Author Topic: Computer Terms Beginning with "D"  (Read 7278 times)

Offline MysteRy

  • Global Moderator
  • Classic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 218307
  • Total likes: 23035
  • Karma: +2/-0
  • Gender: Female
  • ♥♥ Positive Thinking Will Let U Do Everything ♥♥
    • http://friendstamilchat.com/
Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "D"
« Reply #15 on: March 28, 2014, 02:27:44 PM »
Defragment

Defragmenting your hard disk is a great way to boost the performance of your computer. Though the term "defragment" sounds a little abrasive, it is actually a simple and helpful process. After all, a defragmented hard disk is a happy hard disk.

Adding and deleting files from your hard disk is a common task. Unfortunately, this process is not always done very efficiently. For example, when you delete a bunch of little files and add a new large file, the file may get broken up into mulitple sections on the hard disk. The computer will still read the newly added file as a single valid file, but the drive will have to scan multiple parts of the disk to read it. Because hard disk seek time is one of the most significant bottlenecks in a computer's performance, this can drag down your computer's speed quite a bit. If you have a ton of "fragmented" files on your hard disk, you might hear extra grinding, sputtering, and other weird noises coming from your computer.

You computer does not like having fragmented files any more than you do. This is why defragmenting your hard disk is such a good idea. When you start to hear extra grinding sounds, or your computer doesn't open files as quickly as it did before, it's time to defragment. With Windows, you can use the pre-installed Intel defragment program to defragment your hard disk. You can also use a commercial software program like Norton Utilities to defragment your hard disk more efficiently and with more options. For Mac users, a disk utility such as DiskWarrior or Tech Tool Pro is the only way to do it. If you use your computer daily, defragmenting your hard drive once a month should keep the fragment-fiends away.

Offline MysteRy

  • Global Moderator
  • Classic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 218307
  • Total likes: 23035
  • Karma: +2/-0
  • Gender: Female
  • ♥♥ Positive Thinking Will Let U Do Everything ♥♥
    • http://friendstamilchat.com/
Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "D"
« Reply #16 on: March 28, 2014, 02:28:32 PM »
Degauss

Ever wonder what that "degauss" button on your monitor does besides make a buzzing noise and cause the screen to go crazy for a second? Though that's its main purpose, the degauss button has another useful feature. To understand it, you'll first need to know that the earth has natural magnetic fields. The magnetic charges from these fields can build up inside your monitor, causing a loss of color accuracy. Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma. If your monitor doesn't have a degauss button, fear not -- many new monitors automatically degauss themselves. If you have a flat-panel display, there is no degauss button because magnetism doesn't build up in flat screen displays.

Offline MysteRy

  • Global Moderator
  • Classic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 218307
  • Total likes: 23035
  • Karma: +2/-0
  • Gender: Female
  • ♥♥ Positive Thinking Will Let U Do Everything ♥♥
    • http://friendstamilchat.com/
Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "D"
« Reply #17 on: March 28, 2014, 02:29:12 PM »
Del.icio.us

Del.icio.us, pronounced simply "delicious," is a community bookmarking website in which users can save Web pages they find and share them with other users. Because users' bookmarks are made public and viewable by other users, other people often bookmark Web pages that they find within other users' bookmarks. Del.icio.us keeps track of how many people bookmark each site and posts the most popular websites on its home page.

Common Web pages bookmarked by Del.icio.us users include news stories, online learning resources, and tech support pages. Since other users add useful pages to their bookmarks, the best Web pages eventually rise to the top of the popularity chain. The result is a collection of Web pages that are helpful and worthwhile visiting.

Users can either browse or search the database of bookmarks on Del.icio.us. When a user saves a bookmark, he or she can add a description and tags (keywords) that are pertinent to the Web page. This help the page show up for relevant searches. The results of Del.icio.us searches are often of higher quality than a regular search engine since the sites have all been chosen by users. Apparently, other Web surfers agree, since the website became so popular that Yahoo! bought the Del.icio.us at the end of 2005.

The domain name "del.icio.us" is a creative modification of the standard domain syntax, where "del" is the domain prefix and "icio.us" is the domain name, with "us" being the domain suffix.

