Glossary of Common Computing Terms, Abbreviations + Acronyms
Here are over 700 of our Computing, Internet, Electronics, Audio + Video Common Terms, File Extensions, Abbreviations + Acronyms listed in alphabetical order. This file is updated frequently to include new terms. Please contact me for other terms (including their definitions) you consider I should add here, or for any corrections at: axcel216@aol.com
Glossaria Internet Sites:
- Computer Webopædia: http://webopedia.internet.com/
- C-net Glossary: http://www.cnet.com/Resources/Info/Glossary/
- Microsoft Glossary: http://support.microsoft.com/support/glossary/
- PC Magazine PC Tech Glossaries: http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/pctech/content/special/glossaries/
- CMP TechEncyclopedia: http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/
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286 = Intel 80286 processor.
2D = Two (bi) Dimensional: x and y axes.
2K = 2000.
386 = Intel 80386 processor.
386MAX = Qualitas 386 Expanded Memory Manager (386MAX.SYS).
3D = Three (tri) Dimensional: x, y and z axes.
3Dfx = 3D Graphics Interactive (Voodoo family 3D chipsets).
3DRAM = 3D Dynamic Random Access Memory.
486 = Intel 80486 processor.
586 = Intel 80586 processor (Pentium/Pentium Pro).
686 = Intel 80686 processor (Pentium II/III).
86 = Intel 80X86 central processing unit (CPU).
87 = Intel 80X87 floating point unit (FPU).
A3D = Aureal 3D surround sound technology.
AA = Anti-Aliasing edge smoothing technology (3D video).
AAAS = American Association for the Advancement of Science.
AAF = Advanced Authoring format (Microsoft video).
AC = Alternating Current.
AC-3 = Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound standard (5 + 1 = 6 channels).
ACPI = Advanced Configuration Power Interface.
ADC = Analog to Digital Converter.
ADPCM = Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation.
ADSL = Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line modem.
AFM = Atomic Force Microscope.
AGP = Accelerated Graphics Port technology standard (Intel).
AGP-1x = Accelerated Graphics Port technology 1st generation standard: 66 MB/sec bandwidth (Intel).
AGP-2x = Accelerated Graphics Port technology 2nd generation standard using sidebands: 133 MB/sec bandwidth (Intel).
AGP-4x = Accelerated Graphics Port technology 3nd generation standard using fast writes: 266 MB/sec bandwidth (Intel).
AGRAS = AntiGlare AntiReflection AntiStatic screen treatment (CRT).
AI = Artificial Intelligence.
AIFF = Audio Interchange File Format.
AIT = Advanced Intelligent Tape (Sony).
ALDC = Adaptive Lossless Data Compression (IBM).
AMD = Advanced Micro Devices Incorporated.
AMI = American Megatrends Incorporated.
ANI = ANImated cursor graphic file (Microsoft Windows).
ANSI = American National Standards Institute.
AOL = America OnLine Incorporated.
API = Application Programming Interface.
APIC = Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controler.
APM = Advanced Power Management.
ARAG = AntiReflection AntiGlare screen treatment (CRT).
ARAS = AntiReflection AntiStatic screen treatment (CRT).
ARP = Address Resolution Protocol.
ASC = Active Signal Correction technology (Sony CRT).
ASCII = American Standard Code for Information Interchange.
ASF = Advanced Streaming Format (Microsoft NetShow).
ASIC = Application Specific Integrated Circuit.
ASP = Advanced Sound Processor (Creative Labs).
ASPI = Advanced SCSI Programming Interface.
ASVD = Analog Simultaneous Voice and Data.
Async SRAM = Asynchronous Static Random Access Memory (L2 cache).
AT = Advanced Technology (Intel motherboard form factor).
ATA = Advanced Technology Attachment (ANSI standard for Integrated Drive Electronics).
ATA-4 = Ultra ATA/Ultra DMA 33.3 MB/second tranfer rate (EIDE/ATA hard drive standard).
ATA-6 = Ultra ATA/Ultra DMA 66.6 MB/second tranfer rate (EIDE/ATA hard drive standard).
ATAPI = Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface.
ATM (1) = Adobe Type Manager.
ATM (2) = Asynchronous Transfer Mode (network).
ATX = Advanced Technology EXtended (Intel motherboard form factor).
AUTOEXEC.BAT = AUTOmatically EXECuted BATch file.
AVI = Advanced Video Interleave (Microsoft video).
AWR = Active Wide Range playback system (Toshiba CD-ROM).
AXCEL216 = Packard Bell AXCEL216 386/SX 25 MHz (my first PC).
b (1) = bit (binary digit): unit of information: 0 or 1.
B (2) = Byte (1 Byte = 8 bits).
BASIC = Beginners All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.
BAT = MS-DOS ASCII BATch program file.
Baud = Modem line (carrier) signal high/low shifts per second.
BBS = Bulletin Board System.
