The s

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*W3C*		World Wide Web Consortium. An organization founded in 1994 to develop common protocols for the evolution of the World Wide Web.
*wait state*		When a system's memory is slower than the CPU, the system's CPU delays, or waits for one or more processing cycles until the data from memory arrives.
wallpaper		A picture or pattern that serves as the background on the Windows desktop. Wallpaper must be a .BMP or .RLE graphics file.
*WAN*		See Wide Area Network.
warm boot		Holding down the Ctrl and Alt keys while pressing, then releasing, the Del key.
.WAV		The usual extension for a Microsoft^® sound file filename.
wavetable		Wavetable sound cards play back actual samples (real recordings) of requested instruments while FM sound cards produce sound by artifically simulating the waves of an actual sound.
WebBench		A Ziff Davis Labs benchmark that measures Web server software performance by running different Web server packages on the same server hardware or by running a given Web server package on different hardware platforms.
Whetstone		A benchmark to measure the speed of floating point operations. Compare Dhrystone.
wide area network		A communications network that covers a wide geographic area, such as state or country.
wildcard		A character that stands for one or more characters. In DOS, the asterisk and the question mark are wildcards. The asterisk stands for any string of characters, and the question mark stands for any single character.
window		A rectangular area on the screen that contains its own data.
Windows		A graphical operating system that uses windows and runs on top of DOS.
Windows NT		Windows New Technology. An advanced, self contained 32-bit operating system from Microsoft.
WinBench^{^®}		A benchmark test that, depending on what word precedes it, can test a variety of computer peripherals. For instance, the Disk WinMark 96 and Graphics WinMark 96 measure drive and graphics subsystem performance under Windows, and the CD-ROM WinMark uses a mix of CD-ROM operations based on profiles of six popular CD-ROM applications to test the CD-ROM drive. CPUmark16 and CPUmark32 mirror the processor usage of mainstream 16- and 32-bit Windows applications respectively.
Winstone^{^®}		A benchmark test developed by Ziff Davis Labs to measure performance between PCs running a variety of widely used applications. Winstone 32 tests using 32-bit applications, while Winstone 96 uses 16-bit apps.
word		Two bytes.
*word nerd*		A tech writer, especially one who corrects your grammar.
*workstation*		A terminal connected to a network.
WRAM		Windows Random Access Memory. Ultra high performance memory for video with high bandwidth and a dual ported design (can move data in and out simultaneously) More memory is also concentrated on a single chip, allowing maufacturers to use one where other types of video memory may need two.
write-back (cache)		A cache architechture where data is only written to main memory after it is forced out of the cache.
write precompensation		Varying the timing of the read/write head current on inner tracks of a hard disk to maintain a constant signal.
write protect		To cover a notch or move a tab on a floppy disk so the contents of the disk cannot be changed.
write-through (cache)		A cache architechture where data is wrtten to main memory at the same time as it is being cached.
write to		To send data to a storage device. Literally, to record the data on the disk.
WYSIWYG		(wizzy-wig) What You See Is What You Get. When what appears on the screen looks the same as what comes out of the printer.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z