What is a computer
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What we are going to look at now is, what is a computer? Now, in doing essential digital skills training, we are looking at computers being a MacBook or a computer or a laptop, but computers are not just the things that we would use with a keypad. Computers are in everything; they are in your washing machines, in your televisions and all sorts of other pieces of electronic equipment. There are two main types of computer: The laptop and the desktop computer. Now, each one of these are different, the laptop is more mobile, the desktop is more... Stays in one place, but they basically work in the same way.
Now, inside the computer, there are two main components: There is the hardware and the software. The hardware is the physical computer itself, so you have got the casing, the drive, the power supply, all the actual things that you can see. The software is the data and the programs that run inside it. These are the things that make the program work. You also have what is called an operating system. This is the engine that actually drives the computer itself, and depending on what type of computer you have, you have different operating systems. So if you have a Windows machine, you will have a Windows operating system. If you have Mac, then they have a Mac system, and Chrome has its own operating system as well for the Chrome Books. So the actual hardware is just the bit you are seeing, but the software is the bit that makes it all work.
There is also other parts of hardware, which will be the keyboard and the mouse, or external drives and cables that go with the computer, and then there is the software that is related to them. So if you have got an external drive or external programs, then that works the same. The final part is the modem, the way of connecting to the internet. Now, all computers now, or pretty much all of them, will have built into them easy ways of directly accessing the internet, so you can connect up to Wi-Fi or you can connect into the router box where your internet comes into your house or your business, and then you will straight away onto the Internet, which will then give you access to all of the benefits and different data storage and websites that you can see.