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Active X - An addin component program used with an Internet browser. See also Program, Internet and
Browser.

ADC - Analogue to digital converter. A device that takes readings of a voltages and converts them into digital representations. Used in CD-ROM drives, sound cards and modems. See also Device, CD-ROM, Sound Card and Modem.

AGP - Advanced Graphics Port. A fast 32bit interface that has become popular inside modern computers that allow graphics cards to be fitted that have an edge connector that fits inside the motherboards AGP slots. AGP exists along side PCI and ISA. PCI is the successor to ISA/EISA and Micro channel. See also Interface, Motherboard, AGP x4, PCI, ISA, EISA, VLB and Micro channel.

AGP x4 - An accelerated advance graphics port. See also AGP.

Allocation Unit - The block on a disc or tape that data is stored in. Since tapes are measured in inches and discs in traces and sectors, allocation unit is a generic term used to mean this data block. Also known as "clusters" on discs as a number of consecutive sectors in a track form a cluster of sectors or just "cluster". An allocation unit can typically have 512 bytes on a floppy disc and more in a hard disc. See also Track, Sector, FAT and FAT32.

Alpha - A scaleable 64bit processor family originally designed by DEC. Compaq now own the alpha technology. A rival technology to the Intel family of chips, and once were in a league of their own for being a powerful processor. Intel have since caught up. Operating systems that run on alpha processors are UNIX and Windows NT. See also UNIX and NT.

ALU - Arithmetic Logic Unit. A hardware device inside the CPU that allows mathematic processing to take place. In some cheaper brands of chips, this is omitted and all mathematic calculations take place in software code. Performing these calculations in hardware increases the speed of execution of a program.

AMD - Advanced Micro Devices. A rival chip manufacturer to Intel and IBM/Cyrix. Their latest processor is marketed under the name "Athlon". See also Processor.

Anti-Virus Software - Software that can scan files as they're opened or web pages as they're viewed and e-mail as it is downloaded for viruses and prevent them from attacking your programs and data through malicious activity. Anti-virus software is started when the computer is until the time the computer is switched off. Popular anti-virus software vendors are:- Dr Solomon's, McAfee and Norton Anti-Virus. See also Virus.

APM - Advanced Power Management. A method which allows an operating system and BIOS to control the power saving features of the system hardware, for example:- a monitor or computer turning itself off when it has not been used. See also Operating System, BIOS, Hardware and Monitor

Applet - A small Java or Visual Basic script written to run inside your web browser. It can only control the manipulation of Internet screen objects and responses. Not to be confused with Active X. See also Java, Visual Basic, Script, Browser, Internet and Objects.

ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A name of a character set that allows characters to be represented by binary data for storage purposes. See also character set.

ASP - Active Server Page. A program script stored on a web server that is invoked by a client browser and run on the web server. An example of this would be a simple stock query for an Internet based mail order company. See also Server, Program, Script, Client/Server, Browser, Web and Internet.

ASP - Application Service Provider. A provider of server computing power so that a small business can run client/server applications. The client terminals or PC's (personal computers) would be owned by the small business and the server owned by this "host" company, thereby providing a total managed solution for the small business needs especially where the small business may not have the technical skill set to be able to operate a client/server architecture themselves. This arrangement can be used also for Internet technologies. Not to be confused with the term ISP (Internet Service Provider). See also Server, Client/Server, PC, ISP and Internet.

Attachment - A file sent with, or alongside, an e-mail. This is an easy way to send to another person on another computer a file. It is the electronic version of paper clipping a data file to the back of your message. The recipient can then save this file into a folder on their computer. See also Data, File, E-mail, Virus and Folder.

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