Computer Acronyms (Abbreviations)

--- A ---


ADSL - Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
AGP - Accelerated Graphics Port
ALI - Acer Labs, Incorporated
ALU - Arithmetic Logic Unit
AMD - Advanced Micro Devices
APC - American Power Conversion
ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange
ASIC - Application Specific Integrated Circuit
ASPI - Advanced SCSI Programming Interface
AT - Advanced Technology
ATI - ATI Technologies Inc.
ATX - Advanced Technology Extended


--- B ---


BFG - BFG Technologies
BIOS - Basic Input Output System
BNC - Barrel Nut Connector


--- C ---


CAS - Column Address Signal
CD - Compact Disk
CDR - Compact Disk Recorder
CDRW - Compact Disk Re-Writer
CD-ROM - Compact Disk - Read Only Memory
CFM - Cubic Feet per Minute (ft/min)
CMOS - Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor
CPU - Central Processing Unit
CTX - CTX Technology Corporation (Commited to Excellence)


--- D ---


DDR - Double Data Rate
DDR-SDRAM - Double Data Rate - Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
DFI - DFI Inc. (Design for Innovation)
DIMM - Dual Inline Memory Module
DRAM - Dynamic Random Access Memory
DPI - Dots Per Inch
DSL - See ASDL
DVD - Digital Versatile Disc
DVD-RAM - Digital Versatile Disk - Random Access Memory


--- E ---


ECC - Error Correction Code
ECS - Elitegroup Computer Systems
EDO - Extended Data Out
EEPROM - Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory
EPROM - Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory
EVGA - EVGA Corporation


--- F ---


FC-PGA - Flip Chip Pin Grid Array
FDC - Floppy Disk Controller
FDD - Floppy Disk Drive
FPS - Frame Per Second
FPU - Floating Point Unit
FSAA - Full Screen Anti-Aliasing
FS - For Sale
FSB - Front Side Bus


--- G ---


GB - Gigabytes
GBps - Gigabytes per second or Gigabits per second
GDI - Graphical Device Interface
GHz - GigaHertz


--- H ---


HDD - Hard Disk Drive
HIS - Hightech Information System Limited
HP - Hewlett-Packard Development Company
HSF - Heatsink-Fan


--- I ---


IBM - International Business Machines Corporation
IC - Integrated Circuit
IDE - Integrated Drive Electronics
IFS- Item for Sale
IRQ - Interrupt Request
ISA - Industry Standard Architecture
ISO - International Standards Organization


--- J ---


JBL - JBL (Jame B. Lansing) Speakers
JVC - JVC Company of America


- K ---
Kbps - Kilobits Per Second
KBps - KiloBytes per second


--- L ---


LG - LG Electronics
LAN - Local Area Network
LCD - Liquid Crystal Display
LDT - Lightning Data Transport
LED - Light Emitting Diode


--- M ---


MAC - Media Access Control
MB - MotherBoard or Megabyte
MBps - Megabytes Per Second
Mbps - Megabits Per Second or Megabits Per Second
MHz - MegaHertz
MIPS - Million Instructions Per Second
MMX - Multi-Media Extensions
MSI - Micro Star International


--- N ---


NAS - Network Attached Storage
NAT - Network Address Translation
NEC - NEC Corporation
NIC - Network Interface Card


--- O ---


OC - Overclock (Over Clock)
OCZ - OCZ Technology
OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer


--- P ---


PC - Personal Computer
PCB - Printed Circuit Board
PCI - Peripheral Component Interconnect
PDA - Personal Digital Assistant
PCMCIA - Peripheral Component Microchannel Interconnect Architecture
PGA - Professional Graphics Array
PLD - Programmable Logic Device
PM - Private Message / Private Messaging
PnP - Plug 'n Play
PNY - PNY Technology
POST - Power On Self Test
PPPoA - Point-to-Point Protocol over ATM
PPPoE - Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet
PQI - PQI Corporation
PSU - Power Supply Unit


--- R ---


RAID - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks
RAM - Random Access Memory
RAMDAC - Random Access Memory Digital Analog Convertor
RDRAM - Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory
ROM - Read Only Memory
RPM - Revolutions Per Minute


