A backup that copies all selected files that have been modified the day the daily backup is performed. The backed-up files are not marked as having been backed up (in other words, the archive attribute is not cleared).

A service provided by cryptographic technology to ensure that data can be read only by authorized users or programs. In a network, data confidentiality ensures that data cannot be read by intruders. Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional use access control mechanisms and encryption, such as DES, 3DES, and RSA encryption algorithms, to ensure data confidentiality.

An encryption algorithm that uses a 56-bit key, and maps a 64-bit input block to a 64-bit output block. The key appears to be a 64-bit key, but one bit in each of the 8 bytes is used for odd parity, resulting in 56 bits of usable key.

A service provided by cryptographic technology that ensures data has not been modified. In a network environment, data integrity allows the receiver of a message to verify that data has not been modified in transit. Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional use access control mechanisms and cryptography, such as RSA public-key signing and shared symmetric key one-way hash algorithms, to ensure data integrity.

A unit of information transmitted as a whole from one device to another on a network.

A layer that packages raw bits from the physical layer into frames (logical, structured packets for data). This layer is responsible for transferring frames from one computer to another, without errors. After sending a frame, the data-link layer waits for an acknowledgment from the receiving computer.

To return media to the available state after they have been used by an application.

A state that indicates that media have reached their allocation maximum.

The process of making encrypted data readable again by converting ciphertext to plaintext.

A configuration item for the TCP/IP protocol that is the IP address of a directly reachable IP router. Configuring a default gateway creates a default route in the IP routing table.

The process of rewriting parts of a file to contiguous sectors on a hard disk to increase the speed of access and retrieval.

An attack in which an attacker exploits a weakness or a design limitation of a network service to overload or halt the service, so that the service is not available for use. This type of attack is typically launched to prevent other users from using a network service such as a Web server or a file server.

The on-screen work area on which windows, icons, menus, and dialog boxes appear.

The directory (or folder) to which files are copied or moved.

A program that allows a specific device, such as a modem, network adapter, or printer, to communicate with the operating system. Although a device might be installed on your system, Windows cannot use the device until you have installed and configured the appropriate driver.

If a device is listed in the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL), a driver is usually included with Windows. Device drivers load automatically (for all enabled devices) when a computer is started, and thereafter run invisibly.

An administrative tool that can be used to manage the devices on your computer. Use Device Manager to view and change device properties, update device drivers, configure device settings, and remove devices.

A hierarchical tree that contains the devices configured on a computer.

A service that enables a computer to function as a DHCP server and configure DHCP-enabled clients on a network. DHCP runs on a server, enabling the automatic, centralized management of IP addresses and other TCP/IP configuration settings for network clients.

The connection to your network if you are using a device that uses the telephone network. This includes modems with a standard phone line, ISDN cards with high-speed ISDN lines, or X.25 networks.

If you are a typical user, you might have one or two dial-up connections, for example, to the Internet and to your corporate network. In a more complex server situation, multiple network modem connections might be used to implement advanced routing.

A backup that copies files created or changed since the last normal or incremental backup. It does not mark files as having been backed up (in other words, the archive attribute is not cleared). If you are performing a combination of normal and differential backups, restoring files and folders requires that you have the last normal as well as the last differential backup.

Saved copies of changed data that can be applied to an original volume to generate a volume shadow copy.

A magnetic medium for recording and storing digital audio data.

An electronic certification issued by certification authorities that shows where a program comes from and proves that the installation package has not been altered. Administrators should sign their code with a digital certificate if planning to distribute an Internet Explorer package over the Internet.

A magnetic medium for backing up data. DLT can transfer data faster than many other types of tape media.

A means for originators of a message, file, or other digitally encoded information to bind their identity to the information. The process of digitally signing information entails transforming the information, as well as some secret information held by the sender, into a tag called a signature. Digital signatures are used in public key environments, and they provide nonrepudiation and integrity services.

