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3Com - Company that manufactures network adapters and modems. They bought US-Robotics, which was a very successful modem company. The 3 Coms are Computer, Communications and Compatibility.

10 Base 2 - 10 Mbps Ethernet topology using .25" diameter RG-58 A/U, RG-58 C/U (military spec), or RG-58 U coaxial cable. Sometimes called "Thin Ethernet", this cable is very flexible and popular for small networks. Each segment can be up to 185 meters (607 feet) long, and can have up to 30 devices. Popular in older networks

10 Base 5 - 10 Mbps Ethernet topology using .5" diameter coaxial cable. Sometimes called "Thicknet". Segments can be up to 500 meters long (hence the "5" in 10Base5), and have up to 100 devices connected per segment. Each computer or peripheral connected uses a "vampire tap" that has a 15-pin hookup to a DIX or AUI connector on a network adapter. Popular in older networks.

10 Base FL - Fiber Optic Ethernet topology using two 62.5/125-micron multimode optical fibers, one for transmitting and one for receiving. Uses the same cabling as 100 Base FX.

10 Base T - 10 Mbps Ethernet topology using Category 3, 4, or 5 UTP (and sometimes STP) cabling hooked up to RJ-45 jacks. Also called "Twisted Pair". Very popular for current networks. Wiring for the male RJ-45 connector (which goes into a hub or NIC) involves four colored pairs of wire as follows: Pin Function Pair Color 1 TxData+ 2 White/Orange 2 TxData- 2 Orange 3 RxData+ 3 White/Green 4 N/A 1 Blue 5 N/A 1 White/Blue 6 RxData- 3 Green 7 N/A 4 White/Brown 8 N/A 4 Brown Note that only four of the eight possible connections are used. Sometimes you'll find cable made with only four wires, and other times you may see one Cat 5 cable broken out to two connectors. These aren't correct ways of wiring twisted pair, but they can work. To identify pin 1 on an RJ-45 jack, hold the connector with the click-in tab away from you and the eight metal gold-plated connectors up. The pin on the left is pin 1. To make a crossover cable (which can be used to connect two computers together and doesn't require a hub), wire the Tx+ into the Rx+ of the other, Tx- into the Rx- of the other, etc. for all four wires. Basically, pins 1,2,3, and 6 on one side go to pins 3, 6, 1, and 2 respectively on the other side.

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100 Base FX - 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet topology using two Fiber-Optic strands. Uses the same cabling as 10 Base FL. Very popular for connecting segments together in large networks because it is fairly fast and offers security in that it can't easily be tapped.

100 Base T4 - 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet topology using 4-pair of Cat 3, 4, or 5 UTP telephone cable.

100 Base TX - 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet topology using two pair of Category 5 UTP cabling hooked up to RJ-45 jacks. This uses the same wiring arrangement as 10 Base T

100 Base VG Anylan - 100 Mbps networking topology using four pair of Cat 3 (Voice Grade) twisted pair wiring hooked up to RJ-45 jacks. A bit different than Ethernet in that the hubs are very smart, able to arbitrate requests according to priority. Network packet collision avoidance is employed. More secure than standard Ethernet because the hub routes a connection between only the sending and receiving computers, and all other machines are unable to receive information sent between those two.

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100 Base X - An extension to standard Ethernet which incorporates 100 Mbps signaling, and CSMA/CD in a star-wired bus (using a hub). 100 Base T4, 100 Base TX, and 100 Base FX are all 100 Base X standards.

.386 - Windows 386 Enhanced Mode Driver. Windows 95 can use these files, but VXDs are now the preferred driver type.

404 - Someone who is clueless, based on the World Wide Web error message "404 Not Found", meaning the requested document couldn't be located -- "Don't bother asking him, he's 404."

5-4-3 Rule - On bus Ethernet topologies, the rule that you can have up to five network segments separated by four repeaters, but only three of those segments can be populated with devices, either computers or other peripherals. Applies to both 10Base2 and 10Base5.

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A

A20 - Address line 20. This is used by Himem.sys to access memory above one megabyte.

AATP - Microsoft Authorized Academic Training Program. A course offered by institutions that teach Microsoft Official Curriculum over an academic tem. Se ATEC, listed below, for similar training programs offered over a shorter period of time.

Access Permissions - Another way to say user-level security. For another confusing security term, see "Password-protected shares", which is more understandable, and means simply share-level security.

