system board
that
keeps
the
date and
time
after you
shut
down
the computer.
RTCRST
—
real-time clock reset
— A
jumper
on the
system board
of
some computers
that
can
often
be
used
for
troubleshooting
problems.
S
SAS
—
serial attached SCSI
— A
faster, serial version
of
the
SCSI interface (as opposed
to the
original
SCSI
parallel
architecture).
SATA
—
serial
ATA — A
faster, serial version
of the
A
T
A
(IDE) interface.
ScanDisk
— A Microsoft utility that
checks files,
folders,
and
the
hard disk’s surface
for
errors. ScanDisk
often runs
when you restart
the
computer after
it
has
stopped
responding.
SCSI
—
small computer system interface
— A
high-speed
interface used
to
connect devices
to
a computer, such as
hard drives,
CD
drives, printers, and scanners.
The SCSI
can connect many devices using a single controller.
Each
device is accessed by an
individual identification number
on the
SCSI controller
bus.
SDRAM —
synchronous dynamic random-access
memory
— A
type
of DRAM that
is synchronized
with the optimal
clock speed
of the processor.
serial connector
— An I/O port often
used
to connect
devices such as a
handheld
digital
device
or digital
camera
to
your
computer.
Ser
v
i
c
e
Tag
— A
bar code label
on
your computer
that
identifies your computer when you
access
Dell
Support
at
support.dell.com
or
when you call
Dell for customer
service
or
technical
support.
setup program
— A
program
that
is used
to install and
configure hardware and software.
The
setup.exe
or
install.exe program comes
with
most
Windows
softwar
e
packages. Setup program differs
from
system
setup.
shortcut
— An icon that
provides
quick
access
to
frequently used programs, files, folders, and
d
r
i
v
es.
When
you place a shortcut
on
your
Windows
desktop
and
double-click
the
icon, you can open
its corresponding
folder
or file without
having
to find it first.
Shortcut
icons
do not
change
the
location
of
fi
les.
If
you delete a
sh
or
tcu
t
,
the original
file
is
not
affected. Also, you
can
rename a shortcut
icon.
SIM —
Subscriber
Identity Module — A SIM card
contains a microchip
that
encrypts voice and
data
transmissions.
SIM
cards can be used
in
phones
or
portable
computers.
smart card
— A
card
that
is embedded
with
a processor
and a memory
chip.
Smart cards can be used
to
authenticate a user
on
computers equipped
for smart
car
d
s.
S/PDIF —
Sony/Philips
Digital
Interface
— An audio
transfer
file format that
allow
s
the
transfer
of
audio
from
one
file to
another
without
converting
it to
and
from an
analog
format, which
could degrade
the quality of the file.
standby mode
— A
power management mode
that shuts
down
all
unnecessary computer operations
to
save
ener
g
y
.
Strike
Zone™
—
Reinforced area
of the platform
base
that
protects
the
hard drive by acting as a
dampening
device when a computer experiences resonating shock
or
is dropped (whether
the
computer is
on or
off).
surge protectors
—
Prevent voltage spikes, such as
those
that
may occur
during
an electrical storm,
from entering
the
computer through
the
electrical
outlet.
Sur
ge
protectors
do not
protect against
lightning
strik
e
s
or
against brownouts,
which
occur when
the
voltage
drops
more
than
20 percent below
the
normal
AC-line voltage
level.
Network connections cannot be protected by
sur
ge
protectors. Always disconnect
the
network cable
from the
network connector
during
electrical
storms.
SVGA —
super-video graphics array
— A
video
standard
for
video cards
and controllers. Typical SVGA resolutions
are 800
x
600 and 1024
x 768.
The
number
of
colors and resolution
that
a
program
displays depends
on the
capabilities
of the monitor, the
video controller and
its
drivers, and
the
amount
of video
memory installed
in the computer.
S-video
TV-out — A
connector used
to
attach a
TV or
digital
audio device
to the computer.
SXGA
—
super-extended graphics array
— A video
standard
for
video cards and controllers
that
supports
156
Glossary
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