Have you ever been in a situation where you're chatting with some friends, they start talking about computers... but it sounds like they're reading a bowl of alphabet soup? It's easy to get overwhelmed when you're thrust into a conversation riddled with technical terms that all sound like the names of college degrees... but worry not! I have compiled a list of what I believe to be the 14 most important terms to know if you want to have a discussion about computers!
I went into a little more detail than I initially planned for some of these terms, but it was necessary at times to explain the term in context! (Honestly, there were several times where I had to stop myself from writing even more!) So here you have at minimum a basic understanding of some of the most important terms used when discussing computers.
If you have any questions about any additional tech terms or would like to share any that you find particularly useful, throw them in the comments section! Oh, and let us know what your friends think when you bring up DNS configurations at the next rager.
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| She's trying to play it off, but Jennifer had no idea what Mary meant when she said "I was trying to configure the network firewall to allow IPv6 traffic" so she stared blankly ahead. Just read this post, Jennifer!!!! |
- RAM
- CPU
- GPU
- BIOS
- OS
- IP (Address) Internet Protocol Address - a set of rules that determine how data is sent and received over a network or the internet. Every network adapter on a computer is assigned an IP address. IP addresses can be assigned dynamically by a DHCP server, statically assigned by an administrator, or self-assigned under varying circumstances. Since we know that every network adapter on every machine is assigned an IP address, we can then assume (factually) that even websites have IP addresses! The current standard of Internet Protocol is IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) which has a maximum number of 4,294,967,296 addresses (some of which are reserved and cannot be used). An IPv4 address looks like this: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx where each set of 3 'x'es (an octet) represents a number from 0 to 255. In the near future, IPv6 will become the standard. IPv6 has a whopping 34 undecillion, or 3.4028237x10^38 unique address combinations. An IPv6 address looks like this: 2001:0db8:0000:0042:0000:8a2e:0370:7334.
- DHCP
- DNS
- MoBo
- Firewall
- AV
- Shell
- Service
- Process
Random Access Memory - also simply known as memory. These are replaceable hardware components that click into special slots on the motherboard. Only RAM modules fit into the RAM slots on the motherboard and they only fit in one direction. RAM is a sort of temporary memory which loses its data either when the module loses power or the data is released from memory through some process on the computer. As of the time of this writing, DDR5 DRAM is the newest standard of RAM modules. 'DDR' refers to 'Double Data Rate' technology which, as the name implies, doubled the data transfer rate of SIMM (single inline memory module) RAM. The '5' refers to the generation of DDR, so we are currently on the 5th version of DDR RAM modules. DRAM means that the module is Dynamic Random Access Memory. Essentially, this means that each bit of data is stored in a different capacitor on an integrated circuit.
As you can guess, there are many different types of RAM sticks available including DDR4, SDRAM, ECC RAM, and GDDR to name a few.
Central Processing Unit or sometimes called the processor. This is a hardware component that fits into the CPU socket on the motherboard. To grossly simplify the role of the processor, it handles the calculations, logic, and arithmetic that the computer requires. There are two main manufacturers of CPU chipsets: Intel and AMD. While the choice of manufacturer is purely user preference, one thing to consider is that the CPU socket type of the motherboard and the CPU itself must match.
Graphics Processing Unit - typically when someone refers to the GPU, they mean one built into a graphics card. However, some CPU chipsets can also sacrifice some CPU performance to also perform the role of a weak GPU. Additionally, some motherboards contain "integrated graphics" which means a weak GPU is installed directly onto the motherboard. Essentially, the GPU is responsible for handling 2D and 3D rendering to screen. Of course, this is just a simple explanation of the component and not at all indicative of the full features of the component.
Basic Input/Output System - firmware instructions (code) written to read-only memory (ROM) on the motherboard that perform hardware initialization during system startup. The firmware instructions can be modified in the UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface). Previously, instructions could be modified in the BIOS menu. Where the BIOS menu was a completely text-based menu, UEFI is a graphical interface with advanced features. Despite the fact that BIOS instructions can be edited, if a new version of the firmware is released the ROM chip that the instructions are stored on must be "flashed" which is an extremely risky process. If power is lost or if data corruption occurs, the motherboard will almost definitely be rendered useless.
Operating System - the main software installed on a machine that controls the flow of data to hardware and software components on the machine. The Operating System handles all input and output and sets the rules all data handling. There are currently three main operating system developers: Microsoft, which makes Windows (recent: Windows 10), Apple, which makes Mac OS (recent: OS X 10.12 "Sierra"), and Linux. Linux is open-source, so there are dozens of branches of the OS. Some of the most popular are Fedora, CentOS, Ubuntu, and Kali. Like always, this is a brief description of the term, and does not fully explain all functions of the software.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol - the protocol that assigns IP addresses to computers connected to the network that the DHCP server belongs to. After assigning an IP address, the DHCP server retains the routing information to each host to ensure the data on the network reaches its destination.
Domain Name Server - translates human-readable names to IP addresses so that a person doesn't have to memorize and type IP addresses every time they want to reach a destination on a network. For example, when you type www.google.com in your browser, DNS understands that you want to navigate to the website www.google.com. However, since Internet Protocol utilizes IP addresses to route data, DNS translates www.google.com to 74.125.196.101 and allows data routing to commence.
Motherboard - the main circuit board that connects all hardware components to one another and facilitates the transfer of data between them.
A piece of software that protects your computer by setting a list of rules that determine which kinds of data are allowed to/blocked from coming in or leaving your computer. You can also have a network firewall which does the same thing, except it has rules for the entire network rather than just one machine. Going even further, you can own a firewall appliance which is a physical machine that exists between your network and the internet. Firewall appliances typically have much more robust features.
Antivirus - technically, an antivirus simply scans a computer for viruses. However, most people use antivirus interchangeably with anti-malware and anti-spyware. Antivirus software determines threats on a machine through a list of known malware, by monitoring for suspicious commands executed in programs, or a combination of the two.
A text-based environment on a computer in which commands can be executed. Windows has Command Prompt as well as PowerShell, OS X has Terminal, and Linux has many different shells depending on user's choice including Bash, Terminal, and Tcsh.
A service is a 'helper program' that runs on a computer that can be started or stopped, either by a program or through user input. Services can perform a number of functions including listening for certain types of data to enter a computer over the network or initializing the login process when a username and password are typed in. Since services use their own service accounts, they do not require a user to be logged in to run.
A process is, in the simplest terms, a program that is executing on the machine. Every window of every application open on your computer has a corresponding process or process thread that drives it. In addition to processes for applications you have open, there are also hidden processes that your OS requires in order to run. Since processes do not have their own service accounts, they require a user to be logged in to run. By that logic, if there is a process that is stuck and will not close you can simply log off of your account or restart the computer to stop the process.
I went into a little more detail than I initially planned for some of these terms, but it was necessary at times to explain the term in context! (Honestly, there were several times where I had to stop myself from writing even more!) So here you have at minimum a basic understanding of some of the most important terms used when discussing computers.
If you have any questions about any additional tech terms or would like to share any that you find particularly useful, throw them in the comments section! Oh, and let us know what your friends think when you bring up DNS configurations at the next rager.
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