Glossary

Antivirus: software intended to protect a computer against harmful virus, worm, and Trojan horse programs.

Bluetooth: a low cost short-range wireless specification for connecting mobile devices and bringing them to market.

Cable modem: a device that enables a computer or router to send and receive data over cable TV lines at high speeds.

DCOM (Distributed Component Object Model): a set of concepts and program interfaces in which client program objects can request services from server program objects residing on other computers in a network. DCOM is based on the Component Object Model (COM).

DSL (Digital Subscriber Line): a technology for bringing high-bandwidth information to homes and small businesses over ordinary copper telephone lines.

Firewall: a set of programs (which may run on a computer), a router, or a dedicated device, to protect the resources of a computer or network from other computers or networks, typically by filtering network packets.

Internet: a worldwide system of computer networks using the TCP/IP protocols.

Network: a series of points or nodes (computers, routers, and other devices) interconnected by communication paths (optical fiber, coaxial cable, twisted pair, or other physical links). Networks can interconnect with other networks and contain sub networks.

Patch: a quick repair or fix for a program, generally provided by the software maker to be applied in the field. Multiple patches may be combined into service packs after more extensive testing.

Port: a physical or logical connection to a computer. TCP/IP ports are numbered and assigned to specific services. For example, port 80 is the default port for HTTP, used by most Web servers.

Remote procedure call (RPC): a protocol that one program can use to request a service from a program located in another computer in a network without having to understand network details.

Service Pack: an update to a customer's software that fixes existing problems and, in some cases, delivers product enhancements. Service packs may include multiple patches that have been tested together.

Trojan horse: a program in which malicious or harmful code is contained inside apparently harmless programming or data in such a way that it can get control and do its chosen form of damage. The term comes from an episode in Homer's Iliad.

Virus: a piece of programming code usually disguised as something else that causes some unexpected and usually undesirable event. A virus is often designed so that it is automatically spread to other computer users. Viruses can be transmitted as attachments to an e-mail note, as downloads, or be present on a diskette or CD.

Worm: self-replicating virus that does not alter files, but resides in active memory and duplicates itself.


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