INTERNET: AN INTRODUCTION

INTERNET: AN INTRODUCTION
The Internet is the largest computer network in the world. It consists of millions of computers all over the planet, all connected to each another

World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is what you probably think of when you think of the Internet, although it’s really just a part of the Internet. The Web consists of millions of documents that are stored on hundreds of thousands of computers that are always connected to the Internet. These documents are called Web pages, and you can find Web pages on every subject imaginable—from your local newspaper to online catalogs to airline schedules, and much more.

Web Servers
Web pages are stored on Web servers. A Web server is a computer, not unlike your own computer, only bigger and faster. There are hundreds of thousands of Web servers located all over the world. Web servers are always connected to the Internet so that people can view their Web pages 24 hours a day.

What Can I do on the Internet?

Send and Receive E-mail
Exchanging electronic mail (or e-mail) is the most popular feature on the Internet. Just like regular paper mail, you can send and receive e-mail with people around the world, as long as they have access to a computer and the Internet. Unlike regular paper mail, e-mail is delivered to its destination almost instantly.

Browse the World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is what most people think of when they think of the Internet—although it’s really only a part of the Internet. The World Wide Web is an enormous collection of interconnected documents stored on Web servers all over the world. The World Wide Web has information on every subject imaginable.

Join online discussions with newsgroups
Newsgroups are discussion groups on the Internet that you can join to read and post messages to and from people with similar interests. There are thousands of newsgroups on topics such as computers, education, romance, hobbies, politics, religion, and more.

Chat with other online users
Chatting lets you communicate with people on the Internet instantly—no matter how far away they are! Most chats are text-based, meaning you have to type when you converse with people on the Internet. A growing number of chats have voice and even video capabilities—all without having to pay long distance changes.

Download software
You can download pictures, demo programs, patches and drivers for your computer, and many other types of files and save them to your computer.

Listen to music and watch videos
You can listen to sound on the Web, such as radio stations, or music by your favorite artists.

Requirements for using the internet
There are three things you’ll need to connect to the Internet:

1. An Internet Service Provider (ISP):
An Internet Service Provider is a lot like a phone company, except instead of letting you make telephone calls to other people, an Internet Service Provider lets your computer connect to the Internet. Just like your telephone company, Internet Service Providers charge for their services.

2. A Web Browser:
A Web browser is a program that lets your computer view and navigate the World Wide Web. Windows comes with a built-in Web browser—Internet Explorer.

3. A Phone Line and Modem or Other Connection:
A modem is your computer’s very own telephone that lets it talk to other computers on the Internet. There are slower dial-up modems that connect to the Internet using your phone and much faster cable modems and Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) as well. DSL is technology that provides high-speed Internet access through standard phone lines. A cable modem connects to the Internet through the cable hookup in your house. Both of these connections are much faster than a dial-up modem and are connected to the Internet 24 hours a day, so you don’t tie up any phone lines.

Web addresses
Web addresses are everywhere—on television advertisements, in magazine and newspaper articles, and even on business cards. These www.something.coms you’ve seen and heard so much about are URLs (Uniform Resource Locator). Just like there is a house, office, or building behind a postal address, there is a Web page behind every Web address. Unlike postal addresses, however, through the magic of technology you can instantly arrive at a Web page by typing its Web address, or URL, into your Web browser

Searching
The Internet’s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness: with so much information— literally millions of Web pages—it can be extremely difficult to find what you’re looking for. Fortunately, there are many search engines that catalog the millions of Web pages on the Internet so that you can find Web pages on topics that interest you, such as Google, Yahoo! and Excite.

Downloading
Another common use of the Internet is to download files from a Web server and save them onto your local hard drive. Some of the most common types of files people download from the Internet include:

Images:
You can save any picture that you see on a Web page, print it, use it as your
Windows wallpaper, or anything else you can think of.

Programs:
Many software companies have demo versions of their programs available on the Internet that you can download and evaluate. In addition, thousands of shareware programs are available for you to download for free!

Patches, Fixes, and Drivers:
One of the great things about the Internet is finding fixes for your programs, and drivers for your hardware devices, such as a driver for a discontinued foreign printer.

Music:
MP3s are revolutionizing the music industry. MP3 files are sound files that you can listen to on your computer. They have digital CD quality sound, but use compression so that they are 11 times smaller than the CD equivalent and small enough to be easily downloadable from the Internet.

Viruses:
Just kidding—the last thing you want to download from the Internet is a computer virus! Since you won’t always know where a program or file you want to download comes from, you should make sure your computer has a virus protection program installed before you download anything from the Internet.

Understanding Information Security
Information security is the practice of protecting your computer from intruders. Here are some security precautions that help protect your sensitive information. Install anti-virus software; Update anti-virus software; Update software; Use firewalls; Be smart with e-mail

Understanding Windows Firewall
This security utility keeps your computer secure by restricting the information that comes into your Computer

Different Types of Connections
The first step in going online is establishing a connection between your computer and the Internet. To do this, you have to sign up with an Internet service provider (ISP), which, as the name implies, provides your home with a connection to the Internet. Depending on what’s available in your area, you can choose from two primary types of connections—dial-up or broadband. Dial-up is slower than broadband, but it’s also lower priced. That said, dial-up connections are going the way of the dodo bird; if you do a lot of web surfing, it’s probably worth a few extra dollars a month to get the faster broadband connection.

Traditional Dial-Up
A dial-up connection provides Internet service over normal phone lines. The fastest dial-up connections transmit data at 56.6Kbps (kilobits per second), which is okay for normal web surfing but isn’t fast enough for downloading music or videos.

Broadband DSL
DSL is a phone line-based technology that operates at broadband speeds. DSL service piggybacks onto your existing phone line, turning it into a high-speed digital connection. Not only is DSL faster than dial-up (384Kbps to 10Mbps, depending on your ISP), you also don’t have to surrender your normal phone line when you want to surf; DSL connections are “always on.”

Broadband Cable
Another popular type of broadband connection is available from your local cable company. Broadband cable Internet piggybacks on your normal cable television line, providing speeds in the 500Kbps to 30Mbps range, depending on the provider.

Broadband Satellite
If you can’t get DSL or cable Internet in your area, you have another option—connecting to the Internet via satellite. Any household or business with a clear line of sight to the southern sky can receive digital data signals from a geosynchronous satellite at 700Kbps

Connecting to a Public WiFi Hotspot
If you have a notebook PC, you also have the option to connect to the Internet when you’re out and about. Many coffeehouses, restaurants, libraries, and hotels offer wireless WiFi Internet service, either free or for an hourly or daily fee. Assuming that your notebook has a built-in WiFi adapter (and it probably does), connecting to a public WiFi hotspot is a snap. When you’re near a WiFi hotspot, your PC should automatically pick up the WiFi signal. Make sure that your WiFi adapter is turned on (some notebooks have a switch for this, either on the front or on the side of the unit), and then look for a wireless connection icon in Windows’ system tray or notification area. Click this icon (or select Start, Connect To), and Windows displays a list of available wireless networks near you. Select the network you want to connect to; then click the Connect button.