Author Topic: Computer Terms Beginning with "S"  (Read 19852 times)

Offline MysteRy

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "S"
« Reply #60 on: April 12, 2014, 09:36:30 AM »
Spider

A spider is a software program that travels the Web (hence the name "spider"), locating and indexing websites for search engines. All the major search engines, such as Google and Yahoo!, use spiders to build and update their indexes. These programs constantly browse the Web, traveling from one hyperlink to another.

For example, when a spider visits a website's home page, there may be 30 links on the page. The spider will follow each of the links, adding all the pages it finds to the search engine's index. Of course, the new pages that the spider finds may also have links, which the spider continues to follow. Some of these links may point to pages within the same website (internal links), while others may lead to different sites (external links). The external links will cause the spider to jump to new sites, indexing even more pages.

Because of the interwoven nature of website links, spiders often return to websites that have already been indexed. This allows search engines to keep track of how many external pages link to each page. Usually, the more incoming links a page has, the higher it will be ranked in search engine results. Spiders not only find new pages and keep track of links, they also track changes to each page, helping search engine indexes stay up to date.

Spiders are also called robots and crawlers, which may be preferable for those who are not fond of arachnids. The word "spider" can also be used as verb, such as, "That search engine finally spidered my website last week."

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "S"
« Reply #61 on: April 12, 2014, 09:37:07 AM »
Spoofing

The word "spoof" means to hoax, trick, or deceive. Therefore, in the IT world, spoofing refers tricking or deceiving computer systems or other computer users. This is typically done by hiding one's identity or faking the identity of another user on the Internet.

Spoofing can take place on the Internet in several different ways. One common method is through e-mail. E-mail spoofing involves sending messages from a bogus e-mail address or faking the e-mail address of another user. Fortunately, most e-mail servers have security features that prevent unauthorized users from sending messages. However, spammers often send spam messages from their own SMTP, which allows them to use fake e-mail addresses. Therefore, it is possible to receive e-mail from an address that is not the actual address of the person sending the message.

Another way spoofing takes place on the Internet is via IP spoofing. This involves masking the IP address of a certain computer system. By hiding or faking a computer's IP address, it is difficult for other systems to determine where the computer is transmitting data from. Because IP spoofing makes it difficult to track the source of a transmission, it is often used in denial-of-service attacks that overload a server. This may cause the server to either crash or become unresponsive to legitimate requests. Fortunately, software security systems have been developed that can identify denial-of-service attacks and block their transmissions.

Finally, spoofing can be done by simply faking an identity, such as an online username. For example, when posting on an Web discussion board, a user may pretend he is the representative for a certain company, when he actually has no association with the organization. In online chat rooms, users may fake their age, gender, and location.

While the Internet is a great place to communicate with others, it can also be an easy place to fake an identity. Therefore, always make sure you know who you are communicating with before giving out private information.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "S"
« Reply #62 on: April 12, 2014, 09:37:36 AM »
Spool

A spool is a temporary storage area within the computer's RAM that contains input or output data. When a job or process is initiated on a computer, but cannot be run immediately, it is often placed in a spool. This process is called spooling. The spool holds the data until the appropriate device is ready to use it.

The most common type of spool is a print spool, which stores print jobs that are sent to a printer. Since the printer may need to warm up before printing a document, the document may be held in the spool during the printer's warm up process. If there are multiple documents that have been sent to the printer, the print spool may contain a queue of jobs.

You can think of a print spool as a spool of yarn that is connected from the computer to the printer. Of course, the print spool contains computer data, rather than yarn. As the the data is transmitted to the printer, it is removed from the computer, just like unraveling a spool. Once the spool is empty, no more data is transmitted to the printer.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "S"
« Reply #63 on: April 12, 2014, 09:38:04 AM »
Spooling

Spooling is the process of a sending data to a spool, or temporary storage area in the computer's memory. This data may contain files or processes. Like a spool of thread, the data can build up within the spool as multiple files or jobs are sent to it. However, unlike a spool of thread, the first jobs sent to the spool are the first ones to be processed (FIFO, not LIFO).

The most common type of spooling is print spooling, where print jobs are sent to a print spool before being transmitted to the printer. For example, when you print a document from within an application, the document data is spooled to a temporary storage area while the printer warms up. As soon as the printer is ready to print the document, the data is sent from the spool to the printer and the document is printed.

Print spooling gets its name from technology used in the 1960s, when print jobs were stored on large reels of magnetic tape. The data from these reels was physically spooled to electrostatic printers, which printed the output saved to the tape.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "S"
« Reply #64 on: April 12, 2014, 09:38:35 AM »
Spreadsheet

A spreadsheet is a document that stores data in a grid of horizontal rows and vertical columns. Rows are typically labeled using numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.), while columns are labeled with letters (A, B, C, etc). Individual row/column locations, such as C3 or B12, are referred to as cells. Each cell can each store a unique instance of data. By entering data into a spreadsheet, information can be stored in a more structured way than using plain text The row/column structure also allows the data to be analyzed using formulas and calculations.

