Memory Control Block: The data structure containing the length and owner (among other things) of a portion of the memory managed by DOS.
Non-Volatile RAM: Memory which can be modified like normal RAM but does not lose its contents when the system's power is turned off. This memory may be powered by a battery when the system power if off, or it may be a type of memory which does not need electricity to maintain its contents, such as EEPROM or bubble memory.
Nonvolatile Storage: A storage medium that retain is contents in he absence of power.
Operating System (OS): A set of programs that controls and supervises a computer system’s hardware and provides services o programmers and users.
Optical Disk: A secondary storage medium using laser technology to read tiny spots on a plastic disk. The disks are currently capable of storing billions of characters of information.
Option ROM: Optional read-only memory found on PC bus expansion cards. This ROM usually contains additional firmware required to properly boot the peripheral connected to the expansion card, for instance, a hard drive. Also referred to as an expansion ROM.
Park: To move a hard disk's read/write heads to a position in which it is safe to turn off the power and transport the disk drive. Many drives also lock the heads into position when they are parked, providing additional protection from sudden movement.
Password: A unique string of characters that must be provided before logon or access to a resource or service is authorized.
Password caching: Automatically storing a password in a password list (PWL) file so that whenever the user logs on again, the logon password unlocks the PWL file and the resource passwords it contains.
PC Card: A trademark of PCMCIA. A removable device that is designed to be plugged into a PC Card slot and used as a memory-related peripheral.
Power-On Self-Test: A brief examination of the system's functionality performed each time the system is turned on.
Primary Storage Section: Also known as internal storage and main memory, this section of the processor holds program instructions, input data, intermediate results, and the output information produced during processing.
Program Segment Prefix: The Program Segment Prefix is a 256-byte data area prepended to a program when it is loaded. It contains the command line that the program was invoked with, and a variety of housekeeping information for DOS.
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