Proper Ways of Taking Care of The Computer and Its Hardware

Proper ways of taking
care of the computer

and its hardware.
1. Keep the computer out of direct sunlight.
2. Do not place food or drinks near the computer.
3. Cover the computer when not in use to keep out dust and dirt.
4. Regularly clean the mouse, keyboard, printer and monitor.
5. It is better to leave the computer on for short periods of non-use reather
than to turn it off and then on again.
6. Move your computer only when necessary.
7. Keep magnets away from your computer and diskettes.
8. never unplug the computer and the input devices while they are in use.
Any electric interruption may cause your computer to crash.
9. Use an Automatic Voltage Regulator (AVR) to control or regulate the inflow
of electricity to your PC.
10. Prevent putting heavy objects on top of your monitor and prevent objects
from falling into your keyboard.
Booting is a process of starting a computer
Booting takes place in three steps −
Switching on power supply
Loading operating system into computer’s
main memory
Keeping all applications in a state of readiness
in case needed by the use
The first program or set of instructions that run when the
computer is switched on is called BIOS or Basic Input
Output System. BIOS is a firmware, i.e. a piece of
software permanently programmed into the hardware.
If a system is already running but needs to be restarted, it
is called rebooting. Rebooting may be required if a
software or hardware has been installed or system is
unusually slow.
Types of Booting
Cold Booting − When the system is started by switching on the power
supply it is called cold booting. The next step in cold booting is loading of
BIOS.
Warm Booting − When the system is already running and needs to be
restarted or rebooted, it is called warm booting. Warm booting is faster
than cold booting because BIOS is not reloaded. Historically computers
were classified according to processor types because development in
processor and processing speeds were the developmental benchmarks.
Earliest computers used vacuum tubes for processing, were huge and
broke down frequently. However, as vacuum tubes were replaced by
transistors and then chips, their size decreased and processing speeds
increased manifold.
Classifications of Computers
Desktop
Laptop
Tablet
Server
Mainframe
Supercomputer
Desktop - computers are personal computers (PCs) designed for
use by an individual at a fixed location. IBM was the first computer
to introduce and popularize use of desktops. A desktop unit typically
has a CPU (Central Processing Unit), monitor, keyboard and mouse.
Introduction of desktops popularized use of computers among
common people as it was compact and affordable.
Laptop - Despite its huge popularity, desktops gave way to a more compact
and portable personal computer called laptop in 2000s. Laptops are also
called notebook computers or simply notebooks. Laptops run using batteries
and connect to networks using Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) chips. They also have
chips for energy efficiency so that they can conserve power whenever
possible and have a longer life.
Modern laptops have enough processing

power and storage capacity to be used for
all office work, website designing,
software development and even
audio/video editing.
Tablet - After laptops computers were further miniaturized to develop
machines that have processing power of a desktop but are small enough
to be held in one’s palm. Tablets have touch sensitive screen of typically 5
to 10 inches where one finger is used to touch icons and invoke
applications.
Servers are computers with high processing speeds that provide one or more services
to other systems on the network. They may or may not have screens attached to them.
A group of computers or digital devices connected together to share resources is called
a network.
Servers have high processing powers and can
handle multiple requests simultaneously. Most
commonly found servers on networks include −
File or storage server
Game server
Application server
Database server
Mail server
Print server
Mainframes are computers used by organizations like banks, airlines and
railways to handle millions and trillions of online transactions per second.
Important features of mainframes are −
Big in size
Hundreds times Faster than servers, typically hundred megabytes per
second
Very expensive
Use proprietary OS provided by the manufacturers
In-built hardware, software and firmware security features
Supercomputers are the fastest computers on Earth. They are used for
carrying out complex, fast and time intensive calculations for scientific and
engineering applications. Supercomputer speed or performance is
measured in teraflops, i.e. 1012 floating point operations per second.
Chinese supercomputer Sunway TaihuLight is the world’s fastest supercomputer
with a rating of 93 petaflops per second, i.e. 93 quadrillion floating point
operations per second.
Most common uses of supercomputers include −

Molecular mapping and research
Weather forecasting
Environmental research
Oil and gas exploration
As you know, the hardware devices need user instructions to function. A
set of instructions that achieve a single outcome are called program or
procedure. Many programs functioning together to do a task make a
software.
For example, a word-processing software enables the user to create, edit
and save documents. A web browser enables the user to view and share
web pages and multimedia files. There are three categories of software −
System Software
Application Software
Utility Software

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Proper ways of taking

care of the computer

Modern laptops have enough processing

Most common uses of supercomputers include −

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