COMPUTER BASICS,Hardware,Software ,Types of Computers,Removable Storage

COMPUTER BASICS

 Computer Basics introduces general computer use and terminology. It describes the basic hardware components of a PC and introduces basic skills for using software programs in a windows environment. This course will address hardware and peripheral components of the computer and how to use them correctly. 

After completing Computer Basics the user should be able to:

	Describe the basic components of the computer.
	Describe hardware and software.
	Identify peripheral devices.
	Identify input and output devices.
	Start the computer, run programs and shut down the computer.
	Control program windows and menus. Computer is an advanced electronic device that takes raw data as input from the user and processes it under the control of set of instructions (called program), gives the result (output), and saves it for the future use. Functionalities of a computer Any digital computer carries out five functions in gross terms: Takes data as input. Stores the data/instructions in its memory and use them when required. Processes the data and converts it into useful information. Generates the output Controls all the above four steps. Definition Computer is an electronic data processing device which accepts and stores data input, processes the data input, and generates the output in a required format. Advantages Following list demonstrates the advantages of computers in today's arena. High Speed Computer is a very fast device. It is capable of performing calculation of very large amount of data. The computer has units of speed in microsecond, nanosecond, and even the picosecond. It can perform millions of calculations in a few seconds as compared to man who will spend many months for doing the same task. Accuracy In addition to being very fast, computers are very accurate. The calculations are 100% error free. Computers perform all jobs with 100% accuracy provided that correct input has been given. Storage Capability Memory is a very important characteristic of computers. A computer has much more storage capacity than human beings. It can store large amount of data. It can store any type of data such as images, videos, text, audio and many others. Diligence Unlike human beings, a computer is free from monotony, tiredness and lack of concentration. It can work continuously without any error and boredom. It can do repeated work with same speed and accuracy. Versatility A computer is a very versatile machine. A computer is very flexible in performing the jobs to be done. This machine can be used to solve the problems related to various fields. At one instance, it may be solving a complex scientific problem and the very next moment it may be playing a card game. Reliability A computer is a reliable machine. Modern electronic components have long lives. Computers are designed to make maintenance easy. Automation Computer is an automatic machine. Automation means ability to perform the given task automatically. Once a program is given to computer i.e., stored in computer memory, the program and instruction can control the program execution without human interaction. Reduction in Paper Work The use of computers for data processing in an organization leads to reduction in paper work and results in speeding up a process. As data in electronic files can be retrieved as and when required, the problem of maintenance of large number of paper files gets reduced. Reduction in Cost Though the initial investment for installing a computer is high but it substantially reduces the cost of each of its transaction. Disadvantages Following list demonstrates the disadvantages of computers in today's arena No I.Q A computer is a machine that has no intelligence to perform any task. Each instruction has to be given to computer. A computer cannot take any decision on its own. Dependency It functions as per a user’s instruction, so it is fully dependent on human being Environment The operating environment of computer should be dust free and suitable. No Feeling Computers have no feelings or emotions. It cannot make judgement based on feeling, taste, experience, and knowledge unlike a human being.      Computer - Applications Following list demonstrates various applications of computers in today's arena. Business A computer has high speed of calculation, diligence, accuracy, reliability, or versatility which made it an integrated part in all business organisations. Computer is used in business organisations for: Payroll calculations Budgeting Sales analysis Financial forecasting Managing employees database Maintenance of stocks etc. Banking Today banking is almost totally dependent on computer. Banks provide following facilities: Banks provide online accounting facility, which includes current balances, deposits, overdrafts, interest charges, shares, and trustee records. ATM machines are making it even easier for customers to deal with banks. Insurance Insurance companies are keeping all records up-to-date with the help of computers. The insurance companies, finance houses and stock broking firms are widely using computers for their concerns. Insurance companies are maintaining a database of all clients with information showing procedure to continue with policies starting date of the policies next due installment of a policy maturity date interests due survival benefits bonus Education The computer has provided a lot of facilities in the education system. The computer provides a tool in the education system known as CBE (Computer Based Education). CBE involves control, delivery, and evaluation of learning. The computer education is rapidly increasing the graph of number of computer students. There are number of methods in which educational institutions can use computer to educate the students. It is used to prepare a database about performance of a student and analysis is carried out on this basis. Marketing In marketing, uses of computer are following: Advertising - With computers, advertising professionals create art and graphics, write and revise copy, and print and disseminate ads with the goal of selling more products. At Home Shopping - Home shopping has been made possible through use of computerised catalogues that provide access to product information and permit direct entry of orders to be filled by the customers. Health Care Computers have become important part in hospitals, labs, and dispensaries. The computers are being used in hospitals to keep the record of patients and medicines. It is also used in scanning and diagnosing different diseases. ECG, EEG, Ultrasounds and CT Scans etc., are also done by computerised machines. Some major fields of health care in which computers are used are: Diagnostic System - Computers are used to collect data and identify cause of illness. Lab-diagnostic System - All tests can be done and reports are prepared by computer. Patient Monitoring System - These are used to check patient's signs