In a computer, an interrupt request (or IRQ) is a hardware signal sent to the processor that temporarily stops a running program and allows a special program, an interrupt handler, to run instead. Hardware interrupts are used to handle events such as receiving data from a modem or network card, key presses, or mouse movements. During the early years of personal computing, IRQ management was often of user concern. With the introduction of plug and play devices this has been alleviated through automatic configuration.