User guide

support.dell.com Glossary 17
primarily influences the number of colors
that a program can display (with the ap-
propriate video drivers and monitor
capability).
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Video adapters normally support multiple
text and graphics display modes. Charac-
ter-based software (such as MS-DOS)
displays in text modes that can be defined
as x columns by y rows of characters.
Graphics-based software (such as Win-
dows) displays in graphics modes that can
be defined as x horizontal by y vertical pix-
els by z colors.
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Video resolution—640 x 480, for exam-
ple—is expressed as the number of pixels
across by the number of pixels up and
down. To display a program at a specific
graphics resolution, you must install the
appropriate video drivers and your moni-
tor must support the resolution.
*=.=>
An operating mode supported by Intel386
or higher microprocessors, virtual 8086
mode allows operating environments—
such as Windows—to run multiple pro-
grams in separate 1-MB sections of
memory. Each 1-MB section is called a
virtual machine.
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A method for increasing addressable
RAM by using the hard-disk drive.
(MS-DOS does not support true virtual
memory, which must be implemented at
the operating-system level.) For example,
in a computer with 8 MB of RAM and
16-MB of virtual memory set up on the
hard-disk drive, the operating system
would manage the system as though it
had 24 MB of physical RAM.
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A self-starting program designed to incon-
venience you. Virus programs have been
known to corrupt the files stored on a
hard-disk drive or to replicate themselves
until a system or network runs out of
memory.
The most common way that virus pro-
grams move from one system to another
is via "infected" diskettes, from which they
copy themselves to the hard-disk drive.
To guard against virus programs, you
should do the following:

Periodically run a virus-checking util-
ity on your computer's hard-disk
drive.

Always run a virus-checking utility on
any diskettes (including commer-
cially sold software) before using
them.
86%?
An abbreviation for VESA local bus. A
standard for local bus implementation de-
veloped by the Video Electronics
Standards Association.
86
Abbreviation for very-large-scale
integration.
8
Abbreviation for peak-point voltage.
8'(
Abbreviation for video random-access
memory. Some video adapters use VRAM
chips (or a combination of VRAM and
DRAM) to improve video performance.
VRAM is dual-ported, allowing the video
adapter to update the screen and receive
new image data at the same time.
@
Abbreviation for watt(s).
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When you start Windows, it consults the
win.ini
file to determine a variety of
options for the Windows operating envi-
ronment. Among other things, the
win.ini
file records what printer(s) and fonts are
installed for Windows. The
win.ini
file
also usually includes sections that contain
optional settings for Windows application