Computer and Internet Terms
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P2P

Stands for "Peer to Peer." In a P2P network, the "peers" are computer systems which are connected to each other via the Internet. Files can be shared directly between systems on the network without the need of a central server. In other words, each computer on a P2P network becomes a file server as well as a client.



The only requirements for a computer to join a peer-to-peer network are an Internet connection and P2P software. Common P2P software programs include Kazaa, Limewire, BearShare, Morpheus, and Acquisition. These programs connect to a P2P network, such as "Gnutella," which allows the computer to access thousands of other systems on the network.

Once connected to the network, P2P software allows you to search for files on other people's computers. Meanwhile, other users on the network can search for files on your computer, but typically only within a single folder that you have designated to share. While P2P networking makes file sharing easy and convenient, is also has led to a lot of software piracy and illegal music downloads. Therefore, it is best to be on the safe side and only download software and music from legitimate websites.



Packet

This is a small amount of computer data sent over a network. Any time you receive data from the Internet, it comes to your computer in the form of many little packets. Each packet contains the address of its origin and destination, and information that connects it to the related packets being sent. The process of sending and receiving packets is known as "packet-switching." Packets from many different locations can be sent on the same lines and be sorted and directed to different routes by various computers along the way. It works a lot like the post office, except billions of packets are transferred each day, and most packets take less than a few seconds to reach their destination. Even FedEx same-day delivery can't compete with that.



Parallel Port

This interface is found on the back of older PCs and is used for connecting external devices such as printers or a scanners. It uses a 25-pin connector (DB-25) and is rather large compared to most new interfaces. The parallel port is sometimes called a Centronics interface, since Centronics was the company that designed the original parallel port standard. It is sometimes also referred to as a printer port because the printer is the device most commonly attached to the parallel port. The latest parallel port standard, which supports the same connectors as the Centronics interface, is called the Enhanced Parallel Port (EPP). This standard supports bi-directional communication and can transfer data up to ten times faster than the original Centronics port. However, since the parallel port is a rather dated technology, don't be surprised to see USB or Firewire interfaces completely replace parallel ports in the future.



Parse

The word "parse" means to analyze an object specifically. It is commonly used in computer science to refer to reading program code. For example, after a program is written, whether it be in C++, Java, or any other language, the code needs to be parsed by the compiler in order to be compiled. Web scripts, written in scripting languages such as Perl or PHP, need to be parsed on the Web server so that they can output the correct HTML to a user's browser.

Parsing can also refer to breaking up ordinary text. For example, search engines typically parse search phrases entered by users so that they can more accurately search for each word. Some programs can parse text documents and extract certain information like names or addresses. Spreadsheet programs can turn formatted documents into tables with rows and columns by parsing the text. As you can see, the ways to parse are clearly not sparse.



Partition

A partition is a section of a hard disk. When you format a hard disk, you can usually choose the number of partitions you want. The computer will recognize each partition as a separate disk, and each will show up under "My Computer" (Windows) or on the desktop (Macintosh).

So why would you want to create multiple partitions? Well, there are two main reasons. One is if you want to have multiple operating systems on your computer. Typically, an operating system needs to be installed on its own partition so that it won't conflict with other operating systems on the machine. The other reason is that multiple partitions can improve the efficiency of your hard disk. On larger disks, the cluster or block size (which is the minimum amount of space a file can take up), is larger than on small disks. This can result in a waste of disk space if you have a lot of small files. So creating multiple partitions can actually give you more space. Yep, more room for all those MP3s. "Partition" can also be used as a verb, meaning to create multiple partitions.



Path

A path, also known as a "file path" or "directory path," defines the location of a file or folder. Paths can either be relative or absolute. Relative paths describe file and folder locations from the current directory, such as "pdfs/instructions.pdf." Absolute paths define locations of files and folders from the root directory, such as "/Users/[username]/Documents/pdfs/instructions.pdf." Both relative and absolute paths are useful in describing the location of files and folders within a computer's file system.



Payload

When data is sent over the Internet, each unit transmitted includes both header information and the actual data being sent. The header identifies the source and destination of the packet, while the actual data is referred to as the payload. Because header information, or overhead data, is only used in the transmission process, it is stripped from the packet when it reaches its destination. Therefore, the payload is the only data received by the destination system.



