I will start off by saying that this is a very noobish question to be asking and that I am a noob. This is a very noobish question and I am a noob. Ok, here goes...

What topics/languages do I need to know about to have a hacker level knowledge of a computer? (Not how to hack, just the level of computer knowledge that a hacker would have.) There, I said it. I have categorized what I want to learn into TCP/IP and programming, but is there more to it? I have a slightly above average knowledge of computers already, and I would like to focus on software for the time being.

Also, what is a good tech forum?

Topics? uuuh... off the top of my head

System architecture/Electronics/Hardware
Programming/Software
IT systems (solutions/design etc)

I would split it like that... pretty sure those are the main basis.

But what do you mean "really good at computers"? Is there something you want to achieve particularly?

Me and bob-sama regulary vist Xtremesystems.org for technews (mainly forums) I would recommend there. But answer the above question first.

I did not want to use the phrase "leet haxor".

A firm understanding of cryptography, assembly, binary. Unix would be useful. Your main goal would be to understand how security systems work.

I'd say start here;
http://www.wmin.ac.uk/cscs/page-1795

and then here;
http://www.learnsecurityonline.com/

Most of this stuff flys over my head, you'll obviously need basic IT experience. Also heads up, i have a friend whos done computer forensics and is now a researcher for a university. He said it was a ton of work and very stressful.

There's many different sections to learn about a computer.

If you're interested in making programs, webpages, and games, then you want to get into programming.
Building systems is all hardware, so getting to know what everything means and what's good and what's bad is key, as well as being able to read specific information.
Being familiar with many different software is also good to help with software problems (goes kinda with programming).
Knowing about different types of viruses and virus scanners as well as manual scanners is great for virus protection.

The choice is yours.

If you just want to show off, just learn a junk load of keyboard shortcuts. That always impresses people

Or worse.. Just pushing some combiantions that seems real.

Here is a short info about parts of the computer, or you can call it components.
-Processor:
It can resist of 1 core, 2 or even four cores, but a 4 core is not much of.
It processes the programs and there are more types of it: x86 = 32-bit and 64-bit.
64-bit is for more powerful computers or special CPUs(processors)
64-bit also requires special software because of the code difference.
32-bit is the most normal kind, and you find it on most computers.

-Motherboard:
The motherboard is where all the components of the computer is connected together on a board.
The CPU is attached to it in the near middle area. (this is not a surgery though..)
And there is cartridges for RAM slots or SDRAM slots, you can read about that in other part.
All the harddrives are connected with a S-ATA cable or other kind, and is connected to CPU.
Which is not possible to see because it lies within the board.
And also there is connectoins from the outside that goes to the motherboard, like keyboard, sound, microphone, bass, screen (graphic card), USB or FireWire too.

-RAM:
RAM stands for Random Access Memory (correct me if its wrond)
The RAM memory is the part who processes files together with the CPU, but its got to be stable to work faster,
or else there is too much CPU wich makes the RAM memory too little, or other, that there is too much memory for the CPU to work on so it doesnt use all of it. (think of it as a room)

-Graphic card:
The graphic card is the part which can make you see the screen, its often built into the motherboard on some machines, which makes it take RAM memory for graphics card memory.
If you then have 1024MB ram, it will take 64MB, if its 512MB = 32, 256MB = 16MB and shorter down. (and higher, the more.)
But often its not the same amount as you think.
For other Graphic cards, there is memory inside, which makes it process more graphics and polygons.
There is many sorts of connection, both HDMI, DVI sorts, and VGA which is the most normal used.

-Harddrives:
The harddrives is the part which holds the information, but they are sensitive for magnetism which will erease the data from the disc by making it go off the disc inside.
It is a disc inside actually, but not like the ones you insert in your CD drive or CD player.
They are made to have a tight compression on the disc.
External discs are alike just that they have a external power source and cabled by USB.

-USB:
USB is the connection that is almost required for many PC users, its a fast connection, and is very compatible with almost everything.
There is also FireWire, which is new but far away from replacing it.

-AGP/PCI/PCI-E expansion ports:
These ports let you insert new components like:
Sound card, bluetooth card, IR card, graphic card, and much more.
But theres difference between the types in both how they work and how they look.

I hope this helps used a long time to write this though..

Just wanted to add for hard drives that there are different speeds. 7200RPM is what you generally want. Most laptops have 5600RPM (correct if wrong). Basically the higher the RPM, the faster it can get to data.

I to would suggest learning unix commands keyboard shortcuts and a general knowledge of html, php, and how computers work and what parts they require. That knowledge will get you though the basic stuff till you get to real nerds.

5400rpm. There are also faster hard drives such as the Western Digital VelociRaptor which spins at 10000rpm and some advanced drives using the SAS (Serial-Attached SCSI) interface can go as fast as 15k rpm. Not quite sure of the advantages of a hard drive spinning faster, other than the fact that it is more likely to break...


@The leetness:
Start by learning about the Internet: HTML, web serving, the www, basic networking etc. then learn more about hardware - which CPU, which GPU, best manufacturers for x product etc. and just computers in general. Also pick-up knowledge about software and that.

Faster the RPM, the faster data is loaded basically. So less time transferring files, download (Not so much, but kinda), saving big things, that sorta stuff.

But having that speed might damage the disc inside if the machine gets a tilt?
I didnt think of harddrive speeds ( <-- Some weeks ago i found out that this forum had this smiley )

But learning HTML is useles, not if you are going to learn programming web though.
More computer related would be Visual Basic or the C languages.

More cache on the hdd also makes it faster

Cache can actually make a 7200rpm harddrive faster then a 10,000 rpm

I think this was proven with a 7200rpm 500gb seagate with 32mb of cache