1. ALU - part of the central processing unit that performs calculations and makes decisions -  Arithmetic Logic Unit

2. ASCII - each character on the keyboard has an ASCII value - American Standard Code for Information Interchange.

3. CADCAM - using computers to assist the design and manufacturing process - Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacture.

4. CD ROM - Most of the software that we purchase comes on one of these -  Compact Disk Read Only Memory.

5. CD-RW - You can save your data on this backing storage medium -  Compact Disk Rewriteable.

6. CNC - An automated programmable lathe -  Computer Numerical Control.

7. CPU - Usually referred to as the 'brains' of a computer, it keeps peripherals under its control -  Central Processing Unit.

8. DDE - transfers data from one application to another online -  Dynamic Data Exchange.

9. Dpi - the higher the measurement, the better the resolution or quality of hardcopy - Dots per inch.

10. DTP - the process of laying out a document with text, graphics, headlines etc. -  Desk Top Publishing.

11. EFT - sending 'money' across telephone lines and other communications links -  Electronic Funds Transfer.

12. HCI - the means of communication between computers and people - Human Computer Interface.

13. LAN - computers connected by cables, usually confined to a small area within a building - Local Area Network.

14. MICR - necessary for cheque processing - Magnetic Ink Character Recognition.

15. OCR - we couldn't automatically sort mail without this - Optical Character Resolution.

16. OS - software that controls everything that happens in a computer - Operating System.

17. POS - every networked checkout in a supermarket is an example of this - Point Of Sale.

18. RAM - the part of the computer that stores running programs and our data.  It's contents are erased when the computer is switched off. -   Random Access Memory.

19. WWW - represents the collection of illustrated images on the Internet that can be displayed by browsers -  World Wide Web.

20. WYSIWYG - describes the display of a document on screen as it will actually print - What You See Is What You Get.

1. Hardware can be defined as the parts of a computer system that you can touch.

2. The following are hardware: printer, mouse, power cable, processor.

3. A peripheral is  any device under the control of the CPU.

4. Examples of backing storage devices include CD drive, hard drive, floppy disk drive, tape streamer.

5. To be able to communicate properly with a computer, peripherals require an interface.

6. Interfaces consist of hardware and software.

7. The part of the computer that is sometimes described as its 'brain' is the processor.

8. Storage capacities of computer memory and backing store are measured in Megabytes (MB), Kilobytes(KB) and Gigabytes (GB).

9. ROM stands for  Read Only Memory.

10. Random Access Memory is used for storing programs and data that are currently being used by the user.

11. RAM is sometimes described as being volatile.   Volatile means that its contents are lost when the computer is switched off.

12. When installing a new printer or other peripheral, it is essential to install a driver before the device will work properly.

13. Mainframe computers permit multi-access and multi-programming.

14. The term computer configuration means describing the different hardware used by an organisation

15. Dedicated computers have only one function, e.g. control traffic lights in a town, games machines.

16. Computers come in varying sizes from supercomputers to  hand held, e.g. notebook.

17. Output devices display the results of processing.

18. Examples of communications devices are: fax and modem.

19. The main factors that determine the power of a computer are:  the type of processor, clock rate, and amount of RAM .

20. A computer system consists of hardware, software and users.

1. An operating system is best described as  software.

2. Basic tasks performed by an operating system include checking the keyboard for input, controlling the transfer of programs in and out of main memory, communicating with the user, keeping track of files and directories on backing storage.

3. Some operating systems enable multi-tasking.  An example of multi-tasking is  a user working on spreadsheet whilst uploading files to the Internet and printing documents in background mode.

4. Operating systems may have command driven or menu driven interfaces.  Newer operating systems like Windows NT have menu driven interfaces.

5. Most people prefer menu driven interfaces because they don't need to remember complex command statements and therefore they're easier to use.

6. Operating systems perform spooling.  Spooling is the temporary storage and management of output to printers and other output devices until they can cope with it.  It's like buffering.

7. When purchasing applications software it is important to ensure that it is written to run under the operating system on your machine.

8. When a computer is switched on, the first thing it does is to to boot up the computer by reading ROM, which then calls up the operating system from RAM, carry out a system check.

9. One function of an operating system is to handle interrupts.  Interrupts are signals from hardware or software requesting attention from the operating system.

10. An operating system with multiprogramming capability is one that  runs two or more programs at the same time, executing them as needed.

11. Certain applications require real time operating systems that respond to input and produce results instantly.  Examples of such applications are robotics and airline reservations.

12. Large centralised databases like the Police National Computer run under operating systems that are multi-access and multi-tasking.

13. Utility programs are usually supplied as part of an operating system package, although they are not strictly speaking part of the operating system. Common functions these utilities perform are file renaming, deletion, copying, sending to printer or other output device, making backups.

