Resources - Information Technology

I am a qualified Microsoft Certified Professional and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer and provide IT support to many of my clients as part of my services, generally in the areas of hardware (setting up & maintaining PCs) and software support, e.g. Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint & Outlook.




 

 

Basic Computer Terminology

  • Desktop - this refers to the screen that comes up on your monitor when you boot your computer up and contains your shortcuts to programs, etc.
  • Microsoft Office - this is a suite of software, i.e. Microsoft Office which contains programs such as Word and Excel to enable you to create documents and spreadsheets, etc.  
  • Operating System - this is generally preloaded onto most new computers, e.g. Windows XP Operating System and is required to start or boot your computer and interacts between the software/programs loaded onto your computer and the devices attached to it such as mice, keyboards, printers, etc.  

  • PC & MAC & the difference: PC means Personal Computer and is based on the original IBM processor. Mac or Macintosh is produced by Apple Computers. Preference is usually just personal taste. Most 3rd party vendor software such as Microsoft is designed in versions for both PC or MAC however software designed specifically by Apple for Macs is not compatible with PCs. 

  • Processor (or CPU) - processes the instructions that operate your computer. Dual core processors refers to the new technology developed whereby two processors are incased in the one integrated circuit on the motherboard, meaning faster processing. This is probably one of the most important factors when buying a new computer as the higher the GHz your processor has, the faster your computer will be. 
  • RAM (Random Access Memory) - this refers to the amount of current directly accessible memory (e.g. short term memory) your computer has which can be used by the processor to access programs and data to process tasks, i.e. the more RAM the more programs/data you can access at the same time.  Again the more RAM your computer has the faster it will be. However, you can buy and install more RAM (they come in sticks of e.g. 1 GIG) on most computers so you don't need to buy a whole new computer if you just need more RAM.
  • USB (Universal Serial Bus) - refers to the type of connection you use to connect a piece of hardware, i.e. your printer, camera, etc. to your computer. Older style connections include Serial (monitors), Parallel (printers) and PS (mouse/keyboard) but pretty much every piece of hardware these days comes with a USB style connection.


Microsoft Outlook Tools (Email)