A+ Guide To Software Chapter 7-9 Vocab

Front 1

A request
from software to the OS to access hardware or
other software using a previously defined procedure
that both the software and the OS understand.

Back 1

application program interface (API) call

Front 2

Installing an OS on a new hard drive or
on a hard drive that has a previous OS installed,
but without carrying forward any settings kept
by the old OS, including information about
hardware, software, or user preferences.

Back 2

Clean install

Front 3

A line or part of a line in a program that is
intended as a remark or comment and is ignored
when the program runs. A semicolon or an REM is
often used to mark a line as a comment

Back 3

comment line

Front 4

A component of Windows
Plug and Play that controls the configuration
process of all devices and communicates these
configurations to the devices.

Back 4

configuration manager

Front 5

A condition that results when the hard
drive is excessively used for virtual memory because
RAM is full. It dramatically slows down processing
and can cause premature hard drive failure.

Back 5

disk thrashing

Front 6

A type of Autoexec.bat file that is executed
by Windows 9x/Me in two situations: when
you select Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode
from the shutdown menu or you run a program in
MS-DOS mode.

Back 6

dosstart.bat

Front 7

A Windows utility that can record detailed
information about the system, errors that occur, and
the programs that caused them in a log file.

Back 7

dr. watson

Front 8

A Windows 9x/Me utility that compresses
files so that they take up less space on a
disk drive, creating a single large file on the disk
to hold all the compressed files

Back 8

drivespace

Front 9

A Windows error
that occurs when a program attempts to access
a memory address that is not available or is no
longer assigned to it.

Back 9

General Protection Fault (GPF)

Front 10

A core Windows
component responsible for building graphics data
to display or print.

Back 10

GDI (Graphics Device Interface)

Front 11

The Windows 9x/Me
component that configures all devices and communicates
these configurations to the device
drivers.

Back 11

IFS (Installable File System)

Front 12

Configuration information files
for Windows. System.ini is one of the most important
Windows 9x/Me initialization files.

Back 12

initialization files

Front 13

A VxD that is loaded into memory at
startup and remains there for the entire OS session.

Back 13

static vxd

Front 14

In Windows, swapping blocks of
RAM memory to an area of the hard drive to
serve as virtual memory when RAM is low.

Back 14

memory paging

Front 15

4K segments in which Windows NT/2000/XP
allocates memory.

Back 15

pages

Front 16

The Windows 9x/Me System Configuration
Editor, a text editor generally used to edit system
files.

Back 16

sysedit

Front 17

A file used by
Windows to describe the environment for a DOS
program to use.

Back 17

PIF (program information file)

Front 18

A Windows initialization file that contains
network configuration information.

Back 18

Protocol.ini

Front 19

An update to software that corrects an error,
adds a feature, or addresses security issues.

Back 19

patch Also
called an update or service pack.

Front 20

Wasted space on a hard drive caused by not
using all available space at the end of clusters.

Back 20

slack

Front 21

A VxD that is loaded and unloaded
from memory as needed.

Back 21

dynamic vxd

Front 22

A text configuration file used by
Windows 3.x and supported by Windows 9x/Me
for backward-compatibility.

Back 22

system.ini

Front 23

An area to the right of the taskbar
that holds the icons for running services; these
services include the volume control and network
connectivity.

Back 23

system tray

Front 24

The installation of an OS on a hard
drive that already has an OS installed in such a
way that settings kept by the old OS are carried
forward into the upgrade, including information
about hardware, software, and user preferences.

Back 24

upgrade install

Front 25

A Windows 9x/Me component
that controls the mouse, keyboard, ports, and
desktop.

Back 25

user component

Front 26

In Windows, the name and value of a setting
in the registry.

Back 26

value data

Front 27

A Windows
device driver that may or may not have direct
access to a device. It might depend on a
Windows component to communicate with the
device itself.

Back 27

virtual device driver (VxD or VDD)

Front 28

One or more logical machines created
within one physical machine by Windows,
allowing applications to make serious errors
within one logical machine without disturbing
other programs and parts of the system.

Back 28

virtual machine

Front 29

A Windows 9x/Me
program that controls virtual machines and the
resources they use including memory. The VMM
manages the page table used to access memory.

Back 29

VMM (Virtual Machine Manager)

Front 30

The only Windows 9x/Me
Plug and Play component that is found in Windows
98 but not Windows 95. WDM is the component
responsible for managing device drivers that work
under a driver model new to Windows 98.

Back 30

WDM (Win32 Driver Model)

Front 31

The Windows initialization file that contains
program configuration information needed for
running the Windows operating environment. Its
functions were replaced by the registry beginning
with Windows 9x/Me, which still supports it for
backward compatibility with Windows 3.x.