PCB

Stands for "Printed Circuit Board." A PCB is a thin board made of fiberglass or a similar material. Electrical wires are "printed" onto the board, connecting the central processor to other components on the board. Some examples of PCBs include motherboards, RAM chips, and network interface cards.



Printed circuit boards are sometimes abbreviated as "PC boards," which is fitting, since the boards are commonly used in personal computers. However, PCBs are also found in other types of electronic devices, such as radios, televisions, and computer monitors. Because PCBs are relatively flat, they can also be used in thin devices such as laptops and portable music players.



PCI

Stands for "Peripheral Component Interconnect." It is a hardware bus designed by Intel and used in both PCs and Macs. Most add-on cards such as SCSI, Firewire, and USB controllers, use a PCI connection. Some graphics cards use PCI, but most new graphics cards connect to the AGP slot. PCI slots are found in the back of your computer and are about 3.5" long and about 0.5" high. So before you go buy that Firewire expansion card, make sure you have at least one PCI slot available.



PCI-X

Stands for "Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended." Once again, "Ex" is abbreviated with an "X" instead of an "E." Most desktop computers include one or more PCI slots for expanding the computer's I/O capabilities. Common PCI cards include network cards, sound cards, and video cards. In the early 1990s, when PCI was first introduced, the 66 MHz speed of PCI was more than sufficient for PCI cards available at the time. However, a decade later, expansion cards supported much faster data transfer rates and therefore became faster than the PCI bus would support. To prevent the interface from becoming a bottleneck, PCI-X was introduced.

The first version of PCI-X supported data transfer rates of 133 MHz, which is more than twice as fast as the original PCI standard. Then along came PCI-X 2.0, which can run at speeds of 266 or 533 MHz. These speeds are fast enough to support Gigabit Ethernet cards and video capture devices without slowing them down. PCI-X cards can only be installed in PCI-X slots, but the slots themselves are backwards compatible with PCI cards.



PCMCIA

Stands for "Personal Computer Memory Card International Association." It can also mean, perhaps more appropriately, "People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms." This way-to-long acronym stands for an association founded in 1989 which develops standards for expansion cards for portable computers. However, the term is most commonly associated with the actual cards standardized by the organization. These cards are referred to as "PCMCIA cards," or simply "PC cards." There are three types of PCMCIA cards, all of which are rectangular and measure 8.56 by 5.4 cm., but have different widths:

Type I: up to 3.3 mm. thick, mainly used to add additional ROM or RAM.

Type II: up to 5.5 mm. thick, typically used for fax/modem cards.

Type III: up to 10.5 mm. thick, often used to attach portable disk drives.

PCMCIA slots also come in three sizes -- a Type I slot can hold one Type I card, a Type II slot can hold one Type II card or two Type I cards, and a Type III slot can hold one Type III card or one Type I and one Type II card. PC Cards can be removed or inserted "on the fly," which means you don't have to turn your computer off to exchange them and you don't have to restart for your computer to recognize them.



PDA

Stands for "Personal Digital Assistant." These are the little electronic devices you see people jotting stuff down on in public. Usually, when you see someone with a PDA, they will be holding it out far front of them for everyone to see. Fortunately, as PDAs become more common, more people will have them and we won't have to deal with the people who make sure everyone else sees that they have one.



The first PDA, called the Newton, was created by Apple in 1993. Since then, numerous other companies have jumped on the bandwagon and have added many new designs and options to the PDA market. The Palm Pilot, Handspring Visor, HP Jordana, Compaq Aero, Sharp Mobilon, and Sony Cli? are all common PDAs. Ironically, Apple's Newton was discontinued when the company was having financial difficulties in 1998. Today's PDAs allow you to organize your schedule, take notes, do math calculations, play games, write memos, and even surf the Internet and send e-mail. They are cool things to have, but if you decide to get one, please do us all a favor and don't show it off in public.

PDA also stands for "Public Display of Affection," and though this term is all too relevant at college campuses, it has nothing to do with this definition.



PDF

Stands for "Portable Document Format." PDF is a multi-platform file format developed by Adobe Systems. A PDF file captures document text, fonts, images, and even formatting of documents from a variety of applications. You can e-mail a PDF document to your friend and it will look the same way on his screen as it looks on yours, even if he has a Mac and you have a PC. Since PDFs contain color-accurate information, they should also print the same way they look on your screen.



