50 interesting facts about computers

facts / By

We are surrounded by computers. They have changed our lives completely. Be it an online transaction, virtual meet up with friends, or placing an order for food, computers are everywhere. Here are 50 of the fascinating facts about computers.

  • The data storing capacity of the first ever hard disk was only 5 MB!
  • The longest word that you can type using a single row of your keyboard is ‘Typewriter’.
  • About 92% of the world currency exists on computers. The rest is in the form of physical money.
  • The computer mouse was invented by Douglas Engelbert in 1964.
  • Every month, over 5000 computer viruses are released.
  • The original name of windows was Interface manager. The project started in 1982.
  • The first webcam was used at Cambridge University. It was used to monitor a coffee maker so that the users do not need to go to empty pots.
  • Around 80% of daily emails are spam mail!
  • The first computer virus was made by Bob Thomas in 1971 and it was named ‘Creeper’. Once activated, it used to display the message “I’m the creeper, catch me if you can!” on the user’s screen.
  • The first programmable computer was developed in 1945 and it was named ENIAC(Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer). It had a weight of over 27 tons.
  • Most people do not use the scroll lock key on their keyboard as they think it’s totally useless. Do you?
  • Out of the top 500 supercomputers, only two are Windows-based, while the other uses Linux.
  • We all have seen CAPTCHA on various websites. But, did you know that the full form of CAPTCHA is
    ‘Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart’.
  • A supercomputer named Deep Blue once defeated the renowned Chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov. The interesting thing is that the move through which it defeated Garry, came from a bug in its internal program!
  • The deadliest worm ever developed was named ‘ILOVEYOU’!
  • The most common password for computers is 123456.
  • If there is a gaming PC running in a room, it can heat the room far better than a heater!
  • The first hard disk with a capacity of 1 GB came into existence in 1980. It weighed around 550 pounds and had a price tag of $ 40,000!
  • The first computer programmer was a lady named Ada Lovelace. She was also a renowned mathematician.
  • Did you know, that you need not worry about opening emails containing malicious programs until you click on any links!
  • There was a computer game that deletes a random file from your computer every time you kill an enemy in the game!
  • Windows operating system does not allow files to be created with names ‘con’, ‘prn’, ‘aux’, or ‘nul’. These are predefined keywords reserved by DOS.
  • A computer system developed at MIT can differentiate between fake and genuine smiles!
  • Russia made a computer in 1936 that could run on water!
  • Approximately 70% of the virus programmers work for organized crime syndicates.
  • In 2010, a high school in Pennsylvania issued mac books to its students and then activated the webcams remotely to keep an eye on the students! The school is named ‘Lower Merion School’.
  • The QWERTY keyboards were invented in order to reduce the typing speed of the users. When the keyboard was invented, the keys were in alphabetical order, due to which the typing speed of the users was too fast. As a result, the computers used to hang sometimes.
  • It may sound crazy, but Email was invented before the Internet!
  • In 1950s, Computers were commonly called ‘electronic brains’.
  • The engineers who built the IBM PC were called ‘The Dirty Dozens’.
  • In the year 2013, Bill gates admitted that the command Ctrl + alt + delete should be a single button. He admitted that it was a mistake.
  • In 2010, the US Defence built a supercomputer that comprised of 1,780 Playstation-2 processors!
  • The sim card in your mobile is a tiny computer having a CPU, ROM, and RAM!
  • The popular term bug used for a software error became popular once in 1947. A system error occurred due to a moth stuck in the system. It was an actual bug indeed!
  • Ayan Qureshi, at the age of 5, took and passed Microsoft’s IT technician exam, and became the youngest computer specialist in the world.
  • The logo of Mozilla Firefox is not a fox. It’s a red panda!
  • There are computers that are designed without internet or video capabilities. Their features include word processing, accounting, and spreadsheets. These are called Amish Computers.
  • The first computer mouse was made out of wood!
  • Around 86% of people try to plug their USB devices in the wrong manner.
  • November 30 is celebrated as ‘Computer Security Day’.
  • Out of all the fonts, ‘Comic Sans’ is the most hated in the world.
  • The first commercial computer having a Graphical User Interface(GUI) and a mouse was called ‘Apple Lisa’.
  • On average, a human being blinks 20 times a minute. But if you are using a computer, it gets reduced to 7 times a minute.
  • The first microprocessor 4004 was developed by Intel. It was meant for a calculator.
  • The action of ‘Copy and Paste’ was developed by an engineer named Larry Tesler in 1981.
  • Linux is the most popular operating system among the servers. It is also used by the tech giants like Google, Apple, and Microsoft.
  • The first woman to earn a Ph.D. in computer science was Mary Kenneth Keller from the US.
  • If a computer would be as powerful as the human brain, it would be capable of performing 38,000 trillion operations per second.
  • Alan Turning was the father of Computer Science.

You may also like