Computer Abbreviations
92 abbreviations · part of Technology & Computer Abbreviations
General computing abbreviations covering operating systems, user interfaces, firmware and the boot process, character encoding, keyboard keys, file systems, command-line tools and IT administration. Many date from the personal-computer era of the 1970s to 1990s and still appear in system menus, error messages, help-desk tickets and job listings. Entries explain what each term means in practice and how it differs from look-alike abbreviations used elsewhere.
| Abbreviation | Stands for | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ACPI | Advanced Configuration and Power Interface | Open standard through which the operating system controls power management and hardware configuration: sleep, hibernation, battery status, fans, lid switches and power… |
| AD | Active Directory | Microsoft's directory service for Windows networks, storing user accounts, computers, groups and policies and handling sign-in authentication across a domain. |
| Alt | Alternate key | Modifier key beside the space bar on PC keyboards, used in shortcuts such as Alt+Tab to switch windows and Alt+F4 to close one. |
| AltGr | Alternate Graphic key | Modifier key to the right of the space bar on many non-US keyboards, used to type the third symbol printed on a key, such as the euro sign, @ or certain accented letters. |
| APFS | Apple File System | File system used by macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS and tvOS since 2017, optimized for SSDs with instant file cloning, snapshots, strong encryption and space sharing… |
| ASCII | American Standard Code for Information Interchange | Character encoding that assigns the numbers 0 to 127 to English letters, digits, punctuation and control codes, so that A is 65 and a space is 32. |
| BIOS | Basic Input/Output System | Firmware on a motherboard chip that starts a PC, checks its hardware and hands control to the operating system's boot loader. |
| BOM | Byte order mark | Invisible Unicode character, U+FEFF, placed at the very start of a text file to signal the encoding and, for UTF-16 and UTF-32, the byte order. |
| BSOD | Blue Screen of Death | Full-screen stop error that Windows shows when the system crashes and must restart, listing an error code such as CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED or MEMORY_MANAGEMENT. |
| Btrfs | B-tree file system | Copy-on-write Linux file system offering snapshots, checksums, transparent compression, subvolumes and multi-disk support. |
| BYOD | Bring your own device | Workplace policy that lets employees use personal phones, tablets or laptops for work email, apps and data. |
| CAD | Computer-aided design | Use of software to create, modify and document 2D drawings and 3D models of parts, products, buildings and circuits. |
| CAM | Computer-aided manufacturing | Software that turns CAD models into instructions for manufacturing machines, most often toolpaths and G-code for CNC mills, lathes and routers. |
| cd | Change directory | Shell command that moves the working directory to another folder, available in Windows Command Prompt and PowerShell, macOS Terminal and Linux shells. |
| CHKDSK | Check Disk | Windows and DOS command-line utility that scans a drive's file system for errors and, with options, repairs them and checks for bad sectors. |
| CJK | Chinese, Japanese and Korean | Grouping used in software, typography and Unicode for the three East Asian writing systems that share Han characters. |
| CLI | Command-line interface | A text-based way of operating software by typing commands, options and arguments at a prompt, such as git commit or npm install. |
| Cmd | Command key | Main modifier key on Apple keyboards, marked with a looped-square symbol, used in shortcuts such as Cmd+C (copy), Cmd+V (paste) and Cmd+Q (quit). |
| CS | Computer science | Academic discipline that studies computation, algorithms, data structures, programming languages, software design, artificial intelligence and the theoretical limits of… |
| Ctrl | Control key | Modifier key on PC keyboards that changes what other keys do, as in Ctrl+C to copy, Ctrl+V to paste, Ctrl+Z to undo and Ctrl+S to save. |
| Ctrl+Alt+Del | Control-Alt-Delete | Three-key combination that on modern Windows opens a security screen with options to lock the PC, switch users, sign out or open Task Manager. |
| DC | Domain controller | Windows server that runs Active Directory Domain Services, authenticating users and computers and enforcing security policies for a domain. |
| Del | Delete key | Key that removes the character to the right of the cursor or deletes selected files and objects. |
| DISM | Deployment Image Servicing and Management | Windows command-line tool that repairs, mounts and modifies Windows images, including the running system. |
| DOS | Disk operating system | Family of early PC operating systems loaded from disk and controlled by typed commands, most famously MS-DOS. |
| DP | Data processing | Older business term for using computers to handle records such as payroll, billing and inventory, as in "DP department" or "DP manager". |
| EBCDIC | Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code | Eight-bit character encoding created by IBM for its mainframes and still used on IBM Z systems. |
| Esc | Escape key | Key in the top-left corner of most keyboards used to cancel an action, close a dialog, leave full-screen mode or stop a web page from loading. |
| exFAT | Extended File Allocation Table | Microsoft file system designed for flash storage that removes FAT32's 4 GB file-size limit while staying simple and cross-platform. |
