RAM - Random Access Memory. When people talk about how much memory a computer has, they are talking about RAM. This is temporary working memory or "your desktop" if you will. It is temporary in that when you turn your computer off, everything on RAM disappears. That's why you lose things if you don't save often and your computer freezes. The more RAM you have the better your computer will run and the more programs you can have open at the same time. This makes for much more efficient working when you can simply click from one program to the next without having to quit one to open another. Having enough RAM is also critical as newer programs with more bells and whistles are developed, they take more memory or RAM to run. So, if you think of RAM as your working space or desktop, the bigger your desktop, the more things you can work with. The rule of thumb is to have as much RAM as you can afford. 64 megabytes of RAM is probably the smallest amount you should try to get by with these days and by tomorrow, that will probably be 128 megabytes or more. The new iMacs are coming with 64 megabytes. (See memory)You can upgrade your memory or RAM by buying additional RAM chips and installing them in your computer.
Hard Drive - The hard drive is your storage center or file cabinet of your computer. Every software program you load onto your computer is stored on the hard drive. Every time you save a file, it is stored on your hard drive. When you open a file already saved, it goes to the hard drive to find it, opens it up onto RAM where you can work with it. When you save it, it goes back to the hard drive. Eventually, the hard drive can fill up and you will have no more room unless you throw some things away. Again, the newer programs are taking up more and more room on the hard drive, thus we need bigger and bigger hard drives. Anymore, hard drive space is measured in gigabytes. One gigabyte is equal to 1000 megabytes. (see memory) Basic computers are coming with about 6 -10 gigabytes or more these days. You can also upgrade you computer by buying and installing a second or a bigger replacement hard drive (either internally or externally). You access your hard drive by double clicking on the hard drive icon in the upper right hand corner of the desktop.
Zip Drives - These have more or less replaced floppy disks for backing up and moving data from computer to computer. They hold much more data than a floppy disk (100-250 megabytes compared to about 1 megabyte) and are much more reliable. They work very similar to floppy disks. However, either an internal or external Zip drive is needed to use Zip disks.
Web Browsers - Web browsers are software the computer needs in order to surf the Internet. The two main browsers are Netscape Navigator or Communicator and Microsoft's Internet Explore. Both can be downloaded free off the Internet and the choice is a matter of preference.
Search Engines - Search Engines are websites that do web searches for you. They make their money through advertisers and often specialize in certain types of sites. Check here for some popular engines or search techniques.
Memory - Confused about bytes, megabytes, etc. Check out memory.
The Finder - On the Mac, the desktop is called the Finder. It has the hard drive icon in the upper right corner. The Trash can in the lower right corner, and a menu bar across the top. You can also store frequently used files, folders, and applications on the desktop finder.
Find - If you are having trouble finding a file that you have saved on your computer, you can do a "Find" search. Pull down the "File" menu and choose "Find." Type in the name of the file as best as you can remember. Notice that you have some choices. You can search by file name, size, date, etc. Click on "Find" and it will search your hard drive. If found, it will show you the hierarchy of where the file is located.
Apple Menu - The "Apple" menu, located in the top left corner of the desktop. It is a place to access things easily. There are automatically things there like Software update, Shut down, Force Quit, etc.
Quit vs. Close - When you have an application (program) open, and are done with the document you have been working on but not done working on the computer, you have a couple of choices; Quit or Close. Quitting (under the File menu) with close your current document and shuts down the program you are working on. Closing (under File menu, or by clicking in the small red circle in top left corner) with close the file or document you are working on but keep the program open. You may want to go back and forth between one or more programs and keeping them open is much more efficient.
Trash - To get rid of unwanted files, applications, etc, you can simply drag them into the trash can at the bottom right corner of the dock. You will notice the trash can shows that something has been placed in it. You can still retrieve items you drag to the trash by double clicking on the can and opening or dragging items out. When you are sure you want to delete them you need to occasionally click and hold on the trash can in the dock and choose "Empty trash" and the trash can will empty. At this point you can not retrieve the thrown away items.
Fonts - You choose fonts for your text by highlighting the text, and pulling down the "Font" menu and selecting a font. You can add new fonts by dragging new fonts into the "Font" folder which is inside the "System Folder."
USB - The newest type of peripheral devices have USB connections. Macs used to use devices with SCSI connections. The iMacs and the newest G3's and G4's will not allow you to connect to the older SCSI devices such as printers, Zip drives, scanners, etc. They require USB printers, Zip drives, scanners. USB is the connection you see on the keyboard and mouse on the iMacs.