for abnormality such as in Cardiac Arrest, ECG etc. Pharma Information System - Computer checks Drug-Labels, Expiry dates, harmful drug’s side effects etc. Surgery : Nowadays, computers are also used in performing surgery. Engineering Design Computers are widely used in Engineering purpose. One of major areas is CAD (Computer aided design). That provides creation and modification of images. Some fields are: Structural Engineering - Requires stress and strain analysis for design of Ships, Buildings, Budgets, Airplanes etc. Industrial Engineering - Computers deal with design, implementation and improvement of integrated systems of people, materials and equipments. Architectural Engineering - Computers help in planning towns, designing buildings, determining a range of buildings on a site using both 2D and 3D drawings. Military Computers are largely used in defence. Modern tanks, missiles, weapons etc. Military also employs computerised control systems. Some military areas where a computer has been used are: Missile Control Military Communication Military Operation and Planning Smart Weapons Communication Communication means to convey a message, an idea, a picture or speech that is received and understood clearly and correctly by the person for whom it is meant for. Some main areas in this category are: E-mail Chatting Usenet FTP Telnet Video-conferencing Government Computers play an important role in government. Some major fields in this category are: Budgets Sales tax department Income tax department Male/Female ratio Computerization of voters lists Computerization of driving licensing system Computerization of PAN card Weather forecasting Computer Generations Generation in computer terminology is a change in technology a computer is/was being used. Initially, the generation term was used to distinguish between varying hardware technologies. But nowadays, generation includes both hardware and software, which together make up an entire computer system. There are totally five computer generations known till date. Each generation has been discussed in detail along with their time period and characteristics. Here approximate dates against each generations have been mentioned which are normally accepted. Following are the main five generations of computers S.N. Generation & Description 1 First Generation The period of first generation: 1946-1959. Vacuum tube based. 2 Second Generation The period of second generation: 1959-1965. Transistor based. 3 Third Generation The period of third generation: 1965-1971. Integrated Circuit based. 4 Fourth Generation The period of fourth generation: 1971-1980. VLSI microprocessor based. 5 Fifth Generation The period of fifth generation: 1980-onwards. ULSI microprocessor based Computer - Types Computers can be broadly classified by their speed and computing power. Sr.No. Type Specifications 1 PC (Personal Computer) It is a single user computer system having moderately powerful microprocessor 2 WorkStation It is also a single user computer system which is similar to personal computer but have more powerful microprocessor. 3 Mini Computer It is a multi-user computer system which is capable of supporting hundreds of users simultaneously. 4 Main Frame It is a multi-user computer system which is capable of supporting hundreds of users simultaneously. Software technology is different from minicomputer. 5 Supercomputer It is an extremely fast computer which can execute hundreds of millions of instructions per second. PC (Personal Computer) A PC can be defined as a small, relatively inexpensive computer designed for an individual user. PCs are based on the microprocessor technology that enables manufacturers to put an entire CPU on one chip. Businesses use personal computers for word processing, accounting, desktop publishing, and for running spreadsheet and database management applications. At home, the most popular use for personal computers is playing games and surfing Internet. Although personal computers are designed as single-user systems, these systems are normally linked together to form a network. In terms of power, now-a-days High-end models of the Macintosh and PC offer the same computing power and graphics capability as low-end workstations by Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell. Workstation Workstation is a computer used for engineering applications (CAD/CAM), desktop publishing, software development, and other such types of applications which require a moderate amount of computing power and relatively high quality graphics capabilities. Workstations generally come with a large, high-resolution graphics screen, large amount of RAM, inbuilt network support, and a graphical user interface. Most workstations also have a mass storage device such as a disk drive, but a special type of workstation, called a diskless workstation, comes without a disk drive. Common operating systems for workstations are UNIX and Windows NT. Like PC, Workstations are also single-user computers like PC but are typically linked together to form a local-area network, although they can also be used as stand-alone systems. Minicomputer It is a midsize multi-processing system capable of supporting up to 250 users simultaneously. Mainframe Mainframe is very large in size and is an expensive computer capable of supporting hundreds or even thousands of users simultaneously. Mainframe executes many programs concurrently and supports many simultaneous execution of programs Supercomputer Supercomputers are one of the fastest computers currently available. Supercomputers are very expensive and are employed for specialized applications that require immense amount of mathematical calculations (number crunching). For example, weather forecasting, scientific simulations, (animated) graphics, fluid dynamic calculations, nuclear energy research, electronic design, and analysis of geological data (e.g. in petrochemical prospecting). Computer - Components All types of computers follow a same basic logical structure and perform the following five basic operations for converting raw input data into information useful to their users. Sr.No. Operation Description 1 Take Input The process of entering data and instructions into the computer system 2 Store Data Saving data and instructions so that they are available for processing as and when required. 3 Processing Data Performing arithmetic, and logical operations on data in order to convert them into useful information. 4 Output Information The process of producing useful information or results for the user, such as a printed report or visual display. 