We always try our best here not to confuse you too much when talking about computers, but then even we admit it's likely to happen at some point! So because of this, we have included below a handy explanation to many techie terms we may use around the website. Hope it helps!

Pick a subject...

An operating system is what is needed to run the programs on a computer. It makes the link between programs and hardware.

Microsoft Windows is the most popular operating systems, with Linux, Unix, and Solaris being less popular.

Windows Vista is the latest operating system from Microsoft, and it comes in 4 main versions, these being Basic, Premium, Business and Ultimate.
A comparison of each version can be found on Microsoft's website.


Screenshot of Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Operating System

What an operating system does
The easiest way to understand what an operating system does is to take a close look at what computers were like before operating systems were invented.

The earliest electronic computers did not have any operating system. If the user wanted to change what the computer was doing, the user had to open the back panel on the (then very large) computer, and change how the wires were connected. Changing what the computer did was very time consuming and required an expert.

Later, computer scientists decided that it was better to have the wires stay as they were, and feed instructions to the computer with punch cards or magnetic tape. The computer would store the instructions in some kind of memory. This way of operating a computer is called the von Neumann architecture.

Still, computers of the time generally only had enough memory to "remember" one program at a time. If the user wanted the computer to run a different program, the user had to wipe out the first program from memory and then load another program into memory.

Computer operators and computer scientists grew tired of carrying around large stacks of punch cards. They also wanted their computers to run more than one program at a time. As the memory capabilities of computers got better over the years, they decided that it would be better if the computer could hold several programs in its memory. The computer user could then simply choose which program they wanted to run. Running a computer this way requires a "boss" program that controls all the other program, and asks the user what program they want to run. Such a boss program is called an operating system.

Having several programs in memory that can be run at any time presents some new problems. The operating system itself has to remember where the programs are at in memory. The operating system also has to prevent two programs from fighting over which one gets to use the processor.

These days it is unthinkable to have a desktop computer without some kind of operating system. Operating systems generally start up automatically when the user turns on the computer.

Information on this article was compiled using data from Wikipedia.

The processor (often referred to as the CPU - Central Processing Unit) is the brains of the computer. It's job is to process information that is sent to it, and simply put, the faster it can process this data, the faster your PC can run. A number of factors control how fast a CPU can run, mainly including the speed (measured in Ghz), the FSB (short for Front Side Bus), how many cores the CPU has, and the Cache.

Jargon Terms Explained

• Ghz
  This is what the speed of the CPU is measured in. The higher this number is, the faster your CPU can run, and so in turn the faster your computer will be. Unfortunately however it is not completely that simple. There are other factors which you need to take into consideration such as the FSB, the amount of cores your CPU runs at, and the amount of Cache it has.
  
  
• FSB (Front Side Bus)
  The FSB is how all the components on a computer connect to the main CPU. Like most things, it runs at a certain speed and this is measured in Mhz. Again, like the CPU the faster this number is the faster everything can communicate with each other, and so the faster your PC should run.
  
  
• Cores
  A Core is the main part of any CPU, and is where all the processing takes place. Today, you can get CPU which has multiple cores, usually either 2 or 4. So, if you had a Dual core CPU, you would have a CPU that has 2 Cores which means it can process 2 sets of data at the same time and at the same speed as if you just had one. So you could say it's like having 2 standard CPU's!
  
  Also just like a dual core, a quad core CPU gives you a CPU with 4 cores, which as you can imagine can give a significant performance boost.
  
  
• Cache
  The best way to explain CPU cache is to imagine it as very fast and very expensive memory. Just like the memory in a standard computer it's used to store things temporarily, but the CPU cache only stores things that are accessed very often. This means that when you perform a task that requires the CPU to access this again, it will be stored in it's very fast memory instead of having to get it from the normal memory, and this will result in your computer running a lot faster overall.
  
  The cache is however limited on the amount of data it can store. Because it's very expensive you don't get a lot of it, but the more you can get the faster you will find your PC should run.

More Detail
A central processing unit (CPU) is a machine that can execute computer programs. This broad definition can easily be applied to many early computers that existed long before the term "CPU" ever came into widespread usage. The term itself and its initialism have been in use in the computer industry at least since the early 1960s (Weik 1961). The form, design and implementation of CPUs have changed dramatically since the earliest examples, but their fundamental operation has remained much the same.

