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……ATAPI: Advanced technology attachment packet interface. A standard for connecting a CD-ROM drive to an Enhanced IDE adapter which is what most modern computers use to control their hard disks.It simplified Installation of CDROM drives .

……Bios:Basic Input Output System. software (Stored in ROM) which effectively tells the operating system exactly what hardware components the PC has. So the BIOS tells MS-DOS or Windows 95/98 about the presence and type of hard drives, keyboard, CPU etc.

…….Bus: The internal rout for signals carrying instruction around inside a computer, transferring data between various components. In practice the bus Is a collection of very fine wires or metal plugged into the system board .links on the outside made to connect for plugging boards and other devices. So the bus type (Visa,PCI,etc) dictates which cards you can use in the slot.

…….Byte: Eight bits (binary digits 0 or 1, on or off, yes or no) form one byte, and different patterns of eight bits give you enough combinations to represent most of the standard alphanumeric and punctuation characters. PS: A kilobyte Is1,024 bytes , a megabyte 1.048,576 bytes.A normalKilo is a unit of 1000..

…….Cache: This is computer memory which Is intended for speeding up operation. A printer cache temporarily stores any Information to be printed, so that it can match the relatively slow print speed to the PC'S much faster rate of delivery. The cache controller thinks ahead of you ,or tries to predict what you'll do next and prepares a couple of instructions to speed things up .

…….CISC:Complex Instruction set computer. Intel chip architecture, which distinguishes it from the better in preformance RISC chips.

…….Client: A user who is linked may be with many other users to a central server which holds the main data to be shared and saved for all to go back to from any client machine.

…….CPU:Central processing unit. This is the brain of the system .a microprocessor chip. The speed and capability of the CPU is not the detrimental factor of the performance of the PC, because their are other important components In the PC with regard to speed , that determines the overall performance of the PC.

…….DIP SWITCH: A miniature switch or set of switches used to Set hardware configurations such as IRQ levels ,etc for modems and printers and any other accessories.(They can be electronic set by software or a mechanical manual flick).

……DRAM: Dynamic random access memory. Cheaper to produce than other types. But not the fastest.

……DPI: Dots per inch ,(on the printed page ).Its detail capability of a printer on the hard copy.Text is printed from 180 to 600 dpi. Photographic image may be produced between 700 to 1600 dpi’s or higher.

…… Photo cartridge: Ink developed specifically to achieve photographic quality printing of colour Images without the need for special paper.

 …...Impact printing:One of the first ever printing methods where the print head actually hits the paper like atypewrite ,noisy and monochrome only .obsolete now ,very few in use for special applications.

…... Picoliter:A millionth of a millionth of a liter. Unit ofmeasurement of the usage of ink in eachdroplet while printing on hard copy (page).

…...Peizo inkjet: Epson’s Inkjet printing technique using expanding crystals in the ink jet cartridge pushing ink out.only used on Epson’s own printers.

……Moier pattern : Low resolution printing problem ,when dots are placed on page two far apart. More apparent when printing large images at low resolution, moire patterns also are a problem with some low resolution scan’s on some colour scanners .they appear as yellow almost zigzag shaped patterns.

……EIDE :Technology used to run large hard disks on most modern PCs. Also known sometimes as Fast ATA or high Performance ATA,EnhancedIDE is an expansion of the IDE (integrated drive electronics) standard; an EIDE controller can handle up to four hard drives and other device .ie cdroms.modern PC have the EIDE controller built on,but also it could be plugged in an appropriate slot ,ie like some older pc’s based on visa chipsets.

……XMS :extended memory.This term refers memory usage above the 1Mb.The original PC design did not allow for memory above that .

……FAT: File allocation table. the MS-DOS operating system keeps track of where information is on the PC's hard and floppy disks. With out this system dos is lost. DOS doesn't necessarily store programs and data in consecutive chunks on disk, instead taking the next available cluster. It's the FAT that maintains the link addresses for subsequent but physically separated clusters.

……FMsynthesis: Frequency modulation synthesis .a cheaper good solution for producing sound on PC’s. but music may sound artificial.

