User's Manual

Table Of Contents
236 Glossary
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FILE LOCATI ON: S:\SYSTEMS\Pebble\UG\A00\English\glossary.fm
DELL CONFI DENTI AL – PRELI MI NARY 1/29/03 – FOR PROOF ONLY
Terms in this Glossary are provided for informational purposes only and
may or may not describe features included with your particular computer.
A
AC alternating current — The form of electricity that powers your computer
when you plug the AC adapter power cable into an electrical outlet.
ACPI advanced configuration and power interface — A power management
specification that enables Microsoft
®
W indows
®
operating systems to put a
computer in standby or hibernate mode to conserve the amount of electrical power
allocated to each device attached to the computer.
AGP accelerated graphics port — A dedicated graphics port that allows system
memory to be used for video-related tasks. AGP delivers a smooth, true-color video
image because of the faster interface between the video circuitry and the computer
memory.
ANTI VI RUS SOFTWARE A program designed to identify, quarantine, and/or
delete viruses from your computer.
APR advanced port replicator — A docking device that allows you to
conveniently use a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and other devices with your portable
computer.
ASF alert standards format — A standard to define a mechanism for reporting
hardware and software alerts to a management console. ASF is designed to be
platform- and operating system-independent.
B
BACKUP A copy of a program or data file on a floppy disk, CD, or hard drive. As
a precaution, back up the data files from your hard drive regularly.
BATTERY An internal power source used to operate portable computers when
not connected to an AC adapter and an electrical outlet.
BATTERY LIFE SPAN The length of time (years) during which a portable
computer battery is able to be depleted and recharged.
BATTERY OPERATING TIM E The length of time (minutes or hours) that a
portable computer battery holds a charge while powering the computer.
BIOS basic input/output system — A program (or utility) that serves as an
interface between the computer hardware and the operating system. Unless you
understand what effect the settings have on the computer, do not change the
settings for this program. Also referred to as the system setup program.
BIT The smallest unit of data interpreted by your computer.