Computer Jargon

U

UNIX

A powerful operating system used on the backbone machines of the internet. Web servers frequently run on UNIX.

Upload

To copy a file from a local computer connected to the internet to a remote computer. Opposite is download.

URL

Uniform Resource Locator - the method by which internet sites are addressed. An example would be "http: //www.supanet.com".

User

TV has viewers, radio has listeners and the web has users.

Username

The name that you chose when you sign up. It forms part of your email address too - everything after the @ sign. So if your email address is anything@supanet.com, your username would be anything.

V

Virus

A program that transfers from computer to computer with the use of the internet, email and various other networks. A virus can do a number of harmful things to a recipient such as reformatting hard drives (destroying data).

W

WAV

Waveform Audio (.wav) - a common audio file format for computers.

Webmail

Email account where you access, read and write your emails through a regular website, accessable from any PC " for example, webmail on the Supanet site.

WINSOCK

Winsock - a Microsoft Windows DLL file that basically allows Windows to use web browsers, FTP programs, and others.

Webpage

An individual document on the web, usually a combination of text and graphics.

Website

A collection of pages on the web, generally located on the same server.

World Wide Web (WWW)

The Web: a subset of the internet which uses a combination of text, graphics, audio and video (multimedia) to provide information on most every subject imaginable.

Window

An area of the screen containing boxes and/or buttons.

Windows

A computer operating system developed by Microsoft that runs on the majority of computers in the world. Windows can often be referred to as a GUI (Graphical User Interface).

Worm

Another term for a virus.

X

Y

Z

ZIP

A compressed file format (.zip). Many files available on the internet are compressed or zipped in order to reduce storage space and transfer times. To uncompress the file, you need a utility like WinZip.