ACK - Acknowledgement signal. Often used in serial communication.

ACL - Access Control List. This tracks the levels of security applied to shares on a particular computer. When a computer makes a request of one of the shares, it is accepted or denied according to the security provider and the settings in the ACL.

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ACM - Audio Compression Manager

ACME - A type of setup used in MS Office 97, IE4 and many other recent Microsoft products.

ACPI - Advanced Configuration and Power Interface. BIOS term for a new breed of power management, allowing components to selectively be suspended or even completely powered down. This spec is used in APM 2.0, which is supported with Win98 and Win2k.

Active - The opposite of passive. In networking or USB hubs, this describes a hub that requires power input to operate. Less-effective passive hubs are also available.

Active Directory - Provides the ability to build applications that give a single point of access to multiple directories in a network environment, whether those directories are LDAP, NDS, or NTDS based directories.

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Active Setup - A type of setup used in IE4, Outlook 98 and Windows 98. References wextract.exe. For IE4, Active Setup facilitates installation over the Internet, including recovery if a component doesn't download correctly.

ActiveX - This set of technologies from Microsoft provides tools for linking desktop applications to the World Wide Web. Using a variety of programming tools--including Java, Visual Basic, and C++--developers can create interactive Web content. For instance, ActiveX technology can allow users to view Word and Excel documents directly in a browser. For more details click here.

.AD - After Dark Screen Saver File.

ADC - Analog to Digital Converter. A hardware item which takes analog information from audio or video sources and creates numerical, or digital levels. Sound cards, video capture cards, and game ports (for joysticks) all use ADC's. The opposite of an ADC is a DAC, listed below.

.ADI - AutoCAD Device-Independent Binary Plotter Format.

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.ADM - Policy Template.

ADSC - Adobe Document Structuring Conventions

ADSL - Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. A method for moving data over regular phone lines. An ADSL circuit is much faster than a regular phone connection, and the wires coming into the subscriber's premises are the same (copper) wires used for regular phone service.

AFAIK - "As Far As I Know". Found in informal literature and messaging such as email, chat, and newsgroups

AFK - "Away from keyboard"

AFP - AppleTalk Filing Protocol. The method by which Macs transfer files across their network. Also provides for file transfers between MS-DOS computers and Apples.

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AGP - Accelerated Graphics Port. A 32-bit bus for video cards that is generally four times faster than PCI. It supports up to 533 megabyte per second transfers of data, where PCI only supports up to 133 megabytes per second. Runs on 3.3V rather than 5V. The biggest benefits of having an AGP card vs a PCI adapter are realized when rendering 3D. Although it was specifically designed for video adapters, bus is also used for other types of adapters as well. Because video adapters require huge amounts of data to be transferred, and everybody is having more and more fun with 3D games, MPEG movies, and the like, this is a popular bus.

AI - Artificial Intelligence. Artificial intelligence is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems. These processes include learning (the acquisition of information and rules for using the information), reasoning (using the rules to reach approximate or definite conclusions), and self-correction. Particular applications of AI include expert system, speech recognition, and image recognition.

.AI - Postscript File

.AIF - Audio Interchange Format. Macintosh digitized sound file (like WAV for PCs) Also .AIFC & .AIFF

Alias - An email address that acts as an alias, or nickname, of another email address. For example, if [email protected] were an alias for [email protected], any email sent to [email protected] would end up in the mailbox of [email protected].

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Alpha - Either an internal release of new software before beta testers are given opportunity to test, or a powerful processor from DEC. In terms of the software version, many times features will be much different between the Alpha and final release of a product. In terms of DEC's powerful chip, it is a RISC-based 64-bit super scalar processor.

Alpha Gee - The most knowledgeable, technically proficient person in an office or work group. "Ask Larry, he's the alpha gee around here."

ALR - Advanced Logic Research. A computer company.

ALU - Arithmetic Logic Unit, or in other words, a math coprocessor.

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AMD - Advanced Micro Devices. Manufacturers of Intel's competition to the Pentium. Speeds mirror those offered by Intel, as well as some chips slightly faster than Intel's. Some small compatibility issues exist with older parts, but those have been resolved with the newer chips. Cyrix is the other big contender to Intel. All the Cyrix chips require a REALLY good heatsink and fan because they produce enough heat to cook with!

AMI - American Megatrends, Inc. A very popular BIOS manufacturer.

