Hardware refers to the physical components of a computer that can be seen and touched, such as keyboard, monitor, mouse, CPU, and printer. These devices perform input, processing, storage, and output functions.
Software, on the other hand, consists of programs and instructions that tell the hardware what to do. Software cannot be touched. Examples include operating systems like Windows, application programs like MS Word, and antivirus software.
The main difference is that hardware is the physical part of the computer system, whereas software is the logical part that controls the hardware.