To view a PDF file, you need Adobe Reader, a free application program distributed by Adobe Systems. Adobe also makes an Acrobat Plug-in for Web browsers that enables PDF files to be viewed inside a browser window.



Pebibyte

A pebibyte is a unit of data storage that equals 2 to the 50th power, or 1,125,899,906,842,624 bytes.

While a petabyte can be estimated as 10^15 or 1,000,000,000,000,000 bytes, a pebibyte is exactly 1,125,899,906,842,624 bytes. This is to avoid the ambiguity associated with the size of petabytes. A pebibyte is 1,024 tebibytes and precedes the exbibyte unit of measurement.



Peripheral

A computer peripheral is any external device that provides input and output for the computer. For example, a keyboard and mouse are input peripherals, while a monitor and printer are output peripherals. Computer peripherals, or peripheral devices, are sometimes called "I/O devices" because they provide input and output for the computer. Some peripherals, such as external hard drives, provide both input and output for the computer.



Perl

Perl actually stands for "Practical Extraction and Report Language," but you don't really need to know that unless you want to impress your nerd friends. Perl is a scripting language which uses a syntax simliar to C/C++. It is commonly used by Web programmers to create scripts for Web servers. Perl is especially good at parsing text, so programmers often use it for reading and searching through text files.

As a regular computer user, you won't get to see Perl in action, since it does most of its work "behind the scenes." Perl scripts are run on the server computer before any information is sent to your Web browser.



Phishing

Phishing is similar to fishing in a lake, but instead of trying to capture fish, phishers attempt to steal your personal information. They send out e-mails that appear to come from legitimate websites such as eBay, PayPal, or other banking institutions. The e-mails state that your information needs to be updated or validated and ask that you enter your username and password, after clicking a link included in the e-mail. Some e-mails will ask that you enter even more information, such as your full name, address, phone number, social security number, and credit card number. However, even if you visit the false website and just enter your username and password, the phisher may be able to gain access to more information by just logging in to you account.

Phishing is a con game that scammers use to collect personal information from unsuspecting users. The false e-mails often look surprisingly legitimate, and even the Web pages where you are asked to enter your information may look real. However, the URL in the address field can tell you if the page you have been directed to is valid or not. For example, if you are visiting an Web page on eBay, the last part of the domain name should end with "ebay.com." Therefore, "http://www.ebay.com" and "http://cgi3.ebay.com" are valid Web addresses, but "http://www.ebay.validate-info.com" and "http://ebay.login123.com" are false addresses, which may be used by phishers. If URL contains an IP address, such as 12.30.229.107, instead of a domain name, you can almost be sure someone is trying to phish for your personal information.

If you receive an e-mail that asks that you update your information and you think it might be valid, go to the website by typing the URL in your browser's address field instead of clicking the link in the e-mail. For example, go to "https://www.paypal.com" instead of clicking the link in an e-mail that appears to come from PayPal. If you are prompted to update your information after you have manually typed in the Web address and logged in, then the e-mail was probably legitimate. However, if you are not asked to update any information, then the e-mail was most likely a spoof sent by a phisher.

Most legitimate e-mails will address you by your full name at the beginning of the message. If there is any doubt that the e-mail is legitimate, be smart and don't enter your information. Even if you believe the message is valid, following the guidelines above will prevent you from giving phishers your personal information.



Personal URL

A personal URL, or "purl," is a custom Web address that you can select for your profile page within a website. Personal URLs typically look like, "http://www.website.com/username." Some websites automatically create your purl based on your username, while others let you select a custom URL for your profile page.

Facebook and other social networking websites allow you to select a personal URL for your profile page. Purls are also supported by Web forums, photo gallery websites, and other online communities.

Example: "He posted his Facebook personal URL on his website to promote his profile page."



PHP

Stands for "Hypertext Preprocessor." (It is a recursive acronym, if you can understand what that means.) PHP is an HTML-embedded Web scripting language. This means PHP code can be inserted into the HTML of a Web page. When a PHP page is accessed, the PHP code is read or "parsed" by the server the page resides on. The output from the PHP functions on the page are typically returned as HTML code, which can be read by the browser. Because the PHP code is transformed into HTML before the page is loaded, users cannot view the PHP code on a page. This make PHP pages secure enough to access databases and other secure information.


