Boot Glossary

Browse 4 boot terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

4 Boot Terms

BIOS
BIOS, or Basic Input/Output System, is firmware stored on a chip on the computer's motherboard that initializes and tests hardware components during the boot...
Bootloader
A small program that runs first when a device powers on, responsible for initializing hardware and loading the main operating system or application firmware...
Root of Trust
A hardware or software component assumed trustworthy enough to bootstrap secure verification of a system. It shows up in application security, identity,...
UEFI
UEFI, or Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, is the modern firmware specification that has largely replaced the traditional BIOS as the interface between a...

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