The letter N: A Glossary of Windows Terms

Navigation pane – A part of a computer interface that allows for navigation through it. Photo Gallery has a navigation pane, as does Movie Maker, Explorer, and other Windows applications. The navigation pane offers a place to browse files and folders, for the most part.

Netbook – A very small notebook or laptop computer. Netbooks are becoming more and more popular and use solid state drives which are studier and enhance battery life.

Network – In general computing terms, a group of computers that share data or resources, such as files, folders, and media, and hardware including printers and servers.

Network address – a unique identifier for a computer on a network. Often, this address is an IP address consisting of 32 bits of data in dotted decimal notation. Every computer or resource on a network must have a unique address.

Network and Sharing Center – An application includes with Windows Vista that allows for sharing, managing, connecting, and troubleshooting a network and/or its resources.

Network Address Translation (NAT) – A technology that allows a network to use one set of IP address for internal traffic and another for external traffic. NAT is what allows you to share an Internet Connection.

Network Card – Often referred to as a Network Interface Card (NIC), it is the hardware that allows a computer to access a network.

Network Map – A graphical representation of a computer network. In Windows Vista, a network map is available in the Network and Sharing Center .

Node – Any resource on a computer network such as a computer, workstation, server, or printer.

Noise – Interference on a network, often referred to as static, that causes disruptions in transmissions on a network.

Norton - An anti-virus program you can use to protect your PC or laptop from viruses you can contract from the Internet, via e-mail, or by macro.

Notebook computer – In general terms, any laptop computer. Often, a notebook is smaller than a full sized laptop though.

Notification Area – The right side of the Taskbar on a Windows-based PC. The Notification area tells you what is running in the background on a computer.

NTFS – New Technology File System . A file system used by Windows that is more secure and reliable than its predecessor, FAT and FAT32. With NTFS, permissions can be configured for files and directories.

This post is part of the series: Windows Glossary

Learn the definitions for the terms used in the Bright Hub Windows Channel. This series starts with the letter “A” and runs all the way to “Z”.

1. A Glossary of Windows Terms – “A”
2. A Glossary of Windows Terms – “B”
3. A Glossary of Windows Terms – “C”
4. A Glossary of Windows Terms – “D”
5. A Glossary of Windows Terms – “E”
6. A Glossary of Windows Terms – “F”
7. A Glossary of Windows Terms – “G”
8. A Glossary of Windows Terms – “H”
9. A Glossary of Windows Terms – “I”
10. A Glossary of Windows Terms – “J” and “K”
11. A Glossary of Windows Terms – “L”
12. A Glossary of Windows Terms – “M”
13. A Glossary of Windows Terms – “N”
14. A Glossary of Windows Terms – “O”
15. A Glossary of Windows Terms – “P”
16. A Glossary of Windows Terms – “Q”
17. A Glossary of Windows Terms – “R”
18. A Glossary of Windows Terms – “S”
19. A Glossary of Windows Terms – “U and V”
20. A Glossary of Windows Terms – “W”
21. A Glossary of Windows Terms – “X”, “Y”, and “Z”