Definitions
Binary
The common name for base two maths. In binary, the smallest unit is a bit (short
for a binary digit). This can have one of just two values: 0 or 1. Computers
count using base two, since the two values are easy to represent electrically:
as 0 volts for zero and (normally) 5 volts for a one
BIOS
Stands for Basic Input/Output System, and is pronounced bye-oss. This is a
series of instructions that manages the basic functions in your PC. For example,
the BIOS looks after how the keyboard works and makes sure the right character
code is sent when you press a key. It also manages the disk drives and the
monitor. You don't have to worry about the BIOS, and you are very unlikely to
ever see it, since it's stored on a special chip inside your computer
Bitmap
Images and fonts are made up of tiny dots or pixels. If you zoom in close to a
bitmap image you will see the dots grow. Compare this with a vector image, in
which the shapes are described mathematically, so they appear sharp however much
you zoom in
BMP
The three letter file-name extension that's given to files that store bitmap
image data. If you use the Paint utility in Windows, you can save or open BMP
files created in any other paint program
Boot, boot up
To start up a computer. This is process carried out when your PC is switched on.
First, a sequence of instructions stored with the BIOS in a chip are executed
and they tell the computer to look on the boot disk for the main operating
system. The PC tests the floppy drive A: and then the hard drive C: for a valid
boot disk that contains the operating system
Boot disk
Disk containing the operating system that is loaded when a PC is switched on.
The boot up instructions tell the hardware to read in the operating system
software. Normally, the boot disk is your main hard disk. But you can use a
floppy disk as a boot disk , if it is formatted as a system or boot disk.
Cache
A section of very high-speed memory that is used to temporarily store data
before it is used by the PC's processor. A cache can dramatically speed up the
effective rate at which data is read from a hard disk drive. The computer reads
more data than is requested and stores the excess in the cache ready to be
accessed with the next request to read data. The memory used for the cache can
be up to 100,000 times faster than a hard dish drive!
Character
A letter or number that is displayed or printed. The shape of each character is
determined by the typeface and font that's used. Each font includes 256
different characters, normally with a-z and A-Z together with foreign
characters, symbols and punctuation marks
Chip
Small electronic device at the heart of every PC. A chip is a small thin piece
of silicon crystal on to which is etched a tiny circuits with hundreds of
thousands of components. These components will do simple mathematical operations
such as adding and subtracting numbers (in a memory chip). If ever you open your
PC you'll see a mass of small black boxes with tens of metal legs on each side,
they are the chips
Clip art
A library of drawings or photographs that you can use in your presentations,
reports or desktop publishing documents. Normally, there are no copyright fees
if you use the images for non-commercial use. You'll find that most presentation
programs, like Harvard Graphics or Microsoft Powerpoint, come with hundreds of
pre-drawn images, borders and icons in a clip art library
Clock
1) A tiny crystal in your computer that sends out a regular signal hundreds of
thousands of times every second. It's used by all the electronic components to
keep in time with each other so that data is not lost when it's transferred. The
central processing unit normally carries out instruction every clock pulse, so
the faster the clock, the more the instructions it carries out. The speed of a
processor, and so the clock, is measured in megahertz (MHz), which represent one
million pulses every second. A processor that runs at 50MHz uses a clock that
sends 50 million signals every second
2) Windows 3.1 includes a utility called Clock that displays the current time in
a window or as an icon. To start the utility, double-click on the Clock icon in
the Accessories group. Windows 95 displays the time in bottom right-hand corner
of the screen. To see the data, move the pointer over the time and wait a couple
of seconds, then the data will pop up. To change how the time is displayed in
Windows 95, move the pointer over the time display and click on the right-hand
mouse button.
Cluster
The smallest element that the DOS operating system software that controls your
PC can read from or write to a disk
Control Panel
This a collection of icons that allow you to configure the basic functions of
Windows and your PC. In Windows 3.x, open the Main group and double-click on the
Control Panel icon. In Windows 95, click on the Start/Settings button option.
Within the Control Panel there are icons to define the fonts that are installed
on your computer, the colour of the background to Windows, the type of printer
that's installed, how a network works, as well as a mass of other options.
Data
Any collection of numbers, characters or symbols which are used by a computer.
Once a computer has finished processing all the data, it then presents this as
information which can be understood by a user
Desktop
In Windows 95, Desktop is the term that defines what you see on your screen when
Windows first start up. The icons, status bar, Start button and the Recycle Bin
are all sitting together on the Desktop. It's a rather odd concept to grasp at
first, but it is probably easiest to imagine as if it were a real desk. On your
desk you have folders, some open (the icons and windows), a waste bin, and a
small filing cabinet (OK, it's quite a big desk!) which is the My Computer icon.
