Take the misery out of trying to comprehend the latest onslaught of technobabble delivered from the local IT nerd across the street. Here you’ll find some of the most common IT nerd-words reduced to familiar language complimented by big pictures where words don’t seem to cut it.

Hardware

Not what the local villain wears, anything physical in the computing world is considered Hardware; the computer casing and all the components inside it; a computer screen (monitor); keyboards; mice; printers; switches etc.

Hacker

Hackers come in two flavours, the ‘WHITE hat’ hacker and the ‘BLACK hat’ hacker:
The WHITE hat: Super IT intelligent people who attempt to Infiltrate computer systems, networks, databases, security barriers and personal identity details for a living but do so mostly for the good to demonstrate weaknesses in company IT; they are often employed as security consultant by companies who want to ensure maximum IT security of the business.
The BLACK hat: Super IT intelligent pests who attempt Infiltrate computer systems, networks, databases, security barriers and personal details for living but do so almost exclusively for personal gratification, vengeance or for criminal purposes.

Find out more about the term ‘Hacker’ here

Home Network

Two or more home computing devices connected together via cables or Wireless technology, for the purpose of sharing information, printers and access to the internet; typically a son or daughter my have a computer in their room and shared access to the internet or need to print from their mum or dads’ printer downstairs.