--- S ---


SASID - Self-scanned Amorphous Silicon Integrated Display
SCA - SCSI Configured Automatically
SCSI - Small Computer System Interface
SDRAM - Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
SECC - Single Edge Contact Connector
SODIMM - Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Module
SPARC - Scalable Processor ArChitecture
SOHO - Small Office Home Office
SRAM - Static Random Access Memory
SSE - Streaming SIMD Extensions
SVGA - Super Video Graphics Array
S/PDIF - Sony/Philips Digital Interface


--- T ---


TB - Terabytes
TBps - Terabytes per second
Tbps - Terabits per second
TDK - TDK Electronics
TEC - Thermoelectric Cooler
TPC - TipidPC
TWAIN - Technology Without An Important Name


--- U ---


UART - Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter
USB - Universal Serial Bus
UTP - Unshieled Twisted Pair


--- V ---


VCD - Video CD
VPN - Virtual Private Network


--- W ---


WAN - Wide Area Network
WTB - Want to Buy
WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get


--- X ---


XGA - Extended Graphics Array
XFX - XFX Graphics, a Division of Pine
XMS - Extended Memory Specification
XT - Extended Technology

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Windows 7 Tips & Tricks Guide

The cool tips and tricks that make Windows 7 fun.
here are the best ones to help you get the most out of your Win 7.


1. Use Keyboard Shortcuts

Using the mouse, you can drag-‘n-dock windows to either side of the screen, or drag it to the top to maximize it. These keyboard shortcuts are even faster:

• Win+Left Arrow and Win+Right Arrow dock the window to the left and right side of the screen
• Win+Up Arrow and Win+Down Arrow maximize and restore/minimize
• Win+M minimizes everything
• Alt+Up, Alt+Left Arrow, Alt+Right Arrow navigate to parent folder, or browse Back and Forward through folders in Explorer
• Win+Home minimizes/restores all open windows except the active window
• Alt+Win+# accesses the Jump List of program number ‘#’ on the taskbar.

2. Access Jump Lists with the Left Mouse Button

Jump Lists usually show up when you right-click on a taskbar icon. However, they can also be accessed by holding the left mouse button and dragging upwards. If you’re using a laptop touchpad or a touch screen, this is convenient because you do not have to click any button to access a context menu.

3. Add Any Folder to Favorites

You can add any library or folder to the Favorites section in Windows Explorer. To add a folder, navigate to it in Explorer, right-clickFavorites in the left navigation pane, and select Add current location to Favorites. Now you get quick access to your favorite folders in all File->Save As dialogs!

4. Pin Frequently Used Folders to the Taskbar

Right-click, drag, and pin your favorite folders to Windows Explorer on the taskbar. They will now show up in the Jump List when you right click on Explorer giving you quick access to your favorite folders.

5. Pin Control Panel to the Taskbar

You cannot pin the Control Panel to the taskbar via the Start Menu or by drag and drop. Open the Control Panel and right-click its taskbar icon to pin it to the taskbar. An advantage of this is that Control Panel’s Jump List allows quick access to recently used functions.

6. Create Keyboard Shortcuts for Programs

You can create keyboard shortcuts for any program in Windows 7. Right-click the program icon and select Properties. Select theShortcut tab, click in Shortcut key, to set the keyboard shortcut for that program.

7. Open Command Prompt in Any Folder

Like the command prompt? Miss the ‘Open Command Window Here’ Windows XP power toy? Press ‘Shift’ when right-clicking on a folder to get that option in the context menu. This also works on the desktop. No power toy required!

8. View Expanded ‘Send To’ Menu

Press Shift when right-clicking on a folder to get an expanded Send To menu.

9. Adjust Screen Text with Clear Type

Use Clear Type Tuner for the best look on your LCD monitor or laptop screen. Run ‘cttune.exe’ from the Start Menu search box, or go to the Control Panel Display applet, and select Adjust ClearType Text from the left.

10. Get Exact Colors On Your Screen

If you are an artist or you work with colors, use the Calibrate Color option in the Control Panel Display applet or run dccw.exe from the Start Menu search box. You can adjust gamma, brightness, contrast, and color balance, ensuring that colors are displayed correctly on your screen.

11. Customize the Power Button

If you restart your computer more often than you shut it down, change the default Shutdown power button to Restart. Right-click on Start, select Properties, and choose the Power button action that you use the most.

