M

malware

Malicious software that is created to cause harm to a computer.

mandatory profile

A roaming profile that will not save users' configuration changes and acts as though it is read only.

memory leak

A programming bug that prevents an application from freeing memory that's no longer needed, eventually causing the program or operating system to run out of memory and terminate.

Mini-Setup Wizard

A wizard that completes the installation of Windows XP Professional from a disk image created by running Sysprep.

mirroring

A method of duplicating data between two separate hard disks so that the failure of one disk will not cause the operating system to fail. Mirroring is available only in server operating systems such as Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003.

mounting volumes

The act of associating a volume or partition with an empty folder on another volume formatted with the NTFS file system, so that users can connect to the volume by means of the folder name you supply.

Msconfig

The command that opens the System Configuration Utility, which you can use to edit system files, such as the Boot.ini.

.msi

The file extension for an application that uses Windows Installer.

Msinfo32

The command that opens the System Information program.

.mst

The file extension for a transform file that performs a scripting-like function for a Windows Installer package.