5 Control the workflow Directs the manner and sequence in which all of the above operations are performed. Input Unit This unit contains devices with the help of which we enter data into computer. This unit makes link between user and computer. The input devices translate the information into the form understandable by computer. CPU (Central Processing Unit) CPU is considered as the brain of the computer. CPU performs all types of data processing operations. It stores data, intermediate results and instructions(program). It controls the operation of all parts of computer. CPU itself has following three components ALU(Arithmetic Logic Unit) Memory Unit Control Unit Output Unit Output unit consists of devices with the help of which we get the information from computer. This unit is a link between computer and users. Output devices translate the computer's output into the form understandable by users. Computer - CPU(Central Processing Unit) CPU consists of the following features: CPU is considered as the brain of the computer. CPU performs all types of data processing operations. It stores data, intermediate results and instructions(program). It controls the operation of all parts of computer. CPU itself has following three components. Memory or Storage Unit Control Unit ALU(Arithmetic Logic Unit) Memory or Storage Unit This unit can store instructions, data and intermediate results. This unit supplies information to the other units of the computer when needed. It is also known as internal storage unit or main memory or primary storage or Random access memory(RAM). Its size affects speed, power and capability. Primary memory and secondary memory are two types of memories in the computer. Functions of memory unit are: It stores all the data and the instructions required for processing. It stores intermediate results of processing. It stores final results of processing before these results are released to an output device. All inputs and outputs are transmitted through main memory. Control Unit This unit controls the operations of all parts of computer but does not carry out any actual data processing operations. Functions of this unit are: It is responsible for controlling the transfer of data and instructions among other units of a computer. It manages and coordinates all the units of the computer. It obtains the instructions from the memory, interprets them, and directs the operation of the computer. It communicates with Input/Output devices for transfer of data or results from storage. It does not process or store data. ALU(Arithmetic Logic Unit) This unit consists of two subsections namely Arithmetic section Logic Section Arithmetic Section Function of arithmetic section is to perform arithmetic operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. All complex operations are done by making repetitive use of above operations. Logic Section Function of logic section is to perform logic operations such as comparing, selecting, matching and merging of data. Computer - Input Devices Following are few of the important input devices which are used in a computer: Keyboard Mouse Joy Stick Light pen Track Ball Scanner Graphic Tablet Microphone Magnetic Ink Card Reader(MICR) Optical Character Reader(OCR) Bar Code Reader Optical Mark Reader(OMR) Keyboard Keyboard is the most common and very popular input device which helps in inputting data to the computer. The layout of the keyboard is like that of traditional typewriter, although there are some additional keys provided for performing additional functions. Keyboards are of two sizes 84 keys or 101/102 keys, but now keyboards with 104 keys or 108 keys are also available for Windows and Internet. The keys on the keyboard are as follows: Sr.No Keys Description 1 Typing Keys These keys include the letter keys (A-Z) and digit keys (0-9) which generally give same layout as that of typewriters. 2 Numeric Keypad It is used to enter numeric data or cursor movement. Generally, it consists of a set of 17 keys that are laid out in the same configuration used by most adding machines and calculators. 3 Function Keys The twelve function keys are present on the keyboard which are arranged in a row at the top of the keyboard. Each function key has unique meaning and is used for some specific purpose. 4 Control keys These keys provide cursor and screen control. It includes four directional arrow keys. Control keys also include Home, End, Insert, Delete, Page Up, Page Down, Control(Ctrl), Alternate(Alt), Escape(Esc). 5 Special Purpose Keys Keyboard also contains some special purpose keys such as Enter, Shift, Caps Lock, Num Lock, Space bar, Tab, and Print Screen. Mouse Mouse is most popular pointing device. It is a very famous cursor-control device having a small palm size box with a round ball at its base which senses the movement of mouse and sends corresponding signals to CPU when the mouse buttons are pressed. Generally it has two buttons called left and right button and a wheel is present between the buttons. Mouse can be used to control the position of cursor on screen, but it cannot be used to enter text into the computer. Advantages Easy to use Not very expensive Moves the cursor faster than the arrow keys of keyboard. Joystick Joystick is also a pointing device which is used to move cursor position on a monitor screen. It is a stick having a spherical ball at its both lower and upper ends. The lower spherical ball moves in a socket. The joystick can be moved in all four directions. The function of joystick is similar to that of a mouse. It is mainly used in Computer Aided Designing(CAD) and playing computer games. Light Pen Light pen is a pointing device which is similar to a pen. It is used to select a displayed menu item or draw pictures on the monitor screen. It consists of a photocell and an optical system placed in a small tube. When the tip of a light pen is moved over the monitor screen and pen button is pressed, its photocell sensing element detects the screen location and sends the corresponding signal to the CPU. Track Ball Track ball is an input device that is mostly used in notebook or laptop computer, instead of a mouse. This is a ball which is half inserted and by moving fingers on ball, pointer can be moved. Since the whole device is not moved, a track ball requires less space than a mouse. A track ball comes in various shapes like a ball, a button and a square. Scanner Scanner is an input device which works more like a photocopy machine. It is used when some information is available on a paper and it is to be transferred to the hard disc of the computer for further manipulation. Scanner captures images from the source which are then converted into the digital form that can be stored on the disc. These images can be edited before they are printed. Digitizer Digitizer is an input device which converts analog information into digital form. Digitizer can convert a signal from the television or camera into a series of numbers that could be stored in a computer. They can be used by the computer to create a picture of whatever the camera had been pointed at. Digitizer is also known as Tablet or Graphics Tablet because it converts graphics and pictorial data into binary inputs. A graphic tablet as digitizer is used for doing fine works of drawing and image manipulation applications. Microphone Microphone is an