ActiveX is a set of technologies from Microsoft that enables interactive content for the World Wide Web. Before ActiveX, Web content was static, 2-dimensional text and graphics. With ActiveX, Web sites come alive using multimedia effects, interactive objects, and sophisticated applications that create a user experience comparable to that of high-quality CD-ROM titles. ActiveX provides the glue that ties together a wide assortment of technology building blocks to enable these "active" Web sites.

A type of program designed to prevent and detect unwanted spyware program installations and to remove those programs if installed

A class of program that searches your hard drive and floppy disks for any known or potential viruses.

Another word for ‘computer program’ or simply a ‘program’. Your email program is an ‘application’ as is your Internet browser and many other functions you might be using on your computer.

An e-mail utility that automatically replies to an e-mail message with a prewritten response when that e-mail comes into a specific e-mail or Internet, such as the one use in Outlook part of the Microsoft Office suite

An ‘avatar’ is a representation of a person online. It is a character or image that represents a real person. Some may use cartoonish representations and others may use images of things to represent them.

A ‘backup’ is essentially a copy of everything, all the files, documents, pictures, etc., you have on your hard drive. If you don’t have a backup, should your computer ’crash’, you can lose all the information you worked so hard on or need for your records. Personal valuables such as photos, music and videos files you may have loaded onto your computer can also be lost. You should back up your data often. Other things can happen too, like software corruption which can damage files

In general, you should expect to run into bugs whenever using any piece of beta software. These bugs may range in severity from minor features that don't work to problems that cause your computer to crash. You should decide whether the benefit of new features in a beta program outweighs the risk of program instability before choosing to use a piece of beta software. You should also be aware that UITS will not have thoroughly tested beta software, nor will the software be guaranteed by its maker, so you should not expect the same level of support as you would receive for an official release version of the program.

Computer images are made of "dots". These are otherwise known as ‘bits’, hence an image is made of bitmaps.
BMP is an abbreviation for ‘Bitmap’. It is a format for image files.

‘Boot’ in computer lingo means to start your computer…turn it on. If someone says to‘re-boot’ your computer, it means turn it off and then back on. It’s a way of re-setting it.

An error in a ‘software’ program. These bugs can cause all sorts of problems with your computer so we really don’t like them. Most bugs are worked out before a program goes live on the Internet but even in the best case scenarios; bugs still happen.

The term ‘burn’ means to put data or information onto a CD or DVD. The reason they use the word burn is because the writing on the discs are actually performed by a laser. The laser uses heat to imprint the disc, hence the term ‘burn.’

A byte is a form of measurement of the size of computer files, memory on your computer and also the space on your hard disk. You might be familiar with the terms megabytes, gigabytes, and terabytes. When you get to the ‘giga’ and ‘tera’ bytes…we are talking BIG files!

Caps Lock is a feature on your keyboard that allows you to use all of the letters in capitals. LIKE THIS. It’s best to keep the caps lock off unless you will be writing a good bit of text which you want capitalized. The button is usually found on the left side of most keyboards.
Many user names and passwords are case sensitive, so if you are attempting to enter either one of these and you may an error message.

It simply means ‘compact disc’. A great deal of information can be put on a CD, on a 74 minute CD, one can fit larger images using raw mode, up to 333000 × 2352 = 783216000 bytes (~747 MiB) saving a lot of space, hence the term ‘compact’.

CD-R
A compact disc on which you can write only once and thereafter is read-only memory

CD-ROM
CD-ROM literally means ‘Compact Disc Read-Only Memory’. This means you can’t erase what is already on the disc and you can’t write over it or add any new data to it. This is the format most software companies use in their commercial marketing. If you were to purchase a software program that comes to you on a CD to download, you can’t erase the data or write over it which keeps the information safe.

CD-RW
CD-RW means ‘Compact Disc Re-Writable’. You can burn information on this CD and you can continue to write on it multiple times. You can’t alter any of the data you burned to the CD so if you want to make any changes you have to completely erase all your data and begin again.

A cell refers to a location in a spreadsheet. It is a field that corresponds to a row and an associated column. Cells are commonly used in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, part of the Microsoft Office suite.

A ‘character’ in the computer world is any letter, number, symbol, and even a space like when you click on the ‘space bar’.

Clip art refers to a collection of pictures or images that you can use on a document or blog or even a website.

Commercial software is simple software programs developed for commercial use. In most cases you actually purchase it in order to use it.

ou may have heard of ‘Freeware’ which is software that the public can download onto their computer and use for free.

‘Shareware’ is sort of free and sort of not. Shareware lets you use the software on a trial basis. Thirty days is a normal time frame; after which that you are given the option to purchase it.