A lot of the syntax of PHP is borrowed from other languages such as C, Java and Perl. However, PHP has a number of unique features and specific functions as well. The goal of the language is to allow Web developers to write dynamically generated pages quickly and easily. PHP is also great for creating database-driven Web sites. If you would like to learn more about PHP, the official site is PHP.net.



Piconet

A piconet is a network that is created using a wireless Bluetooth connection. Some examples of piconets include 1) a cell phone and a computer, 2) a laptop and a Bluetooth-enabled digital camera, or 3) several PDAs that are connected to each other.

Piconets can include anywhere from two to eight devices. One device serves as the master device, while the rest of the devices within the network are slave devices. The master device acts as the hub, meaning the slave devices must communicate through the master device in order to communicate with each other. In most piconets, the computer serves as the master device.

The term "piconet" is derived from the words "pico," which means "very small" (technically, one trillionth), and "net," which is short for "network." Therefore, the word "piconet" literally means "very small network."



Ping

This term refers to a golf equipment brand, as well as the sound made by striking your glass with a spoon at the dinner table. However, it also has a computer-related meaning. A ping is a test to see if a system on the Internet is working. "Pinging" a server tests and records the response time of the server. Pinging multiple computers can be helpful in finding Internet bottlenecks, so that data transfer paths can be rerouted a more efficient way. A good way to make sure you do not get disconnected from your dial-up ISP for being idle is to send a ping every 5 minutes or so. There are a number of shareware Ping programs that will do this for you.



Pipeline

Computer processors can handle millions of instructions each second. Once one instruction is processed, the next one in line is processed, and so on. A pipeline allows multiple instructions to be processed at the same time. While one stage of an instruction is being processed, other instructions may be undergoing processing at a different stage. Without a pipeline, each instruction would have to wait for the previous one to finish before it could even be accessed.

To understand the benefit of a pipeline, imagine that a car manufacturing plant had to wait for each car to be fully completed before starting on the next one. That would be horribly inefficient, right? It makes much more sense to work on many cars at once, completing them one stage at a time. This is what a pipeline in a computer allows. Pipelining, as it is called, often keeps around six instructions at once in the processor at different stages of processing. Pipelines can be used for the CPU as well as for accessing memory (DRAM).



Piracy

When someone installs and uses commercial software without paying for the program, it is called "pirating" the software. This name comes from the traditional meaning of the word "pirate," which is a sea-faring criminal that steals and loots belongings from others. But far from the stereotypical sea pirate, a software pirate can be anyone who owns a computer. Software piracy is committed by simply downloading or copying a program that a user has not paid for.

Since computer programs are stored in a digital format, they are easy to copy and reproduce. For example, a game may be burned to a CD and transferred to the computer of an individual who has not paid for the program. Software programs can also be illegally downloaded from the Internet from unauthorized sources. Since pirating software does not require many resources, it has grown into a major problem for the computer industry.

While it may seem like an innocuous act, pirating software is the same as stealing. Software companies often invest thousands or even millions of dollars into creating the programs they sell. The income from selling these programs is what allows companies to produce the software and to continue improving the programs we use. Just because it is possible to copy a software program does not mean it is OK. Installing a commercial program from an illegal copy is the same thing as walking out of a store with the program and not paying for it.



Pixel

The term "pixel" is actually short for "Picture Element." These small little dots are what make up the images on computer displays, whether they are flat-screen (LCD) or tube (CRT) monitors. The screen is divided up into a matrix of thousands or even millions of pixels. Typically, you cannot see the individual pixels, because they are so small. This is a good thing, because most people prefer to look at smooth, clear images rather than blocky, "pixelated" ones. However, if you set your monitor to a low resolution, such as 640x480 and look closely at your screen, you will may be able to see the individual pixels. As you may have guessed, a resolution of 640x480 is comprised of a matrix of 640 by 480 pixels, or 307,200 in all. That's a lot of little dots.