A special communication line that uses modulation technology to maximize the amount of data that can be sent over copper wires. DSL is used for connections from telephone switching stations to a subscriber rather than between switching stations.

A type of optical disc storage technology. A digital video disc (DVD) looks like a CD-ROM disc, but it can store greater amounts of data. DVDs are often used to store full-length movies and other multimedia content that requires large amounts of storage space.

For Microsoft networking, the sending of messages directly over the IPX protocol without the use of NetBIOS. While direct hosting may be more efficient, a direct hosting client can connect only to a direct hosting server. Windows XP Professional does not support direct hosting.

Memory access that does not involve the microprocessor. DMA is frequently used for data transfer directly between memory and a peripheral device such as a disk drive.

An information source that contains information about users, computer files, or other objects. In a file system, a directory stores information about files. In a distributed computing environment (such as a Windows domain), the directory stores information about objects such as printers, fax servers, applications, databases, and other users.

Both the directory information source and the service that makes the information available and usable. A directory service enables the user to find an object when given any one of its attributes.

To make a device nonfunctional. For example, if you disable a device in a hardware configuration, you cannot use the device when your computer uses that hardware configuration. Disabling a device frees the resources that were allocated to the device.

The part of an object's security descriptor that grants or denies specific users and groups permission to access the object. Only the owner of an object can change permissions granted or denied in a DACL; thus, access to the object is at the owner's discretion.

A condition that occurs when disk performance is reduced to the extent that overall system performance is affected.

The maximum amount of disk space available to a user.

To remove a removable tape or disc from a drive.

A service that allows system administrators to organize distributed network shares into a logical namespace, enabling users to access files without specifying their physical location and providing load sharing across network shares.

The folder created on the Windows 2000-based distribution server to contain the Setup files.

A client computer that queries Domain Name System (DNS) servers in an attempt to resolve DNS domain names. DNS clients maintain a temporary cache of resolved DNS domain names.

An updated specification to the DNS standard that permits hosts that store name information in DNS to dynamically register and update their records in zones maintained by DNS servers that can accept and process dynamic update messages.

A server that maintains information about a portion of the Domain Name System (DNS) database and that responds to and resolves DNS queries.

In a DNS database, a zone is a contiguous portion of the DNS tree that is administered as a single separate entity by a DNS server. The zone contains resource records for all the names within the zone.

In Active Directory, a collection of computers defined by the administrator. These computers share a common directory database, security policies, and security relationships with other domains.

In DNS, any tree or subtree within the DNS namespace. Although the names for DNS domains often correspond to Active Directory domains, DNS domains should not be confused with Active Directory domains.

In an Active Directory forest, a server that contains a writable copy of the Active Directory database, participates in Active Directory replication, and controls access to network resources. Administrators can manage user accounts, network access, shared resources, site topology, and other directory objects from any domain controller in the forest.

An implementation of DFS in which DFS topological information is stored in Active Directory. Because this information is made available on multiple domain controllers in the domain, domain DFS provides fault-tolerance for any distributed file system in the domain.

A security or distribution group that can contain universal groups, global groups, other domain local groups from its own domain, and accounts from any domain in the forest. Domain local security groups can be granted rights and permissions on resources that reside only in the same domain where the domain local group is located.

The name given by an administrator to a collection of networked computers that share a common directory. Part of the Domain Name System (DNS) naming structure, domain names consist of a sequence of name labels separated by periods.

A hierarchical, distributed database that contains mappings of DNS domain names to various types of data, such as IP addresses. DNS enables the location of computers and services by user-friendly names, and it also enables the discovery of other information stored in the database.

In DNS, the inverted hierarchical tree structure that is used to index domain names. Domain trees are similar in purpose and concept to the directory trees used by computer filing systems for disk storage. For example, when numerous files are stored on disk, directories can be used to organize the files into logical collections. When a domain tree has one or more branches, each branch can organize domain names used in the namespace into logical collections.