BDA = BIOS Data Area.
BEDO = Burst Extended Data Out (DRAM).
BGA = Ball Grid Array.
BIF = Binary Image Format file.
BIOS = Basic Input/Output System.
BMP = RGB/RLE encoded Microsoft Windows BitMap Picture file.
bpp = bits per pixel.
bps = bits per second.
BSB = Back Side Bus (motherboard CPU to RAM bus).
BSOD = Blue Screen Of Death [Microsoft Windows most dreaded "feature" :)].
bus = Binary data gateway between hardware modules: CPU, RAM, I/O etc.
CAB = CABinet compression format standard (Microsoft).
CAD = Computer Aided Design.
CADD = Computer Aided Design and Drafting.
CAS = Column Access Strobe.
CAV = Constant Angular Velocity (compact disc).
CCITT = Commité Consultatif International du Télégraphe et Téléphonie (International Telegraph and Telephony Consultative Committee).
CD = Compact Disk.
CD-DA = Compact Disk Digital Audio.
CDFS = CD-ROM File System (data CD).
CD-I = Compact Disc Interactive.
CDR = CorelDRAW! image file.
CDRAM = Cache Dynamic Random Access Memory.
CD-R = Compact Disk Recorder.
CD-RAM = Compact Disk Rewritable Access Media.
CD-ROM = Compact Disk Read Only Media.
CD-ROM/XA = Compact Disk Read Only Media EXtended Architecture (Sony, Philips, Microsoft).
CD-RW = Compact Disk ReWritable.
CDSL = Consumer Digital Subscriber Line modem (Rockwell).
CERT = Computer Emergency Response Team.
CGA = Color Graphics Adapter.
CGI (1) = Computer Generated Image.
CGI (2) = Common Gateway Interface.
CGM = Computer Graphics Metafile.
CHAP = Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol.
CHS = Cylinder/Head/Sector.
CIAC = Computer Incident Advisory Capability team.
CISC = Complex Instruction Set Computing (CPU).
CL = Creative Labs Limited.
CLP = Microsoft Windows Clipboard Bitmap file.
CLV = Constant Linear Velocity (compact disk).
CMOS = Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor.
CMOS 7S = Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor Manufacturing Process (IBM).
CMOS-SOS = CMOS Silicon On Sapphire.
CMS = ColorSync Color Management System (Apple).
COBOL = COmmon Business Oriented Language.
CODEC = Digital video COmpressor and DECompressor (Intel Indeo).
COM (1) = Serial COMmunication Port.
COM (2) = Component Object Model (Microsoft).
CON = CONsole (display).
CONFIG.SYS = CONFIGuration SYStem file.
cps = characters per second.
CPU = Central Processing Unit (processor).
CRC = Cyclical Redundancy Check.
CRT = Cathode Ray Tube.
CS = CompuServe.
CSLIP = Compressed Serial Line Internet Protocol.
CSS = Cascading Style Sheets HTML specifications (W3C).
CSS1 = Cascading Style Sheets mechanism level 1 (W3C).
CSS2 = Cascading Style Sheets mechanism level 2 (W3C).
CUR = Static CURsor graphic file (Microsoft Windows).
CUT = Dr. Halo picture file.
D3D = DirectX 3D APIs (Microsoft Windows 9x/2000/Millennium).
DAC = Digital to Analog Converter.
DAT = Digital Audio Tape.
dB = deciBel (10 dB = 1 Bel).
DBS = Digital Broadcasting System.
DC = Direct Current.
DCE = Data Communications Equipment (modem to modem speed).
DDC = Display Data Channel.
DDE = Dynamic Data Exchange.
DDMA = Distributed Direct Memory Access standard.
DDR-SDRAM = Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory.
DDSS = Dolby Digital AC-3 5.1 Surround Sound standard (5 + 1 = 6 channels).
DEK = Data Encryption Key.
DES = Data Encryption Standard.
DHCP = Dynamic Host Control Protocol.
DHTML = Dynamic HyperText Markup Language (W3C).
DIB (1) = RGB/RLE encoded Microsoft Windows Device Independent Bitmap.
DIB (2) = Dual Independent Bus architecture (Intel Pentium Pro and Pentium II).
DIG = Digital Imaging Group.
DIMM = Dual In-line Memory Module.
DIN = Deutsches Institut für Normung (German Institute for Standards).
DIP = Dual In-line Package.
DIVX = DIgital Video eXpress (discontinued DVD standard).
DLC = Data Link Control protocol.
DLL = Dynamic Link Library.
DLP = Digital Light Processing technology.
DLS = DownLoadable Sounds standard (PCI MIDI).
DMA = Direct Memory Access.
DME = Direct Memory Execution (Intel I-740).
DMF = Distribution Media Format: high density floppy disk (Microsoft).
DMI = Desktop Management Interface.
DMTF = Desktop Management Task Force.
