Monday, December 15, 2003		ITerminology

Stealth virus: A computer virus that actively hides itself from anti-virus software by either masking the size of the file that it hides in or temporarily removing itself from the infected file and placing a copy of itself in another location on the drive, replacing the infected file with an uninfected one that it has stored on the hard drive.

Polymorphic virus: A virus that changes its virus signature (i.e., its binary pattern) every time it replicates and infects a new file in order to keep from being detected by an anti-virus program.

Core logic: Also referred to as the core logic chipset, the central processing logic of a complete system (such as a desktop PC), a component of that system or a function of a specific component. A system’s core logic can include a controller for handling memory functions, a cache for instructions, the logic for bus interfaces and the functions of data paths.

Zoned-bit recording: A method of recording data on a hard disk drive whereby the sectors per track on the drive are not consistent across the platter. In general, tracks closest to the center have fewer sectors than tracks toward the outside of the platter where the tracks are larger and can fit more sectors. Though the platter rotates at a constant angular velocity, the clock speed, or clock rate, changes as the read/write head moves from one zone to another along the platter.