The Desktop contains all these icons and objects, together with a background
pattern and any windows or applications that might be open
Desktop Icons
Icons that are displayed on the Desktop. There are two icons that are always on
your Windows 95 Desktop: My Computer and Recycle Bin. If you are connected to a
network, you might also see an Inbox icon which lets you send and receive
messages. Any other icons are called shortcuts and provide a link to a program
or to a document. You can create a shortcut to any file by highlighting the file
in Explorer and clicking on the right-mouse button. You'll see a menu option
that says create shortcut. For example, if you create a shortcut to a document
file called Letter to Boss, this will appear on your Desktop. If you
double-click on this icon Windows will start your word processor and
automatically load the document
Explorer
A program that's supplied with Windows 95 that lets you manage all the files
stored on a disk. With Explorer you can copy files, move files from one folder
to another, create new folders, and rename or delete files and folders. Explorer
can also view folders on other PCs in a network. To start Explorer, click on the
Start button, then choose Programs/Explorer. Windows 3.1x users have a similar
utility called File Manager that's in the Accessories group
FAT
Stands for File Allocation Table. A special data file that's stored on a disk
and contains the name, size, date and location of all the files that are stored
on the disk. When you open a document, the word processor asks DOS to open the
file. It does this by looking through the file allocation table to find the
position on the disk where the file is stored. The FAT is hidden, so you cannot
see it. But without it you cannot retrieve any of the information stored on your
disk. Sometimes the FAT can get corrupted. To remedy this problem run ScanDisk
or one of the disk recovery programs such as Norton Disk Doctors
File Manager
A program supplied with Windows 3.x that lets you manage the files stored on a
disk. With File Manager you can copy files, move files from one directory to
another, create new directories, and rename or delete files. To start File
Manager, open the Accessories group and double-click on the icon. Windows 95
users have a more sophisticated utility called Explorer
Floppy disk
A portable storage device that stores information on a thin, flexible disk. The
disk is coated with a magnetic material. The information is stored on the disk
as a series of magnetic signals using a disk drive. The flexible disk is
protected from grubby fingers in a rigid plastic case with a sliding window on
one side to allow the disk drive access to the surface of the disk. There are
two standard sizes of floppy disk: the larger 5.25in disk can store 1.2Mb of
data and is now pretty much obsolete. The more robust and smaller 3.5in disk can
store 1.44Mb of data and disk drives of the size are fitted to almost every new
PC
Folder
In Windows 95, the new name for a directory. A folder can contain files or other
folders
Font
A set of characters in the same typeface. For example, labels in Windows are
normally displayed in a font called Helvetica or Arial. The characters do not
have serifs ( the pointy bits on the edges of letters). Windows has True Type
fonts that can be printed and displayed in almost any size, and printer fonts
that can be printed in predefined sizes
Format
To arrange text, define margins and columns, and include special fonts in a word
processor or DTP program
Format a disk
To prepare a new disk so files can be stored on it. You need to format any disk
before you use it: use Format from File Manager or Explorer.
.GIF file
Stands for Graphics Interface Format. A commonly-used format for storing images
and bitmapped colour graphics. Originally developed for the CompuServe online
system, but now one of the most popular formats for images stored on the
Internet. Most paint program can read and write to the .GIF file format.
Graphical user interface (GUI)
Abbreviated to GUI. The official definition is rather dry: the interface between
an operating system or a program and the person using it. This actually means a
way of representing files, functions and folders with little images called
icons. Windows is a GUI that makes it easier to operate a PC. Before Windows
existed you had to type in lines of commands to control the computer. With a GUI
such as Windows you can point and click on an icon using the mouse rather than
typing in the filename
Hard Copy
A printed document or copy of an image that's stored on computer
Hard disk
A rigid magnetic disk that is able to store many times more data than a floppy
disk. Usually it cannot be removed from the disk drive that's located inside
your PC. In most PCs the hard disk drive is called drive C:, whereas the floppy
disk drive is called drive A: or B:. A hard disk drive can normally store
several hundred million bytes (or characters) of information, whereas a floppy
disk can only store one and a half million bytes. If you hear a clicking or
whirring sound when you save a document, that's the hard disk working
Icon
A small picture displayed on screen to identify a command or file. Many word
processors use an icon of a magnifying glass on a button to indicate that it
will start a search function. In Windows, each application you install has its
own icon and its data files often use the same icon
Label
There are two ways of labelling a floppy disk. The first is to stick a paper
label on it. The second is to give the disk an electronic label. This is called
the volume name. If you want to give a short description to a floppy disk (which
will appear in My Computer window) highlight the floppy disk icon, select its
Properties window and type in the new name.