DNA = Distributed interNet Applications architecture (Windows 98).
DNS = Domain Naming System.
DOCSIS = ITU J.112 Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification.
DOF = Depth Of Field (3D video).
DOM = Document Object Model standard (W3C).
DOS = Disk Operating System.
DPI = Dots Per Inch.
DPLSS = Dolby Pro Logic Surround Sound standard (5 channels).
DPMA = Dynamic Power Management Architecture (Intel PCI/AGP chipsets).
DPMI = DOS Protected Mode Interface.
DPMS = VESA Display Power Management Signaling standard.
DRAM = Dynamic Random Access Memory.
DR-DOS = Caldera Digital Research Disk Operating System.
Drive-TIP = Drive Temperature Indicator Processor (IBM hard drive).
DRP = Distribution and Replication Protocol.
DRW = Micrografx DRaW image file.
DS3D = DirectXSound 3D APIs (Microsoft Windows 9x/2000/Millennium).
DSC = Digital Servo Control (Toshiba CD-ROM).
DS/DD = Double-Sided Double-Density (floppy disk standard: 720 KB).
DS/HD = Double-Sided High-Density (floppy disk standard: 1.44 MB).
DSL = Digital Subscriber Line modem.
DSP (1) = Digital Signal Processor.
DSP (2) = Delivery Service Partner (OEM).
DSS (1) = Digital Satellite System.
DSS (2) = Digital Signature Standard certificate.
DSVD = Digital Simultaneous Voice and Data.
DTD = Document Type Definition.
DTE = Data Terminal Equipment (modem to computer speed).
DTP = DeskTop Publishing.
DTR = Data Transfer Rate (throughput).
DTV (1) = DeskTop Video.
DTV (2) = Digital TeleVision.
DUN = Dial-Up Networking (Microsoft Windows 95/98).
DVD = Digital Versatile (Video) Disc.
DVD-2 = Second generation DVD drive.
DVD-R = Digital Versatile Disk Recordable.
DVD-RAM = Digital Versatile Disk Rewritable Access Media.
DVD-ROM = Digital Versatile Disk Read Only Media.
DVD+RW = Digital Versatile Disk ReWritable.
DVI = Digital Video Interactive (Intel).
DX = X86 Intel CPU with FPU (386/DX, 486/DX).
DX3D = DirectX 3D APIs (Microsoft Windows 9x/2000/Millennium).
DXF = AutoDesk picture File.
DXR2 = Dynamic eXtended Resolution 2 technology (Creative Labs DVD).
DXTC = S3 DirectX3D Texture Compression APIs (S3 Savage3D/2000).
EAX = Environmental Audio EXtensions (Creative Labs DirectSound 3D Live! surround sound extensions).
EBDA = Extended BIOS Data Area.
EBIOS = Extended Basic Input/Output System.
ECC = Error Correction Code.
ECP = Extended Capabilities Port.
EDC = Error Detection Code.
EDI = Electronic Data Interchange.
EDO = Extended Data Out (DRAM).
EDRAM = Enhanced Dynamic Random Access Memory.
EECS = Enhanced Elliptical Correction System (Sony CRT).
EEPROM = Enhanced Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory.
EGA = Extended Graphics Adapter.
EIA = Electronics Industries Association.
EICA = Enhanced Intellight Cooler Architecture.
EIDE = Enhanced IDE.
EISA = Extended Industry Standard Architecture.
EISCA = Enhanced Intelligent System Cooler Architecture (CPU heatsink).
E-mail = Electronic mail.
EMM386 = Microsoft 386 Expanded Memory Manager (EMM386.EXE).
EMB = Extended Memory Block.
EMI = ElectroMagnetical Interference.
EMS = Expanded Memory Specifications.
EMM = Expanded Memory Manager.
EPA = Environmental Protection Agency.
EPIC = Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing (Intel/HP).
EPP = Enhanced Parallel Port.
EPROM = Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory.
EPS = Encapsulated PostScript File.
ESCD = Extended System Configuration Data (ROM BIOS).
ESD = ElectroStatic Discharge.
ESDI = Enhanced System Device Interface.
ESDRAM = Enhanced Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory.
EULA = End User License Agreement.
EUV = Extreme UltraViolet lithography (CPU).
FAST-20 = Fast SCSI-3 Parallel Interface standard.
FAT = File Allocation Table.
FAT16 = File Allocation Table 16-bit (MS-DOS).
FAT32 = File Allocation Table 32-bit (Windows 95/98).
FCBS = File Control Blocks.
FC-AL = Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (Ultra Fast SCSI).
FCC = Federal Communications Commission.
FC-PH = Fibre Channel PHysical and signaling interface (SCSI-3).
FD = Floppy Disk (Drive).
FDDI = Fiber Distributed Data Interface.
FED = Field Emission Display.
FIFO = First In First Out.
FMV = Full Motion Video.
