Technical Corner > The PC Glossary - Definitions of Computer and Internet Terms

Computer Terms Beginning with "U"

<< < (2/4) > >>

MysteRy:
UNC

Stands for "Universal Naming Convention," not just the home of the North Carolina Tar Heels. UNC is a filename format that is used to specify the location of files, folders, and resources on a local-area network (LAN). The UNC address of a file may look something like this:

\\server-name\directory\filename

UNC can also be used to identify peripheral devices shared on the network, including scanners and printers. It provides each shared resource with a unique address. This allows operating systems that support UNC (such as Windows) to access specific resources quickly and efficiently.

MysteRy:
Undo

Example: "If you accidentally delete a section of text, select 'Undo' to bring it back."

The Undo command is located in the Edit menu of most programs and has the shortcut "Ctrl+Z" (PC) or "Cmd-Z" (Mac). It is used to undo the most recent action performed in a program. Common events that can be undone include typing or deleting text in a word processing program, drawing or moving images in an image editor, and trimming media in a video or audio editing program. By selecting "Undo," most actions can be quickly reversed. Many programs also support "multiple undo," which makes it possible to undo several actions at once.

MysteRy:
Unfriend

Example: "They unfriended each other after they broke up."

When you unfriend a user, your remove that person from your list of friends on a social networking website, such as Facebook or MySpace. Once a user has been unfriended, he or she will lose "friend" access rights to your profile page. This means the person may no longer be able to view your personal data, photos, or other users' comments.

MysteRy:
Unix

Also known as UNIX, though the letters do not stand for anything. The Unix operating system was first created in Bell Labs way back in the 1960s. It became popular in the 1970s for high-level computing, but not on the consumer level. Since a lot of Internet services were originally hosted on Unix machines, the platform gained tremendous popularity in the 1990s. It still leads the industry as the most common operating system for Web servers.

Still, Unix remains somewhat of an ambiguous operating system, as there are many different versions of it. Some examples include Ultrix, Xenix, Linux, and GNU, which, making things even more confusing, all run on a number of different hardware platforms. Most people do not ever need to use Unix, but computer geeks seem to have the need to use it as much as possible.

MysteRy:
Unmount

Unmounting a disk makes it inaccessible by the computer. Of course, in order for a disk to be unmounted, it must first be mounted. When a disk is mounted, it is active and the computer can access its contents. Since unmounting a disk prevents the computer from accessing it, there is no risk of the disk being disconnected in the middle of a data transfer. Therefore, before removing an external data storage device, such as a USB flash drive, the disk should be unmounted to avoid possible data corruption.

Several types of disks can be unmounted, including external hard drives, USB flash drives, iPods, flash memory cards, and disk images. In order to unmount a disk in Windows, open "My Computer," select the disk, and click the "Eject this disk" option in the left sidebar. In Mac OS X, select the disk on the desktop and either drag the disk to the trash (which changes to an Eject icon), or select "File→Eject" from the Finder's menu bar. Once a removable disk has been unmounted, it can safely be disconnected from the computer.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page