Integrated Drive Electronics. A hard drive controller that handles the flow of information between the CD-ROM or hard drive and the computer. An IDE controller is part of the drive itself, and it requires only a simple connection inside the computer rather than a dedicated card. A newer, improved version, the Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics (EIDE) standard, supports hard drives with capacities as high as 8.4 gigabytes (as opposed to IDE's 528 megabytes) and up to four drives rather than two.
'Internet Message Access Protocol'. IMAP is a method of distributing e-mail. It is different from the standard POP3 method in that with IMAP, e-mail messages are stored on the server, while in POP3, the messages are transfered to the client's computer when they are read. Thus, using IMAP allows you to access your e-mail from more than one machine, while POP3 does not. This is important because some email servers only work with some protocols.
Animation that appears in an allocated space on a World Wide Web page. Inline animation is enabled by multimedia software, such as Java and Shockwave, which may require a plug-in or the use of a compatible browser. In the Web's early days, animation could only appear in a separate window, not on the Web page itself.
A cache within a printer or other peripheral that stores information, which allows the computer's CPU and RAM to move on to other tasks. For example, the more internal memory inside a printer, the faster it is likely to print.
The Internet, or simply the Net, is the publicly available worldwide system of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using a standardized Internet Protocol (IP) and many other protocols. It is made up of thousands of smaller commercial, academic, domestic and government networks. It carries various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat and the interlinked web pages and other documents of the World Wide Web.
Internet Explorer (IE) -- sometimes referred to as Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE) -- is the most widely used World Wide Web browser. It comes with the Microsoft Windows operating system and can also be downloaded from Microsoft's Web site. The IE browser competes with an earlier browser, Netscape, now owned by AOL.
A realtime chat protocol that allows users to log on and communicate with other users all over the world. IRC requires specific IRC software or the ability to open a telnet window.
In IBM PCs and compatibles, the lines over which peripherals signal the microprocessor to halt its duties in order to handle input/output or some other task. The processor can only communicate with one peripheral at a time, and most machines allow the assignment of priorities to different devices. The use of multiple peripherals might require the user to adjust the IRQ settings.
A company that provides Internet access to businesses or consumers.
See interrupt request lines.
A number that identifies a computer's location on the Internet. Users are more familiar with domain names (www.company.com), which "point to" the IP address. Domain names can stay the same even if the IP address changes.
IRC
See Internet Relay Chat.
Integrated Services Digital Network. Eliminates the need for traditional modems by conducting all transmissions digitally. The use of ISDN requires a device known as a terminal adapter and the cooperation of the local phone company, which must provide a special, all-digital telephone line. ISDN lines provide transmission speeds up to 128,000 bps.
Industry Standard Architecture: a 16-bit data bus standard (and type of expansion slot) used in IBM-compatible desktop computers. ISA is an older standard typically found on AT-series IBM computers, those with 80286 ("286"), 80386 ("386") and 80486 ("486") microprocessors.
This is one of the oldest buses, dating back to the dawn of the PC. Despite being relatively slow, ISA peripherals are available for just about all uses. ISA is still considered the industry standard. For more information see article on data buses.
ISP
see Internet service provider.
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