F-stop - The number assigned to determine the aperture, or size of the lens opening. A high f-stop number means a small amount of light is allowed into the camera, which would be used to avoid an overexposed image. A low f-stop number means a large amount of light is let into the camera, as you might use to shoot at a high shutter speed without getting a dark image.

FAQ [Frequently Asked Questions] - Document containing information about topics that may concern new users to a group.

fast mailer - another term for Mass Mailer.

FAT {fat} [File Allocation Table] - The part of a disk where the size and physical location of every file is stored.

Favorite Places (Internet Explorer) - stored Web page address (URL) that you can go to easily by clicking the Favorites icon in the Toolbar or choosing the name from the Favorites menu.

FDDI [Fiber Distributed Data Interface] - A standard for trans-mitting data on optical fiber cables at a rate of around 100,000,000 bits-per-second (10 times as fast as ethernet, about twice as fast as T-3).

fiber-optic cable - Cable that carries laser light, encoded with digital signals, rather than electrical energy. Made of thin fibers of glass, fiber-optic cables can rapidly transmit data.

file - The smallest unit of information, in a named collection, used by a computer. Files can contain data, images, programs, etc.

file transfer protocol [FTP] - standard that allows users to transfer files from one computer to another over a network. You can use your browser to fetch files using FTP.

finger - An Internet software tool for locating people on other Internet sites. Finger is also sometimes used to give access to non-personal information, but the most common use is to see if a person has an account at a particular Internet site.

firewall - An electronic boundary that prevents unauthorized users from accessing certain files on a network; or, a computer used to maintain such a boundary.

FireWire - The former name for High Performance Serial Bus. A serial bus developed by Apple Computer and Texas Instruments that can connect up to 63 devices in a tree-like daisy chain configuration, and transmit data at up to 400 megabits/second.

firmware - As its name suggests, firmware is somewhere between hardware and software. Like software, it is a computer program that is embedded in your computer's BIOS and which is executed by the computer. It is also an intimate and vital part of a piece of hardware and has little meaning outside of that particular hardware.

Instructions permanently stored on a digital camera (or other electronic device) and responsible for controlling it.

flame - A nasty and personal attack on somebody on-line. A person who does this sort of thing is called a Flamer.

flame war - A heated exchange.

flash drive (memory stick) - A small package, usually with a USB connector, containing flash memory and used to transfer information between computers.

flash memory - A small printed circuit board that holds large amounts of data in memory. Flash memory is used in PDAs, digital cameras, and laptops because it is small and holds its data when the power is turned off.

floating-point processor - CPU support chip that performs mathematical computations at speeds up to 100 times faster than a microprocessor alone.

floppy disk - Removable storage device that uses a magnetically sensitive flexible disk enclosed in a 5¼-inch soft plastic envelope or 3½-inch hard plastic case.

floppy disk drive - Hardware which can accept a floppy disk and transfer data between the disk and the CPU.

folder - Files can be organized by placing them into folders that look like office file folders. These folders correspond to directories in DOS.

foreign cookie - cookie from one site that gets stored on your computer when you visit a different site. Sometimes a Web site displays content that is hosted on another Web site. That content can be anything from an image to text or an advertisement. The second Web site that hosts such elements also has the ability to store a cookie in your browser, even though you don't visit it directly. Also known as "third-party cookie."

format - To prepare a disk so that it can store information.

fragmentation - Storage of a file on a disk in fragments that are not next to each other. When a file is stored, the data is placed in whatever disk areas are available, which may mean breaking it into fragments. Defragmenting puts all the fragments of each file together and the areas of free space together, thus speeding up access time and making more free space available on the disk

FTP site - Computer that stores files to be retrieved using FTP.

Fully Qualified Domain Name [FQDN] system - Since humans can remember sequences of words and parts of words more easily than numeric strings, the FQDN system exists to ease the task of locating Internet host sites. A FQDN is composed of subcomponents, normally in the format host.site.domain_type.
* Host - The name of the host system accepting the Internet traffic sent to the FQDN.
* Site - The physical location or name of the organization where the host is located.
* Domain type - The type of organization that operates the host system: com (commercial), edu (educational institution), gov (government institution), mil (military), net (Internet service provider), and org (miscellaneous organizations).

function keys (F1-F12) - Programmable keys used by a program to generate special commands.