Parallel Port

Usually the socket at the back of the computer that a printer attaches to in order to print documents and pictures successfully.

Partition

A section of one whole that behaves as if it is a whole in itself. For example, one hard drive can be partitioned into two separate 'logical' hard drives that behave as if they were physically two hard drives.

Password

A code or codeword to allow a person entry to a particular part of a computer system, or even an entire computer system. Good passwords are alphanumeric, meaning that they include numbers and special characters as well as letters.

Path

A setting in DOS and Windows 9x that allows programs and a user to run something such as a program without being in that particular part of the hard drive. For example, if a program webbrowser.exe lived in c:\webbrowser then provided c:\webbrowser was in the [search] path then it could be run from c:\ or c:\windows or anywhere.

Peripheral

A term used to describe a piece of external PC hardware such as a printer or scanner that attaches to the PC via a cable.

PCMCIA

Personal Computer Memory Card for International Association. Yet another governing body which defines standards, this time for laptop and notebook computers, and their expansion capabilities. PCMCIA cards are expansion cards which are of a similar size to a credit card, and slot into a PC. Examples are modems and network cards. Becoming more widely known as PC-Cards.

Ping

A way of testing whether a computer is responding on the Internet. A small piece of data is sent to the other computer and if a reply is recieved then the other machine is successfully connected.

POP

Point of Presence. A geographical location where computers can connect to a network.  For example, if there is an ISP based in New York, USA, but has a POP in London, England, then users in England need only connect to the POP in London to get full access to that network.  In the UK this has effectively been replaced by vPOP (Virtual Point of Presence) where users dial a single local-rate phone number independant of geographical location to connect to a network such as an ISP.  For the ISP it means that all communications equipment can be brought in-house making it easier to administer.

POP3

Post Office Protocol 3. A method of delivering E-mail to a users E-mail package from the mail server.

Portal

One of the most valuable sites on the Internet at present for a particular company, a portal is a 'first port of call' for Internet users, with the idea of keeping them there for as long as possible to increase advertising revenue. Services offered by portals include E-mail, a search engine, weather reports and so on.

POST

Power On Self Test. A test performed by the computer to check itself when it is switched on.

PPP

Point-to-Point Protocol. This is the way that a modem connects to an ISP to establish a connection to the Internet.

Protocol

A standard way of transferring data between two or more computers.

Proxy Server

A server which browsers connect to in order to access the Internet indirectly, ie. the client doesn't have a modem or leased line attached to it. Good for security in places like a large organisation, the administrators can restrict who has access through the proxy, if needed.