281boot disk controller: The controller for the disk drive that the BIOS uses to load theoperating system. By default, this is the controller for the primary floppy diskdrive (A:). If you designate another disk drive as the boot drive, its controllerbecomes the boot disk controller.boot priority (startup sequence): The order in which the computer searches its diskdrives to locate the startup files. Under the standard boot priority, a computerlooks for the startup files in the floppy disk drive before checking the primaryhard disk.briefcase: A Windows 95/98 and NT feature that allows you to update multiple versionsof a file located on different computers.buffer: An area of memory where information is held until it can be processed. Buffersare frequently used to compensate for the fact that some parts of the systemare faster than others. For example, the computer sends information to aprinter much faster than even the fastest printer can handle it. A print bufferstores printer information, enabling the computer to continue with other tasks.As the printer prints a page, it looks in the buffer to see what to do next.bus: An electrical circuit that connects the microprocessor with other parts of thecomputer, such as the video adapter, disk drives and ports. It is the highwayalong which data flows from one device to another. See also local bus.bus speed: The speed at which the central processing unit (CPU) communicates with theother elements of the computer. For example, the speed at which data movesbetween the CPU and the serial ports.byte: A sequence of eight bits. A byte is the smallest addressable unit of data. Each byterepresents an integer up to 255 in decimal (11111111 in binary, or FF inhexadecimal), or a character (such as a letter, numeral, or other symbol). Seealso binary, bit, gigabyte, hexadecimal, kilobyte, megabyte.C cache: An area of very fast memory in which frequently used or recently accessedinformation is duplicated for quick retrieval. Accessing data from cache isfaster than accessing it from system RAM. See also disk cache.
