What is FAQ?
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Stands for "Frequently Asked Questions," and can be pronounced "fak" or simply "F-A-Q." An FAQ is a text file that is created to answer common questions a user may have about a certain software program or that a newcomer to a Web site might have regarding the site. Web sites will often refer visitors to an FAQ before asking them to e-mail their questions, which helps cut down on tech support. While FAQs are common for software programs and Web sites, FAQs can be written for other topics such as company information, computer hardware, technology standards, and video games.
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What is FAT32?
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This strange term refers to the way Windows stores data on your hard drive. "FAT" stands for "File Allocation Table," which keeps track of all your files and helps the computer locate them on the disk. Even if a file gets fragmented (split up into various areas on the disk), the file allocation table still can keep track of it. FAT32 is an improvement to the original FAT system, since it uses more bits to identify each cluster on the the disk. This helps the computer locate files easier and allows for smaller clusters, which improves the efficiency of your hard disk. FAT32 supports up to 2 terabytes of hard disk storage. Unless you are a serious power user, that should be more than enough space for you.
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What is Favicon?
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A favicon (short for "Favorites icon"), also known as a page icon, is an icon associated with a particular website. A web designer can create such an icon, and many graphical web browsers—such as recent versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Mozilla, Opera, Safari, and Konqueror—can then make use of them. Browsers that support favicons may display them in the browser's address bar, next to the site's name in lists of bookmarks, and next to the page's title in a Tabbed Document Interface.
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What is FFA?
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A Free For All link page (FFA) is a web page set up to ostensibly improving the search engine placement of a particular web site.
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What is Fiber-Optic Cable?
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This is a cable made up of super-thin filaments of glass or other transparent materials that can carry beams of light. Because a fiber-optic cable is light-based, data can be sent through it at the speed of light. Using a laser transmitter that encodes frequency signals into pulses of light, ones and zeros are sent through the cable. The receiving end of the transmission translates the light signals back into data which can be read by a computer.
Because fiber-optics are based entirely on beams of light, they are less susceptible to noise and interference than than other data-transfer mediums such as copper wires or telephone lines. However, the cables are fragile and are usually placed underground, which makes them difficult and expensive to install. Some fiber-optic cables are installed above ground, but if they break, they often need to be completely replaced, which is not cheap. While copper wires can be spliced and mended as many times as needed, it is much harder to fix glass fiber-optic cables.
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What is File?
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A file is a collection of data stored in one unit, under a filename. This can be a document, a picture, an audio or video file, a library, an application, or other collection of data.
Documents include text files, such as a Word documents, RTF (Rich Text Format) documents, PDFs, Web pages, and others. Pictures include JPEGs, GIFs, BMPs, and layered image files, such as Photoshop documents (PSDs). Audio files include MP3s, AACs, WAVs, AIFs, and several others. Video files can be MPEG, MOV, WMV, or DV files, just to name a few.
A library file is a unit of data that is referenced by a specific program or the operating system itself. These include plug-ins, components, scripts, and many others. An application is a program, or executable file. Programs such as Microsoft Internet Explorer and Apple iTunes are both applications, but are also files.
Like files, folders have names. However, folders themselves do not store any data. Instead, they can hold many files, which store the actual data.
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What is File Extension?
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A file extension is a suffix at the end of a filename indicating what type of file it is. For example, in the filename "myreport.txt," the .txt part indicates the file is a text document. Some other examples include "Document1.doc," which is a Microsoft Word document, and "Image.psd," which is a Photoshop document.
While most file extensions are three characters in length, they can be anywhere from one to five characters long. The extension tells the computer's operating system what program it should use to open the file. It also helps the user see what kind of file a certain document is by just looking at the filename. Both Windows and Mac OS X allow users to change file extensions, which can change the program the computer uses to open the file. While this may work for some files, it can also cause the file to not open at all. For example, if you change a file with a .txt extension to a .doc extension, Microsoft Word should open it. However, if you change a .txt file to a .psd file, Photoshop will not recognize it.
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What is File System?
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Most people have several thousand files on their computer's hard disk, so imagine how hard it would be to find anything if the files were not organized. Fortunately, all hard drives use a file system, which organizes all the files on the disk. The file system is created when you initialize or format your hard disk. It sets up the root directory and subsequent directories beneath it. The file system allows you to add new files and folders, which are added to different parts of the "file tree" on your hard disk.