Some software programs can be downloaded directly to your computer from its website and others prefer to send you the CD’s in the mail. Most companies will offer both ways to choose from.

Where you can control what your desktop looks like, where you can change settings or perform maintenance on your computer.

There are other types of control panels. Examples would be for your blogs or websites, allowing you to add content, images, and control how your site looks.

A computer network is a system in which computers are connected to share information and resources. The connection can be done as peer-to-peer or client/server. This web site reviews the techniques you can use to set up and possibly manage a network for home or a small business.

Cut means to remove the word or image from the document you are editing and it puts it on the clipboard so that you can paste it elsewhere. The difference between cut and copy is that when you cut something it is removed whereas when you simply copy something, the copied material remains on the original document.

A bug in computer lingo is an error of some sort. Programmers do their best to detect and eliminate as many of them as they can before brining a software program to the market. This process is called ‘debugging’ or to ‘debug’.

Default refers to the original settings of a program or system. They are the default settings. In many instances programs allow you to change things like the size and type of font, or the look of your computer display as a simple example.

It is usually safe if you have any doubts about something to have it go back to the default settings and from there you can adjust things to the way you would like them.

Disk defragmentation describes the process of consolidating fragmented files on your computer's hard disk.

Fragmentation happens to a hard disk over time as you save, change, or delete files. The changes that you save to a file are often stored at a location on the hard disk that's different from the original file. Additional changes are saved to even more locations. Over time, both the file and the hard disk itself become fragmented, and your computer slows down as it has to look in many different places to open a file.

Disk Defragmenter is a tool that rearranges the data on your hard disk and reunites fragmented files so your computer can run more efficiently. In this version of Windows, Disk Defragmenter runs on a schedule so you don't have to remember to run it, although you can still run it manually or change the schedule it uses.

Delete put simply means ‘erase’ or ‘get rid of’. You can delete words, photos, and articles, to name just a few.

Defragging is a way of making your computer work a bit better by organizing data on your hard disc to a more orderly arrangement.

Sometimes when files are added to your computer they don’t necessarily load in an orderly fashion and they may be ‘fragment’ on your disc. Your computer doesn’t mind because it will locate the bits and pieces that have been ‘fragmented’ but this can really slow things down.

It’s a good idea to ‘defrag’ your computer regularly. We can show you how.

Using an office metaphor, a desktop is a computer display area that represents the kinds of objects one might find on a real desktop: documents, phonebook, telephone, reference sources, writing (and possibly drawing) tools, project folders. A desktop can be contained in a window that is part of the total display area or can be "full-screen" (the total display area). Conceivably, you can have multiple desktops (for different projects or work environments you may have) and switch among them.

In its Windows product, Microsoft provides what they call an Active Desktop. It includes representations of and access to desktop objects and also dynamic Web content as well, including integrated links to Web sites and information areas that are generated as the result of sites pushing requested information updates to the user.

Digital data is what has allowed the creation of the computer and programs. Computer language is made up of ones and zeros, hence ‘digital’. Computers can only read information that is written in ones and zeros, otherwise known as a binary system.

A digital signature is a bit of code that can be attached to documents that certifies the creator’s identity.

A computer filing system. Directories are made up of folders and there may be folders within other folders. Essentially a directory organizes all the information you have on your computer and it allows you to find things and organize them more easily.

DOS refers to ‘Disk Operating System’ and this was the very first operating system originally used by IBM.

Nowadays, Microsoft and others use other operating systems that work automatically whereas if you need to use DOS, you need to know how to give specific commands to your computer. If you ever have trouble with your computer and you call a technician for help, they may ask you to get into your DOS so they can instruct you on what commands to write.

When you ‘double click’ you click your mouse button very quickly two times. When you double click you are asking your computer to do something, like open a file, folder, or program. Double clicking involves using the left button on your mouse.

When you download, you are having information sent to your computer. When you surf the net and visit websites, you are in fact downloading because data is being displayed on your computer from another site on the Internet.

You can also download other things like computer programs, program updates, music, photos, eBooks and much more.

Drag is when the mouse button is held down while the mouse is moved. It is mostly used to move files around in Windows Explorer or in some other applications. Drop is the release of the button, after finishing dragging the mouse.

DVD refers to‘Digital Versatile disc’. It is easy to confuse it with a CD because they look the same but you can store a lot more information on a DVD than you can on a CD.

DVD+R
Just when you thought you had a handle on all this they confuse you even moreJ DVD+R looks just like the standard DVD but this is one you would use to record on. It means ‘Digital Versatile Disc Recordable’.