.ANI - Animation file

.ANS - MS-DOS ANSI File

ANSI - American National Standards Institute. These guys design trade and communication standards for American business and industry. The ANSI.SYS file from DOS is a TSR which extends screen display and keyboard functionality according to the ANSI Character Set [ISO 8859]. ANSI has developed MANY standards for electronics and computer related things.

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AOL - America Online. An online service offering both standard Internet and also custom online content.

API - Application Programming Interface. Used by Windows to define common subroutines that many programs can take advantage of. Examples of components that have API command sets are TAPI (for modem access), MAPI (mail access), DirectX (for sound and graphics), and many other standard included API sets. Custom APIs which expand the functionality of Windows are included with Visual Basic, C++, and other languages.

APM - Advanced Power Management. System in use by newer laptops and motherboards to power down peripherals including hard drives, monitors, and more after periods of inactivity. Designed to curb the intense electrical demand the increase of computing equipment has required. Allows Win95 to show laptop battery status and the Suspend button on the taskbar for those computers designed to use these features.

APPC - Advanced Program to Program Communications. IBM's peer to peer SNA protocol, used mainly on AS/400 machines. This protocol works on the session and transport layers and allows two programs to communicate one with another directly.

AppleTalk - Apple's proprietary protocol stack designed to allow Apples to share files and printers. LocalTalk is the physical media, usually STP, which carries the signal. Macs running AppleTalk can be connected to Ethernet (802.3) and Token Ring (802.5) networks with either an EtherTalk NB or TokenTalk NB card. Appletalk maps to the OSI model as follows: AppleShare is on the Application layer; AFP is on the presentation layer; ASP, ADSP, ZIP, and PAP are session layer portions; ATP, NBP, AEP, and RTMP are on the transport layer; DDP is on the network layer, LAN drivers are on the LLC sub layer; and LocalTalk, EtherTalk, and Token Talk are on the MAC sublayer

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AppleShare - The server in Apple's networking environment. Each copy of the OS has client functionality. The server software also has print server capabilities. Phase 2 is an enhanced release of AppleTalk.

.ARC - Pkarc Compressed File. A really old file compression standard that has been eclipsed with ZIP, ARJ, and others.

Archie - Internet search engine accessible via Telnet. Lets you search for files on anonymous FTP sites. Several form-based web page gateways exist on the Internet that let you search via this scheme.

Archive - A bit set in a filename that specifies if changes have occurred in the file. This bit is then used by backup software to know what files to back up. Upon doing a full-backup, all archive bits are reset, wiping the slate clean again. XCOPY /M also uses the archive bit.

ArcNet - Attached Resource Computer Network. Developed by Datapoint Corp. in 1977, although the cards for this networking didn't start shipping until 1983. A simple cheap architecture designed for workgroups. This once-popular topology uses Token-passing techniques to avoid contention, and maps loosely to the 802.4 spec. The original format signaled at 2.5 Mbps and could have packets up to 508 bytes in size. The updated ArcNet Plus transmits at 20 Mbps and can have 4096 byte packets. Each token, either with or without packet, is passed in a systematic sequence from computer to computer. Standard cabling for ArcNet is RG-62, which is a 93-ohm coaxial cable able to support up to 2000 feet between computers and the hub in a star configuration, or 1000 feet between computers in a bus layout. Fiber optic and twisted pair cabling (with either RJ-45 or RJ-11 connectors) allows for a maximum of 800 feet between devices in either star or bus topology.

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Argument - Less-common term for options placed on a DOS command line after the program or command name.

.ARJ - Once-popular compression format, now taking a back seat to ZIP's tremendous popularity in the Windows environment

ARP - Address Resolution Protocol . This is what TCP/IP uses to take an IP address and figure out the corresponding network card's MAC address. If the MAC address isn't already in the ARP cache, an ARP request packet is broadcast to find the correct address. To see what is in a particular machine's ARP cache, simply type ARP -A.

ARPANET - Advanced Research Projects Agency Network. The predecessor to the Internet, born way back in 1979.

ARQ - Automatic Repeat Request

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.ART - Image format designed by the Johnson-Grace corporation. Licensed by AOL for their version 2.0 and 2.5 products because the compression is slightly better than GIF, and in some cases better than JPEG in compressing graphics. AOL caught a lot of heat by using this format, because when you used their browser and saved a picture in this format, other photo editing programs couldn't interpret the file. Only AOL could successfully display the graphic files later. To check a file to see if it is in the ART format, use TYPE |more. If it starts with JG, it's most likely in the ART format.

