First unit was hardware. Hardware is the components of the computer and how the computer is made. The Hardware of a modern personal computer are the following; Monitor, Motherboard, CPU, RAM, Expansion cards, Power supply, Optical disc drive, Hard disk drive, Keyboard, Mouse.
Hardware of a modern Personal Computer.
1. Monitor 2. Motherboard
3. CPU 4. RAM
5. Expansion cards 6. Power supply
7. Optical disc drive 8. Hard disk drive
9. Keyboard 10. Mouse
A monitor is a device that displays signals on a computer screen, Another term for this would be a display screen but monitor normally means the whole box surrounding the display screen and the screen. A motherboard is a thin rectangular piece that connects parts of the computer including the CPU, Ram and disc drive. “It is a large rectangular board with integrated circuitry that connects the rest of the parts of the computer”A CPU (central processing unit) is the brains of the computer all the calculations and jobs are done here “In terms of computing power, the CPU is the most important element of a computer system.” RAM(random-access memory) This is a memory chip. If you have more RAM therefore your computer will run quicker “the most common computer memory, which can be used by programs to perform necessary tasks while the computer is on.” Expansion cards also known as expansion boards, adapter cards and accessory card is a circuit board that is inserted into the expansion slot of a motherboard to add more functions to your computer system. Optical disc drive (ODD) “is a disc drive that uses laser light or electromagnetic waves near the light spectrum as part of the process of reading or writing data to or from optical discs.” The hard disc drive is where most programs and files are stored “The main data storage in most personal computers. It holds all of the software, including the operating system, as well as user-created data files. Capacities range up to 150 gigabytes and beyond.”
Computer software or Software is just a collection of programs, data “and related data that provide the instructions telling a computer what to do and how to do it.”
Some examples include; Application software such as computer games and word processers. Testware is software used for testing programs or a software package. “Device drivers control parts of computers such as disk drives, printers, CD drives, or computer monitors.”
Computer network is basically a community of computers interacting with each other. Network also means “is a collection of computers and devices interconnected by communications channels that facilitate communications among users and allows users to share resources.” Your computers can create a network by using ‘Terminal.’ Terminal is an application that connects you computers to create a network. You connect these by using IP addresses. IP addresses (Internet Protocol address) is “usually a numerical label assigned to each device”
The Internet is a worldwide networks linked together. The Internet was made for a nuclear attack. First they had a piece of wire that connected two people together but it’s easy to hack into the system and listen to the speaker. It was very inconvenient because one person had to walk and it would take days till they finally reached the other person, you also couldn’t speak to more than one person at a time.
Now, Humans rely on computers and technology a lot more than they have done in the past. Technology affect our daily lives, we have a T.V, Car, Laptops. Ect.
Although computers are useful, although people around the world misuse them and causes such problems as Hacking, plagiarism, downloading software for free, Email and chat abuse, Identity abuse and Viruses “Computers can either affect in a good way or a bad way, it depends. For example, it can affect people's lives in a good way because we can use it for studying and research. But, the computer can also be effective in a bad way because computer games can control people’s lives if they are to addicted to that one certain game. Then people should take steps to get back on track with their addiction and control it.”
Hacking is where a person connects to a network or guesses a password to someone’s account on a website or computer. Basically hacking is where the hacker breaks into something they are not permitted to see. Hackers can find your information in many ways. They could guess a password, you may leave some information somewhere, and they could read information of shred outs that are found in bins, they could break into a network.
Plagiarism is where you copy someone’s thoughts, ideas or words. If you copy and paste without putting quotations and a bibliography you are plagiarizing.
Downloading Software or free: This is where when software that normally costs and you download it for free. This is bad because people, who spend time making the software and sell it, won’t get the money they deserve.
Email and Chat abuse: This can be different in many ways. People who abuse can pretend to be someone that their not, they can abuse someone and call them rude names or cyber bully. Some people get cyber bullied that they commit suicide. So when someone thinks their funny when their teasing another person the outcomes can be bad. You could also get into a lot of trouble for it.
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To prevent people hacking into your computer, you could change your passwords (Try something with numbers) Shred printouts that contain personal information or data, Put a lock on your computer and lock it when you are away, Don’t talk to strangers you don’t know and keep your personal information to yourself.
Biblography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_computer_hardware (March 16th 2011)
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/monitor.html (March 16th 2011)
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/CPU.html (March 16th 2011)
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&defl=en&q=define:ram&sa=X&ei=4h2ATb6XG8ikcdykpf8G&ved=0CBwQkAE (March 16th 2011)
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&q=define%3Ahard+disk+drive&btnG=Search (March 16th 2011)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_software (March 16th)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_software (March 16th 2011)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_network (March 16th 2011)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_address (March 23rd 2011)
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_computers_affect_people's_everyday_lives#ixzz1HNugvnAq (March 23rd 2011)
http://www.igcseict.info/theory/7_2/misuse/index.html (March 23rd 2011)
Maddy, your essay has some good work in it so far. Remember though, that the style is less descriptive of what you have done, with more emphasis on explaining how computer system's work.
ReplyDeleteMy primary concern is that in your essay you used many quotations. In an ICT essay, this is best avoided, as it does not show that you can explain the items in your own words, suggesting that you may not understand what you are presenting. It is not plagiarism, as you have shown your quotes and given references, but it is not good practice.
In your introduction you might want to use the Four Layer model, explaining this as a simplified way to understand how computers function.
In essays we generally try to avoid using long lists, so rather than list the hardware, just give a short introduction such as "The paragraphs below will explain the functioning and importance of the main hardware components of a computer", and then get into it.
Rather than starting with the monitor, I would start with the motherboard and CPU. Monitors are not essential to the operation of computers (although they help humans use them, a computer can run fine without a monitor). Remember, there are many kinds of computers, some of which are not designed for human use, but run out of sight, operating machines in factories or serving websites to us. Don't focus just on personal computers.
Whilst you have explained what most of the parts are, you have not mentioned how they work together. A good place to start is that the CPU can perform a certain range of predefined instructions. Programs are sets of instructions, and these are generally stored on the HDD. How do they get to the CPU? Via RAM. What happens after the instruction is performed? Usually the CPU has some data it must send back to the HDD, again via RAM. What happens if you cut the power before your data has made it from CPU all the way to the HDD? I will let you answer that!
For software, can you explain the different between the operating system and application software? What is the purpose of the operating system? Why is it needed?