DVD+RW
A DVD-RW disc is a rewritable optical disc with equal storage capacity to a DVD-R, typically 4.7 GB. The format was developed by Pioneer in November 1999

DVD-R
A DVD-RW disc is a rewritable optical disc with equal storage capacity to a DVD-R, typically 4.7 GB. The format was developed by Pioneer in November 1999 A DVD-R is a write-once format: once you've burned the data onto that DVD platter, the disk is forever frozen with that information

An eBook is an electronic version of a traditional print book that can be read by using a personal computer or by using an eBook reader. (An eBook reader can be a software application for use on a computer, such as Microsoft's free Reader application, or a book-sized computer that is used solely as a reading device. Users can purchase an eBook on diskette or CD, but the most popular method of getting an eBook is to purchase a downloadable file of the eBook (or other reading material) from a Web site (such as Barnes and Noble) to be read from the user's computer or reading device. Generally, an eBook can be downloaded in five minutes or less

An ‘Ethernet’ cord is used to connect your computer to another computer or to a modem to name two uses. The ends look like a phone jack but it is a bit bigger

Excel is a spreadsheet program developed by Microsoft so the full name is Microsoft Excel. This program allows you to create spreadsheets for a wide variety of uses.

External hard drives store your valuable data and add a considerable level of safety and security. This is because external hard drives are located outside the computer and allow you to keep a backup copy of all your important files - your tax records, email archives, photos, and more. For sensitive data, an external drive can be unplugged after it’s used and stored in a secure location. When it’s time to use it again, you simply plug it back in and all your data is available again.

An external hard drive connects to your computer with a simple USB cable. Most computers have several USB ports where you can plug the external drive in. You can also use a FireWire 400 or FireWire 800 port if you computer has one. The FireWire 800 port is about twice as fast as either the USB or FireWire 400 ports. The eSATA port is faster than all of these. Protecting your important data is as simple as plugging in the external drive to one of these ports and copying files from your computer. In just minutes, you can have a safe, secure copy.

There are different types of external hard drives. For example, there are Desktop hard drives that are a little larger and are designed to remain connected to your computer. Portable hard drives are smaller and light-weight so you can carry them with you in a backpack or briefcase and use them on different computers. Network hard drives can be used to backup several computers within your home or office.

External hard drive are compatible with the three major operating systems: Windows, Mac OS and Unix. Any of these operating systems can reside on an external hard drive no matter what operating system is on the internal drive.

A file is simply a location for stored data. Files can be opened, moved to folders, saved or deleted. They can even be downloaded and uploaded from and to the Internet.

A file extension appears as a suffix which tells you what kind of file it is. For example, if you see a file with a .exe after it, it means it is an executable file. This means if will perform a function when you open it, like download a software program to your computer.

If you see the file name followed by .txt it means it is a file in text format. If it is .doc, it means it is a Microsoft Word document. There are many different file extensions which you will be familiar with over time.

This is a program used by your computer’s hard disk that organizes all of your files. The file system is set up so that when you create new things like files and folders, they are added to different parts of the filing system.

You won’t see all of the files because the ones used by the operating system are usually invisible to the user. A good example of a file system would be your “My Documents” folder and then within that you probably have ‘My Photos’ and one called ‘My Videos’.

A firewall is a way to block information from being put on your computer without your knowledge. In other words it is a form of protection for you. A firewall can prevent your computer from obtaining unwanted information from the Internet as well as having precious information removed from your own computer.

Firmware is a software program that provides instructions to your computer on how to do its job; how to communicate with other computer hardware. It usually comes from the computer manufacturer and needs to be updated every once in awhile to keep your computer functioning at its best. With PC, Windows Update usually takes care of keeping your firmware updated.

Flash is a format used in media production that allows for animation and also in certain circumstances to interact with certain websites.

A flash drive is a small, ultra-portable storage device which, unlike a hard drive or optical drive, has no moving parts. Most connect to the PC via a built-in USB port. Storage capacity ranges from as small as 16MB to as much as 64GB and more.

Flash drives can be written and rewritten to an almost unlimited number of times, much like a standard hard drive.

Also Known As: pen drive, USB drive, solid state drive

Folders store files. They can consist of documents, photos, music, videos or anything else you can think of. You can create a folder for whatever you want to store there so you can find it easily later on.

Historically, font refers to a specific typeface in a specific point size and style. Therefore, Times New Roman Bold 12 points is a single font while Times New Roman 10 points is another separate font. Today, in common usage font refers to any digital typeface that can normally be rendered in a variety of sizes and styles.

Format can refer to the format of the document you are creating to the formatting of a disk.

