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Adware is any software application in which advertising banners are displayed while the program is running. The authors of these applications include additional code that delivers the ads, which can be viewed through pop-up windows or through a bar that appears on a computer screen.
Ad-aware is a program from Lavasoft that detects and removes software on a user's computer that is determined to be spyware. It also detects dialers, trojan horses, and other malware.
An attachment is a file (or group of files) that is included (or "attached") with an e-mail message. You can attach files through almost any popular e-mail program, such as Mozilla Thunderbird or Outlook Express. Usually, this is accomplished by simply clicking the "attach file" button and then browsing through your computer system to find and select the desired file or image. The best thing to do if you want to save an attachment is to open it, do a "save as," and put it in a folder on your computer. Never open any attachment that you receive from someone you do not know; it may contain a virus.
A blog (short for weblog) is a personal journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or reflect the purpose of the web site that hosts the blog. Topics sometimes include brief philosophical musings, commentary on Internet and other social issues, and links to other sites the author favors. The essential characteristics of the blog are its journal form, typically a new entry each day, and its informal style. The author of a blog is often referred to as a "blogger".
A bookmark is a saved link to a web page that has been added to a list of saved links within your Web browser. When you are looking at a particular Web site or home page and want to be able to quickly get back to it later, you can create a bookmark for it. You can think of your browser as a book full of (millions of) web pages and a few well-placed bookmarks that you have chosen. The list that contains your bookmarks is the "bookmark list." Netscape and some other browsers use the bookmark idea. Microsoft's Internet Explorer uses the term "favorite."
A browser is an application program that provides a way to look at and interact with all the information on the World Wide Web. The most common web browsers are Netscape Navigator, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Cache (pronounced CASH) is a place to store something temporarily. The files you automatically request by looking at a Web page are stored on your hard disk in a cache sub directory under the directory for your browser (for example, Internet Explorer). When you return to a page you've recently looked at, the browser can get it from the cache rather than the original server, saving you time and the network the burden of some additional traffic.
A CD (short for compact disc)is a small, portable, round medium made of molded polymer for electronically recording, storing, and playing back audio, video, text, and other information in digital form.
A cookie is information that a web site puts on your hard disk so that it can remember something about you at a later time. Typically, a cookie records your preferences when using a particular site.
Using an office metaphor, a desktop is a computer display area that represents the kinds of objects one might find on a real desktop: documents, phone book, telephone, reference sources, writing (and possibly drawing) tools, and project folders.
The domain name system (DNS) is the way that domain names are located and translated into IP addresses. A domain name is a meaningful and easy-to-remember "handle" for an Internet address.
Downloading is the transmission of a file from one computer system to another computer system. From the Internet user's point-of-view, to download a file is to request it from another computer (or from a web page on another computer) and to receive it. Transmission in the other direction (sending it) is uploading.
A domain name is a unique name that identifies an Internet site (ex.: localnet.com).
An e-mail address identifies a location to which e-mail can be delivered. An e-mail address is a string in the form jsmith@example.com. It should be read as "jsmith at example dot com". The part before the @ sign is the local-part of the address, often the username of the recipient, and the part after the @ sign is a domain name which can be looked up in the Domain Name System (DNS) to find the mail exchange servers accepting e-mail for that address.
See Bookmark.
FTP is the simplest way to exchange files between computers on the Internet. It's commonly used to transfer web page files from their creator to the computer that acts as their server for everyone on the Internet. It's also commonly used to download programs and other files to your computer from other servers.
Flash gives web designers the ability to import artwork using whatever bitmap or illustration tool they prefer, and to create animation and special effects, and add sound and interactivity. The content is then saved as a file with a ".SWF" file name extension. Web users can download Flash Player to view Flash content. Flash is lauded for being one of the Internet's most accessible plug-in.
A hard disk is part of a unit, often called a "disk drive," "hard drive," or "hard disk drive," that stores and provides relatively quick access to large amounts of data on an electromagnetically charged surface or set of surfaces.
In a personal computer, a hard disk drive (HDD) is the mechanism that controls the positioning, reading, and writing of the hard disk, which furnishes the largest amount of data storage for the PC. Although the hard disk drive (often shortened to "hard drive") and the hard disk are not the same thing, they are packaged as a unit and so either term is sometimes used to refer to the whole unit.
For a web user, the home page is the first web page that is displayed after starting a web browser like Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer.
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is the set of markup symbols or codes inserted in a file intended for display on a web page. The markup tells the browser how to display a web page's words and images for the user.
HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is the set of rules for transferring files (text, graphic images, sound, video, and other multimedia files) on the World Wide Web. As soon as a web user opens their web browser, the user is indirectly making use of HTTP.
Instant messaging (sometimes called IM or IMing) is the ability to easily see whether a chosen friend or co-worker is connected to the Internet and, if they are, to exchange messages with them. Instant messaging differs from ordinary e-mail in that the exchange of information is almost instantaneous.
The Internet, sometimes called simply "the Net," is a worldwide system of computer networks - a network of networks in which users at any one computer can, if they have permission, get information from any other computer (and sometimes talk directly to users at other computers). It was conceived by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the U.S. government in 1969 and was first known as the ARPANET. The original aim was to create a network that would allow users of a research computer at one university to be able to "talk to" research computers at other universities. A side benefit of ARPANET design was that, because messages could be routed or rerouted in more than one direction, the network could continue to function even if parts of it were destroyed in the event of a military attack or other disaster. Today, the Internet is a public, cooperative, and self-sustaining facility accessible to hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
An IP address is a 32-bit number that identifies each sender or receiver of information that is sent in packets across the Internet. When you request a web page or send e-mail, the Internet Protocol part of TCP/IP includes your IP address in the message (actually, in each of the packets if more than one is required) and sends it to the IP address that is obtained by looking up the domain name in the Uniform Resource Locator you requested or in the e-mail address you're sending a note to. At the other end, the recipient can see the IP address of the Web page requester or the e-mail sender and can respond by sending another message using the IP address it received.