……Wavetable synthesis: Superior quality sound reproduction to FM synthesis using sampled sounds from the musical instruments. which is used to reproduce more realistic sound.

……IDE. Integrated drive electronics. The most used hard drive controller for the PC. The controller electronics are included inside the device. No need for a separate adapter card .ie SCSI controller. Installation of IDE drive is a breeze. compared to other types .

……I/O port: isaInput –Output port connector .on the computer, cable attachment is needed to connect to other devices or i.e. Laptop computer.

……ISA:industry standard architecture. It allows extras adapters to be added to a system in a plugin way Into slots on the motherboard. Now being replaced by PCI and AGP but still in use.

……Jumper: Plugging a connector between two terminals to switch from

A to B.positions.

……Kbps:Kilobits per second. This is the rate at which the speed of a modem can access and download data .(56kbps.to 128 kbps ISDN).

……MIDI:Musical instrument digital interface. The industry standard for the connection of actual midi Instrument to a computer. Mid music on the pc is produced that way.

……Parallel port: The socket connection that can transfer a complete byte of data at a time (8bit ),serial ports transfer one bit at a time. used for printers and some times laplinks (connecting laptops) into the PC.

……PCI:Peripheral component interconnect. bus designed for computer motherboards and expansion slots that can transfer 32 or 64 bits of data at one time.it is the standard to look for now.

……PCMCIA:commonly known as a PC Card, this expands a computer's capabilities via a credit card-sized connection. Costly so its limited in use to lap- top computers.

……RISC:Reduced instruction set computer. Another type of CPU which can reduce to a minimum the number of instructions that are processed simultaneously, thereby increasing the speed and productivity of computer systems based on RISC technology.

……ROM:Read only memory. Memory in your computer stores instructions that the system needs to access on a regular basis.such as power up instructions.

Its usually a chip plugged on board. it could not be written to or erased unless its the flash type ,which requires manufacturers special software for updates.

……SCSI:Small computer systems interface. Another good method of attaching storage and other devices to a PC.its good because a single SCSI controller can handle up to eight different devices. such as hard drives, CD-ROM drives. printers , scanners backup devices etc . EIDE seems to be more economical.

……Serial port: A socket that can transfer one bit of information at a time.Used for mice, modems, graphic tablets, etc .

……SIMM:Single inline memory module . circuit boards with memory chips on board.unlike ROM they are programmed at use and loose their content on power down. To increase your system memory you plug more on mother board simm socket or replace with higher value ones measured in megbytes. (mb).

……UART:universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter chip, controls the transfer

of data over a serial port . For modern modems, The older 8550 can not handle modern speeds. You need a 16550 or 16650 UART chip is needed for acceptable handling.

……USB:Universal serial bus. An interface which allows users to plug a new device straight into their PC without the need for an extensive configuration procedure. Another form of the plug and play concept.

……VRAM:Video random access memory.a special type of DRAM that is commonly used on video controllers in order to speed up the rate at which images are displayed, which improves the visual quality of computer graphics.

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……Aliasing:Jagged appearance that may affect diagonals in images displayed on the computer. Low-resolution graphics in particular can suffer with aliasing when they are zoomed. Removing the indentation effect is known as anti-aliasing which is developed for image processing software .

……ASCII:American standard code for information interchange. Its known as the ASCII character set, a group of 96 lower- and uppercase characters ,and 36 non-printable control characters.To produce different text to the one ASCII produces you need different codes or character sets.

……bak: A suffix for filenames indicating a backed-up file. I.e. A lot of software will produce a bak. File for your Autoexec.bat when any changes made.so you can retain your settings back if damage is done.

……Defragmenter: Daily use of software, means software programs get saved in a scattered fashion across the hard drive in the first available empty place, a part of the program can be in the inner part while the rest on the outer side of the hard drive, making the programs run inefficiently and slowing your entire system. Using the defragmenter program to restore badly fragmented parts of your hard drive is the best favour you can do to your hard drive follow (o/s)operating system instructions .

……Device driver its the software that tills the operating system and programs using that o/s on how to control and utilise a particular hardware device. Like a modems,printers or monitors.device drivers.