In Active Directory, a hierarchical structure of one or more domains, connected by transitive, bidirectional trusts, that forms a contiguous namespace. Multiple domain trees can belong to the same forest.

A computer configuration that can start two different operating systems.

A hardware or software component that allows a digital video disc (DVD) drive to display movies on your computer screen.

A disk storage device that uses digital video disc (DVD) technology. A DVD drive reads both CD-ROM and DVDs; however, you must have a DVD decoder to display DVD movies on your computer screen.

An alternative keyboard with a layout that makes the most frequently typed characters more accessible to people who have difficulty typing on the standard QWERTY layout.

A physical disk that can be accessed only by Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Dynamic disks provide features that basic disks do not, such as support for volumes that span multiple disks. Dynamic disks use a hidden database to track information about dynamic volumes on the disk and other dynamic disks in the computer. You convert basic disks to dynamic by using the Disk Management snap-in or the DiskPart command-line tool. When you convert a basic disk to dynamic, all existing basic volumes become dynamic volumes.

A TCP/IP service protocol that offers dynamic leased configuration of host IP addresses and distributes other configuration parameters to eligible network clients. DHCP provides safe, reliable, and simple TCP/IP network configuration, prevents address conflicts, and helps conserve the use of client IP addresses on the network.

DHCP uses a client/server model where the DHCP server maintains centralized management of IP addresses that are used on the network. DHCP-supporting clients can then request and obtain lease of an IP address from a DHCP server as part of their network boot process.

A volume that resides on a dynamic disk. Windows supports five types of dynamic volumes: simple, spanned, striped, mirrored, and RAID-5. A dynamic volume is formatted by using a file system, such as FAT or NTFS, and has a drive letter assigned to it.

An operating system feature that allows executable routines (generally serving a specific function or set of functions) to be stored separately as files with .dll extensions. These routines are loaded only when needed by the program that calls them.

EAP

See definition for: Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP)

EFI system partition

On Itanium-based computers, a portion on a GUID partition table (GPT) disk that is formatted with the FAT file system and contains the files necessary to start the computer. Every Itanium-based computer must have at least one GPT disk with an EFI system partition. The EFI system partition serves the same purpose as the system volume found on x86-based computers.

See also: Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI); GUID partition table (GPT); Microsoft Reserved (MSR) partition

Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP)

An IPSec protocol that provides confidentiality, in addition to authentication, integrity, and anti-replay. ESP can be used alone, in combination with AH, or nested with the Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP). ESP does not normally sign the entire packet unless it is being tunneled. Ordinarily, just the data payload is protected, not the IP header.

See also: authentication; Authentication Header (AH); integrity; Internet Protocol security (IPSec); Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP)

Encrypting File System (EFS)

A feature in this version of Windows that enables users to encrypt files and folders on an NTFS volume disk to keep them safe from access by intruders.

See also: NTFS file system

encryption

The process of disguising a message or data in such a way as to hide its substance.

See also: public key encryption

encryption key

A bit string that is used in conjunction with an encryption algorithm to encrypt and decrypt data.

See also: private key; symmetric key

environment variable

A string consisting of environment information, such as a drive, path, or file name, associated with a symbolic name that can be used by Windows. You use System in Control Panel or the set command from the command prompt to define environment variables.

See also: variable

Ethernet

An IEEE 802.3 standard for contention networks. Ethernet uses a bus or star topology and relies on the form of access known as Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/DC) to regulate communication line traffic. Network nodes are linked by coaxial cable, fiber-optic cable, or by twisted-pair wiring. Data is transmitted in variable-length frames containing delivery and control information and up to 1,500 bytes of data. The Ethernet standard provides for baseband transmission at 10 megabits (10 million bits) per second.

exabyte

Approximately one quintillion bytes, or one billion billion bytes.

expire interval

For DNS, the number of seconds that DNS servers operating as secondary masters for a zone will use to determine if zone data should be expired when the zone is not refreshed and renewed.

