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LAN: Rete locale.
A Local Area Network that depicts any computer network technology that operates at high speed over short distances (up to a few thousand meters). A LAN may refer to a network in a given department or within a given firm or campus. It differs from computer networks that cross wider geographic spaces such as those networks on a WAN network. A LAN does not use the public arteries of the Internet like Intranets.

(To) Launch: Lanciare.
To start a program.

Leased line: Linea dedicata.
A permanent telephone connection between two points set up by a telecommunication common carrier. Typically, leased lines are used by businesses to connect geographically distant offices. Unlike normal dial-up connections, a leased line is always active. The fee for the connection is a fixed monthly rate. The primary factors affecting the monthly fee are distance between end points and the speed of the circuit. Because the connection doesn't carry anybody else's communications, the carrier can assure a given level of quality.

Legacy: An adjective that refers to technology associated with old corporate programs, such as those on mainframes. Increasingly used as a put-down, the opposite of cutting edge.

Legacy system: Computer systems used by businesses that are almost impossible to replace. These can be PC based systems.

Links: Collegamenti.
These are the hypertext connections between Web pages. This is a synonym for hotlinks or hyperlinks.

(To) Load: Caricare.
(1) To install. For example, to load a disk means to mount it in a disk drive. (2) To copy a program from a storage device into memory. Every program must be loaded into memory before it can be executed. Usually the loading process is performed invisibly by a part of the operating system called the loader. You simply enter the name of the program you want to run, and the operating system loads it and executes it for you. In networking, load refers to the amount of data being carried by the network.

Log on: To sign on to a computer system.

Login: This is the term for the process of actually gaining access to the resources on a particular computer, normally this is done by entering a user name and a password.

Logoff: The process of actually ending your access to a particular computer.

Loop: Ciclo.
A set of statements in a program executed repeatedly, either a fixed number of times or until a specified condition is true or false.

Lurker: Osservatore silenzioso.
Someone who reads postings on a mailing list or usenet newsgroup but does not participate in the "discussion" by posting messages of his/her own. New users are cautioned to “lurk before they leap” so they can get a feel for a discussion area before contributing.

Mailing list: Topic-oriented, email-based message bases that can be read and posted to. Users subscribe to the lists they want to read and receive messages via email. Because many mailing lists are operated using listserv software, many Internauts call mailing lists "listservers." There are two types of lists: moderated and unmoderated. Moderated lists are screened by a human before messages are posted to subscribers. Messages to unmoderated lists are automatically forwarded to subscribers.

Mbps (Millions of bits per second): A measurement of data transfer rates.

Megabit: One million bits. Abbreviated as Mb.

Menu bar: Barra dei menu.
A selection of command options that can be pulled down by pointing the mouse to a menu option and holding down your mouse button. Many of the menu bar options may also be accessed by clicking the icons on the tool bar.

(To) Merge: Unire.
(1) To combine two files in such a way that the resulting file has the same organization as the two individual files. For example, if two files contain a list of names in alphabetical order, merging the two files results in one large file with all the names still in alphabetical order. (2) In word processing, mail merge refers to generating form letters by combining one file containing a list of names, addresses, and other information with a second file containing the text of the letter.

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface): Audio standardized hardware parameters set under MPC standards for MIDI interfaces that connect electronic keyboards, synthesizers, and related devices to computers. A MIDI file does not contain digitized sound. Instead, such a file contains the information needed to play such sounds from a MIDI-compatible device.

MIME: Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension to files that tell computers what kind of programs to use to view or run a file. Mimes are typically plug-ins to browsers that help launch helper apps or user apps.

Modem: Device converting digitized data into analogue form for a carrier wave. Demodulation transforms data transmitted in analogue form back into digital form for computer storage and/or processing. Modems modulate and demodulate computer data for transmission on telephone lines. Fax modems have the added capability of importing facsimiles received over phone lines directly into computer files. Cable TV modems offer transmitting speeds of over five times those of ISDN modems.

MP3: A popular audio file format. Files encoded in MP3 compress data at a 10:1 ratio, making it suitable for sending large, high-quality files over the Internet.

