Backlighting

The internal fluorescent illumination of the computer’s LCD screen. LCD screens that are not backlit are not legible without an external source of light.

Backlight period

The length of time your LCD screen stays illuminated in the absence of keyboard activity. To restore the backlighting to your screen after the backlight period has elapsed, press any key. To change the backlight period, run the setup program (see Chapter 2).

Backup

A copy of a program, data file, or disk, kept in case the original is damaged or lost.

Batch file

A text file containing one or more MS-DOS commands, each stored on a separate line. Batch files are used to automate MS-DOS operations. When you type the name of the batch file (with or without its .BAT extension), each command in the file is executed in sequence.

Baud rate

A measure of the speed of data transmission. Usually equivalent to bits per second.

Bit

A binary digit (0 or 1). The smallest unit of information that can be stored by a computer. Eight bits make one byte.

Boot

To load a program or an operating system into the computer’s memory.

Byte

A sequence or group of eight bits. In the ASCII encoding system, a byte represents one character of data.

2 Glossary