Back 31

Win.ini

Front 32

The name of the Windows 9x/Me swap
file. Its default location is C:\Windows.

Back 32

Win386.swp

Front 33

An IP address that is used on a
private TCP/IP network that is isolated from the
Internet.

Back 33

private IP address

Front 34

A server that acts as an intermediary
between another computer and the Internet.

Back 34

proxy server

Front 35

An IP address available to the
Internet.

Back 35

public IP address

Front 36

A computer concept whereby one computer
(the client) requests information from
another computer (the server).

Back 36

client/server

Front 37

An IP address permanently
assigned to a workstation.

Back 37

static IP address

Front 38

A subnet mask is a group of four numbers
(dotted decimal numbers) that tell TCP/IP if
a remote computer is on the same or a different
network.

Back 38

subnet mask

Front 39

The suite of protocols that supports
communication on the Internet. TCP is responsible
for error checking, and IP is responsible for routing.

Back 39

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet
Protocol)

Front 40

A network or group of
networks that span a large geographical area.

Back 40

WAN (wide area network)

Front 41

A data encryption
method used on wireless networks that uses either
64-bit or 128-bit encryption keys that are static
keys, meaning the key does not change while the
wireless network is in use.

Back 41

WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy)

Front 42

IEEE specifications for wireless
communication and data synchronization

Back 42

Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11a

Front 43

A
Microsoft resolution service with a distributed
database that tracks relationships between NetBIOS
names and IP addresses. Compare to DNS.

Back 43

WINS (Windows Internet Naming Service)

Front 44

A type of LAN that does
not use wires or cables to create connections,
but instead transmits data over radio or infrared
waves.

Back 44

wireless LAN (WLAN)

Front 45

A data encryption
method for wireless networks that use the
TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) encryption
method and the encryption keys are
changed at set intervals while the wireless LAN
is in use.

Back 45

WPA (WiFi Protected Access)

Front 46

A data encryption
standard compliant with the IEEE802.11i standard
that uses the AES (Advanced Encryption Standard)
protocol.

Back 46

WPA2 (WiFi Protected Access 2)

Front 47

A protocol that
TCP/IP uses to translate IP addresses into physical
network addresses (MAC addresses).

Back 47

ARP (Address Resolution Protocol)

Front 48

A protocol such as UDP
that does not require a connection before sending
a packet and does not guarantee delivery. An
example of a UDP transmission is streaming video
over the Web

Back 48

best-effort protocol or connectionless protocol

Front 49

A transmission technique that carries
more than one type of transmission on the same
medium, such as cable modem or DSL.

Back 49

broadband

Front 50

A technology that uses cable TV lines
for data transmission requiring a modem at each
end. From the modem, a network cable connects
to an NIC in the user’s PC, or a USB cable connects
to a USB port.

Back 50

cable modem

Front 51

A technique used by browsers
(clients) to speed up download times by caching
Web pages previously requested in case they are
requested again.

Back 51

client-side caching

Front 52

A protocol such as UDP
that does not require a connection before sending
a packet and does not guarantee delivery

Back 52

connectionless protocol

Front 53

In networking, a protocol
that confirms that a good connection has been
made before transmitting data to the other end

Back 53

connection-oriented protocol

Front 54

A Windows 9x/Me and
Windows NT/2000/XP utility that uses a modem
and telephone line to connect to a network.

Back 54

dial-up networking

Front 55

A code used to authenticate the
source of a file or document or to identify and
authenticate a person or organization sending data
over the Internet. The code is assigned by a certificate
authority such as VeriSign and includes a
public key for encryption.

Back 55

digital certificate

Front 56

A code used to authenticate the
source of a file or document or to identify and
authenticate a person or organization sending data
over the Internet. The code is assigned by a certificate
authority such as VeriSign and includes a
public key for encryption

Back 56

digital ID or digital certificate

Front 57

A code used to authenticate the
source of a file or document or to identify and
authenticate a person or organization sending data
over the Internet.

Back 57

digital signature or digital certificate

Front 58

A telephone line that
carries digital data from end to end, and can be
leased from the telephone company for individual
use. Some DSL lines are rated at 5 Mbps, about
50 times faster than regular telephone lines

Back 58

DSL (Digital Subscriber Line)

Front 59

The protocol used to
transfer files over a TCP/IP network such that the
file does not need to be converted to ASCII format
before transferring it.

