Glossary - Index FA

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False Positive: While we can get technical about this, we will break it down in simpler terms. A false positive is when a antivirus or any other security program tells you something is infected when it is not. This is very common when you try to run two antivirus programs at the same time, for example. Another example is a download that has anything in it that your program might consider a threat. Your antivirus is doing its job; it is not possible for it to recognize everything. Anything that runs stealth will flag your antivirus. Good examples of this would be programs that can access your BIOS, key loggers or programs that can read passwords behind your ****.

Fan Header: A place where you can plug a Fan with RPM monitoring straight into the board.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions - A place where common questions are answered already, saving users time so they don't have to ask the same thing.

Fast Ethernet: A local area network transmission standard that provides a data rate of 100 megabits per second.

FAT32: File Allocation Table - Maintained by an operating system on a hard disk that provides a map of the clusters that a file has been stored in. FAT 32 supports 32-bit processors.

Fatal Error: In computing, a fatal error or fatal exception error is an error that causes a program to abort and may therefore return the user to the operating system. When this happens, data that the program was processing may be lost. A fatal error is usually distinguished from a fatal system error. (colloquially referred to by the error message it produces as a "blue screen of death").

FC-PGA: CPU's with the die on the top instead of the bottom uses the Flip Chip Pin Grid Array. This is done to improve thermal heat transfer to the heatsink.

FC-PGA2: Because FC-PGA CPU's often got damaged when the heatsink is installed, Intel came up with the idea of putting a heatspreader on top of the CPU to protect it from damage.

FDD: Floppy Disk Drive - Traditionally refers to the A:\ drive or 1.44 MB (3.5") High Density Floppy format, but can also refer to older 720K (5.25") Floppy drives.

Fibre Channel: A technology for transmitting data between computer devices at a data rate of up to 1 Gbps, especially suited for connecting computer servers to shared storage devices and for interconnecting storage controllers and drives. Devices can be as far as ten kilometers apart. The longer distance requires optical fiber as the physical medium. Fibre Channel also works using coaxial cable and ordinary telephone twisted pair.

Firewall: Firewalls are used to create a protective barrier for the internal network (LAN) against the external one (WAN, Internet) which monitors packets traveling in and out of the network. Usually located at the network's gateway.

Firmware: In electronic systems and computing, firmware is a term often used to denote the fixed, usually rather small, programs and/or data structures that internally control various electronic devices. Typical examples of devices containing firmware range from end user products such as remote controls or calculators, through computer parts and devices like hard disks, keyboards, or memory cards. Also more complex consumer devices, such as mobile phones, digital cameras, synthesizers, etc., contain firmware to enable the device's basic operation as well as implementing higher-level functions.

Flatscreen: Type of computer display which uses an LCD panel instead of a CRT to project images. Typically the flatscreen or flatpanel display is less than two inches thick.

Folder: A folder is space on your hard drive holding files. Similar to a filing cabinet, you can store many files in your folders and create as many folders as you need.

Foot Print: The amount of physical space or memory a component will take up.

Format: Format is a command-line utility included in Microsoft DOS, IBM OS/2 and Microsoft Windows operating systems to produce disk formatting.

Freeware: Freeware (from "free" and "software") is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the aim to expand the marketshare of a "premium" product. Freeware is a loosely defined category.

FSAA: Full Screen Anti Aliasing - What is done by videocard to remove the jagged edges in lines. The resulting image is much smoother on the eyes, though performance may suffer.

FSB: Front Side Bus - Which denotes the speed at which your processor interacts with the components on the motherboard. Typically the FSB is 100Mhz or 133Mhz, but overclockers often manipulate this value to increase the speed at which their processor runs. i.e. 100Mhz FSB X 5.0 clockmultiplier = 500Mhz processor.

FTP: File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet.

Full Duplex: Data transfer that allows a switch to send and receive data to a node at the same time. Also known as bidirectional communication.