Glossary [A]

Term	Description
.INI File	An initialization file, which is used by an application to store configuration data that is read as the program is starting.
Abort	To intentionally and prematurely terminate an active computer program or command.
Accelerator	A device which enhances the processing speed of a hardware component, usually by taking over some of the tasks originally assigned to that component. For example, a video accelerator card will take over some of the graphic functions originally assigned to the CPU. By dedicating its processing ability to the graphics, it can perform the functions more efficiently and lessen the load on the Central Processing Unit.
Access	To obtain an open channel of communication with a software or hardware component so that the user can work with it.
Active	Describes an application or file that currently is operational and ready to receive or transmit data.
Active Cell	A spreadsheet or table can be divided into cells, which are the points where the rows and columns intersect (creating small squares or cells). An active cell is the cell that is currently highlighted (chosen) and ready to receive or manipulate data.
Active Desktop	Starting with Internet Explorer IV, Microsoft uses what is called 'push technology' which can change the desktop into a webpage-like interface complete with hyperlinks to your system, network or internet resources.
Active-matrix Display	A type of video display (originally for notebooks or laptops) where each picture element (pixel) is represented by a single transistor. In contrast, a passive-matrix display uses a series of criss-crossed wires with an LCD element at each intersection, and each LCD element represents a pixel. Active-matix displays produce the sharper image and are more expensive to produce.
AGP	A high-speed graphics port that produces fast communication between the graphics controller and computer. It allows the graphic card to directly access the computer's main memory and bypass the PCI bus. Video cards in this port can run almost twice as fast as those in a PCI slot. This also helps to reduce the traffic on the PCI bus.
Analog	A device which uses a system of unlimited variables to measure or represent the flow of data. In contrast, digital devices are limited to a predetermined numbering system (binary) to represent data flow. If you have five dots on a piece of paper, digital data can be represented by each of the dots. Draw a line to connect all the dots and analog data can be represented by any point along the line.
ASCII	American Standard Code for Information Interchange. It is a system of computer code in which all values are given eight digit binary values (max 256 possible values). The first 32 values are for different operational functions such as Escape, Backspace, Carriage Return. The next 96 make up all the characters you have on your keyboard. The first 128 values comprise what is called the standard ASCII character set. The last 128 values (extended ASCII character set) are characters such as ¥, ó, ½.
AUTOEXEC.BAT	A user-configurable text file, in the MS-DOS operating system, that is used to set system variables and load TSRs. During the bootup process in MS-DOS, the command interpreter is loaded into memory and takes over the system. It then locates and executes the command lines in AUTOEXEC.BAT before loading the DOS promp.