Letter V

VAX                Early 32 bit processor by DEC  using CISC architecture and used in
                   computers such as PDP-11, VAX-11/780. Ran VAX/VMS OS, BSD Unix, Ultrix-32 etc.
                   VAX = Virtual address extension.

VB                 Visual Basic. Microsoft's easy to use programming language for
                   Windows based PCs.

VBA                Visual Basic for Applications. Macro language for PC software such
                   as Microsoft's Office.
				   
VBOX               A virtual machine configuration used by Oracle VirtualBox software.

VBS                Visual Basic Scripting is used to write small programs to automate
                   specific tasks. Requires WSH.
VDI                A Virtual Disk Image used by Virtual Box software. 

VESA               Video Electronics Standards Association. See also VL.

VGA                Video Graphics Adaptor. Name given to 16 colour or better computer
                   displays on PC computers at 640 x 480. Can also refer to the 15 pin 
                   video port on computers. (See SVGA, XGA and SXVGA).
VHD                Virtual Hard Disk format used by Microsoft virtualisation such as Virtual PC and Hyper-V.
                   Enhanced VHDX used on Hyper-V for upto 64 TB.

VIC 20             An early 8-bit Commodore home computer with 20KB ROM, 5KB RAM, 6502 processor, VIC 
                   (Video Interface Chip) graphics. VIC chip also used on C64.

Video              A device which can display text or graphics. Video sometimes
                   refers to television and video recorder. A Genlock can be used
                   to combine video and computer displays.

Virtual Disk       A disk represented as file used in a Virtualisation system. Common formats: VHDX, VHD, VMDX, VDI.

Virtual Memory     A method in which main memory can be extended to use the hard
                   disk as memory. Also known as a Pagefile or Swapspace. Not very fast.

Virtual Network    A seperate network run over a physical network in a Virtualisation system.

Virtualisation     The ability to run an operating on top of another operating system and use virtual
                   hardware. Examples include VMWare, Virtual PC/Server, Hyper-V Server, Virtual Box,
                   Fusion, Parrallels, QEmu.
                   
Virus              A malicious program which can destroy programs and data by
                   infecting other programs or bootblocks. They can also cause
                   strange things to happen while your computer is on. Most viruses
                   are written in machine code, VBA, VBS or Javascript on PCs.

Vista              Version of Windows for client PCs in 2007 which replaces Windows XP.

VL                 Video Local bus. Faster slot for video which came after ISA.


VLAN               Virtual Local Area Network. Similar to a physical LAN but split
                   at the source on a Switch for instance.
VMCS               Virtual machine control structure for data structures per VM in memory.


VMWare             Company that produces computer virtualisation software such as ESX, vSphere 
                   and Workstation. See VMware.

VMDK               A VMware disk image used by VMWare's ESX or Workstation software.	

VMS                Virtual Memory System. An operating by Digital Equipment Corp for its PDP 
                   and VAX mini-computers. Now known as OpenVMS.
						
VNC                Virtual Network Computing is a graphical desktop sharing tool that
                   uses the RFB protocol to control another computer. 
		 
VoIP               Voice over Internet Protocol. Telephone system using the TCP/IP
                   protocol to send audio information. For example, Skype.

Voodoo             Name given to a highly regarded 3D graphics addon to produce fast
                   and detailed 3D graphics. 

VPN                Virtual Private Network. A secure point-to-point network over
                   the internet to a work's intranet.
									 
VRAM               Video Random Access Memory. Memory for access by video or
                   graphics cards only.

VT-x               Intel's hardware virtualisation. Enables the system to install and run virtual machines using software such as Hyper-V, VMware and VirtualBox.

VxD                Virtual Device driver for 32-bit Windows which allows multi-
                   tasking possible sharing the same devices.