Different computer operating systems may require that they be formatted in a particular way to work with your computer.

Freeware is just like it says…software that is provided at no charge.

Frozen in computer-speak means ‘stuck’, won’t do anything. You can click on your mouse all day and the computer won’t respond because it is locked up or ‘stuck’. The computer is said to be ‘frozen’. The best thing to do in this instance is to hit “Ctrl+Alt+Delete” a couple times to reboot your computer or if that doesn’t work to simply push the power button until your computer shuts down. Wait a few seconds before turning on again.

FTP is an acronym for Fire Transfer Protocol. FTP allows you to transfer files between two computers on the Internet. FTP is a simple network protocol based on Internet Protocol and also a term used when referring to the process of copying files when using FTP technology. Most newbies on the computer won’t have a need to FTP a file.

A gateway is like a bridge between computers. When you login in to Facebook for example, a gateway is formed that allows you access to the computer network that supports Facebook.

GIF is a format for photos and graphics that allows the images to be compressed (made smaller) such s those used for icons or avatars. Because they are compressed, the quality or resolution is not as great as it would be in another format but this makes it quite good where smaller images are required.

A gigabyte is a measurement of bytes. It is actually one billion bytes! 1 gigabyte is often called ‘a gig’.

If you want a ‘hard copy’ of something, you print it.

Your computer’s hard disk is where all the information to operate your computer is written. The hard disk is part of your hard drive which is what actually writes the information to your hard disk.

Hardware is the physical components of your computer. It is what sits on your desk or in your lap. It is the computer itself and all the bits and bobs inside of it that make it work. Other hardware includes the keyboard, your printer and your mouse just to name a few.

Hibernate is a way of shutting down your computer without the computer having to shut down everything you were working on. It also powers the computer down which saves battery power and saves energy too. What’s good about this is that when you turn your computer back on, it doesn’t have to go through loading all the start up programs again which saves you time.

It is similar to standby which allows you to save power if you are going to be away from your computer for a few hours.

Have you ever moved your cursor (mouse) over a link on a website? You might see a small hand in a white glove appear. Well, when you move your mouse over a link, which is called ‘hovering’. You are moving your mouse to a certain word or sentence and just leaving it there for a few seconds.

A ‘Hub’ functions like the hub on a wheel. It is a piece of hardware that plugs into your computer via a USB port and the hub itself has a number of USB ports that you can plug other external hardware to. For example, maybe you have a printer, a headset, a camera, and an external hard drive you want connected to your computer most of the time but you don’t have enough USB ports. So, you buy a hub, plug it into your computer and plug everything else into the hub. Think of it like a surge plug that has many different spots to plug in all your computer components.

Inkjet refers to the way a printer prints your documents. Inkjet printers actually spray the ink on the paper.

An installer program is what actually installs your software programs. In many cases the information in the files of your software program needs to be unloaded from files and the installer program is what does that for you.

Intellectual Property refers to the ownership of creative ideas, designs, artwork, and writing to name just a few. Unlike physical property, intellectual property can be intangible. Intellectual property is protected by law just as physical property is.

Intranet refers to an internal network within an organization, like a company or school. The Intranet allows the computers within the organization t communicate with each other. The sites established within the Intranet can’t be accessed from outside the organization or company.

IT refers to ‘Information Technology’. IT refers to just about anything related to computers including software, hardware, and the Internet.

JavaScript is simply a programming language used by some programs and websites.

Its main use is for the creation of dynamic (changing), interactive websites.

JPEG is a media format most commonly used with photos. Jpeg is an acronym for ‘Joint Photographic Experts Group’. It is a compressed image format.

Some keys on the keyboard when used together are a ‘shortcut’ to performing a certain function. For example if you click ‘Ctrl + P’ this is the short cut to ‘Print’.

LAN is ‘Local Area Network’ which is a computer network that is confined to a small area such as a private home, school or small office. It is usually established with the use of an ‘ethernet’ but there are wireless LAN’s now as well.

A Laptop is a portable computer that you can take with you. Some laptops are also called ‘notebooks’ but their functionality is usually less than a typical laptop.

A Laser Printer prints without the use of ink. It uses a beam of light that is ‘laser focused’ that then transfers text or images to a ‘drum’. Once the data is on the drum, it is covered with toner from a toner cartridge which then transfers the images or text to the paper.

A login is a method of identifying you as someone who is authorized to access a given website or program. Most times Logins ask for a username and password.

MacOS refers to the Macintosh computer Operating System. Many computers use a Windows operating system from Microsoft but Apple computers created its own operating system…hence MacOS.

