Machine - A device which performs a task and is operated mechanically, electrically, or electronically.In computer terminology, "machine" refers to the computer itself.

Mail Bomb - Massive amounts of electronic mail sent to a single person, with malicious intent to overload the recipient's system.Mail bombing can cause problems not only for the targeted recipient, but also for other users of the networks involved.

Mail Box - A box that holds incoming mail; a box for electronic mail is a file where mail messages are stored until the addressee opens and reads them.

Mail Filter - A program which can sort and process incoming email for the recipient, based on the mail headers or content. For example, all mail pertaining to a certain subject (as indicated by its header) could be put into a high-priority file.

Mailing List - E-mail electronic private discussion groups that link a relatively small group of people with a common interest. If you belong to a mailing list, you will receive mail from any member of the list that posts mail to it.

Mail Server - A program that sends files in response to requests sent by email.

Mapping ~ Making another (remote) PC’s disk drives, printer, or other resources available to your (local) PC on the home network.

Mbps - Megabits per second, a measure of data transmission or network speed equaling 1 million bits (or 1,000 kilobits) per second.

Megabyte - A measure of the quantity of data. (A million bytes or technically, 1024 kilobytes.) A megabyte is a lot when referring to files containing only simple text messages. A megabyte may not he much when referring to files containing complex color photographs.

Menu Bar - A bar across the top of the computer screen or window, which has the names of available pull-down menus, such as "File", "Font", "Window", etc.Pressing the mouse on a menu bar item makes its pull-down menu appear.

Memory - Also called main memory. The working space used by the computer to hold the program that is currently running, along with the data it needs, and to run programs and process data. The main memory is built from RAM chips.The amount of memory available determines the size of programs that can be run, and whether more than one program can be run at once. Main memory is temporary, and is lost when the computer is turned off. Memory runs about 100 times faster than hard disk storage.

Message Thread - A group of Internet Forum or BBS messages and replies linked and sorted by topic.

Metasearch - A regular search engine allows a user to search a single database. A meta-searcher is a front end that passes each query to multiple search engines.

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) - a high quality audio file format.

MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) - Extensions to the Internet mail format that allow it to carry multiple types of data (binary, audio, video, graphics, etc.) as attachments to email messages.

MNP - Microcom Networking Protocol - A set of hardware error protection protocols (MNP levels 1 - 4) and data compression techniques (MNP level 5) developed by Microcom, now in the public domain. It makes use of CRC and retransmission of defective blocks by checking performed within the modem.

Modem (MODulator / DEModulator) - a device that permits computers to communicate over telephone lines using audio data signals. Data is sent by modulating it and received by demodulating it. A modem enables what is generally referred to as "dial-up access."The fastest widely available modems are "56K" (or 56 kilobits per second).

Mouse - A small device attached to your computer by a cord, which lets you give commands to the computer by clicking the device.

MP3 - Music data file extension. Is the file extension for MPEG, audio layer 3. Layer 3 is one of three coding schemes (layer 1, layer 2 and layer 3) for the compression of audio signals.

Multimedia - A combination of two or more types of information such as text, audio, video, graphics, and images.