Acronym – The first letter of each word in a phrase. Example: HTML = HyperText Markup Language or WWW = World Wide Web.

Adapter address – see MAC Address

Add-ins – The term used to describe a secondary piece of software that is added to a program to increase its functionality. Examples include: Adobe Acrobat add-in for viewing .PDF documents, and Macormedia's Flash player. This term is genearally used by Microsoft products and is sometimes referred to as a Plug In by other software manufacturers.

Adobe Acrobat – A standalone program or Internet browser add-in that allows you to view Portable Document Format (PDF) files. It can be downloaded free from the Adobe website.

Alt – Alter key. This key is located to left and right of the space bar on most standard keyboards. When working with some programs, this key can be combined with others to create shortcuts or "hot keys" to functions. Example: Holding the Alt key down and pressing F4 will close the program that you are currently working in (Windows only). For more shortcuts and useful tips, check out our How To... section.

American National Standards Institute (ANSI) – An organization in the United States that works to develop standards in technology.

American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) – A format for creating plain text files. This is the most common format used in computers and on the Internet today. It has a set of 128 alphanumeric and special control characters. Each character is represented by a 7 bit binary number (ie. a string of seven 1s or 0s).

Application – Short form for Application Program, this is a product or system that performs a function directly for the user or for another application. Common applications include: Word Processors, Image Creators and Editors, Database Programs, and Web Browsers.

Application Program Interface (API) – The interface, or method of communication, between the application and its environment. A program's environment includes the Operating System (OS) and any other programs that are running or are installed on the computer.

Applet –A small application. Applets are usually distributed with arger products, for example Notepad, and Calculator are applets in Windows. Applets are also used on the Internet to include small programs on web sites. These programs can perform calculations or add animation and are usually created using the Java programming language.

Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) – The protocol through which the IP address of a computer is translated (or mapped) into a MAC address. The ARP program maintains a list of all IP addresses in the Local Area Network (LAN) and the corresponding Media Access Control (MAC) addresses of each computer. When a request for connection to a computer at a specific IP address comes in to the network, the ARP program looks up the IP address in the list and directs the connection request to the computer with the found MAC address.

Attachment – A file that is sent with an email message. The file is "linked" to the message rather than being written directly into it. The file can be in any format and can be viewed by the recipient so long as they have an application installed on their computer that will open that type of file. Most ISPs (Internet Service Providers) limit the size of email messages that they send or receive to approximately 1 MB. Keep this in mind when you are attempting to send large files via email.