When you run an application like AppleWorks, the program is called up from its permanent storage area (like the hard drive, floppy disk, or CD-ROM) and moved into the RAM, where it sends requests to the CPU. Your computer should have as much RAM as you can afford so it can work efficiently. It also pays to have lots of memory in your system because some operating systems, including OS 9, swap applications from memory to your hard drive when the RAM gets filled. That means that instead of having your speedy RAM sending out requests, the OS sends the work to be done by the much slower hard drive.
router
This piece of hardware does what it says: it routes data from a local area network (LAN) to a phone line's long distance line. Routers also act as traffic cops, allowing only authorized machines to transmit data into the local network so that private information can remain secure. In addition to supporting these dial-in and leased connections, routers also handle errors, keep network usage statistics, and handle security issues.
RTF - rich text format
This file format, developed by Microsoft, enables you to save text files in your word processor with formatting, font information, text color, and some page layout information intact. Sure, saving an AppleWorks file in AppleWorks format does the same thing, but saving it in this rtf format is intended for exchange among all kinds of word processors, both PC and Mac.
