BACK UP – a back up is a second copy that is created in case of an emergency such as, the first copy cannot be opened, and so the back up copy can then be used. If there were no back up copy then the user would have a big problem. This is why it is necessary that you have back up copies of the system and all its contents. COPY – this is a way of duplicating data from a particular place, usually to paste it somewhere else. DISK DRIVE – a piece of electrical equipment that passes information, to or from a computer disk.
There are many disk drives such as A:/, C:/, and U:/ DATABASE – this is a ordered collection of data files that have been organised and stored in a computer system. Databases can be set up in different ways, for example, the simplest are tables with a row for each record (a set of related items such as the individuals name and address) and a column for each filed (the categories within each record such as last name, titles, address, town, etc. DRAG – to use the mouse to move an object appearing on one part of the screen to another position.
The object to be moved is chosen (selected) and marked, e. g. by highlighting text or putting a boundary around the area of an image. This is often called drag and drop. FIELD – this is a category in a database, generally equivalent to a column in a table. Databases contain records (which are like rows in a table) which have some of the same fields of information but for different individuals, e. g. a database for this club of members has a record for each member which contains the fields ‘Name’, ‘Title’, and ‘Membership Type”.
FIELD SIZE – this is where in a field you can choose how many characters (letters/numbers) can be entered in, e. g. you can have a field size of 4, and this means you can only enter a maximum of 4 characters. FLOPPY DISK- this stores the information for the computer (backup) APPLICATION PACKAGE – A program designed and written to fulfil a particular purpose of the user OPERATING SYSTEM – A basic software that enables the running of a computer system. CPU – this stands for a Central Processing Unit
KEYBOARD – a set of keys on a computer, which allows a user to enter data (this is called an input device) MOUSE – a small hand -held device, which controls the cursor. This is used to draw, select the cursor and also to use to moving drawing pictures. PRINTER – this is a device that connects to the CPU and prints out specific documents from applications. INPUT MASK – this is a pattern for entering data.
MAIL MERGE – this is where parts of the letter i. e. the address will automatically appear and can be changed to the next address with one button. The rest of the letter is already written up. MENU – this is a list of options from which a user can select, this could be for opening a program or a file. QUERY – this is to find all the records to satisfy the criteria that you have entered. REPORT – this is a way of inputting data and viewing it on the screen, and then printing it out. This is mainly for the manager and the secretary of the company to analyse.