input device to input sound that is then stored in digital form. The microphone is used for various applications like adding sound to a multimedia presentation or for mixing music. Magnetic Ink Card Reader(MICR) MICR input device is generally used in banks because of a large number of cheques to be processed every day. The bank's code number and cheque number are printed on the cheques with a special type of ink that contains particles of magnetic material that are machine readable. This reading process is called Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR). The main advantages of MICR is that it is fast and less error prone. Optical Character Reader(OCR) OCR is an input device used to read a printed text. OCR scans text optically character by character, converts them into a machine readable code and stores the text on the system memory. Bar Code Readers Bar Code Reader is a device used for reading bar coded data (data in form of light and dark lines). Bar coded data is generally used in labelling goods, numbering the books etc. It may be a hand held scanner or may be embedded in a stationary scanner. Bar Code Reader scans a bar code image, converts it into an alphanumeric value which is then fed to the computer to which bar code reader is connected. Optical Mark Reader(OMR) OMR is a special type of optical scanner used to recognize the type of mark made by pen or pencil. It is used where one out of a few alternatives is to be selected and marked. It is specially used for checking the answer sheets of examinations having multiple choice questions. Computer - Output Devices Following are few of the important output devices which are used in a computer. Monitors Graphic Plotter Printer Monitors Monitors, commonly called as Visual Display Unit (VDU), are the main output device of a computer. It forms images from tiny dots, called pixels that are arranged in a rectangular form. The sharpness of the image depends upon the number of pixels. There are two kinds of viewing screen used for monitors. Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) Flat- Panel Display Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) Monitor The CRT display is made up of small picture elements called pixels. The smaller the pixels, the better the image clarity, or resolution. It takes more than one illuminated pixel to form whole character, such as the letter ‘e’ in the word help. A finite number of characters can be displayed on a screen at once. The screen can be divided into a series of character boxes - fixed location on the screen where a standard character can be placed. Most screens are capable of displaying 80 characters of data horizontally and 25 lines vertically. There are some disadvantages of CRT: Large in Size High power consumption Flat-Panel Display Monitor The flat-panel display refers to a class of video devices that have reduced volume, weight and power requirement in comparison to the CRT. You can hang them on walls or wear them on your wrists. Current uses of flat-panel displays include calculators, video games, monitors, laptop computer, graphics display. The flat-panel display is divided into two categories: Emissive Displays - The emissive displays are devices that convert electrical energy into light. Example are plasma panel and LED(Light-Emitting Diodes). Non-Emissive Displays - The Non-emissive displays use optical effects to convert sunlight or light from some other source into graphics patterns. Example is LCD(Liquid-Crystal Device) Printers Printer is an output device, which is used to print information on paper. There are two types of printers: Impact Printers Non-Impact Printers Impact Printers The impact printers print the characters by striking them on the ribbon which is then pressed on the paper. Characteristics of Impact Printers are the following: Very low consumable costs Very noisy Useful for bulk printing due to low cost There is physical contact with the paper to produce an image These printers are of two types Character printers Line printers Character Printers Character printers are the printers which print one character at a time. These are further divided into two types: Dot Matrix Printer(DMP) Daisy Wheel DOT MATRIX PRINTER In the market one of the most popular printers is Dot Matrix Printer. These printers are popular because of their ease of printing and economical price. Each character printed is in form of pattern of dots and head consists of a Matrix of Pins of size (5*7, 7*9, 9*7 or 9*9) which come out to form a character that is why it is called Dot Matrix Printer. Advantages Inexpensive Widely Used Other language characters can be printed Disadvantages Slow Speed Poor Quality DAISY WHEEL Head is lying on a wheel and pins corresponding to characters are like petals of Daisy (flower name) that is why it is called Daisy Wheel Printer. These printers are generally used for word-processing in offices which require a few letters to be sent here and there with very nice quality. Advantages More reliable than DMP Better quality The fonts of character can be easily changed Disadvantages Slower than DMP Noisy More expensive than DMP Line Printers Line printers are the printers which print one line at a time. These are of further two types Drum Printer Chain Printer DRUM PRINTER This printer is like a drum in shape so it is called drum printer. The surface of drum is divided into number of tracks. Total tracks are equal to size of paper i.e. for a paper width of 132 characters, drum will have 132 tracks. A character set is embossed on track. The different character sets available in the market are 48 character set, 64 and 96 characters set. One rotation of drum prints one line. Drum printers are fast in speed and can print 300 to 2000 lines per minute. Advantages Very high speed Disadvantages Very expensive Characters fonts cannot be changed CHAIN PRINTER In this printer, chain of character sets are used so it is called Chain Printer. A standard character set may have 48, 64, or 96 characters. Advantages Character fonts can easily be changed. Different languages can be used with the same printer. Disadvantages Noisy Non-impact Printers Non-impact printers print the characters without using ribbon. These printers print a complete page at a time so they are also called as Page Printers. These printers are of two types Laser Printers Inkjet Printers Characteristics of Non-impact Printers Faster than impact printers. They are not noisy. High quality. Support many fonts and different character size. Laser Printers These are non-impact page printers. They use laser lights to produce the dots needed to form the characters to be printed on a page. ADVANTAGES Very high speed Very high quality output Give good graphics quality Support many fonts and different character size DISADVANTAGES Expensive. Cannot be used to produce multiple copies of a document in a single printing. Inkjet Printers Inkjet printers are non-impact character printers based on a