Bit - short for bi nary digi t . The smallest unit of information on a machine.
More meaningful information is obtained by combining consecutive bits into larger units.
A byte is composed of 8 consecutive bits. Computers are sometimes classified by the number of bits they can process at one time. A 32-bit machine means that its data registers are 32 bits wide. Windows 3.1 and programs supported by Windows 3.1 were 32-bits. Windows 95 and supported applications are 64-bits.