FPD = Flat Panel Display.
FPE = File Protection Error.
FPM = Fast Page Mode (DRAM).
fps = frames per second.
FPU = Floating Point Unit (coprocessor).
FRAM = Ferroelectric Random Access Memory.
Frame-buffer = 1st + 2nd dimensions/height + width/x + y axes memory (2D video).
FSB = Front Side Bus (motherboard CPU to I/O bus).
FTP = File Transfer Protocol.
Full-Duplex = Two way modem communication protocol (echo-plex).
FXT1 = Advanced Texture Compression technology (3Dfx).
GB = GigaByte (1 GB = 1,024 MegaBytes = 1,048,576 KiloBytes).
GDI = Graphics Device Interface.
GEM = Ventura/GEM image file.
GIF = Graphics Interchange Format (CompuServe).
Glide = 3Dfx Voodoo family proprietary 3D APIs.
G.Lite = ITU G.992.2 1.4 Mbps Digital Subscriber Line modem standard (ADSL).
GM = General MIDI standard.
GPF = General Protection Fault.
GMR = Giant MagnetoResistive effect (IBM hard drive).
GPU = Graphics Processing Unit (nVidia GeForce 256 2D/3D).
GUI = Graphical User Interface.
HAL = Hardware Abstraction Layer.
Half-Duplex = One way modem communication protocol (simplex or local-echo).
HAVi = Home Audio Video interoperability (entertainment APIs).
HD = Hard Disk (Drive).
HDA = High reliability Hard Disk Assembly.
HDD = Hard Disk Drive.
HDSL = High bit rate Digital Subscriber Line modem.
HDSS = Holographic Data Storage System (IBM).
HDTV = High Definition TeleVision.
HEL = Hardware Emulation Layer (Microsoft Direct3D standard).
HFC = Hybrid Fiber Coaxial cable system.
HFS = Hierarchical File System (CD-ROM, MacOS).
HGL = Hewlett Packard Graphics Language image file.
HID = Human Interface Devices.
HiFD = High density 200 MB Floppy Drive standard (Sony/Fuji).
HIMEM = Microsoft High/Extended Memory Manager (HIMEM.SYS).
HMA = High Memory Area.
HP = Hewlett Packard Corporation.
HPC = Handheld Personal Computer.
HPFS = High Performance File System (OS/2).
HSDRAM = High Speed Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory.
HTML = HyperText Markup Language (W3C).
HTTP = HyperText Transfer Protocol.
HVD = High Voltage Differential standard (SCSI-2).
Hz = Hertz (clock speed): 1 Hz = 1 clock cycle.
IA-32 = Intel Architecture 32-bit (32-bit CPUs).
IA-64 = Intel Architecture 64-bit (high-end 64-bit CPUs).
IBM = International Business Machines Corporation.
IC = Interface Controller.
ICD = Installable Client Driver (Microsoft 3D).
ICMP = Internet Control Message Protocol.
ICO = ICOn graphic file (Microsoft Windows).
ICS = Internet Connection Sharing.
IDCT = Inverse Discreet Cosine Transform (DVD decoding).
IDE = Integrated Device (Drive) Electronics.
IE = Microsoft Internet Explorer.
IEEE = Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
IEEE 1394 = Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers FireWire peripheral devices high performance serial bus standard.
IETF = Internet Engineering Task Force.
IFF = Electronic Arts Image File.
IFSHLP.SYS = Installable File System Helper device driver (Microsoft Windows).
IGMP = Internet Group Management Protocol.
IMA = Interactive Music Architecture (Microsoft).
IMAP = Internet Mail Access Protocol.
IMAP4 = Internet Mail Access Protocol level 4.
IMG = GEM Paint image file.
InterNIC = Internet Network Information Center.
I/O = Input/Output.
ION = Integrated On-demand Network (Sprint FastBreak).
IP = Internet Protocol.
IPF = Invalid Page Fault.
IPv4 = Internet Protocol version 4 (32-bit).
IPv6 = Internet Protocol version 6 (128-bit).
IPX = Internetwork Packet EXchange (Novell Netware).
IRC = Internet Relay Chat.
IrDA = Infrared Data Association.
IRQ = Interrupt ReQuest line.
ISA = Industry Standard Architecture.
ISDN = Integrated Services Digital Network.
ISO = International Organization for Standardization.
ISO 9660 = International Standard LOgical format (CD-ROM).
ISP = Internet Service Provider.
ITU = International Telecommunications Union.
Java = Sun Microsystems programming language.
JAR = Java ARchive file.
JDK = Java Developers Kit.
JEDEC = Joint Electronic Device Engineering Council.
JFC = Java Foundation Classes.
JIF = Joint Photographers Expert Group Image file.
JPEG = Joint Photographers Expert Group Picture standard.
JPG = Joint Photographers Expert Group Picture file.
JVM = Java Virtual Machine.
