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170 Glossary
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agency responsible for enforcing communications-related
regulations that state how much radiation computers and
other electronic equipment can emit.
fingerprint reader — A strip sensor that uses your unique
fingerprint to authenticate your user identity to help secure
your computer.
folder — A term used to describe space on a disk or drive
where files are organized and grouped. Files in a folder can
be viewed and ordered in various ways, such as
alphabetically, by date, and by size.
format — The process that prepares a drive or disk for file
storage. When a drive or disk is formatted, the existing
information on it is lost.
FSB — front side bus — The data path and physical
interface between the processor and RAM.
FTP — file transfer protocol — A standard Internet
protocol used to exchange files between computers
connected to the Internet.
G
G — gravity — A measurement of weight and force.
GB — gigabyte — A measurement of data storage that
equals 1024 MB (1,073,741,824 bytes). When used to refer
to hard drive storage, the term is often rounded to
1,000,000,000 bytes.
GHz — gigahertz — A measurement of frequency that
equals one thousand million Hz, or one thousand MHz. The
speeds for computer processors, buses, and interfaces are
often measured in GHz.
graphics mode — A video mode that can be defined as x
horizontal pixels by y vertical pixels by z colors. Graphics
modes can display an unlimited variety of shapes and fonts.
GUI — graphical user interface — Software that interacts
with the user by means of menus, windows, and icons. Most
programs that operate on the Windows operating systems
are GUIs.
H
hard drive — A drive that reads and writes data on a hard
disk. The terms hard drive and hard disk are often used
interchangeably.
heat sink — A metal plate on some processors that helps
dissipate heat.
hibernate mode — A power management mode that saves
everything in memory to a reserved space on the hard drive
and then turns off the computer. When you restart the
computer, the memory information that was saved to the
hard drive is automatically restored.
HTTP — hypertext transfer protocol — A protocol for
exchanging files between computers connected to the
Internet.
Hz — hertz — A unit of frequency measurement that equals
1 cycle per second. Computers and electronic devices are
often measured in kilohertz (kHz), megahertz (MHz),
gigahertz (GHz), or terahertz (THz).
I
iAMT — Intel
®
Active Management Technology —
Delivers more secure systems management capabilities,
regardless of whether the computer is turned on or off, or
the operating system is not responding.
IC — integrated circuit — A semiconductor wafer, or chip,
on which thousands or millions of tiny electronic
components are fabricated for use in computer, audio, and
video equipment.
IDE — integrated device electronics — An interface for
mass storage devices in which the controller is integrated
into the hard drive or CD drive.
IEEE 1394 — Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers, Inc. — A high-performance serial bus used to
connect IEEE 1394-compatible devices, such as digital
cameras and DVD players, to the computer.
integrated — Usually refers to components that are
physically located on the computer’s system board. Also
referred to as built-in.
I/O — input/output — An operation or device that enters
and extracts data from your computer. Keyboards and
printers are I/O devices.
I/O address — An address in RAM that is associated with a