Know your Computer Terms

Hardware ...the physical parts of the computer and network that you can see and touch.

Monitor...The TV screen; the visual form of output of your computer.

Hard drive...A place where information and instructions for the computer and you is stored 

Floppy Drive...A slot in the computer where you may insert a disk holding your work so the computer may read, use and display it.

CD Drive...A slot in the computer where you may insert a CD disk; these disks can typically hold the same information of at least 600 floppy disks

Mouse...a type of input device that functions by pointing and clicking to items, icons, text, numbers and graphics that are displayed on your desktop.

Software...Specific instructions written to be read by the computer so it may be able to do all of the jobs and play all of the games you want to do.

Floppy Disk...A square piece of plastic which allows you to save, store and share information with other computers.

Desktop...A metaphor for the workspace you use and work with; often seen as the workspace on your monitor. 

Click, Double Click, Drag...You use your mouse to give signals to the computer telling it what to do next. You can make selections from menus or the desktop using these functions.

File...These are the products you produce and store in your computer

Save As...You tell the computer where you want to store your work and what you want to call it.

Save...This is a function to continually save your work, as you create it, update it and/or edit it.  You use the save function after you have created and named the particular file [using the save as function]. Save your work frequently.

WWW...The portion of the Internet [or cyberspace] known as the World Wide Web. It is very good at handling text and graphics.

Modem...The A tool that connects your to the Internet.

ISP...ISP stands for Internet service provider. This is a service for which you subscribe in order to connect your computer to the WWW, through your modem.

E-mail...The e stands for electronic. You can communicate by writing letters on your computer and sending them to someone else’s computer.