See also: DNS server; Domain Name System (DNS)

export

In Network File System (NFS), to make a file system available by a server to a client for mounting.

See also: Network File System (NFS)

Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA)

A 32-bit bus standard introduced in 1988 by a consortium of nine computer-industry companies. EISA maintains compatibility with the earlier Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) but provides for additional features.

See also: Industry Standard Architecture (ISA)

extended partition

A type of partition that you can create only on basic master boot record (MBR) disks. Extended partitions are useful if you want to create more than four volumes on a basic MBR disk. Unlike primary partitions, you do not format an extended partition with a file system and then assign a drive letter to it. Instead, you create one or more logical drives within the extended partition. After you create a logical drive, you format it and assign it a drive letter. An MBR disk can have up to four primary partitions, or three primary partitions, one extended partition, and multiple logical drives.

See also: basic disk; logical drive; master boot record (MBR); partition; primary partition; unallocated space; volume

Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP)

An extension to the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) that allows for arbitrary authentication mechanisms to be employed for the validation of a PPP connection.

See also: Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP)

Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI)

In computers with the Intel Itanium processor, the interface between a computer's firmware, hardware, and the operating system. The Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) defines a new partition style called GUID partition table (GPT). EFI serves the same purpose for Itanium-based computers as the BIOS found in x86-based computers. However, it has expanded capabilities that provide a consistent way to start any compatible operating system and an easy way to add EFI drivers for new bootable devices without the need to update the computer's firmware.

See also: basic input/output system (BIOS); GUID partition table (GPT)

Extensible Markup Language (XML)

A meta-markup language that provides a format for describing structured data. This facilitates more precise declarations of content and more meaningful search results across multiple platforms. In addition, XML enables a new generation of Web-based data viewing and manipulation applications.

F

FAT32

A derivative of the file allocation table (FAT) file system. FAT32 supports smaller cluster sizes and larger volumes than FAT, which results in more efficient space allocation on FAT32 volumes.

See also: file allocation table (FAT)

fault tolerance

The ability of computer hardware or software to ensure data integrity when hardware failures occur. Fault tolerant features appear in many server operating systems and include mirrored volumes, RAID-5 volumes, and server clusters.

See also: cluster; mirrored volume; RAID-5 volume

FDDI

See definition for: Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)

Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)

A type of network media designed for use with fiber-optic cabling.

file allocation table (FAT)

A file system used by MS-DOS and other Windows operating systems to organize and manage files. The file allocation table (FAT) is a data structure that Windows creates when you format a volume by using the FAT or FAT32 file systems. Windows stores information about each file in the FAT so that it can retrieve the file later.

See also: FAT32; file system; NTFS file system

file record

The row in the master file table (MFT) that corresponds to a particular disk file. The file record is identified by its file reference.

file system

In an operating system, the overall structure in which files are named, stored, and organized. NTFS, FAT, and FAT32 are types of file systems.

See also: FAT32; NTFS file system

file system cache

An area of physical memory that holds frequently used pages. It allows applications and services to locate pages rapidly and reduces disk activity.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

A member of the TCP/IP suite of protocols, used to copy files between two computers on the Internet. Both computers must support their respective FTP roles: one must be an FTP client and the other an FTP server.

See also: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

filter

For Indexing Service, software that extracts content and property values from a document in order to index them.

For IPSec, a specification of IP traffic that provides the ability to trigger security negotiations for a communication based on the source, destination, and type of IP traffic.

FilterKeys

A keyboard feature that instructs your keyboard to ignore brief or repeated keystrokes. You can also adjust the keyboard repeat rate, which is the rate at which a key repeats when you hold it down.