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What is FiOS?
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Stands for "Fiber Optic Service." FiOS is a data communications service provided by Verizon that uses fiber optic cables to transfer data. FiOS is called a "Fiber to the Premises," or FTTP service, since it brings fiber optic data transmission to residential homes as well as businesses. Since fiber optic technology sends data via pulses of light, it is the fastest method of transferring data.
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What is Firewall?
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While the term "firewall" creates a powerful visual picture, in reality, it doesn't involve any fire or pyrotechnics. A computer firewall is used to protect a networked server or client machine from damage by unauthorized users. The firewall can be either hardware or software-based. A router is a good example of a hardware device that often has a built-in firewall. Software programs that monitor and restrict external access to a computer can also serve as firewalls. A network firewall allows only certain messages from the Internet to flow in and out of the network. So, I guess in a way it really is like a wall of fire. Well, sort of.
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What is Firewire?
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This high-speed interface has become a hot new standard for connecting peripherals (no pun intended). Created by Apple Computer in the mid-1990's, Firewire can be used to connect devices such as digital video cameras, hard drives, audio interfaces, and MP3 players, such as the Apple iPod, to your computer. A standard Firewire connection can transfer data at 400 Mbps, which is roughly 30 times faster than USB 1.1. This blazing speed allows for quick transfers of large video files, which is great for video-editing professionals. If 400 Mbps is still not fast enough, Apple Computer released new PowerMacs with Firewire 800 ports in early 2003. These ports support data transfer rates of 800 Mbps -- twice the speed of the original Firewire standard.
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What is Firmware?
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Firmware is a software program or set of instructions programmed on a hardware device. It provides the necessary instructions for how the device communicates with the other computer hardware. But how can software be programmed onto hardware? Good question. Firmware is typically stored in the flash ROM of a hardware device. While ROM is "read-only memory," flash ROM can be erased and rewritten because it is actually a type of flash memory.
Firmware can be thought of as "semi-permanent" since it remains the same unless it is updated by a firmware updater. You may need to update the firmware of certain devices, such as hard drives and video cards in order for them to work with a new operating system. CD and DVD drive manufacturers often make firmware updates available that allow the drives to read faster media. Sometimes manufacturers release firmware updates that simply make their devices work more efficiently.
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What is Flash?
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While "Flash" was the name of a popular superhero in the 1970's, today the term refers to something completely different. When you see the term "Flash" on the Web, it most likely refers to Macromedia's Web animation technology. Flash allows Web developers to incorporate colorful animations with text, shapes, and images into their Web pages. Because the technology is mainly vector-based, Flash animations typically don't take up a lot of disk space. This means large animations can be downloaded relatively quickly. To view Flash content in your Web browser, you need to have the Flash plug-in. Fortunately, it comes standard with most browsers today. If you don't have the Flash plug-in, you can get it directly from Macromedia.
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What is Flash Memory?
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Flash memory is a type of electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM). Whew, that's a mouthful. The name comes from how the memory is designed -- a section of memory cells can be erased in a single action or in a "flash." A common use of flash memory is to store the BIOS settings in a computer's ROM. When the BIOS needs to be changed, the flash memory can be written in blocks, rather than bytes, making it easy to update. Most modems use flash memory for the same reason.
Though flash memory was orginally used inside computers, it has invaded many other areas outside the box. Flash memory cards used for digital cameras, cellular phones, networking hardware, and PC cards. Though the memory's read/write speed is not lightning fast, it is nice to be able to tote around a little card rather than a cumbersome hard drive.
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What is Flat File?
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A flat file database is a database that stores data in a plain text file. Each line of the text file holds one record, with fields separated by delimiters, such as commas or tabs. While it uses a simple structure, a flat file database cannot contain multiple tables like a relational database can. Fortunately, most database programs such as Microsoft Access and FileMaker Pro can import flat file databases and use them in a larger relational database.
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What is Floppy Disk?
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Floppy disks have an interesting name, considering they do not appear to be "floppy." However, if you take the actual disk out of the protective casing, you will discover that the disk is, in fact, rather flexible. It is coated with iron oxide and stores data magnetically, just like a hard disk.
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What is Folder?
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ust like real world folders, folders on your hard drive store files. These files can be documents, programs, scripts, libraries, and any other kind of computer file you can think of. Folders can also store other folders, which may store more files or other folders, and so on.
Folders allow people to organize their files in a way that makes sense to them. For example, a college student might store all her photos in a folder named "Pictures," all her papers in a folder named "School Work," and all her financial information (including the tens of thousands of dollars in student loans) in a folder named "Finances." All these folders might reside within a folder called "My Documents."
The computer's operating system also uses folders to store data such as system files, library files, and user preferences. Often, the folders that the system uses are locked, meaning users cannot alter their contents.
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What is Font?
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A font is a specific typeface of a certain size and style. For example, one font may be Arial 12 pt bold, while another font may be Times New Roman 14 pt italic. Most word processing programs have a Font menu that allows you to choose the typeface, size, and style of the text. In order to use a font, you must have it installed on your computer. Windows provides access to fonts using the Fonts control panel. The Mac OS stores fonts in a Fonts folder and includes a separate "Font Book" application for managing fonts.
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What is Format?
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In order for storage media, such as a hard drive, to be recognized by your computer, it needs to be formatted. Formatting a disk involves testing the disk and writing a new directory structure, or "address table," onto the disk. If you would like to erase or initialize a hard drive, you can use a disk utility program to reformat it. This will create an blank, empty disk for storing your files. While the disk appears to be empty, most of the files on the disk are actually untouched by the formatting process. When you format a disk, it creates a new address table, making the entire disk available for writing. However, the files are still on the disk -- they just don't show up since the are no longer part of the directory structure. So if you accidentally format a disk (which is pretty hard to do), you can still retrieve most of your files using an advanced disk utility such as Norton Disk Doctor or DiskWarrior.
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What is FPU?
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Stands for "Floating Point Unit." The first computer processors were far better at dealing with integers than with real numbers (a.k.a. floating point numbers). So a separate FPU processor was developed to handle the floating point calculations. That way, when the CPU encountered a floating-point expresion (ie. 1.62 * 0.87359), it would send the calculation to the FPU. Since the FPU is specifically designed to handle floating-point math, it computes expressions involving real numbers more efficiently. While the first floating point units used to be manufactured as individual chips, they are now typically integrated into the CPU.
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What is Frame?
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In the computer world, a frame can be many different things. The different definitions of "frame" are listed below:
Some Web sites use HTML frames, where the pages are broken up into various areas. Each area consists of an independent Web page. Frames allow the multiple Web pages to all show up in the same page.
Graphics and desktop publishing programs also use frames. In these programs, frames are rectangular areas meant for inserting graphics and text. They allow users to place objects wherever they want to on the page.
In video and animation, frames are individual pictures in a sequence of images. For example, a Flash movie you see on the Web may play 12 frames per second, creating the appearance of motion. Most video is shot at 24 or 30 frames per second, or FPS. FPS is often measured in 3D games as a way of checking how fast the graphics processor of a computer is.
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What is Frames?
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Frames is the HTML extension that Netscape developed to divide a page up into several sub-pages.
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What is Freeware?
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Like shareware, freeware is software you can download, pass around, and distribute without any initial payment. However, the great part about freeware is that you never have to pay for it. No 30 day limit, no demo versions, no disabled features -- it's totally free. Things like minor program updates and small games are commonly distributed as freeware. Though freeware does not cost anything, it is still copyrighted, so other people can't market the software as their own.
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What is Frozen?
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While this word describes the state of Minnesota from November to March, it also refers to an unresponsive computer. When a computer does not respond to any user input, it is said to be frozen. When a computer system freezes, or "locks up," the screen stays the same and does not change no matter what buttons you press on your mouse or keyboard. Often, the cursor will not move when you move the mouse.
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What is FSB?
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Stands for "frontside bus." The FSB connects the computer's processor to the system memory (RAM) and other components on the motherboard. These components include the system chipset, AGP card, PCI devices, and other peripherals. Because the FSB serves as the main path from the processor to the rest of the motherboard, it is also called the "system bus."
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What is FTP?
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The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a software standard for transferring computer files between machines with widely different operating systems. It belongs to the application layer of the Internet protocol suite.
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