Offline MysteRy

  • Global Moderator
  • Classic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 218307
  • Total likes: 23035
  • Karma: +2/-0
  • Gender: Female
  • ♥♥ Positive Thinking Will Let U Do Everything ♥♥
    • http://friendstamilchat.com/
Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "D"
« Reply #18 on: March 28, 2014, 02:29:57 PM »
Delete

Delete is computer terminology for remove or erase. You can delete text from a document of delete entire files or folders from your hard drive. When typing a document, you can remove characters behind the cursor by pressing the delete key. If you want to remove characters in front of the cursor, you can press the smaller delete key near the home and end buttons on the keyboard. You can also remove entire sections of text by selecting the text you wish to delete and pressing either delete button on the keyboard.

Files and folders can be removed from your hard drive by dragging them to the Recycle Bin (Windows) or the Trash (Macintosh) and then emptying the trash. When you delete a file, it is actually not erased, but instead the reference to the file is removed. This means deleted files are still intact until they are written over. Special utilities such as Norton Unerase can recover accidentally deleted files.

Offline MysteRy

  • Global Moderator
  • Classic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 218307
  • Total likes: 23035
  • Karma: +2/-0
  • Gender: Female
  • ♥♥ Positive Thinking Will Let U Do Everything ♥♥
    • http://friendstamilchat.com/
Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "D"
« Reply #19 on: March 28, 2014, 02:30:38 PM »
Desktop

Your computer's desktop is much like a physical desktop. You probably keep a number of commonly used items on your desk such as pens, papers, folders, and other items. Your computer's desktop serves the same purpose -- to give you easy access to items on your hard drive. It is common to store frequently used files, folders, and programs on your desktop. This allows you to access the items quickly instead of digging through the directories on your hard drive each time you want to open them.

Both the Macintosh and Windows interfaces use the desktop as a central part of the interface. Both operating systems allow you to move items on and off the desktop as you wish and offer organization tools to arrange and clean up the items on the desktop. Yes, it would be nice if there was an option like that for a real-life desktop. You can also customize your computer's desktop with the pattern or background image of your choice.

Offline MysteRy

  • Global Moderator
  • Classic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 218307
  • Total likes: 23035
  • Karma: +2/-0
  • Gender: Female
  • ♥♥ Positive Thinking Will Let U Do Everything ♥♥
    • http://friendstamilchat.com/
Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "D"
« Reply #20 on: March 28, 2014, 02:31:24 PM »
Desktop Computer

A desktop computer is a computer system designed to be used at a table or desk. Some desktop computers have a separate monitor and system unit, while others are "all-in-one" models, in which the monitor is built into the computer. All-in-one computers are designed to sit on a desktop, while system units are usually placed on the ground. Both types of desktop computers include a keyboard and mouse as input devices.

Unlike laptops, desktop computers are not portable machines. Instead, they are designed to remain in a single location and require a connection to a power outlet. Because of their static nature, most personal and business workstations are desktop computers.

Offline MysteRy

  • Global Moderator
  • Classic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 218307
  • Total likes: 23035
  • Karma: +2/-0
  • Gender: Female
  • ♥♥ Positive Thinking Will Let U Do Everything ♥♥
    • http://friendstamilchat.com/
Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "D"
« Reply #21 on: March 28, 2014, 02:32:13 PM »
Desktop Publishing

When documents and images are printed, they are "published." Before computers became commonplace, the publishing process required large print presses that copied and duplicated pages. In order to print images and words on the same page, the text and graphics would have to printed separately, cut out, placed on a single sheet, taped in place, then copied and printed. Fortunately, computers with graphical user interfaces have enabled desktop publishing, which allows this process to be done electronically.

Any time you use a computer to create a printable document, it can be considered desktop publishing. However, the term is most commonly used to refer to professional computer-based publishing. Desktop publishers use programs like Adobe InDesign and QuarkXpress to create page layouts for documents they want to print. These desktop publishing programs can be used to create books, magazines, newspapers, flyers, pamphlets, and many other kinds of printed documents. Publishers may also use programs like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to create printable images. Even word processing programs like Microsoft Word can be used for basic desktop publishing purposes.

