Dell Precision 410 User Manual page 228

16 Dell Precision 410 Mini Tower Systems User's Guide
operating systems in a variety of video
modes.
On some Dell computers, a video adapter
is integrated into the system board. Also
available are many video adapter cards
that plug into an expansion-card
connector.
Video adapters often include memory
separate from RAM on the system board.
The amount of video memory, along with
the adapter's video drivers, may affect the
number of colors that can be simulta-
neously displayed. Video adapters can
also include their own coprocessor for
faster graphics rendering.
A program that allows graphics-mode ap-
plication programs and operating systems
to display at a chosen resolution with the
desired number of colors. A software
package may include some "generic"
video drivers. Any additional video drivers
may need to match the video adapter in-
stalled in the computer.
Most VGA and SVGA video adapters in-
clude memory chips in addition to your
computer's RAM. The amount of video
memory installed primarily influences the
number of colors that a program can dis-
play (with the appropriate video drivers
and monitor capabilities).
Video adapters normally support multiple
text and graphics display modes. Charac-
ter-based software displays in text modes
that can be defined as x columns by y
rows of characters. Graphics-based soft-
ware displays in graphics modes that can
be defined as x horizontal by y vertical pix-
els by z colors.
Video resolution—800 x 600, for exam-
ple—is expressed as the number of pixels
across by the number of pixels up and
down. To display a program at a specific
graphics resolution, you must install the
appropriate video drivers and your moni-
tor must support the resolution.
A method for increasing addressable
RAM by using the hard-disk drive. For ex-
ample, in a computer with 16 MB of RAM
and 16 MB of virtual memory set up on
the hard-disk drive, the operating system
would manage the system as though it
had 32 MB of physical RAM.
A self-starting program designed to incon-
venience you. Virus programs have been
known to corrupt the files stored on a
hard-disk drive or to replicate themselves
until a computer or network runs out of
memory.
The most common way that virus pro-
grams move from one computer to
another is via "infected" diskettes, from
which they copy themselves to the
hard-disk drive. To guard against virus pro-
grams, you should do the following:
Periodically run a virus-checking util-
ity on your computer's hard-disk
drive
Always run a virus-checking utility on
any diskettes (including commer-
cially sold software) before using
them
Abbreviation for very-large-scale
integration.
Abbreviation for peak-point voltage.
Abbreviation for video random-access
memory. Some video adapters use VRAM
chips (or a combination of VRAM and
DRAM) to improve video performance.
VRAM is dual-ported, allowing the video
adapter to update the screen and receive
new image data at the same time.
Abbreviation for watt(s).
Abbreviation for watt-hour(s).