Glossary
Computer Repair Technician Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential computer repair technician terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key computer repair technician vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in computer repair technician training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Backup
- A copy of data.
- BIOS/UEFI
- Firmware that starts the computer.
- Driver
- Software that lets hardware work with the OS.
- ESD
- Electrostatic discharge that can damage parts.
- Firmware
- Software built into hardware.
- Fuser
- The printer part that bonds toner to paper.
- Imaging
- Copying a full system to another drive.
- Malware
- Malicious software.
- Motherboard
- The main circuit board of a computer.
- POS
- Point-of-sale system.
- POST
- Power-on self-test at startup.
- Preventive maintenance
- Routine service to prevent failures.
- RAM
- Memory used by running programs.
- SSD
- Solid-state drive.
- Warranty repair
- Repairs covered by the manufacturer.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Computer Repair Technician practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Computer Repair Technician training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.