Complete desktop publishing involves the combination of typesetting (choosing fonts and the text layout), graphic design, page layout (how it all fits on the page), and printing the document. However, as mentioned before, desktop publishing can also be as simple as typing and printing a school paper. In order to desktop publish, all you need is a computer, monitor, printer, and software that can create a printable document. While that might cost more than a pen and paper, it certainly is cheaper than a printing press!

Offline MysteRy

  • Global Moderator
  • Classic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 218307
  • Total likes: 23035
  • Karma: +2/-0
  • Gender: Female
  • ♥♥ Positive Thinking Will Let U Do Everything ♥♥
    • http://friendstamilchat.com/
Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "D"
« Reply #22 on: March 28, 2014, 02:32:53 PM »
DHCP

Stands for "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol." A network server uses this protocol to dynamically assign IP addresses to networked computers. The DHCP server waits for a computer to connect to it, then assigns it an IP address from a master list stored on the server. DHCP helps in setting up large networks, since IP addresses don't have to be manually assigned to each computer on the network. Because of the slick automation involved with DHCP, it is the most commonly used networking protocol.

Offline MysteRy

  • Global Moderator
  • Classic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 218307
  • Total likes: 23035
  • Karma: +2/-0
  • Gender: Female
  • ♥♥ Positive Thinking Will Let U Do Everything ♥♥
    • http://friendstamilchat.com/
Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "D"
« Reply #23 on: March 28, 2014, 02:33:30 PM »
Dial-up

Example: "Before switching to DSL, the family connected to the Internet using a dial-up connection."

A dial-up connection uses a modem to connect to an ISP or another computer. It uses standard analog phone lines to transfer data up to 56 Kbps. Before the year 2000, dial-up was the standard way to connect to Internet. However, most users now connect to the Internet is via a DSL or cable modem connection. Both cable and DSL services provide a constant connection and support data transfer speeds over 100 times faster than dial-up modems.

Offline MysteRy

  • Global Moderator
  • Classic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 218307
  • Total likes: 23035
  • Karma: +2/-0
  • Gender: Female
  • ♥♥ Positive Thinking Will Let U Do Everything ♥♥
    • http://friendstamilchat.com/
Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "D"
« Reply #24 on: March 28, 2014, 02:34:20 PM »
Dialog Box

As the name implies, a dialog box serves to initiate a dialog with the user. It is a window that pops up on the screen with options that the user can select. After the selections have been made, the user can typically click "OK" to enter the changes or "Cancel" to discard the selections. It is customary for menu options that include an ellipsis at the end, such as "Preferences..." or "Save As...", to open a dialog box when selected.

For example, if a user selects "Internet Options..." from the Options menu in Internet Explorer, a dialog box will pop up allowing the user to choose the default home page, change the security settings, empty the browser cache, and modify several other settings. Once the selections have been made, the user can click "OK" to use the new settings, or "Cancel" to discard the changes. Some Windows programs also have an "Apply" option that activates the selections without closing the dialog box.

When a user selects "Open..." from the File menu, an "Open dialog box" appears, allowing the user to browse the hard drive and other disks for files to open. When "Save As..." is chosen from the File menu, a "Close dialog box" pops up, allowing the user to type the name of the file and choose where to save it. While dialog boxes may not seem too exciting, they provide an intuitive way to communicate with the computer and are an essential part of today's computer interfaces.

Offline MysteRy

  • Global Moderator
  • Classic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 218307
  • Total likes: 23035
  • Karma: +2/-0
  • Gender: Female
  • ♥♥ Positive Thinking Will Let U Do Everything ♥♥
    • http://friendstamilchat.com/
Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "D"
« Reply #25 on: March 28, 2014, 02:35:06 PM »
Digital

Digital information is stored using a series of ones and zeros. Computers are digital machines because they can only read information as on or off -- 1 or 0. This method of computation, also known as the binary system, may seem rather simplistic, but can be used to represent incredible amounts of data. CDs and DVDs can be used to store and play back high-quality sound and video even though they consist entirely of ones and zeros.

Unlike computers, humans perceive information in analog. We capture auditory and visual signals as a continuous stream. Digital devices, on the other hand, estimate this information using ones and zeros. The rate of this estimation, called the "sampling rate," combined with how much information is included in each sample (the bit depth), determines how accurate the digital estimation is.

