CompTIA A_ Certification All-In-One Exam Guide, Seventh Edition - Michael Meyers [505]
page fault Minor memory-addressing error.
page file Portion of the hard drive set aside by Windows to act like RAM. Also known as virtual memory or swap file.
PAN (personal area network) Small wireless network created with Bluetooth technology and intended to link PCs and other peripheral devices.
parallel port Connection for the synchronous, high-speed flow of data along parallel lines to a device, usually a printer.
parallel processing When a multicore CPU processes more than one thread.
parental controls Tool to allow monitoring and limiting of user activities; designed for parents to control the content their children can access.
parity Method of error detection where a small group of bits being transferred is compared to a single parity bit set to make the total bits odd or even. Receiving device reads the parity bit and determines if the data is valid, based on the oddness or evenness of the parity bit.
parity RAM Earliest form of error-detecting RAM; stored an extra bit (called the parity bit) to verify the data.
partition Section of the storage area of a hard disk. Created during initial preparation of the hard disk, before the disk is formatted.
partition table Table located in the boot sector of a hard drive that lists every partition on the disk that contains a valid operating system.
partitioning Electronically subdividing a physical hard drive into groups called partitions (or volumes).
passive matrix Technology for producing colors in LCD monitors by varying voltages across wire matrices to produce red, green, or blue dots.
password Key used to verify a user’s identity on a secure computer or network.
Password Authentication Protocol (PAP) Oldest and most basic form of authentication. Also the least safe, because it sends all passwords in clear text.
password reset disk Special type of floppy disk with which users can recover a lost password without losing access to any encrypted, or password-protected, data.
PATA (parallel ATA) Implementation that integrates the controller on the disk drive itself. (See also ATA, IDE, SATA.)
patch Small piece of software released by a software manufacturer to correct a flaw or problem with a particular piece of software.
path Route the operating system must follow to find an executable program stored in a subdirectory.
PC bus Original 8-bit expansion bus developed by IBM for PCs; ran at a top speed of 4.77 MHz. Also known as the XT bus.
PC Card Credit card-sized adapter cards that add functionality in many notebook computers, PDAs, and other computer devices. Come in 16-bit and CardBus parallel format and ExpressCard serial format. (See also PCMCIA.)
PC tech Someone with computer skills who works on computers.
PCI (peripheral component interconnect) Design architecture for the expansion bus on the computer motherboard, which enables system components to be added to the computer. Local bus standard, meaning that devices added to a computer through this port will use the processor at the motherboard’s full speed (up to 33 MHz) rather than at the slower 8 MHz speed of the regular bus. Moves data 32 or 64 bits at a time rather than the 8 or 16 bits the older ISA buses supported.
PCIe (PCI Express) Serialized successor to PCI and AGP, which uses the concept of individual data paths called lanes. May use any number of lanes, although single lanes (×1) and 16 lanes (×16) are the most common on motherboards.
PCI-X (PCI Extended) Enhanced version of PCI, 64 bits wide. Typically seen in servers and high-end systems.
PCL Printer control language created by Hewlett-Packard and used on a broad cross-section of printers.
PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) Sound format developed in the 1960s to carry telephone calls over the first digital lines.
PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) Consortium of computer manufacturers who devised