Java is a programming language expressly designed for use in the distributed environment of the Internet. It was designed to have the "look and feel" of the C++ language, but it is simpler to use than C++ and enforces an object-oriented programming model. Java can be used to create complete applications that may run on a single computer or be distributed among servers and clients in a network. It can also be used to build a small application module or applet for use as part of a web page. Applets make it possible for a web page user to interact with the page.
Javascript should not be confused with Java. Javascript is an interpreted programming or script language from Netscape. In general, script languages are easier and faster to code in than the more structured and compiled languages such as C and C++. Script languages generally take longer to process than compiled languages, but are very useful for shorter programs.
JavaScript is used in Web site development to do such things as:- Automatically change a formatted date on a web page
- Cause a linked-to page to appear in a popup window
- Cause text or a graphic image to change during a mouse rollover
Javascript uses some of the same ideas found in Java. Javascript code can be embedded in web pages and interpreted by the web browser. Both Microsoft and Netscape browsers support Javascript, but sometimes in slightly different ways.
A link is a selectable connection from one word, picture, or information object to another. In a multimedia environment such as the World Wide Web, such objects can include sound and motion video sequences. The most common form of link is the highlighted word or picture that can be selected by the user (with a mouse or in some other fashion), resulting in the immediate delivery and view of another file or page.
Malware (for "malicious software") is any program or file that is harmful to a computer user. Thus, malware includes computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, and also spyware, programming that gathers information about a computer user without permission.
A network is a series of points or nodes interconnected by communication paths. Networks can interconnect with other networks and contain subnetworks. Two computers connected over the Internet would be a basic example of a network.
A newsgroup is a discussion about a particular subject consisting of notes written to a central Internet site and redistributed through Usenet, a worldwide network of news discussion groups. Newsgroups are organized into subject hierarchies, with the first few letters of the newsgroup name indicating the major subject category and sub-categories represented by a subtopic name. Many subjects have multiple levels of subtopics. Some major subject categories are: news, rec (recreation), soc (society), sci (science), comp (computers), and so forth (there are many more). Users can post to existing newsgroups, respond to previous posts, and create new newsgroups.
Plug-in applications are programs that can easily be installed and used as part of your web browser. A plug-in application is recognized automatically by the browser and its function is integrated into the main HTML file that is being presented.
A search engine is a coordinated set of programs that includes:
- A spider (also called a "crawler" or a "bot") that goes to every page or representative pages on every web site that wants to be searchable and reads it, using hypertext links on each page to discover and read a site's other pages
- A program that creates a huge index (sometimes called a "catalog") from the pages that have been read
- A program that receives your search request, compares it to the entries in the index, and returns results to you
Spyware is programming that is put in someone's computer to gather information about the user and relay it to advertisers or other interested parties without the user's knowledge. Spyware can get in a computer as a software virus or as the result of installing a new program. Spyware is often installed as a drive-by download, or as the result of clicking some option in a deceptive pop-up window. Software designed to serve advertising, known as adware, can usually be thought of as spyware as well because it almost invariably includes components for tracking and reporting user information.
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is the basic communication language of the Internet.
A Trojan Horse is a program in which malicious or harmful code is contained inside apparently harmless programming or data in such a way that it can get control and do its chosen form of damage, such as ruining the file allocation table on your hard disk. A Trojan Horse may be widely redistributed as part of a computer virus.
Uploading is the transmission of a file from one computer system to another, usually larger computer system. From a network user's point-of-view, to upload a file is to send it to another computer that is set up to receive it. Transmission in the other direction (receiving it) is downloading.
A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the unique address for a file that is accessible on the Internet. A common way to get to a web site is to enter the URL of its home page file in your web browser's address line. However, any file within that web site can also be specified with a URL. Such a file might be any web page other than the home page, an image file, or a program. The URL contains the name of the protocol to be used to access the file resource, a domain name that identifies a specific computer on the Internet, and a pathname (ex. http://www.localnet.com/express/).
A virus is a program or programming code that replicates by being copied or initiating its copying to another program, computer boot sector or document. Viruses can be transmitted as attachments to an e-mail note or in a downloaded file, or be present on a diskette or CD. The immediate source of the e-mail note, downloaded file, or diskette you've received is usually unaware that it contains a virus. Some viruses wreak their effect as soon as their code is executed; other viruses lie dormant until circumstances cause their code to be executed by the computer. Some viruses are benign or p layful in intent and effect and some can be quite harmful, erasing data or causing your hard disk to require reformatting. A virus that replicates itself by resending itself as an e-mail attachment or as part of a network message is known as a worm.
A Web page is a single HTML file that contains text and images, is part of a Web site, and has an individual file name assigned to it. When viewed by a Web browser, this file could actually be several screen dimensions long (appearing as more than "a page").
The World Wide Web is all the resources and users on the Internet that are using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
A worm is a self-replicating virus that does not alter files but resides in active memory and duplicates itself. Worms use parts of an operating system that are automatic and usually invisible to the user. It is common for worms to be noticed only when their uncontrolled replication consumes system resources, slowing or halting other tasks.