For example, a typical CD audio track is sampled at 44.1 KHz (44,100 samples per second) with a bit depth of 16 bits. This provides a high-quality estimation of an analog audio signal that sounds realistic the human ear. However, a higher-quality audio format, such as a DVD-Audio disc, may be sampled at 96 KHz and have a bit depth of 24 bits. The same song played on both discs will sound more smooth and dynamic on the DVD-Audio disc.

Since digital information only estimates analog data, an analog signal is actually more accurate than a digital signal. However, computers only work with digital information, so storing data digitally makes more sense. Unlike analog data, digital information can also be copied, edited, and moved without losing any quality. Because of the benefits digital information offers, it has become the most common way of storing and reading data.

Offline MysteRy

  • Global Moderator
  • Classic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 218307
  • Total likes: 23035
  • Karma: +2/-0
  • Gender: Female
  • ♥♥ Positive Thinking Will Let U Do Everything ♥♥
    • http://friendstamilchat.com/
Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "D"
« Reply #26 on: March 28, 2014, 02:35:51 PM »
Digital Camera

Example: "She used her digital camera to take hundreds of pictures at her son's soccer game."

A digital camera is an electronic device that captures images in a digital format. It works in a similar way to a film-based camera, but uses a sensor called a CCD to record images rather than a strip of film. Once an image or video is captured by the CCD, it is saved to a memory card, such as an SD card. Images and videos saved to the memory card can be imported to a computer using a standard USB cable. Digital cameras offer many advantages over traditional film-based cameras, which is why most cameras manufactured today are digital.

Offline MysteRy

  • Global Moderator
  • Classic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 218307
  • Total likes: 23035
  • Karma: +2/-0
  • Gender: Female
  • ♥♥ Positive Thinking Will Let U Do Everything ♥♥
    • http://friendstamilchat.com/
Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "D"
« Reply #27 on: March 28, 2014, 02:36:41 PM »
Digital Signature

Example: "The PDF included a digital signature that verified the document's creator."

A digital signature is a block of data that can be attached to documents such as PDFs, word processing files, and e-mail messages. It contains a unique code that verifies a person's identity. Many programs allow users to "digitally sign" documents, which appends a digital signature to the file. By using digital signatures, users can certify documents they have created or approve documents received from others.

Offline MysteRy

  • Global Moderator
  • Classic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 218307
  • Total likes: 23035
  • Karma: +2/-0
  • Gender: Female
  • ♥♥ Positive Thinking Will Let U Do Everything ♥♥
    • http://friendstamilchat.com/
Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "D"
« Reply #28 on: March 28, 2014, 02:37:45 PM »
Digitize

When you "digitize" something, you convert it from analog to digital. For example, if you import a VHS tape from a VCR into your computer, you might use an analog-to-digital converter (DAC) to convert the analog signal to a digital stream of data. This is because computers are digital devices and can only read digital data.

Digital files are created by taking samples of analog data, typically at the rate of several thousand per second. For example, a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz, which is what standard audio CDs use, indicates that the audio is being sampled 44,100 times every second. Therefore, the higher the sampling rate, the better the quality of the digitized file.

Because digitizing analog data is done by sampling sections of data, the end result is really an estimation of the original data. However, as long as a high sampling rate is used, our ears and eyes perceive digitized audio or video as a steady stream of analog data. Because digital data can be edited by computers and can be endlessly copied with no loss of quality, most of today's audio and video media are created in a digital format.

Offline MysteRy

  • Global Moderator
  • Classic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 218307
  • Total likes: 23035
  • Karma: +2/-0
  • Gender: Female
  • ♥♥ Positive Thinking Will Let U Do Everything ♥♥
    • http://friendstamilchat.com/
Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "D"
« Reply #29 on: March 28, 2014, 02:38:46 PM »
DIMM

Stands for "Dual In-Line Memory Module." It is a type of computer memory. A DIMM is a small circuit board that holds memory chips. It uses a 64-bit bus to the memory, whereas a single in-line memory module (SIMM) only has a 32-bit path. This allows DIMMs to transfer more data at once. Because DIMMs have faster data transfer capabilities than SIMMs, they have pretty much replaced SIMMs.