BIOS

BIOS stands for Basic Input-Output System and is software built-in to a computer's motherboard that performs the initialization of the system's hardware devices when the computer is first powered up. BIOS also controls the BOOT process of the computer and the settings can be customized by the user to alter the system's hardware configuration. BIOS only addresses the basic hardware on the computer. If you install additional hardware such as a PCI NIC or Modem, you have to install Device Drivers for the new hardware. See the terms BOOT, Device Drivers, Modem, Motherboard, Network Interface Card (NIC), and PCI in this glossary for more information.