……DLL: Dynamic link library. Fancy program writing method ,Part of the routines can be shared between tasks, the functions in the library can be shared between several tasks at the same time rather than each task containing copies of the same routines reducing software overhead.Without the appropriate DLL the device drivers will not work.

……EMM: Expanded memory manager , Program for DOS to permit the access of memory above the old 1Mb limit .i.e. EMM386,for DOS 5.0 onward .new o/s win95/98 manage memory using its own technology.

…….GIF:Graphics interchange format. An image file format limited to 256 colours ,its merit is its compact size for internet use on down loads and viewing.

…….GPF: General protection fault. Windows warning system about programs that tried to access a location of RAM that is protected from access ,or in use When a program fails in this manner you may need to reboot the system.

…….Groupware: Term to describe Software designed to be used by more one person , in a network installation. I.e. any multi-user office environment with software like modern project managers ,spreadsheets ,databases ,etc.

…….GUI: Graphical user interface ,GUI (the use of visual elements to interact with PC environment) replaced the old text only commands on pc, to make life easier with buttons and icons and a mouse to point and execute.

…….JPEG: Joint photographic experts group ,Alternative to GIF ,can use 16.7 million colours at much higher compression rate. Identified as.jpg.afte you picture name .The standard was set by the above group.

…….MPEG:Motion picture experts group. A high quality compression format for video needing less storing space thus making it more viable for reproduction of video material on portable media.

……Multimedia: The incorporation of ,sound ,graphics in PC’s known as multimedia .If you have a multimedia PC ,this also means you have CD-ROM, sound, headphones, the works .and complies to multimedia standards in memory and speeds.

……Multithreading: The ability of an operating system to allows specially designed programs to run many tasks at the same time.

……Shareware:Try before you buy software,limited or time restricted, so you don’t have to buy it if you don’t find it useful. But if you do like it you must register it and pay the purchase price. Shareware authors do produce excellent software ,at fraction of the price of commercial packages. i.e. The well known Image and paint package PaintShopPro.

……Swap file:Windows way of speeding up hard disk access also compensates for low system memory ,it creates a cache section on hard drive that is not accessible for use except for windows .Also known as virtual memory.

……Uninstaller: Provided you used this software to install your program, you remove your program using it to return your system to the way it was before installation. Unlike delete which leaves statements and files behind i.e.like Registry keys and sys.ini and win.ini windows configuration files.

……Utility: Is a software program which enhances the capability of an o/s or fixes a bug. i.e. Scandisk on dos system or windows, Defragmenters,Norton crash guard , Drive compressors, Text viewers like quick view plus etc .

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…...ActiveX: Developed by Microsoft, it’s a group of interactive technologies ,a set of instructions on how an object should be used, combining, object linking and embedding. OLE. and component object model COM . ActiveX is not a programming language even though it runs like Java applets it will access your windows o/s . JAVA is a programming language but only interacts with your web browser .You can down load ActiveX controls from the internet.Microsoft web site.

…..Apples:Programs that can be added to other programs to be executed from within .they could not be run on their on through o/s. IE HTML add up applets for hit counters search buttons, etc.

…...Cookie. Its a message sent by a Web server to a browser, and stored in a text file, cookie.txt. its kept on hard disk and communicates with you browser ,When you return to the original Web site your browser sends the cookie information

back to the Web server.Cookies are used to identify users ,keep site visit statistics for popularity and which browser and o/s each individual uses .

……Emoticon:(smiley),It’s the expression of your present emotions ,happy ,sad ,angry, board, etc, on the internet mainly by using keyboard characters .

……Error correction protocol: It is a method used in Modems to remove extraneous electrical noise and re transmitting on line when error occurs.

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……Bus network: Single wire or bus network, where all the computers are connected .which is the major traffic road for the whole network.

……Firewall :A security system to prevent unauthorised access to a network on the internet. i.e. hackers .You must meet security requirement before admission or permission will be denied.

…….Intranet: Its a network of control system for transmitting files and data between computers, like in an office environment,but its also controlled by the network administrator who decides the access privileges and any software to be used on the network.

…….ISDN:Integrated services digital network. Its the digital transmission of signals . (Normal modems use analogue signals ).faster, and almost an error free connection could be achieved.You need an ISDN modem to use this type of connection.

