Computer Basics

There could be various reasons why you're reading this article. You may have been given your first computer recently, someone told you to read this, or you're tired of fumbling over words when talking about your computer to others. Whatever the reason, after finishing this article up, you'll soon be able to talk about your computer's parts with ease and maybe even have enough confidence to learn about all the stuff on the INSIDE of your computer as well!

For some of us, talking about our computer with others can be a very scary thing. Mostly because when we talk about our computer aloud, we realize just how little we know about it in the first place and then of course we come off looking a bit dim witted. But no more! Let’s begin our magical mystery tour with what you're using to read this article, your monitor.

The monitor is what you use to view things. Usually they come in two flavors, LCD and CRT. CRT monitors are usually pretty big and cubeular, (is that a word)? And they're also usually pretty heavy. LCDs on the other hand are brighter, much thinner, and weigh a lot less. Of course there's got to be a catch, and that would be price. But with LCDs being so skinny, they're a great choice if you're using your computer on a desk where you don't have a lot of space. You can also refer to what you see on your monitor as what you see on your "screen", but keep in mind you would go to a store to "buy a monitor", never to "buy a screen".

Next on the list is your keyboard. It's what you use to type words into word processing systems, move up and down when viewing large amounts of data and how to easily access your start menu in Windows. For most people, one keyboard is just as good as another, but they do come in different varieties. Some have their focus on multimedia, having special buttons to launch your computer's music player and eject CDs from your drive. Others are built for comfort including a wrist pad to keep your hands as functional as possible.

Going hand in hand with your keyboard is your mouse. Most computers use a graphical environment to allow you to control it. An example of this is Microsoft Windows. To view the contents of files stored in your computer you can move your mouse with your hand, which will in turn move the mouse pointer on your screen, (or monitor), and double click an icon for your file by literally, (and quickly), double clicking the appropriate button on your mouse. Confused? Hope not. Just remember that the mouse, (the physical one that is), operates the mouse pointer on your screen which acts as an extension of your hand. In some applications, the common mouse pointer may be replaced a target of some sort in video games, or an hourglass when waiting for applications to complete. Now I'm not sure why you would be wondering, but when referring to more than one computer, it is fine to call them mice. Though I do not know when this would ever come up.

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