Links labeled "HSW:" are from a great site called How Stuff Works.
Remember that all the big, complicated names used herein are only for information and need not be memorized. There is no test. The goal here is for those who have not seen this information before to simply be acquainted with the information. Knowing the basics behind the workings, and then seeing it in action as you use computers and the internet will bring understanding and comfort with the concepts as you gain experience. I didn't learn all of this overnight. I began using computers at age sixteen and am still learning at age fo..., er..., let's not go there. We all continue to learn and comfort and confidence come with experience.
The subject line "I come from the Net", is taken from the intro scene of my favorite cartoon TV show called ReBoot. ReBoot was a computer generated cartoon that enjoyed a cult popularity among computer geeks like me. It showed on ABC in the US for a brief while, then went to the Cartoon Network, then vanished. Canada, however, was lucky enough to keep it, and even showed the two movies that were made in place of a fourth season. It was a very enjoyable show with both comedy and adventure that poked fun at computers and the internet as well as us "Users." Unfortunately, only season three and the season four movies have ever made it to DVD. So, unless you live in Canada, you'll have to take my word for how good it was.
Unofficial ReBoot Site: http://www.inwap.com/mf/reboot/index.shtml
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReBoot
The point of the above reference is that the internet is a part of our lives now. We literaly come from the Net. Everything seems to use it or reference it. The internet started out as a project for government scientists to share research through an early version of e-mail. Well, what was good enough for government scientists was certainly worth leaking out for the rest of us to use. While there were early computer bulletin boards, few were interconnected to share information or even connect e-mail from one region to another. The internet took us from sharing information in very small areas to sharing on a truly global scale. Of course, those slow and boring text messages weren't very exciting, nor very easy to use. So inovative programmers came up with browsers which presented a graphical and much simplified interface which allowed the internet to grow in popularity until it is at the center of all of our lives.
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet
HSW: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet-infrastructure.htm
Simple Animated Internet Lessons: http://www.learnthenet.com/english/animate/animate.htm
Browsers are really a form of emulator. They are like a software computer running on your computer. Web pages are their software. Web pages are written in a computer language called HTML, or Hyper Text Markup Language. Web pages can also have content embeded in other languages such as Perl, Java, Javascript, and more. They also may include static content such as text and graphics. The reason for these web based computer languages is so that browsers can be built to run on various computers and simply run (or interpret) these languages to generate the web pages you visit so they appear the same (or nearly so) no matter which computer you are using. If you never realized this was going on when you loaded a website, then the browser was successful in hiding its complexity while simply delivering to you the content you desired.
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser
There are many browsers available. Some support different features. Some use other programs called plug-ins or extensions to either give the browser more functionality or allow it to view more types of website content. Some browsers are made to present specific information in specific formats. There are even text browsers that don't use any graphics at all. There are minimized browsers that run on cell phones and deliver abbreviated content to avoid using too many plan minutes. Microsoft's Internet Explorer is the most popular browser due to its free inclusion with all Windows computers. It is most compatible with the majority of websites because most website designers write specifically for Internet Explorer since it is the most popular browser.
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer
Firefox is a popular alternative to Internet Explorer. Apple's Safari is popular with Macintosh users. Opera and Netscape are also quite popular. However, most people use Internet Explorer. I prefer Internet Explorer, though I use a shell program. These shell programs use the underlying Internet Explorer browser engine, but offer an improved user interface and additional features. My personal favorite is NetCaptor, which provides a tabbed browser interface for Internet Explorer. However, there are literally dozens to chose from.
Firefox: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/
Opera: http://www.opera.com/
NetCaptor: http://www.netcaptor.com/
Website addresses such as the links above, are called URLs, and stand for Uniform Resource Locator. They can begin several ways based on the type of website. Those that begin "http" use the Hypertext Transfer Protocol. Most browsers will fill in this part of the address automatically.
http:// is for a standard HTML web site, and is the default type used
https:// is a secure website. These are often used for banking or shopping where information needs to remain private.
ftp:// is a file transfer site. FTP stand for File Transfer Protocol.
The next part of the address is usually "www" which stands for World Wide Web, followed by a period to seperate it from the following part.
The middle part, such as "google" in the address www.google.com is called the Domain Name and it identifies the web server (computer) that hosts the web site.
The suffix, which is most commonly ".com" is used to differentiate the site based on the type of service or information it provides. ".org" is usually used for organizations. ".net" is often used for internet service sites. ".biz" was developed for businesses. ".gov" is used primarily for U.S. government sites. There are many others and they are not always used according to the originally intended type of site. There can also be country codes appended at the end of the address, such as ".uk" for the United Kingdom.
