Compaq 277958-001 manual Windows taskbar

Understanding Computer Terms

Windows taskbar

The gray bar across the bottom of the screen that you see when your computer completes startup. The Start button is on the left end of the taskbar, and the systray (a tray with icons and the computer clock) is on the right. Programs that are running but have been minimized are displayed as buttons in the middle of the taskbar.

wizard

Part of a program that guides you through a complex process, such as signing up with an Internet service provider or posting a Web site to a server. Most programs on CD-ROMs have wizards to guide you through the installation process. World Wide Web: A system of Internet servers supports documents formatted in HTML. See HTML. See also server.

Z

Zip disk

High-capacity, removable storage media made by Iomega Corporation.

Zip drive

The drive that reads and writes to a Zip disk. A Zip drive can be internal (installed inside the computer) or external (a peripheral). An external Zip drive is portable; it can be taken to a friend’s house or a client’s office.

zipped file

A file that has been squeezed to a smaller size by compression software, such as WinZip, developed by Niko Max Computing. An archive (group of related files that are zipped together) can be transmitted as an e-mail attachment much faster than individual files. An archive takes up less storage space on your disk and can be identified by the file extension .zip. An archive contains a self-extracting program with the file extension .exe (for executable). Double-click the executable file, and a wizard guides you through the process of unzipping the files. See file extension and wizard.

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