Computer Basics

Computers can be intimidating. Educating oneself about some of the basics of computers can lessen this intimidation. In addition, a computer user will be able to get the results that he or she is hoping for. Input devices, output devices, storage, and computer speed are a few areas that will be discussed further.

In order to maintain accurate records or create precise results, data input should be done with the best possible input device. I will give examples of a few situations and explain which input device would work best.

Printed Questionnaires- For this situation, I believe the most widely used input device, which is the keyboard, would work best. Questionnaires are made up of primarily letters and numbers that are easily found on a keyboard. Most people are familiar with a keyboard and creating a questionnaire should not be difficult.

Telephone Survey- In this situation a touch input device may be a better choice, such as a touch screen. This way, the interviewee does not have to wait for the interviewer to finish typing. The touch screen would work best if there were multiple choice answers to the telephone survey.

Bank Checks- The MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) is used by the banking industry. This device can scan checks quickly and ensures that checks are sent to the proper bank.

Retail Tags- Most stores now use a bar-code scanner for pricing. The bar code scanner recognizes a series of bars of different lengths and sends that code to the computer. Even small retail stores may have a handheld bar code scanner to make pricing and checkout more efficient.

Long Documents- Though I have never used this device, a voice input device would make long documents much easier. This requires special software and may require using the keyboard for editing. Because keyboards can cause injury, an individual that has to prepare many long documents may want to consider a voice input device.

Just as accuracy and choosing the correct device for input is important, the same applies to output. Choosing the correct device can increase quality and convenience. In the following situations, I will share which output device I feel would work best:

Hand held Computer- If an individual has a hand held computer; it is likely they are looking for mobility. Wireless data transfer would be ideal for this situation.

Color Photograph- A photo quality printer should be used for color photographs. Some desktop printers will work, but often times the color will fade over time.

Resume- A laser printer is probably the best choice for a resume. Most people look for quality in the appearance of a resume and a laser printer has a better quality output than an ink-jet printer.

Memorandum- Because memorandums usually take place in-house, it is not usually necessary that they are of the highest quality. Any draft resolution printer can be used.

Statistical Report- This report will need to be done on a letter quality printer if it is to be shared with anyone outside the organization. For in-house, a draft quality printer would be a fine choice.

Company Annual Report- An annual report is usually shared with stockholders and often the public. For this reason, it should be printed on a letter quality printer.

A primary storage device stores input and output data but after the computer is turned off, this data is gone. The two types of primary storage are RAM and ROM. The data in ROM is not lost, but is only used to store data that is needed for basic operation.

Secondary storage on the other hand is data that