1. The first on my list is Log In. Well, this to me always meant to put another log in the stove or on the fireplace. Nope, not anymore now it’s used for signing in on your computer. Then there is Log Off. This use to be word used to not put anymore wood on the fire as its hot enough.

2. A monitor is what you hooked up to your baby’s room so you could hear the baby crying. Now it’s a display screen for your computer.

3. Download meant to us getting a load of wood off the truck. This is now used to bring information to your computer that you want to save.

4. A floppy disc is what you would get from carrying to heavy of a load in your arms. Now this has become a data storage medium for your computer.

5. A ram was always out in the field. The one with the horns that would let you feel them in your backside if he caught you bent over. It’s not only in the field anymore it’s in your computer as a memory chip.

6. A hard drive was something you did in the winter trying to get through a road that was piled high with snow and found it a hard drive getting through. This is now where you store “cookies” on your computer. Didn’t we always keep these cookies in a cookie jar?

7. Prompt was a sign that someone was good at getting to work on time or made it to a meeting without having you wait. This has gone to the world of computer but in a different way it’s a message that tells you your computer is ready to do what you tell it. My mother could do the same thing to us children when we were young and we responded, fast.

8. A window is what you had in your home that was shut tightly when it was cold and opened wide when it was to warm. Go figure how the computer took over that word but they made it a family of operating systems for personal computers.

9. A screen was something you put to your windows in the summer time to keep the bugs out now it’s a part of your computer that allows you can see your information. Just like the TV we use to have. The 17 inch one.

10. The word Byte. Now by saying the word not spelling it once meant it was something some of us couldn’t do when we get older, especially if we have false teeth. Most of us oldies wouldn’t notice the difference unless we saw it in writing at least I wouldn’t! Now this is used as a binary term for your computer.

11. Now I really love this one “Chips”. It was always something you munched on while watching TV but not anymore it is a piece of semiconducting material on which your circuit is embedded.

12. Climbing onto the lap top of your granny as a child was always a treat now they carry it around in their hands as a portable computer.

13. A keyboard used to be right by your door going out to hang your keys on. Now what did they go change that for? It’s now a set of typewriter keys that let you enter data on your computer.

14. The plastic forks and knives that you would take on a picnic must be what the computer world calls software now. Nope, its computer instructions or data or anything that can be stored electronically.

15. A mouse use to be something that would send you screaming to the nearest chair but not any more they have it tied on to your computer now. In the computer world the mouse controls your pointer on the screen.

16. The main frame was something that held your house together. Nope not anymore the computer world has changed this too. It is a very large and expensive computer that is capable of supporting thousands of users at once.

17. A port is where your ship came in when you were at the airport. Today the computer world claims it as an interface on your computer where you can connect a device.

18. Dot Matrix was old Ed Matrix wife but she passed years ago but I guess the computer world must have heard of her because they used the name for a type of printer to print closely spaced dots.

19. Random access memory is what I find I have at my age, my memory is short and I have trouble accessing memories. Nope, wrong again it’s the computer’s memory that executes programs and stores data. Maybe I could get me one of these?

Oh yes there have been major changes in words but they give us the opportunity and hope of learning something new every day and that is just what the computer does. We have access to tons and tons of information. Now if I could only find one of them random access memory thingies.

This article is all in fun and I hope it makes at least one person smile.

Processor - The processor is what executes code in programs and allows them to run. It does the calculations and other data processing that lets you play games, access YouTube, etc. The more powerful a processor is, that more data it can handle. A faster processor can interpret commands quicker and execute them faster than weaker, lower performance proccessors. The processor you want will depend on what programs you operate and basically how fast you want them to do so. Some programs require stronger proccessors, but you can fork out a lot of money for a not-that-much faster CPU.

Video Card - The video card is what displays graphics onto your computer's monitor. Depending on what you need your computer for will determine the quality of your graphics card. For someone who is just going to be surfing the web and writing e-mails, all you really need is a simple 128MB video card. You probably want 256MB just to be able to keep up with the times as programs become more graphically intense. If your an avid gamer playing games with cutting edge graphics, your going to need at least a 1GB video card. Many newer games place tremendous stress on computer power and you don't need to be overworking your computer for hours at a time while you explore a new realm in World of Warcraft.

Random Access Memory (RAM) - RAM controls how many programs can be running at once. A way to significantly increase your computer's lifespan is to boost the RAM. It is recommended to buy the lowest amount of RAM from your computer manufacturer and then purchasing and installing it yourself. Get some from Crucial, and then YouTube how to get it into your computer. But, back to what RAM is. Random Access Memory allows programs to access it for various bits and pieces to let programs run. If your one of those people who like to surf the web, listen to music, download movies, and build a creature in Spore while Instant Messaging your friends, your going to need much more RAM than someone who just wants to check their e-mail.

