COMPUTER HARDWARE DEFINITIONS 

Tower - This is just the box part of your computer system. Just the "box". Not the monitor screen, keyboard, or mouse.

Hard-drive - This is a 3 by 5 inch metal drive that stores all the data such as files and programs in your computer. It is not to be confused with memory. Hard drives are often measured in sizes of gigabytes such as 80gb, 120gb, 250gb, 500gb, and etc.

RAM also known as Memory - These are buffering chips in your computer that allow your computer to run faster while having many programs loaded all at once. 

Videocard - This is a graphics chip that has the blue VGA connector or white DVI connector that your monitor plugs into. Some videocards are built into the motherboard while others are seperate videocards that sit near the bottom of the case. A better videocard will only give you better gaming performance and in some cases faster rendering times for video-editing. If you're only using your computer to watch movies and view pictures, a $300 videocard will offer you literally NO ADVANTAGE over an $80 videocard.

CPU/processor - This is a small usually square chip that is located on your motherboard. It is responsible for the speed of your computer and is usually measured in numbers such as 2.0ghz, 2.8ghz, 3.0ghz, 3.2ghz and etc. Nowadays, new CPU's may have lower speeds but still run faster because they are dual-core. The naming conventions of processor chips nowadays are very confusing and it would be most benefitial for you to shop with a computer technician when buying a new computer or upgrade parts.

Motherboard - The motherboard is the biggest piece of hardware inside your computer tower. It is the giant board that is lying flat against the inside of the PC case and has the CPU, videocard, memory, and other cables connected to it. 

DVD+RW a.k.a. DVD-burners - These are drives that can play and burn DVD's as well as play and burn CD's. Their burn speeds are listed in X's such as 16X, 18X, 20X and etc but you will most likely not notice the difference between them. It is also important to note that DVD's will only burn at the speed of the blank DVD so make sure you buy 16X DVD's if you want to burn at 16X. DVD-ROM drives - These drives can play and burn both CD's and DVD's but it can't burn or make copies of any of them.
CD-RW or CD-burners - These drives can play and burn only CD's.
COMBO CD-RW/DVD drives - These drives can play both CD's and DVD's but it can only burn CD's.

USB - USB is the name of a universal connector that is commonly used for a variety of computer peripherals and external devices that you can plug into your computer. The USB connector is the very common rectangle connector that you see nowadays. It is often used on the ends of USB flash drives, external harddrives, printer cables, computer mouses, and computer keyboards as well as many other devices. It is very hard to find a computer today without USB ports on it.

External Hard Drives - This is simply a hard drive inside an enclosure that connects to your computer using the USB port. Most people have external hard drives as extra space and portable space so that they can move their files from one computer to another. It is great for backup purposes or transporting a large amount of files to another PC. An even more portable version of the external hard drive would be the USB flash drive. Common sizes are usually anywhere from 80gb to 500gb and even higher.

USB FLASH drive - These drives are becoming to be very popular nowadays with most people having flash drives between 256mb and 4gb. They are small, portable, and very easy to use. As soon as you plug it into a computer, an icon shows up with a folder where you copy files to and from the flash drive. It's great for moving files without having to burn a CD. It is small more portable, copies faster, is more durable and is ultimately more convenient than using a blank CD or floppy disk.

COMPUTER SOFTWARE DEFINITIONS 

POP3 Programs - POP3 is a common internet protocol that is used to download email into your personal computer. Popular POP3 email software are Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Macmail, and Thunderbird. To use POP3, you must either own your own domain, or have an email account that comes with the feature. Most free email-service providers do not have free POP3 service because they want you to have to log in at their website everyday and view their advertisements. Google's GMAIL is the only exception.

Virus - Viruses and trojans are known as computer code that multiplies itself. It is often used to plant bugs to screw up your operating system or cause all sorts of other problems. To remove and protect yourself from viruses, you must have anti-virus software.

Spyware - Spyware is also known as adware, junkware, and malware among many other names. It is usually unwanted software that is installed on your computer usually without your knowledge or by mistake. It usually forces you to look at advertisements by hijacking your internet web browser and forcing you to look at certain websites or it can put pop-ups all over your desktop. Spyware can only be removed and protected from by having anti-spyware programs installed OR just having a common sense of not installing software you don't trust. Free software is usually the one to blame! 

Web-browser - this is a program that you use to surf the internet. For most people it is Internet Explorer, for others it may be Firefox or even the built-in AOL browser. People with Apple computers use Safari. The best browser is the one you are most comfortable with. Internet Explorer however is known to be buggy but it is however still required for websites that use ActiveX (a code not often used on websites). Firefox is the most popular web-browser of choice among computer-saavy people because of it's faster surfing speed and ability to add many extra functions to make it more featured than Internet Explorer.