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It is now officially the last week of spring — until next year. Have you finished your spring cleaning yet?
More specifically, have you cleaned your PC yet, or did you just clean around it, not entirely sure how to go about cleaning its various surfaces safely?
It turns out that computers are not quite as easy to break as one might initially believe, so pull out your dust blaster, clean cloths and a paintbrush; let’s get to work.
I find mice to be a controversial subject.
Some people think they’re cute; other people hop onto the nearest elevated surface (while shrieking).
Today, our subject is all about the mouse in your house.
Hint: It’s the one with the tail that’s plugged into your computer.
On most keyboards, if you place the index fingers of each hand on the F and J keys, you will feel a raised bump on each one.
These bumps indicate the position of the keys, without requiring you to look at the keyboard.
Are you familiar with QWERTY?
In all likelihood, you are familiar with QWERTY whether you know it or not. Most — if not all — computer keyboards use the QWERTY layout, which gets its name from the first six letters across the top.
Hint: Don’t use QWERTY as your password, unless you’re trying to get hacked. And, while we’re on the subject, don’t use “1234567” or “password” as your password either.
Do you know how to type?
The fine art of typing involves more than using one or two index fingers to “hunt and peck”. In fact, after learning how to type, you should find it difficult to go back to hunting and pecking.
Typing is the process of utilizing all ten fingers, fanned out across your keyboard, so that each key is only ever pressed by it’s designated finger.
Computers require some assembly when they are moved or first un-packaged.
Despite the fact the back of a computer usually ends up looking like a tangled mess of cables, the setup is rather simple.
It’s all a case of plugging the right cables into the right sockets (or ports), which is made easy by the fact that for most cables, there is only one similar port available.
What comes to mind when you hear the word “computer”?
Do you envision a “tall box with buttons, slots and lights”, or do you see a screen with a mouse and keyboard in front of it? Do you see all of those individual parts as a single entity?
If I’m “on the computer”, that does not mean I’m sitting on top of a metal case looking bored. It means I’m sitting at my desk in front of my monitor, usually with one hand on my mouse and the other on my keyboard and a look of intense concentration, frustration or amusement on my face.
In this technology-driven age you are inevitably going to hear terms such as “hardware” and “software” and be expected to know what they mean.
These two terms are the most basic categories of technology in existence, into which everything else is divided. In other words, they’re kinda important.
I’m sure that, at one time or another, we have all heard the term hardware, used in reference to tools or machinery. Computer hardware is not much different; it refers to the physical components of technology, such as your computer, monitor, mouse, keyboard, printer, cell phone, tablet, etc.