This is the latest version of Macs Operating System. The X is the Roman numeral for the number 10 so this is called MacOS X.

Macintosh is the name for the computers created by Apple computer. The abbreviated term of the Macintosh computer is Mac.

When you ‘Maximize’ your computer window you are enlarging it. You can make it take up your entire screen or it can be of normal size. For PC users, the maximize button is located on the top right of your screen.

Media refers to communication methods. You are probably familiar with the news and magazines called media but the term encompasses all sorts of communication. This might be TV, radio, print like magazines and newspapers, and also video.

Your computer media can include CD-ROM,CD-R disks, DVD’s and more.

A Megabyte refers to a number of bytes. It literally means one million bytes.

Megapixel refers to one million pixels which in turn refers to the resolution of digital cameras.

Computers need ‘memory’ because it processes and stores information. It most often is called RAM or ‘Random Access Memory’ which is high-speed memory. The memory of your hard disk is in a different form than RAM.

A memory stick is type of flash memory. It is used to store digital data and it can be connected to your computer through a USB port. Digital cameras use memory sticks to hold much more information.

A Menu Bar is the horizontal strip that runs across the top of your page when you have a program open. The menu bar contains topic buttons, like ‘edit’ or ‘view’ or ‘file’. When you click on them drop down menus appear with a selection of functions you want to perform.

When you minimize the window you are currently in, it temporarily closes it as it puts a button on the task bar at the bottom of your screen. You can bring your page back to normal by clicking on the button.

A modem allows your computer to connect to another computer and transfer data over phone lines. Faster modems use cable or ADSL.

Your computer monitor is simply your computer screen when you are using a desktop computer.

The main circuit board of your computer is called the Motherboard.

A computer mouse is a little piece of hardware that fits under your hand and that you move around and click buttons using your fingers. It moves the cursor (pointer) so you can click on the right button or type your words in the right place.

Most mouses come with a left, right and scroll wheel.

MP3 is a format for audio files that has allowed people to be able to download digital music to computers and other devices like an iPod or iPhone. If you want to know what the full name is. MP3 refers to ‘MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3’.

MPEG refers to a file format for videos or multimedia because it might contain video as well as audio.

A network consists of at least two computers connected to each other. This can be a physical connection or a wireless connection.

Offline can mean a couple of things. The most common refers to not being connected to the Internet. You might be working on something that does not require connection to the Internet so you can work ‘offline’.

Offline might also refer to eternal hardware attached to your computer not being online, like your printer for example. You might want to print something but you forgot to turn it on, so it is ‘offline’. If it is ‘offline’ then your computer can’t talk to it.

Being ‘Online’ most commonly means your computer is connected to the Internet. It can also mean that any external equipment you have connected to your computer is turned on and can communicate with your computer.

The ‘Operating System’ or ‘OS’ is how your computer performs its most basic functions. Without an Operating system, your computer can’t do its job. Two examples of operating systems are Windows and Mac OS.

When you want to send an email, when you click the ‘Send’ button, your email goes to your ‘outbox’ where it remains until it is fully sent to the recipient.

There are basically two types of ‘Page Orientations’. One is ‘Portrait’ and the other is Landscape’. If you use Portrait then the page is vertical and if you choose Landscape the page has a horizontal orientation.

When you visit a website it is tracked by the website as a ‘page view’. In other words, you have ‘looked at the page.’ This is a way the website owner can tell how many visitors it has had to the website.

A password refers to a word, numbers or a combination of both that are used to identify a visitor to a site as one who should be given access to it. A password is usually the second piece of information required to login to a website. The first part is a username.

In computer lingo, ‘paste’ means ‘put it there’. If you copy something and want to put is on a document, you would ‘Paste’ it where you want it to go.

PC is the acronym for ‘Personal computer’.

Peripheral in the computer world refers to external hardware devices that you have connected or attached to your computer. Like your keyboard and your mouse as well as your printer. These are ‘peripherals’.

Is a computer network administration utility used to test whether a particular host is reachable across an Internet Protocol (IP) network and to measure the round-trip time for packets sent from the local host to a destination computer, including the local host’s own interfaces.

Pixel refers to ‘Picture Element’. Pixels are actually very small dots that make up images like photos that are displayed on your computer screen. Many times in photo software, they measure your photos not by inches but by pixels.

Plain text means just what it says…plain. Nothing fancy here. When something is written in plain text, it means you can’t use things like bold, itlalics, underline.

The reason you might want to use plain text is that it takes up less space on your computer. It also means that you can’t use hyperlinks either.

Platform is just another term for the Operating System of your computer.