relatively new technology. They print characters by spraying small drops of ink onto paper. Inkjet printers produce high quality output with presentable features. They make less noise because no hammering is done and these have many styles of printing modes available. Colour printing is also possible. Some models of Inkjet printers can produce multiple copies of printing also. ADVANTAGES High quality printing More reliable DISADVANTAGES Expensive as cost per page is high Slow as compared to laser printer Computer - Memory A memory is just like a human brain. It is used to store data and instructions. Computer memory is the storage space in computer where data is to be processed and instructions required for processing are stored. The memory is divided into large number of small parts called cells. Each location or cell has a unique address which varies from zero to memory size minus one. For example if computer has 64k words, then this memory unit has 64 * 1024=65536 memory locations. The address of these locations varies from 0 to 65535. Memory is primarily of three types Cache Memory Primary Memory/Main Memory Secondary Memory Cache Memory Cache memory is a very high speed semiconductor memory which can speed up CPU. It acts as a buffer between the CPU and main memory. It is used to hold those parts of data and program which are most frequently used by CPU. The parts of data and programs are transferred from disk to cache memory by operating system, from where CPU can access them. Advantages The advantages of cache memory are as follows: Cache memory is faster than main memory. It consumes less access time as compared to main memory. It stores the program that can be executed within a short period of time. It stores data for temporary use. Disadvantages The disadvantages of cache memory are as follows: Cache memory has limited capacity. It is very expensive. Primary Memory (Main Memory) Primary memory holds only those data and instructions on which computer is currently working. It has limited capacity and data is lost when power is switched off. It is generally made up of semiconductor device. These memories are not as fast as registers. The data and instruction required to be processed reside in main memory. It is divided into two subcategories RAM and ROM. Characteristics of Main Memory These are semiconductor memories It is known as main memory. Usually volatile memory. Data is lost in case power is switched off. It is working memory of the computer. Faster than secondary memories. A computer cannot run without primary memory. Secondary Memory This type of memory is also known as external memory or non-volatile. It is slower than main memory. These are used for storing data/Information permanently. CPU directly does not access these memories instead they are accessed via input-output routines. Contents of secondary memories are first transferred to main memory, and then CPU can access it. For example : disk, CD-ROM, DVD etc. Characteristic of Secondary Memory These are magnetic and optical memories It is known as backup memory. It is non-volatile memory. Data is permanently stored even if power is switched off. It is used for storage of data in a computer. Computer may run without secondary memory. Slower than primary memories. Computer - Random Access Memory Internet    Definition A means of connecting a computer to any other computer anywhere in the world via dedicated routers and servers.  When two computers are connected over the Internet, they can send and receive all kinds of information such as text, graphics, voice, video, and computer programs. The Internet grew out of the Advanced Research Projects Agency's Wide Area Network (then called ARPANET) established by the US Department Of Defense in 1960s . The Internet basics The Internet utilizes the TCP/IP protocol and is accessed using a computer modem,broadband, 3G or network that is connected through an ISP. The Internet is explored, which is more commonly referred to as surfing, using a computer browser. Finding information on the Internet is achieved by using a search engine. Users browse web pages by following hyperlinks. Files, pictures, songs, and video can be shared by uploading and downloading. The Internet is also used for communicating with others through social networks,forums, chat, e-mails, and IM. History of Internet This marvelous tool has quite a history that holds its roots in the cold war scenario. A need was realized to connect the top universities of the United States so that they can share all the research data without having too much of a time lag. This attempt was a result of Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) which was formed at the end of 1950s just after the Russians had climbed the space era with the launch of Sputnik. After the ARPA got success in 1969, it didn’t take the experts long to understand that how much potential can this interconnection tool have. In 1971 Ray Tomlinson made a system to send electronic maill. This was a big step in the making as this opened gateways for remote computer accessing i.e. telnet. During all this time, rigorous paper work was being done in all the elite research institutions. From giving every computer an address to setting out the rules, everything was getting penned down. 1973 saw the preparations for the vital TCP/IP andEthernet services. At the end of 1970s, Usenet groups had surfaced up. By the time the 80s had started, IBM came up with its PC based on Intel 8088 processor which was widely used by students and universities for it solved the purpose of easy computing. By 1982, the Defence Agencies made the TCP/IP compulsory and the term “internet” was coined. The domain name services arrived in the year 1984 which is also the time around which various internet based marked their debut. As the internet was coming out of its incubation period which was almost two and a half decades long, the world saw the first glitch that was not at all a part of planned strategy. A worm, or a rust the computers, attacked in 1988 and disabled over 10% of the computer systems all over the world. While most of the researchers regarded it as an opportunity to enhance computing as it was still in its juvenile phase, quite a number of computer companies became interested in dissecting the cores of the malware which resulted to the formation Computer Emergency Rescue Team (CERT). Soon after the world got over with the computer worm, World Wide Web came into existence. Discovered by Tim Berners-Lee, World Wide Web was seen as a service to connect documents in websites using hyperlinks. By the time the 90s arrived, the larvae had started coming out as more than 40million computers had been sold out, an antivirus had already been launched as well as the graphical user interface was quite in its evolution. “Archie”, the first internet search marked beginning of a new era in internet computing. Categorizing the websites was in its most dynamic phase as commercialized email websites were getting on day by day. It was during this time that the term “spam” was coined which referred to fake emails or hoaxes. Read more about email and email working. In 1992, internet browser called “Mosaic” came into existence. One of the very popular internet browsers, Netscape Navigator made its debut in 1994 which ultimately went to compete with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. By this time the domain name registration had started to get exponential and was made commercial. In short the Internet Explosion had started to occur. Coming years saw the launch of giants such as Google, Yahoo as well as strengthening of ultimate revolution creators i.e. Microsoft, Google, IBM etc. Year Event 1960 AT&T introduces the dataphone and the first known MODEM. 