Garbage

Updated: 05/02/2021 by Computer Hope

Garbage may refer to any of the following:

Garbage text and symbols.

1. Information with no significance and usually does not make sense. For example, garbage can be formed by pressing random keys on your keyboard. If an opened file appears as garbage, as shown in the image, it's encrypted or formatted for another program. For example, a .DOC file opened in Microsoft Word looks normal. However, if opened in a plain-text editor, like Notepad, it appears as garbage.

Tip

The Japanese refer to garbage as mojibake (moe-gee-bah-kay), which means scrambled text.

2. The garbage is another name for the Microsoft Windows Recycling Bin or the Apple Trash.

3. Garbage is data that software stores in the computer RAM (random-access memory) that no longer needed by that program. This garbage data is often removed through garbage collection to free up memory space.

Corrupt file, Garbage in, Garbage out, Software terms, Text