Early CPUs were custom-designed as a part of a larger, sometimes one-of-a-kind, computer. However, this costly method of designing custom CPUs for a particular application has largely given way to the development of mass-produced processors that are suited for one or many purposes. This standardization trend generally began in the era of discrete transistor mainframes and minicomputers and has rapidly accelerated with the popularization of the integrated circuit (IC). The IC has allowed increasingly complex CPUs to be designed and manufactured to tolerances on the order of nanometers. Both the miniaturization and standardization of CPUs have increased the presence of these digital devices in modern life far beyond the limited application of dedicated computing machines. Modern microprocessors appear in everything from automobiles to cell phones to children's toys.

The first version of what could be considered the "modern computer" is generally agreed to be the IBM-XT and XT-like computers released in the mid-80's, most of which had 4- and 8-MHz processors in them. Processor speeds are measured in hertz (Hz). 4 megahertz (MHz) means 4 million times per second. While this may sound like a lot, today's computers have processors that run at 3 gigahertz (GHz), which means that they complete 3 billion instructions per second. This large difference in speed means that today's computers run very quickly, but it's important to remember the speed of a processor is not the only factor in how fast a computer runs during daily use, as other components in your PC may slow some processes down.

Information on this article was compiled using data from Wikipedia.

The memory of a computer is often referred to as Random Access Memory (or simply RAM). It's purpose is to temporarily store data for certain applications you have running. Because of this, the more RAM you have in your PC the more programs you can run, and in many cases the faster they will run.

More Detail
RAM is the memory or information storage in a computer that is used to store running programs and data for the programs. Data (information) in the RAM can be read and written quickly in any order. Normally, the random access memory is in the form of computer chips. Usually, the contents of RAM are accessible faster than other types of information storage but are lost every time the computer is turned off.

In information technologies we use the term DDR2 SDRAM for a Double Data Rate memory module of the second generation. This technology is used for high speed storage of the working data. The main difference between DDR and DDR2 modules is that the bus on which the DDR2 memory modules are working is clocked at twice the speed of the memory cells. In practical terms we can say that four words of data can be transferred during one memory cell cycle. To sum it up DDR2 can effectively operate at twice the bus speed of DDR.

DDR3 is new-generation type of RAM which runs at faster speeds than DDR2. You will usually find this in only the highest spec machines, but in time will supersede DDR2.

Information on this article was compiled using data from Wikipedia.

A graphics card card, also known as a graphics accelerator card, display adapter, or video card, is a hardware component whose function is to generate and output images to a display. It contains it's own processor and RAM which work together and can perform a number of tasks, but is usually used to display 3D graphics.

If you want to be able to play modern games on your PC then it is important to have a powerful graphics card, else you may find yourself playing the games at low resolutions and slow frame rates which ruins the picture quality and game playability.

More Detail
Displaying advanced and smooth 3D graphics is one of the most demanding tasks a PC can be used for. As a result PC’s often come equipped with their own graphic solutions. In PC’s that are better equipped to deal with 3D Graphics the solution is often presented in the form of a separate graphics card as opposed to an integrated graphics processor.

The term is usually used to refer to a separate, dedicated expansion card that is plugged into a slot on the computer's motherboard, as opposed to a graphics controller integrated into the motherboard chipset. An integrated graphics controller may be referred to as an "integrated graphics processor" (IGP).

If the graphics card is integrated in the motherboard, it may use the computer RAM (lower throughput). If it is not integrated, the video card will have its own video memory, called Video RAM. The memory capacity of most modern video cards range from 128 MB to 4.0 GB. Since video memory needs to be accessed by the GPU and the display circuitry, it often uses special high speed or multi-port memory, such as VRAM, WRAM, SGRAM, etc. Around 2003, the video memory was typically based on DDR technology. During and after that year, manufacturers moved towards DDR2, GDDR3 and GDDR4 even GDDR5. The memory clock rate in modern cards are generally between 400 MHz and 3.8 GHz.

Video memory may be used for storing other data as well as the screen image, such as the Z-buffer, which manages the depth coordinates in 3D graphics, textures, vertex buffers, and compiled shader programs.

Information on this article was compiled using data from Wikipedia.

A hard disk or hard disk drive (sometimes 'disk' is also spelled disc) or hard drive, is something used by computers and other electronic devices to store information.

Size Guide
The following is a guide only, as many factors can ultimately effect how much data you can store.

