Computer terms explained: Understanding what a "OS" or "Operating System" is

OK, in this article I'm going to help you finally make sense of what for most people is one of the most confusing and least understood computer terms around: "operating system", or "OS".

This is actually a pretty easy idea to get when it's explained right.

Now an operating system, or OS, is a type of software.

To recap my explanation from my last newsletter article:

"Software" is all of the parts of the computer that you can't really see or touch. Software would include things like Microsoft Word, your email program, Windows or the Mac OS, plus all of your personal files like letters, photos, music, and more.

One way to think about it is like this: hardware is like your brain, the physical part of your body, while software is like your mind or your thoughts -- the non-physical part of yourself.

Software runs on hardware, just like your thoughts "run on" your brain.

Make sense? So let's get to the OS specifically.

First off, let me give a couple of examples: the two best known operating systems right now are Windows, and Mac OS X (pronounced "Oh Ess Ten" -- as in the Roman numeral ten).

Windows XP and Windows Vista are a couple different versions of the Windows operating system. While Mac OS 10.4 (also called "Tiger") and the brand new Mac OS 10.5 (or "Leopard") are two different versions of Mac OS X.

So what *is* an OS?

Think of it this way: when a baby is born, they have the instinct to eat, breathe, and so on, and also the instinct to watch, listen, and absorb what's going on around them.

In time, a young child learns to talk and walk by learning from others, and as they get older, they also learn more fundamental skills like reading and writing, hand-eye coordination, and so on.

So in other words, they go from being able to do not a lot except eat, sleep, and fill diapers, to physical and mental maturity where they have all the general skills they need to learn more specific skills like driving a car, playing a sport like football, writing a paper for school, working a job, etc.

In many ways, when you turn a computer on, it's just like a newborn baby. It has the ability to turn on, and show an image on the screen, but that's about it.

The only other thing it can do is look at the hard drive, and if there is an operating system installed on it, the computer knows to start running the OS.

That process is called "booting", which is what happens between when you turn the computer on, and when you can actually start using it.

And the best way to think about it is that it's just like a child being born and growing up: the operating system contains the "life experiences" and lessons that give a child all the basic skills like walking, talking, reading, writing, and so on, that make everything else possible.

So in a sense, it's like your computer is born and "grows up" in the space of 30 seconds to a minute or so (or longer for some computers) that it takes to "boot" the operating system.

So in other words, the operating system is like those basic skills we all have and learned as children. More specifically, it's the software on the computer that creates the desktop, the icons on it, moves the little mouse pointer around on the screen when you move your mouse around, lets you view files and open, lets you type, and so on.

Without it, you couldn't do anything with the computer but turn it on and see an error message like "non system disk or disk error" on a Windows PC, or a flashing question mark on a Mac.

So even though a lot of people don't really understand what an OS is, or what it does, you couldn't use your computer without it.

Hope that makes sense.

Until next time, enjoy,

Worth Godwin

Understanding the Computer Term: A Driver

In this issue of my computer tips newsletter, I'm going to explain a computer term that, like so many computer terms, isn't very well understood by most people. And in many cases, isn't understood at all.

Of course, as always, remember that's not a criticism -- if you didn't understand what a driver was before this, it's just because it was never explained to you the right way before.

Let's see what I can do to fix that.

A driver is a special type of software that's needed to get different pieces of hardware to work right with your computer.

Didn't make sense yet? Bear with me.

First off, just to make sure we're all on the same page, let me briefly explain the difference between the two basic computer terms "hardware" and "software".

It's actually pretty simple -- "hardware" refers to all of the physical pieces of equipment, like your mouse, your computer's screen (or monitor), the hard drive, etc.

"Software" is all of the parts of the computer that you can't really see or touch. Software would include things like Microsoft Word, your email program, Windows or the Mac OS, plus all of your personal files like letters, photos, music, and more.

One way to think about it is like this: hardware is like your brain, the physical part of your body, while software is like your mind or your thoughts -- the non-physical part of yourself.

Software runs on hardware, just like your thoughts "run on" your brain.

Make sense?

Now let's talk more specifically about drivers. Here's the easy way to think about the computer term driver:

Imagine that every piece of hardware, including your printer, your mouse, and so on, speaks a different language. So one speaks French, another one speaks Italian, another one Cantonese, and so on.

So when you plug in a new printer and turns it on, your computer says "hi" and the printer answers in a foreign language the computer doesn't understand.

So it needs an interpreter.

And when I say interpreter, I mean just like in the real world, like if a foreign diplomat comes to the country but doesn't speak the local language. They need an interpreter to help them communicate with the locals.

That, basically speaking, is what a driver is -- an interpreter that helps your computer talk to a specific piece of equipment. And you need a different interpreter for each piece of equipment (or each general type) that you hook up to the computer.

Make sense?

Now in some cases, the driver may be "preinstalled" on your computer (in other words, the computer already has the interpreter ready and waiting in case it's needed) and in other cases, it needs to either be installed from a CD, or downloaded off the Internet, and then installed on the computer.

But either way, the computer needs that driver before it can talk to the printer or whatever other type of device you may have hooked up to the computer.

Hope that makes sense.

Until next time, enjoy,

Worth Godwin

Problems ejecting CDs because of not closing a program the right way

I got a question from Scott, who recently joined my Gold Club. He wrote:

> Hi Worth I got the CDs today. I listened to part of
> one of them, and now Im having a problem ejecting the
> disc. A window keeps popping up stating " being used".
> How do i eject It?
>
> Thanks Scott

OK, this is a problem people run into occasionally, but it's nothing big.

The problem is that you haven't completely closed out of whatever program you're using to listen to, or watch, the CDs.

This applies to any CD you might use on your computer, not just my CDs, but we'll use mine as an example since that's what Scott is asking about.

You can almost think of it as if you're trying to move a rug. If you're still standing on the rug, it's "in use" so you can't move it. If you step off the rug (and move any furniture off it, etc.) it is no longer in use, so you can move it.

So you need to make sure you completely exit out or quit out (same thing) of the program before trying to eject the disk.

If you were listening to one of the audio CDs that comes with the Gold Club, it may have opened up in iTunes, or maybe a different program, depending on what you're using on your computer.

In Scott's case, it would almost definitely be iTunes, since he's using a Mac.

On the other hand, if you're watching one of my video lesson CDs, like the "Sampler CD" that also comes as part of the $47 package, then it would have opened up in a web browser.

On a Mac that's usually Safari, on a Windows PC that's Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox most commonly. (As a side note, I'll just repeat that if you're running Windows and you're using Internet Explorer (the blue E) then you should stop using that and switch to Firefox since Explorer is very insecure and can cause many problems for you)

Whatever the case is, the problem is caused because you didn't completely exit or "quit out" of the program.

On a Windows PC you can exit out of programs 99% of the time by closing all of the open windows from that program.

On a Mac, on the other hand, closing the window might not close the program. I see a lot of people do this -- they click the red X button in the corner of the window and it closes the window, but leaves Safari (or whatever program) open and running.

What you want to do is Quit out of the program by going to the application menu (the menu that has the name of the program, like Safari, iTunes, etc.) and go to the bottom option in that menu: Quit.

This closes the program completely, so it's not taking up memory and not "holding on to" the CD.

Once you're out of the program, you should be able to eject the CD normally.

I cover the right way to close programs in one of the easy video computer lessons on the computer basics video lesson CDs that come with the bundle of easy video lesson CDs available on my site.

Until next time, enjoy,

Worth Godwin