K56flex = Lucent/Rockwell 56 kbps analog modem transfer standard.
KB = KiloByte (1 KB = 1,024 Bytes).
KNI = Katmai New 70 MMX Instructions (Intel Katmai CPU).
L1 = Level 1 cache (on CPU).
L2 = Level 2 cache (off CPU).
L2TP = Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol.
L3 = Level 3 cache (off CPU SMP).
LAN = Local Area Network.
LAPM = Link Access Protocol for Modems.
LBA = Logical Block Addressing (hard disk access).
LBM = DeLuxe Paint BitMap picture file.
LCD = Liquid Crystal Display.
LDAP = Lightweight Directory Access Protocol.
LDIF = Lightweight Data Interchange Format (e-mail).
LED = Light Emitting Diode.
LEP = Light Emitting Polymers technology (CDT monitor).
LFB = Linear Frame Buffer (2D video).
LFN = Long File Name (256.8 = Win32 32-bit).
LFO = Low Frequency Oscillator.
LH = LoadHigh.
LIM = Lotus/Intel/Microsoft expanded/extended memory specifications.
LIMAD = LInear MAgnetic Drive speaker technology (Soundmatters).
LMDS = Local Multipoint Distribution Service.
LPC = Low Pin Count interface specification (Intel).
LPT = Line PrinTer.
LTO = Linear Tape-Open technology (IBM, HP, Seagate).
LVD = Low Voltage Differential (SCSI-2).
MAC = MAC Paint picture file.
MAPI = Messaging Application Program Interface.
MB = MegaByte (1 MB = 1,024 KiloBytes = 1,048,576 bytes).
MBR = Master Boot Record (partition table).
MCA = Multilink Channel Aggregation technology (MS Windows 98).
MCD = Mini Client Driver (Microsoft 3D).
MCGA = MonoChrome Graphics Adapter.
MCI = Media Control Interface.
MDA = Modular Digital Architecture.
MDI = Multiple Document Interface.
MDRAM = Multibank Dynamic Random Access Memory.
MGA = Monochrome Graphics Adapter.
MHz = MegaHertz (1 MHz = 1,000 KHz = 1,000,000 Hz).
MIDI = Musical Instrument Digital Interface.
MIME = Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions.
MIP = Multum In Parvum texture mapping.
MIPS = Millions of Instructions per Second.
MLA = Modern Languages Association.
MLPPP = MultiLink Point to Point Protocol.
MMA = MIDI Manufacturer's Association.
MMVF = MultiMedia Video Format (NEC DVD).
MMX = MultiMedia eXtensions (Intel).
MMX2 = MultiMedia eXtensions 2nd generation (Intel).
MO = MagnetoOptical.
modem = MODulator/DEModulator (data to analog converter).
MOV = QuickTime MOVie file (Apple).
MP3 = MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 compression/format standard.
MPC = Multimedia Personal Computer.
MPEG = Motion Picture Expert Group standards (versions 1 and 2).
MPG = Motion Picture Expert Group compressed image file standard.
MR = MagnetoResistive head technology (HDD).
MRX = MagnetoResistive EXtended head technology (IBM HDD).
µs = Microsecond (1/1,000,000 = 1 millionth of a second).
MS = MicroSoft Corporation.
MS-DOS = MicroSoft Disk Operating System.
MSCDEX = MicroSoft Compact Disc EXtensions device driver (MSCDEX.EXE).
MSD = MicroSoft Diagnostics (MSD.EXE).
MSKB = MicroSoft Knowledge Base.
MSP = MicroSoft Paint picture file.
MSS = Maximum Segment Size (Internet protocol).
MTBF = Mean Time Between Failures.
MTT = Multi Transaction Timer (PCI).
MTU = Maximum Transmission Unit (Internet protocol).
MUD = Multi User Domain.
MVA = Multi domain Vertical Alignment technology (LCD screen).
NC = Network Computer.
NDIS = Network Driver Interface Specification layer.
NetRoom = Helix Software 386 Expanded Memory Manager (RM386.EXE).
NFS = Network File System.
NGI = Next Generation Internet foundation.
NIC (1) = Network Interface Card.
NIC (2) = Networked Information Center.
NIST = National Institute of Standards and Technology.
NLP = Natural Language Processing.
NNTP = Network News Transfer Protocol.
NOS = Network Operating System.
ns = Nanosecond (1/1,000,000,000 = 1 billionth of a second).
NTFS = Windows NT File System standard (32-bit).
NTSC = National Television Systems Committee (USA TV standard: 525 lines/second).
NVRAM = Non Volatile Random Access Memory.
OAW = Optically Assisted Winchester technology (Seagate hard drive).
OCR = Optical Character Recognition.
ODBC = Open DataBase Connectivity.
OEM = Original Equipment Manufacturer.
OGL = OpenGL (see below).
OLE = Object Linking and Embedding.