• 160GB
  Plenty of documents, a standard amount of programmes, a small selection of games, a selection of music that would be equivalent to a very large CD collection (400 albums / 7000 songs) and large photo/picture collection (over 4,000 photos).
  
  
• 250GB
  Thousands of documents, a standard to large amount of programmes, a normal selection of games, a very large selection of music (1,000 albums / 20,000 songs), a large photo/ picture collection (over 15,000 photos) plus further room for 75 movies/ TV programmes).
  
  
• 500GB
  Thousands of documents, a large amount of programmes, a large selection of games, an exhaustive music collection (2000 albums, 40,000 songs), an extensive photo/picture collection (over 40,000 pictures) plus further room for a collection of 150 movies/TV programmes.

More Detail
Hard disks use magnets to store information. A hard disk is sometimes known by its acronym, HD, or HDD. The capacity of a hard drive is usually measured in gigabytes (GB). A gigabyte is one thousand megabytes and a megabyte is one million bytes, which means that a gigabyte is one billion bytes. Some hard drives are so large that their capacity is measured in terabytes, (TB) where one terabyte is a thousand gigabytes (1 TB = 1000 GB).

There are several different types of interface when dealing with hard drives. The most common formats are the IDE interface (also known as eIDE or ATA/133), or the SATA interface, which is found in most new home desktop PCs. SATA allows for faster data transfer rates than IDE and comes in several sub-categories, each with its own speed and protocols. For high-end applications (i.e. servers within businesses), the SCSI (pronounced 'scuzzy') interface is very popular. Again, there are several types of SCSI interface, each stepping-up in terms of speed and price. Within servers, several SCSI drives are often used in conjunction with each other, in order to safeguard against data loss or corruption (this is known as RAID - and there are many different configurations to choose from).

In addition to the above interfaces, Fibre Channel drives are now becoming more popular at the higher end of the market, however for your average domestic computer user, the choice for the moment lies between IDE and SATA.

Information on this article was compiled using data from Wikipedia.

As you would expect, a CD drive is something that standard in most PC's today, but some offer more features than others. To help you understand what these features are, continue reading for a definition of the terms used.

It is important to understand that these features are listed in order. In most cases if you were to have a CD/DVD drive with a particular feature that's listed below, it would also be able to support all the features listed before it. So for example, a DVD-R drive will be able to read and write DVD's, but also read and write normal CD's.

CD-ROM	Can read normal CD's
CD-R	Can write recordable CD's
CD-RW	Can write recordable and re-recordable CD's
DVD-ROM	Can read normal DVD's
DVD±R	Can write recordable DVD's
DVD±RW	Can write recordable and re-recordable DVD's
BD-ROM	Can read Blu-ray discs
BD-R	Can write recordable Blu-ray discs
BD-RW	Can write recordable and re-recordable Blu-ray discs

More Detail
In computing, an optical disc drive (ODD) is a disk drive that uses laser light or electromagnetic waves near the light spectrum as part of the process of reading and writing data. It is a computer's peripheral device, that stores data on optical discs. Some drives can only read from discs, but commonly drives are both readers and recorders. Recorders are sometimes called burners or writers.

Common media and technology families include CD, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc. Optical disc drives are generally used for small-scale archival or data exchange, being slower and more materially expensive per unit than the moulding process used to mass-manufacture pressed discs. But they—along with flash memory—have displaced floppy disk drives and magnetic tape drives in most cases because of the low cost of optical media and the near-ubiquity of optical drives in computers and consumer entertainment hardware.

Information on this article was compiled using data from Wikipedia.

Networking capabilities is something that comes built in with most computers. It allows you to connect to other computers locally or to be able to connect to the world wide web. Most network communications today are carried over Category 5e or Category 6 cable with an RJ45 modular plug crimped on each end, but can also be done wirelessly which is popular with notebook computers.

RJ45
RJ45 plugs and sockets are most regularly used as an Ethernet connector. RJ45 are commonly used in computer networking, where the plug on each end is an RJ45 modular plug wired according to a TIA/EIA standard. These cables are typically used to connect Ethernet or Token Ring network interfaces.

Wireless
Having a wireless card in your PC (image shown) allows you to connect to a network over a wireless connection, so no cable connection is required. You would however need a wireless router to be able to connect to such a network in the first place.

