Select the first letter of the word from the list above to jump to appropriate section of the glossary or type the term on which you want to search.

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T1 line

a leased telephone line connection allowing for the transfer of data at a speed of 1.544 Mbits (1.544 million bits) per second. Though not fast enough to accommodate realtime streaming video, a T1 connection is often used by businesses to connect to the Internet.

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T3 line

a leased telephone line connection allowing for the transfer of data at a speed of approximately 45 Mbps (45 million bits) per second. T3 connections provide the bandwidth for realtime streaming video. T3 lines comprise much of the backbone that allows for the transmission of data over networks such as the Internet. Many ISPs use a T3 connection to provide services to customers. see bandwidth, backbone.

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tab

a designation in a program document or Web page similar to the ridge-like projection that divides and identifies sections in a notebook or planner. Like the physical tab in a notebook, the onscreen tab in a program application or Web page usually isolates a body of information. Clicking on such a tab with the mouse brings the material to the foreground.

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Tab key

a useful computer keyboard key that moves the cursor to a new insertion point as determined by a user’s margin settings. The tab key also brings a user to a new field when making entries in a cell or dialog box (form).

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tab stop

a designated point set by a user that positions the cursor in a particular spot on a page. In word processing, tab stops can be useful for setting recurring margins, paragraph indentions, and other repeated parameters in a document.

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table

a particular orientation of information, arranged in vertical columns and horizontal lines of items such as text or images. Spreadsheet applications produce many types of tables.

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tag

an instruction written into a program or document that signals a particular function or series of functions to occur. In HTML, commands are sometimes called tags.

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talk

realtime online chat (replete with all of the familiar abbreviations and acronyms) that takes place in a virtual community of which there are many, according to an individual’s interests. As with most other communication forums, regular participants take the medium seriously and discourage poor netiquette. In some talk forums, administrators monitor discussions.

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tape

a magnetically coated material used for the storage of computer, video, or audio data. The advantages of storing computer information on tape are that tapes can store large amounts of data and are less expensive than disks. The drawback to using tape is slow running speed. Tape is the preferred method of storing information that is not needed frequently such as archived data.

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tape drive

a device that reads and/or writes data onto a tape. Accessing data on tape can be time consuming depending upon the location of the information. For example, a tape drive would need to fast forward through a large quantity of tape to access data stored in the middle of a spool.