THE COMPUTER FAMILY ONE

You start studying the ads and several things come to mind: Things like, what in the world is a RAM doing on a computer? Doesn't it belong in the sheep pen with the rest of the flock? RAM means Random Access Memory, and the larger the RAM, the faster and easier it is to work on lots of projects at once. It also helps your larger programs load easier. Most of the newer computers have 64 or better RAM. 64 is more than enough for almost any job that your home computer is going to handle.

Now comes the question what is a hard drive and how many of those gigabytes should I get on one? A Hard Drive is where your programs are stored so you just click a button and the computer will load up the program for you. As far as gigabytes, get lots of those on the Hard Drive. It is the measure of how much your hard drive can hold before it is out of memory. 6.0 or above is recommended for your newer machines.

So you found one. You paid for it, got mad because the boxes wouldn't fit in the car, left your family in front of the computer store, guarding the new equipment while you ran home and got your truck. Then you came back and got it and it is now sitting in your living room. There is one box for the monitor, and one box for the CPU (that is Central Processing Unit, which is the computer itself), and one box for the printer.

There is however a problem. As you look around your house you realize that there is nothing that will hold the computer, the printer and the monitor so that it can be used properly. What do you do now? You jump back in the truck (wise move taking the truck this time) and run down to your nearest, dare I say it, Walmart store. There you will find a lovely section of computer desks. The only problem is they have to be put together when you get them home. Hey your a smart person, you can do it. I mean how hard can it be, all it takes is a screw driver, hex wrench (which is enclosed) and hammer. So you pick out your desk and you drive home.

Once home, you carefully move all the computer stuff out of the way, and get down on the floor and open the box with the desk. You spend the next hour trying to read the instructions and then the next hour trying to find all the parts. Meanwhile, your ten year old son has gotten bored and wants to play with the new computer so he whips out his handy dandy pocket knife and puts the computer desk together.

Now it is time to unpack THE MACHINE. You open the monitor box and get it where you want it, you put the printer on the desk where you want it. There seems to be cords hanging down from everything but that is all right. There in the box with the CPU (remember that is the technical name for the computer unit) you find a nice guide given you by the computer company. Everything is color coded, you match the green to the green on the back of the computer, and the red to the red and so on. Soon you have everything put together and it is time to start plugging it all in and working with your new computer.

Wait a minute another problem has arisen. It says right on the book of instructions to plug all of these things in to a surge protector. You go and find your ten year old son, who by now is bored with watching you and the computer and is in the other room playing video games. You have a brief discussion of what a surge protector is and what it does. (A surge protector is a device that you plug into the wall and then plug all of your computer or other electronic equipment into it. It's purpose is in case there is an electrical surge throughout your wiring. If there is a surge, it will trip the surge protector and it will cut the power off to your computer so the surge does not damage your machine.) Now that you know what that is you jump in your car and go to your nearest handy dandy whatever store and buy a couple of surge protectors.

So you get home and plug everything in. Now is the big moment the one the whole family has been waiting for, You find all the on switches and turn on your machine. It doesn't work because you have forgotten to plug in the surge protector to the wall outlet, okay, no one remembers everything. Now here we go again. There are lights flashing and things beeping and pretty pictures racing across your monitor.

Well that is enough for today, my Gentle Readers. We will pick up this story in a couple of weeks.