12. Customize Number of Items in Jump Lists & Start Menu

Right-click Start, select Properties, click Customize and choose the number of recent programs to be shown in the Start Menu and the number of items displayed in Jump Lists from the Start Menu Size section below.

13. Search Internet from the Start Menu

Enable Internet search from the Start Menu using your default browser. Run GPEDIT.MSC from the Start Menu search box to start the Group Policy Editor. In the left pane, go to User Configuration->Administrative Templates->Start Menu and Taskbar. In the right pane, right-click to Edit and Enable Add Search Internet link to Start Menu. 

14. Add Videos to Start Menu

Windows 7 does not place a link to your videos on the Start Menu by default. To add a link to your videos on the Start Menu, right-clickStart, select Properties, click on Customize. In the Videos section at the bottom, choose Display as a link.

15. Single Click Screen Lock

You can lock your computer using the Win+L keyboard shortcut. Here’s another way to do it with a single mouse click. Right-click on your desktop, select New, Shortcut. In Type the location of the item, enter rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation. Click Next, name the shortcut ‘Quick Lock’, and Finish.

If you wish, you can make it look pretty by giving it a lock or keys icon: Right-click, select Properties, click Change Icon, entershell32.dll, and select any icon you wish. Drag this shortcut and pin it to the taskbar, after which you can delete the desktop shortcut.

16. Customize Sticky Notes

You can format your Sticky Notes, by selecting text and using different keyboard shortcuts as shown in this screen capture:

17. Shortcut to Run Program as Administrator

You can Ctrl+Shift+Click on a taskbar icon to run the application as an Administrator with full rights (provided your account has permissions). Simply Shift+Right-Click on any program shortcut to run it as a different user, if for example you need higher privileges when logged in with your child’s account.

18. Boost performance with ReadyBoost

ReadyBoost improves your system performance by using faster USB Flash Drives instead of slower hard disks for system operations. It works best using flash drives with at least 1 GB of storage. Simply insert your flash drive, and if it meets certain performance benchmarks, Windows 7 will ask you if you want to use it for ReadyBoost and recommend the size to reserve.

19. Secure USB Drives with BitLocker

Secure your USB flash drives using BitLocker encryption. Right-click on your USB drive in My Computer, select Turn on BitLocker and follow the instructions to protect sensitive data on your thumb drives.
The next time you use your USB drive on another computer, it will prompt you for the password before allowing you read-only access to your flash drive. You can even use the drive on older computers running Windows XP/Vista.

Follow the next tip only if you’re knowledgeable enough to edit the Windows registry. Before making any changes, make sure you back up your registry.

20. Faster Thumbnail Previews

The taskbar shows thumbnail previews of opened windows when you hover the mouse over the program icon. By default, it takes a little time for the preview to appear. Make the previews appear faster with this registry tweak:
Go to Start, enter and run regedit. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse. On the right, open theMouseHoverTime key and reduce its value from the default 400 to around 150.
Be careful, as decreasing it further may cause problems.

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10 Reasons why PCs Crash - Must Know

• "Fatal error: the system has become unstable or is busy”

• Blue Screen of Death.
• Fatal Exception Error. (RAM)
• Parity error messages. (RAM)
• RAM lock up and freeze the computer’s display. (BIOS)
• Fatal OE exceptions and VXD errors. (Video Card)
• Computer can not start.
• Computer loop on BIOS.
• Blank screen
• Black screen of Death.

Cause of problem:

1. Hardware conflict

The number one reason why Windows crashes is hardware conflict. If there are a lot of devices, or if the hardware are not installed properly, when the user tries to use both devices at the same time, a crash can happen. 

Sometimes mismatch driver also can make your device can function properly.

Troubleshoot:

• Go to 'Device Manager' to check if all your device functional properly and all the driver for the device is install.
• Make sure your computer drive is up-to-date.

2. Bad Random-Access Memory(RAM)

RAM problems might bring on a fatal error message that indicates a serious hardware problem. Sometimes it may mean a part is damaged and will need replacing. But a fatal error caused by RAM might be caused by a mismatch of chips or mismatch speed of RAM. 