Hard Drive Disk (HDD) - The Hard Drive Disk is the storage closet of a computer. A 1TB HDD is like the warehouse of computer storage, while a 250GB is more like the pantry. The size of your hard drive will depend on how much information you want to save. If you want it all, music, movies, games, photos, then bigger is better. External hard drives can be cheaper alternatives than cramming all that info into your PC. If you are just looking to save some documents and a few photos and songs, then you can get by with smaller hard drives.

Monitor - The monitor is the screen on your computer. Most monitors are now widescreen so there is no need to worry about dimensions (16:9 is standard widescreen). The other option is the resolution, or quality, of the screen. This is all personal preference, but, just personal opinion, you'll probably want HD if you have a Blu-ray drive installed. Since your dropping money down on BD capabilities, you might as well be able to watch in HD. Otherwise, if you ask me, the standard is fine. Most laptops also ask you to select a camera with the monitor because it will be built in. I think almost all of them have a small camera, but if you have a choice, it is pretty self explanatory.

Speakers - The speakers play the audio of computers. You need speakers to listen to music and movies without headphones, and speakers are build in on laptops. There is always the option for external speakers, and those are what you want for real quality sound. The option included in this is thesound card built in. you can always upgrade if your heart desires, but for most peoples purposes the standard audio is fine. Unless you are a profesional musician doing an audition for a record company, I can see no reason for the extreme sound cards offered to you.

When you call up and implement the (insert: Parent, Wallet, Credit Card, etc.) to actually go out and buy the parts that you want you should make sure you check out all the latest deals from various manufacturers. (AMD, Intel, NVIDIA, etc.) This is the part of construction that is the sweetest for me. You have the authority to transform the shell sitting on your shelf (if you haven’t already got the casing) into an incredible Gaming Rig, or a simple office pc that will never see the battlefields of the far future splayed across its monitor. Choose wisely! For a Gaming Rig get plenty of Ram, a decent graphics/video card and a dual core processor which will do you plenty of favors. If you love gaming (as I do), do yourself a massive favor and do not get Vista. Skip it. Vista drains your computer’s memory and processing power setting back much of what you bought to make your computer’s performance great. There are just so many things you do not need. The best places to get the parts are online at auction sites where they practically give away incredible stuff that would cost a bomb in a shop. If you do all of the above, you can several thousand dollars. (give or take your country’s currency that is!)

When assembling your pc you might groan and tremble at the thought. Halt! All is not lost! If you really cannot do it yourself you can probably pay someone at a computer shop to do it for a moderate fee. But it really isn’t that difficult at all! Today, assembling a pc is not that bad as most motherboard jumper settings will be preset when you purchase it. In prehistoric times, there were so many settings you would have to spend ages with the motherboard manual to set it up properly. BUT today, just slip the processor in the motherboard’s processor socket, slap in some RAM and the peripheral cards and voila! You have your very own pc. Don’t you feel so proud? Now you can boast to all your pals about what a pro you are at computers. Doesn’t it feel terrific? Just don’t forget to add in the DVD drive, etc., otherwise you won’t be doing much with it.

Good Hunting/Assembling!

Know your budget

When building your own computer, you should know how much you are willing to spend on parts. You generally will have to invest about $1000 in US Dollars to build a good rig, but in the end, it should be worth it. This cost should encompass the price of all the components that you are going to buy, and you should set aside a good margin to compensate for shipping and tax costs. Since you are building your own computer, you will have to buy the monitor separately as well, so make you you take that into account. A good flatscreen monitor these days goes for about $200, so you should calculate the costs of all the components you are going to buy before ordering.

Make sure everything is compatible

You can't put a square peg into a round hole. The same goes for computer parts. Before you buy your parts, make sure they will all work with each other. A motherboard is built for certain types of processors, so make sure that you have that kind of processor. A case is built to a certain size standard, and you must select a motherboard that complies with those size standards. You should make sure you have the correct slots for all your hardware, and I find that it often helps to make a chart of all your parts, and where everything goes. If you are uncertain, contact the distributor of your parts for more information.

Most hardware should be compatible with each other, but you should check whether your processor is manufactured by AMD or Intel. This will dictate the motherboard that you are using. As of the present, Intel's chips are generally ahead in performance, power draw, and are cheaper as well. However, the industry may shift, and you should take this into account in your decisions.

Make sure you have everything

This goes without saying. Every computer needs the following:

Case

Yes, case. Make sure the size of the case is compatible with your motherboard, whether it be ATX, Micro ATX, or some other size.

Power Supply

Every computer needs electricity. This electricity is regulated by a power supply. You will generally want about 800 watts, more if you are running more powerful hardware.

Motherboard

The motherboard is where you connect all your components. Sometimes they come with an integrated video card, and most come with integrated network and sound.