Each pixel can only be one color at a time. However, since they are so small, pixels often blend together to form various shades and blends of colors. The number of colors each pixel can be is determined by the number of bits used to represent it. For example, 8-bit color allows for 2 to the 8th, or 256 colors to be displayed. At this color depth, you may be able to see "graininess," or spotted colors when one color blends to another. However, at 16, 24, and 32-bit color depths, the color blending is smooth and, unless you have some kind of extra-sensory vision capability, you should not see any graininess.



Plain Text

Plain text is another name for unformatted text. Unlike rich text, plain text does not support italics, underlining, bold characters, fonts, or font sizes. Since plain text documents do not contain any text formatting information, they take up less disk space than rich text documents. Therefore, plain text is commonly used for log files and other types of text documents that don't require formatted text.



Platform

In the computer world, a "platform" typically refers to a computer's operating system. For example, a Dell computer running Windows XP would be considered to be running on a Windows platform. An iMac, on the other hand, runs on the Macintosh platform. It is a more generic way of referring to a computer's operating system than having to specify, for example, Windows XP Professional SP 2, or Mac OS X 10.3.5. The term platform is often used when referring to what kind of computer systems a certain software program will run on.



Plug and Play

Plug and Play, sometimes, abbreviated PnP, is a catchy phrase used to describe devices that work with a computer system as soon as they are connected. The user does not have to manually install drivers for the device or even tell the computer that a new device has been added. Instead the computer automatically recognizes the device, loads new drivers for the hardware if needed, and begins to work with the newly connected device.

For example, if you connect a Plug-and-Play mouse to the USB port on your computer, it will begin to work within a few seconds of being plugged in. A non plug-and-play device would require you to go through several steps of installing drivers and setting up the device before it would work.

While Plug and Play usually refers to computer peripheral devices, such as keyboards and mice, it can also be used to describe internal hardware. For example, a video card or hard drive may be a Plug and Play device, meaning the computer will recognize it as soon as it is installed. The only difference is that internal components usually require the computer to be turned off when they are installed, while external devices can typically be installed while the computer is running.



Plug-in

A plug-in (also "plugin") is software add-on that adds extra features and capabilities to an application. Typically, plug-ins are stored within a subdirectory of the application folder. When the application is opened, the plug-ins are loaded into the program.

Plug-ins are available for a wide variety of programs, including Web browsers, graphic editors, and audio and video applications. Web browser plug-ins often enable specific types of media to be viewed directly in the browser. Plug-ins for graphics, audio, and video applications may add extra editing tools or filters to the program. While some programs include preinstalled plug-ins created by the developer, many plug-ins are developed by third-party companies.



PNG

Stands for "Portable Network Graphic." This format was designed as an alternative to the GIF format (which has been plagued by copyright issues). Like GIFs, PNG files are lossless, meaning they don't lose any detail when they are compressed. They support up to 48-bit color or 16-bit grayscale and typically compress about 5% to 25% better than GIF files. However, they do not support animations like GIFs do. A format similar to PNG, called MNG, is currently under development, and will support animations.



Pop-Up

The term "pop-up" has two computer-related meanings. One refers to a window and the other is a type of menu.

1. Pop-Up Window A pop-up window is a type of window that opens without the user selecting "New Window" from a program's File menu. Pop-up windows are often generated by websites that include pop-up advertisements. These ads are produced with JavaScript code that is inserted into the HTML of a Web page. They typically appear when a user visits a page or closes a window. Some pop-up ads show up in front of the main window, while others show up behind the main browser window. Ads that appear behind open windows are also called "pop-under" ads.

Regardless of where pop-up advertisements appear on your screen, they can be pretty annoying. Fortunately, browser developers have realized this and most Web browsers now include an option to block pop-up windows. If you are noticing pop-up windows appear on your computer when your browser is not open, you may have an adware program running on your computer. The best solution to this problem is to run an anti-spyware program that will locate and remove the malware from your system.

2. Pop-Up Menu A pop-up menu is a type of menu that pops up on the screen when the user right-clicks a certain object or area. It can be also called a contextual menu since the menu options are relevant to where the user right-clicked on the screen. Pop-up menus provide quick access to common program functions and are used by most operating systems and applications.



POP3

Stands for "Post Office Protocol." POP3, sometimes referred to as just "POP," is a simple, standardized method of delivering e-mail messages. A POP3 mail server receives e-mails and filters them into the appropriate user folders. When a user connects to the mail server to retrieve his mail, the messages are downloaded from mail server to the user's hard disk.

