Your computer
doesn't have to be just a tool, it can be your friend - aaawww. The
more you know and understand what your friend is thinking and how he/she
thinks, the better you can understand them. The better you understand
him/her the less likely you are to become frustrated with them.
Your Computer
( your new "friend" ) is an appliance that processes
instructions and "spits-out" computed material in various
ways. Why don't we look at the thought process a little deeper. All
the thinking of your computer is done within that box or tower where
you insert CD's and floppy disk. Inside this box is the guts and brain
of your entire system. The vast majority of the thinking or processing
is done by... can you guess it?, the processor. The processor is more
or less the Grand Central Station
of your system. It does the thinking and routes everything to it's place.
There are other parts inside that box that are very important to your
system. RAM is a kind of memory that works very close with your processor.
They know each other very well. RAM, or Random Access Memory, is kind
of like your "off the top of your head" memory. It is used
so that whenever your processor is processing something it doesn't have
to stop what it is doing and rely on your Hard-Drive for the required
information.
Think of it
like this. RAM is like your office desk. Your Hard-Drive is like your
filing cabinet with vast quantities of information stored away. Now
if you are working on a specific task, wouldn't it be nice to pull all
the information you're going to need from the filing cabinet which is
across the room and place all the needed files right there on your desk
while you are going to be using them. This way everything is at arms
reach, so your work gets done much faster. RAM allows you to do this.
RAM is also one of the best and cheapest ways to upgrade your computer.
Just think, increase the size of your office desk and you can really
cut down on the number of times you have to get up and walk across the
room to dig a file out from your filing cabinet.
Now if you remember
when you bought your computer, or if you still have the factory information
laying around, here is how these components are usually measured.
- Processor is measured in MHz ( Megahertz or now GigaHerts )
- This is the speed at which your processor can handle information.
- RAM is usually measured in MB ( Megabytes ) - This is the amount
of easy access memory you have, the more the better!
- Hard Drive is expressed in GB ( Gigabytes ) - This is the size
of your filing cabinet.
Your Processor
and RAM is located on something called your motherboard inside your
computer. This board has most of your essential components mounted onto
it. The motherboard also is where all of your system comes together.
When you plug things into the back of your computer, or when you place
a CD in your CD-ROM, all these are connected directly to your all important
motherboard.
Enough of all this guts talk, huh.
The other main
parts of your computer include your: Monitor, Keyboard, and your Mouse.
Your monitor is NOT your computer, it is just a display device or a
glorified TV. I think this is sometimes a common misconception. Even
the computer systems that look like they only have a monitor and keyboard,
have their processor and Hard Drive just included in with the case the
monitor is in. Do not buy these! They are almost impossible to upgrade.
Next is your Keyboard. I hear they use to put something like a keyboard
on something called a typewriter. I don't know, I never paid attention
in History class. This is used to as an input device to your CPU. Finally
there is your mouse. That lovely little animal that just invites you
to click away. Just think how difficult it would be to get anything
done without it.
I think I'll
stop there for now. Lets learn how that darn Internet works shall we?