Plug and Play refers to equipment that you can plug in to your computer that will operate almost instantly. With some hardware, you need to install software or drivers to make it work. But, with Plug and Play, your computer can work with it immediately.

Examples of these are your computer mouse and keyboard.

Plug-in in the computer world, refers to an ‘add on’ to a software program that lets it do additional things…it adds an additional function to the software. An example is with the Firefox browser. It has multiple add-ons or plug-ins that add functions like easy access to Twitter and social networking sites to stop-watch functionality. The list is huge.

PNG refers to ‘Portable Network Graphic’. This is another format for graphics that is used when you want very high quality of your graphics. This format doesn’t lose detail when it is compressed.

The most common reference to a Pop-Up is a Pop-Up window or screen that appears as an advertisement when you are on a website. They usually appear when you are about to leave a website because they want you to stay and buy!

Another type of Pop-Up window occurs when you ‘right click’ a link or on your computer. When you ‘right click’ a menu appears for you to select a function you want performed.

Port has a couple of meanings here. There is an Internet port and a hardware port.

A hardware port refers to where you are plugging it in, like a USB port.

An Internet port refers to the particular protocol a web server is using. For example, email servers usually use port 25 while FTP uses port 21. It is unlikely you will need to use this but if you see it somewhere you’ll have an idea of what it’s about.

In this instance, ‘Protocol’ refers to the way computers communicate to each other. Some of these include HTTP, FTP, and HTTPS.

Simply put a ‘Queue’(Q), means line up. So if you are in a queue, you are standing in line to wait your turn. Same thing here. Your printer will have a queue of documents to print. You can check and see what documents are in the ‘queue’ if you have a few things to print.

Quicktime is a program developed by Apple Computers for media. Some videos on the Internet may be recorded using Quicktime and you may need the program on your computer to watch it. You can download this free software at http://www.apple.com/quicktime

Have a look at your computer keyboard and take note of the top row of letters. You will notice that starting from the left, the letters begin with QWERTY. This is the most used modern-day keyboard layout on English-language computer and typewriter keyboards.

It means ‘Random Access Memory’. It consists of a number of memory chips that are located in the motherboard of your computer. The more RAM you have the faster your computer is so if you are tired of a slow computer, think about adding more RAM.

An instruction manual. Usually a programmer will include a ‘readme’ file with their program so you can get more details on how to use it. If you are like most of us, we only read the instruction manual as a last resort. It’s a good idea to break that habit with computer programs because there is often some very important information you need to be aware of within it.

Your ‘Recycle Bin’ is your trash bin. When you delete something, your computer sends it to your ‘Recycle’ or trash bin. Then you have a second chance to retrieve it in case you didn’t really want to delete it after all. You simply open your recycle bin and restore this item back to its original location.

Your ‘Refresh’ command is a good and useful one to know. Think of ‘Refresh’ as meaning ‘update’. Lets’ say you are on a website that is always changing, like a news website for example. You are reading what is on the page but you know that as the day goes on there will be more news but you won’t see it unless you ‘Refresh’ your page or close out of it completely and come back later.

When you ‘refresh’ a page you are essentially ‘reloading’ the page so that you are viewing the most current version.

Registry in this instance refers to a database used by Microsoft Windows to store data regarding the software installed on a particular computer. In most cases you won’t have a need to do anything with your ‘Registry’ because you could mess things up and cause your computer not to work.

Having said that, when you clean your computer, your cleaning program will often clean unused or bad registry items for you as part of the cleaning process.

Being able to access and control your computer from another location.

Remote Desktop is a type of technology that allows you to view another person’s computer desktop. This is particularly good in teaching and training situations.

Resolution refers to the quality of your computer display screen or it can refer to the quality of the print of your printer.

For example, your monitor’s (screen display) resolution is measured in pixels, just like a digital photo. As a rule, the greater the pixels, the greater quality of the display.

With printers, resolution refers to dots per inch or ‘dpi’ for short. The greater the ‘dpi’ you request the better the resolution or print quality. Also, the higher the quality or dpi, the more ink you will use.

Rich Text is the opposite of plain text. Rich Text allows fun things like bold, italic, underline and much more, including formatting the look of you page or document. You can also add hyperlinks when using Rich Text.

In your PC a mouse should have two buttons, one on the left and one on the right. Pressing the one on the left is called a ‘left click’ and clicking the one on the right is called a ‘right click’.

When you ‘right click’ a menu will appear that will give you options for the function you want performed. This might be to create a new folder for example.

