Large list of all CompTIA A+ Acronyms

This is the list of CompTIA’s acronyms for the A+ exam taken from the objectives. Press CTRL+F to quickly search for a specific acronym.

This link will take you to a Quizlet containing this full list: quizlet.com.

The List

AC Alternating Current

ACL Access Control List

ACPI Advanced Configuration Power Interface

ADF Automatic Document Feeder

ADSL Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line

AES Advanced Encryption Standard

AHCI Advanced Host Controller Interface

AP Access Point

APIPA Automatic Private Internet Protocol Addressing

APM Advanced Power Management

ARP Address Resolution Protocol

ASR Automated System Recovery

ATA Advanced Technology Attachment

ATAPI Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface

ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode

ATX Advanced Technology Extended

AUP Acceptable Use Policy

A/V Audio Video

BD-R Blu-ray Disc Recordable

BIOS Basic Input/Output System

BD-RE Blu-ray Disc Rewritable

BNC Bayonet-Neill-Concelman

BSOD Blue Screen of Death

BYOD Bring Your Own Device

CAD Computer-Aided Design

CAPTCHA Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart

CD Compact Disc

CD-ROM Compact Disc-Read-Only Memory

CD-RW Compact Disc-Rewritable

CDFS Compact Disc File System

CERT Computer Emergency Response Team

CFS Central File System, Common File System, or Command File System

CGA Computer Graphics and Applications

CIDR Classless Inter-Domain Routing

CIFS Common Internet File System

CMOS Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor

CNR Communications and Networking Riser

COMx Communication port (x=port number)