Troubleshoot:

• Enter the BIOS settings and increase the wait state of the RAM.
• Rearrange the RAM chips on the motherboard, or take some of them out.(Do not to touch the gold connections, as they can be easily damaged.)

3. BIOS settings

A common way to access these settings is to press the F2 or delete button during the first few seconds of a boot-up. Usually BIOS problem is come up, if you change something in the BIOS and the computer becomes more unstable.

Troubleshoot:

• Write down on a piece of paper all the BIOS settings that appear on the screen. That way, you will know what settings to revert to.
• Restore BIOS setting to default.

4. Hard disk drives

After a few weeks, the information on a hard disk drive starts to become fragmented. Hard disks will slow down and crash if they are too full.

Troubleshoot:

• Defragment the hard disk every week or so, to prevent the disk from causing a screen freeze. (Use Windows Disk Defragment or any defragment application such as Diskeeper.)
• Empty the Recycle Bin every week to free more space. 
• Scanned your hard disk every week for errors or bad sectors.

5. Video card

Troubleshoot:

• Take a look at the color settings in 'Display Setting'. For most desktops, high colour 16-bit depth is adequate.
• Make sure it does not have a hardware conflict. Check it in 'Device Manager'
• Look up your video card’s manufacturer on the internet and search for the most recent drivers for it.

6. Viruses

Some viruses erase the boot sector of a hard drive, making it impossible to start. Viruses also can 'eat' all your files in your hard drives including system files. 

Troubleshoot:

• Install and update antivirus in your computer.
• Install also spyware application such as Spyware Doctor.

7. Printers
The action of sending a document to print creates a bigger file, often called a postscript file.

Printers have only a small amount of memory, called a buffer. This can be easily overloaded. Printing a document also uses a considerable amount of CPU power. This will also slow down the computer’s performance.

Troubleshoot:
A good way to clear the buffer is to unplug the printer for ten seconds. Booting up from a powerless state, also called a cold boot, will restore the printer’s default settings and you may be able to carry on.

8. Software

A common cause of computer crash is faulty or badly-installed software. Incompatible software also cause of this problem. For example, you install Bitdefender and Kaspersky antivirus in a computer. 

Troubleshoot:

• Use application like Your Uninstaller to uninstall this software.
• Make sure you have remove all the software before install a new software. To be safe, restart your computer after uninstall or remove a software.
• Use registry cleaner like Registry Booster to remove obsolete entries.
• Entering Safe Mode(Press F4 when Windows Start). Restore your computer to previous restore point.

9. Overheating

Central processing units (CPUs) are usually equipped with fans to keep them cool. If the fan fails or fills with dust it may start to overheat and generate a particular kind of error called a kernel error. This is a common problem in chips that have been overclocked to operate at higher speeds than they are supposed to.

Troubleshoot:

• Install bigger and faster fan on the CPU.
• Install more fan to make air flow move faster.
• Clean your fan.

10. Power supply problems

Sometime computer crash because data lost in your computer. Computer is not properly shutdown may be the cause of the problem.

Troubleshoot:

• Buying a uninterrupted power supply (UPS). This will give you a clean power supply when there is electricity, and it will give you a few minutes to perform a controlled shutdown in case of a power cut.

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GOD MODE in Windows 7.

GodMode is actually a hidden (or, at least it used to be hidden) developer shortcut in Windows 7 that provides more direct access to features and functions of the operating system. To be clear, GodMode doesn't add functionality. But it helps administrators work more efficiently by collecting all these tweaks and controls in one place.

Accessing GodMode in Windows 7

Follow these steps to access GodMode:

• Create a new folder wherever you want the GodMode folder to be. Right-click in Windows Explorer, select New, then click Folder.
• Next, rename the folder. You can name the folder anything you like as long as you add a period followed by this exact text string: 
  GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
• The folder icon should be replaced by the Control Panel icon, and the folder should now be filled with a variety of tweaks and tools.

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A General Understanding of Computer Viruses

Different Types of Computer Viruses

There are Different Types of Computer Viruses. They could be classified in (origin, techniques, types of files they infect, where they hide, the kind of damage they cause, the type of operating system or platform they attack) etc.

Resident Viruses:

This type of virus is a permanent which dwells in the RAM memory. From there it can overcome and interrupt all of the operations executed by the system: corrupting files and programs that are opened, closed, copied, renamed etc.

