Glossary

W

wait time Length of time that your system is inactive before the screen saver starts up.

wallpaper See background.

WAN See wide area network.

WAV file Audio file with extension .wav.

Web address See URL.

Web Folder Entry in My Network Places for a Web server or FTP server, allowing you to manage files on the server using Explorer windows.

Web page HTML file stored on a Web server.

Web page editor Program for creating and editing files in HTML format for use as Web pages.

Web server Computer that stores Web pages and responds to requests from Web browsers.

Web site Collection of Web pages belonging to a particular person or organization.

Web site for this book http://net.gurus.com/winxptcr

Web style See single-click style.

WebView pane See Task pane.

Welcome screen Screen that appears on systems in which multiple user accounts are set up, with a button and picture for each user. The alternative is the Windows Me/98-style classic logon screen.

WFP See Windows File Protection.

What's This See question mark help button.

Whistler Microsoft's pre-release code name for Windows XP.

whiteboard Feature of Windows Messenger that allows callers to draw a shared picture that all can edit and see.

wide area network (WAN) Network that connects computers that are not all in the same building or campus.

WiFi Standard, with IEEE 802.11b, for wireless LAN communications.

wildcard Special character (* or ?) used when specifying a group of filenames or folder names.

Win.ini file Windows 3.1 initialization file that is still used by 16-bit applications.

window Rectangular area on the screen that displays information from a running program.

window borders Gray border running around the sides of a restored window.

WINDOWS key Key with the flying Windows logo, appearing on many keyboards to the left of the spacebar, usually between the CTRL and ALT keys.

Windows Me Last desktop version of Microsoft's Windows 9x series of operating systems, superceded by Windows XP Home Edition.

Windows Messenger Instant messaging program that comes with Windows XP: Microsoft's answer to AOL Instant Messenger.

Windows Task Manager See Task Manager.

Windows-aware DOS program Type of DOS program that handles its screen and keyboard in a way that lets it run efficiently under Windows.

Windows Clipboard See Clipboard.

Windows Explorer File-and-folder-manipulating program that comes with Windows. Displays Explorer windows.

Windows File Protection Windows feature that monitors the files that make up Windows itself.

Windows initialization file One of the configuration files that Windows reads when running a 16-bit program. These files have the extension .ini.

Windows Media Player Audio and video player program that comes with Windows. Windows Movie Maker Video creation and editing program that comes with Windows.

Windows password See user password.

Windows program folder Folder that contains the Windows program files (along with many subfolders with Windows-related files), usually C:\Windows.

Windows Script Host (WSH) Windows utility that can run JavaScript or VBScript scripts from either Windows or DOS.

Windows Task Manager See Task Manager.

Windows Update Program that can update Windows over the Internet by using updates from the Microsoft Web site.

winxptcr@gurus.com E-mail address for comments or corrections about this book, or just to test your e-mail.

Winsock Standard way for Windows programs to work with Internet connection software. Most popular Internet programs are Winsock-compatible, including Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, and Outlook Express.

wireless LAN Star topology LAN that communicates by radio transmissions in the 2.4 GHz frequency band.

Wizard Program that steps you through the process of creating or configuring something. Wizards come with Windows and other Microsoft products.

word wrap Feature of text editors and word processors that allows the program to insert line endings automatically.

WordPad Word processor that comes with Windows.

workgroup Group of computers on a local area network.

workgroup-based network Peer-to-peer network using Windows workgroups.

working folder Folder in which a program reads and writes files unless another folder is specified.

workstation Computer used by a person, rather than one used only as a server for people at other computers.

World Wide Web Collection of millions of files stored on thousands of Web server computers all over the world.

World Wide Web Consortium Organization that maintains the standard for HTML and other Wed-related technology, at http://www.w3.org.

worm Self-replicating program that can infect other computers (by e-mail or over a LAN or the Internet), frequently with destructive side-effects.

WS_FTP File transfer program that displays the local and remote directories in an easy-to-use window.

Wscript program Part of Windows Script Host that runs scripts from Windows.

WSH See Windows Script Host.