Back 59

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

Front 60

Number of routers a network
packet can pass through on its way to its destination
before it is dropped

Back 60

hop count or time to live (TTL)

Front 61

A markup language
used for hypertext documents on the World
Wide Web. This language uses tags to format the
document, create hyperlinks, and mark locations
for graphics.

Back 61

HTML (HyperText Markup Language)

Front 62

The communications
protocol used by the World Wide Web

Back 62

HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol)

Front 63

A version of the HTTP protocol
that includes data encryption for security.

Back 63

HTTPS (HTTP secure)

Front 64

Part of
the IP layer that is used to transmit error messages
and other control messages to hosts and
routers.

Back 64

ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol)

Front 65

Version 4 of the IMAP protocol, which is an e-mail
protocol that has more functionality than its predecessor,
POP. IMAP can archive messages in folders
on the e-mail server and can allow the user to
choose not to download attachments to messages.

Back 65

IMAP4 (Internet Message Access Protocol version 4)

Front 66

A Windows 98
and Windows XP utility that uses NAT and acts
as a proxy server to manage two or more computers
connected to the Internet.

Back 66

Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)

Front 67

The rules of communication in
the TCP/IP stack that control segmenting data into
packets, routing those packets across networks, and
then reassembling the packets once they reach their
destination.

Back 67

IP (Internet Protocol)

Front 68

A digital
telephone line that can carry data at about five times
the speed of regular telephone lines. Two channels
(telephone numbers) share a single pair of wires.

Back 68

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network)

Front 69

The protocol
used by newsgroup server and client
software.

Back 69

NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol)

Front 70

The protocol that an
e-mail server and client use when the client
requests the downloading of e-mail messages.

Back 70

POP (Post Office Protocol)

Front 71

As applied to services running on a computer,
a number assigned to a process on a computer
so that the process can be found by TCP/IP.

Back 71

port or port number

Front 72

Numbers that are used by devices and
the CPU to manage communication between them.

Back 72

port address or I/O addresses

Front 73

A technique that allows a computer
on the Internet to reach a computer on
a private network using a certain port when the
private network is protected by a router using
NAT as a proxy server. Port forwarding is also
called tunneling.

Back 73

port forwarding

Front 74

A measure of the success of
communication over the Internet. Communication
is degraded on the Internet when packets
are dropped, delayed, delivered out of order, or
corrupted.

Back 74

Quality of Service (QoS)

Front 75

A protocol that governs
the methods for communicating via modems
and dial-up telephone lines

Back 75

PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol)

Front 76

The
protocol that describes how a PC is to interact
with a broadband converter box, such as cable
modem, when the two are connected by an
Ethernet cable, connected to a NIC in a PC.

Back 76

PPPoE (Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet)

Front 77

A protocol
used to translate the unique hardware NIC
addresses (MAC addresses) into IP addresses (the
reverse of ARP).

Back 77

RARP (Reverse Address Resolution Protocol)

Front 78

A technique used by servers on
the Internet to speed up download times by
caching Web pages previously requested in case
they are requested again.

Back 78

server-side caching

Front 79

An established communication link between
two software programs. On the Internet, a session
is created by TCP.

Back 79

session

Front 80

A line protocol
used by regular telephone lines that has largely
been replaced by PPP.

Back 80

SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol)

Front 81

The protocol
used by e-mail clients and servers to send e-mail
messages over the Internet.

Back 81

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)

Front 82

A protocol that
is used to authenticate or prove that a client who
attempts to use an email server to send email is
authorized to use the server.

Back 82

SMTP AUTH (SMTP Authentication)

Front 83

A
protocol used to monitor and manage network
traffic on a workstation.

Back 83

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol)

Front 84

A secure protocol developed
by Netscape that uses a digital certificate
including a public key to encrypt and decrypt data.

Back 84

SSL (secure socket layer)

Front 85

Part of the
TCP/IP protocol suite. TCP guarantees delivery of
data for application protocols and establishes a
session before it begins transmitting data.

Back 85

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)

Front 86

Number of routers a network
packet can pass through on its way to its destination
before it is dropped. Also called hop count.

Back 86

time to live (TTL)

Front 87

A protocol used to
secure data sent over the Internet. It is an improved
version of SSL.

Back 87

TLS (Transport Layer Security)

Front 88

A connectionless
protocol that does not require a connection to
send a packet and does not guarantee that the
GLOSSARY 727
packet arrives at its destination. UDP is faster
than TCP because TCP takes the time to make a
connection and guarantee delivery.

Back 88

UDP (User Datagram Protocol)

Front 89

An address for a
resource on the Internet. A URL can contain the
protocol used by the resource, the name of the
computer and its network, and the path and name
of a file on the computer.

Back 89

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)