IT talk in layman’s terms
Have you ever been frustrated by technology? That’s a trick question. Everybody we know has experienced computer problems at some point– whether they regard themselves as a tech genius or a computer rookie– technology frustration has happened to us all.
Fighting the urge to smash your keyboard through your computer screen takes self control, especially when computer help forums fall short of solving your issue. Mobile Computer Services are your computer help rescue team and we understand that computer issues aren’t always straight forward.
We believe that by understanding a little more about the technology you use, some problems that occur can be avoided. When it comes to computers there is an entire encyclopaedia of tech terms and when you’re dealing with a computer repairman that speaks in tech talk it’s hard to understand what’s going on.
We have put together a tech dictionary for you to get a little more savvy with the language of computers.
Broadband: This is a high speed internet connection. You can connect to a broadband connection using a wire, this is called ‘fixed’, using radio waves wirelessly which is usually referred to as ‘WiFi’ or using a mobile device like a USB that connects to your computer.
Cookies: When you visit a website a small file is kept on your computer to track information about you. Cookies are text files and they are stored so that when you visit the website again servers can access them, things like login and shopping cart information.
Domain Name: The domain name is the website address. For instance www.google.com has the domain name Google.
Ethernet: This is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks (LAN). It is the most widely used wired network technology. If your computer is connected to a network via a cable, chances are you are using an ethernet connection.
Firewall: This is a program or hardware that acts as a safety net to screen out hackers, viruses and potentially dangerous data. A router is a hardware firewall.
Hard Drive: This is where your information is stored. This is where all of your files are kept on your computer longterm.
IP Address: This is your Internet Protocol Address. It is a unique numerical label assigned to each device. This number allows one computer to communicate to another online.
ISP: This stands for Internet Service Provider. This is the company that provides you with Internet, think Telstra, IINet, Optus.
Modem: The modem provides you with Internet. A cable from your computer to the modem delivers requests and a cable from the modem out brings in Internet data. No modem, no Internet.
Router: The small device that join multiple networks together. Your router is the box that takes information that arrives from your broadband signal, deciphers it and sends it to your computer (and others in the network) using the best route in order for your computer to receive it quickly.
URL: This stands for Uniform Resource Locator. Each and every web page has a unique address that allows your computer to locate it.
Now that you’re up with the lingo it should be a little easier to understand what is going on with your computer. When you talk to our computer help experts at Mobile Computer Services we will always use easy to understand, straightforward language so that we are on the same page and you can avoid the problem in the future.
If you need a little further computer help from somebody who speaks your language then Mobile Computer Services is here for you. Our expert technicians will come to you and solve your computer woes. It’ll also be a good opportunity to put some of your newly learnt tech words to good use. Give us a call and we will send an expert to you in no time.