Toshiba Satellite 1415-S173 User Manual - Page 249

249 Glossary bus - An electrical circuit that connects the central processing unit (CPU) with other parts of the computer, such as the video adapter, disk drives, and ports. It is the pathway through which data flows from one device to another. See also bus speed, frontside bus. bus speed - The speed at which the central processing unit (CPU) communicates with the other parts of the computer. byte - A sequence of eight bits. A byte is the smallest addressable unit of data. See also bit, gigabyte, kilobyte, megabyte. C cache - A section of very fast memory in which frequently used information is duplicated for quick access. Accessing data from cache is faster than accessing it from the computer's main memory. See also CPU cache, L1 cache, L2 cache. CD - An individual compact disc. See also CD-ROM. CD-ROM (compact disc read-only memory) - A form of highcapacity storage that uses laser optics instead of magnetic means for reading data. See also CD. Compare DVD-ROM. central processing unit (CPU) - The chip that functions as the "brain" of the computer. It takes information from outside sources, such as memory or keyboard input, processes the information, and sends the results to another device that uses the information. character - Any letter, number, or symbol you can use on the computer. Some characters are non-printing characters, such as a paragraph break in a word-processing program. A character occupies one byte of computer storage. chip - A small piece of silicon containing computer logic and circuits for processing, memory, input/output, and/or control functions. Chips are mounted on printed circuit boards. click - To press and release the control button or mouse button without moving the pointing device. In the Windows® operating system, this refers to the left mouse button or primary control button, unless otherwise stated. See also double-click.