ActiveX
ActiveX is a model for writing programs.Developed by Microsoft ActiveX technologies are based on COM (Component Object Model). For example Flash movies are using ActiveX to be displayed in a user browser. ActiveX can be used with a variety of programming languages and in an Internet programming environment.
Addon domains
A term used to describe the option to host additional domain names on a shared hosting account. With addon domain names you can host multiple domain names/sites with a distinct content on a single hosting account. The addon domain names usually are pointed to some folder on your web space and open a differnt website from your main site. With most web hosting providers you can have separate email accounts for the addon domain. The only downside is that you do not have a separate Control panel for the addon domain. If you need the option to have separate Control Panels for each additional domain name, then you will have to look for some kind of a Reseller package.
ADO
Microsoft ActiveX data objects. A unit of information that can be addressed individually in the ActiveX architecture. ADO is commonly used to manipulate data in databases, such as Microsoft SQL Server 2000, Oracle, and Microsoft Access.
ADSL
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line – sounds scary doesn’t it. Well, its just a high speed connection to the Internet which uses regular telephone line. It is getting more and more common these days.
Affiliate Program
The name says it all. Most of the web hosting companies do have an Affiliate Program. That is you sign up as an affiliate and you get commission for every new customer your refer to them.
AIFF
Audio interchange file format. It is the default sound file on Macintosh computers
Anonymous FTP (Anon FTP)
It is the option to use an FTP site without having username or a password. You can use Anonymous FTP on your web hosting account to allow users to upload and download files from your site. However you need to use this feature carefully as a malicious user can upload MP3 files or pirated software and your site may be shut down for violation of the web hosting company terms. So in our opinion nobody should use Anonymous FTP – it is just not safe.
ANSI
American National Standards Institute. This organization is responsible for approving U.S. standards in many areas, including computers and communications. Standards approved by this organization are often called ANSI standards
Anti-spam for email
Usually a program that runs either on an email server or locally on your computer that filters incoming messages after some heuristic analysis. A must-have in today\’s Internet, although sometimes it can block legitimate email messages.
Anti-Virus program
A program that scans your computer, files, email attachments for viruses. Usually when a virus is found the program deletes it or prompts the user with several options. Most web hosting companies offer anti-virus for email as almost all of the computer viruses today use email to spread out.
Apache
An open source web server software that is used to host about half the sites on the Internet. The original version of Apache was written for UNIX, but there are now versions that run under OS/2, Windows and other platforms. It is a powerful and stable web server widely used by the web hosting companies that offer UNIX based web hosting services
Applet
Small program written in the Java programming language. The applet runs on your computer, not on the web hosting server. So it is not dependent on the web hosting server at all. Java Applets can be embedded in any HTML page on your site.
ARJ
A compression format. It was very popular under DOS(Disk Operating system). Lost its popularity these days and was replaced by ZIP, RAR, TAR.GZ and BZIP
ARPA
Advanced Research Projects Agency. Now called DARPA. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is the central research and development organization for the Department of Defense (DoD). ARPA funded research and experimentation with ARPANET, the predecessor to the Internet.
ARPAnet
The precursor to the Internet. Landmark packet-switching network established in 1969 by the US Department of Defense as an experiment in wide-area-networking that would survive a nuclear war.
ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Interchange. ASCII is the most common format for text files in computers and on the Internet. In an ASCII file, each alphabetic, numeric or special character is represented with a 7-bit binary number (a string of seven 0s or 1s).
ASP
Active Server Pages. A language for creating dynamic applications. Technology designed by Microsoft as an alternative to CGI scripts for creation of interactive Web content, especially when it involves interaction with databases and other programs. ASPs have VBScript or Jscript code embedded in the HTML. One of the major parts of the .NET initiative is ASP.NET, a new version of Active Server Pages.
Attachment
An attachment is a file that is sent along with an e-mail message. Attachments are normally considered separately from the body of the email message, and can be nearly any type of file. When you send your friend an image it goes as an attachment in your email. Unfortunately, these days most of the Internet viruses are spread out as email attachments. So you should always be careful when you open an attachment.
Authentication
The process of verifying one’s login credentials. It is the process of verifying the identity of the user at the other end of a link. Usually you are being asked for username and a password so the system can verify if you are granted to access certain resources there
AVI
Audio Video Interleaved – a common video file format (.AVI) A Microsoft video format files will end with an .avi extension