Understanding Computer Terms
newsgroup
A discussion group on the Internet where people can post or read messages on thousands of topics, such as professional basketball, environmental protection, Himalayan cats, Scottish bagpipes, Irish clog dancing, soufflés, macramé, book reviews, mountain bikes, political candidates, and cartoon strips. Imagine a topic, and you can probably find a newsgroup that discusses it.
newsreader
A program that lets you read and post messages to newsgroups.
news server
A server that receives the Usenet news feed (all the individual messages collected from 100,000 news servers around the world). You access the news server through your Internet Service Provider. See Usenet. See also newsgroup.
NIC (network interface card)
A computer circuit board or card installed in a computer so that the computer can be connected to a network. Personal computers and workstations on local area networks (LANs) typically contain a network interface card specifically designed for the LAN transmission technology, such as Ethernet or Token Ring.
O
online
To be communicating with another computer through a modem or network. You are online when you log on and establish a connection. You are offline when you lose or terminate a connection. See modem and network.
online Help
A help manual that is displayed on the screen while you are actually working in a program and need help. It can be accessed through the Help menu at the top of the screen. Help for the Windows operating system can be accessed from the Start button on the taskbar.
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