Useful & Informative 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 Are 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
read more...

Is your PC running the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows?


The terms 32-bit and 64-bit refer to the way a computer's processor (also called a CPU), handles information. The 64-bit version of Windows handles large amounts of random access memory (RAM) more effectively than the 32-bit version. Follow the steps in the sections below to find out if your PC is running the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows and what edition of Windows is on your PC.

Computers running Windows XP

  • Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
    • If "x64 Edition" is listed under System, you’re running the 64-bit version of Windows XP.
    • If you don’t see "x64 Edition" listed under System, you’re running the 32-bit version of Windows XP.
    The edition of Windows XP you're running is displayed under System near the top of the window.

Computers running Windows Vista or Windows 7

  • Click the Start button Picture of the Start button, right-click Computer, and then click Properties.
    • If "64-bit Operating System" is listed next to System type, you’re running the 64-bit version of Windows Vista or Windows 7.
    • If "32-bit Operating System" is listed next to System type, you’re running the 32-bit version of Windows Vista or Windows 7.
    The edition of Windows Vista or Windows 7 you're running is displayed under Windows edition near the top of the window.
read more...