$Bulletin Board Service (BBS) 
Computer that you can call up and connect to via a modem and a phone line. Bulletin boards normally have lots of free software that you can download, together with areas called forums where you can discuss topics with other users. More sophisticated systems have links to other bulletin computers or even the Internet. When you sign up with a BBS you are given an account which has your own user name and a password. To use it again, you need to enter your user name and password. To access a bulletin board you need to have a modem. You also need communications software. All versions of Windows come with free communications software to get you started. In Windows 3.x this is called Terminal; in Windows 95 it's called HyperTerminal. Some professional on-line services, like CompuServe, have their own communications software.