A | B |
AUP | Acceptable Use Policy. A policy which limits the way a network may be used for instance some networks are restricted to noncommercial use |
Boot | To load and initialize the operating system (OS) on a computer the initial part of this process is stored in ROM |
Cache | A small fast memory holding recently accessed datadesigned to speed up subsequent access to the same data |
Client computer | A computer system or process that requests a service of another computer system or process (a server) using some type of protocol and accepts the server's responses For example a workstation requesting the contents of a file from a file server is a client of the file server |
Close | to exit or stop a file or application |
CPU | Central Processing Unit the brains of the system input is accepted and treated or processed appropriately stored and finally prepared for output |
CRT | Cathode Ray Tube better known as a monitor This tube actually a large vacuum tube is the screen on most monitors Flat screen monitors are not CRTs |
Desktop | the computer screen as it appears before files or applications are added |
Default | preset options in a program |
Four stages of computing | The stages are Input-Processing-Output-Storage |
Hardware | The physical touchable material parts of a computer or other system The term is used to distinguish these fixed parts of a system from the more changeable software or data components which it executes stores or carries |
Icon | a small picture intended to represent something (a file directory or action) in a graphical user interface |
Input | information or data transferred to a device Examples: keyboard mouse disk drive CDROM |
Keyboard | A hardware device consisting of a number of mechanical buttons (keys) which the user presses to input characters to a computer |
Maximize | as large as possible full screen |
Minimize | remove from desktop without closing appears in Taskbar |
Monitor | A cathoderay tube and associated electronics connected to a computer's video output A monitor may be either monochrome (black and white) or color |
Mouse | The most commonly used computer pointing device first introduced by Douglas Engelbart in 1968 The mouse is a device used to manipulate an onscreen pointer that's normally shaped like an arrow |
OS | Operating System The lowlevel software which handles the interface to peripheral hardware schedules tasks allocates storage and presents a default interface to the user when no application program is running |
Output | new information or data derived from prior input and processing Examples: monitors printers |
Peripheral | any part of a computer other than the CPU or working memory ie disks keyboards monitors mice printers scanners tape drives microphones speakers cameras to list just the less exotic ones-that attaches to the CPU box |
Point | (pt) A unit of measurement used for fonts |
Primary Storage | often called main memory used to store data in active use because it is faster than secondary storage RAM ROM and Cache memory are examples of primary storage |
Printer | a peripheral device for producing text and images on paper |
Processing | The second stage of The Data Processing Cycle. Supported by the ROM and RAM chips on the motherboard |
Quick Launch | the icons to the right of the START button click one time to start the application or view the file icons always available includes Show Desktop which moves all open widows to the Taskbar |
RAM | Random Access Memory contents may be altered RAM is volatile storage meaning it is lost when the power of the computer is switched off or the computer is restarted the computer uses RAM to store operational processes this computer has 512 MB of RAM |
Restore | display a window on the desktop less than full screen |
ROM | Read Only Memory contents can not be altered ROM is inherently nonvolatile storage it retains its contents even when the power is switched off in contrast to RAM ROM is often used to hold programs for embedded systems since these usually have a fixed purpose ROM is also used for storage of the lowest level bootstrap software (firmware) in a computer |
Scanner | an input device that takes in an optical image and digitizes it into an electronic image represented as binary data This can be used to create a computerized version of a photo or illustration A scanner may be linked to optical character recognition (OCR) software allowing printed documents to be converted to electronic text without having to type them in at a keyboard |
Secondary Storage | Any nonvolatile storage medium that is not directly accessible to the processor Secondary storage includes hard drives network drives CDROM DVD drives floppy disks and pen drives |
Server | A computer which provides some service for other computers connected to it via a network The most common example is a file server which has a local disk and services requests from remote clients to read and write files on that disk |
Software | (Or computer program program code) The instructions executed by a computer as opposed to the physical device on which they run (the hardware) |
Storage Device | memory a device into which data can be entered in which they can be held and from which they can be retrieved at a later time |
System Tray | The system tray (or systray) is a section of the taskbars in the Microsoft Windows desktop user interface that is used to display the clock and the icons of certain programs so that a user is continually reminded that they are there and can easily click one of them |
Taskbar | the menu portion of the desktop consists of START button Quick Launch System Tray and open files/applications |
Webcam | An input device used to capture digital pictures and videos |
Windows | Microsoft Windows derived from MSDOS after several releases derives the name from the screen view as different objects open they appear as separate objects each capable of being sized and moved These individual objects are windows |