Macro
A series of command or operations that can be run at any time. For example, if
you always carry out a series of operations on your text to run it into a
monthly report (perhaps, changing the font, adding a table, searching and
replacing one character for another), then you could record a macro to do all
these functions automatically. Almost all word processor and spreadsheet
programs can record and play back macros
Mouse
Small hand-held device that's moved on a flat surface to control the position of
a pointer on screen. A mouse normally has two buttons. In Windows, the left-hand
button selects text or starts an application. The right-hand button displays
options for the item. If you want to change a file so that it can only be read,
and not written to, move the pointer to the file name (in Explorer) and select
the file with a single click on the left-hand button. Now click once on the
right-hand button to display the properties for this file
My Computer
Icon normally in the top left of the screen on a PC running Windows 95. It
contains an overview of your PC. If you double-click on it you'll see the
peripherals linked to your PC
Program Manager
In Windows 3.1x, the name of the part of Windows the user sees. When you start
Windows you'll see a background and a main window with icons and smaller
windows. This is the Program Manager and it allows you to format a disk, run an
application or carry out similar basic housekeeping commands. In Windows 95,
Microsoft scrapped Program Manager. Instead, the screen is now taken up by the
Desktop
Properties
In Windows 95, the attributes of a file or object. To view or edit all the
properties of a file, select the file with a single click to highlight the name,
and click once on the right-hand mouse button. This displays a small menu of
options. Select the Properties menu option and you will see the various
properties for the object. If the object is a file, you can view or edit the
attributes to make the file read-only or hidden. You can also change the name or
location of an object.
Recycle Bin
An icon that's displayed on Windows 95 Desktop that looks like a wastepaper bin.
If you want to delete a file or folder, drag it on to the Recycle Bin or press
the delete key. The Recycle Bin stores the file or folder for a certain number
of days or until you purge the Bin of its contents. The contents of the Bin have
not actually been deleted from the disk until you purge it
Safe mode
A special operating mode of Windows 95 that is selected if Windows detects a
problem when starting. Safe mode does not let you do anything except try to work
out and fix the problem. When you first install Windows 95 you should create a
safe mode floppy disk that contains the configuration details for your PC. If
nothing else works, Windows will ask you to insert this disk and will copy the
initial settings over
Shell
Software which operates between the user and the operating system, often to try
to make the operating system more friendly or easier to use. For example,
MS-DOS's COMMAND.COM is a basic shell that interprets commands typed in at the
prompt. Windows 95 is sophisticated shell with a graphical user interface
front-end that's operated by a mouse
Shortcut
An icon placed on the Desktop in Windows 95 that links to a file, folder or
program stored on the disk. The shortcut has the same icon as the original file
except for a tiny arrow in the bottom left-hand corner. The shortcut is not a
duplicate of the original, rather it is a pointer to the original
Shut down
When you want to switch off your PC, you should first Windows 95. This ensures
that all the files are closed and the Windows sorts itself out internally before
being switched off. To exit Windows 95 select the Start/ShutDown menu option.
With some new PCs, this will also automatically switch off the PC. With older
PCs you need to wait until the screen tells you it's safe to switch off the PC.
Wildcards
A symbol used when searching for files or data which represents all files; in
DOS, UNIX and PC operating systems, the wild card character '?' will match any
single character in this position. The wild card character "or" means
match any number of any characters
Window
1) Reserved section of your computer's screen which is used to display special
information that can be selected and looked at, at any time and which overwrites
information already on the screen
2) Part of a document currently displayed on a screen
3) Area of memory or access to a storage device
Windows 3.1
The first of the new generation of Windows which provided features including OLE
and drag and drop
Windows 3.11
The official version number for Windows for Workgroups
Windows 95
Current version of Windows that includes support for long filenames
Windows Explorer
A software utility included with Windows 95 which allows you to view the folders
and files on your hard disk, floppy disk, CD-ROM and any shared network drives
Windows for Workgroups
A version of Windows that includes the functions that let you connect several
computers together to form a network and share files, printers and exchange
data. It also includes software for email, fax and scheduler utilities
Windows NT
A high-performance program derived from Windows which provides a robust, fast
operating system for network workstations or for the central server in a network
Windows
A multi-tasking graphical user interface for the IBM PC developed by Microsoft
that is designed to be easy to use. Windows uses icons to represent files and
devices and can be controlled using a mouse, unlike MS-DOS which requires
commands to be typed.
Word Pad
A software utility included with Windows 95 that provides the basic functions of
Microsoft Word 6. It can read and save Word 6 files and lets you format text and
write complex documents