Explanation:

Hardware refers to the physical, tangible components of a computer system. The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the 'brain' of the computer, a physical microchip. A monitor is a physical output device that displays visual information. A keyboard is a physical input device used for entering text and commands. Microsoft Office, however, is a suite of application software (e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook). It is a collection of programs and data, which are intangible, and therefore constitutes software, not hardware. Thus, Microsoft Office is NOT a part of the hardware of a computer, making option (b) the correct answer.