| Bots crawl along the backbone, swinging from | | | | doing it. |
| server to server and round a few routers. If | | | | |
| this makes no sense at all, you need to get | | | | Firewall |
| acquainted with some technical Net terms. | | | | |
| | | | A security setup that prevents unauthorized |
| Applet | | | | users gaining entry to a private network, |
| | | | such as a corporate network. |
| A small java application designed to run on a | | | | |
| web page. Java is a programming language that | | | | Gateway |
| can be used to produce games and utilities | | | | |
| such as currency converters. Applets are | | | | A computer that controls access on to the |
| downloaded by your browser and run on your | | | | Internet - for example, you'll go through a |
| computer. | | | | gateway computer to get to the Net from your |
| | | | company's local area network. This means your |
| Arpanet | | | | system administrator can monitor all your Net |
| | | | activities - so watch out. |
| The Advanced Research Project Agency NETwork. | | | | |
| Arpanet was a military network built by the | | | | Hop |
| US government at the height of the Cold War, | | | | |
| and was designed to withstand a possible | | | | A connection between computers during the |
| nuclear attack. Arpanet was the forerunner to | | | | transfer of information across the Net. Data |
| today's Internet. | | | | travels on the Net from computer to computer |
| | | | - from your computer, to your ISP's, to a web |
| Backbone | | | | site computer, and so on. Depending on |
| | | | computer activity around the world, there can |
| The main data highway that carries enormous | | | | be any number of hops between you and, say, a |
| numbers of bits and bytes around the world. | | | | web page you want to retrieve. The more hops |
| These are the high speed connections that | | | | there are, the longer it will take to |
| cross the globe and form the top level of the | | | | retrieve information. |
| network hierarchy that in turn forms the Net. | | | | |
| | | | Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) |
| Bot | | | | |
| | | | The mark-up language used to create web |
| A program designed to search the Net for | | | | pages. HTML consists of formatting commands |
| information automatically. Many of the search | | | | which a browser reads, and then uses to |
| engines use bots to scout the Net for URLs | | | | display the web pages accordingly. |
| and appropriate keywords to include in their | | | | |
| database. There are also IRC Bots, and Bots | | | | Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) |
| designed by hackers to do various tasks. | | | | |
| | | | The protocol used to transfer HTML documents |
| Client Server | | | | across the Net. When there's an 's' on the |
| | | | end, giving https at the start of a web |
| Describes the relationship between two | | | | address, you have accessed a secure server |
| different computers. One computer, the | | | | and are transferring files securely. |
| client, requests information from another | | | | |
| computer, the server. The server gives, the | | | | Off Line |
| client takes. When you access a web page, | | | | |
| your client computer requests that page from | | | | When you are not connected to the Internet. |
| a web server. | | | | |
| | | | Online |
| Domain Name | | | | |
| | | | When you are connected to the Internet. |
| Identifies a computer connected to the Net. | | | | |
| Domain names typically consist of a host name | | | | Ping |
| such as netmag, followed by a top level | | | | |
| domain category, such as .com, .co, .org, and | | | | Or packet InterNet Groper, to be precise. |
| then perhaps a country abbreviation, like uk. | | | | It's a small program that can send a test |
| Domain names are easy to remember aliases for | | | | message to a server to see whether it exists. |
| numerical IP addresses. | | | | |
| | | | Router |
| Domain Name Systems | | | | |
| | | | A computer that redirects data - your ISP has |
| A bit like a phone book of Internet | | | | a router that'll send your Net requests in |
| addresses. Every Net address or, to use its | | | | the right direction. Also known as a switch. |
| proper name, IP address, consists of a series | | | | |
| of digits, such as 194.217.172.1. It isn't | | | | Server |
| easy to remember a series of digits, for each | | | | |
| website you want to visit, so the Domain Name | | | | A computer that handles requests from client |
| System was created. This is a database system | | | | machines. Mail servers deliver mail, FTP |
| that looks up Internet addresses based upon | | | | servers give out files, web servers store web |
| domain names. | | | | pages. |
| | | | |
| Download | | | | Secure Server |
| | | | |
| When you downloading something from the Net - | | | | A computer that handles encrypted data for |
| web page or a piece of software - you are | | | | secure transactions, for example, when you |
| transferring it to your computer from another | | | | buy something online you are connected to a |
| computer. | | | | secure server so your credit card details |
| | | | cannot be read by anyone else. |
| File Transfer Protocol (FTP) | | | | |
| | | | Upload |
| A protocol that enables files to be | | | | |
| transferred between computers on the | | | | To transfer data from your computer to |
| Internet. You can download files from web | | | | another computer. |
| pages, but FTP is a more efficient means of | | | | |