OOB = Out Of Band.
OpenGL = Silicon Graphics Open standard Graphical Language (32-bit 3D graphics architecture layout).
OpenGVS = Open Gemini Visual System 3D API standard.
OPS = Open Profiling Standard.
OS = Operating System.
OS/2 = IBM Operating System/2.
OSD = Open Software Distribution.
OSR1 = OEM Service Release 1 (Microsoft Windows 95 version 4.00.950 a: 1st
release, upgraded with SP1). Retail + OEM.
OSR2 = OEM Service Release 2 (Microsoft Windows 95 version 4.00.950 B/C: 2nd release). OEM only.
P II = Intel Pentium II processor (80686 Klamath/Deschutes/Xeon).
P III = Intel Pentium III processor (80686 Katmai).
P5 = Intel Pentium/Pentium Pro processor (80586).
P6 = Intel Pentium II/III processor (80686).
PAL = Phase Alternate Line (European TV standard: 625 lines/second).
PAP = Password Authentication Protocol.
PBC = Pipeline Burst Cache.
PBM = Portable BitMap UNIX picture file.
PBSRAM = Pipeline Burst Static Random Access Memory (L2 cache).
PC = Personal Computer.
PC98 = Intel/Microsoft PC 98 System Design Guide.
PCB = Printed Circuit Board.
PCD = Kodak Photo CD image file.
PCI = Peripheral Component Interconnect bus architecture: 32-bit, 33/66 MHz (Intel).
PCI-X = Peripheral Component Interconnect eXtended bus architecture: 64-bit, 133 MHz (Intel/Compaq/HP/IBM).
PCL = Printer Control Language.
PCM = Pulse Code Modulation.
PCMCIA = Personal Computer Memory Card International Association.
PCS = Personal Communications Service.
PCX = Zsoft PC Paintbrush Picture file.
PDA = Personal Digital Assistant.
PDF = Portable Document Format file (Adobe Acrobat).
PDP = Parallel Data Processing (Intel I-740).
pel = Picture ELement: RGB 3 dot pattern (color TV). Also pixel.
PERL = Practical Extraction and Report Language.
PFPT = Pure Flat Picture Tube.
PGM = Portable GrayMap UNIX picture file.
PIC (1) = Programmable Interrupt Controller.
PIC (2) = Lotus PICtor/PC Paint picture file.
PIF = Program Information File (MS Windows).
PIM = Personal Information Manager.
PING = Packet InterNet Groper.
PIO = Programmed Input/Output.
pixel = PIcture ELement: RGB 3 dot pattern (color CRT). Also pel.
PLEDM = Phase-state Low Electron Drive Memory (Hitachi).
PLL = Phase Locked Loop (CPU clock multiplier chip).
PMTU = Path Maximum Transmission Unit (Internet protocol).
PNG = Portable Network Graphics file.
PnP = Plug and Play standard.
POP (1) = Post Office Protocol.
PoP (2) = Point of Presence.
POP3 = Post Office Protocol 3 standard.
POST = Power On Self Test (BIOS).
POTS = Plain Old Telephone Service.
PPGA = Plastic Pin Grid Array (370 pin Intel Celeron CPUs).
PPI = Precise Pixel Interpolation (Intel I-740).
PPM = Portable PixelMap UNIX picture file.
PPP = Point to Point Protocol.
PPTP = Point to Point Tunneling Protocol.
PRI = Primary Rate Interface.
PRML = Partial Response Maximum Likelihood (hard drive).
PRN = PRiNter port.
PS/2 = IBM Personal System/2.
PSD = RGB/indexed PhotoShop image file (Aldus).
PSTN = Public Switched Telephone Network.
QBE = Query By Example.
QEMM = Quarterdeck 386 Expanded Memory Manager (QEMM386.SYS).
QOS = Quality Of Service.
RAID = Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks.
RAM = Random Access Memory.
RAMDAC = Random Access Memory Digital to Analog Converter.
RARP = Reverse Address Resolution Protocol.
RAS (1) = Sun Microsystems Raster image file.
RAS (2) = Row Access Strobe.
RAS (3) = Remote Access Service (Microsoft Windows NT/2000).
RAVE = Rendering Acceleration Virtual Engine (Apple).
RAW = Unencoded pixel data image file.
RDF = Resource Description Framework (Netscape Aurora).
RDRAM = Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory.
REG = REGistry text/ASCII file (Microsoft Windows 9x/NT/2000/Millennium).
Registry = Microsoft Windows 9x/NT/2000/Millennium Registry database.
RegEdit = Microsoft Windows 9x/NT/2000/Millennium Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE).
RegEdt32 = Microsoft Windows NT/2000 Registry Editor (REGEDT32.EXE).
RFC = Request for Comments.
RGB = Red Green Blue picture encoding.
RIMM = Rambus Inline Memory Module.
RISC = Reduced Instruction Set Computing (CPU).
