This article was written in February 2008. Some computer specs may be out of date.

Technology often gets a bad rap for being hard to understand or being far too complicated to use. While there are aspects of technology that are complicated, there are many “common” terms that people will often glaze over because they don’t think they can understand what is being talked about.

Take computer specifications, for example. When companies are trying to sell computers they will plaster their boxes and pamphlets with processor speed, amount of RAM, hard drive space, graphics processor trying to get consumers interested in their product. Many of the consumers, however, have no idea what any of those things mean and the second they see words like “2.6 Ghz” their eyes glaze over and they stop paying attention.

In this article I want to explain some of these computer terms to help build a better understanding of the computer and how it works. It is can be relatively simple when looked at from the correct light; my goal is to get the correct lighting.

The computer processor, also referred to as the CPU (Central Processing Unit) of the computer is the most predominant term used when describing a computer. The computer processor is the engine of the computer, it is the small little chip that does all the calculations. Today processors speed is measured in “Gigahertz” (Ghz). The larger the Ghz, the faster the computer is able to process things. Most computers today are between 2 and 3 Ghz in speed.

For the processor to function at optimum speed it needs to have enough RAM. RAM, which stands for Random Access Memory (no, you don’t need to remember that), is another term that is thrown around quite regularly. RAM, also called ‘memory’ at times, is like basket that holds information about what the computer is doing. The processor then takes the information from the basket and processes it as it needs too. RAM is measured in MB (Megabytes) and GB (Gigabytes). Today it is recommended that a computer has at least 512 MB of RAM and now even 1 GB (1024 MB) of RAM is almost standard. If a computer seems to be running really slowly it is often because it does not have enough RAM and adding more RAM would speed the computer up.

A computer’s hard drive might also affect the computer’s performance. Hard drives store the computer’s data on metallic disks for safe keeping. Hard drives are measured by their storage capacity. Today hard drive capacity ranges from 40 GB (again, measured in Gigabytes, just like RAM is) to 750 GB. Some high end drives are now even talking about having a Terabyte capacity which is the equivalent to 1024 GB. It is easy to see that the more space on the drive, the more room there is for documents, music and pictures.

A hard drive can affect a computer’s performance in a couple different ways the first of which is drive speed. Hard drive disks have a limit of how fast they can spin around, this is known as RPM (revolutions per minute.) The RPM of the hard drive affects how fast data can be read or written to the hard drive, so if the hard drive has a low RPM it will take longer to load the data into the RAM and the processor might have to wait for data to be loaded from the hard drive. Most laptop computer drives have speed of 4800 or 5400 RPM, which is actually considered slow for drives. Most desktop computer drives have a speed of 7200 RPM which is noticeably faster. (A few high end drives offer 10000 RPM drives, but these are usually reserved for special use.)

The second way that a hard drive can affect a computer’s performance is when it is filled with data. Because the programs that the computer runs take more RAM to run then the computer creates something called VRAM which stands for Virtual Random Access Memory or just Virtual Memory. What this means is that the computer sets aside part of the hard drive and pretends like it is RAM. When the computer does this it is using 5-15 GB of space on the hard drive just to keep everything running smoothly. But if there is less than 10 GB of free space on the hard drive the computer will slow down because it won’t be able to give itself enough virtual memory. Freeing up space on the hard drive or getting a second hard drive is a good way to solve this type of slowdown.

Hopefully this helps to shed some light on understanding of these technology issues and maybe even helps to clear up a few problems.

This is a column I wrote for a college newspaper.

Technology is constantly changing. Technology companies are constantly adding new features to their products, but they usually only tout the really exciting ones in their advertising. Many times the instructions for how to use these features is buried in a thick manual or vaguely depicted in a small pamphlet. To use each feature to it’s fullest requires an understanding which is best learned through playing around.

Unfamiliar technology can be scary, but familiarity is gained through exposure, the more someone uses a gadget or a program the more they will understand how it works. However, this is only helps that person if they try something new. Without experimenting or playing around with different features there is no way to learn how to use them (short of reading a manual.)

A similar example can be made for any other activity. To become better at a sport an athlete needs to practice and play that sport. Practice is required to become a better instrumentalist. Homework assignments are given so that students can gain a better understanding of the concepts via repetition.
One thing that scares people with respect to technology is the concept of lost data. Even though horror stories are told of people who lost everything on their computer, there are many methods of saving data or backing up data before playing with it and potentially destroying it.

To give a personal example, I do quite a bit of work with photos in different image editing programs. If I am going to work on an image and I am not sure what I need to do to the image, I’ll often duplicate the image and work on a copy rather than the original. This allows me to completely mutilate the image, and still be able to start over. If I am working with layers in Photoshop, I’ll often duplicate the layer before making any huge changes as an extra precaution.

The important thing to realize is that the world of technology is constantly changing and there are a lot of programs which are readily available and carry a huge potential for creation or automation, but require some time to get use too. It is not that they are hard to use, it is just that they require some playing around first. So take some time to play around.

Mac vs PC

Both the Mac OS and Windows software offer Keyboard Shortcuts, they differ though, on how they display them. In Mac software the key symbols are shown, which will not always appear on they keyboard keys.

Example:

On Windows the key abbreviation is shown followed by a “+” (plus symbol) and then the appropriate letter.

Example:

The Symbols (For Mac OS X):
The most confusing thing about keyboard shortcuts are the symbols listed in the menu. Even a tech-savy user like myself can have trouble deciphering what keys need to be pushed. It is not necessary to remember which symbol is which, but it is good to know what possible buttons the symbol could be referring too. This will at least allow you to try different key combos if you ever need too. (For times when choosing the menu item is not an option.)
Shift:
Control:
Option/Alt:
Command:
Function/fn:
Keypad directions:

Example:
In most applications there is a menu labeled “Edit”. Clicking on the “Edit” menu will offer choices such as “Copy” and “Paste”. The Keyboard shortcut for Copy is “” on Mac and “” on Windows. Pressing this button combo will copy any selected text (and or images) to the clipboard.

Windows Keyboard Tip:
When using a Windows App, pressing the Alt (or Option) Key will Underline specific letters in the program menu or in a drop down menu. Pressing these key corresponding with the underlined letter will either open the menu or activate the menu item. In effect, Windows is underlining the appropriate letter to push for each keyboard command.

Related Links:
Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/126449

Mac OS X Keyboard Shortcuts
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1343

List of the keyboard shortcuts that are available in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/301583