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AT (advanced technology) Model name of the second-generation, 80286-based IBM computer. Many aspects of the AT, such as the BIOS, CMOS, and expansion bus, have become de facto standards in the PC industry. The physical organization of the components on the motherboard is called the AT form factor.

ATA (AT attachment) Type of hard drive and controller designed to replace the earlier ST506 and ESDI drives without requiring replacement of the AT BIOS—hence, AT attachment. These drives are more popularly known as IDE drives. (See IDE.) The ATA/33 standard has drive transfer speeds up to 33 MBps; the ATA/66 up to 66 MBps; the ATA/100 up to 100 MBps; and the ATA/133 up to 133 MBps. (See Ultra DMA.)

ATA/ATAPI-6 Also known as ATA-6 or “Big Drive.” Replaced the INT13 extensions and allowed for hard drives as large as 144 petabytes (144 million GBs).

ATAPI (ATA packet interface) Series of standards that enable mass storage devices other than hard drives to use the IDE/ATA controllers. Popular with optical drives. (See EIDE.)

ATAPI-compliant Devices that utilize the ATAPI standard. (See ATAPI.)

Athlon Name used for a popular series of CPUs manufactured by AMD.

ATTRIB.EXE Command used to view the specific properties of a file; can also be used to modify or remove file properties, such as read-only, system, or archive.

attributes Values in a file that determine the hidden, read-only, system, and archive status of the file.

ATX (AT eXtended) Popular motherboard form factor that generally replaced the AT form factor.

authentication Any method a computer uses to determine who can access it.

authorization Any method a computer uses to determine what an authenticated user can do.

autodetection Process through which new disks are automatically recognized by the BIOS.

Automatic Updates Feature allowing updates to Windows to be retrieved automatically over the Internet.

AutoPlay Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 setting, along with autorun.inf, enabling Windows to automatically detect media files and begin using them. (See AUTORUN.INF.)

AUTORUN.INF File included on some media that automatically launches a program or installation routine when the media is inserted/attached to a system.

autosensing Better quality sound cards use autosensing to detect a device plugged into a port and to adapt the features of that port.

auto-switching power supply Type of power supply able to detect the voltage of a particular outlet and adjust accordingly.

Award Software Major producer of BIOS software for motherboards.

backlight One of three main components used in LCDs to illuminate an image.

backside bus Set of wires that connect the CPU to Level 2 cache. First appearing in the Pentium Pro, all modern CPUs have a backside bus. Some buses run at the full speed of the CPU, whereas others run at a fraction. Earlier Pentium IIs, for example, had backside buses running at half the speed of the processor. (See also frontside bus and external data bus.)

Backup or Restore Wizard Utility contained within Windows that allows users to create system backups and set system restore points.

ball mouse Input device that enables users to manipulate a cursor on the screen by using a ball and sensors that detect the movement and direction of the ball.

bandwidth Piece of the spectrum occupied by some form of signal, such as television, voice, fax data. Signals require a certain size and location of bandwidth to be transmitted. The higher the bandwidth, the faster the signal transmission, allowing for a more complex signal such as audio or video. Because bandwidth is a limited space, when one user is occupying it, others must wait their turn. Bandwidth is also the capacity of a network to transmit a given amount of data during a given period.

bank Total number of SIMMs or DIMMs that can be accessed simultaneously by the chipset. The “width” of the external data bus divided by the “width” of the SIMM or DIMM sticks. DIMM slots must be populated to activate dual-or triple-channel memory.

bar code reader Tool to read Universal Product Code (UPC) bar codes.