Glossary

I have not yet alphabetically sorted the terms in the glossary. Also, this Glossary is a work in progress. Please keep that in mind while viewing it. Finally, if you wish to search for a certain term, just press CTRL+F on your browser, type in the term you wish to search for, and then press Enter.

ATI: A division of AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) that develops graphics cards for computers.

GPU: Graphics Processing Unit that is used in combination with the computer's CPU to display computer graphics. It is also used in combination with VRAM (RAM on computer graphics cards) to display the data you see on your computer screen.

VRAM: Video RAM that your computer uses to store graphics data temporairily. For instance, in computer games, the VRAM will help your computer display higher quality graphics at higher resolutions.

Transistors: On/off switches that computers use to process data. Computer CPU's have millions or even billions of transistors and the more transistors a CPU or GPU has, the more potential power it has.

Volume: How loud the sound on your computer is. A high volume is louder than a low volume.

Sound Frequency Range: In computer sound systems, the extent in which a computer sound system can display very high and very low frequencies. A greater sound frequency range on a computer sound system is usually better than a lower sound frequency range. Typically, humans can hear sound frequencies from 20-20000 hz (the hz is for hertz, or oscillations per second).

Impedence: The resistance of electricity in computer sound systems. Usually, higher impedences result in higher sound quality as there is less ground interference. However, they also output less sound than lower impedences. Typically, computer sound systems can have impedences as low as 4 ohms or lower while headphones can have impedences as high as 72 ohms or even higher (my computer sound system has an impedence of 4 ohms while my headphones have an impedence of 24 ohms).

Sony/Logitech/Bose/Altec Lansing/Panasonic: Some popular companies that may manufacture computer sound systems.

Burn: In computer terms, burning a CD/DVD/Blu-ray is referring to when your CD/DVD/Blu-ray drive records data onto a disc by burning millions or billions of ridges on the disc with a laser. Your computer can then read these ridges to extract data from the CD/DVD/Blu-ray disc.

Rip: In computer terms, ripping a CD typically refers to copying all the data from the CD to your hard drive.

FSB: The front-side bus is the speed at which the processor can communicate with your computer's RAM. The faster the FSB, the faster your computer typically is.

Clock Speed: How fast the computer processes data. Usually measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz). Megahertz stands for millions of cycles per second while gigahertz stands for billions of cycles per second.

RAM: Random access memory that your computer uses as a sort of sketchpad to hold all of the current data your computer is running. It is a fast type of memory that your computer uses to communicate fast.

Crucial/Kingston: Two major manufacturer's of RAM.

DDR/DDR2/DDR3: Different types of computer RAM, with DDR being the oldest and slowest and DDR3 being the newest and fastest.

Hard Drive: A secondary type of storage in a computer that is slower than RAM but can hold much more data. Hard drives today can have as much as 2 TB (terabytes) of space or more.

Megabyte: 1 million bytes.

Gigabyte: 1 billion bytes.

Terabyte: 1 trillion bytes.

Hitachi/Seagate/Western Digital/Fujitsu/Toshiba/Maxtor: Some popular hard drive companies.

IDE/EIDE/SATA: Different ways in which the hard drive is connected to the computer with IDE being the oldest and slowest and SATA being the newest and fastest.

RPM: In hard drives, how many revolutions per second the hard drive makes. A computer with a faster RPM hard drive can usually read and write data faster. Laptops can have hard drives with RPM's as low as 5400 RPM while high-end desktops can have hard drives with RPM's as high as 10000 RPM.

Defragmentation: The process of putting similar segments of data in the hard drive together again in order for your computer to experience a mild performance boost. Files get fragmented when you change files on your computer and then save them. The files get saved in different spots then where they originated from and this fragments the hard drive.

File Systems (FAT/FAT32/NTFS): These are ways in which the data on your hard drive is stored. NTFS is newer than FAT or FAT32.

