Megahertz, gigahertz, whazzzaherzt?

Computers brought about their own language and every year they contribute significantly to the 10,000 plus words that are officially added to the English language.

Understanding some of the terminology can greatly increase your chances of getting what you want when looking to upgrade or buy a computer.

Anything ending in byte or bite refers to size, ie a 400 Gigabyte (GB) hard drive refers to the amount of storage space on your computer, or a 4 megabyte (MB) file refers to the size of a particular document or picture etc. Files can also be kilobyte (kb) size.

There are 1024 kilobytes to 1 megabyte, 1024 megabytes to 1 gigabyte. There are more, but you won’t find those on a home computer.

So, when trying to decide how many files you can send in an email or put on a disk, all it takes is a little math and some conversion to determine the answer. Email servers used to have a 3MB email size, but some places can accept larger emails, ie printing companies, etc have special arrangements to accept large files. If you need to send a really large file there are other options available, ie instant messaging programs like MSN often have file sharing features.

Ram, also known as memory, is described using megabyte and gigabyte, again because it refers to size. Most computers today have a minimum of 256 megabytes of ram to as much as 4 gigabytes. Ram is not storage space, even though it’s called memory. It does not store files rather provides a means for the various programs to run efficiently. Think of it like a car, power is the gas and ram is oil and your hard drive is the gas tank. The more oil you put in the smoother the operation of the car, the more ram you have the smoother the operation of the computer. Of course, like a car can’t take unlimited amounts of oil (some engines want a max of 4 litres some 5 etc) some computers can only accept 1GB of ram, some more, some less.

Anything ending in hertz refers to speed. When computers first hit the market, 64 megahertz was fast! Now, computers are approaching 4 gigahertz. The same holds true for hertz as byte, 1024 megahertz (MHz) is one gigahertz (GHz) etc.

I have Windows XP why can’t I find Word?
Another confusing term for people is the difference between their operating system (O/S) and Microsoft Office. The O/S is what runs your computer and allows you to load programs and run those programs. There are various O/S, not all are related to Microsoft, but Microsoft is the company most people know. Windows ‘95 and Windows ‘98 are longer supported and shouldn’t be used on a computer connected to the internet. Windows 2000 was meant for commercial interests, Windows ME, CE and NT were short-lived but are still in use by people who swear by them. (Rearrange ME, CE, and NT and what do you get?*)

The most popular O/S today is Windows XP Home & Windows XP Pro. Most people are using Home. Pro was designed for advanced users or commercial use where networking is required.

Coming soon: Windows VISTA - this O/S is set to change the face of computers - or so Microsoft claims. I know people who are turning blue waiting for VISTA to hit the market. But, as with any Microsoft application, I expect there will be the usual problems, so unless you like being a guinea pig, I would hold off on VISTA for at least 6 months. VISTA is also more power hungry than XP and a good many systems in use today will not support VISTA.

Once you have a computer running an O/S you still need programs to do anything with it. So, just because you have Windows X (the X refers to any operating system version) you don’t necessarily have Word, Excel, etc. The O/S generally comes with WordPad, Notepad, and Outlook Express. Those are free versions of the real thing and don’t do nearly 1/4 of the things the full-blown programs can do.

Real or Recovery?
One other thing to keep in mind. When buying a computer that comes with an O/S make sure you are getting the O/S disk and not a recovery disk. If your system crashes and you need to repair or reload the operating system, you can’t do that if you have a recovery disk. All you can do is recover your system back to what it looked like the day you booted it for the first time. A lot of people aren’t aware that those fantastic computers complete with Windows XP Home for $500 don’t actually come with the disk. They come with a special license that gives them a copy of XP, but not the actual disk.

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