For example, each row of a spreadsheet may store information about a person who has an account with a certain company. Each column may store a different aspect of the person's information, such as the first name, last name, address, phone number, favorite food, etc. The spreadsheet program can analyze this data by counting the number of people who live in a certain zip code, listing all the people who's favorite food is fried veal, or performing other calcuations. In this way, a spreadsheet is similar to a database.

However, spreadsheets are more streamlined than databases and are especially useful for processing numbers. This is why spreadsheets are commonly used in scientific and financial applications. For example, a spreadsheet may store bank account data, including balance and interest information. A column that stores the account balances of several clients can easily be summed to produce the total value of all the clients' balances. These amounts can be multiplied by the interest rate from another cell to see what the value of the accounts will be in a year. Once the formula has been created, modifying the value of just the interest rate cell will also change the projected value of all the accounts.

The most commonly used spreadsheet application is Microsoft Excel, but several other spreadsheet programs are available including IBM Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows and AppleWorks and Numbers for Mac OS X.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "S"
« Reply #65 on: April 12, 2014, 09:39:04 AM »
Spyware

As the name implies, this is software that "spies" on your computer. Nobody likes to be spied on, and your computer doesn't like it either. Spyware can capture information like Web browsing habits, e-mail messages, usernames and passwords, and credit card information. If left unchecked, the software can transmit this data to another person's computer over the Internet.

So how does spyware get on your computer? Just like viruses, spyware can be installed when you open an e-mail attachment containing the malicious software. It can also be installed when you install another program that has a spyware installer attached to it. Because of the insidious nature of spyware, most people don't even know when spyware is on their computer. Fortunately, you can purchase anti-spyware utilities that will search for spyware on your computer and stomp the unwanted software out of your system. A good way to prevent spyware from infecting your computer is to install a security program that lets you know when any program is being installed, so that you can choose to authorize or stop the installation.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "S"
« Reply #66 on: April 12, 2014, 09:39:30 AM »
SQL

Stands for "Structured Query Language," and can be pronounced as either "sequel" or "S-Q-L." It is a query language used for accessing and modifying information in a database. Some common SQL commands include "insert," "update," and "delete." The language was first created by IBM in 1975 and was called SEQUEL for "Structured English Query Language." Since then, it has undergone a number of changes, many coming from Oracle products.

Today, SQL is commonly used for Web database development and management. Though SQL is now considered to be a standard language, there are still a number of variations of it, such as mSQL and mySQL. By using a scripting language like PHP, SQL commands can be executed when a Web page loads. This makes it possible to create dynamic Web pages that can display different information each time they load.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "S"
« Reply #67 on: April 12, 2014, 09:39:59 AM »
SRAM

Stands for "Static Random Access Memory." I know it is tempting to pronounce this term as "Sram," but it is correctly pronounced "S-ram." SRAM is a type of RAM that stores data using a static method, in which the data remains constant as long as electric power is supplied to the memory chip. This is different than DRAM (dynamic RAM), which stores data dynamically and constantly needs to refresh the data stored in the memory. Because SRAM stores data statically, it is faster and requires less power than DRAM.

However, SRAM is more expensive to manufacture than DRAM because it is built using a more complex structure. This complexity also limits the amount of data a single chip can store, meaning SRAM chips cannot hold as much data as DRAM chips. For this reason, DRAM is most often used as the main memory for personal computers. However, SRAM is commonly used in smaller applications, such as CPU cache memory and hard drive buffers. It is also used in other consumer electronics, from large appliances to small children's toys.

It is important to not confuse SRAM with SDRAM, which is a type of DRAM.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "S"
« Reply #68 on: April 12, 2014, 09:40:27 AM »
sRGB

Stands for "Standard RGB" (and RGB stands for Red-Green-Blue"). All the colors you see on your computer display are made up various mixtures of red, green, and blue light. While this works great for individual displays, the same colors are often displayed differently on different screens. For example, dark red on one screen may look like red-orange on another. When you add printers, scanners, and digital cameras to the mix, the problem is magnified even more.

To help achieve a greater color consistency between hardware devices, the sRGB standard was created in 1999. It defines a gamut of colors that represents each color well and can be used by CRT monitors, LCD screens, scanners, printers, and digital cameras. It also has been incorporated into many Web browsers to make sure the colors on Web pages match the color scheme of the operating system. Because of the color consistency sRGB creates, most hardware devices that work with images now use it as the default setting.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "S"
« Reply #69 on: April 12, 2014, 09:41:09 AM »
SSD

Example: "He installed his operating system on an SSD to increase performance."