RIVA = Real Time Interactive Video and Animation (nVidia 3D).
RLE = CompuServe/Microsoft Windows Run Length Encoded graphic file.
RM386 = Helix Software 386 Expanded Memory Manager (RM386.EXE).
ROM = Read Only Memory.
RPC = Remote Procedure Calls.
rpm = Rotations Per Minute/Revolution Per Minute.
RSA = Public Key Encryption algorithms (RSA Data Security).
RTC = Real Time Clock (BIOS).
RTF = Rich Text Format (Microsoft Word).
RWIN = Receive WINdow (Internet protocol).
S3TC = S3 Texture Compression architecture (S3 Savage3D/2000).
SCSI = Small Computers System Interface standard.
SCSI-1 = Small Computers System Interface 1 specifications.
SCSI-2 = Small Computers System Interface 2 specifications.
SCSI-3 = Small Computers System Interface 3 specifications.
SDK = Software Developers Kit.
SDRAM = Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory.
SDS = Satellite Data Service.
SDX = Storage Data Acceleration (Western Digital).
SECAM = SEquential Couleur Avec Mémoire (French TV standard: 819 lines/second).
SECC = Single Edge Contact Cartridge (Intel Pentium II).
SECC2 = Single Edge Contact Cartridge 2 (Intel Pentium III).
SEL = Software Emulation Layer (Microsoft Direct3D standard).
SET = Secure Electronic Transaction standard.
SFN = Short File Name (8.3 = MS-DOS 16-bit).
SGI = Silicon Graphics Incorporated.
SGML = Standard Generalized Markup Language (W3C).
SGRAM = Synchronous Graphics Random Access Memory.
SIMD = Single Instruction Multiple Data (Intel Pentium MMX).
SIMM = Single In-line Memory Module.
SLC = Subscriber Line Charge.
SLDRAM = Synchronous Link Dynamic Random Access Memory (Hyundai).
SL-DRAM = Synchronous Layout Dynamic Random Access Memory (Siemens/Micron).
SLI = Scan Line Interleave technology (3Dfx Voodoo2).
SLIP = Serial Line Internet Protocol.
SLM = Spatial Light Modulator.
SMART = Self Monitoring Analysis Reporting Technology standard.
SMIL = Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (W3C).
SMP = Symetrical Multi-Processing standard.
SMTP = Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.
S/NR= Signal to Noise Ratio.
SO-DIMM = Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Module connector.
SPD = Serial Presence Detection (EEPROM).
S/PDIF = Sony/Philips Digital Interchange Format.
SPI-2 = SCSI Parallel Interface 2 standard (SCSI-3).
SPI-3 = SCSI Parallel Interface 3 standard (SCSI-3).
SPP = Standard Parallel Port.
SQL = Structured Query Language.
SRAM = Static Random Access Memory.
sRGB = 32-bit standard Red Green Blue color encoding (Microsoft/Hewlett Packard).
sRGB64 = 64-bit standard Red Green Blue double-precision color encoding (Microsoft/Hewlett Packard).
SSA = Serial Storage Architecture bus/interface.
SSE = Streaming SIMD Extensions (Intel Pentium III Katmai).
SSL = Secure Sockets Layer.
SSR = Super Scalar Rendering (3D video).
STA = SCSI Trade Association.
STD/VR = STanDard Voltage Regulator (CPU).
STM = Scanning Tunneling Microscope.
SVGA = Super Video Graphics Array standard.
SX = X86 Intel CPU without FPU (386/SX, 486/SX).
Sync SRAM = Synchronous burst Static Random Access Memory (L2 cache).
TAPI= Telephony Application Programming Interface.
TB = TeraByte (1 TB = 1,024 GigaBytes = 1,048,576 MegaBytes).
T-Buffer = Multiple Frame Buffer rendering engine (3Dfx).
TCO = Total Cost of Ownership.
TCP = Transmission Control Protocol.
TCP/IP = Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol.
TEC = ThermoElectric Cooler (Peltier effect).
Texel = Bilinear TEXtured pixEL (3D video).
TFT = Thin Film Transistor (active matrix display).
TFTP = Trivial File Transfer Protocol.
TGA = TrueVision Graphic file (Targa).
THD = Total Harmonic Distortion.
TIFF = Tagged Image File Format (Aldus).
T&L = Transform & Lighting (3D video).
TMM = Terabit Molecular Memory technology (Toshiba DVD).
TNT = TwiN Texel processing engine (nVidia RIVA TNT 2D/3D).
TNT2 = TwiN Texel 2 processing engine (nVidia RIVA TNT2 2D/3D).
TPU = Texture Processing Unit (3Dfx Voodoo/Voodoo2/Voodoo3).
TSR = Terminate and Stay Resident program/device/driver.
TTF = True Type Font.
TTL = Time To Live (Internet protocol).