RSS in simple terms means ‘Really Simple Syndication’. This is a way to have dynamic content added to your website or blog. You might want to have a news program update headlines or if there is a blog you like and want to keep up with the content that is added all the time you can have an RSS feed put on your website or blog that adds this content to it automatically.

Runtime refers to when a program is being executed-running. It is then in runtime. The way most people know about Runtime is when they get a ‘runtime error’ message on their computer. This indicates that a program is not working as it should.

 

When you ‘right click’ a menu will appear that will give you options for the function you want performed. This might be to create a new folder for example.

Safe Mode refers to running Windows in a way that opens the least number of system files as necessary. You might be asked by a technician to do this in order to identify what might be wrong with the way your computer is operating or if it has crashed.

A scanner is usually part of a printer but it can be a separate device altogether. It lets you put something in the scanner and when scanned, it will create a file that you can seve anywhere in your computer.

A Screenshot is actually a picture that your computer can take of its own desktop! It is a fun tool to use for a lot of reasons. You can take a screen shot of anything on your screen and save it if need be or send it to someone depending on the need.

Your screen shot button is usually located above your “Home” key.

A Scroll bar appears when the contents of a page or window are too big to see within that window. You have to be able to scroll down to see everything on the page. What’s interesting is that if all the information fits in the window, then the scroll bars don’t appear.

If there is more information than can be seen in the window, the scroll bars will appear both on the right side of the window if page is too long and on the bottom if the page is too wide.

Check your mouse and see if it has a scroll wheel in the middle. If it does you can use this to scroll through the pages instead of using the scroll bars on the right. It won’t help you if the page is too wide but certainly if it is too long, then you can use the wheel. This is referred to as scrolling the page.

A Service pack is something a package of information that updates a software program you have or an application. These updates are often called a Service Pack which software companies release so its customers can update their software.

There will be some developers who as part of the initial installation of the software will allow for automatic updates. When this happens you’ll see a pop-up that tells you there is an update. It is wise to keep your software updated because many times they fix bugs or glitches that they found in previous versions of their software.

In other situations you might have to visit the developers’ website itself to check on updates in Service Packs.

Shareware, as the name suggests is software that you can use for a given amount of time to give you some time to see if you want to buy or not. It’s ‘try before you buy’.

When the trial period is over you need to pay for it if you want to continue to use it. If you don’t pay for it, then there is usually a built in program that stops certain functionality of it so you can’t use it to the full extent it was designed.

In order to regain all the functions you would need to purchase their item and then the owner of that software would send you a license or activation key that you would then enter to register your product. 

Skin refers to the appearance of a particular program’s interface. When you change the ‘skin’ you change the look, simple as that. In this way you can make the appearance of your desktop more of a personal reflection of you.

Skype is an IP telephone service provider that offers free calling between subscribers and low-cost calling to people who don’t use the service. In addition to standard telephone calls, Skype enables file transfers, texting, video chat and video conferencing.

If you save a copy of something to your computer, that is called a ‘soft copy’. A hard copy is when you print it and can hold it in your hands.

Software is the opposite of hardware. Another name for software is a computer program. They are programs or applications that you install on your computer to perform certain functions.

A sound card is something that is inside your computer that lets you download and play audio.

Source code is the language that a program is written in. It tells the program what to do and it is the developers of the program that write the Source Code

Spam is junk mail. You probably don’t like getting junk mail in your mailbox at home and this is just as bad. No one enjoys receiving junk mail so don’t send it. Spamming is not a good thing and you don’t want to get a reputation of sending it.

A spreadsheet is a document created in most cases with Microsoft Excel that consists of columns and rows to store data. There are a great many functions that a spreadsheet can do for you as many formulas can be applied to the data entered.

Spyware is software that ‘spies’ on your computer. It can collect private information like credit card details, usernames, passwords and more. It gets on your computer like computer viruses and the best way to prevent it is to have a good security program installed which will protect you from viruses as well as these other nasty programs.

Standby is a situation where your computer, TV or other electronic equipment is not running but is still receiving some power. When you put your computer on Standby, it is off, but not completely, so it can easily resume where you left things off when you turn it on again. Because this saves energy it’s a good thing to do if you will be away from your computer for a little while.

A status bar is most frequently found at the bottom of your computer window if you are downloading something, you may be able to watch its downloading progress in the status bar.

Streaming refers to data streaming. This means you can watch a video or listen to an audio presentation before it is completely loaded onto your computer. Sometimes you may start to watch or listen to something and it stops and then starts again. This is usually due to ‘streaming’.

Allowing a file to completely download entirely can prevent the annoying stopping and starting of a video or audio.

Another name for a folder is a ‘directory’. A subdirectory then is really a folder within a folder. This helps to organize your files and folders. Your operating system also has its own set of files, directories and subdirectories.