…….LAN: local area network Small area network of computers in a relatively, i.e. an office .Computers can have Its own operating system, but can have access to other modems ,printers ,files in the office or the compound .

……HTML:HyperText Markup Language.It’s a language that have its roots in word processing.thus its easy to use, it’s a series of commands that formats the documents to be used on the internet.

…….HTTP:HyperText Transfer Protocol.The Internet communications protocol. The HTTP protocol sets the standards for the formatting and transmission of information on the internet.

…….Hypertext: A nifty way of presentation that makes navigating between topics and pages a lot easier than the conventional way.you can jump back and forth using the links on the page or pages on the highlighted topics and words or pictures and Icons. I.e. internet web pages ,most help files etc.

……Internet: The modern day global club, its not commercial and not governed by any party except its own self made regulations, it links thousands of computers and millions of users world-wide. By adopting its connection standards ,you could be online chatting or playing games or web-caming with thousands of people. also you can send and receive what is known as email ,the electronic substitute of your local post office service.

……node: A node is a network terminal point of connection.

……Peer-to-peer: A peer-a-peer network links computers with out a separate central server. Its only useful for small offices and limited number of computers.you can have the usual advantages of the client-server net works.

……Client –Server network:Found in medium to large sized offices and businesses ,computer connected through a central machine known as central server .handles all security issues and shares modems ,Printers ,etc.

……Router: A router is a bridge connecting two LANs so they can exchange information .The Internet uses routing for information transfer between LANs.

……Star network. A flexible way of computer networking especially when isolating a malfunctioning node or adding more computers to the network. The bad side is when the central server malfunctions the entire net work goes down.

……Token Ring: A computar network developed by IBM , computers are thought off as if they are in a circle. A packet (with a special bit pattern ) travels around the circle allowing computers to catch a TOKEN so they can use the system ,then send the massage, then it continues to travel for other users to catch and use.

…….WAN: Wide area network .Network that links a wide geographical area. I.e. companies might have many LANs around the country connected to make a WAN. I.e. the Internet! .

……ISP: Internet service provider. You need to sign up with one if you want internet access its like joining a club . There are many free of charge (you pay your phone bills though) ISPs available now. along side the major ones.

……Java:Object oriented programming language ,software developers can

create interactive elements that work across operating systems. Which makes Java ideal for Web programmers who want to add interactive elements to their internet pages ,or web sites publications.

……JavaScript: Similar to Java , it’s a scripting language which allows Web programmers to create dynamic content, i.e. interactive games , search systems form submission etc.

……Modem:Modulator - demodulator. Device to communicate with other computers that have modems via a phone line, example for use the internet , PC banking.

……Packet :a unit of data. ,ready for transmission across a network, holding typically a part of a file.

……Pop :Point of presence. The nearest node for ISPs, It is the number you dial to connect to the Internet,or your local area number provided by your ISP for nearest access server .

……proxy server. a server acting like a middle man between your browser and a your Web server, which monitors all requests that pass through it. The proxy server keeps the most used pages on its hard drives .This speeds up access ,if it dose not then it passes your request to the web server. It also helps monitor unwanted traffic.

……Router: The Internet is a packet-switching network, which means they need to know where they are going.a router is a device which examines packets of data and sends to destinations originally posted for.

……SLIP/PPP :Serial line interface protocol -point to point protocol. These two protocols are used to connect directly to the internet with out needing a host system.

……TCP/IP :Transmission Control Protocol /Internet Protocol. This is the standard way of today’s communication on the Internet between computers. TCP/IP sends packets of information travailing across networks in various locations.

……URL:Uniform resource locator.web adress, i.e. http://www.iskandarani.freeserve.co.uk/ tells your browser to use HTTP protocol to find the server named freeserve.co.uk and ask it for the page Index page in the root directory.

……Web server. Or Web pages server. It will deliver a stored web page to you using URL request from your browser.

……Winsock: Windows socket, windows standard way to communicate with the Internet with out this program windows can not communicate .most communication programs provide a Winsock ,it is also available as apart of windows 95/98 if you installed dialup networking.