Windows Glossary

Browse 29 windows terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

29 Windows Terms

Active Directory
Active Directory is a Microsoft directory service that centralizes identity, authentication, policy, and resource administration in Windows environments....
Bitlocker
Bitlocker is Microsoft full-disk encryption for Windows that commonly uses TPM-backed key release and recovery workflows. Security teams use it to enforce...
Blue Screen of Death
The iconic blue error screen displayed by Microsoft Windows when the operating system encounters a fatal kernel-level error (bug check / STOP error) from which...
BSOD
Short for Blue Screen of Death, the Windows crash screen shown after a fatal system error or kernel-level failure. It became a cultural shorthand for...
Chocolatey
A package manager for Windows used to automate software installation and updates through command-line workflows. In developer culture, Chocolatey is often part...
Cmdlet
A lightweight command used in the PowerShell scripting environment, following a Verb-Noun naming convention (e.g., Get-Process, Set-Item). Cmdlets are .NET...
Control Flow Guard
A Microsoft exploit-mitigation feature that helps prevent control-flow hijacking by restricting indirect calls and validating allowed targets. It is a concrete...
Credential Dumping
The extraction of passwords, hashes, tickets, or other authentication material from memory, disk, or security databases on a compromised system. Credential...
DLL Hijacking
A technique that causes a Windows application to load a malicious dynamic-link library instead of the intended legitimate one, often by abusing search order or...
DLL Injection
A technique for forcing a process to load a DLL into its address space so attacker-controlled code runs inside that process. It is used by malware, red teams,...
Domain Controller
A server that authenticates users and computers, enforces directory policies, and stores identity data in an Active Directory domain. Domain controllers are...
Execution Policy
A PowerShell safety feature that determines whether scripts are allowed to run and under what conditions. Not a security boundary — it is designed to prevent...
Group Policy
Group Policy is centralized Windows policy management used to enforce configuration, security settings, and system behavior at scale. Security teams use it to...
Kerberos
Kerberos is a ticket-based network authentication protocol that relies on a trusted key distribution center. Security teams use it to enforce trust, reduce...
Living off the Land
Living off the Land is the use of legitimate system tools and administration features to execute attacker objectives with minimal malware. Security teams use...
Logon Event
A system-recorded event indicating that a user or service has logged on, often used specifically in Windows auditing contexts. Logon events help investigators...
MinGW
A development environment and port of GNU tools for building native Windows applications, commonly expanded as Minimalist GNU for Windows. In cross-platform...
NTLM
NTLM is a legacy Microsoft authentication protocol that uses challenge-response and is frequently targeted for relay or cracking. Security teams use it to...
Pass the Hash
A credential theft technique where an attacker authenticates with a stolen password hash instead of the plaintext password. It shows up in application...
PowerShell
Microsoft's task automation framework and command-line shell, built on .NET and designed around the concept of passing objects (not text) between commands....
PowerShell Module
A self-contained, reusable package of PowerShell functions, cmdlets, variables, and resources distributed as a .psm1 file (script module) or compiled .dll...
Process Monitor
A tool or capability used to observe process behavior such as file access, registry changes, network activity, and execution events in detail. The term is...
PS Exec
A common reference to PsExec, a Microsoft Sysinternals tool that allows remote command execution on Windows systems using administrative credentials and...
RDP
Short for Remote Desktop Protocol, Microsoft's protocol for graphical remote access to Windows systems. RDP is valuable for administration and support, but...
Registry Security
The protection of Windows registry settings and related permissions against unauthorized modification, persistence abuse, and unsafe configuration. Registry...
Script Block
In PowerShell, a block of code enclosed in curly braces that can be stored in a variable, passed as a parameter, or invoked later, functioning similarly to...
Shadow Copy
A point-in-time snapshot of a volume or file system created by the Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), allowing consistent backups of files that are...
Windows Package
A software package prepared for installation on Windows systems, often in a format expected by a package manager or installer workflow. In cross-platform...
WinGet
The Windows Package Manager and its associated command-line workflow for discovering, installing, and upgrading software on Windows. In practical operations...

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