G

GB -

An abbreviation for 1 Billion Bytes

(1,073,741,824) of the little devils.

GDI –

That’s M$’s way of saying Graphic "Device Interface" It’s actually the graphic display

system in Windows.

Geosynchronous –

I haven’t a clue as to

why someone asked for this one unless

they are considering a broadband satellite

 connection. A geosynchronous satellite is

one whose orbit and speed are so precisely

attuned to the earth’s rotation that it hovers

over the same spot on the surface indefinitely.

Sounds like an extremely boring existence

to me.

Ghost -

see special backup definitions

Gigabyte -

for what it’s worth it’s a billion bytes, How’s

that for excitement?

Global Template -

the template that houses all your premade

automatic settings and is the one that

opens when you choose a new blank

document, even if you've added so much

to it that it's not blank anymore.  In

Microsoft Word, the global template is

called normal.dot.

GUI – 

It’s pronounced “Gooey” and is another

one of those Acronym things. Stands for

Graphical User Interface. See “Mosaic”.

It is directly responsible for putting all

those cute little icons on the screen of

your desktop, unless you happen to be

one of those who just couldn’t wait to

get XP. If you’re using XP then you can

just stare at that beautiful landscape

and wonder where the icons went. It’s

alright though, the landscape is graphical

too.

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H

Hackers -

See Hackers, Crackers and Trolls

Hard Drive –

Abbreviated HD it’s that curious little metal

box inside the computer case that holds all

of the stuff you install, operating systems,

 applications, utilities, games, everything.

The curious part is, they can hold anywhere

from a couple of megabytes to a gazillion

gigabytes, yet they are always the same

darned size. When you save something

and can't find it, this is probably where

it is.

HCL – 

An acronym for the High Cost of Living,

in computing it’s MS’s famous Hardware

 Compatibility List, in mechanical drawing,

 Horizontal Center Line, and in chemistry

it is HydroChLoric acid. You want to watch

that last one, it’ll put a hurtin on ya.

Heaps (as in heaps of memory) – if you’re

not a programmer, forget it. A heap is the

common pool of free memory available

to a program (that’s what the book said).

Hexadecimal  Data Value –

Holy cow, who

asked that one? It’s the numerical value

assigned to a character in a Hex format.

It’s used in programming. Try This. Did

you ever want to write  180 degrees with

that funny little zero thing up there by

the 0? Well type 180 and then hold down

the “Alt” key and on the numerical

keypad type “248”  The results, 180°.  

Try holding down the “Alt” and type 155,

do it at the end of a number like 50¢.

HKEY - 

is an acronym for the phrase "Handle Key."

We're pretty aware that in graphic

applications objects have those little

boxes around them you can click on

to re-position or re-size the object.

Those little boxes are called "handles." 

However, in programming it's a whole

'nother ball game. In programming a

"handle" is a pointer, sometimes called

a "token" and it allows the program,

in your case the registry, to contact and

use other functions.  Kinda like a key

to those other functions. And, here's

the key, if you are not really familiar

with the registry, the wrong "HKEY"

can open up a Pandora's Box you don't

ever want to get into.

Hoaxes – 

Let’s face it, Hoaxes are lies that people

send to everyone whom they might

know. IMO anyone who forwards one

to friends without first checking its

authenticity somewhere like

http://www.sarc.com  should forever

be banned from that circle of friends.

Hoaxes are a major contributor to the

propagation of SPAM and cause more

problems than a genuine virus.

Hot Fixes -

That’s what Microsoft calls the download

they give you when they find a major

“Bug” in their software which should

have been exterminated before it was

ever released. It also refers to repairs

made during normal operations. 

AOL calls them an upgrade.

HSF -

Hawaiian Sea Frontier - Heat Sink Fan

(CPU cooling) - Human Space Flight -

Hartford Seminary Foundation. Pay

attention class, we’re gonna ask

questions. Actually those are all

legitimate acronyms but I think the one

which applies here is probably the

“Heat Sink Fan” which cools the

afterburners on all those jet powered

super surfers Hal Cardona builds.

HTML –

Hyper Text Markup Language, the

document format used on the internet.

Web pages are made of all kinds of

HTML tags or codes that are embedded

in the text, and if you know that, why

are you reading this?

HTML tags –

a piece of code used to define a format

change or a hypertext link. They are

usually surrounded by angle brackets

like <grillett> hope I didn’t say something

obscene.

 Hyperlink -

these are the underlined words you

click on that hop you from one location

on the Web to another.  There's lots of

them in this newsletter....click on them!

Hypertext Template File – 

This is not a word, it’s a phrase and

it is not in any of the references I

usually pour through at great length

in an attempt to satisfy your curiosity.

Since hypertext is a method of linking

pages and programs together

(as in databases etc.,) and permitting

you to jump back and forth between

them, my assumption would be, a

“Template file” would be a pre-formatted

form for use for those purposes.

But Hey, what do I know?

