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Learning More About Your Computer 5–19
Understanding Computer Terms
Microsoft Internet Explorer
A Web browser developed by the Microsoft Corporation. See
browser.
Microsoft Windows
The most popular computer operating system in the world. It is
characterized by the use of windows and icons. Each running program
and open file has its own window. Instead of memorizing commands,
you click icons to communicate with the computer. Clicking the
Minimize button shrinks a program to a button on the taskbar.
Clicking the button again displays the program as a window. You can
have several windows open at the same time and toggle from one to
another by using Alt+Tab (press and hold down the Alt key, press the
Tab key, and then release both keys). A palette with an icon for each
program is displayed. Click the icon for the program you want.
MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)
(pronounced middy). A file format used to store electronic music
sounds. A sound card that supports MIDI files allows the computer to
generate the synthesized musical sounds found in games, CD-ROMs,
and multimedia presentation packages. The format is easily identified
by the file extension .mid. See file extension. See also music software.
MIDI connector
A connector on the back of the computer for plugging in a synthesizer
keyboard. A MIDI connector allows you to record sounds created by
a synthesizer and then manipulate the data to produce new sounds,
such as changing the key of a composition. See MIDI. See also music
software.
minimize
To shrink a running program window into an icon on the Windows
taskbar by clicking the Minimize button-the button with the minus
sign in the pper-right corner of a window. Click the button on the
taskbar to view the window again. See Microsoft Windows. See also
maximize.