Category Archives: Glossary

Don’t know what all that computer gibberish used in this blog means? read and find out.

Computer Basics – What’s Inside a Computer? CPU

Glossary, Technical Tips

Having covered the basic for the computer internals, the motherboard, let’s see what’s attached to it. Let’s start with the CPU. CPU = Central Processing Unit. Also known simply as the processor, it is the part of the computer responsible for the actual execution of your programs, the brain of the operation if you will. Every time you press Enter to execute a command or start a program, every time you click on a link or an email to open them, and so forth, it is the CPU that executes those commands. Inside your computer, if you were to locate it, it’d look like a square-shaped, black, flat component attached to the motherboard; It will – surprisingly – be located in a somewhat central position within it. While that description may fit more than one component in your motherboard, generally speaking the CPU will be the largest one.

Since it is so common to read about a computer’s processing power and speed when looking at specifications, it is worthwhile to take a closer look at what it means and how it is measured. When talking about a computer’s processing power/speed, one is, generally speaking, talking about the CPU. I grazed in one my earlier articles the concept of computer speed. Let’s go a little deeper into it.

The basic concept is, the CPU’s power is measured by how many instructions it can carry out per time unit. The more instructions it can execute by, let’s say, 1 second, the more powerful it is. Related to this, although potentially deceiving, is the CPU’s clock speed rate. The what? the CPU’s clock speed rate. Simply put, it is the number of cycles per second (measured in Hertz, abbreviated Hz) in which the CPU operates. The more cycles per second, the less time an individual instruction should take to execute.

So, the next time you see anywhere, whether in a computer ad or in your screen when looking at your computer specifications, “CPU @ 2.4 GHz”, you will know they are talking about the CPU clock speed rate (2.4 GigaHertz, 1 giga = 1,000,000,000, so 2,400,000,000 cycles per second).

There you have it. The CPU.

Computer Basics – What’s Inside a Computer? Motherboard

Glossary, Technical Tips

This is the first in a series of articles about the parts inside a computer. And what better part to start with than the motherboard, also called main board or system board (logic board for Apple computers). In the context of computers, if you ever see the term mobo being used, that is what is referring to (motherboard).

So what is a motherboard anyways? If you’ve ever seen the inside of many electronic devices, computers included, you’ve probably seen a thin plastic-looking green (although it can also be blue and red) board with copper color lines running through it. That is a printed circuit board. Thanks to our friend Eisler, it has been used in radios, TVs, etc., since the 1950’s. In computers, a motherboard is the main printed circuit board, to which normally all the other components inside a computer are attached, one way or another, thus populating it. All the other components that will be covered in future articles on this series are parts attached to it.

So what does it do? It provides electric connectivity to the various other parts of a computer. Think of it as a city, with streets that take you from one destination to another (or watch the movie Tron and you will see a perfect animated illustration for it). Obviously it also provides other components mechanical support (holds all other parts together).

That’s pretty much it. Perhaps the most basic and fundamental part inside a computer, the motherboard.

Zero-day Exploit

Glossary

The term derives from the age of the exploit (a piece of software that takes advantage of a bug or vulnerability in a computer). When Microsoft becomes aware of a security hole, there is a race to close it before more attackers discover it or the vulnerability becomes public. A “zero day” attack occurs on or before the first or “zeroth” day of vendor awareness, meaning Microsoft has not had any opportunity to disseminate a security fix to users of the software. This also applies to other software applications, not just the operating system.

Memory

Glossary

Memory is the part of a computer system that stores data. Since all computers really do is handle data, memory plays an important role in it.

The amount of memory a computer can store and the speed with which the data can be stored/retrieved dictate a good part of the computer’s power. While there is more than one kind of memory, for the purpose of this definition we’re referring to the physical memory used by the computer to store and retrieve information during the time programs are running. This memory is known as RAM, which stands for Random Access Memory.

Typically a computer’s memory can be or should be upgraded (replaced with bigger memory circuits) at low cost to a consumer.

Why would you want to do that? Without getting technical, if a computer is using most of its physical memory, it will be heavily using the paging file, a big file in the hard disk used as memory. Access times to the hard disk are much slower than to the RAM, and thus when the computer needs to read and write to the memory, it slows down considerably.

That’s why the solution most usually suggested is to increase the amount of RAM.  The other side of the coin would be to ensure that useless programs (we call these bloatware) are not running, as they consume memory but do not necessarily add anything to the computer’s performance.

While upgrading your memory or getting rid of bloatware can be a relatively easy task, it is best done by a professional who knows what they’re doing while performing such tasks in your computer.  This is for a few reasons.  First, choosing the wrong type of memory can result in incompatibility issues, wasting valuable time and potentially damaging the unit. Attempting to remove bloatware without understanding your systems fully can potentially remove wrong applications “ some of which may be vitally needed for the computer to operate at all.
 
If you can see this could be a problem you are running into, feel free to let me know.  The professionals in my office can take a look and suggest the proper direction you should take to handle your specific situation.