Spyware:  

1. A term used to describe a software program that is intentionally installed on a computer to monitor what users of that computer are doing.
2. A term used to describe a software program that has been designated to secretly gather information about a user’s activity.  Spyware programs are often used to track user’s habits in order to better target them with advertisements.  Spyware is usually installed onto a user’s machine without their knowledge.  It is often installed when downloading free music programs, downloading free movies, visiting adult-oriented web pages, and through other downloads and plug-ins on the Internet.

S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology):  A diagnostic method which analysis many of the mechanical tributes; over time, some failures can be predicted by detecting if the hard drive is moving out of tolerance.  While the S.M.A.R.T. can detect upcoming issues, not all hard drive failures are predictable.

IBM, Western Digital, Maxtor, Quantum, Seagate, and Fujitsu are a few of the major hard drive manufacturers that are including S.M.A.R.T. in their hard drives.

Defrag:  Aka “Defragment”.  A maintenance task required by hard drives.

Most hard drives have spinning platters, with data stored in different places around that platter.  When your computer writes data to your drive, it does so in “blocks” that are ordered sequentially from one side of the drive’s platter to the other.  Fragmentation happens when those files get split between blocks that are far away from each other.  The hard drive then takes longer to read that file, because the read head has to “visit” multiple spots on the platter.  Defragmentation puts those blocks back in sequential order, so your drive head doesn’t have to run around the entire platter to read a single file.

 

CHKDSK:  Short for “check disk”.  A system tool that verifies the file system integrity of a volume, and fixes the logical file system errors.  CHKDSK can also check the disk surface for bad sectors and mark them.

ScanDisk:  Microsoft ScanDisk.  A diagnostic utility that checks and repairs file systems errors on a disk drive.  It also has the ability to detect and, if possible, recover from physical errors on the disk.

Temporary File:  Aka “foo file”.  A file created to hold information temporarily while a file is being created.  After the program is closed, the temporary file should be deleted.  Temporary files are used to help recover lost data if the program or computer shuts down without the proper shut down procedure.

Swap File:  Aka “page file” or “paging file”.  It is a file stored on the computer hard drive that is used as a temporary location to store information that is not currently being used by the computer RAM.  By using a swap file, a computer has the ability to use more memory than what is physically installed in the computer.  However, users who are low on hard drive space may notice that the computer runs slower because of the inability of the swap file to grow in size.

RAM:  “Random Access Memory“.  A computer storage location that allows information to be stored and accessed quickly from random locations within DRAM on a memory module.  Because information is accessed randomly, the computer can access the data much faster.  However, unlike ROM and the hard drive, RAM is a volatile memory, and requires power in order to keep the data accessible.  If power is lost, all data contained in the RAM is lost.

ROM:  “Read-Only Memory“.  Is a “built-in” memory that is used with computers and other electronic devices.  Data stored in ROM may only be read.  Changes are either extremely difficult, or not at all possible.  ROM is used usually only for firmware updates.  Unlike RAM, ROM is non-volatile, which means it keeps its contents regardless of whether or not it has power.

Firmware:  Data stored in a computer or other hardware device ROM or elsewhere in the circuitry that provides instruction on how that device should operate.  Unlike normal software, firmware cannot be changed or deleted by an end-user without the aid of special programs.  It remains on the device regardless of whether the device is on or off.

Firmware Update:  A software program that can be used to flash update the firmware in those devices.  Firmware updates are made available through the hardware manufacturer.  In some cases computer enthusiast’s websites offer firmware updates to give a device even more capabilities than the manufacturer intended, although these updates are not supported by the manufacturer.