| Glossary of Terms |
| All Numbers A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
V
vertical back/front porch
The top and bottom borders. The size of the borders is controlled by the video card.
vertical scanning
The movement the electron beam traces across vertical phosphor dots on the CRT.
vertical scanning frequency
The rate at which the electron beam traces across vertical phosphor dots on the CRT.
Very Low Frequency (VLF)
Defines frequency range from 3,000 to 30,000 Hz. This type of radiation is emitted from the monitor�s deflection yoke.
VESA
(See "Video Electronic Standards Association (VESA)".)
VESA display power management
A standard dictated by the VESA group that defines the Energy Saving Features in computer systems.
VGA
(See "Video Graphics Array (VGA)".)
VGA (Video Graphics Array)
A video adapter introduced by IBM in 1987. The VGA duplicates all the video modes of the EGA (Enhanced Graphics Adapter), and adds several modes, the most popular of which are two graphics modes: One supports 640 horizontal pixels by 480 vertical pixels with 2 or 16 simultaneous colors from a table of 262,144 colors; the other supports 320 horizontal pixels by 200 vertical pixels with 256 colors chosen from a table of 262,144 colors.
video adapter
Also called a video controller. The electronic components required to generate a video signal that is sent to the video display through a cable. The video adapter is usually located either on the computer�s main system board or on an expansion board, but it can also be part of a terminal.
video card
A card, adapter or board that translates information from the computer�s memory so it can be displayed on a monitor.
video compression
Rather than reproduce each image in a sequence to produce a moving picture, it is possible to detect and record only the changes to each successive frame, producing a tremendous reduction in the amount of stored digital information needed to capture and replay the moving sequence.
video display board
Also called video display card. A video adapter that is implemented on an expansion board rather than on the computer�s main system board.
Video Electronic Standards Association (VESA)
The association that standardizes the graphics boards with both software and monitors. It set the standardized refresh rate of 72Hz for SVGA (800x600) and VGA (640x480).
Video Graphics Array (VGA)
An IBM standard for video mode. It defines resolution as 640x480.
video memory
The memory used by the video circuitry to display text and graphics. This memory cannot be used for other purposes. Also called video RAM.
viewing area
The actual area of your monitor where text and images can be seen.
Virtual Memory (VM)
An area of hard disk that the processor treats as an extension of RAM. An MMU handles the movement of data between hard disk and RAM. This increases the effective usable maximum memory size, but slows down processing, as accessing the hard disk is much slower than accessing RAM.
virus
A program that "infects" computer files by inserting in those files copies of itself. This is usually done in such a manner that the copies will be executed when the file is loaded into memory, allowing them to infect still other files, and so on. Viruses often have damaging side effects.
Visual Basic
Microsoft's Basic language for Graphical User Interface (GUI).
VM
(See "Virtual Memory (VM)".)
voice modem
A modem that has the ability to act as a voice mailbox.
Several glossary definitions supplied and copyrighted by:
Microsoft® Corporation. To order the Microsoft Press Computer Dictionary, call Microsoft Press at 800-MSPRESS.
MDA Computing Ltd. For MDA Computing�s complete glossary of terms, go to www.mdagroup.com.
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