1961 Leonard Kleinrock publishes his first paper entitled "Information Flow in Large Communication Nets" is published May 31, 1961. 1962 Leonard Kleinrock releases his paper talking about packetization. 1962 Paul Baran suggests transmission of data using fixed size message blocks. 1962 J.C.R. Licklider becomes the first Director of IPTO and gives his vision of a galactic network. 1964 Baran publishes reports "On Distributed Communications." 1964 Leonard Kleinrock publishes his first book on packet nets entitled Communication Nets: Stochastic Message Flow and Design. 1965 Lawrence G. Roberts with MIT performs the first long distant dial-up connection between a TX-2 computer in Massachusetts and Tom Marill with a Q-32 at SDC in California. 1965 Donald Davies coins the word "Packet." 1966 Lawrence G. Roberts and Tom Marill publish a paper about their earlier success at connecting over dial-up. 1966 Robert Taylor joins ARPA and brings Larry Roberts there to develop ARPANET. 1967 Donald Davies creates 1-node NPL packet net. 1967 Wes Clark suggests use of a minicomputer for network packet switch. 1968 Doug Engelbart publicly demonstrates Hypertext on December 9, 1968. 1968 The first Network Working Group (NWG) meeting is held. 1968 Larry Roberts publishes ARPANET program plan on June 3, 1968. 1968 First RFP for a network goes out. 1968 UCLA is selected to be the first node on the Internet as we know it today and serve as the Network Msmnt Center. 1969 Steve Crocker releases RFC #1 on April 7, 1979 introducing the Host-to-Host and talking about the IMP software. 1969 UCLA puts out a press release introducing the public to the Internet on July 3, 1969. 1969 On August 29, 1969 the first network switch and the first piece of network equipment (called "IMP", which is short for Interface Message Processor) is sent to UCLA. 1969 On September 2, 1969 the first data moves from UCLA host to the IMP switch. 1969 CompuServe, the first commercial online service, is established. 1970 Steve Crocker and UCLA team releases NCP. 1971 Ray Tomlinson sends the first e-mail, the first messaging system to send messages across a network to other users. 1972 First public demo of ARPANET. 1972 Norm Abramson' Alohanet connected to ARPANET: packet radio nets. 1973 Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn design TCP during 1973 and later publish it with the help of Yogen Dalal and Carl Sunshine in December of 1974 in RFC 675. 1973 ARPA deploys SATNET the first international connection. 1973 Robert Metcalfe creates the Ethernet at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). 1973 The first VoIP call is made. 1974 A commercial version of ARPANET known as Telenet is introduced and considered by many to be the first Internet Service Provider (ISP). 1978 TCP splits into TCP/IP driven by Danny Cohen, David Reed, and John Shoch to support real-time traffic. This allows the creation of UDP. 1978 John Shoch and Jon Hupp at Xerox PARC develop the first worm. 1981 BITNET is founded. 1983 ARPANET standardizes TCP/IP. 1984 Paul Mockapetris and Jon Postel introduce DNS. 1986 Eric Thomas develops the first Listserv. 1986 NSFNET is created. 1986 BITNET II is created. 1988 First T-1 backbone is added to ARPANET. 1988 Bitnet and CSNET merge to create CREN. 1990 ARPANET replaced by NSFNET. 1990 The first search engine Archie, written by Alan Emtage, Bill Heelan, and Mike Parker at McGill University in Montreal Canada is released on September 10, 1990 1991 Tim Berners-Lee introduces WWW to the public on August 6, 1991. 1991 NSF opens the Internet to commercial use. 1992 Internet Society formed. 1992 NSFNET upgraded to T-3 backbone. 1993 The White House and the United Nations come online in 1993 and help start the .gov and .orgtop level domains. 1993 The NCSA releases the Mosaic browser. 1994 Netscape (Mosaic Communications corporation) is found by Marc Andreessen and James H. Clark April 4, 1994. 1994 Mosaic Netscape 0.9, the first Netscape browser is officially released October 13, 1994. This browser also introduces the Internet to Cookies. 1994 WXYC (89.3 FM Chapel Hill, NC USA) becomes first traditional radio station to announce broadcasting on the Internet November 7, 1994. 1994 Tim Berners-Lee establishes and heads the W3C in October 1994. 1995 The dot-com boom starts. 1995 The SSL protocol is developed and introduced by Netscape in February 1995. 1995 On April 1, 1995 the Opera browser is released. 1995 The first VoIP software (Vocaltec) is released allowing end users to make voice calls over the Internet. 1995 On August 16, 1995 Microsoft introduces and releases Microsoft Internet Explorer. 1995 On November 24, 1995 HTML 2.0 is introduced in RFC 1866. 1995 On December 4, 1995 Sun Microsystems announced JavaScript and first releases it in Netscape 2.0B3. In the same year they also introduced Java. 1996 Telecom Act deregulates data networks. 1996 Now known as Adobe Flash, Macromedia Flash is introduced in 1996. 1996 The first CSS specification, CSS 1, is published by the W3C in December 1996. 1996 More e-mail is sent than postal mail in USA. 1996 CREN ended its support and since then the network has cease to exist. 1997 Internet2 consortium is established. 1997 IEEE releases 802.11 (WiFi) standard. 1998 Internet weblogs begin to appear. 1998 XML becomes a W3C recommendation February 10, 1998. 1999 Napster starts sharing files in September of 1999. 1999 On December 1, 1999 the most expensive Internet domain name business.com was sold by Marc Ostrofsky for $7.5 Million The domain was later sold on July 26, 2007 again to R.H. Donnelley for $345 Million USD. 2000 The dot-com bubble starts to burst. 2003 January 7, 2003 CREN's members decided to dissolve the organization. 2003 On June 30, 2003 the Safari browser is released. 2004 On November 9, 2004 Mozilla releases the Mozilla Firefox browser. 