Z-Buffering (or Hidden Surface Removal) - This tracks the depth of each triangle in a 3D graphics representation, from the perspective of the viewer, to ensure that objects behind other objects in a scene don't appear until the viewer has them in his or her line of sight. This is why you can't see through walls to what lies behind, but why you can play multiplayer Quake and have people at many different areas in a level.

ZAK (Zero Administration Kit) - A software kit from Microsoft originally for Windows NT that can prevent various user actions, such as installing software or changing desktop configurations.

ZAW (Zero Administration Windows) - This version of the Windows operating system from Microsoft allows for various easy administration and management options, such as storing user software and settings on the network so that people can log into any machine on a network and retain the same personal settings. Basically it turns your PC into an NC.

ZB (zettabyte) - This is 2^70 bytes, or 1024 exabytes. See also exabyte.

Zero Administration Kit (ZAK) - A software kit from Microsoft originally for Windows NT that can prevent various user actions, such as installing software or changing desktop configurations.

Zero Administration Windows (ZAW) - This version of the Windows operating system from Microsoft allows for various easy administration and management options, such as storing user software and settings on the network so that people can log into any machine on a network and retain the same personal settings. Basically it turns your PC into an NC.

Zero Insertion Force socket (ZIF socket) - A socket designed to accept a PGA chip, such as most common CPUs produced today. The ZIF socket allows you to plug in a PGA chip with no pressure required. This is a big advantage because older sockets required you to push the chip in with equal force on all sides or risk bending the pins. It's not fun to bend pins on the new processor you just bought, especially when some server chips cost well over US$1,000.

Zettabyte (ZB) - This is 2^70 bytes, or 1024 exabytes. See also exabyte.

ZIF socket (Zero Insertion Force socket) - A socket designed to accept a PGA chip, such as most common CPUs produced today. The ZIF socket allows you to plug in a PGA chip with no pressure required. This is a big advantage because older sockets required you to push the chip in with equal force on all sides or risk bending the pins. It's not fun to bend pins on the new rocessor you just bought, especially when some server chips cost well over US$1,000.

Zip - file extension added onto files created by the PKZip file compression program written by PKWare. Zip files are the most common compressed file format in existence and are supported by most compression and decompression programs, such as WinZip and WinRar.

Zmodem - This protocol has many error-correcting properties. It can detect if a bad block (of 1,024 bytes) has come through and ask to have it resent. If the transfer gets interrupted for any reason, it can resume from where it left off. It is slightly slower than Ymodem-G, but is much more reliable.

Zone (Zone of Authority) - A term having to do withDNS. Each top-level domain name, such as BIOSMAN.com, is considered a zone, where subdomains such as download.BIOSMAN.com or www.BIOSMAN.com are managed by their own DNS servers. Geek.com's Zone of Authority is all the subdomains under Geek.com.

Zone File - A list of DNS data elements, referred to as resource records, for a Zone of Authority.

Zone of Authority (Zone) - A term having to do with DNS. Each top-level domain name, such as BIOSMAN.com, is considered a zone, where subdomains such as downloads.BIOSMAN.com or www.BIOSMAN.com are managed by their own DNS servers. BIOSMAN.com's Zone of Authority is all the subdomains under BIOSMAN.com.

Zone Transfer - The act of replicating a zone file from oneDNSserver to another.

Zoomed Video - A PC Card (PCMCIA) slot that is linked directly to theVGA controller. It allows easier implementation of MPEG video decoding and other video/TV features in laptops.