Web address assignments are coordinated by The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). This is a company based in the U.S., but with an international board of directors.
Once you type the address in your browser, your internet provider service (IPS) will translate the address into an IP or Internet Protocol address. This will be a series of four numbers that looks something like 127.328.687.62. This will be the actual address of your chosen site assigned by its web server. You don't usually need to know or use this type of address, but you might see one from time to time. Even on a home network, each computer will be given a numerical address similar to this. The names, such as www.google.com are simply to make them easier for humans to remember and use.
Any text following the address is used to provide information to the site being accessed. For instance, google might use this to identify what you are searching for and how you want the results sorted. A shopping site might use it to identify which item you are looking at. There are really limitless possibilities.
What if you want a site to remember what you put in your shopping cart,or what region you want a weather forecast for? This is where Cookies come in. Cookies are files that the remote site has your browser store locally on your computer to remember this type of information. Cookies can be used for tracking user information, so they are a privacy concern and some people go so far as to use software just to manage cookies. I'd simply advise using a Spyware program to clean up the "bad" cookies once in awhile. Spyware is one of many security issues with the internet.
When you use the internet, you are connecting your computer to the internet and it is possible that unscrupulous individuals with either the knowledge and/or the tools could gain access to your computer and the information stored on it. While we would tend to worry most about people accessing our bank account information, credit card information, or social security card information, there are many more threats possible. If you store your website user names and passwords on your computer, thieves could gain access to these and make purchases or write things using your name. Even worse, they could place a program on your computer. This could be a virus, spyware, a trojan horse or many other things. A trojan horse is made to look like an innocent program, but could log your keystrokes, transfer file contents to another computer, etc. Spyware is usually a program used for tracking your movements on the internet, but can also be used to capture personal data. Viruses are programs that are generally designed to either harm or take control of your computer. Worms are like viruses but are made to use your e-mail address book to send copies of themselves to your e-mail contacts. Ads and pop-ups are usually just annoying, but are usually addressed by the same software that treats the more serious threats. There are many threats out there from the scum of the internet. This is not intended to frighten you or put you off using your computer on the internet. This is a wake up call to make sure you take the basic steps to protect your computer and your information.
Firewalls can be either hardware or software. They provide a barrier between the internet and the communication ports of your computer. They are like a guard at a gate that decides who to let through. They can operate only on inbound traffic or also regulate outbound traffic. They can operate openly providing alerts about everything they do, or operate in the background so you never even realize they are working unless you check up on them. I consider them essential. Microsoft started building a firewall into it's Windows OS with Windows XP service pack two. The new Vista OS also has a firewall built in. It's actually a pretty good firewall, works quietly and automatically. As with anything, you can purchase more elaborate options. Other firewalls start at Free and go up in price as you add features. I personally use ZoneAlarm from www.zonealarm.com. I used the free version for years before Microsoft included a firewall in the OS and believe ZoneAlarm to have been worth paying for. In fact, I did buy the latest version which includes other features.
Anti-Virus software is also essential. There are simply too many threats from malicious individuals to take a chance. Anti-Virus software not only scans your computer for infected files, but most run in the background watching for problems and stopping them before they can infect your computer. Anti-Virus software requires regular updates to keep up with the latest threats. Many products perform these updates automatically. If you're not sure, then make sure you perform the update regularly. Virus writers are in a constant battle with Anti-Virus makers to sneak their malicious software past your defenses. Regular updates are essential. There are many good Anti-Virus products available. Some are more unobtrusive than others. Some use fewer of your computers resources and therefore slow it down less than others. Some are free. Most are not. While you can usually keep the same software and pay to update the virus definitions each year, I advise going with the entirely new software each year for this particular product type. Many are now also available in package deals if you have more than one computer.
Norton Anti-Virus is perhaps the most widely known for Windows systems. It's a good product and usually well behaved. While it can be purchased as part of a Security Suite, I prefer to buy my components seperately so I can choose the best from each category. You can read about it at www.symantec.com, though I'd probably buy it from a discount dealer like www.newegg.com. If you want to compare prices, try searching for the product you want at http://froogle.google.com. I'll probably cover shopping sites in a later issue.
Panda Anti-Virus is another good one. It's by a company in the United Kingdom, and part of its claim to fame is that since they're in a time zone ahead of the US, they get a head start working on new threats. Of course, all of the big companies keep some people on watch at all times. Their latest version claims to use few system resources and not slow your computer down while its running. I've noticed when using it in the past that it noticibly starts earlier in the boot process and works longer in the shutdown process than others. If it truly has improved its use of system resources then it would be among the very best choices. Check it out at www.pandasoftware.com.