Multimedia: Multimedia.
Information that combines different types of content, such as text, images, animation, video and audio.

Multitasking: Execution of programs simultaneously on a single computer. In newer operating systems, two or more programs may be running "in the background" while the user is concentrating on another program running "in the foreground." Limits on how many programs can be run at the same time depend more upon hardware capacities, especially RAM amounts. Most operating systems now have multitasking capabilities.

Nerd: Fanatico del computer (termine che identifica un grande appassionato – talvolta fanatico – di informatica, ma spesso inetto socialmente).
Dull and bookish person but also an expert in a given field, i.e. computers.

Network: Rete.
A group of computers connected to each other so they can share data. The Internet is a collection of thousands of networks, which can communicate with one another.

Online: In linea.
You are online when your computer is connected to the Internet. A printer is online when it is connected to a computer and ready to receive information to be printed. When you are using your computer but are not connected to the Internet you are said to be working offline.

Parallel Port: Porta parallela.
An interface on a computer used for connecting printers and other devices. Most PCs have at lease one parallel port along with a serial port and special ports for a mouse and keyboard.

Password: Parola d'ordine.
A secret series of characters that enables a user to access a file, computer, or program. On multi-user systems, each user must enter his or her password before the computer will respond to commands. The password helps ensure that unauthorized users do not access the computer. In addition, data files and programs may require a password. Ideally, the password should be something that nobody could guess. In practice, most people choose a password that is easy to remember, such as their name or their initials. This is one reason it is relatively easy to break into most computer systems.

PDF (Portable Document Format): Adobe Systems' PDF file format delivers print-quality documents in downloadable form. Although PDF is a proprietary format, it is the de facto standard for delivering documents in which formatting is essential, such as business forms and schematics.

Pentium: A high-speed processor that followed the 486 processors of Intel. The Pentium runs much faster than the 486 in most instances and is a better alternative for graphics, audio, and video processing. It is also better suited to newer operating systems such as Windows 2000. Early versions tended to overheat and had an unknown life and reliability.

Peripheral: Periferica.
Any external device attached to a computer. Examples of peripherals include printers, disk drivers, display monitors, keyboards, and mice.

Pixel: The rectangular "dots" that comprise the smallest units of screen color variations. The more pixels that the computer can display per square inch of screen, the higher the resolution of graphics images on the screen. Higher resolutions such as those in Super VGA make it harder to detect pixels without zooming enlargements of parts of the screen.

Plug: An add-on application for an Internet browser, which extends its capabilities. Plug-ins are available which allow you to view video-clips, display virtual reality landscapes, or listen to real-time streaming audio.

Plug & play: A phase that can have a variety of meanings in different contexts. In the most general sense, it means ease of set-up and operation such as when a device can simply be plugged into power and run with ease. In the area of PCMCIA cards, the term means that cards can be removed and replaced with other cards without having to reboot the system.

Pointing Device: Dispositivo puntatore.
An input device you use to move the pointer on the screen, choose commands, press buttons, select text, create drawings, and so on. A mouse in a pointing device.

(To) Pop up: Given a stack of items, popping one of the items means to pull it off the stack. Although originally coined to describe manipulation of data stacks, the term is often used in connection with display window. When two or more windows overlap, you can pop one of them so that it is the topmost window.

Port: Porta.
A connection for sending data into or out of a PC. Most printers, for example, plug into a computer's parallel port. Also used to denote an address reserved for a particular use on an Internet server.

Portal: Portale.
A Web site or service that offers a broad array of resources and services, such as e-mail, forums, search engines, and on-line shopping malls. The first Web portals were online services, such as AOL, that provided access to the Web, but by now most of the traditional search engines have transformed themselves into Web portals to attract and keep a larger audience.

Protocol: Protocollo.
Rules for communicating, particularly for the format and transmission of data.

Public-key Encryption: This popular form of Internet-based encryption includes two elements: a public key and a private key. An individual creates a public key and sends it to people with whom they exchange e-mail. Recipients then use this public key to create coded message for the sender. When someone receives a message encrypted with their public key, they use a secret private key to decode the message.

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