| P2P | Stands for "Peer to Peer." In a P2P network, the "peers" are computer systems... |
| Packet | This is a small amount of computer data sent over a network. Any time you receive... |
| Page Orientation | Page orientation describes the way a document is printed or displayed on a screen... |
| Page View | Each time a user visits a Web page, it is called a page view. Page views, also... |
| Parallel Port | This interface is found on the back of older PCs and is used for connecting... |
| Parse | No, this is not a typo of the word "sparse." The word "parse" means to analyze an... |
| Partition | A partition is a section of a hard disk. When you format a hard disk, you can... |
| Password | A password is a string of characters used for authenticating a user on a computer... |
| Paste | Just like you can paste a note on a sheet of paper, you can paste data into a... |
| Path | A path, also known as a "file path" or "directory path," defines the location of a... |
| Payload | When data is sent over the Internet, each unit transmitted includes both header... |
| PC | Stands for "Personal computer." PCs are are what most of us use on a daily basis... |
| PCB | Stands for "Printed Circuit Board." A PCB is a thin board made of fiberglass or a... |
| PCI | Stands for "Peripheral Component Interconnect." It is a hardware bus designed by... |
| PCI Express | First came PCI, then PCI-X, then PCI Express. PCI Express can be abbreviated as... |
| PCI-X | Stands for "Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended." Once again, "Ex" is... |
| PCMCIA | Stands for "Personal Computer Memory Card International Association." It can also... |
| PDA | Stands for "Personal Digital Assistant." These are the little electronic devices... |
| PDF | Stands for "Portable Document Format." PDF is a multi-platform file format... |
| Pebibyte | A pebibyte is a unit of data storage that equals 2 to the 50th power, or... |
| Peopleware | Peopleware refers to the role of people in the computing process. While hardware... |
| Peripheral | A computer peripheral is any external device that provides input and output for the... |
| Perl | Perl actually stands for "Practical Extraction and Report Language," but you don't... |
| Permalink | Short for "permanent link." A permalink is a URL that links to a specific news... |
| Petabyte | A petabyte is 2 to the 50th power, or 1,125,899,906,842,624 bytes. However... |
| Pharming | Pharming is yet another way hackers attempt to manipulate users on the Internet... |
| Phishing | Phishing is similar to fishing in a lake, but instead of trying to capture fish... |
| PHP | Stands for "Hypertext Preprocessor." (It is a recursive acronym, if you can... |
| Piconet | A piconet is a network that is created using a wireless Bluetooth connection. Some... |
| PIM | Stands for "Personal Information Manager." A PIM is a software application that... |
| Ping | This term refers to a golf equipment brand, as well as the sound made by striking... |
| Pipeline | Computer processors can handle millions of instructions each second. Once one... |
| Piracy | When someone installs and uses commercial software without paying for the program... |
| Pixel | The term "pixel" is actually short for "Picture Element." These small little dots... |
| Plain Text | Text documents come in to flavors - "rich text" and "plain text." Plain text, as... |
| Platform | In the computer world, a "platform" typically refers to a computer's operating... |
| Plug and Play | Plug and Play, sometimes, abbreviated PnP, is a catchy phrase used to describe... |
| Plug-in | Though software plug-ins might not make your room smell as nice as the scented ones... |
| PMU | Stands for "Power Management Unit." The PMU is a microcontroller, or integrated... |
| PNG | Stands for "Portable Network Graphic." This format was designed as an alternative... |
| Podcast | The name "podcast" combines the terms iPod and broadcast into a single catchy word... |
| Pop-Up | The term "pop-up" has two computer-related meanings. One refers to a window and... |
| POP3 | Stands for "Post Office Protocol." POP3, sometimes referred to as just "POP," is a... |
| Port | As if computer terms weren't hard enough to understand, there are three different... |
| Portal | While this term can also refer to a matterless vortex used to travel between... |
| PostScript | PostScript is a page description language (PDL) that describes a page's text and... |
| Power Cycle | While the phrase "power cycle" appears to be a noun, it is actually more commonly... |
| Power Supply | A power supply is a component that regulates and provides power to an electrical... |
| Power User | When it comes to computers, there are regular users and there are power users... |
| PowerPoint | PowerPoint is a presentation program developed by Microsoft. It is included in the... |
| PPC | Stands for "Pay Per Click," and is used in online advertising. PPC advertisements... |
| PPGA | Stands for "Plastic Pin Grid Array" (not the Pretty People Golfer's Association... |
| PPI | Stands for "Pixels Per Inch." The resolution of a printed photo is often measured... |
| PPL | Stands for "Pay Per Lead." PPL is similar to CPL, but measures the cost per lead... |
| PPM | Stands for "Pages Per Minute." PPM is used to measure the printing speed of both... |
| PPP | Stands for "Point to Point Protocol." It is the Internet standard for dial-up... |
| PPTP | Stands for "Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol." PPTP is a networking standard for... |
| PRAM | Stands for "Parameter Random Access Memory," and is pronounced "P-ram." PRAM is a... |
| Prebinding | Prebinding is an optimization process that allows faster launching of applications... |
| Primary Key | A primary key is a unique identifier for a database record. When a table is... |
| Printer | A printer is an output device that prints documents from a computer. Common... |
| Process | A process is a program that is running on your computer. This can be anything from... |
| Processor | This little chip is the heart of a computer. Also referred to as the... |
| Program | Program is a common computer term that can be used as both a noun and a verb. A... |
| Progressive Scan | Video signals are generated using horizontal lines. An interlaced picture draws... |
| PROM | PROM stands for "Programmable Read-Only Memory" and is pronounced "P-ROM." It is a... |
| Protocol | When computers communicate with each other, there needs to be a common set of rules... |
| Proxy Server | Most large businesses, organizations, and universities these days use a proxy... |
| PS/2 | PS/2 is a type of port used by older computers for connecting input devices such as... |
| Pseudocode | Most software programs are developed using a programming language, like (C++|... |
| Push | Push refers to a system in which data is "pushed" to a user's device rather than... |