CPU Central Processing Unit

CRT Cathode-Ray Tube

DaaS Data as a Service

DAC Discretionary Access Control

DB-25 Serial Communications D-Shell Connector, 25 pins

DB-9 Serial Communications D-Shell Connector, 9 pins

DBaaS Database as a Service

DC Direct Current

DDoS Distributed Denial of Service

DDR Double Data Rate

DDR RAM Double Data Rate Random Access Memory

DFS Distributed File System

DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

DIMM Dual Inline Memory Module

DIN Deutsche Industrie Norm

DLT Digital Linear Tape

DLP Digital Light Processing or Data Loss Prevention

DMA Direct Memory Access

DMZ Demilitarized Zone

DNS Domain Name Service or Domain Name Server

DoS Denial of Service

DRAM Dynamic Random Access Memory

DRM Digital Rights Management

DSL Digital Subscriber Line

DVD Digital Versatile Disc

DVD-RAM Digital Versatile Disc-Random Access Memory

DVD-ROM Digital Versatile Disc-Read Only Memory

DVD-R Digital Versatile Disc-Recordable

DVD-RW Digital Versatile Disc-Rewritable

DVI Digital Visual Interface

DVI-D Digital Visual Interface–Digital

ECC Error Correcting Code

ECP Extended Capabilities Port

EEPROM Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory

EFS Encrypting File System

EIDE Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics

EMI Electromagnetic Interference

EMP Electromagnetic Pulse

EPROM Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory

EPP Enhanced Parallel Port

ERD Emergency Repair Disk

eSATA External Serial Advanced Technology Attachment

ESD Electrostatic Discharge

EULA End User License Agreement

EVGA Extended Video Graphics Adapter/Array

Ext2 Second Extended File System

exFAT Extended File Allocation Table

FAT File Allocation Table

FAT12 12-bit File Allocation Table

FAT16 16-bit File Allocation Table

FAT32 32-bit File Allocation Table

FDD Floppy Disk Drive

FPM Fast Page Mode

FSB Front-Side Bus

FTP File Transfer Protocol

FQDN Fully Qualified Domain Name

GDDR Graphics Double Data Rate

GDI Graphics Device Interface

GUI Graphical User Interface

GUID Globally Unique Identifier

GPS Global Positioning System

GPT GUID Partition Table

GPU Graphics Processing Unit

GSM Global System for Mobile Communications

HAL Hardware Abstraction Layer

HAV Hardware Assisted Virtualization

HCL Hardware Compatibility List

HDCP High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection

HDD Hard Disk Drive

HDMI High Definition Media Interface

HIPS Host Intrusion Prevention System

HPFS High Performance File System

HTML Hypertext Markup Language

HTPC Home Theater PC

HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol

HTTPS Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure

I/O Input/Output

IaaS Infrastructure as a Service

ICMP Internet Control Message Protocol

ICR Intelligent Character Recognition

IDE Integrated Drive Electronics

IDS Intrusion Detection System

IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

IIS Internet Information Services

IMAP Internet Mail Access Protocol

IMEI International Mobile Equipment Identity

IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity

IP Internet Protocol

IPConfig Internet Protocol Configuration

IPP Internet Printing Protocol

IPS Intrusion Prevention System

IPSec Internet Protocol Security

IR Infrared

IrDA Infrared Data Association

IRP Incident Response Plan

IRQ Interrupt Request

ISA Industry Standard Architecture

ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network

ISO International Organization for Standardization

ISP Internet Service Provider

JBOD Just a Bunch of Disks

KB Knowledge Base

KVML Kernel-based Virtual Machine

KVM Keyboard-Video-Mouse

LAN Local Area Network

LBA Logical Block Addressing

LC Lucent Connector

LCD Liquid Crystal Display

LDAP Lightweight Directory Access Protocol

LED Light Emitting Diode

LPD/LPR Line Printer Daemon/Line Printer Remote

LPT Line Printer Terminal

LVD Low Voltage Differential

MAC Media Access Control/Mandatory Access Control

MAN Metropolitan Area Network

MAPI Messaging Application Programming Interface

mATX Micro Advanced Technology Extended

MAU Media Access Unit/Media Attachment Unit

MBR Master Boot Record

MBSA Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer

MDM Mobile Device Management

MFA Multifactor Authentication

MFD Multifunction Device

MFP Multifunction Product

MicroDIMM Micro Dual Inline Memory Module

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface

MIME Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension

MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output

MMC Microsoft Management Console

MP3 Moving Picture Experts Group Layer 3 Audio

MP4 Moving Picture Experts Group Layer 4

MPEG Moving Picture Experts Group

MSConfig Microsoft Configuration

MSDS Material Safety Data Sheet

MT-RJ Mechanical Transfer Registered Jack

MUI Multilingual User Interface

NaaS Network as a Service

NAC Network Access Control

NAS Network-Attached Storage

NAT Network Address Translation

NetBIOS Networked Basic Input/Output System

NetBEUI Networked Basic Input/Output System Extended User Interface

NFC Near Field Communication

NFS Network File System

NIC Network Interface Card

NiCd Nickel Cadmium

NiMH Nickel Metal Hydride

NLX New Low-profile Extended

NNTP Network News Transfer Protocol

NTFS New Technology File System

NTLDR New Technology Loader

NTP Network Time Protocol

NTSC National Transmission Standards Committee

NVMe Non-volatile Memory Express

OCR Optical Character Recognition

OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer

OLED Organic Light Emitting Diode

OS Operating System

PaaS Platform as a Service

PAL Phase Alternating Line

PAN Personal Area Network

PAT Port Address Translation

PC Personal Computer

PCI Peripheral Component Interconnect

PCI Payment Card Industry

PCIe Peripheral Component Interconnect Express

PCIX Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended

PCL Printer Command Language

PCMCIA Personal Computer Memory Card International Association

PE Preinstallation Environment

PGA Pin Grid Array

PGA2 Pin Grid Array 2

PGP Pretty Good Protection

PII Personally Identifiable Information

PIN Personal Identification Number

PHI Personal Health Information

PKI Public Key Infrastructure

PnP Plug and Play

PoE Power over Ethernet

POP3 Post Office Protocol 3

PoS Point of Sale

POST Power-On Self-Test

POTS Plain Old Telephone Service

PPM Pages Per Minute

PPP Point-to-Point Protocol

PPTP Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol

PRI Primary Rate Interface

PROM Programmable Read-Only Memory

PS/2 Personal System/2 connector

PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network

PSU Power Supply Unit

PVA Patterned Vertical Alignment

PVC Permanent Virtual Circuit

PXE Preboot Execution Environment

QoS Quality of Service

RADIUS Remote Authentication Dial-In User Server

RAID Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks

RAM Random Access Memory

RAS Remote Access Service

RDP Remote Desktop Protocol

RF Radio Frequency

RFI Radio Frequency Interference

RFID Radio Frequency Identification

RGB Red Green Blue

RIP Routing Information Protocol

RIS Remote Installation Service

RISC Reduced Instruction Set Computer

RJ-11 Registered Jack Function 11

RJ-45 Registered Jack Function 45

RMA Returned Materials Authorization

ROM Read-Only Memory

RPO Recovery Point Objective

RTC Real-Time Clock

RT Recovery Time Objective

Saas Software as a Service

SAN Storage Area Network

SAS Serial Attached SCSI

SATA Serial Advanced Technology Attachment

SC Subscription Channel

SCP Secure Copy Protection

SCSI Small Computer System Interface

SCSI ID Small Computer System Interface Identifier

SD card Secure Digital Card

SEC Single Edge Connector

SFC System File Checker

SFF Small Form Factor

SFTP Secure File Transfer Protocol

SIM Subscriber Identity Module

SIMM Single In-Line Memory Module

SLI Scalable Link Interface or System Level Integration or Scanline Interleave Mode

S.M.A.R.T. Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology

SMB Server Message Block

SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol

SoDIMM Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Module

SOHO Small Office/Home Office

SP Service Pack

SPDIF Sony-Philips Digital Interface Format

SPGA Staggered Pin Grid Array

SRAM Static Random Access Memory

SSD Solid State Drive

SSH Secure Shell

SSID Service Set Identifier

SSL Secure Sockets Layer

SSO Single Sign-on

ST Straight Tip

STP Shielded Twisted Pair

SXGA Super Extended Graphics Array

TACACS Terminal Access Controller Access-Control System

TCP Transmission Control Protocol

TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol

TDR Time Domain Reflectometer

TFTP Trivial File Transfer Protocol

TKIP Temporal Key Integrity Protocol

TLS Transport Layer Security

TN Twisted Nematic

TPM Trusted Platform Module

UAC User Account Control

UDF User Defined Functions or Universal Disk Format or Universal Data Format

UDP User Datagram Protocol

UEFI Unified Extensible Firmware Interface

UNC Universal Naming Convention

UPnP Universal Plug and Play

UPS Uninterruptible Power Supply

URL Uniform Resource Locator

USB Universal Serial Bus

USMT User State Migration Tool

UTM Unified Threat Management

UTP Unshielded Twisted Pair

UXGA Ultra Extended Graphics Array

VA Vertical Alignment

VDC Volts DC

VDI Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

VESA Video Electronics Standards Association

VFAT Virtual File Allocation Table

VGA Video Graphics Array

VLAN Virtual LAN

VM Virtual Machine

VNC Virtual Network Computer

VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol

VPN Virtual Private Network

VRAM Video Random Access Memory

WAN Wide Area Network

WAP Wireless Access Protocol/Wireless Access Point

WEP Wired Equivalent Privacy

WIFI Wireless Fidelity

WINS Windows Internet Name Service

WLAN Wireless Local Area Network

WMN Wireless Mesh Network

WPA Wireless Protected Access

WPA2 WiFi Protected Access 2

WPS WiFi Protected Setup

WUXGA Wide Ultra Extended Graphics Array

WWAN Wireless Wide Area Network

XGA Extended Graphics Array

ZIF Zero-Insertion-Force

ZIP Zigzag Inline Package