U s i n g t h e B I O S S e t u p U t i l i t y
APRICOT LS/VS340 OWNER’S HANDBOOK 3/1
3
USING THE
BIOS SETUP UTILITY
BIOS (pronounced “bye-oss”) stands for
basic input/output
system
. The BIOS operates at the boundary between the
computer’s hardware (the processor, memory, and so on) and its
software (the operating system and your programs). In effect, it
mediates between the two. The BIOS is permanently encoded in an
area of
read-only memory
(ROM), although it can be modified if
necessary by an authorised maintainer.
BIOS Setup
is a utility that allows you to view and alter the
computer’s hardware configuration. It is also used to configure
various security and power-saving options. Configuring the
computer is necessary to ensure that the software you use can
recognise and exploit the hardware’s capabilities.
The current configuration is kept in a special area of memory, called
CMOS memory, and maintained by a small battery so that the
configuration is preserved even while the computer is switched off.
Your computer arrives already configured, but may need to be
configured again after you add or remove add-on options such as
memory modules or expansion cards.
