Glossary

N

named meeting NetMeeting meeting hosted by a teleconferencing company or some other meeting server.

Narrator Accessibility program that read the text the screen out loud.

NAT See Network address translation.

navigating Displaying the contents of one folder after another, usually when looking for a folder or file. In your browser, moving from one Web page to another.

NetBEUI NetBIOS Extended User Interface, the network protocol used primarily by Microsoft in its older versions of Windows.

NetMeeting Microsoft's Internet-based conferencing program that comes with Windows.

Netstat Network diagnostic program that comes with Windows.

Network address translation (NAT) Program that translates between the IP addresses on a LAN and those on the Internet. Can be part of a proxy server or firewall. Internet Connection Sharing includes a NAT program.

network adapter See network interface card.

network connection Configuration information for connection to another computer via a dial-up phone line, DSL line, cable, infrared, or other device. Network connections are used mainly for LANs and Internet accounts.

network disk or network drive Disk drive (or partition of a disk drive) connected to a computer that your computer can access over a network (as opposed to a local disk). Also called a shared disk or shared drive.

network interface card (NIC) Adapter that connects a computer to a local area network.

network operating system (NOS) Operating system that includes support for a client-server local area network.

network printer Printer that is attached to a computer on a local area network and can be used by other computers on the network.

network shortcut Entry in the My Network Places folder.

news account Name of the news server to use when reading and posting to Usenet newsgroups.

New Connection Wizard Wizard that can sign up for an Internet account or configure Windows to connect to an existing account.

newsgroup Discussion group that is part of Usenet. Windows comes with Outlook Express, which lets you read and post messages to newsgroups.

newsreader or newsreading program Program for reading and posting to newsgroups. Windows comes with Outlook Express, which is both a mail client and a newsreader.

NIC See network interface card.

NNTP Net News Transfer Protocol, the protocol used by Usenet for distributing newsgroup articles.

nonroutable protocol Network protocol that can be used only on a simple network where routing devices are not used.

Normal Mode Usual way of running Windows.

NOS See network operating system.

Notepad Text editor that comes with Windows.

notification area The right end of the taskbar (what used to be called the system tray), with a digital clock and special icons for running programs.

NTFS Windows NT/2000 File System, the file system used by Windows 2000, NT, and XP; not supported by Windows Me, 9x, or older versions of Windows or DOS. NTFS enables Windows to provide file- and folder-level security.

NTFS compressed folder Folder stored in an NTFS partition with its Compress Contents To Save Disk Space attribute selected. See also compressed folder.

null-modem cable Serial cable used to connect two computers in a direct cable connection (not to connect a computer to a modem).