to the parts, and the motherboard makes sure that all the parts are communicating. The CPU is the brain of the computer, it performs the calculations necessary for a computer to run. The case is, well, a case, it houses all the computer parts in a neat, tidy package, helps protect, and cool the parts. The hard drive stores all of your computer’s data for an extended period of time. The RAM stores data that your computer is most likely to use immediately. The power supply converts the AC power that comes from the wall into DC power that the computer parts can use. The graphics card generates images to a display. The sound card functions like a graphics card, but for sound.

Software

The software encompasses all the programs, data, applications, and operating systems that have been written for computers. The software is the non-physical part of the computer that gives it instructions and tells it how to operate. The software includes platform software, application software, and user-written software. Software has to be loaded into the memory before it can be used, and once it is loaded the computer executes the programs according to its instructions.

Series Contents:
What Is A Computer?
Section I
Computer Hardware:
Motherboard
Processor
Computer Memory
Hard Drive
Video Card
Sound Card
Power Supply
Computer Case
Computer Monitor
Section II
What Is Computer Software?