See also: ToggleKeys

firewall

A combination of hardware and software that provides a security system, usually to prevent unauthorized access from outside to an internal network or intranet. A firewall prevents direct communication between network and external computers by routing communication through a proxy server outside of the network. The proxy server determines whether it is safe to let a file pass through to the network. A firewall is also called a security-edge gateway.

Firewire

See definition for: IEEE 1394

Folder Redirection

A Group Policy option that allows you to redirect designated folders to the network.

font

A graphic design applied to a collection of numbers, symbols, and characters. A font describes a certain typeface, along with other qualities such as size, spacing, and pitch.

See also: OpenType fonts; PostScript fonts; screen font; Type 1 fonts

forest

A collection of one or more Active Directory domain trees that share a common schema, configuration, and global catalog and are linked with two-way transitive trusts.

See also: domain; domain tree; schema

fragmentation

The scattering of parts of the same disk file over different areas of the disk. Fragmentation occurs as files on a disk are deleted and new files are added. It slows disk access and degrades the overall performance of disk operations, although usually not severely.

See also: defragmentation

free media pool

A logical collection of unused data-storage media that can be used by applications or other media pools. When media are no longer needed by an application, they are returned to a free media pool so that they can be used again.

See also: media pool; Removable Storage

free space

Available space that you use to create logical drives within an extended partition.

See also: extended partition; logical drive; unallocated space

G

gatekeeper

A server that uses a directory to perform name-to-IP address translation, admission control, and call management services in H.323 conferencing.

See also: H.323

gateway

A device connected to multiple physical TCP/IP networks capable of routing or delivering IP packets between them. A gateway translates between different transport protocols or data formats (for example, IPX and IP) and is generally added to a network primarily for its translation ability.

In the context of interoperating with Novell NetWare networks, a gateway acts as a bridge between the server message block (SMB) protocol used by Windows networks and the NetWare Core Protocol (NCP) used by NetWare networks. A gateway is also called an IP router.

global group

A security or distribution group that can contain users, groups, and computers from its own domain as members. Global security groups can be granted rights and permissions on resources in any domain in its forest.

Global groups cannot be created or maintained on computers running Windows XP Professional. However, for Windows XP Professional-based computers that participate in a domain, domain global groups can be granted rights and permissions at those workstations and can become members of local groups at those workstations.

See also: group; local group; permission; user account

globally unique identifier (GUID)

A 16-byte value generated from the unique identifier on a device, the current date and time, and a sequence number. A GUID is used to identify a particular device or component.

GPT

See definition for: GUID partition table (GPT)

GPT disk

A disk that uses the GUID partition table (GPT) partition style. A partition style is the method that Windows XP uses to organize partitions on the disk. The GPT partition style supports volumes up to 18 exabytes and 128 partitions per disk. Only Itanium-based computers can use GPT disks.

See also: GUID partition table (GPT)

Graphical Identification and Authentication (GINA)

A DLL loaded during the Windows 2000 Winlogon process, which displays the standard logon dialog box and collects and processes user logon data for verification.

See also: dynamic-link library (DLL)

graphical user interface (GUI)

A display format, like that of Windows, that represents a program's functions with graphic images such as buttons and icons. GUIs allow a user to perform operations and make choices by pointing and clicking with a mouse.

group

A collection of users, computers, contacts, and other groups. Groups can be used as security or as e-mail distribution collections. Distribution groups are used only for e-mail. Security groups are used both to grant access to resources and as e-mail distribution lists.

See also: domain; global group; local group

group memberships

The groups to which a user account belongs. Permissions and rights granted to a group are also provided to its members. In most cases, the actions a user can perform in Windows are determined by the group memberships of the user account to which the user is logged on.

See also: group; user account

Group Policy

The Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in that is used to edit Group Policy objects.

Group Policy object

A collection of Group Policy settings. Group Policy objects are essentially the documents created by the Group Policy snap-in, a Windows tool. Group Policy objects are stored at the domain level, and they affect users and computers contained in sites, domains, and organizational units. In addition, each Windows computer has exactly one group of settings stored locally, called the local Group Policy object.

