Glossary Of Basic Computer Terms For Beginners

I tried to make them all as simple as possible. If you want you can add terms in the comments.

Personal computer: Computer used at home rather in an office.

Hardware: The computer appliances that you can see and touch such as keyboard, mouse, speakers, monitor and so on.

Software: Computer software cannot be touched. You cannot see them. When you buy a new game and start to play it you are actually using a software. The game is a software. You may be using Windows XP right now, that is a software – which you cannot SEE but you can USE.

Tower: Refers to the hardware that is usually very tall. It is the piece of hardware that usually has a button that allows you to turn on your computer.

Floppy Drive: This is a small box on the tower that allows you to insert floppy disks. It is usually small and is similar to a letter box.

Floppy Disk: This is a square or rectangular sort of flat box that you enter in the Floppy Drive. The floppy disk allows you to store folders, files or whatever you want on it. So if you have a picture for example on your computer you can put it on a floppy disk. You can then insert the floppy disk in another computer and see the same picture.

CD-ROM: This is like the floppy drive but it allows you to enter CD’s instead of floppy disks. It is also located in the tower but is bigger than a floppy drive.

CD: This is like a floppy disk but is has bigger space – so you can store more files, folders or whatever you want…

Windows Explorer: This has all the folders and files you have on your computer. So if you wanna find some folder you can go to Windows Explorer and you find them easily.

Folders: A folder stores files. An example is the My Pictures folder that store picture files. Another example is the My Documents folder which stores document files.

Files: This refers to images, videos, software, programs and so on. Files are located in folders. Whatever you see inside a folder can be called a file.

Desktop: When you turn on your computer you can see the Desktop. Usually there are the My Computer, Recycle Bin and more icons.

Desktop background: Instead of the normal blank space where you have the My Computer, Recycle Bin and more icons (which is called the desktop background) you can put a picture or change the color from blue to red, black or any color.

Icons: On your desktop you can see My Computer, Recycle Bin and more. Those are called icons.

Shortcuts: These can be created to allow you to access a program faster. For example: Instead of going to windows explorer and searching for Internet Explorer to open it – you can simple create a shortcut to Internet Explorer on your Desktop. That way you easily open it.

Recycle Bin: When you delete some files like pictures or whatever it is, the files go to the Recycle Bin. They are not permanently deleted so if you delete something by mistake you can open the Recycle Bin and restore them. You can also clean the Recycle Bin when it has become full.

Task Bar: That place between the Start Button and the Clock is called the Taskbar. It is usually a grey colored bar.

Window: Whatever has the shape of a box is also called a window. While you are reading this you have Internet Explorer or your web browse opened. It is opened in a sort of box called a window.

Start Menu: If you have Windows you see a button on the left side of your screen. There is the word START on it. Clicking that you see a menu where you can access various other programs on your computer. There is the list of Programs you can access to work with such as Microsoft Word or Microsoft Paint.

There is the Control Panel to modify your computer settings such as modifying the colors of your computer or adjusting sound quality. It is the place where you control your computer functions.

There is also a search button that allows you to search your computer to find some files, folders, pictures or anything else. This helps you to save time.

The Help Files give you information and tutorials to show you how your computer works so it is easier for you to use it.

The Run button allows you to open programs such as Internet Explorer easier and faster. I mention how the run button works in my other post: How I Use Run Button

Welcome Screen: When you turn ON your computer you will see the Microsoft Logo and that is the place called the Welcome Screen.

Screen saver: When you are not using your computer – the computer can automatically show a so called screen saver. The screen usually turns black and you see some images or colors. When you move a bit the mouse or press a key the computer goes back to normal.

Hardrive: This in invisible to you, but it stores every folder or file on your computer. The bigger your hardrive more space you have to store folders or files. Everything inside folders therefore like software, games, programs are all stored on the hardrive.

Disk Cleanup: This is a tool you have on your computer that will clean unnecessary files on your computer. This does not clean files you use. Sometimes your computer becomes jam packed with ‘junk’ files and other things that need to be cleaned. This makes your hardrive space bigger.

Disk Defragment: This is a tool that checks your hardrive to make sure its performance is optimized and there are no files that have errors or damage. Files like those create problems so this tool is very useful as well.

Cookies: When you visit Internet websites some of the websites put on so called cookies in your computer – so that next time you visit the same websites such information is recorded. Example: If you have an email account with Yahoo Mail – Yahoo Mail stores cookies so that next time you need to login to your account your username and password can be filled automatically – you do not have to type them each time.

Browser: Browser is the tool that allows you to visit Internet websites. Popular browsers include Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firerfox.

Download: When you are on the Internet some websites allow you to download games for example. You download the game and then you can play it on your computer. You can download also pictures, videos, screen savers, desktop backgrounds and so on.

Keyboard Shortcuts: Instead of doing the normal procedures such as closing a window you can use a combination of keyboard buttons to perform the same procedures using your keyboard not yo
ur mouse. In my other blog posts I mentioned the most common keyboard shortcut combinations.

Email Client: This is a program that its basic functions allow you to send and receive email. You can find a free email client from the Internet such as Gmail.com or Hotmail.com You usually register for free by entering some basic personal details such as your name and surname and they give you a personalized email. More info on their websites.

Copy: To copy some file, folder or anything else from your computer.

Paste: To display the file, folder you have copied somewhere else. So first you copy a folder for example and then display a copy of it somewhere else on your computer. You end up with two similar folders. You can paste almost anything that you can copy.

Delete: When you delete some file, folder or whatever else from your computer.

Undo: If you delete something from your computer for example you can undo the action. Most actions you do can be undone… but not all!

Toolbar: These are usually added in your web browser such as Internet Explorer. They are usually horizontal and allow you to search the Internet and have other features and functions. You can see the toolbars.

Startup Programs: These are usually software or programs such as msn messenger that opens automatically when you turn on your computer. You do not need to do anything to open them. You can however stop them from automatically opening at startup up. There are several methods to do that. I explained them in my other post How To Remove Startup Programs

So that should PIMP you up a bit But here is a video tutorial explaining what components are inside your computer.

http://www.videojug.com/film/player?id=76b2ad4b-3ce9-5215-1801-ff0008c91a89

Glossary Of Basic Computer Terms For Beginners

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 9th, 2007 at 11:10 AM and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response and/or trackback from your own site.