When you configure your e-mail client, such as Outlook (Windows) or Mail (Mac OS X), you will need to enter the type of mail server your e-mail account uses. This will typically be either a POP3 or IMAP server. IMAP mail servers are a bit more complex than POP3 servers and allow e-mail messages to be read and stored on the server. Many "webmail" interfaces use IMAP mail servers so that users can manage all their mail online.

Still, most mail servers use the POP3 mail protocol because it is simple and well-supported. You may have to check with your ISP or whoever manages your mail account to find out what settings to use for configuring your mail program. If your e-mail account is on a POP3 mail server, you will need to enter the correct POP3 server address in your e-mail program settings. Typically, this is something like "mail.servername.com" or "pop.servername.com." Of course, to successfully retrieve your mail, you will have to enter a valid username and password too.



Port

As if computer terms weren't hard enough to understand, there are three different meanings of the word "port."

1. An Internet port. This is a number that indicates what kind of protocol a server on the Internet is using. For example, Web servers typically are listed on port 80. Web browsers use this port by default when accessing Web pages, but you can also specify what port you would like to use in the URL like this: http://www.excite.com:80. FTP uses port 21, e-mail uses port 25, and game servers, like a Quake server or Blizzard.net use various other ports. It is good to know what a port is, but you seldom have to specify it manually, so don't worry if this is new to you.

2. A Hardware port. This refers to any one of the ports that are on the back of a computer where devices can be hooked up (like a keyboard, mouse, printer, digital camera, etc). Some common ports found on today's computers are USB, Firewire, and Ethernet.

3. The verb, "port." This refers to the editing of a software program's code so that it can run on another platform. For example, to get Final Fantasy VII to run on a PC, programmers needed to port it to the PC from the Playstation. Popular Windows games are often ported to the Macintosh as well.



Portal

While this term can also refer to a matterless vortex used to travel between different dimensions, an Internet portal is a Web site that acts as a starting point for browsing the Web. Portals typically include search engines and large directories of websites. Some popular portals are Yahoo, Excite, Lycos, Netscape, AltaVista, MSN, and AOL.com. There are also many smaller portals, known as "niche portals," for specific interests. These sites include C|net (for computers and technology), Fool.com (for investors), and Garden.com (for gardeners).

Most large portals have millions of Web pages indexed for visitors to search though. They also have large directories of Web sites, which are categorized by topic.



PostScript

PostScript is a page description language (PDL) that describes a page's text and graphical content. It can be used to define the appearance of graphics and text for both screen and print. The language was developed by Adobe in 1984 and has since gone through may revisions and updates.

Before PostScript was introduced, publishing systems relied on proprietary typesetting systems, which often caused incompatibilities between computers and printing systems. In fact, before the days of PostScript, pages that incorporated text, images, and line art had to be manually assembled on a paste-up board and then photographed. The resulting picture was sent to a printing plate, which was used to make copies of the document -- pretty archaic compared to the simple printing options available today.



Power Supply

A power supply is a component that regulates and provides power to an electrical device. It receives power from a wall outlet, battery pack, or other electrical source and converts the current and voltage to the correct amount required by the connected device. Most computers have internal power supplies, while other devices may use external power supplies that are attached directly to the power cable.



PowerPoint

PowerPoint is a presentation program developed by Microsoft. It is included in the standard Office suite along with Microsoft Word and Excel. The software allows users to create anything from basic slide shows to complex presentations.



PowerPoint is often used to create business presentations, but can also be used for educational or informal purposes. The presentations are comprised of slides, which may contain text, images, and other media, such as audio clips and movies. Sound effects and animated transitions can also be included to add extra appeal to the presentation. However, overusing sound effects and transitions will probably do more to annoy your audience than draw their attention. (Yes, we have all heard the car screeching noise enough times for one lifetime.)

Most PowerPoint presentations are created from a template, which includes a background color or image, a standard font, and a choice of several slide layouts. Changes to the template can be saved to a "master slide," which stores the main slide theme used in the presentation. When changes are made to the master slide, such as choosing a new background image, the changes are propagated to all the other slides. This keeps a uniform look among all the slides in the presentation.

