| Term | Description |
| Large Mode | Using the CHS (Cylinder, Heads, Sectors) method of translation, your computers BIOS could not recognize hard drives over 528 Mb. The Enhanced BIOS feature, Large Mode supports hard drives larger than 528 Mb, up to 1 GB. |
| Latency | The read/write heads in a drive have to move from track to track on the disk and read or write information to individual sectors. Because the disk is spinning, once a read/write head is in position, there may be a very short delay before the targeted sector is under the head. This delay is known as the latency factor and values are given in milliseconds. |
| LBA | Logical Block Addressing. An Enhanced BIOS translation method that allows for larger hard drive sizes (up to 2 terabytes), by providing the Operating System with a long list of Logical Block Addresses instead of the Cylinder, Heads, Sector configuration. |
| Legacy | An older style adapter card that does not support Plug & Play. It may have to be configured using a software configuration program or by physically arranging jumpers on the board. |
| Level 1 Cache | See Internal Cache. |
| Level 2 Cache | See External Cache. |
| Loadhigh | Loadhigh or LH is a DOS command used in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file that allows you to load some devices or TSRs into upper memory freeing up precious conventional memory. |
| Local Bus | A bus or electronic pathway that allows access to the CPU at a speed synchronized with the CPU. |
| Local Printer | A printer attached to a stand-alone computer. Or, in networking, it refers to a printer attached to a specific workstation instead of a file server or print server. |
| Logic Board | See Motherboard. |
| Logical Drive | The partitioning or division of a large hard drive into smaller units. A single, large Physical Drive can be partitioned into two or more smaller Logical Drives. |
| Login | The process of typing in a password, and possibly a user name, to gain access to a computer, a network or an Internet Service Provider. |
| Logoff | The process of ending a session with a certain computer, network, or Internet Service Provider. |
| Lost Chain | One or more clusters on your hard drive that used to be part of a file but have lost their connection with the file and now have no entry in the File Allocation Table. Programs like CHKDSK and SCANDISK can delete these chains and free up disk space. |
| Lost Clusters | A cluster on your hard drive that used to be part of a file but now has no entry in the File Allocation Table. Programs like CHKDISK and SCANDISK can remove these clusters and free up space on your hard drive. |
| Low-level Format | Low-level Formatting creates the Tracks and Sectors on a blank hard drive. The drives you buy today are Low-level Formatted at the factory. Low-level Formatting these hard drives yourself is not recommended by the manufacturer. |
| Lowercase | As opposed to Uppercase, Lowercase letters take the form of a,b,c instead of A,B,C. Programs that are 'case-sensitive' can differentiate between upper and lowercase. |
| LPT Port | A parallel communications port often used by a printer. On the back of your computer you will see a DB-25 female port. It's a D-shaped port with 25 holes arranged in two lines. |
| Lurking | Reading or watching online messages or chat room conversations without taking part in the discussio |