Processor

CPUs come in various archietectures, and you should make sure that the pins on the CPU fit the holes on the motherboard. Clock speed (eg. 2.4 GHz) is not so much the factor in performance anymore as the number of cores.

Hard Drive

These come in both magnetic and solid state. The hard drive holds all the information on the computer.

RAM

Memory is important when running applications. You will generally want at least 2 GB or more of RAM.

GFX Card/Video Card

You need a graphics card to display video, and although some motherboards come with integrated graphics, for gaming you will always want at least a midrange discreet graphics card.

Operating System

Windows Vista is pretty much the only choice that you've got when building a PC. For now, go with 32-bit versions. In this case I would recommend either Ultimate or Home Premium.

Order your parts

The next to last step is to obtaining all your parts. You can generally find almost everything you need at stores like Best Buy, but sometimes you can get better deals online. Online stores such as NewEgg (http://www.newegg.com) have a wide selection of parts, though if you do use them, you should take into account added shipping costs. Sometimes the price margin between going to a store near you and shopping online is offset by these shipping costs, so you should always do the math.

Put them together

For this you will need a screwdriver, and an anti-static bracelet is a good idea as well. The below is just a quick overview, and if you have not done this before, you may want to watch some video tutorials. Youtube provides an ample amount of them.

1. Put the processor into the motherboard. Make sure to remove the protective plastic cover on the motherboard.

2. Place the motherboard in the case. Make sure that all the ports are visible from the outside of the case before screwing it into place.

3. If the power supply is not already in place, do so. Put it into the slot in the back, and screw it in.

4. Connect power cables for the CPU, and put the CPU fan into place, and connect them as well. Thermal compound is not required here, but it may help.

5. Insert any disc drives, and connect them as well.

6. Now attach your hard drives, and attach the power cables, and the SATA (data) cables.

7. Insert RAM. If you have 4 slots, you will want to insert your chips into the 1st, then 3rd, then 2nd, then 4th slots.

8. Connect video and any other add-on cards.

And you are done! Now all you need to do is power on, and install your operating system.

Sometimes a computer will find that it does not have enough RAM and will have to resort to ‘swapping.' This ‘swapping' creates virtual memory by utilizing hard drive space as temporary memory. Relying on ‘swapping' on a regular basis is called ‘thrashing.' Thrashing will decrease a computers overall performance.

Software can partition memory and create a ‘RAM disk.' This RAM disk acts as a fast hard drive, but the information is lost when the computer is shut off, unless the RAM is nonvolatile or is connected to a battery.

New types of nonvolatile RAM is being created using carbon nanotubes. Soon, ‘solid-state drives' will not lose data and their performance will continue to increase, giving computers the combined assets of memory and hard drives in a single nonvolatile RAM.

Though both the PCs and the Macs retain the feature of running an operating system, the operating systems that can be installed on each computer vary. An operating system is a collection of software that runs the computer while it is on. Nearly any operating system can be installed on a PC, including Windows and Linux. The only operating system that cannot be legally installed on a PC is the Mac OS. The Mac OS comes in several versions, and a new version is released nearly every year. Most PCs include an operating system pre-installed. Macs come pre-installed with Mac OS X, a series of Mac OS operating systems that have been used since September 13, 2000. The current Mac OS X version is Mac OS X 10.5.4 Leopard, and a future version of Mac OS X is planned for release sometime during the summer of 2009. Through the assistance of Boot Camp, a program that has been included with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and will be included in future versions, users are allowed to install different operating systems onto their Mac through the creation of partitions on their hard drive. Just as an operating system is a form of software, security programs are also a vital form of software for a computer.

Security is another issue between the PCs and the Macs. Both PCs and Macs have the ability to log onto the internet, and when they have fully accessed the internet, they can be easily bombarded by viruses, spyware, and adware; which are all harmful to a computer, whether it is a PC or a Mac. PCs never come with security software, and the Windows operating systems do not include security. Macs, however, have built in, high-level security that is built into Mac OS X because the operating system is coded in Unix, a form of coding language. Along with software differences, PCs and Macs have differences in hardware.

Hardware-wise, Macs and PCs are very different. The most noticeable design feature on the Mac is a glowing Apple logo. Macs usually have a glowing Apple logo on the lid of notebooks or the side of desktops. The design of a PC varies by the company that developed it. Ever since Apple has started using the PowerPC G4 Processor platform, they have started to use more environmentally-friendly materials in their Macs, such as aluminum and glass. Most Macs these days are made of aluminum, and have a glass monitor. For one to upgrade the hardware of a PC or a Mac is not uncommon. Hardware upgrades allow computers to run faster and more efficiently. Most upgrades on a laptop are for RAM, yet on the Apple MacBook, upgrading the hard drive, normally a difficult feat on a PC, is easy. Apple's professional desktop, the Mac Pro, contains no visible internal wires, and there are very few situations where a screw driver is required for an upgrade. Though the PC and Mac are very similar and different in scores of ways, they have made a great impact on the world today.