ASC - Microsoft Authorized Support Center. A way MS offers customized support and services to those using multi-vendor hardware and software solutions. Organized to go from planning through installation to the end of the life cycle of a product. Services include on-site support, integration, implementation, help desk, hardware support, development resources, and others.

ASCII - American Symbolic Code for Information Interchange. A set of 127 standard characters for all English alphanumeric and text-related data transfer.

ASP - Association of Shareware Professionals. Group formed in 1987 to promote Shareware as a viable alternative to "Payware". (Boxed software available through retailers).

.ASP - Active Server Page. A scripted page generated by the server and sent to the host on request.

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ASPI - Advanced SCSI Programming Interface. A specific and extensive method of sending information to hard drives, CD-ROMs, scanners, printers, and other SCSI devices. Windows 95 has a 32-bit ASPI driver included in its release. In the old days, you had to buy ASPI software from Adaptec to get anything SCSI to work. Nowadays you still have to do that for some products, but not all.

Asynchronous - Communications with no clocking or synchronization. Modem and serial communications are asynchronous. Synchronous transfers are faster since there is less overhead of parity and stop bits.

AT - Either referring to IBM's 286 PC which was released around 1985, or the Hayes AT command set which defines a standard for modem access.

ATA - AT Attachment. Means IDE. Variants of this standard include the original ATA, ATA-2 (known as Fast ATA), ATA-3, and ATA-4 (known as Ultra ATA or Ultra DMA/33).

ATAPI - ATA Packet Interface. A standard method for drivers to access IDE CD-ROMs and tape drives. Win95 includes a protected-mode ATAPI CD-ROM driver.

ATEC - Microsoft Solution Provider Authorized Technical Education Center. A commercial training organization offering Microsoft Official Curriculum over consecutive days. To be recognized as an ATEC, a site must have at least two MCTs on hand. AATP listed above refers to a training program over a longer period of time.

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Athena - Microsoft Internet Mail and News

ATM - Either Adobe Type Manager or Asynchronous Transfer Mode. Adobe Type Manager is a font manager used in Windows 3.0. TTF (listed below) was implemented with Windows 3.1, doing away with ATM. Macintosh computers use this type of Adobe font. To disable ATM, go to the [Boot] section of SYSTEM.INI, and change the lines: SYSTEM.DRV=ATMSYS.DRV ATM.SYSTEM.DRV=SYSTEM.DRV to read: SYSTEM.DRV=SYSTEM.DRV Asynchronous Transfer Mode is a relatively new standard of data transmission which uses switched circuits to send all kinds of real-time data over coaxial cable, twisted pair, or fiber optic media. The most standard configuration is over FDDI at 100 Mbps. In theory, the fastest possible transmission using ATM is 1.2 gigabits per second, but the highest real-world usage is 622 Mbps. It uses 53-byte cells which are made up of 5 bytes of header information and 48 bytes of data. Comparable standards are Frame Relay and the ancient X.25. Lately it's been generating a lot of interest, because it promises much better multimedia because it streams well and has high bandwidth. Networks can be incrementally upgraded to ATM.

ATP - AppleTalk Transaction Protocol. Apple's communication session and data transport protocols. Both this and NBP send data from applications to the DDP. AEP and RTMP are related.

ATX - The modern-day shape and layout of PC motherboards. It improves on the previous standard, the Baby AT form factor, by rotating the orientation of the board 90 degrees. This allows for a more efficient design, with disk drive cable connectors nearer to the drive bays and the CPU closer to the power supply and cooling fan.

.AU - Audio File, comparable to the .WAV format.

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AUI - Auxiliary User Interface. (Attachment Unit Interface?) A 15-pin DIN plug on network adapters that allows thicknet connections. In order to use this option, you'll need a 10Base5 transceiver.

Authenticode - Security checking mechanism used with Internet browsers. IE4 ships with 40-bit security in use, and can be upgraded for 128 bit.

.AVI - Audio Video Interleave. Basically a movie for PCs.

.AWD - Microsoft Fax Image file. Both the Fax Viewer and Microsoft's Imaging for Windows 95 can access this file type. Imaging is a separate install from Win95, and available on MSDL as IMGINST.EXE.