When presenting a PowerPoint presentation, the presenter may choose to have the slides change at preset intervals or may decide to control the flow manually. This can be done using the mouse, keyboard, or a remote control. The flow of the presentation can be further customized by having slides load completely or one bullet at a time. For example, if the presenter has several bullet points on a page, he might have individual points appear when he clicks the mouse. This allows more interactivity with the audience and brings greater focus to each point.

PowerPoint presentations can be created and viewed using Microsoft PowerPoint. They can also be imported and exported with Apple Keynote, Apple's presentation program for the Macintosh platform. Since most people prefer not to watch presentations on a laptop, PowerPoint presentations are often displayed using a projector. Therefore, if you are preparing a PowerPoint presentation for a room full of people, just make sure you have the correct video adapter.



PPC

Stands for "Pay Per Click," and is used in online advertising. PPC advertisements generate revenue for Web publishers each time a visitor clicks on an ad. Banner ads, Flash ads, and textual ads can all be used to generate pay per click revenue for publishers. Many search engines also use the pay per click model, showing sponsored results along with other relevant results for searches. PPC is an attractive model for advertisers because they only have to pay for actual traffic generated by their ads.



PPI

Stands for "Pixels Per Inch." The resolution of a printed photo is often measured in DPI, or "dots per inch." The DPI describes how many dots of ink the printer prints per line per inch. Therefore, the higher the DPI, the greater the detail of the printed image. However, even if a photo is printed with a high DPI, the detail represented in the photo can only be as high as the PPI.

PPI measures the number of pixels per line per inch in a digital photo. This number is directly related to the number of megapixels a digital camera can capture. For example, the original Canon Digital Rebel is a 6.3 megapixel camera and captures 2048 vertical by 3072 horizontal pixels. Therefore, when printing a 4x6 image, the PPI would be 3072 px. / 6 in. = 512 PPI. That is high enough to print a very detailed 4x6 photo. However, if you were to print a large 20x30 poster image from a 6.3 megapixel image, the PPI would be 3072 px. / 30 in. = 102.4 PPI.

Most modern printers print images with a minimum resolution of 300 DPI. Therefore, if you print a photo with a PPI of less than 300, you may notice the image is not as sharp as you would like. Of course, the detail in a 20x30 image may not need to be as clear as a 4x6 photo. But a good rule of thumb is to keep your PPI above 300 so your prints will look nice and clear.



PPM

Stands for "Pages Per Minute." PPM is used to measure the printing speed of both inkjet and laser printers. Most printers include a PPM rating for both black and color documents. These speed measurements are typically listed in the printer's technical specifications.

While a higher pages per minute rating does indicate a faster printing speed, this measurement can be misleading. This is because manufacturers measure the maximum PPM in the fastest printing mode, a.k.a. "economy mode," which is also the lowest quality. When printing in regular mode, the speed may be twice as slow. When printing in fine or high-quality mode, the speed will likely be reduced even further.

Furthermore, a printer's maximum PPM speed is measured using basic text pages, with no graphics, lines, or other objects. Therefore, if you have a text document that includes a picture, the page could take several times longer to print than a plain text document. If you are going to be printing a lot of color photos, make sure to check the printer's photo printing speed, which is often significantly slower than the printer's maximum PPM. Finally, the PPM measurement does not take into account how long it takes the printer to warm up and begin printing. Therefore, if you are only printing one or two pages, the warm up time may be longer than the actual time it takes to print the document.

In summary, PPM gives a general idea of how fast a printer is. But since there are several other variables involved that determine a printer's speed, PPM does not always accurately reflect a printer's speed. Therefore, when choosing a printer, it may be helpful to read some reviews about the printer you are interested in. The reviews may give you a better idea of the printer's real-world speed an quality than the numbers on the box do.

Important: PPM can also be used to measure a scanner's scanning speed. This measurement is particularly important for scanners that use an automatic document feeder ADF, which allows multiple documents to be scanned consecutively.



PPP

Stands for "Point to Point Protocol." It is the Internet standard for dial-up modem connections. PPP is a set of rules that defines how your modem exchanges packets of data with other systems on the Internet. If you connect to your ISP with a dial-up modem, you are most likely using PPP.






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Packet
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PPP



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