Computer Software

The computer software world has come a long way since the first simple personal computers rolled off assembly lines in the late 70′s. Thanks to dedicated software developers, there have been vast improvements to the performance, function and usability of computers today. Every year, there are major developments that lead to faster software and hardware applications that improve the performance of computers for personal and business users. Just in the last decade, more people than ever are using computers to perform basic functions of their jobs and lives. The future holds many more new advances. So what are the top five advances in computer software just in the last few years that stand out in the history of computers?

Data storage and processing

Over just the last ten years, there has been a huge improvement in the amount of data that personal computers can store and process at once. When a 256 MB system used to be state of the art in computer memory, now we are lucky to have computers managing over 30 GB routinely. Thanks to the development of Microsoft Windows, computers can easily handle multiple applications running all at once. And there are many options in the storage of data, whether it is backup software, external drives or web-based storage ability – we can manage much more data than ever before thanks to these developments.

Internet applications

With the birth of the World Wide Web in the 90′s, human beings became more connected to the rest of the world than ever before. And we couldn’t have done this without software applications like Internet Explorer or Netscape to provide browsers that we use to “surf” the Net. Then came instant messaging and telephony applications that allowed us to talk with people in real time. As we move into the future, we will be even more connected via use of mobile devices like cell phones, texting units and GPS systems. Continue Reading

These days you’d be hard pressed to find a home or business that didn’t rely on a computer in some fashion. Homeowners pay their bills, do their banking, shop, do a budget report, do school work, create holiday and greeting cards, manipulate and print photos, play games.. the list goes on and on. Businesses do billing and invoicing, log inventories, do ordering and print invoices, manage their accounting, etc., etc.

In short, pretty much every phase of our lives is controlled in some facet by a computer and computers require certain software programs to be installed in order to perform the functions that we need them to perform. This is where a problem can come in for the computer user who doesn’t have a lot of disposable income – computer software can be pretty expensive, if you need half a dozen programs or more for your computer to do everything that you want it to do and you’ve got to pay full MSRP for those programs the cost could really become an issue.

So where does the computer user go when they need computer software, but don’t have a whole lot of money to spend on it? Here are a few ideas of how you can get your hands on some cheap computer software that will have your PC performing all of the functions that they desire, without putting too much of a strain on their wallet.

Shop Around

It’s no secret that retailers compete for your business; there are advertisements in the newspaper every weekend giving details of sales and specials. If you aren’t in the biggest of hurries, you can shop the sale papers for a little while to see who’s got the best deal on the software package you need. Some stores even do a price match with competitors, so even if one store advertises a better price on one item and one of their competitor’s beats them on another you may be able to bring in an advertisement and get the best possible prices on your software form the same store. Continue Reading

Software can simply be defined as the coded instructions that are sent to the computer, which when received by the computer, carries out the tasks the user desires. The commands govern the operation of the computer and all the programs that run on the computer at a given time. Every program installed on your computer is made up of some coded material. This is what the computer reads and carries out the commands required of it during the utilization of the program. The types of computer software can be categorized into three:

1. System software

Also referred to as operating system, it is the software used by the computer to convert and translate inputs from different sources into a machine language. It is the task of an OS to organize the hardware components of a computer. It is also the System software offers a shield of protection to all the other software applications. With the OS, support is also provided to the physical components of computers. Many Os exist in the market. The windows operating system is one that has made a lot of wave in the system software industry. Other operating systems also abound. Among these is UNIX, which is used for large office setups with powerful networks. We also have HP -UX and AIX, used by HP computers. Apache OS is also popular especially with web servers.

2. Application software:

Application software are the most commonly known and used types of computer software. Application software covers almost all the day-to -day activities done with the computer. Some examples of application software are the Microsoft office suite which includes Word, Excel, publisher and PowerPoint. Many people extensively use these applications. With Internet explorer, Netscape and Mozilla Firefox, people gain access to access the internet. Outlook express is software used for email management. One characteristic of the application software is the user interfaces. Continue Reading