Computer Fundamentals and System Concepts

S.M.A.R.T. stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology. It is a monitoring system included in computer hard drives and SSDs to detect and report on various indicators of drive reliability.

CAD stands for Computer Aided Design. It is the use of computers to assist in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design.

DSP stands for Digital Signal Processor. It is a specialized microprocessor with an architecture optimized for the operational needs of digital signal processing.

ATA stands for Advanced Technology Attachment, a standard interface for connecting storage devices like hard drives to the motherboard.

UEFI stands for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, which is the modern standard for the interface between an operating system and platform firmware.

A rootkit is a collection of computer software designed to enable access to a computer or an area of its software that is not otherwise allowed, often masking its presence from anti-malware tools.

A Trojan horse can be used to install a backdoor, which allows an attacker to control the infected computer remotely, effectively turning it into a zombie in a botnet.

A computer virus is a type of malicious software (malware) that, when executed, replicates itself by modifying other computer programs and inserting its own code to cause harm.

Viruses require execution to run their code; downloading and running an executable file (.exe) is a common vector for infection.

Computer viruses typically consume system resources, such as CPU cycles and memory, which causes the computer to slow down or perform erratically rather than speed up.

Malware is an umbrella term for malicious software, which includes viruses, worms, trojans, and spyware. Therefore, a virus is a specific type of malware, not the other way around.

Malware is the correct term for malicious software, which encompasses viruses, spyware, worms, and other harmful programs.

The motherboard is the main printed circuit board in a computer that houses and connects the CPU, RAM, ROM, and provides connections for secondary storage devices.

The Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the primary component of a computer that performs most of the processing inside the computer. It executes instructions of computer programs, acting as the 'brain' of the system.

A microprocessor is an integrated circuit that contains all the functions of a central processing unit of a computer, responsible for processing all instructions the computer runs.