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.