Computer Fundamentals

Operationg System Software

Programs that make the computer work. ex: Windows 8, Windows 7, Apple OS-X, Linux.

PowerPoint

A Microsoft Office application software used for creating presentations.

Excel

A Microsoft Office application software used mainly for creating spreadsheets, organizing numeric data in columns and rows, charts, and formulas.

Office Word

A Microsoft Office application software used mainly for word processing work such as writing reports letters, resumes and other documents.

Power Supply

A device that provides the power that to make a computer work.

Wireless Network

Any type of computer network that is not connected by cables of any kind.

Order of bytes from least to greatest

Bits, Byte, Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terabyte.

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

Brain of the computer that performs instructions defined by software

Output Devices

Computer peripherals that projects images on a screen, or from a printer, or gives sound, and basically shows the info from the computer so the user can obtain it (ex: monitor, printer, projector, speakers).

Input Device(s)

Device used to insert data into a computer or other device (ex: keyboard, mouse, microphone, scanner, voice recognition)

Binary Code

Groupings of 1's and 0's that makes information that a computer can understand.

Motherboard

Printed circuit board on which the CPU, RAM chips and other electronic circuit elements of a digital computer are frequently located.

RAM

Random Access Memory - temporary place to store material that works quickly. erased when computer turns off. Volatile.

ROM

Read Only Memory- Permanent instructions that cannot be changed. It makes the BIOS function. Checks your OS.

Software

Set of instructions that tells the computer what to do. It is what guides the system hardware and tells it how to accomplish each task.

Operating System (OS)

Software (or program) used to control the computer and its peripheral equipment.

Application Software

Software you use to create something on your computer. ex: Word, Excel, Photoshop, etc.

User Friendly

Something anyone can operate

Boot Process

Starting up a computer from a halted or powered down condition.

Hard Drive

Storage device that stores digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating rigid disks with magnetic surfaces. The device is either permanently installed within the computer case or can be portable