McAfee VirusScan Plus, User Manual

Page: 174 / 205

172 McAfee VirusScan Plus
bandwidth
The amount of data (throughput) that can be transmitted in a fixed period of time.
blacklist
In Anti-Spam, a list of email addresses you do not want to receive messages from because
you believe the messages will be spam. In anti-phishing, a list of websites that are
considered fraudulent. Compare to
whitelist
(page 182).
browser
A program used to view web pages on the Internet. Popular web browsers include
Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.
brute-force attack
A hacking method used to find passwords or encryption keys by trying every possible
combination of characters until it breaks encryption.
buffer overflow
A condition that occurs in an operating system or an application when suspicious
programs or processes try to store more data in a buffer (temporary storage area) than it
can hold. A buffer overflow corrupts memory or overwrites data in adjacent buffers.
C
cache
A temporary storage area on your computer for frequently or recently accessed data. For
example, to increase web browsing speed and efficiency, your browser can retrieve a web
page from its cache, rather than from a remote server, the next time you want to view it.
cipher text
Encrypted text. Cipher text is unreadable until it has been converted into plain text (that is,
decrypted). See also
encryption
(page 173).
client
A program that runs on a personal computer or workstation and relies on a server to
perform some operations. For example, an email client is an application that lets you send
and receive email.
compression
A process that compresses files into a form that minimizes the space required for storing or
transmitting.
content-rating group
In Parental Controls, an age group to which a user belongs. Content is made available or
blocked based on the content-rating group to which a user belongs. Content-rating groups
include: Young Child, Child, Younger Teenager, Older Teenager, and Adult.