Decompression
Data
decompression is used to restore compressed data to its original
form. See also
Compression.
Digital
Certificate
Digital
certificates (also called Secure Server IDs) are like virtual
electronic fingerprints. Each one is unique and can be used to
positively identify the person or object (e.g. a company's
Internet server), who owns the certificate by the information
contained within it. That information can be trusted, because it
is digitally 'signed' by a trusted Certification Authority who
check the authenticity of the information to be included in the
certificate before they issue it. Digital Certificates provide
the proof of identity and deliver critical elements of security
which are vital to establish the trust needed to conduct safe
communications and transactions with customers, suppliers,
partners and employees.
Domain Name
A domain name is another way of referring to the Internet
address of a computer or group of computers on the Internet.
Whereas an Internet address is made up of numbers (e.g.
144.2.45.6) and therefore difficult to remember, a domain name
(e.g. btinternet.com) is made up of meaningful words.
Download
To download a file is to move it from one computer to
another, usually from a central host machine to a local machine.
See also Upload.
E
E-mail
Electronic messages (mail) sent from one computer to another.
The messages are received at the user's e-mail address and
stored in their mailbox.
See also Address.
F
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions. Many newsgroups, mailing lists
and some WWW sites have an FAQ list which is posted regularly.
FAQs prevent newsgroup members from having to individually
answer common questions.
See also Newsgroup.
Flame
The
Internet equivalent of verbal abuse.
Follow
up
A reply to
a USENET newsgroup article (post).
See also
Newsgroup
and
Post.
Freeware
Software
for which the author makes no charge. Because the author of the
software is making no money, freeware is usually unsupported.
See also Shareware.
FTP
File
Transfer Protocol. A widely accepted protocol which allow
computers of different types to exchange files. "Anonymous
ftp" sites will allow anyone to download files from them
without knowing a password.
G
GIF
Graphics
Interchange Format. A graphics file format created by the
CompuServe online information service. GIFs work across
platforms (Mac, PC and UNIX). Most Web browsers can display
images saved in the GIF format.
See also Browser.
Gopher
A Gopher
site has a hierarchically organized collection of documents,
usually readable text files.
H
HTML
HyperText
Markup Language. HTML is the formatting language in which pages
on the World Wide Web are constructed. Browsers interpret HTML
and display the pages appropriately. HTML is a subset of SGML
(Standard Generalized Markup Language).
See also
Browser.
http
(Hyper Text Transfer Protocol)
A protocol
which tells a server what to send a client, so that the client
can view Web pages, FTP sites, or other areas on the Internet.
See also Server
and
Client.
Hypertext
Documents which contain embedded links (often underlined or
otherwise differentiated from the rest of the text) which allow
the user to easily move among different parts of the same
document, or between documents.
Example: Click
here
to jump to the top of
the page.
I
Icon
A graphic symbol used in a computer program to represent an
object or process.
Internet
A global network of computers and computer systems which
communicate using the Internet protocol.
IP
address
Every
computer connected to the Internet has a unique IP (Internet
Protocol) address which is its Internet address. Example:
147.150.30.32
IRC
(Internet Relay Chat)
The live
chat area of the Internet in which real time conversations
between two or more people take place in virtual
"rooms" or channels. See also
Channel.
ISP
Internet
Service Provider.
ISPA
Internet Service Provider's Association.
IWF
Internet Watch Foundation. A charitable
organization which
seeks to rid the Internet of illegal material such as child
pornography. The IWF encourages the Internet community to report
the finding of any such material.
K
Kb
A unit of
computer measurement. Kb is an abbreviation for kilobyte (1024
bytes). See also
Bit.
L
Link
An area of
a hypertext document which, when selected, will take the user to
another document or resource. On the World Wide Web, a link
(often underlined) is usually a URL pointing to a file,
document, site, image, or another page. See also
Hypertext
and
URL.
Listserv
Software
that automatically manages a mailing list, receiving posts and
follow ups and sending groups of them out to all subscribers of
the list.
