COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY BY WORLD BEST COMPUTRONIX

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

APPLICATION - A PROGRAM IN WHICH YOU DO YOUR WORK.

BIT - THE SMALLEST PIECE OF INFORMATION USED BY THE COMPUTER. IN COMPUTER LANGUAGE, IT IS EITHER A ONE (1) OR A ZERO (0). 

BACKUP - A COPY OF A FILE OR DISK YOU MAKE FOR ARCHIVING PURPOSES.

 BOOT - TO START UP A COMPUTER.

 BUG - A PROGRAMMING ERROR THAT CAUSES A PROGRAM TO BEHAVE IN AN UNEXPECTED WAY.

 BYTE - A PIECE OF COMPUTER INFORMATION MADE UP OF EIGHT BITS.

 CARD OR EXPANSION CARD – A PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD THAT ADDS SOME FEATURE TO A COMPUTER.

 CD-ROM - AN ACRONYM FOR COMPACT DISC READ-ONLY MEMORY.

CONTROL PANEL - A PROGRAM THAT ALLOWS YOU TO CHANGE SETTINGS IN A PROGRAM OR CHANGE THE WAY A COMPUTER LOOKS AND/OR BE HAVES.

CPU – CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT. THE PROCESSING CHIP THAT IS THE “BRAIN” OF A COMPUTER.

CRASH - A SYSTEM MALFUNCTION IN WHICH THE COMPUTER STOPS WORKING AND HAS TO BE RESTARTED.

CURSOR - THE POINTER, USUALLY AN ARROW OR CROSS -SHAPED, CONTROLLED BY THE MOUSE.

DESKTOP - THE SHADED OR COLORED BACKDROP OF THE SCREEN.

DIALOG BOX - AN ON-SCREEN MESSAGE BOX THAT APPEARS WHEN ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IS REQUIRED BEFORE COMPLETING A COMMAND.

DISK - A SPINNING PLATTER MADE OF MAGNETIC OR OPTICALLY ETCHED MATERIAL ON WHICH DATA CAN BE STORED.

DISK DRIVE - THE MACHINERY THAT READS THE DATA FROM A DISK AND/OR WRITES DATA TO A DISK.

DOCUMENT - A FILE YOU CREATE, AS OPPOSED TO THE APPLICATION THAT CREATED IT.

DOWNLOAD - TO TRANSFER DATA FROM ONE COMPUTER TO ANOTHER. (IF YOU ARE ON THE RECEIVING END, YOU ARE DOWNLOADING. IF YOU ARE ON THE SENDING END, YOU ARE UPLOADING).

DRIVER - A PROGRAM ON A COMPUTER THAT TELLS IT HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH AN ADD-ON PIECE OF EQUIPMENT (LIKE A PRINTER).

EXPANSION SLOT - A CONNECTOR INSIDE THE COMPUTER THAT ALLOWS ONE TO PLUG IN A PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD THAT PROVIDES NEW OR ENHANCED FEATURES.

FILE - THE GENERIC WORD FOR AN APPLICATION, DOCUMENT, CONTROL PANEL, OR OTHER COMPUTER DATA.

FLOPPY DISK - A 3.5-INCH SQUARE RIGID DISK THAT HOLDS DATA. (NAMED FOR THE EARLIER DISKS THAT WERE FLEXIBLE).

GIGABYTE (GB) - 1024 MEGABYTES.

HARD DRIVE - A LARGE CAPACITY STORAGE DEVICE MADE OF MULTIPLE DISKS HOUSED IN A RIGID CASE.

ICON - A GRAPHIC SYMBOL FOR AN APPLICATION, FILE OR FOLDER.

KILOBYTE (K) - 1024 BYTES. LAUNCH - START AN APPLICATION.

MEGABYTE (MB) - 1024 KILOBYTES.

MEMORY - THE TEMPORARY HOLDING AREA WHERE DATA IS STORED WHILE IT IS BEING USED OR CHANGED; THE AMOUNT OF RAM A COMPUTER HAS INSTALLED.

MENU - A LIST OF PROGRAM COMMANDS LISTED BY TOPIC.

MENU BAR - THE HORIZONTAL BAR ACROSS THE TOP OF THE SCREEN THAT LISTS THE MENUS.

OPERATING SYSTEM - THE SYSTEM SOFTWARE THAT CONTROLS THE COMPUTER.

PC - ACRONYM FOR PERSONAL COMPUTER.

RAM - ACRONYM FOR RANDOM-ACCESS MEMORY.

SAVE - TO WRITE A FILE ONTO A DISK.

SAVE AS - (A FILE MENU ITEM) TO SAVE A PREVIOUSLY SAVED FILE IN A NEW LOCATION AND/OR WITH A NEW NAME.

SCROLL BAR - A BAR AT THE BOTTOM OR RIGHT SIDE OF A WINDOW THAT CONTAINS THE SCROLL BOX AND ALLOWS SCROLLING.

SERVER - A CENTRAL COMPUTER DEDICATED TO SENDING AND RECEIVING DATA FROM OTHER COMPUTERS (ON A NETWORK).

SHUT DOWN - THE COMMAND FROM THE SPECIAL MENU THAT SHUTS DOWN THE COMPUTER SAFELY.

SOFTWARE - FILES ON DISK THAT CONTAIN INSTRUCTIONS FOR A COMPUTER.

UPLOAD - TO SEND A FILE FROM ONE COMPUTER TO ANOTHER THROUGH A NETWORK.