2008 On December 11, 2008 the Google Chrome. Internet tips Reference Tip Internet Dictionary definition and related links on the Internet. Shorthand Full listing of all Internet abbreviations and shorthand terms. E-mail E-mail tips Facebook Facebook tips Firefox Mozilla Firefox browser tips Google Tips relating to Google MSIE Microsoft Internet Explorer browser tips Web design HTML and web design tips History The history of the Internet. CH000082 How to find information on the Internet. CH000526 Protecting children from harmful material and people on the Internet. CH000721 What things to do when bored on the Internet. CH001146 Watching TV on the Internet. TIP1 Create a shortcut key for Internet web pages. TIP3 Easily send a web page to a friend. TIP8 Tabbed browsing tips. TIP9 Browsing only safe Internet web pages. TIP11 Create small easy to read URL's. TIP17 Quickly bookmark a web page. TIP23 Quickly scroll to an item in a list or drop down. TIP30 Determine last modified date of a web page. TIP113 View browser settings, plugins, and system information. TIP114 Determine if a web page is up or down. TIP146 Quickly and easily manage your Twitter account. TIP147 Create your own custom Google search. TIP149 Top 10 Twitter tips and tricks. TIP150 Creating Twitter and Facebook posts with symbols. TIP151 Quickly zoom in on images by hovering mouse over thumbnail. TIP153 Create a link that skips to any time in a YouTube video. TIP154 Convert any file online. TIP159 Quickly increase and decrease webpage font size. TIP160 Top 10 Internet tips and tricks. TIP161 Top 10 online services and applications. TIP162 Save any web page as an image or PDF. TIP167 "Facebook to charge" and "Microsoft free money" TIP168 Detect if your username has been hacked. TIP173 If this then that online service. TIP182 View website services tracking you while on a site. TIP195 Always search for coupons before purchasing. TIP196 How to repeat YouTube videos. TIP204 Control your passwords between computers and devices. TIP205 Drag your favorite page into your bookmarks bar. TIP206 Only show the favicons in your Internet toolbar. Internet Full listing of Internet questions and answers. Microsoft DOS History Year Event 1981 Microsoft buys the rights for QDOS from Seattle Computer Products (SCP) for $25,000 on July 27, 1981. 1981 MS-DOS 1.0 was released August, 1981. 1982 MS-DOS 1.25 was released August, 1982. 1983 MS-DOS 2.0 was released March, 1983. 1984 Microsoft introduces MS-DOS 3.0 for the IBM PC AT and MS-DOS 3.1 for networks. 1986 MS-DOS 3.2 was released April, 1986. 1987 MS-DOS 3.3 was released April, 1987. 1988 MS-DOS 4.0 was released July, 1988. 1988 MS-DOS 4.01 was released November, 1988. 1991 MS-DOS 5.0 was released June, 1991. 1993 MS-DOS 6.0 was released August, 1993. 1993 MS-DOS 6.2 was released November, 1993 1994 MS-DOS 6.21 was released March, 1994 1994 MS-DOS 6.22 was released April, 1994 Unix, Linux, and variant history Year Event 1957 Bell Labs found they needed an operating system for their computer center that at the time was running various batch jobs. The BESYS operating system was created at Bell Labs to deal with these needs. 1965 Bell Labs was adopting third generation computer equipment and decided to join forces with General Electric and MIT to create Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service). 1969 By April 1969, AT&T made a decision to withdraw Multics and go with GECOS. When Multics was withdrawn Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie needed to rewrite an operating system in order to play space travel on another smaller machine (a DEC PDP-7 [Programmed Data Processor 4K memory for user programs). The result was a system that a punning colleague called UNICS (UNiplexed Information and Computing Service)--an 'emasculated Multics'. 1969 Summer 1969 Unix was developed. 1969 Linus Torvalds is born. 1971 First edition of Unix released 11/03/1971. The first edition of the "Unix PROGRAMMER'S MANUAL [by] K. Thompson [and] D. M. Ritchie." It includes over 60 commands like: b (compile B program); boot (reboot system); cat (concatenate files); chdir (change working directory);chmod (change access mode); chown (change owner); cp (copy file); ls (list directory contents); mv (move or rename file); roff (run off text); wc (get word count); who (who is one the system). The main thing missing was pipes. 1972 Second edition of Unix released December 06, 1972. 1972 Ritchie rewrote B and called the new language C. 1973 Unix had been installed on 16 sites (all within AT&T/Western Electric); it was publically unveiled at a conference in October. 1973 Third edition of Unix released February 1973 1973 Forth edition of Unix released November 1973 1974 Fifth edition of Unix released June 1974 1974 Thompson went to UC Berkeley to teach for a year, Bill Joy arrived as a new graduate student. Frustrated with ed, Joy developed a more featured editor em. 1975 Sixth edition of Unix released May 1975 1975 Bourne shell is introduced begins being added onto. 1977 1BSD released late 1977 1978 2BSD released mid 1978 1979 Seventh edition of Unix released January 1979 1979 3BSD released late 1979 1979 SCO founded by Doug and Larry Michels as Unix porting and consulting company. 1980 4.0BSD released October 1980 1982 SGI introduces IRIX. 1983 AT&T releases its first version of System V. 1983 SCO delivers its first packaged Unix system called SCO Xenix System V for Intel 8086 and 8088 processor-based PCs. 1983 The GNU project is first announced by Richard Stallman September 27, 1983. 1984 ULTRIX is first released. 1985 Eighth edition of Unix released February 1985 1985 The GNU manifesto is published in the March 1985 issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal. The GNU project starts a year and a half later. 1986 HP-UX 1.0 released. 1986 Ninth edition of Unix released September 1986 1987 Sun and AT&T lay the groundwork for business computing in the next decade with an alliance to develop Unix System V Release 4. 1988 HP-UX 2.0 released. 1988 HP-UX 3.0 released. 1989 SCO ships SCO Unix System V/386, the first volume commercial product licensed by AT&T to use the Unix System trademark. 1989 HP-UX 7.0 released. 1989 Tenth edition of Unix released October 1989 1990 AIX short for Advanced Interactive eXecutive was first entered into the market by IBM February 1990. 1991 Sun unveils Solaris 2 operating environment, specially tuned for symmetric multiprocessing. 1991 Linux is introduced by Linus Torvalds, a student in Finland. 1991 HP-UX 8.0 released. 1991 BSD/386 ALPHA First code released to people outside BSDI 12/xx/1991 1992 HP-UX 9.0 released. 1993 NetBSD 0.8 released 04/20/1993 1993 FreeBSD 1.0 released December of 1993 1994 Red Hat Linux is introduced. 1994 Caldera, Inc was founded in 1994 by Ransom Love and Bryan Sparks. 1994 NetBSD 1.0 released 10/26/1994 1995 FreeBSD 2.0 released 01/xx/1995 1995 SCO acquires Unix Systems source technology business from Novell Corporation (which had acquired it from AT&T's Unix System Laboratories). SCO also acquires UnixWare 2 operating system from Novell. 1995 HP-UX 10.0 released. 1995 4.4 BSD Lite Release 2 the true final distribution from the CSRG 06/xx/1995 1996 KDE is started to be developed by Matthias Ettrich 1997 HP-UX 11.0 released. 