FAQ

FAQ: Acronym for Frequently Asked Questions, not the least of which is "What does FAQ mean?"
Why do I need to worry about having a firewall/secure router? I have nothing on my computer anyone would want.
That's because they want that empty space you call your hard drive. They want your computer to be their computer. They want you to rest easy at night never mindful of the fact they control your system either with some hidden directory which may contain anything from pirated software to a repository of tools and/or stolen data. That way if someone gets pinched with it, it's not them... it's you. Or maybe they just want to control your machine as part of a botnet. Then you become one of many machines out there on the Internet using your broadband connection to try and DDoS some hapless site. While some intruder might get a kick out of your vacation pictures, what they want is your hardware and bandwidth.


Glossary:
I will, from time to time update this with new slang, acronyms and industry terms when the mood strikes.

A:

B:
Bit (concatenation of Binary Digit): Smallest measure of data; can be a one or a zero.
BotNet: A collection of compromised computers connected to the Internet, termed bots, that are used for malicious purposes.
Byte: 8 Bits (see Bit).

C:

D:
DDoS: Distributed Denial of Service. This is an attack from multiple locations (often tens of thousands, mostly compromised home and/or business computers, see BotNet) to bog down a particular destination by filling up the ingress Internet connection for said service.

E:

F:
Firewall: Contrary to popular belief, this is not a device/software package/miracle worker to prevent you from getting viruses or malware. If you click a link, or open an email from someone you don't know -- or in some cases you do know -- you will get infected regardless. A firewall keeps people on the outside form getting in, but if you open the door, they will come in anyway.

G:
Gigabit: One billion bits or 10^9 (see bit)
Gigabyte: One billion bytes or 10^9 (see byte)

H:

I:

J:

K:
Kilobit: 1000 bits or 10^3 (see bit)
Kilobyte: 1000 bytes or 10^3 (see byte)

L:
Linux: Unix-like Operating system. (See Unix).
Leet speak: (Disambiguation: 1337) A mix of letter and numbers to form words used by the wanna-be hackers and crackers. (Use: "I iz a 1337 h@X0r!" "I am an elite hacker!")

M:
Megabit: One million bits, or 10^6 (see bit)
Megabyte: One million bytes, or 10^6 (see byte)

N:

O:

P:

Q:

R:

S:

T:

U:
Unix: Vastly superior operating system. :) is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs. In my opinion, a far more stable operating environment (at least from a server perspective) than Windows.

V:

W:
WAP: Wireless access point. This is what is commonly called a wireless router.
WEP: Wired Equivalency Protocol. This is one method of applying a authentication security to wirless access points. Comes in two flavors; 40 and 128 Bit. It doesn't matter what they mean... both suck. Use WPA.
WPA: Wi-Fi Protected Access (Also WPA2, WPA2 Enterprise). This is a more modern method for protecting your wireless device from intruders. WPA2 is more than sufficient for home users and is far more solid than WEP.

X:

Y:

Z: