Mirrored Volume A mirrored volume is a volume on a storage drive that contains an exact copy of the data on another drive. The most common reason to use a mirrored volume is to provide fault tolerance in case of hardware failure, allowing the mirror to serve as a backup. A mirrored volume is typically …
Modem Modem is short for “Modulator-Demodulator.” It is a hardware component that allows a computer or another device, such as a router or switch, to connect to the Internet. It converts or “modulates” an analog signal from a telephone or cable wire to digital data (1s and 0s) that a computer can recognize. Similarly, it …
Modifier Key A modifier key modifies the action of another key when the keys are pressed at the same time. Common modifier keys include Shift, Function, Control, Alt, Command, and Option. The Shift key is found on all keyboards, while the other keys may be exclusive to laptops or Windows or Macintosh computers. Below is …
Molex Connector A Molex connector is a common type of connector used to power internal computer components. The name comes from the Molex Connector Company, which pioneered the two-piece electrical connectors that became standard in computers and other electronics. Since Molex makes dozens of different connectors, there is no single connector technically called a “Molex …
Monitor The term “monitor” in a computer context may refer to several different things. It is most often used synonymously with “computer screen” or “display.” It may also refer to speakers for professionally monitoring sound, called “studio monitors.” The term may be used as a verb, referring to monitoring computer performance or network activity. Computer …
Motherboard A motherboard, also known as a “mainboard” or “logic board,” is the primary circuit board in a computer that connects and controls the rest of its components. Every other piece of hardware in a computer ultimately connects to the motherboard, which serves as a hub that provides a path for the components to communicate …
Mouse While most people don’t want to see a mouse running around in their home, they typically don’t have a problem seeing one sitting by their computer. This is because, along with the keyboard, the mouse is one of the primary input devices used with today’s computers. The name comes from the small shape of …
Mouse Pad A mouse pad, or “mousing surface,” is a surface designed for tracking the motion of a computer mouse. Early mouse pads were literally “pads,” which had soft surfaces. The slight cushion allowed the mouse ball to roll smoothly in any direction. Modern mouse pads typically have harder surfaces, designed to track the motion …
Multi-Core Multi-core technology refers to CPUs that contain two or more processing cores. These cores operate as separate processors within a single chip. By using multiple cores, processor manufacturers can increase the performance of a CPU without raising the processor clock speed. Since the upper threshold of clock speeds has leveled out during recent years, …
Multiprocessing For many years, the speed of computer processors increased through improvements in the architecture and clock speed of processors. However, in recent years, chip manufacturers have reached a limit in how small they can make the transistors inside CPUs without them overheating. Therefore, using multiple processors, or multiprocessing, has become the next step in …