In this article I will provide a glossary of 10 to 15 popular computer terms that we use everyday, but the meanings of which are rather vague to us.

Application or App

App is short for or an abbreviated form of application. There is difference between an applet and an application. A program that has a GUI is called an application.

Boot

When you start the operating system in a computer, it is referred to as booting the computer. It will be known as rebooting, if you try to restart the computer while it is still running.

Browser

You can browse through the web with the help of a program called browser. A few of the common browsers are Hot Java, Cyberdog, Opera, Chimera, Arena, Amaya, Mosaic, Lynx, Safari, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape etc.

Bug

While designing software or something like that, if you commit a mistake it is called a bug. Your computer or system can crash thanks to a really severe bug.

Click

In computer parlance, click is associated with pressing either the left button or right button on the mouse. Double click is pressing on the mouse button in rapid succession, twice.

Cursor

There often appears a block or a flashing line or an arrow on the screen of a computer to draw attention to a certain part on the screen. While typing text on a word document or notepad, the words will end just before the placement of the cursor.

File

Unit of information which you can store inside a computer is called a file.

Graphics

When something is displayed on the screen of a computer visually, but is different from a text, it is called graphics.

Hardware

The physical components or parts that make up a computer are called hardware.

Internet

There are two kinds of things, whose names are similar, but functions are different – internet and intranet.  By internet we mean World Wide Web or network that connects all the computers of the world together. In short it is often called the net or the cyber world. The world of today will crash completely if we don’t have internet connection for more than 6 hours. Such is its vast importance as a tool of communication, knowledge resource etc.