The computer's master control program. When a computer is turned on, a small "boot program" loads the operating system. Although additional system modules may be loaded as needed, the main part, known ...

An operating system is the essential software that's needed to run your computer's suite of software. Everything from video games to web browsing, basic word processing, and more is down thanks to the ...

A graphical user interface (GUI, pronounced “gooey”) is a computer environment that simplifies the user’s interaction with the computer by representing programs, commands, files, and other options as ...

As far as desktop microcomputers for mere mortals went in the first half of the 1980s, there was a sharp distinction between home computers such as the many 8-bit machines we regularly see here, and ...