1. Input Devices
2. The Display
3. Software Applications
4. The Operating System
5. The File System
6. Memory
7. The Network Environment
8. The Internet
9. Search Skills
10. Computer Specifications (Hardware Overview)

Input devices are what we use to interact with the computer. These are mainly the mouse and the keyboard.

The Mouse

The mouse controls the location of a visual token on the compuer's screen, called the mouse pointer. This token switches appearance depending on what it is hovering over. In most cases it is either an arrow, or a vertical line (indicating that the use can type).

Most computer mice have two or three buttons. The top left button is the default. The top-right button is an alternate which often presents alternative functionality.

Additional buttons sometimes exist; among the most important of these is the scroll wheel which controls the position of documents which are too big to fit their entire content on screen at the same time. Scroll wheels are hard to master and often create accidental input. Luckily the scroll wheel can be turned off.

The Keyboard

The keyboard has a lot of buttons, more than 100 in fact. The main buttons are the 26 characters of the English alphabet which are arranged in a pattern that is recognizable, and is named "QWERTY" for the position of the first five alphabet letters reading from left-to-right.

The top of the keyboard has the "Escape" (Esc) in its top left position. This is used to back out of or cancel activities. The rest of the top row of keys are called "Function Keys". These are numberred and they are used by software developers to assign unique functionality. The most common use of the function keys is "Help" which is often called by the F1 key.

The right hand side of the keyboard has a group of number keys often called the "keypad". Using the keypad is complicated by the fact that a special key called "Num Lock" (number lock) determines if hitting a number key types the number or something else entirely. The "Num Lock" key is often confusing to users because of this.

Many of the keys in the number pad actually duplicate keys in another section of the keyboard, which most users call "the keys between the number pad and the regular keys". This group of keys is like the F-Keys in that they control the behavior of software, but they are all preassigned and have been assigned to specific purposes.

Among these, home moves the cursor to the top of the screen or to the left of the screen. End moves it to the end of the line or the bottom of the screen. Insert toggles between a mode of typeing that overwrites text, versus one which inserts new characters between those already on a line. Delete removes characters and pulls the characters already on the line backwards the same amount of spaces (the opposite of insert).

"Page Up" and "Page Down" move the page up and down, and scroll lock reverses the normal behaviors of scroll wheels.

The break key (sometimes called "Pause"), is designed to control software by interrupting it.

At the top of the main bank of keys is a row of numbers. On the number keys there are also various punctuation characters. These alternate characters are typed by holding-down either of the "shift" keys at either side of the keyboard, and hitting the key at the same time.

This "shifted" status can be toggled on and off by using the "caps lock" key on the left hand side of the keyboard.

In the bottom right hand corner and bottom left hand corner of the keyboard are "Control" keys which are yet another way of modifying the use of other keys which are programmed by software developers.

Finally, there are two windows-specific buttons on either side of the space bar at the bottom of the keyboard. On the left is the "Windows" key which activates the windows "Start Menu". On the right is a "Windows" key which activates the "File" menu. Both of these keys are often struck accidentally taking control away from users and confusing them. Striking either of these keys can be reversed by hitting the escape key.