I believe the best free Anti-Virus software is Avast. This is by a Russian company. Their software is recognized as one of the best, and their reason for putting out the free home version is that by helping keep viruses off home computers, they help reduce their spread to their customers business computers. Thats good reasoning, and a very friendly policy. The only reason I don't use it is I found the last version I tried to slow my computer just a bit. I'm such a power user, or obsessive over extended multi-tasker, that every little bit of performance counts. See their software at www.avast.com.
Anti-Spyware software is another big and important category. Some Anti-Virus software also checks for spyware. However, I prefer the seperate application, even if it overlaps the Anti-Virus software. If you run several of these, they will find different things. While Spyware Doctor by www.pctools.com is the best spyware checker, it is a bit of a resource hog. I use the free version of Ad-Aware by www.lavasoft.com. I simply run this once every week or two, and clear my system of the spyware that has accumulated. Usually, this is mostly potential tracking cookies generated by websites I've visited.
Pop-up blockers block those little windows that pop-up when you visit certain sites. These are now built into several browsers and Anti-Virus software packages. Ad blockers can reduce the clutter of ads on websites. I love the Ad-Muncher ad blocker. It is an item that must be purchased, but I've found it worthwhile. Check it out at www.admuncher.com.
Two other internet threats are usually our own fault. Shopping and gossip. First, the internet makes shopping very easy. Don't lose control. I've gone too far and over budget a few times. Try to put off big purchases until you've thought them over. By gossip, I mean that you can easily and voluntarily give out information or make statements you might later regret. Email and particularly instant messaging make it very easy to say things immediately that we might later wish we had thought over first.
When someone expresses anger and hostility, sometimes with expletives, they are said to be "flaming" the target of their wrath. WHEN SOMEONE TYPES EVERYTHING IN UPPER CASE, THEY ARE CONSIDERED TO BE YELLING. These type of communications can truly disturb and hurt the feelings of the recipient. It is also very easy for written messages to be misunderstood when taken out of context. Remember, that there is no body language, facial expression, or tone of voice to go along with a typed statement to let the recipient interpret the statements emotional intent. While some people use abbreviations like "
If you store your passwords, logon information for websites, or other private information on your computer, make sure it's encrypted with a strong password. There are several good programs out there that will do this very easily. By a strong password, I mean a mixture of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters. It's amazing how many people use a password like their date of birth or child's name and expect that nobody would guess them. Also, the longer the password the better it is. Just make sure you can remember it without leaving it written down where others would have easy access to it. My favorite program for this purpose is Roboform. It stores passwords with very strong encryption and will even fill in forms on the internet for you automatically. Check it out at www.roboform.com. It will even generate passwords for you. There are others, but one you should avoid is Gator which is known spyware. Gator doesn't reveal your stored information, but it does track your activities. Avoid it at all costs. If you need to store passwords and other information on your computer and palm or pocket PC, then I recommend eWallet by www.iliumsoft.com.
Another detail to keep in mind when sharing or communicating with strangers on the internet whether through e-mail, message boards, blogs, instant messaging, etc. is that people are not always who they claim to be. The internet makes it very easy for people to assume a fake persona and take advantage of others who deal assume they are genuine. Don't share or trust too much without being sure of who you are dealing with.
There is a scam known as Phishing in which an e-mail is sent from a person claiming to be a known website, and requesting personal information or logon information. They could claim to be a bank, a shopping site, a payment site, or any other type of site. If you respond and provide them the information they request, they can then access your account and take full advantage of that access. If its a bank site, they could transfer your money, if it's a shopping site, they could make purchases with your credit. To protect yourself, be wary of requests for login or account information from sites that should know that information already. No legitimate site will ask you by e-mail to provide such information. However, the e-mails can be made to look very official and legitimate. One clue is if the site you are linked to has a different name. For instance, if it says eBay wants you to verify your account information, but clicking the link takes you to www.istoleyourstuff.com, then you know it's fake. Many browsers are now including phishing filters to help block such scams. However, you need to be vigilant about providing your information, particulary in response to e-mail requests.
There's a lot more to say about the internet, browsers, security, etc. This just covers some basics. I do hope you found it helpful and informative. I'll try to focus on using and enjoying the internet in a future issue, rather than all the doom and gloom security stuff. However, security is important. In the words of Fox Mulder, "Trust No One." Except me, of course.
The End. http://home.att.net/~cecw/lastpage.htm
© 2007 Jim Eubanks. All rights reserved.
