Copyright © All rights reserved. Made by James Martin Sandbrook.

Abrev. Advice. Camera. Character. Children. Computing. Crosswords. Driving. Electronics.  Fitness/Self Defence. Garden.

Health. Homeschooling. Housework. Idioms. Jokes. Kitchen/Cooking. Measure. Mechanics/Machines. Motivation. Movies. Music.

NZ. OOS/RSI. People.  Personal Care. Poetry. Projects. Proverbs. Religion. Reviews. School Education. Skills/Hobbies. Slang.

Stories. Tips. Tools. Whats It Mean? Words.  Woodwork.              

Home

Computing For Beginners

Computers are easy to use but it takes time to learn how to use one. Its a lot like learning to use a car but to use the car efficiently you need to know more, you may even take a defensive driving course and learn how to use your car safely.

We will base these lessons on the Windows operating system.

PC Basics:

PC is short for  Personal Computer.

Your computer is a wonderful technological piece of equipment.

A computer is a machine that can do many things at once without you even knowing that this is happening. Many things (hardware) can be "plugged" into your computer, the most common is the Keyboard, Monitor (Visual Display Unit - VDU, computer screen), and Mouse.

By now you would know that the keyboard is used for typing and that you use the mouse to move the mouse cursor on the monitor and activate things like clicking on a button to make something happen. The monitor is used for viewing the results of whatever you are doing with your computer be it playing a game, typing a letter etc.

The heart of your computer is the CPU - Central Processing Unit, this is a computer chip or Integrated Circuit that can work very fast depending on its rating.

Your computer has many different electronic IC's inside and other equipment that all work together so that your computer works in that special way so that you can use it so it is most efficient.

Lets go through some of these briefly.

Memory:

Your computer uses different types of memory such as disk drives, RAM memory, ROM memory, hard disk drives etc.

RAM = Random Access Memory.

ROM = Read Only Memory.

Power Supply:

Your computer has a competent power supply that "feeds" the rest of your computer with different voltages.

A disk drive may use a different voltage compared to the main motherboard and these voltages have to be correct or within a certain range (+/-) so that everything works on your computer correctly.

Using a computer has never been easier. You switch it on and you watch the lights flashing (L.E.D's) and listen to the drives whirring as everything does its job and then you see the startup procedure appear on the monitor as your computer runs up.

L.E.D = Light Emitting Diodes.

While you are waiting for software to load or the computer to fully load Windows we say this is the software or computer "running up". Those in the computing industry have their own jargon or special words and we will try to mention as many as we can in these lessons, so you can get used to them.

Once Windows appears and all the whirring and flashing lights stops you are finally ready to use your computer.

Many people recommend that if your are using your computer in a cold or warmish room you should run the computer up and leave it for a short period of time for all the electrical equipment inside to get warm and ready for use.

There are many different opinions about how to use your computer and in the end it comes down to what you get used to and what you prefer to do.
An example is that for many years people told me that I must keep my computer on all night, this was a very popular bit of advice in the 1990’s that is still used today. I never did this. I simply turn the computer off each night and my computers work fine.
The advice came about by a theory that if the computer is turned off and on all the time it will cause part to wear out faster.

In the end it is up to you what you want to do.

When there is a thunder storm it is advised that your computer should be disconnected from the power outlet because many computers have been “fried” by lightening strike on the building where the computers are.

In some places entire floors of computers have all been fried in a business building.

At home it is wise to unplug the computer when there is a lightening storm and also to not use your phone or computer (laptop) due to static electricity (Some people recommend this).

You can buy a Surge Protector to help protect your computer from damage from lightening.

Hard Drives Basics.