TWI = True Web Integration (Microsoft).
UAE = Unrecoverable Application Error.
UART = Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter.
U-ATA = Ultra Advanced Technology Attachment (EIDE drive).
UCE = Unsolicited Commercial Email.
UDF = Universal Disk Format (Compact Disk).
U-DMA = Ultra Direct Memory Access (EIDE drive controller).
UDP = User Datagram Protocol.
UDSP = Uniprocessor Digital Signal Processor Drive Electronics based architecture.
UHF = Ultra High Frequency.
Ultra160/m SCSI = Ultra3 SCSI standard (160 MB/s burst transfer rate).
Ultra2b SCSI = Ultra2 SCSI standard (80 MB/s burst transfer rate).
Ultra DMA = Ultra Direct Memory Access (EIDE drive controller).
Ultra SCSI = Ultra1 SCSI standard (40 MB/s burst transfer rate).
UMA = Upper Memory Area.
UMB = Upper Memory Block.
UMR = Upper Memory Region.
UNC = Universal Naming Convention.
UNIX = Multi User Network Operating System.
UPS = Uninterruptible Power Supply.
URL = Uniform Resource Locator.
USB = Universal Serial Bus.
USENET = USEr NETwork (newsgroups).
UUE = Uniform Resource Locator UNIX Encoded.
UUENCODE = Unix to Unix Encoding.
V.90 = ITU (PCM) 56 Kbps analog modem transfer standard.
VAR = Value Added Reseller.
VAT = Virtual Allocation Table (Compact Disk).
VBE = VESA BIOS Extensions.
VBI = Vertical Blanking Interval.
VCP = Video Cassette Player.
VCPI = Virtual Control Program Interface.
VCR = Video Cassette Recorder.
VDSL = Variable Digital Subscriber Line modem.
VESA = Video Electronics Standards Association.
VFAT = Virtual File Allocation Table.
VFIR = Very Fast InfraRed protocol (Hewlett Packard).
VfW = Video for Windows.
VGA = Video Graphics Array standard.
VHD = Very High Density connector standard (Centronics).
VHF = Very High Frequency.
VIS = Visual Image Size.
VLB = VESA Local Bus (VL bus).
VLM = Very Large Memory addressing (Intel Merced).
VLSI = Very Large Scale Integration.
VMM (1) = Virtual Memory Manager.
VMM (2) = Virtual Machine Monitor.
VoIP = Voice over Internet protocol.
VPN = Virtual Private Network.
VR (1) = Virtual Reality.
VR (2) = Voltage Regulator (CPU).
VRE = Voltage Regulator Enhanced (MMX CPU).
VRAM = Video Random Access Memory.
VRM = Voltage Regulator Module.
VRML = Virtual Reality Modeling Language.
VSM = Virtual Storage Management (Microsoft Windows).
VXD = Virtual eXtended (everything) device Driver (Microsoft Windows).
W3C = World Wide Web Consortium.
WAIS = Wide Area Information Server.
WAN = Wide Area Network.
WAR = Wide Aspect Ratio display.
WBEM = Web Based Enterprise Management Initiative.
WDM = Win32 Driver Model.
WfM = Wired for Management.
WfWG = Microsoft Windows for WorkGroups 3.1x.
Win2000 = Microsoft Window 2000 (formerly NT 5.0).
Win2K = Microsoft Window 2K (2000).
Win31 = Microsoft Windows 3.1x.
Win32 = Microsoft Windows 32-bit OS.
Win32s = Microsoft Windows 32-bit extensions for Windows 3.1x 16-bit.
Win95 = Microsoft Windows 95 (4.0x.xxxx).
Win98 = Microsoft Windows 98 (4.1x.xxxx).
WinNT = Microsoft Windows NT 3.xx/4.0x (New Technology).
WIP = Web Interoperability Pledge.
WMF = Microsoft Windows MetaFile.
WORM = Write Once Read Many (CD-R).
WOSA = Windows Open Services Architecture.
WPG = WordPerfect Graphic file.
WRAM = Windows Random Access Memory.
WWIF = World Wide InterFace.
WWW = World Wide Web.
WYSIWYG = What You See Is What You Get.
x2 = 3COM/US Robotics 56 kbps analog modem transfer standard.
X86 = Intel X86 CPU (family compatible).
X87 = Intel X87 FPU (family compatible).
XML = EXtensible Markup Language (W3C).
XMM = EXtended Memory Manager.
XMS = EXtended Memory Specifications.
XSL = EXtensible Style Language (W3C).
XT = EXtended Technology (Intel motherboard form factor).
XVGA = EXtended Video Graphics Array.
Y2K = Year 2000.
ZAK = Zero Administration Kit for Windows NT workstations.
ZAW = Zero Administration initiative for Windows.
Z-buffer = 3rd dimension/depth/z axis memory (3D video).
ZIF = Zero Insertion Force (CPU socket).