Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Computers

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About
Computers

Computer ~ n. a high-speed, electronic machine which performs logical calculations, processes, stores, and retrieves programmed information.

The History of Computers	About 5,000 years ago, the Abacus was invented. It was a system of sliding beads on a rack. Early merchants used the Abacus to keep track of transactions. As the use of pencil and paper spread, the Abacus lost its importance. However, things advanced from there. For your ease in reading, the historical periods are broken down into 5 parts: The First Generation The Second Generation The Third Generation The Fourth Generation The Fifth Generation
Hardware	Hardware is the collection of devices which make up the computer system. A system consists of: Central Processing Unit (CPU) Input devices Memory Monitors Output Devices Storage
Software	A computer must have a set of instructions, called software, for it to receive, process, output and store the information. There are two types of software: System Software Application Software
How To	Learning how to operate your system and how to use the different programs takes time. We have provided some step-by-step instructions for the most common programs to get your started. Most programs have a "help" module that will take you from our most basic instructions. Getting Around on the Web Installing New Programs Keeping Your Computer Tuned Up Saving Files Microsoft Access Microsoft Excel Microsoft Word
The Neat Stuff	With the introduction of the Internet, the world of computing has changed drastically. Not only did it bring with it a series of new programming languages, but also faster communications, making the languages open to just about everyone. Hardware advances have also been very dramatic in the past few years. Java Script Visual Basic
Sources and Links	Not all this information came from our heads. We did use some online sites and other sources to verify the accuracy of our statements. How Stuff Works