A development that is a combination of hardware and software. The way it works is complex, but the result is simple. When you plug a new adapter card - or a new disk controller, network adapter or graphics adapter - into your computer, you don't have to configure it or set any switches. When you next switch on the computer and run Windows it will automatically configure and set up the new adapter for you. This works with Windows 95 and adapters that conform to the Plug and Play standard.