SSD is short for "Solid State Drive." An SSD serves the same purpose as a (hard drive|hard drive), but uses flash memory rather than spindle of magnetic disks. It is called a "solid state drive" because it has no moving parts. Since SSDs do not need to move a physical drive head to read data, they can access data faster than hard drives. They also do not need to be defragemented, since their performance does not depend on where data is stored on the disk. Since solid state drives have a number of advantages over hard drives, they have begun to replace hard drives in laptops and other devices.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "S"
« Reply #70 on: April 12, 2014, 09:41:43 AM »
SSH

Stands for "Secure Shell." SSH is a method of securely communicating with another computer. The "secure" part of the name means that all data sent via an SSH connection is encrypted. This means if a third party tries to intercept the information being transferred, it would appear scrambled and unreadable. The "shell" part of the name means SSH is based on a Unix shell, which is a program that interprets commands entered by a user.

Because SSH is based on a Unix shell, standard Unix commands can be used to view, modify, and transfer files from a remote machine once an SSH connection has been established. These commands can either be entered manually using a terminal emulator, or may be sent from a program with a graphical user interface (GUI). This type of program translates user actions, such as opening a folder, to Unix commands (cd [folder name]).

To log into a server using SSH from a terminal program, type: ssh [servername] -l [username].

The "-l" indicates you are logging in with a username, which is required by most SSH connections (otherwise, it wouldn't be very secure). If the login name is recognized, you will be prompted to enter a password. If the password is correct, your SSH connection will be established. To end the SSH session, type "exit" followed by the Enter key.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "S"
« Reply #71 on: April 12, 2014, 09:42:11 AM »
SSID

Stands for "Service Set Identifier." An SSID is a unique ID that consists of 32 characters and is used for naming wireless networks. When multiple wireless networks overlap in a certain location, SSIDs make sure that data gets sent to the correct destination.

The SSID is different than the name that is assigned to a wireless router. For example, the administrator of a wireless network may set the name of the router, or base station, to "Office." This will be the name that users see when browsing available wireless networks, but the SSID is a different 32 character string that ensures the network name is different from other nearby networks.

Each packet sent over a wireless network includes the SSID, which ensures that the data being sent over the air arrives at the correct location. Without service set identifiers, sending and receiving data in a location with multiple wireless networks would be chaotic and unpredictable to say the least.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "S"
« Reply #72 on: April 12, 2014, 09:42:48 AM »
SSL

Stands for "Secure Sockets Layer." SSL is a secure protocol developed for sending information securely over the Internet. Many websites use SSL for secure areas of their sites, such as user account pages and online checkout. Usually, when you are asked to "log in" on a website, the resulting page is secured by SSL.

SSL encrypts the data being transmitted so that a third party cannot "eavesdrop" on the transmission and view the data being transmitted. Only the user's computer and the secure server are able to recognize the data. SSL keeps your name, address, and credit card information between you and merchant to which you are providing it. Without this kind of encryption, online shopping would be far too insecure to be practical. When you visit a Web address starting with "https," the "s" after the "http" indicates the website is secure. These websites often use SSL certificates to verify their authenticity.

While SSL is most commonly seen on the Web (HTTP), it is also used to secure other Internet protocols, such as SMTP for sending e-mail and NNTP for newsgroups. Early implementations of SSL were limited to 40-bit encryption, but now most SSL secured protocols use 128-bit encryption or higher.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "S"
« Reply #73 on: April 12, 2014, 09:43:20 AM »
Stack

A stack is a type of data structure -- a means of storing information in a computer. When a new object is entered in a stack, it is placed on top of all the previously entered objects. In other words, the stack data structure is just like a stack of cards, papers, credit card mailings, or any other real-world objects you can think of. When removing an object from a stack, the one on top gets removed first. This method is referred to as LIFO (last in, first out).

The term "stack" can also be short for a network protocol stack. In networking, connections between computers are made through a series of smaller connections. These connections, or layers, act like the stack data structure, in that they are built and disposed of in the same way.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "S"
« Reply #74 on: April 12, 2014, 09:43:58 AM »
Standalone

A standalone device is able to function independently of other hardware. This means it is not integrated into another device. For example, a TiVo box that can record television programs is a standalone device, while a DVR that is integrated into a digital cable box is not standalone. Integrated devices are typically less expensive than multiple standalone products that perform the same functions. However, using standalone hardware typically allows the user greater customization, whether it be a home theater or computer system.

Standalone can also refer to a software program that does not require any software other than the operating system to run. This means that most software programs are standalone programs. Software such as plug-ins and expansion packs for video games are not standalone programs since they will not run unless a certain program is already installed.