<<< Back

 

Wait stare A clock in which nothing happens, used to ensure that the microprocessor is't getting ahead of slower components. A 0-wait state is preferable to a 1-wait state.

WAN (Wide area network) Usually a moderate to large network in which communications are conducted over the telephone lines using modems.

Watt The unit used to measure power. A typical computer may use a power supply that provides 200 watts.

Wavetable A table of stored sample sounds used to synthesize sound by reconstructing the sound from digital data using actual samples of sounds from real instruments.

Wide SCSI A type of SCSI that allows for 16- to 32-bit parallel data transfer. It has not become a standard in the PC environment.

Windows Custom Setup A setup feature that allows user customization of such things as directory locations, wallpaper settings, font selections, and many other features.

Windows Express Setup A setup feature that automatically installs Windows in the most commonly used fashion.

Windows NT file system See NTFS.

Windows NT registry A database containing all configuration information, including the user profile and hardware settings. The NT registry is not compatible with the Windows 95/98 registry.

WINS (Windows Internet Naming Service) A Microsoft resolution service with a distributed database that tracks relationships between domain names and IP address. Compare to DNS.

Workgroup In Windows NT, a logical group of computers and users in which administration, resources, and security are distributed throughout the network, without centralized management or security.

Worm An infestation designed to copy itself repeatedly to memory, on drive space, or on a network until little memory or disk space remains.

WOSA (Windows Open Services Architecture) A collection of APIs that provide standard ways for Windows applications to access databases, telephony devices, messaging services, and other services. ODBC and MAPI are two examples of APIs that fall under the WOSA umbrella.

WOW (Win 16 on Win 32) A group of programs provided by Windows NT to create a virtual DOS environment that emulates a 16-bit Windows environment, protecting the rest of the NT OS from 16-bit applications.

WRAM (window RAM) Dual-ported video RAM that is faster and less expensive than VRAM. It has its own internal bus on the chip, with a data path that is 256 bits wide.

Write precompensation A method whereby data is written faster to the tracks that are near the center of a disk.

Write protection Keeping a file or disk from being written over or deleted. 3 1/2-inch floppy disks use a sliding write-protect tab in the lower-left corner (diagonally across from the beveled corner of the disk) to keep the computer from writing to the disk. When the opening is hidden by the tab (no light passes), you can write to the disk; tab open, you can't write. This can be confusing because it's the exact opposite of how a 5 1/4-inch disk works. Most file management utilities allow you to write-protect individual files.

WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Screen output that exactly (or very closely) matches the appearance of printed output. WYSIWYG displays were once rare on the PC platform, because most applications ran in character mode and had little control over the format of text rendered on the screen. Today WYSIWYG applications abound, because Windows allows more precise control over screen formatting and provides a device-independent interface to both screens and printers.