ports

Here Is a diagram of the ports found at the back of the computer.These Ports are from the cards which are connected to the motherboard.  I will go through all the ports in this post.

Power Supply: This is fairly obvious. It is where you plug the machine to the, dare i say it, power supply.

Mouse And Keyboard (PS/2): These ports were introduced, by IBM. it supports a plug with just 6 pins. Most PCs will have this port. The plugs and ports are colour coded for the piece of equipment that is going to be connected. Green is for mouse and Purple is for the keyboard.

Parallel Port: this port is mainly used to connect external devices like printers. Most PCs have this port, however recently more and more external devices have been increasing in it's USB 2.0 Connection. However if you cannot find a device that will connect to this port, you can still get Adapters to plug a USB printer to the  port.

VGA Port: this is the port which is part of the graphics cards. Obviously there is no way you can view the graphics without a monitor. This is what this port does, it connects the monitor. this is how the graphics card sends its information. Afterall all it does is change the data in the PC to a graphical format for us to use.

USB Slots: USB is frequently becoming the most commonly used port in the PC. Due to the new adaptations like USB 2.0, the port is constantly increasing in speed. now a USB port is now capable  to connect anything other ports do. It can connect external devices like Parallel Ports. it also is increasingly being used for Mouses and Keyboards too. This is the one slot you will need the most off. this is due to almost everything connecting to them, like Music Players or Memory Sticks. 

Ethernet Port: This is the connection for an ethernet cable, usually linked to the telephone line. This is your source of your local area network. It is what connects you to the internet. Increasingly Broadband Modems have been used to increase the speed of your internet, not just that but on a dial-up connection, the phone cannot be used and visa versa. A broadband modem lets both be used.

Microphone and Speaker: These are used to connect audio devices to the computer. obviously the Microphone (pink) connects a microphone and the Speaker (green) connects speakers