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I

Illegal Operation –

Dr. Spock and his wife Mary went to jail

protesting them. They were friends of

mine and I still liked them. If you or your

software make a major booboo, or even

a minor one sometimes, the whole setup

will be “aborted” and chances are you’ll

learn the true meaning of BSOD.

IMHO – 

In My Honest Opinion, if I need

to go any farther with this one, please

subscribe to “Words for Newbies”

in the unlikely event that I should ever

write it.

IMO -

In My Opinion, it means In My Opinion.

Import – 

180° opposed from export. Means to bring

a file or document from one application

of a similar or different type.

Inline –

as opposed to out of line? I don’t know,

you sent the word in. If it’s an inline

cache it’s a memory cache that lives

next door to your CPU and shares the

same system bus as the computer’s

other subsystems.

Interface –

That’s more like it, it is program or

application that allows you, your

software, and your hardware to meet

on a common ground. WINDOWS is

an interface or GUI

(Graphical Users Interface.)

Internet Service Provider -

ISP.  Companies who sell a complete

range of unencumbered accesses to

the Internet for a modest fee. One of

which AOL is not any. So shoot me.

IP – 

Live a little, set up a network on your

computers and you’ll be asked to

install a protocol. NETBUI is one and

so is TCP/IP. Get that last part? “IP” 

It means “Internet Protocol.”

IRQ –

Interrupt Request (lines) They are

actually those little metallic lines under

the plastic layer on your motherboard.

All those devices you add, modems,

video cards, sound cards etc., need

to have one assigned so they can

butt in on the other devices when they

want to use the processor’s capabilities.

A little like the line outside the facilities

at a concert. When two devices try to

use the same one you have a "conflict"

ISA -

Industry Standard Architecture. The

long black slots on your motherboard

into which you stick those sound

cards, internal modems, etc., just

before the trouble stops.  The short

white ones are called PCI Peripheral

Component Interconnect, you can

either have too many or not enough.

Nuff said.

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J

Javascript – 

A scripting language, an offshoot of JAVA but easier to use, most commonly used in web-pages. Like to see what it looks like? Open a web page, right click in the middle of it someplace and then click on “view source.”  See?

JScript –  

JScript is an interpreted, object-based scripting language. Although it has fewer capabilities than full-fledged object-oriented languages like C++, JScript is more than sufficiently powerful for its intended purposes.  JScript is not a cut-down version of another language (it is only distantly and indirectly related to Java, for example), nor is it a simplification of anything. It is, however, limited. You cannot write stand-alone applications in it, for example, and it has no built-in support for reading or writing files. Moreover, JScript scripts can run only in the presence of an interpreter or "host", such as Active Server Pages (ASP), Internet Explorer, or Windows Script Host.

----------------------------------------------------

K

Key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\CLASSES\.htc] "Content Type"="text/x-component"  That is a “Key” as found in the registry, under the proper circumstances known to generate foul language and cruel and inhuman treatment to computers and other life forms in close proximity. If you don’t know, don’t do. And if you do, BACK UP EVERYTHING, TWICE. Microsoft calls those yellow label numbers on the back of software packages “Keys” too. Personally I think Key West is great.  

Keyboard Shortcut -

this is when you hold two keys down at one time and try to stretch your other finger all the way across your keyboard to reach a third key....all to avoid having to click your mouse three times.

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L

LDAP –

A dyslexic’s view of the Los Angeles Police Department.  Or it could be “Lightweight Directory Access Protocol” used to access directory listings, and is being used in e-mail programs and browsers to search LDAP-compliant directories. With its ability to provide a common means to search for e-mail addresses on the Internet, it could lead to one worldwide white pages directory. That’s what the experts say. If that is so, why can’t I find my sisters e-mail address in Wannasury Oklatucky?

Links –

another name for a golf course in Scotland, or what you do to documents so that an action performed in one automatically makes a change in another. Like a sales entry in a data base changes the quantity in an inventory spread sheet.

List box -

as far as I know, it's just another name for a dropdown list.  You know the box where you have this little black arrow pointing down on the right end and you can only choose one.

Listbox data -

the data contained in an on-screen scrollable window. When you’re on the web and hit the wrong “Favorites” button and that space taking panel pops up on the left side of the screen, that’s a list box, the stuff in it is the Data.

Listbox items –

See “Listbox data” the items are the things listed in the List Box

LOL -

Don't look now 'cause this may make you Laugh Out Loud.  Actually it is such a nebulous thing that depending upon the context in which it is used it might mean most anything you wish.  Lots Of Love, is one that comes to mind, like in a flash.  Little Old Ladies, of which there are bunches here in Florida (God's waiting room)  Like it Or Leave it, offbeat but self explanatory.  Lemon Or Lime? No thank you, I prefer an anchovy stuffed olive, if you don't mind.

LPT Port -

works through the parallel interface and

it’s where you plug in your printer

external drives and stuff for which there

are no available slots on the motherboard.