What does TSR mean in CYBER & SECURITY

Terminate and Stay Resident (TSR) is a type of computer program that allows the user to remain resident in memory or disk after an application has been closed for continued use. It is also known as a terminate-and-stay-resident program, or a "memory-resident" program.

TSR programs are loaded into memory at boot time, where they take up space until their task is required. When called upon, these programs can take control of the system and perform whatever services are needed. The most common example of this is an antivirus program which regularly scans for virus on the hard drive in the background while other tasks are being performed on the machine.

Common examples of TSR programs include printer spoolers, word processors, database managers, network tools, clipboard utilities, RAM disks, device drivers and many others. In addition to these types of programs, there are also some specialized applications such as viruses and spyware that use TSR techniques to perform malicious activities without being detected by users.

The main advantage of using a TSR program is its ability to stay resident in memory after an application has been closed. This means that tasks can be completed without having to constantly re-launch applications each time they are needed which can save both time and resources. In addition it also helps improve system performance as applications needing frequent attention can be given priority over other processes running in the background simultaneously making them less likely to suffer from slowdown due to multitasking.

While there are many advantages to using TSR programs one disadvantage is that once installed they will occupy part of your system's memory which can make your device slower when multiple applications need to be run at once or if you have limited system resources available overall. Additionally if not properly managed some TSRs have been known to cause conflicts with newly installed software or hardware.