Jargon Buster

UML

Unified Modeling Language is a language for specifying, visualizing, constructing, and documenting the artifacts of software systems, as well as for business modeling and other non-software systems. The UML represents a collection of best engineering practices that have proven successful in the modeling of large and complex systems

Undo

A command in most programs which reverses your last action. The undo command can really get you out of trouble if you have made a catastrophic error.

Uninstall

The process of removing unwanted applications from your PC. You might want to do this to free up hard disk space, or simply because you no longer use the program. Most programs have their own uninstall routine, or you can use Windows uninstall command from Control Panel.

Uninstaller

A utility that removes Windows programs properly by deleting not just the main program and its folders, but also the smaller ancillary files that are scattered round the hard disk. It should also remove any entries that have been made in your PC's Registry and system files.

Uninstalling

Process of removing programs from your computer.

Universal Serial Bus (USB)

A standard which allows quick and easy connection of external peripherals such as scanners and printers to your PC. It supports plug and play, and devices can be added or removed with your PC switched on.

Unix

is an Operating System typically written in C, and designed for multi-user environments. It has Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) built in, and is therefore one of the most popular operating systems for servers on the Internet

Upgrade

To improve the performance or specification of your computer by adding more memory, a larger hard disk or making another improvement. Software can also upgraded, usually by updating it to the latest version.

Uploading

The process of transferring information to another computer, often for publishing on the internet as a web page. The process normally involves using the File Transfer Protocol, or FTP.

UPS

Uninterruptible Power Supply is a device that sits between a power supply (e.g. a wall outlet) and a device (e.g. a computer) to prevent undesired features of the power source (outages, sags, surges, bad harmonics, etc.) from the supply from adversely affecting the performance of the device

Uptime

is the time since last reboot of the front-end computer or computers that are hosting a site. It can be detected by looking at the data that is recorded when we sample a site. We can detect how long the responding computer(s) hosting a web site has been r

URL

Universal Resource Locator also used as shorthand for "website address" - the address you see now in the address bar of your browser is the URL for Seniority

USB

Universal Serial Bus is a type of connector on your PC which allows multiple devices to be attached to one another. Scanner and printers are examples of devices that can be attached to a USB port

Usenet

Short for users' network, a collection of public groups of messages newsgroups which is accessible to a wide variety of computer systems worldwide, both on and off the internet. The act of writing a message that appears on Usenet is called posting. Newsgroups belong to hierarchies, usually divided by geography and interest. For example, news://uk. rec. cycling is a UK-based newsgroup about recreational cycling.

User interface

This is the face of a computer program what it looks like to the person sitting in front of the monitor, and how it is used. Windows and the Apple Macintosh have a Graphical User Interface (GUI) which is easier to use than a purely text-based interface like MS-DOS.

Utility

A program that performs specific tasks on your PC, such as optimising memory use or compressing disk space.