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Safe Mode- Safe Mode is loaded upon boot pressing "f8" on Windows machines and uses minimal drivers when booting to the system. Safe Mode is often used to diagnose problems, run anti-virus scans, malware scans or check system properties, etc.
Sandy Bridge Chip- manufactured on Intel's 32nm process technology with all cores and graphics integrated onto one chip with more powerful graphics, faster, more effecient speed and energy saving features.
Scan- to look over files searching for known files or unknown files. Used to search and find then eliminate malware and also used to find specific files on drives, user documents, etc.
Scan Rate- the number of times per second the device refreshes its instructions to display graphics.
Sector- predefined circular tracks of information contained within a predefined space on a hard drive. Sectors may also be contained on data tape storage and also optical storage such as CD's, DVD's, floppy disks, etc.
Serial Interface- the physical interface where data is transferred sequentially, one bit at a time over a network compared to paralled interface. The transmission is conveyed through computer bus or other communication channels.
SLIP; Serial Line Internet Protocol- an internet protocol that works with serial ports and modems; generally has been replaced with Point-to-Point Protocol.
Serial Mode- data transfer that is moved one bit at a time over a single conductor.
Serial Mouse- a Mouse as an external peripheral that was plugged into the Serial Port; no longer in use in today's computers.
Serial Port- physical communication ports that transfer data back and forth one bit at a time between the computer and other peripherals.
Servers- [a] a computer running a program for other computers or running programs on its own. [b] Computers that are dedicated to specific tasks such as a mail server, chat server, print server, file server, database server, etc. [c] A computer running programs for other computers on the same network.
Setup Disks- the disk(s) used to start the setup and installation of the operating system.
Shadow RAM- an area of RAM used to store BIOS information from the ROM for faster speed.
Shared Resources- system resources whether information or devices that may be shared by other machines on the network.
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Shares- resources that are available to other network users such as files or printers.
Simplex Communications- the ability to send transmissions one way and waiting for the receiption before rebroadcasting; only sending and waiting for the response opposed to duplex communications.
SIMM; Single In-line Memory Module- physical memory using Random Access Memory that had redundant contacts on both sides of the module used in the 80's through the late 90's; replaced by Dual In-line Memory Modules (DIMMs).
SCSI; Small Computer System Interface bus- a system-level interface to support different connections and devices.
SmartDrive; SMARTDRV.EXE- a Microsoft MS-DOS disk cache that holds information in the extended memory on information in the hard drive; makes for faster read time if requested information is in the disk cache versus reading data from the hard drive.
Software- one or more computer programs that tell the computer what to do and with what information or instructions to accomplish the tasks.
Speaker- the physical device that provides sound and usually rated around 8 ohms.
SSD- acronym for Solid State Drive. A data storage device that uses nonvolatile solid state chips to retain and deliver data similar to hard drives that hold data on a spinning platter similar to a DVD or CD.
Start Bit- denotes the starting bit at the beginning of a character in asynchronous serial data transmissions.
Static Electricity- a buildup of an electrical charge on a surface that is retained until it is neutralized with a ground source or means of a discharge.
SRAM; Static Random-Access Memeory- RAM that can hold data as long as the power is not interrupted.
Stop Bit- denotes the ening bit at the end of a character in asynchronous serial data transmissions.
Stop Errors- a critical error of nonrecoverable status, a.k.a. "blue screen of death" or "blue screen".
Subnet Mask- using 255 to mask the subnet while the host portion of the network's IP remains visible.
Swap File- a memory management process in which data is stored and retrieved from a seconday data storage and then stored in the main memory as needed.
Synchronous Transmission- transmitting serial data in which both the transmitter and receiver are synchronized by clock signals.
SYSEDIT.EXE- a special ASCII text editor for Windows configuration files such as WIN.INI, CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT and SYSTEM.INI.
System Board- the main circuit board, a.k.a. motherboard. The system board or motherboard characterisitics:
- motherboard holds the ROM BIOS
- can contain hundreds of ICs
- holds the RAM in usually two or more slots
- holds the CPU and CPU fan
- desktop motherboards have the SATA and/or IDE slots for peripheral hardware such as hard drives and DVD drives
- has ports for the power supply to connect for power on desktops
- desktop motherboards can have other slots like PCI, AGP, PCIe, etc.
- all system boards also hold the small battery powering the CMOS, the CR2032 lithium coin cell
System Files- "hidden files" used to boot the system with the extension .SYS.
System-Level Interface- an expansion slot that allows direct communication through the I/Os without the need for an additional integrated circuit.
System Partitions- the partition containing the files needed to boot the operating system.
System Software- all the programs that it takes to boot, maintain operation, perform diagnostics and repairs, schedule tasks, etc. for the system to properly function.
System Unit- the main box containing the computer: system board, hard drive, RAM, power supply, DVD/CD ROM or R/W, card readers, floppy drives, etc.
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