14. Controlling user access and passwords to a mainframe computer is the job of the operating system.

15. Graphical user interfaces (or GUIs) make it easy for users to interact with the operating system by pointing at icons and clicking on them.

16. Processing can be carried out interactively or in batch mode.  The method used depends on the application.   Payroll, billing and other regular processing that repeats the same task for thousands of records is best carried out  in batch mode.

17. An example of a menu driven operating system on PCs is called Windows 98.

18. Mary purchased a new computer and had to specify the software she also wanted.  She wanted to be able to write essays and produce graphs.   What software would you recommend? an operating system, word processing and a spreadsheet package with graphical capabilities.

19. A friend offered to give Mary a copy of their operating system software to save her the expense.  Why should she purchase her own?  it's illegal not to have a software license for a copy of software on each machine, and she wouldn't be able to obtain technical support for the software.

20. Multi-user operating systems maintain access logs for security purposes.  An access log stores details of user login and logout details, dates and times.

1. Software consists of lists of instructions for a computer to execute or carry out.

2. Most programs are written in a high level programming language then translated into machine code by a: translator.

3. Software can be divided into 2 broad types: applications software that enables a user to carry out a task or systems software that keeps the computer working properly.  Examples of systems software are: operating system, utility software, device drivers.

4. A software package usually includes the programs on CD or disk, user guide and installation instructions.

5. Software that is obtained illegally, e.g. borrowed from a friend is called pirated software.

6. On a computer network software licenses must be obtained for  every machine on a network that will be running the software at any one time.

7. General purpose packages are those which users can build applications with, e.g. word processing.

8. The facilities offered by database are: storage of large volumes of information in a structured format as records, efficient sorting and searching, various reporting options.

9. Disadvantages of database on computer are  possible registration with the Data Protection Act if records about people are stored, the need for ensuring security and privacy.

10. Sensitive data that may be stored in databases includes salary and medical details, criminal records.

11. Applications based on database are: booking systems, online banking, stock control.

12. A health and fitness gymnasium uses database.  Some of the tasks it is likely to use database for are: storing membership records, mail merge for membership renewal,  fitness records for recording progress and weight, payroll.

13. The creation of graphics images using graphics packages requires large amounts of memory and can be slow on some computers.  When purchasing a computer for graphics work it is important to get one with a large amount of RAM, a large hard drive and a fast processor.

14. Graphics image files are of different types  but can be recognised by their file extensions.  Graphics files are likely to have the following file extensions: .bmp, .wmf, .gif, .jpg, .tiff

15. When pictures are scanned they are saved as bitmap images.

16. Images may be obtained to illustrate documents by the following methods: drawing them using a paint or draw package, scanning, digital camera.

17. A restaurant would use the following software for producing weekly menus to place on tables: word processing, graphics, DTP.

18. The restaurant wants to computerise its accounts.  What software would you recommend from the following list: spreadsheet.

19. When software is unable to function with a computer because it is not written for its operating system, it is said to be incompatible .

20. It is sensible to keep copies of files in case they become corrupted or lost.  An identical copy is called a backup.

1. Times New Roman,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif, Arial and Mistral are all types of font

2. The text shows full justification.

3. Bold and italic are styles.

4. Another name for the shape preceding items in lists is a bullet.

5. The purpose of a thesaurus is to display alternative words with the same meaning to the one selected.

6. Page numbers are usually added to the sections at the top or bottom of a page called headers and footers.

7. When you make changes to the content or words on a word processed page, it is called editing.

8. There is a facility in many packages, including word processing, where one word may be substituted for another throughout the length of a document irrespective of how many times it appears by entering both words into a form.   This is called Search and Replace or Find and Replace.

9. Word processing packages have a facility whereby a standard letter may be merged with data from a database to produce personalised letters. This is called mail merge.

10. Users can determine how much text is printed on each page by adding  page breaks to their text.

11. Two methods of text input into a word processing package are type it in using the keyboard or use voice recognition software.

12. Two common output devices used with word processing systems are monitor and printer.

13. DTP stands for Desk Top Publishing.

14. The purpose of DTP packages is to allow the user to design the layout of pages, import and place text and graphics.

15. DTP software is used extensively in the magazine and newspaper business.

16. Images used to illustrate pages can be of varying resolutions.  Resolution refers to the degree of detail in an image. A high resolution image would  be clearer than a low resolution image.

17. Apart from scanning, another method of obtaining digital images for use in documents is by taking a photograph using a digital camera.

18. High quality documents for distribution to customers would be printed using  a colour laser printer.

19. WYSIWYG is an acronym that is often associated with electronic document processing packages.  It stands for What You See Is What You Get.

20. A document can be created in a certain style with set fonts, point sizes, colours, headline styles, common text, and page layout features as a starting point for other documents. In Microsoft Word it can be obtained by clicking on File and New and choosing one from a list.  This type of document is called a template.