| An electronic machine, which is intelligent enough to | | | | personalized to suit the user's needs. |
| calculate, remember and process statistics and store | | | | Modern personal computers often have high-speed or |
| all your data only to keep it secure, is the computer. | | | | dial-up connections to the Internet, allowing access to |
| Going by definition, A personal computer (PC) is an | | | | the World Wide Web. In the last four decades we |
| assembled machine whose original sales price, size, | | | | have come a long way and are now confronting |
| and capabilities make it useful for individuals. It may be | | | | supercomputers. Supercomputers are used for high |
| a home computer, or may be found in an office often | | | | calculation-intensive tasks such as problems involving |
| connected to a local area network. | | | | quantum mechanical physics, weather forecasting |
| Electronic computers were introduced in 1970's and | | | | climate research, molecular modeling, physical |
| since then have been of tremendous use. They have | | | | simulations, simulation of the detonation of nuclear |
| grown in size and operation and are classified under | | | | weapons etc. Major universities, military agencies and |
| four different generations. The first Generation or basic | | | | scientific research laboratories are heavy users. Some |
| computers, second generation or little improved ones, | | | | of the big companies producing supercomputers are |
| third generation computers, which came in late 1980s, | | | | IBM, Hitachi and Intel. |
| where microchips were introduced and then fourth | | | | Well, computers are definitely the order of the day. |
| generation computers, an era when mankind got much | | | | Every office and home is having one. Most |
| faster with intelligent super computers. | | | | manufacturers offer several lines at different prices. |
| Today, Desktop computers or PC's basically work on | | | | Budget computers are suitable for routine work, such |
| operating systems. Often we see Microsoft Windows, | | | | as e-mail, word processing, and Web surfing. At the |
| Macintosh or Linux as the popular ones. Software | | | | first glance, virtually, any computer you buy seem laden |
| applications for personal computers include word | | | | with useful software for virus scanning, managing |
| processing, spreadsheet, games, and a myriad of | | | | finances, and working with audio or image files. But one |
| personal productivity and special-purpose software. | | | | should always check before buying that the selected |
| Perhaps the greatest feature a desktop computer has | | | | model includes antivirus and anti spyware software |
| is the fact that quite often it can be upgraded and | | | | that will work for at least one year. |