Bit: One on or off switch, either 1 or 0, or with transistors, charged or uncharged.

Byte: 8 bits.

ROM: The data in a computer that can be read but not modified. ROM is typically used in the computer's BIOS to assist the computer in starting up and doesn't disappear when the computer turns off.

CMOS: Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor is a battery-powered chip in your computer that typically stores startup information. Your BIOS probably uses the CMOS when starting up and many BIOS problems can be solved by changing a bad CMOS battery.

GUI: The graphical user interface of an operating system. For example, the Windows XP GUI comprises the Start menu, taskbar, desktop, etc.

Device Manager: A built-in Windows program where you can find out the devices that are installed on your computer, update drivers, check to see if your computer's hardware is working properly, and change hardware settings.

IRQ: An Interrupt Request that computers use in order to communicate with hardware and allow users to interrupt the computer's hardware through keyboard and/or mouse commands.

Control Panel: A built-in Windows program you can use to help configure your Windows settings.

Freeware: Free software on the internet usually immediately available for download.

Shareware: Software on the internet that is usually free to try but if you continue using the software, the program's creators would like you to pay for the software.

Icon: A little picture on Windows that may represent a file, folder, program, etc.

Registry: A database of information in Windows that Windows uses to store information about a computer's hardware, program settings, user accounts, Windows settings, and more.

Screensaver: A moving picture or animation that may appear on your computer once it has been inactive for the amount of time you specify in the screensaver's settings.

Virus: A malicious program or section of code in a program that may be used to damage a computer or annoy users.

Windows/Linux/Mac OS: Different operating systems that computers may use to communicate with users.

Refresh Rate: The speed at which a computer monitor is redrawn.

Sony/HP/Acer/Samsung/Compaq/Viewsonic: Some popular computer monitor manufacturers.

Wattage: In computer power supplies, it is approximately the amount of electricity a power supply may supply to a computer's components.

Efficiency: In computer power supplies, how well the power supply can distribute household electricity to a computer's internal direct current components. Higher efficiencies result in less electricity being wasted as heat in your computer.

Overload protection: A safety mechanism many power supplies have to protect the computer from overheating and potentially wrecking the computer's components. Instead, the power supply will simply shut off.

AGP/PCI/PCI-E: Different ports that may be on a computer's motherboard to connect hardware devices to the computer.

Rogers/Bell/Verizon: Some popular ISP's (internet service providers).

Download: Transferring data from an external computer to your own computer (usually over a network).

Upload: Transferring data to an external computer from your own computer (usually over a network).

Kbps: Kilobits per second. There are 8 kilobits per kilobyte. Therefore, a download speed of 80 Kbps is really downloading at a speed of 8 kilobytes per second.

Mbps: Megabits per second. There are 8 megabits per megabyte. Therefore, a download speed of 8 Mbps is really downloading at a speed of 1 megabyte per second.

Gbps: Gigabits per second. There are 8 gigabits per gigabyte. Therefore, a download speed of 16 gigabits per second is really downloading at a speed of 2 gigabytes per second.

ISP: An internet service provider who provides a connection to the internet for a fee.

IRC: Internet relay chat which you may connect to and chat with people over an internet connection.

IP address: The internet protocol address of a computer on a network. An IP address may be used to find a computer user's location or other factors.

Server: A computer on a network that typically communicates with many computers and supplies them with information as well as receives information from users to store. A server may also be used as a intermediary between a computer and a service (such as a printer service) or larger network (such as the internet).

Browser: A program on your computer that you may use to surf the internet. Common internet browsers include Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Firefox.

Forum: A place on the internet where users may discuss a wide variety of topics.

HTML: The Hypertext Markup Language is the main computer language on the internet that is used to properly display webpages.

URL: A Uniform Resource Locator is a unique address for webpages on the internet that you may usually type in your browser to bring you to a specific webpage on the internet.

Search Engine: A tool on the internet that you may use to help you find information that you would like to know about on the web.