Glossary

A

access point Hub of a wireless LAN; a "base station" for the radio transmitters on the wireless LAN adapters of the other computers.

account lockout Optional security setting that tells Windows to lock a user account if someone types the wrong password more than a specified number of times.

ACPI Advanced Configuration and Power Interface, a standard for saving power by automatically turning off computer hardware when it is not in use.

action Part of the definition of a file type, specifying what Windows does with files of that type.

activation System that requires you to contact Microsoft with information about the computer system on which you are installing Windows XP (or other Microsoft programs) in order to receive an activation code that enables you to continue to use the program beyond an initial grace period.

activation ID Number that individually identifies your computer, based on its hardware characteristics and your software product serial number.

active partition Old term for the boot partition.

active window Window that appears "on top" of other windows, obscuring parts of other windows that overlap. The active window is the window that is currently accepting input from the keyboard and mouse.

ActiveX controls Small programs embedded in Web pages that can be automatically downloaded and run on your computer to add features to Web browsers.

adapter In LAN software, the network interface card and the driver needed to make that card work. In general, any card installed inside a computer.

adapter card Printed circuit board that you can plug into an expansion slot inside your computer.

Add Printer Wizard Program that installs a printer driver for a new printer.

Add Or Remove Programs Control Panel program that enables you to install or uninstall programs, including Windows components.

address Information that tells you and Windows where to find a piece of information. See e-mail address; file address; I/O address; memory address; UNC address; URL.

Address Bar toolbar Toolbar that can appear in Explorer windows and includes only the Address box.

Address Book Windows utility that stores names and addresses.

Address box Box appearing on the Address Bar toolbar in an Explorer window in which the name of the open folder appears.

Address toolbar Toolbar that can appear on the taskbar, containing a box in which you can type a URL to view a Web page.

administrator account Type of user account that enables the user to create, edit, and delete all user accounts; install software; and use the management tools. Administrator accounts are in the Administrators group.

Administrators group Built-in user group to which administrator accounts belong.

Advanced Configuration and Power Interface See ACPI.

Advanced Power Management See APM.

Advanced Streaming Format See ASF.

AGP Accelerated Graphics Port, an advanced version of PCI for video cards, enabling faster screen updates.

alert Program that sends a message or runs a program when a counter hits a preset value.

All Programs menu See Programs menu.

America Online (AOL) Popular online service geared toward individual rather than business users.

anonymous FTP Connecting to a publicly available FTP server by using anonymous as the user name and your e-mail address as the password. See FTP.

antivirus software Program that detects viruses and worms and may also delete them from your system.

AOL See America Online.

APIPA See Automatic private IP addressing.

APM Advanced Power Management, a standard for saving power by automatically turning off computer hardware when it is not in use.

applet Small application program, frequently downloaded as part of a Web page.

application Program for getting real-world work done. Applications include word processing, database, and spreadsheet programs.

Archive attribute Setting for a file or folder that is used by backup programs. Many backup programs use the Archive attribute to indicate whether the file has been changed since the last time it was backed up.

area code rules Rules that describe when to dial 1 and/or the area code when dialing the phone.

argument Additional information provided to a program on the command line.

ASCII file See text file.

ASCII mode In FTP, a setting used to transfer files that contain only plain, unformatted text. See binary mode.

ASF or ASX File extension for Advanced Streaming Format files, a streaming audio or video file format used by Windows Media Player.

ASR See Automated System Recovery.

ATA 2 See IDE.

attached file or attachment File that is sent as part of an e-mail message or newsgroup article.

attribute Setting for a file or folder. The four attributes are Archive, Hidden, Read-Only, and System.

audio CD Compact disk containing audio information (rather than a Windows-compatible file system).

Audio And Video Tuning Wizard Program for configuring NetMeeting's audio settings.

Audit Policy Settings that control what security events are included in audit log files.

authority certificate Certificate authority's own certificate, used to check that other certificates it issued are valid.

Auto-hide Feature that hides the taskbar when you are not using it.

Autoexec.nt file DOS configuration file used by legacy and DOS programs.

Automated System Recovery (ASR) Feature of Windows XP Professional (not Home Edition) that backs up key system information onto a floppy disk that you can use to restart your computer in the event of a disaster.

Automatic Updates Internet-based system of automatically distributing and installing updates to Windows and the programs that come with it.

Automatic private IP addressing (APIPA) Feature of Windows that automatically assigns IP addresses in the format 169.254.xxx.xxx to computers on a TCP/IP-based LAN.

Autorun Program on a CD-ROM that tells Windows to run a program on the CD-ROM whenever the CD-ROM is inserted into the drive.

AVI file Video file with extension .avi.