See also E-mail
Mailing List,
Newsgroup,
Post, Follow
up.
M
Mail
Generic
term for information transported on the Internet using one of
the various mail protocols. Often used to distinguish mail from
news.
See also
E-mail
and
Newsgroup.
Mailing
list
A
topic-oriented conference like a USENET newsgroup except that
the messages are distributed by private e-mail. Typically, the
Internet user would subscribe to a list by sending e-mail to the
Listserv. Messages in the group arrive in the users' mailbox,
and posts and follow
ups are sent to the Listserv to be forwarded
on to other members of the group.
See also Listserv,
E-mail, Newsgroup.
Megabyte
A measure
of computer memory equal to 1,048,576 bytes, each of which in
turn is equal to eight bits, which is the smallest unit of data
in the digital system and is symbolized by the number 1 or the
number 0. See also Bit.
MIME
(Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension)
An
extension that lets you transmit non-text data (like graphics,
audio, video) via e-mail. See also E-mail.
N
Network
A system
of hardware and software that is connected so as to be accessed
by individual users who share the same information and
resources, and who may be geographically distant from each
other.
News
Generic
term for information transported on the Internet using the nntp
(Network News Transport Protocol). Often used to distinguish
news from mail.
See also
E-mail
and
Newsgroup.
Newsgroup
A USENET
newsgroup is a discussion forum where participants read and post
comments on an agreed topic.
Newsreader
Software
for reading and posting articles (posts) and follow
ups to a
USENET newsgroup. See also Newsgroup
and
Post.
Node
Any device
connected to a computer network as well as the point at which
the devices are connected. See also Network.
O
P
POP
A POP
(Point of Presence) is the modem which the Internet user dials
from their computer to gain access to the Internet.
Post
The term
for an original USENET or mailing list article. Used as a verb,
to "post" means to submit an article for publication
on USENET in one or more newsgroups or to one or more mailing
list. If sent to more than one newsgroup or list the post is
said to be
"cross-posted". If the newsgroup is
moderated, the moderator decides if the post will appear;
otherwise the post appears automatically. See also Mailing
list, Newsgroup.
Q
R
S
Search
engine
Software
which scans the World Wide Web, collecting titles and words from
Web pages which are stored in a database. The user enters key
words to search for; these are compared against the contents of
the database with the results of the search (e.g relevant Web
pages containing the key words) returned to the user. Alta Vista
and Lycos are examples of search engines.
See also World
Wide Web.
Secure
Server ID
See Digital
Certificate
Server
A computer
that provides files as shared resources to a computer network.
See also Client.
Shareware
Copyrighted
software that is sold on a trust basis. Users are expected to
pay the author if they like or use the software.
Site
A
particular "spot" on the Internet or World Wide Web.
Sometimes a single computer, but may be a network of computers.
Examples include: Gopher site, WWW site, FTP site. See also Gopher,
WWW, ftp.
SLIP/PPP
Two
protocols for allowing a computer to connect to the Internet
through a dial-up connection, using a modem.
SSL
SSL
(Secure Sockets Layer) is an open protocol for securing data
communications across networks. Secure Web sites (where you can
confidently enter credit card details, personal details, etc.)
are indicated by the key at the bottom of your browser (normally
broken) being joined together. Also see Digital
Certificate
Surfing
"Jumping"
or navigating from site to site on the Internet. See also Browsing.
T
TCP/IP
(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
A set of
protocols which make Internet services possible among computers
that do not belong to the same network.
TELNET
TELNET
lets Internet users log in to computers around the world that
are connected to the Internet, and to use them as if they were
their own.
Thread
A thread
is a collection of articles within a Newsgroup that follow the
same subject. See also Newsgroup.
U
Upload
To move a
file from one computer to another, usually from a local machine
to a host. See also Download.
URL
Uniform
Resource Locator. URLs are links to network resources like
files, programs, web sites, web pages, etc. URLs are usually
found as links on web pages, but are turning up more often in
p
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