See also: Group Policy; object

GUI mode

The portion of Setup that uses a graphical user interface (GUI).

GUID partition table (GPT)

A disk-partitioning scheme that is used by the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) in Itanium-based computers. GPT offers more advantages than master boot record (MBR) partitioning because it allows up to 128 partitions per disk, provides support for volumes up to 18 exabytes in size, allows primary and backup partition tables for redundancy, and supports unique disk and partition IDs (GUIDs).

See also: Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI); globally unique identifier (GUID); master boot record (MBR)

H

H.323

The ITU-T standard for multimedia communications over networks that do not provide a guaranteed quality of service (QoS). This standard provides specifications for workstations, devices, and services to carry real-time video, audio, and data or any combination of these elements.

See also: International Telecommunication Union - Telecommunication [Standardization Sector] (ITU-T); Quality of Service (QoS)

hardware abstraction layer (HAL)

A thin layer of software provided by the hardware manufacturer that hides, or abstracts, hardware differences from higher layers of the operating system. By means of the filter provided by the HAL, different types of hardware look alike to the rest of the operating system. This allows the operating system to be portable from one hardware platform to another. The HAL also provides routines that allow a single device driver to support the same device on all platforms.

Hardware Compatibility List (HCL)

A hardware list that Microsoft compiles for a specific product. The Windows HCL, which is posted on the Web, lists the hardware devices and computer systems that are compatible with specific versions of Windows.

hardware configuration

Resource settings that have been allocated for a specific device. Each device on your computer has a hardware configuration, which can consist of interrupt request (IRQ) lines, DMA, an I/O port, or memory address settings.

See also: direct memory access (DMA); input/output (I/O) port

hardware decoder

A type of digital video disc (DVD) decoder that allows a DVD drive to display movies on your computer screen. A hardware decoder uses both software and hardware to display movies.

See also: DVD decoder; DVD drive; software decoder

hardware malfunction message

A character-based, full-screen error message displayed on a blue background. It indicates that the microprocessor detected a hardware error condition from which the system cannot recover.

head

The mechanism that reads data from and writes data to a hard disk. Hard disks use one head for each side of each platter. The heads are attached to a common head-movement area, so that all heads move in unison. The heads are always positioned over the same logical track on each side of each platter.

See also: track

high byte

The byte containing the most significant bits (bits 8 through 15) in a 2-byte grouping representing a 16-bit (bits 0 through 15) value.

hop

In data communications, one segment of the path between routers on a geographically dispersed network. A hop is comparable to one "leg" of a journey that includes intervening stops between the starting point and the destination. The distance between each of those stops (routers) is a communications hop.

Hosts file

A local text file in the same format as the 4.3 Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) UNIX /etc/hosts file. This file maps host names to IP addresses, and it is stored in the \%Systemroot%\System32\Drivers\Etc folder.

See also: systemroot

HTML

See definition for: Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)

HTML+TIME

A feature in Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 that adds timing and media synchronization support to HTML pages. Using a few Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based elements and attributes, you can add images, video, and sounds to an HTML page, and synchronize them with HTML text elements over a specified amount of time. In short, you can use HTML+TIME technology to quickly and easily create multimedia-rich, interactive presentations, with little or no scripting.

HTTP

See definition for: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

hubbed mode

A mode in which the ARP/MARS provides ATM addresses to requesting clients in the form of a multicast server (MCS) list value. In this mode, the ARP/MARS acts as a multicast server, providing active forwarding of all multicast and broadcast traffic destined for IP addresses contained within the ranges specified in the list.

See also: Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM); IP address

Human Interface Device (HID)

A firmware specification that is a new standard for input and output devices such as drawing tablets, keyboards, USB speakers, and other specialized devices designed to improve accessibility.