A surge protector is something everyone should have to protect their computer from power surges like those that can happen during an electrical storm. They allow a number of pieces of electrical equipment to be plugged into it at the same time. Some are more expensive than others and although you most likely don’t need the top of the range surge protector, you should have one that offers protection for at least 1000 joules.

System Requirements are those elements required for a given software program or hardware device to operate with your computer. For example, you may want to use a program that requires a lot of RAM to function properly and if you don’t have that amount, then you would either need to get it, or not purchase that software program.

Always Check the system requirements before buying peripherals or software, specially when buying older or the newst versions of peripherals.

Systray refers to ‘system tray’ which can be found on the bottom right of your toolbar if you are using Windows. It is on the far right and your start menu is on the far left at the bottom of your screen.

The programs found on your systray are those that come on automatically when you turn on your computer. Having too many on start-up can cause your computer to take quite a bit of time to become ready to use.

For those programs that you use regularly, having them load at start-up can be convenient as all you need to do is click on them to open them up.

The task bar is located at the bottom of your screen between your ‘Start button’ and your ‘Systray’. If you are using a program in widows for example and have a few pages or tabs open, shortcuts for these pages will be found on the task bar. Click on them to access that particular page quickly.

A template is a document that has been pre-formatted for you. Examples where templates are nice to have would be a resume, business letter, calendar or a newsletter.

Tiff is short for ‘Tagged Image File Format’ and it is another of many formats for graphic images that can be used for a variety of computer platforms

The title bar appears at the top of your computer window that describes the window. If you are writing a document in Word, then at the top will be the title of your document followed by –Microsoft Word.

If you are on a website, then the name of that website will be found at the very top on the left of the page, giving you the title of the page.

The toolbar appears across the top of your window that contains buttons or icons that you can select for certain functions. There might be icons to print, save, copy, select font and much more. The tools change depending on what program you are in.

USB refers to ‘Universal Serial Bus’ which is a type of port on your computer where you can plug in hardware accessories like a printer or headset.

A Username is a name you either assign yourself or which gets assigned that is unique to you and identifies you as someone authorized to access a particular website or service.

When you get a username you may also get a password and it is the correct combination of uername and password that allows you to ‘login’ to a private access website or service.

A computer virus is something you really want to avoid. A computer virus ’infects’ your computer and can cause all sorts of problems, including ‘crashing’. A computer virus can create enormous havoc so you must have an anti-virus (Link to Antivirus Term) program installed to protect to minimize the chance of infection.

VOIP means ‘Voice Over Internet Protocol’. What VoIP does is allows you to talk over the Internet instead of a regular phone line. You can talk to anyone without those long distance phone charges. There are also VoIP phones that connect to a device that in turn connects to your Internet connection and you can talk without even having your computer turned on. It’s a great tool to have.

A webcam is a video camera which feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet or Wi-Fi.

Their most popular use is the establishment of video links, permitting computers to act as videophones or videoconference stations. This common use as a video camera for the World Wide Web gave the webcam its name. Other popular uses include security surveillance and computer vision.

Webcams are known for their low manufacturing cost and flexibility,[1] making them the lowest cost form of videotelephony. They have also become a source of security and privacy issues, as some built-in webcams can be remotely activated via spyware.

Wi-Fi refers to wireless networks and network components.

A widget is a small software program that allows you to add areas of functionality to your website or blog. You might have a widget that allows you to add social networking links, or resources link. You might have one that displays the local weather or even the news. There are thousands of widgets available to make your site fun and interactive.

A Wiki is in fact a website that people can update or add information to. You may have heard of Wikipedia which is a free encyclopaedia whose content is created and updated by people just like you. In other words it is created by the user. Some of the information in this Glossary came from Wikipedia, a great source!

A window refers to the area on your display screen that you see when using a particular program. When you click on the program and it opens up, the information appears in what is called a window.

A wizard guides you through a process, like installing software or even creating a document. Think of it as a step-by-step tutorial.

A word processer, processes words on documents. Some word processing programs include Microsoft Word, part of the Microsoft Office suite.

A word processor can do many things, like help you with spelling, counting words, finding and replacing words to name just a few.

WordArt is a feature of Microsoft Word and it lets you do fun things with letters like shadows, outlines, and 3-D effects.

www is the acronym for world wide web. The Web is not the Internet. The Internet is a network from which you access pages on the world wide web.

A zip file is a compressed file. This is a way to make it easier to send a file that is really big. It can be sent ‘zipped’ and when received it is ‘unzipped’ to see all of the files within it.