Glossary Terms - Maintaining Equipment & Software

Question 1

Booting

Answer 1

(Derives from the ‘Boot Strap Code’ that referred to a small piece of programming code built into computers that instructed the machine on what to do when turned on)

Boot now generally refers to the processes automatically attempted when power is provided to a computer.

Question 2

Conditioner, Power

Answer 2

A device which reforms the quality of mains electrical power entering the building; it can be very useful in prolonging the life of electrical devices such as power supplies.

Question 3

Device

Answer 3

Any piece of hardware attached to a computer system; it normally has a corresponding piece of software called a driver.

Question 4

Driver

Answer 4

A piece of software which facilitates the commutation between a peripheral device and the operating system.

Question 5

FDD

Answer 5

Normally refers to a 3.5 inch floppy disk drive.

Question 6

HDD

Answer 6

The hard disk drive is a type of secondary storage in a computer system and acts as long term storage.

Question 7

IDE

Answer 7

Integrated Drive Electronics

This is the most common way of attaching a hard disk to your system; it is the default drive interface on most PC systems.

Other interfaces for drives include SATA, SCSI and USB.

Question 8

Motherboard

Answer 8

The main system board of a computer; holds input/output interfaces, the CPU and the BIOS/CMOS system.

Question 9

POST

Answer 9

Power on Self Test

An in-built diagnostic program that is run when a device is turned on.
It will often report errors as flashing lights or beeps deepening upon the device. Most computing devices have a POST procedure.

This is used to check if the hardware is working as expected.

Question 10

RAM

Answer 10

Random Access Memory

The main system memory.

It’s a form of primary storage and is volatile.

Question 11

SLA

Answer 11

Service Level Agreement

A contact between a client who requires a service and a service provider. In the IT industry, SLAs are a common occurrence as they define the obligations of the service provider and the value of that service to the client.

Question 12

Surge Protector

Answer 12

A device that is designed to protect a device from peaks of over-voltage. They are normally plugged into a power point and then the device us plugged into it.

The surge protectors often damaged in the process of protecting the device from a power surge.

Question 13

UPS

Answer 13

Un-interruptible Power Supply

A device used to provide short term power in the event of a blackout. This gives time for saving data and shutting-down safely.

The capacity of a UPS must be carefully matched to the power requirements of the system attached to it.

Question 14

USB

Answer 14

Universal Serial Bus

A common interface used to connecting a range of devices to the motherboard.

Question 15

BIOS

Answer 15

Basic Input/Output System

The built-in software that determines what a computer can do without accessing programs from a disk.

On PCs, the BIOS contains all the code required to control the keyboard, display screen and disk drives.
They are typically placed in a ROM chip on the motherboard.

Question 16

Boot Drive

Answer 16

The hard drive which has the OS installed on it.

Once the BIOS has performed the system checks, it looks for the boot drive so that the OS can be loaded.

Question 17

CPU

Answer 17

Central Porcessing Unit

The brains of the computer where most of the calculations take place.

Question 18

Expansion Slot

Answer 18

A connector on the motherboard that allows an expansion card to be plugged in to allow additional functionality to a computer, such as a sound card.

Question 19

Software License

Answer 19

A software license is an agreement for an organisation to operate software.

Question 20

Optical Drive

Answer 20

A disk drive which reads and/or writes to a disk where the information is stored.

Question 21

PCI

Answer 21

Peripheral Connect Interface

The most common type of slot for all expansion cards like RAM connectors and GPU slots.

Question 22

ROM

Answer 22

Read Only Memory

Memory chips which are primary storage and usually store critical programs such as BIOS. It is non-volatile meaning that the contents are not lost when power is turned off.

Question 23

Components

Answer 23

The parts that make up a computer system. They can be hardware (processor, memory, video card etc.) or software (OS).

Question 24

Computer System

Answer 24

The complete computer, consisting of a system unit, keyboard mouse, monitor and any other peripherals such as a printer that are attached.

Question 25

OMR (NAPLAN)

Answer 25

Optical Mark Recognition

Technology that’s used to read responses to questionnaires using multiple-choice questions by sensing where marks have been made with pencil to make choices.

Question 26

Compatibility

Answer 26

When components work together.

If a component is incompatible, it will not fit into a socket or work with the rest of the system.

Question 27

Procedure

Answer 27

Step by step instructions which outline how to complete a specific task properly.
This is done to ensure that the job has been properly done.

Question 28

Ergonomic

Answer 28

Comfortable use which gives no risk to the user. This is the study of how people use equipment, and how it can be made easier to prevent strain on users.

Question 29

Restoring Data

Answer 29

When the data is copied from the backup to the computer system.

Question 30

Formatting

Answer 30

Formatting wipes the disk clean, and is done when there are big problems on the hard disk.

Question 31

Test Procedure

Answer 31

Step by step instructions that are followed when testing equipment and/or software.

Question 32

Data

Answer 32

The general name given to any documents, files and other information stored on a computer system.

Question 33

Service Loss

Answer 33

When hardware doesn’t work, leading to a loss in service to the user.

Eg: no access to the Internet or not being able to log onto the network.

Question 34

Preventative Maintenance

Answer 34

Maintaining equipment and software such it prolongs the lifespan of devices and prevents issues from occurring.