See also: universal serial bus (USB)

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)

A simple markup language used to create hypertext documents that are portable from one platform to another. HTML files are simple ASCII text files with codes embedded (indicated by markup tags) to denote formatting and hypertext links.

See also: American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII)

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

The protocol used to transfer information on the World Wide Web. An HTTP address (one kind of Uniform Resource Locator [URL]) takes the form: http://www.microsoft.com.

I

I/O request packet (IRP)

Data structures that drivers use to communicate with each other.

ICM

See definition for: Image Color Management (ICM)

IDE

See definition for: integrated device electronics (IDE)

IEEE 1284.4

An IEEE specification for supporting multifunction peripherals (MFPs). Windows 2000 has a driver that creates different port settings for each function of an MFP, enabling Windows 2000 print servers to simultaneously send data to multiple parts of an MFP.

IEEE 1394

A standard for high-speed serial devices such as digital video and digital audio editing equipment.

IIS

See definition for: Internet Information Services (IIS)

ILS

See definition for: Internet locator service (ILS)

Image Color Management (ICM)

The process of image output correction. ICM attempts to make the output more closely match the colors that are input or scanned.

import media pool

A logical collection of data-storage media that has not been cataloged by Removable Storage. Media in an import media pool should be cataloged as soon as possible so that they can be used by an application.

See also: media pool; Removable Storage

incremental backup

A backup that copies only those files created or changed since the last normal or incremental backup. It marks files as having been backed up (in other words, the archive attribute is cleared). If you use a combination of normal and incremental backups to restore your data, you will need to have the last normal backup and all incremental backup sets.

See also: copy backup; daily backup; differential backup; normal backup

independent client

A computer with Message Queuing installed that can host queues and store messages locally. Independent clients do not require synchronous access to a Message Queuing server to send and receive messages, but they can use Message Queuing servers with routing enabled for efficient message routing.

independent software vendors (ISVs)

A third-party software developer; an individual or an organization that independently creates computer software.

Industry Standard Architecture (ISA)

A bus design specification that allows components to be added as cards plugged into standard expansion slots in IBM Personal Computers and IBM-compatible computers.

infrared (IR)

Light that is beyond red in the color spectrum. While the light is not visible to the human eye, infrared transmitters and receivers can send and receive infrared signals.

See also: Infrared Data Association (IrDA); infrared device; infrared port

Infrared Data Association (IrDA)

The industry organization of computer, component, and telecommunications vendors who establish the standards for infrared communication between computers and peripheral devices, such as printers.

See also: infrared (IR)

infrared device

A computer, or a computer peripheral such as a printer, that can communicate by using infrared light.

See also: infrared (IR)

infrared port

An optical port on a computer that enables communication with other computers or devices by using infrared light, without cables. Infrared ports can be found on some portable computers, printers, and cameras.

See also: infrared (IR); infrared device

inheritance

In security, a mechanism that allows a specific access control entry (ACE) to be copied from the container where it was applied to all children of the container. Inheritance can be used to manage access to a whole subtree of objects in a single update operation.

See also: access control entry (ACE); Active Directory

initialize

In Disk Management, the process of detecting a disk or volume and assigning it a status (for example, healthy) and a type (for example, dynamic).

See also: basic disk; basic volume; dynamic disk; dynamic volume

Input language

A Regional and Language Options setting that specifies the combination of the language being entered and the keyboard layout, Input Method Editor (IME), speech-to-text converter, or other device being used to enter it. Formerly known as input locale.

input locale

See definition for: Input language

input/output (I/O) port

A channel through which data is transferred between a device and the microprocessor. The port appears to the microprocessor as one or more memory addresses that it can use to send or receive data.

insert/eject port

A port that offers limited access to the cartridges in a library managed by Removable Storage. Also known as a mailslot.

See also: cartridge; library; Removable Storage

install

When referring to software, to add program files and folders to your hard disk and related data to your registry so that the software runs properly. Installing contrasts with upgrading, where existing program files, folde