| ext4 | Fourth extended file system | Default file system on many Linux distributions, including Debian and Ubuntu, offering journaling, extents and support for volumes up to 1 EiB and files up to 16 TiB. |
| FAT | File Allocation Table | Family of simple file systems created by Microsoft for floppy disks and early hard drives, named after the table that records which clusters belong to each file. |
| FAT32 | File Allocation Table, 32-bit | Widely compatible file system for USB drives and memory cards that works with Windows, macOS, Linux, game consoles, car stereos and TVs. |
| Fn | Function key (modifier) | Modifier key on laptops and compact keyboards that activates the secondary functions printed on other keys, such as screen brightness, volume or the F1 to F12 keys. |
| GIGO | Garbage in, garbage out | Principle that a computer's output can be no better than the data and instructions it receives: flawed input produces flawed results, however sophisticated the… |
| GPO | Group Policy Object | Collection of Windows settings, such as password rules, mapped drives, desktop restrictions and software installs, that administrators apply to users and computers… |
| GPT | GUID Partition Table | Disk partitioning scheme defined in the UEFI standard, supporting disks far larger than 2 TiB and, on Windows, up to 128 partitions by default. |
| GUI | Graphical user interface | Visual way of operating a computer through windows, icons, menus and a pointer or touch rather than typed commands. |
| HCI | Human-computer interaction | Academic and professional field that studies how people use computers and designs technology around human abilities and limits. |
| HFS+ | Hierarchical File System Plus | Apple's main Mac file system from 1998 until APFS replaced it in 2017, shown in Disk Utility as Mac OS Extended. |
| HPC | High-performance computing | Using supercomputers or clusters of powerful servers, often with GPUs and fast interconnects, to run very large calculations in parallel, such as weather forecasting… |
| I/O | Input/output | Movement of data between a computer and the outside world or between its components: input from keyboards, sensors, disks and networks, and output to screens, printers… |
| ICT | Information and communications technology | Umbrella term for computing, telecommunications and broadcasting technologies, emphasizing communication as well as information processing. |
| IME | Input method editor | Software component that lets people type characters not printed on their keyboard, especially Chinese, Japanese and Korean, by converting phonetic or stroke input into… |
| Ins | Insert key | Key that toggles between insert mode, where typing pushes existing text to the right, and overtype mode, where new characters replace old ones. |
| IS | Information systems | Field and organizational function concerned with how people, processes and technology combine to collect, store and use information, including databases, enterprise… |
| IT | Information technology | The use of computers, networks, storage and software to create, process and exchange information, and by extension the department that runs an organization's technology. |
| ITIL | Information Technology Infrastructure Library | Widely adopted framework of best practices for IT service management, covering incident, problem, change and service-level management. |
| ITSM | IT service management | Discipline of designing, delivering and supporting technology as services to an organization's users, including help desks, ticketing, change control and service… |
| KB | Knowledge Base | Collection of support articles; at Microsoft, KB numbers identify both help articles and the Windows updates they describe. |
| Mac | Macintosh | Apple's line of personal computers running macOS, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio and Mac Pro. |
| MBR | Master Boot Record | First sector of a disk partitioned in the legacy PC style, holding boot-loader code and a table of up to four primary partitions. |
| MDM | Mobile device management | Software that lets an organization enroll, configure, secure and remotely wipe smartphones, tablets and laptops, enforcing passcodes, encryption, Wi-Fi settings and app… |
| MS-DOS | Microsoft Disk Operating System | Command-line operating system that Microsoft supplied for IBM PCs and compatibles from 1981, driven by commands such as dir, copy and format at the C:\> prompt. |
| MSP | Managed service provider | A company that remotely manages a client's IT infrastructure, cloud accounts, devices, security and help desk under an ongoing contract, usually for a monthly fee. |
| NT | New Technology | Line of Microsoft operating systems begun with Windows NT 3.1 in 1993, built on a new kernel independent of MS-DOS. |
| NTFS | New Technology File System | Default file system for Windows system drives, supporting very large files and volumes, permissions, encryption, compression, journaling and shadow copies for backups.… |
| OCR | Optical character recognition | Technology that turns images of text, such as scanned documents, photos of receipts or screenshots, into machine-readable text. |
| OMR | Optical mark recognition | Technology that reads filled-in bubbles, checkboxes and marks on paper forms, used for multiple-choice answer sheets, surveys, ballots and lottery slips. |
| OOBE | Out-of-box experience | Setup screens a person sees when turning on a new device or a fresh operating-system installation for the first time, covering language, Wi-Fi, account sign-in and… |