AWG - American Wire Gauge. A measure of wiring thickness which decreases numerically as thickness increases. For a point of reference, telephone wiring is 22 AWG.

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B

.B64 - Base 64 MIME encoded file. A method of Transferring 8-bit files over 7-bit services, like e-mail or newsgroups.

.BAK - Backup File.

Bandwidth - The amount of data, in bits per second (bps) that can be sent over a particular cable, interface, or bus.

Bang - Microsoft term for the yellow exclamation point that appears on non-working devices in Device Manager. Also Splat.

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Bank - No, not a place with an ATM! This kind of bank is a group of memory set up to interface to a processor. Banks of 72-pin SIMMs MUST be in pairs. The reason for this is the bus uses a 64-bit data path for RAM and 72-pin SIMMs are only 32-bits wide, thus two are necessary to fill the bank. With SDRAM, it's a different story. Those modules are 64-bits wide, and thus cover the data bus completely. One SDRAM module occupies an entire bank.

Baseband - Digital signaling method used in coax-based networks and other communication where the signal uses the complete bandwidth of the cable, and can go bidirectionally. 10 Base 2, 10 Base 5, 10 Base T and 10 Base TX Ethernet use this signaling method. Repeaters are devices which boost signal strength of baseband signals. Broadband is related and nearly opposite standard.

BASIC - Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. An ancient programming language, which apparently will never die! The way in which it is now implemented (Visual Basic, for example) makes it more like PASCAL and C in nature than good ol' BASIC of yesteryear.

.BAT - Batch file

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Baud - The speed of oscillation of sound waves on which a bit of data can be sent over phone lines. Named from a French signal corps officer named Jean-Maurice-Emile Baudot. In early modem days 300 baud meant 300 bits per second. With v.32 modems and later, the baud speed is lower than the line (or DCE) rate because with each oscillation, more than one bit is transferred. Newer modem technologies use fancy trellis coding and other techniques which modify the phase of a waveform rather than just the presence or absence of tones.

BBS - Bulletin Boar System. A server that can be dialed into for text-only content and simple file transfer. Popularity of BBSes decreaed dramatically with extreme growth in the Internet.

Bcc: - Blind Carbon Copy. Part of the To: portion in e-mail. The folks lited in the cc: field can't tell who is a part of the Bee recipient list.

BCD - Binary Coded Decimal. Truly ancient standard that represents a byte of data in three numbers. The first covers the first three bits, and can be 0-7, the second is the same, 0-7, and the last covers the last two bits and can range from 0-3. Never used anymore.

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BDC - Backup Domain Controller. If your Primary Domain Controller goes down, what then? Nobody will be able to access shares too effectively...unless you have one of these!

Beaconing - A signal sent to all the computers on an FDDI network when one computer senses that another computer in the ring is down.

Beep Code - A series of BIOS-specific beeps that signifies conditions upon boot. Many BIOSes have specific codes for RAM or video problems, and other codes exist as well. No standard exists for these codes, so to diagnose with them, BIOS-specific information is needed.

Beta - After Alpha testing of a program is done internally, many times select firms and people are allowed to "test-drive" new software before it becomes available to the public. These people are asked to report any bugs or wishes to the designers so the product can be proven in the field before it goes out to the masses. The Beta version of a product often closely resembles the final product, and sometimes has a cutoff date after which it will no longer function. Once a program has gone throught Beta, then a final build is created, at which time a program has gone "Golden".

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"Bill and Ted's Most Excellent..." - Common Microsoft phrase used to describe 3rd party hardware or software.

.BIN - Binary file. Older standard usually used for DOS programs. Usually built about like an EXE or DLL file and containing subroutines. This can also refer to a Mac executable.

bisync - A standard methond of synchronous communication.

Bit - The smallest size of information used in computing. This limite value can be either 1 or 0. Eight bits strung together compose a byte, which can then denote a character-worth of data. Buses are described as having widths in number of bits. Operating systems are also described as being 32-bit, 16-bit or the like. Comparing these terms is like comparing apples and oranges: they both have individual binary values, but are in no way related.

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bitBLT - Bit Block Transfer. A way graphics are moved around the screen. Most video cards have these functions built right in so that the OS doesn't have to waste additional time moving data around just to copy a window to a different place on the screen.

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C

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D

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E

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F

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G

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H

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I

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J

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K

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L

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M

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N

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O

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P

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Q

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R

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S

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T

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U

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V

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W

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X

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Y

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Z

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