Application SoftwareComputer systems contain both hardware and software. Hardware is any tangible element in a computer system, such as the system unit, keyboard, or printer. Software, or a computer program, is the set of instructions that direct the computer to perform a task. Software falls into one of two categories: system software and application software. System software controls the operation of computer hardware; while the application software allows the user to perform tasks. Three major types of application software on the market today for personal computers are word processors, electronic spreadsheets, and database management systems (Little and Benson 10-42). A word processing program allows the user to efficiently and economically create professional-looking documents such as memos, letters, reports, and resumes. With a word processor you can easily review a document. To improve the accuracy of their writing, word processors can check the spelling and grammar of a document. They also provide a thesaurus to allow the user to add variety and precision to their writing. Many word processing programs also provide desktop publishing capabilities for creating brochures, advertisements, and newsletters. An electronic spreadsheet allows the user to organize data in a similar way to a paper spreadsheet. The difference is that the user does not have to perform the calculations manually; Electronic spreadsheets can be instructed to perform any desired calculation. The contents of an electronic spreadsheet can be easily modified by the user. Once you change the data, all calculations in the spreadsheet are automatically recalculated. Many spreadsheet packages also allow the user to graph data in their spreadsheet (Wakefield 98-110). A database management system (DBMS) is a software program that allows the user to efficiently store a large amount of data in a centralized location. Data is one of the most valuable resources for any organization. For this reason, users want data to be organized and easily accessible in a variety of formats. With a DBMS, a user can then easily store data, retrieve data, modify data, analyze data, and create a variety of reports from the data (Aldrin 25 -37). Many organizations today have all three of these types of applications