Author : datacentersolutions

Malware Definition Short for “malicious software,” malware refers to software programs designed to damage or do other unwanted actions on a computer system. In Spanish, “mal” is a prefix that means “bad,” making the term “badware,” which is a good way to remember it (even if you’re not Spanish). Common examples of malware include viruses, worms, trojan horses, ..

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Virus Definition Like a biological virus, a computer virus is something you don’t want to get. Computer viruses are small programs or scripts that can negatively affect the health of your computer. These malicious little programs can create files, move files, erase files, consume your computer’s memory, and cause your computer not to function correctly. ..

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Web Server Definition A Web server is a computer system that hosts websites. It runs Web server software, such as Apache or Microsoft IIS, which provides access to hosted webpages over the Internet. Most Web servers are connected to the Internet via a high-speed connection, offering OC-3 or faster data transmission rates. A fast Internet connection allows Web servers to support multiple connections at ..

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BIOS Definition Stands for “Basic Input/Output System.” Most people don’t need to ever mess with the BIOS on a computer, but it can be helpful to know what it is. The BIOS is a program pre-installed on Windows-based computers (not on Macs) that the computer uses to start up. The CPU accesses the BIOS even ..

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FSB Definition Stands for “frontside bus.” The FSB connects the computer’s processor to the system memory (RAM) and other components on the motherboard. These components include the system chipset, AGP card, PCI devices, and other peripherals. Because the FSB serves as the main path from the processor to the rest of the motherboard, it is ..

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Virtual Memory Definition Memory is hardware that your computer uses to load the operating system and run programs. It consists of one or more RAM chips that each have several memory modules. The amount of real memory in a computer is limited to the amount of RAM installed. Common memory sizes are 256MB, 512MB, and 1GB. Because ..

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Folder Definition A digital folder has the same purpose as a physical folder – to store documents. Computer folders can also store other types of files, such as applications, archives, scripts, and libraries. Folders can even store other folders, which may contain additional files and folders. Folders are designed for organizing files. For example, you might store your digital photos in ..

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File Definition A file is a collection of data stored in one unit, identified by a filename. It can be a document, picture, audio or video stream, data library, application, or other collection of data. The following is a brief description of each file type. Documents include text files, such as a Word documents, RTF (Rich Text ..

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Megabyte Definition A megabyte is 106 or 1,000,000 bytes. One megabyte (abbreviated “MB”) is equal to 1,000 kilobytes and precedes the gigabyte unit of measurement. While a megabyte is technically 1,000,000 bytes, megabytes are often used synonymously with mebibytes, which contain 1,048,576 bytes (220 or 1,024 x 1,024 bytes). Megabytes are often used to measure the size of large files. For example, a high ..

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Terabyte Definition A terabyte is 1012 or 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. One terabyte (abbreviated “TB”) is equal to 1,000 gigabytes and precedes the petabyte unit of measurement. While a terabyte is exactly 1 trillion bytes, in some cases terabytes and tebibytes are used synonymously, though a tebibyte actually contains 1,099,511,627,776 bytes (1,024 gibibytes). Terabytes are most often used to measure the storage capacity of large storage devices. While hard ..

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