Information on this article was compiled using data from Wikipedia.

A TV tuner card is a computer component that allows television signals to be received by a computer. Most TV tuners also function as video capture cards, allowing them to record television programs onto a hard disk. This effectively turns your PC into a PVR, just like Sky+ or Freeview+.

Digital TV is broadcasted as an MPEG-2 stream, so no encoder is necessary; instead, the digital cards either provide the whole MPEG transport stream or extract the individual (audio and video) elementary streams.

Information on this article was compiled using data from Wikipedia.

A sound card (audio card) is the part of the Computer hardware that controls the input and output of the sound signals. A sound card is what is known as an expansion card. This means that the card can be added to the motherboard.

Sound cards in all PC's will support the standard audio formats that you would expect to see in today's market. This includes stereo, 5.1 and 7.1.

Nowadays, most of the audio cards are integrated with the motherboard. That means they are built in onto a motherboard and cannot be removed. In other words it is not an expansion card anymore. They offer line-in, speaker, and microphone connections and sometimes can even offer an optical or coaxial digital audio output. When thinking of computer architecture the integrated circuit sound cards occupy less space and thus became very popular and practical, especially for laptop computers.

For the best possible audio quality however, it is recommended that a separate standalone sound card is purchased, as one of the many extra features it can offer is a reduction in hiss at higher volumes.

Information on this article was compiled using data from Wikipedia.

A speaker is a device that is used to create the sound in radios, computer audio systems, television sets, and electric musical instrument amplifier systems.

There are various types of speaker set-up ranging from a simple two speaker stereo system to a diverse 7.1 surround sound experience.

Stereo or (2.0) is the reproduction of sound using two audio speakers. This creates a pleasant and natural sound heard from various directions, as in natural hearing. 2.1 stereo is also available, which would include 2 stereo speakers, but also a larger sub-woofer to control the bass.
5.1 audio is the reproduction of sound using 5 satellite speakers and one low frequency sub-woofer to control the bass. The usual set-up for a system like this involves three front speakers (right, left and centre) and two rear speakers (rear left and rear right) as well as the placement of a subwoofer.
7.1 audio is similar to 5.1 but has the addition of a right and left side-speaker for a further enhanced audio experience.

Information on this article was compiled using data from Wikipedia.

A monitor, sometimes called a visual display unit, is a piece of electrical equipment which displays images generated from the video output of devices such as computers.

Most newer monitors typically consist of a TFT LCD (all monitors provided by Vella are of this kind, unless otherwise stated), with older monitors based around a cathode ray tube (CRT).

The size of a display is typically given as the distance between two opposite screen corners. One problem with this method is that it does not distinguish between the aspect ratios of monitors with identical diagonal sizes, in spite of the fact that a shape of a given diagonal span's area decreases as it becomes less square. For example, a 4:3 21" monitor has an area of ~211 square inches, while a 16:9 21" widescreen has an area of only ~188 square inches.

This method of measurement is from the first types of CRT television, when round picture tubes were in common use. Being circular, they only needed to use their diameter to describe their tube size. When round tubes were used to display rectangular images, the diagonal measurement was equivalent to the round tube's diameter. This method continued even when CRT tubes were manufactured as rounded rectangles.

TFT... LCD... ?
A thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) is a variant of liquid crystal display (LCD) which uses thin film transistor (TFT) technology to improve image quality (e.g. addressability, contrast). TFT LCD is one type of active matrix LCD, though all LCD-screens are based on TFT active matrix addressing. TFT LCDs are used in television sets, computer monitors, mobile phones and computers, handheld video game systems (such as the Nintendo DS), personal digital assistants, navigation systems, projectors, etc.

Information on this article was compiled using data from Wikipedia.

VGA
The common 15-pin VGA connector found on most video cards, computer monitors, and other devices, is used solely to carry analogue component RGBHV (red - green - blue - horizontal sync - vertical sync) video signals.

More recently in higher spec computers DVI ports have been preferred to VGA ports as they can transmit digital signals resulting in better picture quality.

DVI
A DVI Port allows the connection of a DVI device, resulting in better picture quality than a standard VGA port/device. This is due to a DVI set up transmitting a digital signal as opposed to an analogue signal.

The Digital Visual Interface (DVI) is a video interface standard designed to maximize the visual quality of digital display devices such as flat panel LCD computer displays and digital projectors. It is designed for carrying uncompressed digital video data to a display. It is partially compatible with the High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) standard in digital mode (DVI-D), and VGA in analogue mode (DVI-A).

USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a serial bus standard to interface devices to a host computer. USB was designed to allow many peripherals to be connected using a single standardized interface socket and to improve the Plug and play capabilities by allowing devices to be connected and disconnected without rebooting the computer or turning off the device. Other convenient features include providing power to low-consumption devices without the need for an external power supply and allowing many devices to be used without requiring manufacturer specific, individual device drivers to be installed.

USB is intended to replace many legacy varieties of serial and parallel ports. USB can connect computer peripherals such as mice, keyboards, PDAs, gamepads and joysticks, scanners, digital cameras, printers, personal media players, flash drives, and external hard drives. For many of those devices USB has become the standard connection method. USB was originally designed for personal computers, but it has become commonplace on other devices such as PDAs and video game consoles.

AA 'High-Speed' (USB 2.0) rate of 480 Mbit/s (60 MB/s) was introduced in 2001. All 'High-Speed' devices are capable of falling back to 'Full-Speed' (USB 1.0) operation if necessary.

As of late 2009, USB 3.0 is available which runs at a 'Super-Speed' rate of 5.0 Gbit/s.

Information on this article was compiled using data from Wikipedia.

In computing, a keyboard is an input device, partially modelled after the typewriter keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys. They can be both wired and wireless.

Because Wireless Keyboards do not require any wires, this helps reduce the amount of clutter around the often overcrowded space of a computer as well as allowing the user more freedom to move, taking the keyboard with them.

104-key "Windows" keyboard
This keyboard layout, with its bottom row Windows keys and Menu key, was introduced for use with the Microsoft Windows 95 operating system in the USA. The corresponding keyboards for European and Asian markets have 105 and 109 keys, respectively. Most modern PCs, including those not running a version of Windows, are now delivered with this type of keyboard. Users of non-Windows operating systems often have the option of re-mapping the Menu and Windows keys to other functions.

Information on this article was compiled using data from Wikipedia.

In computing, a mouse is a pointing device that functions by detecting motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of an object held under one of the user's hands, with one or more buttons. It sometimes features other elements, such as "wheels", which allow the user to perform various system-dependent operations, or extra buttons or features can add more control. The mouse's motion typically translates into the motion of a pointer on a display, which allows for fine control of a Graphical User Interface.

Like a keyboard, a mouse is available both wired and wireless.

Optical Mouse
An optical mouse uses a LED and photodiodes to detect movement relative to the underlying surface, rather than moving some of its parts (the mouse ball) – as in a mechanical mouse. This makes for a much easier more accurate experience as opposed to a more traditional mechanical mouse. Unlike mechanical mice, which can become clogged with lint, optical mice have no rolling parts; therefore, they do not require maintenance other than removing debris that might collect under the light emitter. An additional advantage of an optical mouse is that a mouse matt is no longer required as an optical mouse is able to function on most surfaces.

Information on this article was compiled using data from Wikipedia.

A multi card reader is a device used for communication with more than one type of flash memory card. Multi card readers do not have any built-in memory capacity, but are able to accept multiple types and styles of memory cards.

The number of compatible memory cards varies from reader to reader and can include more than 20 different types. The number of different memory cards that a multi card reader can accept is expressed as x-in-1, with x being the number of memory cards accepted such as 35-in-1.

Information on this article was compiled using data from Wikipedia.

A computer case (also known as the computer chassis, cabinet, tower, box, enclosure, housing or simply case) is the enclosure that contains the main components of a computer. Cases are usually constructed from steel (often SECC - Steel, Electrogalvanized, Cold-rolled, Coil), aluminium, or plastic, although other materials such as wood, plexiglas, and legos have also been used in case designs.

Through the 1990s, most computer cases had simple rectangular shapes, and were often painted beige. Beige box designs are still found on a large number of budget computers assembled from generic components.

Case modding is the artistic styling of computer cases, often to draw attention to the use of advanced or unusual components. Since the early 2000s, some cases have included clear side panels or acrylic windows so that users can look inside while it is operating. Modded cases may also include internal lighting, custom paint, or liquid cooling systems. Some hobbyists build custom cases from raw materials like aluminium, steel, acrylic, or wood.

Information on this article was compiled using data from Wikipedia.