Draft:Glossary on using PC Computer

GLOSSARY ON USING PC COMPUTER

A

1. Active - The state of the selected item on a computer's display.
   1. Active Window - The selected window, which comes to the foreground of the screen on a computer's display.
2. Add-in card - a circuit that goes into a slot in a computer.
3. Adobe Type Manager (ATM) - Software for Machintosh, Windows or OS/2 computers created by Adobe Systems to simplify the use of fonts.
4. Algorithm - A sequence of rules followed by a computer to give the answer to a particular problem, such as hyphenating words.
5. Alias - On the Mac, a dummy file used as a pointer to the actual file it represents.
6. ANSI - American National Standards Institute. An organization that helps set voluntary standards and also represents the United States in some international standards bodies.
7. AppleTalk - a software standard from Apple Computer Corporation that facilitates linking Macintosh computers and peripherals.
8. Application - a type of program designed for accomplishing a specific type of task.

B

1. Backup - to make spare copies of files in case something bad happens to the original file.
2. Backspace - the key that permitr you to backspace and erase one character at a time in text.
3. Byte - a group of 8 (sometimes 7) bits. Often used to represent a character. Bytes are also units of storage and transmission.
4. Broadcast message - a message from one user sent to all users, as is a TV Station signal.
5. Bulletin board system (BBS) - A fancy name for an Electronic Message System typically running on a PC. Users can call up, leave messages and read messages.
6. Binary - a numbering system that allows only two values, zero and one.
7. Bitmapped graphics or fonts - produced by selectively turning on rectangular dots in the invisible grid of the screen.

C

1. CAD - Computer-Aided Design a software suitable for designing a building and issuing a bill for materials for its construction, planning its interior or designing a machine tool.
2. Connector - a fitting, often called a port, on a computer or other piece of hardware, where you plug in a cable.
3. CRT - Cathode ray tube; a technical term for display screen of the computer.
4. Cut - to delete a selected item.
5. Clip art - a set of graphic images that can be pasted into documents wherever appropriate.
6. Clipboard - a special file that's part of the Macintosh operating system, OS/2 and Windows. The Clipboard holds things you select and them copy or cut (remove) from your work files.

D

1. Daisy wheel printer - an impact printer that works by transferring ink from a ribbon with a type wheel ringed with a set of letters, numbers and symbols.
2. Data compression - the process of condensing a file or group of filer to save space on disk in transmitting.
3. DIF - A spreadsheet file format for exchange with people using different spreadsheet programs.
4. DBMS - Database management system. A program or collection of programs that creates and maintains a database and allows users to retrieve information from tha t database.

E

1. E-Mail Server - a server on the network that handles the E-mail application and traffic.
2. Echo - the return of transmitted data. What you send and what is recieved at the other end is bounced back to you and shown on your screen.
3. Encryption - Data encoding that makes the data less accessible to unauthorized users.
4. Ethernet - one of the most popular baseband local area networks in use.
5. Export - to copy data from a file in a format that allows it to be placed in a different program.

F

1. Fan - a mechanism inside a computer or other piece of hardware that keeps the parts cool enough to function properly.
2. Field - a place in database or a dialog box where you type information.
3. File Manager - the optional file-structure interface of Windows, which provides a graphic representation.
4. File - a parcel of data formatted so it has an identity recognizable to the computer.
   1. File Locking - a method of ensuring data integrity.
   2. File name - the official name of a file, which is part of the signature of a file that males it recognizable as unique to the operating system's file system.
   3. File server - a computer containing files that can be shared by everyone connected to a LAN.
5. Folder - a symbol of a subdivision of stored data in graphical operating systems such as those used on the Mac.
6. Font - an electronic template for a typeface and its variations.
7. Format - to prepare a disk for storing information.

G

1. Gateway - a device that can connect two or more dissimilar networks or connect a network to a mainframe or minicomputer.
2. GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) - a file format for exchanging bitmapped graphics. It incoporates file compression.

H

1. Hard disk - a fixed storage platter used with a computer.
2. Hardware - Computer equipment. It includes the computer and all peripherals from printers to monitors to scanners.
3. Host - a computer system that provides computer service fop a number of users.
4. Hot link - an open pipeline between two files that remembers where information from one file is pasted into another one, and automatically updates the pasted copy when the original has changed.

I

1. Icons - little pictorial symbols in a graphical user interface that represent files or commands.
2. IS(Information Services or Systems) - the department in an organization that is responsible for every computer and network planning.

J

• Job - task to be done by a computer.

K

1. Keyboard - an input device pretty much standard on all personal computers that lets you type instructions and data.
2. Kilobyte - a standard measurement of computer storage space.

L

1. LAN (Local Area Network) - a data communications network spanning a limited geographical area---a few miles at most.
2. Log off - to exit from a network or communications service politely enough that don't make technical waves.
3. Log on - to gain or have access to a network or communications link.
4. Log-in - the process of identifying and authenticating oneself to a computer system.

M

1. MB/MEG - short forms for megabyte. A unit of measurement for large chunks of computer data.
2. Menu - a list of commands.
3. Microcomputer - another term for personal computer.

N

1. NetWare - the most popular network operating system.
2. NOS - Network Operating System.

O

1. OS/2 - An operating system sold by IBM. Key features include support of multitasking and programs larger than 640K.

P

1. PC - Short term for Personal Computer
2. Password Protection - a security scheme that requires users to type a secret word to gain entry to the system.
3. Page break - an on-screen division indicating the end of one page's material and the begining of the next as it will appear in the printout of a file.

Q

• Queue - a line a tasks, such as computer jobs or messages, waiting for service---for processing, printing, storing, and so on.

R

1. RAM - Random Access Memory, a type of memory chip used in computers and other hardware to temporarily store instructions or information need while the equipment is running.

S

1. Save - A command that stores work on disk which are temporarily stored in the computer's RAM.
2. Screen Capture - taking a snapshot of what shows on the screen.

T

1. Template - Documents used like cookie cutters to create a document modeles on the original, and which contains all formatting and often some boilerplate data or formulas as well.
2. TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) - a file format for exchanging bitmapped graphics.
3. Techie - slang for a person with technical expertise.

U

1. Upload - to send a file from your computer to a remote computer via modem.

V

1. Volume - A technical term for a disk or a disk equivalent, such as a RAM disk or a partition of a disk set aside by the operating system to act as if it were and independent disk drive.

W

1. Wide Area Network (WAN) - A Data communications network that is designed to serve an area of hundreds or even thousands of miles.
2. Windows - Software from Microsoft. It extends the DOS operating system to include a graphical user interface.

See Also

Glossary of computers