what are web apps ? how do they work?

Web applications(or web apps), which run in the cloud and do not need to be installed on your computer. These are sometimes called cloud apps.

Examples of Web Apps

• Online Email Services: Services like Gmail andYahoo! Mail run within your browser and can do many of the same things that email programs likeMicrosoft Outlook can do. After you sign up for an online email service, you can begin using it immediately - no installation is required. Instead of being stored on your computer, your emails are stored in the cloud.

What is cloud computing? why is it required?

What is cloud computing?

You may have heard people using terms like the cloud, cloud computing, or cloud storage. But what exactly is the cloud? Basically, the cloud is the internet - more specifically, it's all of the things that you can access remotely over the internet. When something is in the cloud, that means it is stored on servers on the internet, instead of on your computer. It lets you access your calendar,email, files and more, from any computer that has an internet connection

Tutorial on different types of applications??

What is an application?

You may have heard people talking about using an application or anapp. But what exactly does that mean? An application (or app) is a type of software that allows you to perform specific tasks. Applications for desktop or laptop computers are sometimes calleddesktop applications, and those for mobile devices are calledmobile apps. When you open an application, it runs inside theoperating system until you close it. Much of the time, you will have more than one application open at the same time, and this is known as multitasking.


App is a very common term for an application, especially for simple applications that can be downloadedcheaply or even for free. Many apps are also available for mobile devices and even some TVs.

Everything about operating systems

What is an Operating System?

An operating system is the most important software that runs on a computer. It manages the computer's memory, processes, and all of its software and hardware. It also allows you to communicate with the computer without knowing how to speak the computer's "language." Without an operating system, a computer is useless

The Operating System's Job

You've probably heard the phrase boot your computer, but do you know what that means? Booting is the process that occurs when you press the power button to turn your computer on. During this process (which may take a minute or two), the computer does several things:

• It runs tests to make sure everything is working correctly.
• It checks for new hardware.
• It then starts up the operating system.

Device Driver – What is it and Why Do I Need it?

Many people are unaware that you actually need device drivers to run your computer smoothly. This could include display drivers, network, audio, and chipset drivers. Every device that is on your computer has a driver for it. Even a mouse, keyboard, and a monitor have drivers, however windows usually installs those ones for us. Often people are formatting a hard drive, after staring their new Windows installation, they often wonder why they have no internet connection. It is simply because they have not installed a driver for their network adapter to work yet.

• What is a Windows Device Driver?

A device driver is a small software program that helps your computer identify and run particular types of hardware. You need drivers for onboard video, an AGP video card, even a usb storage device. When you purchase a new computer it should always come with a device driver or system disk and Windows usually takes care of the common and generic drivers.

A perfect example is when you install a new printer, you definitely always get a disc with the printer that you buy. This is the installation disc that contains the device driver that will help the computer recognize the printer.

What is a CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+R, or a DVD-RW disc

would just like to very simply tell you the different disc formats and what they are used for. We are not going to get too technical as it all just gets too confusing.

• CD-R:(Compact disc-recorder)

 This is a normal Compact disc that yo can record information to. Once the disc has been written to it is permanent. CD-R usually hold around 700mb of data

• CD-RW: (Compact disc-rewriteable) 

You can also write data to this compact disc, however this time you can wipe the disc clean and reuse it over and over.

• DVD-R: digital Versatile Disc (formally Digital Video Disc) -R

It was the first DVD to arrive on the scene. A lot of people still use this disc format as their DVD burner drives are only compatible with this type. You can not erase a disc after writing on it. DVD discs usually hold around 4.7gb of data.

• DVD+R: 

Is a newer, more developed DVD disc format which offers a bit more success rate when burning discs. To use these discs. the data is permanently written to the disc.

• DVD-RW:

 This format allows you to erase the data and files from the disc and write more to the disc. Normal home dvd players do not really like rewritable dvd discs.

• DVD+RW: 

You can also re-write onto this type of disc.

• DVD+/-R DL: 

It Is a DVD dual or double sided disc. It is not new technology but has only recently been available to the public. DVD movies are often on a dual layer disc. It can hold around 9gb of data.

What Is Software?

Software is a combination of computer programs, commands and information that enables the computer to execute different tasks. In 1958, the term ’software’ was first used by John Turkey. Basically computer software consists of digital languages that involve binary values and direct specific instructions to the computer processor. In simple terms software is what makes the computer usable.

What Is Software????

Software is program that tells the computer to perform a particular set of tasks. Without software, the computer will simply do nothing. Software is necessary for a computer to function. It helps the computer receive input, interpret, process, then communicate the output results to the computer user. Software is like fuel to a car. A car without fuel cannot run. Software not only makes your computer run, but it also is needed to perform any simple tasks on the computer.

There is software available for almost anything you want to do with your computer. There is software for picture editing, movie making, music production, watching movies or TV, and more. It almost seems never ending. It all starts with an idea. Software is usually developed with a particular task in mind. The Windows operating system was intended to improve navigation around your computer and give you easy access and control over your files. However now it also includes a media player, cd burning software, scanner and camera wizard, movie producer, system tools, and more.

The main and most important piece of software a computer has is firstly the BIOS (basic input operating system). The BIOS is a set of programs, which controls the PC hardware and is stored in a memory chip on the motherboard. The chip is a Read Only Memory (ROM) chip, which keeps its contents even when the power is off. When a computer is turned on, the CPU will execute all of the instructions in the BIOS, which are stored in the ROM. These instructions will then load the Operating System.

• Programming software

It is the most common type of computer software worldwide. These are compiled tools and instructions to execute different tasks on computer. A program is a set of commands that enable a computer to undertake certain tasks.

• System Software

It is a collection of operating system like device drivers, servers, utilities and windows platform. These systems play a major role in the operating of hardware. There are many brands when it comes to operating systems; Windows and Linux are common examples of it.

It is very important to know what the file extension is on a file so you will then know what program will open it. Sometimes you can tell by looking at be file itself, as now days certain file types show a particular icon to identify them by. For example, all Microsoft Word documents would have a document looking icon with a big W in the middle of it. See the screen shot below showing my files in my documents folder. You can see there is an Excel file, a picture file, a notepad file, and the word document file all in the top line. In the screen shot you can see a Firefox HTML document. If I press on this it will open in Firefox. 

What are file extensions?

Here are some examples of the most common file extensions you will come across on your computer.

• .exe (An executable file, usually the file that starts a program.)
• .pdf (Portable Document Format, is a file format created by Adobe Systems. Most office documents come in .pdf file format.)
• .zip/.rar (These could be any file but they have been compressed and packed away to a smaller size. When unpacked or unzipped it will become what it was originally.)
• .wav/ .mp3 (Music files)
• .jpg/.gif/.bmp (Picture file formats)

By default, file extensions are hidden to the computer user. Therefore to see file extensions on your computer you must follow these steps: