Computer Terms

[Jesus Freak Josh]

Here's a list of computer items you may need to know about.

CPU - Central Processing Unit/Processor. It is how fast your computer is. Usually measured in MHz (Mega Hertz) or GHz (Giga Hertz). CPUs can either be a single core or dual core. AMD and Intel are the popular brands.

HDD - Hard Disk/Drive. It is the device that stores data. You can get portable ones too. Average harddisks are 100 GB.

RAM - Random Access Memory. Is vital for a computer to run. Most programs now adays rely on at least 64 MB. 512 MB is average. The less RAM you have, the longer it will take for programs to do stuff and the more chance of an error too.

Power Supply - Supplies tower. Large box at the top of computer.

Motherboard - Main part of computer. Holds video card, CPU, sound card and RAM. If screws up you'll be in trouble. :p

CD Rom - Reads CDs and executes them. Speed is often between 40 and 52.

DVD Rom - Reads DVDs.

USB Ports - A small rectangle port that alot of external products run on (Portable harddisk, gamepads, webcams, etc.). Not supported by Windows 95.

PS2 Ports - A circuler that alot mice and keyboards use.

Firewire - A port that most digital cameras use.

Disk Drive - Supports floppy disks.



Computer File Extensions:
EXE - Executable. Most applications are EXEs.
DLL - Dynamic Linking Library. DLLs are needed for some programs to work.
TXT - Text file. Notepad uses it. No text formatting.
RTF - Rich Text Format. Word processors use text formatting and one of the extensions is RTF.
DOC - Document. Microsoft Word, Open Office, etc use it.
BMP - Bitmap. Biggest and main graphic extension. Saves every pixel.
PNG - Portable Network Graphic. Compresses graphics but not too bad.
JPG - Jpeg. JPGs are common, especially digital images.

 

[Yameneko549]

Here are some more terms.

OS: Operationg System. Usually refers to Windows, Mac OS X, or a Linux variant.

Macintosh: The series of computers made by Apple. The current "Macs" run using the "PowerPC" CPU.

File System: The system in which the files are stored. The most used File Systems are FAT32 and NTFS for Windows, HFS+ for Macintosh, and ext2 and ext3 for Linux.

Computer File Extentions:
DMG : Used by the Macintosh OS as a program or other such item.
ISO : A Disk Image, usually of a CD or DVD.
ZIP : A "Zipped" or compressed file possibily containing several files. Usually requires WinZip or something similar to unzip it.
RAR : A compressed file similar to a .ZIP file. Usually requires UnRAR or WinRAR to unzip it.
PDF : Portable Document Format. Usually opened with Adobe Acrobat Reader.
MP3 : MPEG Layer 3. The most common music file format.
WMA, WMV : Windows Media Audio\Video. Windows compressed media format.
OGG : Ogg Vorbis media file. Requires special players to be opened, such as VideoLAN Client(VLC) or WinAMP.
WAV : Microsoft Wave. Usually used for sound effects on Windows.
MOV : Apple Quicktime Movie. Uses Apple's Quicktime player to play it's contents.
AVI : Audio Video Interleave. Sometimes requires the DivX or XviD codec to be played.

 

[Morkula]

Excellent guide, Josh/Yame. You guys have earned yourself a sticky. XD

Not to mention made my work on the "Computer FAQ" easier. XD

 

[Jesus Freak Josh]

Swish! I rule! :p Thanks, Yame and Mork. :)

Antichrist - Bill Gates.

PDA - Personal Digital Assistant. It is a handheld computer - usually with a touchscreen.

Extensions:
HTM/L - Hyper Text Markup/Language. Web page basis.
PHP - More advanced than HTML.
FRM - Form
VBP - Visual Basic Project

 

[aRedMoon]

And because some people don't get the quick terms... :P

AIM - AOL Instant Messenger
MSN - MSN Instant Messenger
YIM - Yahoo! Instant Messenger
ICQ - Another IM that isn't used all that often
Skype - A voice chat IM program, which also has normal IM stuff
gChat - Google Chat, Google's new IM prog.

 

[Yameneko549]

JKaizer, isn't it Google Talk?

ZIP, RAR, ACE : Compressed archives of one or more files. Usually used for large files or many files.
TAR : Tape Archives. Usually used on Linux and BSD. Used to contain two or more files as a single file.
TAR.GZ, TAR.BZ, TAR.BZ2 : Compressed TAR files using BZip or GZip. Normally used to distruibte applications for Linux and BSD.

 

[wakachamo]

Well, I don't know if it'll be very useful, but here are some common PDA formats:

.PSW: Pocket Word Document, for Windows Mobile users, also, Microsoft Word for PC might open this file type, but commonly with some errors.

.PXL: Pocket Excel, for use with Pocket Excel, or another Mobile Spreadsheet program. It cannot be opened directly with Microsoft Excel (for PC). It Needs to be converted with ActiveSync.

.PWI: A Pocket Word extension, but is opened by default with 'Notes', from Pocket Outlook.

.TSK: A theme file for Pocket PCs

.CAB: This, for PCs, is a cabinet file, but for Pocket PCs (and Smartphones, I guess) it installs a program. More or less like a 'setup.exe' file.

 

[aRedMoon]

JKaizer, isn't it Google Talk?

Is it? I thought they changed it after the whole gTalk copyright thing...

=/

 

[Atomic]

actully jpeg means joint picture experts group or at least i think thats what it means

 

[Yameneko549]

Is it? I thought they changed it after the whole gTalk copyright thing...

=/

*Checks Google*
Still Google Talk.

Also, here's some new stuff.

Windows XP Style : The Windows XP style taskbar and look. Also called Luna style.

Windows Classic Style : The Windows 95\98\ME style taskbar and look.

Aqua : Mac OS X look. Also has the Graphite style.

Mac Classic : Mac OS 8\9 and Mac System series look.

KDE : K Desktop Enviroment. A Linux desktop enviroment with a single bar style. Usually considered the most customizable and newbie friendly engine, but not very stable. Uses the QT engine.

GNOME : The GNOME Desktop Enviroment. A Linux desktop enviroment usually with a dual bar style. Usually considered more stable, but not very newbie friendly or customizable. Uses the GTK+ engine.

Fluxbox, BlackBox, IceWM, WindowMaker : 4 of many lightweight window managers for Linux. Usually used on old machines.

 

[Jesus Freak Josh]

Applications:

Synaptic - A Linux Debian program that searches the internet and downloads packages.

Root Admin - Main administrator with all privileges. It isn't what you think otherwise. :p

OSs:
Windows - The largest OS group in the world. Has many issues but many still use it anyway.

Linux - A freeware OS that has various different types for different purposes. Preferred server OS.

Mac - An Apple OS that comes with any Apple computer.

 

[Alex The Great Master]

3D Video Card - Allows your computer to show 3D graphics, used to play games. Nvidia (Geforce cards) and ATI (Radeon cards) are the most popular brands that make this cards. They have a small amount of RAM memory that only the card can use. The most RAM a card has, the better.

MSN Messenger - Most popular IM, current version is 7.5. Soon it will be replaced by Live Messenger.

ICQ - Old IM, it used to be the most popular before MSN.

AIM - Another popular IM, used by AOL users.

Yahoo Messenger - Another popular IM.

Trillian - A program that allows to chat with people that use MSN, AIM, Yahoo Messenger and ICQ, a 4-in-1 program.

MSN Plus - A popular add-on for MSN Messenger, current version is 3.62

Actually, Google's IM is Google Talk.

 

[Yameneko549]

A little addition to Trillian, Yahoo Messenger, and ICQ:

Trillian - A program that allows to chat with people that use MSN, AIM, Yahoo Messenger and ICQ, a 4-in-1 program. Can also connect to IRC chat servers.

Yahoo Messenger - Another Popular IM. Used by SBCYahoo users. Also known as Y!M or YIM.

ICQ - Old IM, it used to be the most popular before MSN. (Note: It's still used by many due to it's webpager/indicator feature for websites, which none of the other clents yet have, IIRC.)


As for new stuff:

Google Talk: Voice Messenger and Instant Messenger created by Google. Uses Jabber for it's text chat.

IRC: Internet Relay Chat. All chatrooms are hosted on a server, and require you to connect to the server via an IRC client. Chatrooms are called Channels, and begin with a pound sign (#).

mIRC: Popular program from Windows used to connect to IRC servers. Requires a payment to fully use.

HydraIRC: Free open source IRC client for Windows.

Gaim: Free open source Instant Messenger client for Windows and Linux. Built with the GTK+ engine. Supports AIM, YIM, ICQ, MSNM, Jabber, and IRC.

Kopete: Free open source Instant Messenger client for Linux. Built with KDE's QT engine. Supports AIM, YIM, ICQ, MSNM, Jabber, and IRC.

 

[Lord Sesshomaru]

Got this from Gametalk. I forgot who made this, but if you're here, I give you credit:

N00b~ You've probably heard this one many times before. Someone may have accused you of being one, or you may have called someone one without knowing the meaning. A n00b is, at least here, someone who comes into a forum and gives all kinds of information, even on occasions claims to be a master, but knows nothing about the given subject. Most of the time, they use internet lingo. Ex: 'U R @ QT'. Although many ppl like to type like that just to make things go faster. It's annoying, and on occasion, hard to read. It can cause visual nausea and irritate ppl, so please, spell your words correctly, unless you don't know how to spell them. Now, back to the subject. They tend to either make no sense, spam without realizing it, make applications to become a mod without even posting in the forum once, go completely offtopic or make up or post false codes. They can change, but sometimes they don't want to, because they think they're fine the way they are, and it's the world that's wrong. Not all N00bs are the same though, but the above mentioned is what I've seen to be the most popular behaviour.

+If you're called a n00b, think of how you've been acting lately. Look at your posts, are you trying too hard to fit in? Try to think of ways you can improve.

+If someone calls you a n00b, and you're sure you haven't been acting hatefully in any way, then maybe you should leave the forum, as you'll only get trouble there anyhow.

Newb~ Now this is different, N00b and Newb aren't the same. A Newb is a shortened term for newcomer. Don't be insulted if someone calls you a newb, it just means you're new.

+If you don't want to be considered a newb anymore, just keep posting on topic posts, be nice to the regs, vets and mod if there is one. And in about 2-4 weeks depending on the forum, you'll be considered more of a reg.

Reg~ A forum regular. Just someone who comes to the forum often, talks and answers questions whenever possible.

+If someone calls you a reg... Stop complaining! You should be happy to be a part of the forum's activity.

+If someone makes fun of you because 'You're just a reg and they're a vet', they're weird, don't let them bother you.

Vet~ A forum veteran, someone who's been to the forum for a year or more. If you are one, you should be proud to be a part of the forum's history for so long. If you aren't, who cares?! You should just be happy to have friends and post on the forum.

Mod~ Yes, the all powerful moderator... Or so everyone thinks. Mods aren't that special, sure, apprently we're 'all special in our own way'. But they aren't better than us because of it. If you can't get a mod to talk to you, it's probably because either he or she is tired, not online or doesn't feel like talking. Don't think a mod is stuck up - they DO have lives too you know. Although some are crazy... But don't dwell on that.

+If a mod doesn't want to be your friend, don't get mad, they have to be careful. A lot of ppl just want to use them for their power. And yes, that is true. You may know you're nice, and chances are, (IF you really are :P) your friends do too. But a mod can't really trust your word, there are all kinds of weirdos on the internet.

G2G/GTG~ Sound familiar? It merely means the person who typed it has to leave. Both stand for 'Got to go'.

PPL~ An abbreviation (my fav, I might add), for 'people'.

CYA~ 'See ya' - another way to say goodbye.

POS~ 'Parent over shoulder'.

W/E~ 'Whatever'.

TTYL~ 'Talk to ya later'.

ROTFL~ 'Roll on the floor laughing'.

KYL~ 'Kill yourself laughing'.

LOL~ 'Laugh out loud'.

IP~ Either your internet address or 'In person'.

Smilies:
:-)~ A smile/happy.

:-&~ Tongue tied.

:-@~ Yelling.

:-P~ Crazy.

:-D~ Either laughing or big smile.

8-)~ Wide eyed.

:-7~ Smirk.

:-*~ Kiss.

:-O~ Shocked.

:-X~ Barred from speaking or can't talk.

XD~ Super happy face!

XP~ Super crazy face!

X-I~ Dead.

:-(~ Sad.

:-I~ Unsure.

;-)~ Wink and a smile.

+All work with or without the - (nose) in the middle.

 

[Jesus Freak Josh]

Mate, I'm sorry, but this is for computer terms. Those are forum and chat terms.

 

[DarkMew]

RTFM = Read the F***ing manual

 

[willypiggy]

.MP4 A video format like .AVI but more commanley used for portable devices (PSP, etc) its good as you can get small file sizes compared to .AVI however quality si reduced

 

[UnHoly]

WLM - Windows Live Messenger
ROM - Read Only Memmory
PSD - Photoshop Document
AVG - Antivirus Program
CD-R - A disk which can burnt onto once.
CD-RW - A disk which can be burnt onto more than once.
DVD - Digital Versatile Disk
DVD-R - DVD which can be burnt onto once.
DVD-RW - DVD which cen be burnt onto multiple times.
VLC - Video Lan Media Player
WMP - Windows Media Player
MPC - Media Player Classic
PS - Photoshop

 

[Mizer]

Overclock- A process which enables your computer to run at a higher speed. Very Dangerous to mess with if you do not know what you are doing.

 

[Jesus Freak Josh]

Overclock- A process which enables your computer to run at a higher speed. Very Dangerous to mess with if you do not know what you are doing.

Well it's rather whatever piece of hardware you overclock than your computer itself. Very dangerous and voids warranty on said hardware.