Transcript Internet basics - School of Information

Internet
Basics
What is the Internet?
It’s a world-wide network of computer
networks. It grows hourly and involves
national governments, communities, and
individuals.
Where is all the information? It actually
runs from one computer to another on
“servers,” which are machines that share
information across computers.
How do individuals and organizations get the
Internet? They use an Internet Service
Provider (ISP).
• An ISP is a company that
provides Internet access
for its customers
• It may also provide email
service for its customers
• It may provide web file
storage service and/or a
limited web hosting
service.
• For example, Time
Warner is an ISP in
Texas.
What kind of access does the ISP
provide? The slowest is called “dial-up
service” because it runs via telephone
lines with no added support.
DSL
Digital subscriber lines. Though still transmitted
through the phone lines, DSL operates at higher
frequencies, so it’s faster than standard dial-up.
Once the ISP has provided access, how
does an individual computer allow Internet
access? Via web browsers—software
programs that run on the user’s computer
to support access to information at any
public web server in the world
A web browser for PCs: Microsoft Internet Explorer
A web browser for Macs: Mozilla Firefox
A free
web
browser
for PC,
Mac, &
Linux
systems:
Opera
A free web browser for PC, Mac, &
Linux systems: Google Chrome
Domain names
Information from these browsers often
comes from different types of sources.
Domain names (found at the end of a web
site address) help identify the kind of
agency which owns a particular web site.
The most common domain names are:
.com = company such as Amazon.com
.org = organizaton such as cancer.org
.gov = government such as texas.gov
.edu = educational institutions such as
utexas.edu
Protect Your Privacy with Password
• Basics:
• Change them frequently
• Don’t write them down or share them
• Don’t use the same password for everything
• Choosing
• Mix numbers, symbols, and letters (upper and
lower case)
• Avoid actual words
• Use at least 8 characters
• Avoid personally identifiable data such as a
birthdate, address, or nickname
Internet Security - Cookies
• Web site owners use “cookies” to track people who visit
their site, even particular sections of their site
• Protect your privacy by deleting cookies or blocking their
use. The means of doing that vary but are generally easy
to find. Ask a librarian for help.
Protecting Your Privacy
If you visit any sensitive sites, or are using a public
computer, consider taking the following steps to preserve
your privacy:
• Clear cache (the browsing history your Web browser
saves) and delete cookies (files some Web sites use to
track users) after your Internet session is over.
• Delete any documents you may have saved to a public
computer.
• If a site asks “Remember this password?” or any similar
question, select “no.”
• Log out of any sites or services you have signed in to.