A common question about computers is: "What is the difference between software and hardware?" The answer is quite simple: Hardware includes all the physical / tangible components of the computer, individual components ( graphics cards , processors , motherboards ) and the computer system unit itself. Software refers to all the computer programs in the computer. This includes application software (programs that the user works with), operating systems (running programs that the users interact with) and others (libraries, firmware, BIOS ...).