Examples include: Randex, CMJ, Meve, and MrKlunky.

Direct Action Viruses:

The main purpose of this virus is to replicate and take action when it is executed. When a specific condition is met, the virus will go into action and infect files in the directory or folder that it is in and in directories that are specified in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file PATH. This batch file is always located in the root directory of the hard disk and carries out certain operations when the computer is booted.

Overwrite Viruses:

Virus of this kind is characterized by the fact that it deletes the information contained in the files that it infects, rendering them partially or totally useless once they have been infected.
The only way to clean a file infected by an overwrite virus is to delete the file completely, thus losing the original content.

Examples of this virus include: Way, Trj.Reboot, Trivial.88.D.

Boot Virus:

This type of virus affects the boot sector of a floppy or hard disk. This is a crucial part of a disk, in which information on the disk itself is stored together with a program that makes it possible to boot (start) the computer from the disk.
All disks and hard drives are divided into small sectors. The first sector is called the boot sector and contains the Master Boot Record (MBR). The MBR contains the information concerning the location of partitions on the drive and reading of the bootable operating system partition.
The best way of avoiding boot viruses is to ensure that floppy disks are write-protected and never start your computer with an unknown floppy disk in the disk drive.

Examples of boot viruses include: Polyboot.B, AntiEXE.

Macro Virus:

Macro viruses infect files that are created using certain applications or programs that contain macros. These mini-programs make it possible to automate series of operations so that they are performed as a single action, thereby saving the user from having to carry them out one by one.

Examples of macro viruses: Relax, Melissa.A, Bablas, O97M/Y2K.

Directory Virus:

Directory viruses change the paths that indicate the location of a file. By executing a program (file with the extension .EXE or .COM) which has been infected by a virus, you are unknowingly running the virus program, while the original file and program have been previously moved by the virus.
Once infected it becomes impossible to locate the original files.

Polymorphic Virus:

Polymorphic viruses encrypt or encode themselves in a different way (using different algorithms and encryption keys) every time they infect a system.
This makes it impossible for anti-viruses to find them using string or signature searches (because they are different in each encryption) and also enables them to create a large number of copies of themselves.

Examples include: Elkern, Marburg, Satan Bug, and Tuareg.

Stealth Viruses:

A stealth virus uses different mechanisms to prevent recognition by antivirus software. It tries to escape detection either by redirecting the disk head to head to read another sector or modifying the file size shown in the Directory listing.
Classification of some viruses is not possible as they are the file type viruses which start behaving as computer worms with an activation code.

File Infectors:

This type of virus infects programs or executable files (files with an .EXE or .COM extension). When one of these programs is run, directly or indirectly, the virus is activated, producing the damaging effects it is programmed to carry out. The majorities of existing viruses belong to this category, and can be classified depending on the actions that they carry out.

Companion Viruses:

Companion viruses can be considered file infector viruses like resident or direct action types. They are known as companion viruses because once they get into the system they "accompany" the other files that already exist. In other words, in order to carry out their infection routines, companion viruses can wait in memory until a program is run (resident viruses) or act immediately by making copies of themselves (direct action viruses).

Some examples include: Stator, Asimov.1539, and Terrax.1069

Worms:

A worm is a program very similar to a virus; it has the ability to self-replicate, and can lead to negative effects on your system and most importantly they are detected and can be eliminated by antiviruses.

Examples of worms include: PSWBugbear.B, Lovgate.F, Trile.C, Sobig.D, Mapson.

Trojans or Trojan Horses:

Another unsavory breed of malicious code are Trojans or Trojan horses, which unlike viruses do not reproduce by infecting other files, nor do they self-replicate like worms. 

Logic Bombs:

They are not considered viruses because they do not replicate. They are not even programs in their own right but rather camouflaged segments of other programs.
Their objective is to destroy data on the computer once certain conditions have been met. Logic bombs go undetected until launched, and the results can be destructive.

Malware:

Malware is an abbreviated term used to describe a "malicious software" program. Malware includes things like spyware or adware programs, such as tracking cookies, which are used to monitor your surfing habits. It also includes more sinister items, such as keyloggers, Trojan horses, worms, and viruses.

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