Designed for
`._
`In
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`Microsoft
`Windows NT'
`Windows°95
`
`mmmimflmiiflMimiMinimum
`
`__ #0402 00127
`
`The Comprehensive Standard for
`Business, School, Library, and Home,
`
`Over
`1600
`Terms
`Additional Terms
`Available On Line
`Quarterly
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`MicrosoftiPress
`
`9 Over 300 illustrations and diagrams
`- Extensive Internet coverage
`
`7 9 Featured in Microsoft‘i' Bookshelf
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`0 Covers software, hardware, concepts,
`and more!
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`PUBLISHED BY
`Microsoft Press
`
`A Division of Microsoft Corporation
`One Microsoft Way
`Redmond, Washington 98052—6399
`
`Copyright © 1997 by Microsoft Corporation
`
`All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced or transmitted
`in any form’ér by any means without the written permission of the publisher.
`
`Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
`Microsoft Press Computer Dictionary. —— 3rd ed.
`p.
`cm.
`ISBN 1—57231—446-X
`
`2. Microcomputers-—Dictionaries.
`
`l. Computers——Dictionaries.
`I. Microsoft Press.
`QA76.15.M54 1997
`004'.03--dc21
`
`Distributed to the book trade in Canada by Macmillan of Canada, a division of Canada Publishing
`, Corporation.
`
`A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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`Microsoft Press books are available through booksellers and distributors worldwide. For further
`information about international editions, contact your local Microsoft Corporation office. Or contact
`Microsoft Press International directly at fax (425) 936—7329.
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`Macintosh, Power Macintosh, QuickTime, and TrueType are registered trademarks of Apple Computer,
`Inc. Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. DirectInput, DirectX, Microsoft, Microsoft
`Press, MS-DOS, Visual Basic, Visual C++, Win32, Win32s, Windows, Windows NT, and XENIX are
`registered trademarks and ActiveMovie, ActiveX, and Visual J++ are trademarks of Microsoft
`
`Corporation. Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Other product and company names
`mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
`
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`Acquisitions Editor: Kim Fryer
`Project Editor: Maureen Williams Zimmerman, Anne Taussig
`Technical Editors: Dail Magee Jr., Gary Nelson, Jean Ross, Jim Fuchs, John Conrow, Kurt Meyer,
`Robert Lyon, Roslyn Lutsch
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`97—15489
`CIP
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`Printed and bound in the United States of America.
`23456789 QMQM 210987
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`I
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`

`

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`computer off before saving any data, a blackout
`will cause all unsaved data to be irretrievably lost.
`The most potentially damaging situation is one in
`which a blackout occurs while a disk drive is
`reading information from or writing information
`to a disk. The information being read or written
`will probably become corrupted, causing the loss
`of a small part of a file, an entire file, or the entire
`disk; the disk drive itself might suffer damage as a
`result of the sudden power loss. The only reliable
`means of preventing damage caused by a black—
`out
`is to use a battery—backed uninterruptible
`power supply (UPS). See also - UPS. Compare
`brownout.
`blank1 \blank\ 11. The Character entered by press-
`ing the spacebar. See also space character.
`blank2 \blank\ vb. To not show or not display an
`image on part or all of the screen.
`blanking \blan’kéng\ n. The brief suppression of
`a display signal as the electron beam in a raster—
`scan video monitor is moved into position to dis—
`play a new line. After tracing each scan line, the
`beam is at the right edge of the screen and must
`return to the left (horizontal retrace) to begin a
`new line. The display signal must be turned off
`during the time of the retrace (horizontal blanking
`interval) to avoid overwriting the line just dis-
`played. Similarly, after tracing the bottom scan
`line, the electron beam moves to the top left cor—
`ner (vertical retrace), and the beam must be turned
`off during the time of this retrace (vertical blanking
`interval) to avoid marking the screen with the
`retrace path.
`.
`blast \blast\ vb. See burn.
`bleed \bléd\ n. In a printed document, any ele—
`ment that runs off the edge of the page or into the
`gutter. Bleeds are often used in books to mark
`important pages so they are easier to find. See also
`glitter.
`blind carbon copy \blind; karan kop’é\ n, See
`bcc.
`
`.
`
`blind courtesy cop}r \blind‘ kar’ta—sé kop‘é\
`See bcc.
`blind search \blind sorch’\ n. A search for data in
`memory or on a storage device with no fore-
`knowledge as to the data’s order or location. See
`also linear
`search. Compare binary search,
`indexed search.
`
`71.
`
`blink \blénk\ vb. To flash on and off. Cursors,
`insertion points, menu choices, warning messages,
`and other displays on a computer screen that are
`intended to catch the eye are often made to blink.
`The rate of blinking in a graphical user interface
`can sometimes be controlled by the user.
`blink speed \blénk’ spéd\ n. The rate at which
`the cursor indicating the active insertion point in a
`text window, or other display element, flashes on
`and off.
`blip \blip\ n. A small, optically sensed mark on a
`recording medium, such as microfilm, that is used
`for counting or other tracking purposes.
`bloatware \blot’war\
`11. Software whose files
`occupy an extremely large amount of storage
`space on a user’s hard disk, especially in compar-
`ison with previous versions of the same product.
`block1 \blok\ n. 1. Generally, a contiguous collec-
`tion of similar things that are handled together as
`a whole. 2. A section of random access memory
`temporarily assigned (allocated) to a program by
`the operating system. 3. A group of statements in
`a program that are treated as a unit. For example,
`if a stated condition is true, all of the statements in ‘
`the block are executed, but none are executed if
`the condition is false. 4. A unit of transmitted infor-
`mation consisting of identification codes, data, and
`error—checking codes. 5. A collection of consecu—
`tive bytes of data that are read from or written to
`a device (such as a disk) as a group. 6. A rectan—
`gular grid of pixels that are handled as a unit. 7. A
`segment of text that can be selected and acted
`upon as a whole in an application.
`block2 \blok\ 12b. 1. To distribute a file over fixed—
`size blocks in storage. 2. To prevent a signal from
`being transmitted. 3. To select a segment of text,
`by using a mouse, menu selection, or cursor key,
`/to be acted upon in some way, SUCh as to format
`or to delete the segment.
`_
`H
`private key
`block cipher \blok’
`si‘f9r\
`'n.
`encryption method that encrypts data in blocks of
`a fixed size (usually 64 bits). The encrypted data
`block contains the same number of bits as the
`original. See also encryption, private key.
`block cursor \blok’ kur‘sor\ n. An on—screen cur-
`sor that has the same width and height in pixels as
`a text—mode character cell. A block cursor is used
`in text-based applications, especially as the mouse
`
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