Computers have been the scaffolds for world-changing innovations since their creation, and they impact the world greatly. I could never imagine the world without computers, and the introduction of PCs and Macs has only opened a door of opportunity for the world, and although they are very different, they have created the path for more advanced technology, and will send mankind further into the future.

Jot Down Your Computer's Information

Writing down what you know about your computer is very essential before you wreck your system installing software not suited for your specifications. You'll need

• The type and speed of the processor
• How much ram your computer has
• Take note of video card it supports
• Write down space available on the hard disc

Having problems finding this stuff? Here is how to find them on your computer.

Click "Start > Programs >Accessories >System Tools." Then hit "System Information" and you should see a summary containing your computers operating system, processor, and memory information. Next, hit on the plus sign by the side to open up more details of the "Components" category. Under "Display", everything about the computers video card specifications will be seen. An important feature you may also need to know is the kind of sound card installed on the system. Hit "Sound Device" to see the name, maker and properties of this device. When you hit "Storage", you can select the various drives to check how much available disk space you have, tagged "free Space."

Once you determined the software you need, be sure that it is compatible with your computer. Of recent, software programs come on CDs now and will include their minimum requirements written somewhere on the package. While some will require that you have a special video card or adapter, others may require a specific processor, so make sure that your computers processor is of the required make or specification. For the program to run on your computer effectively, make sure the RAM is up to required size. Usually, they will give a minimum and a recommended amount, but to be on the safe side, it is best to go with the recommended amount.

Another thing to take into account is pricing. People save a lot of money by purchasing an earlier version of a certain piece of software. Just make sure that it has all the features that you want and that it is compatible with your computer. The best place to look is on the Internet. You can compare pricing here without going all over town. Go to your favorite search site, and search for the software that you are looking for. Sometimes you can buy online for less, but make sure you check the shipping costs.

If these salient points are followed religiously, you will avoided saying “Had I known" at the end of your adventure.

You would see a rectangular card which was attached to the motherboard. The RAM of the computer is very important to the system specified by mostly of MMOPRG games. Like there were MMORPG games which needs to run at a specified RAM speed. Determining the RAM speed in Windows XP is by right clicking the my computer and click then the properties and there in general tab you would see the RAM of the computer. There are like 256MB, 512MB, 1GIG, 2GIG of ram now a days.

Before there were like 28MB and 64MB of fram but mostly this was now an obselete and a very slow. Nowaday most of the brand new desktop sale in computer stores were 512MB and the customer can choose if he/she wants to upgrade the RAM of the computer.

The hardware on a network may include: personal computers, mainframes, supercomputers, printers, fax machines, navigational control systems, and interactive entertainment centers.
The software on a network always includes application software, workstation operating systems, and network operating systems.

Networked computers have a number of advantages. They allow information to be exchanged at high speeds, they allow important devices to be shared, and they allow people to connect to their computers over long distances.

Benefit of Networking

Geographically remote areas can be connected to share information. Without actually transferring the entire file to all people involved, several people can simultaneously share large files. Also within a networked environment the information generated by a single user can be shared worldwide instantaneously. This enables faster, more precise communication which should translate into greater accuracy, productivity and cost savings.

• Networking allows different types of computers to communicate. Mac and PC users can share information and resources over a network.
  
• Users on a network can also share physical resources such as scanner, printer, or other expensive piece of hardware. Sharing hardware significantly reduces the expense of running a system.
  

Local Area Network (LAN)

1. Limited to a small geographical region
   
2. Specifically designed to share hardware and software at high speeds.
   
3. Originally developed to connect mainframes to dumb terminals (keyboard and monitor only-no system unit) over 50 years ago.
   
4. Mainframe LANs are faster, more powerful and have higher storage capabilities, while PC based LANs are more flexible to changing environments
   
5. Many companies used a combined network of mainframes and PCs
   
6. Computers
   

While in the other hand, ROM is some sort like a hard disk. It is non-volatile where it can store data for a long period of time or so-called permanent storage. The amount of storing data is much larger than the RAM.

I look back to my past life and thinking about the historic people and nowadays people. I see physicist, doctor, lawyer, footballer and many more.

The genius in my opinion is the people with the high capacity of RAM. They can figure out something when they got a little bit knowledge about something. And their thinking is so fast that other people haven't think about the idea yet until now. But whenever the idea had been used and they change to other topic or if they are thinking about other things, the data which come out before has gone from their memory. I also think the CEO of a company probably is in this type.

The memorizer on the other hand has a large capacity of ROM. They can memorize so many data and they can remember it permanently. You don't need to ask them to revise or read it again as they have the capabilities of remembering the data for a long period. They are very good in remembering the information as they learn, compares to other people. I think the lawyer and the doctor is in this type.

What do you think?