Compaq PRESARIO 2700 User Manual

Page 117

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Glossary

Mobile Internet PC User’s Guide

7

Presario 2700 Series

G

game port

A connector on the

back of the computer for
plugging in a joystick.
See also joystick.

GIF

Pronounced “giff.” A file

format for graphics displayed on
the Internet. It is easily
identified by the file extension
.gif. See also JPEG.

graphical interface

Communication between a

person and a computer by means
of images. With a pointing
device, such as a mouse, you
click an icon to tell the computer
what you want. See also icon.

graphics

Pictures or

illustrations, including drawings,
pie charts, bar graphs, street
maps, architectural and
engineering designs, fashion
designs, musical scores,
cartoons, animated images, and
photographs. A graphics card
enables the monitor to display
these items on the screen.
See also SVGA and XGA.

H

hard disk

Internal storage

media for permanent storage of
system files, software, and data
files. The hard disk consists of
flat, round platters. Each side of
each platter has a head that floats
on a thin cushion of air over the
surface of the rapidly spinning
disk and picks up (reads)
magnetically stored data or
records (writes) data onto the
disk.

hard drive

The drive that reads

and writes to the hard disk. If
you have a large hard drive, it
may be divided into several
partitions. Each partition is
designated by a different icon
and a drive letter, beginning,
with the letter C. Partition C:
contains the files the computer
uses to start up. The other
partitions contain no
pre-installed files.

hardware

The physical

components of a computer—the
parts you can physically touch.
See also software.

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