Monitor

The monitor is the video display you will be looking at, most of the time, to evaluate your work, find out whether the assignments are being carried out satisfactorily. A monitor is largely controlled by some pieces of hardware inside of the computer. But the monitor itself is mainly used to display your work in a graphical setting you can easily interpret. To display what is going on with the computer, the monitor is connected to the computer using a cable. The connection is usually done from the back of both machines:

Monitors come in different sizes. The (most important) size of the monitor is measured diagonally on the screen and is given in inches:
Based on this, monitors range in sizes of 12", 14", 15", 17", 19", 21", 29", etc. Monitors are also characterized by the flatness of their screen. The flatter and the wider screens are usually the better. 

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Central Processing Unit

The most important part, also called the Central Processing Unit or CPU, is a box that includes many pieces that are not particularly relevant to us at this time. These pieces, inside of the box, perform the jobs of the computer. One of the assignments of this unit is to join all the other pieces connected to it. Another job of this unit is to perform calculations, exactly the same types of calculations you were performing in primary school, except that this box can handle them very (extremely) fast, so fast that there is no human being who can match that speed. Besides the calculations, this unit also performs other assignments that it receives from various sources including you and the external units that are connected to the CPU.

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Nine Steps to Securing Your Computer

- Always keep backups of important information and keep them in a safe place. It is better to store them away from your home, if at all possible as this will give you additional protection against fire, theft etc. 

- Update and patch your operating system, browser and any software frequently. If auto update options are available, use them.

- Make sure that you have antivirus/anti-malware software installed, that it is up-to-date and has the latest patterns installed. If it has an auto-update mechanism, ensure that it is enabled. 

- Install a personal firewall. Many home routers provide some kind of firewall functionality but it is always worth having the additional protection offered by a personal firewall. Many home user security packages (e.g. Norton Internet Security) include firewall functions or you can opt for a separate firewall such as ZoneAlarm. 

- Check the settings in your Internet browsers. Active-X and JavaScript are used by hackers to install malicious software ("Malware") on computers. Internet Explorer offers a number of "zones" for grouping sites, by default everything is in the Internet zone. Set the security level of the Internet zone to high. Internet Explorer also offers a trusted sites zone for sites that you trust, set the security level in this zone to medium. 

- Do not open unknown email attachments from unknown senders and be extremely suspicious of attachments from known senders that seem out of character for the sender. Many viruses and other pieces of Malware spread by compromising email clients and sending themselves to people in the address book. 

- Do not run programs of unknown origin as they can contain malware even if they appear to do something harmless. Resist the temptation to forward such programs on to friends, family and colleagues because they are funny or interesting. This is another mechanism used by malware authors to spread their programs. 

- Disable the Windows "hidden extension" feature. By default Windows will hide the file extensions of known file types. This option should be turned off and you will be more able to see any unusual file extensions that may be there. 

- Consider disconnecting your computer from the network and/or turning it off when you are not using it.

-You should also consider making a boot or emergency disk for use in case or computer is compromised by malware. Fundamentally, you can never be too vigilant and the simple steps discussed above may prevent you falling foul of a damaging attack.

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Introduction to Computers

The computer as we know it is a group of pieces of hardware put together to  get a job done faster. To accomplish its various tasks, the computer is made of different parts, each serving a particular purpose almost independent of, or in conjunction with, other parts. You don't necessarily need to know how these parts operate, at least not at this time, but you should be aware of their co-dependence to take advantage of their various characteristics. 

A computer is primarily made of the Central Processing
Unit (usually referred to as the computer), the monitor, the
keyboard, and the mouse. Other pieces of hardware, commonly referred to as
peripherals, can enhance or improve your experience with the computer.

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