<type or paste the text body here>Computer "No-Nos"

1. Never turn the computer off in the middle of a program or in the window environment. Always close all programs. If using a mouse, click Start, click Shut Down, click Shut down the computer, and wait until you see the screen "It is now safe to turn off your computer". If using keyboard, press CTRL + ESC and then the letter "U" to shut down.

2. Never remove a diskette from drive A: or a CD from the CD ROM drive when the light is on. Always wait until the light is off.

3. Never turn a computer off and on without waiting at least 60 seconds.

4. Never use a magnet around a computer, monitor, or diskette.

5. Never force a diskette into the drive.

6. No food or drink should be near the computer.

7. Turn the computer off before connecting new hardware.


TYPES OF COMPUTERS

MAC (Macintosh platform)
PC (IBM platform)

EQUIPMENT FOR PCS

Microprocessor: The silicon black chip buried deep inside the computer's case (often-called CPU, Central Processing Unit). There are Cyrix, Intel's Pentium, Pentium MMX, Pentium II, Pentium III, Pentium IV and AMD processors available today. The speed of the processor is measured as megahertz (MHz).


Disk Drives

The disk drive determines the path by which you send and receive information to the computer. Information stored on a disk is measured in bytes. Think of a byte as a letter of the alphabet.
1,000 bytes=1 kilobyte (K or KB)
1,000 KB=1 megabyte (MB)
1,000 MB=1 gigabyte (GB)
1,000 GB=1 Terabyte (TB)

1. The floppy disk drive is often called the a: drive. The diskettes that are inserted into the a: drive are 3 ½ inch size and can hold 1.44 megabyte of information. At one time these disk had to be formatted, but now most are pre-formatted. Formatting prepares the disk to be written upon. Diskettes can also be write-protected. This prevents you from writing on the disk. To write-protect a disk, slide the corner tab to uncover the opening.

2. The hard disk drive is often called the c: drive inside the computer. It is a thick Frisbee-like disk inside the computer, which can hold considerable more information than a diskette. The hard disk drive reads and stores information faster than the a: drive. Five years ago the average size of a hard drive was

3. The CD-ROM (Read Only Memory) drive is often called the d: drive. CDs are inserted into this drive. A CD can contain more information than 100 diskettes. Computers are not able to write to the CD-ROM drive unless a CD Burner is present. The CD-ROM drives read information at various speeds.

4. Some computers today come equipped with a zip drive. A zip drive provides additional storage space. A zip disk is inserted into the zip drive. The zip disk can hold 100 megabytes of information. Zip drives can be attached to an existing computer.

5. DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) drive is a new technology that stores more information than a CD-ROM and can be written upon. A DVD disk is inserted into this drive. The drive may come built into the computer or may be attached. These disk often are used to store movies or interactive video games. The disk resembles a CD but has 7 times the storage capacity.


MOUSE

A mouse is an acronym for Manually Oscillating Utensil Sonically Engaged. It is the electronic finger of the computer. It is used to point at items in the window environment. The mouse arrow indicates your position on screen. It can change its shape depending upon your position on screen or the program you were using. In a word processor the mouse will appear as a flashing cursor or insertion point. Moving and clicking the mouse can move the cursor onscreen. The mouse has 2 buttons. The left button is used to send signals to programs. The right mouse button gives the user various menus. By double clicking the left mouse button, programs can be opened. A new mouse, the Intellimouse, allows the user to scroll a screen in a program using a center wheel.


MONITOR

The monitor is the computer's screen or display. Monitors come in sizes from 14 inch, 17 inch, to as large as Gateway's 36 inch monitor.


KEYBOARD

The keyboard is another means of sending information to the computer. It does have much of the same keys as a typewriter keyboard and has these additional keys:

Function keys are found at the top of the keyboard. These control programs and are labeled F1 to F12. F1 always provides help in windows environment.