| OS | Operating system | Core software that manages a computer's processor, memory, storage and devices and provides common services to applications. |
| OS/2 | Operating System/2 | Operating system developed jointly by IBM and Microsoft and released in 1987 as a successor to DOS. |
| PC | Personal computer | A general-purpose computer built for one user at a time, such as a desktop, laptop or all-in-one. |
| PEBKAC | Problem exists between keyboard and chair | Help-desk joke meaning the fault lies with the user rather than the computer. |
| PgDn | Page Down key | Navigation key that moves content down by one screen at a time, handy for long documents, spreadsheets and terminal output. |
| PgUp | Page Up key | Navigation key that scrolls a document, web page or list up by one screen. |
| PICNIC | Problem in chair, not in computer | Help-desk slang for an issue caused by the user rather than by hardware or software, a close cousin of PEBKAC. |
| PnP | Plug and Play | Ability of an operating system to detect newly connected hardware, assign resources and load drivers automatically, with no manual jumpers or configuration. |
| POSIX | Portable Operating System Interface | Family of IEEE standards defining a common programming interface, shell and utilities for Unix-like operating systems, so that software written for one can be moved to… |
| POST | Power-on self-test | Diagnostic routine the firmware runs every time a computer is switched on, checking the processor, memory, graphics and storage before booting. |
| PrtSc | Print Screen key | Key that captures an image of the screen. |
| ReFS | Resilient File System | Microsoft file system designed for data integrity and very large volumes, using checksums and automatic repair with Storage Spaces mirrors. |
| RTFM | Read the f***ing manual | Blunt reply in tech support, online forums and programming communities telling someone their question is answered in the documentation. |
| RTL | Right-to-left | Text direction used by scripts such as Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and Urdu, which software must support by mirroring layouts, aligning text to the right and handling… |
| RTOS | Real-time operating system | Operating system that guarantees tasks respond within strict, predictable time limits, used in embedded devices such as engine controllers, medical pumps, drones… |
| SFC | System File Checker | Windows utility that scans protected operating-system files and replaces corrupted or missing ones from a cached copy. |
| SOHO | Small office/home office | Market category for very small businesses and home workers, applied to routers, printers, NAS boxes and software sized for a handful of users rather than an enterprise. |
| sudo | Superuser do | Unix and Linux command that runs another command with administrator (root) privileges after the user enters their own password. |
| TTY | Teletypewriter (Unix terminal) | Name Unix-like systems give to terminal devices, the text interfaces through which users type commands. |
| TUI | Text-based user interface | Interface drawn with text characters inside a terminal, offering menus, panels and keyboard navigation instead of a bare command prompt. |
| UAC | User Account Control | Windows security feature that asks for confirmation or an administrator password before a program makes system-wide changes, such as installing software or editing… |
| UEFI | Unified Extensible Firmware Interface | Firmware standard that replaced the legacy PC BIOS, adding graphical setup screens, mouse support, network booting, Secure Boot and support for GPT disks larger than 2… |
| UI | User interface | Everything a person sees and touches to operate a device or program: screens, buttons, menus, text, icons, sounds and gestures. |
| UTF-16 | Unicode Transformation Format, 16-bit | Unicode encoding that uses one or two 16-bit units per character, with "surrogate pairs" for emoji and rarer scripts. |
| UTF-8 | Unicode Transformation Format, 8-bit | Variable-width encoding of Unicode that stores each character in one to four bytes while keeping plain English text byte-for-byte identical to ASCII. |
| UX | User experience | How a person perceives and feels about using a product or service, covering ease of use, efficiency, accessibility and satisfaction. |
| WIMP | Windows, icons, menus, pointer | Interaction style built on four elements: windows, icons, menus and a pointing device such as a mouse. |
| WinPE | Windows Preinstallation Environment | Lightweight version of Windows that boots from a USB drive, the network or a recovery partition to install, deploy or repair Windows. |
| WinRE | Windows Recovery Environment | Minimal recovery system on a hidden partition that Windows starts after repeated failed boots, offering Startup Repair, System Restore, Safe Mode, uninstalling updates… |
| WPM | Words per minute | Measure of typing, reading or speaking speed; in typing tests a "word" is standardized as five characters, including spaces. |
| WSL | Windows Subsystem for Linux | Windows feature that runs Linux distributions such as Ubuntu directly on Windows 10 and 11, giving developers a Linux shell, tools and file system without managing a… |
| WYSIWYG | What you see is what you get | Describes editors that show content on screen as it will look when printed or published, such as word processors, desktop publishing tools and visual web builders. |
| ZFS | Zettabyte File System | Combined file system and volume manager that checksums all data to detect and repair silent corruption, with copy-on-write snapshots, compression and its own software… |
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