1997 Caldera ships OpenLinux Standard 1.1 May 5, 1997, the second offering in Caldera's OpenLinux product line 1998 IRIX 6.5 the fifth generation of SGI Unix is released July 6, 1998. 1998 SCO delivers UnixWare 7 operating system. 1998 Sun Solaris 7 operating system released. 1998 FreeBSD 3.0 released 10/16/1998 2000 FreeBSD 4.0 released 03/13/2000 2000 Caldera Systems Inc. announces that Caldera Systems has entered into agreement to acquire the SCO Server Software Division and the Professional Services Division. 2001 Linus Torvalds releases version 2.4 of the Linux Kernel source code on January 4th. 2001 Microsoft files a trademark suit against Lindows.com in December. 2004 Lindows changes it's name to Linspire April 14, 2004. 2004 The first release of Ubuntu is released October 20, 2004. Microsoft Windows history Year Event See the codename definition for a listing of Microsoft codenames. 1983 Bill Gates announces Microsoft Windows November 10, 1983. 1985 Microsoft Windows 1.0 is introduced in November 20, 1985 and is initially sold for $100.00. 1987 Microsoft Windows 2.0 was released December 9, 1987 and is initially sold for $100.00. 1987 Microsoft Windows/386 or Windows 386 is introduced December 9, 1987 and is initially sold for $100.00. 1988 Microsoft Windows/286 or Windows 286 is introduced June, 1988 and is initially sold for $100.00. 1990 Microsoft Windows 3.0 was released May, 22 1990. Microsoft Windows 3.0 full version was priced at $149.95 and the upgrade version was priced at $79.95. 1991 Following its decision not to develop operating systems cooperatively with IBM, Microsoftchanges the name of OS/2 to Windows NT. 1991 Microsoft Windows 3.0 or Windows 3.0a with multimedia was released October, 1991. 1992 Microsoft Windows 3.1 was released April, 1992 and sells more than 1 Million copies within the first two months of its release. 1992 Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.1 was released October, 1992. 1993 Microsoft Windows NT 3.1 was released July 27, 1993. 1993 Microsoft Windows 3.11, an update to Windows 3.1 is released December 31, 1993. 1993 The number of licensed users of Microsoft Windows now totals more than 25 Million. 1994 Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.11 was released February, 1994. 1994 Microsoft Windows NT 3.5 was released September 21, 1994. 1995 Microsoft Windows NT 3.51 was released May 30, 1995. 1995 Microsoft Windows 95 was released August 24, 1995 and sells more than 1 Million copies within 4 days. 1995 Microsoft Windows 95 Service Pack 1 (4.00.950A) is released February 14, 1996. 1996 Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 was released July 29, 1996. 1996 Microsoft Windows 95 (4.00.950B) aka OSR2 with FAT32 and MMX support is released August 24, 1996. 1996 Microsoft Windows CE 1.0 was released November, 1996. 1997 Microsoft Windows CE 2.0 was released November, 1997. 1997 Microsoft Windows 95 (4.00.950C) aka OSR2.5 is released November 26, 1997. 1998 Microsoft Windows 98 was released June, 1998. 1998 Microsoft Windows CE 2.1 was released July, 1998. 1998 In October of 1998 Microsoft announced that future releases of Windows NT would no longer have the initials of NT and that the next edition would be Windows 2000. 1999 Microsoft Windows 98 SE (Second Edition) was released May 5, 1999. 1999 Microsoft Windows CE 3.0 was released 1999. 2000 On January 4th at CES Bill Gates announces the new version of Windows CE will be called Pocket PC. 2000 Microsoft Windows 2000 was released February 17, 2000. 2000 Microsoft Windows ME (Millennium) released June 19, 2000. 2001 Microsoft Windows XP is released October 25, 2001. 2001 Microsoft Windows XP 64-Bit Edition (Version 2002) for Itanium systems is released March 28, 2003. 2003 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 is released March 28, 2003. 2003 Microsoft Windows XP 64-Bit Edition (Version 2003) for Itanium 2 systems is released on March 28, 2003. 2003 Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2003 is released on December 18, 2003. 2004 Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 is released on October 12, 2004. 2005 Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition is released on April 24, 2005. 2005 Microsoft announces it's next operating system, codenamed "Longhorn" will be named Windows Vista on July 23, 2005. 2006 Microsoft releases Microsoft Windows Vista to corporations on November 30, 2006. 2007 Microsoft releases Microsoft Windows Vista and Office 2007 to the general public January 30, 2007. 2008 Microsoft releases Microsoft Windows Server 2008 to the public on February 27, 2008. 2009 Microsoft releases Windows 7 October 22, 2009. 2012 Microsoft releases Windows 8 October 26, 2012. what is domain Domain names are used to identify one or more IP addresses. For example, the domain name microsoft.com represents about a dozen IP addresses. Domain names are used in URLs to identify particular Web pages. For example, in the URLhttp://www.pcwebopedia.com/index.html, the domain name ispcwebopedia.com. Every domain name has a suffix that indicates which top level domain (TLD) it belongs to. There are only a limited number of such domains. For example: ·  gov - Government agencies ·  edu - Educational institutions ·  org - Organizations (nonprofit) ·  mil - Military ·  com - commercial business ·  net - Network organizations ·  ca - Canada ·  th - Thailand Because the Internet is based on IP addresses, not domain names, every Web server requires a Domain Name System (DNS) server to translate domain names into IP addresses. Domain 1. When referring to an Internet address or name a domain or domain name is the location of a website. For example, the domain name "computerhope.com" points to theIP address "69.72.169.241", but it is easier to remember the Computer Hope website is computerhope.com instead of trying to remember the IP address. A domain name can be a maximum of sixty-three characters and a minimum of one character and is entered after the protocol in the URL, like the one shown below. The first Internet domain name "symbolics.com" was registered by Symbolics, a Massachusetts computer company on March 15, 1985. When creating a domain name, make sure to keep it simple and something that is easy to remember. Additional promoting tips for websites is on our promotion page. To register or lookup a domain name, we recommend visiting GoDaddy or Network solutions, which are both companies who specialize in domain registration. Related pages See our Internet domain suffixes for a full list of all the available domain name suffixes. 2. When referring to a computer network running Microsoft network operating system, adomain is a group of network resources assigned to a group of users. Domains divide global areas of a corporation or a corporation's departments. A domain may need to be specified when mapping a network computer or drive. Related pages How do I map a network drive? Computer network and network card help and support