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Technet FAQ - Internet
Services Return to FAQ Table of Contents
Electronic Mail or e-mail is the most common form of communications offered by the Internet. This service allows you to send mail correspondence across the Internet to another individual who has an e-mail address on the Internet. The speed of delivery and the ability to send your correspondence to multiple people simultaneously make this form of communication more flexible and efficient than other forms of delivery. Since the network is operational at all times of the day or night, you can send your e-mail without concern as to time zones. No special charges or postage is necessary and you can even attach documents to your e-mail message for delivery within minutes to its destination. Mailing lists are offered by many ISPs. Mailing lists use software programs that reside on a host computer for handling mail duplication and delivery to each address on the subscriber roster of that mail list. Mail lists are often used to disseminate requested information to interested subscribers in mass volume; the mail list program allows any subscriber to communicate to every other address on the list without having to know each address and specifically address each communication. Information on available lists is often found in newsgroups or at sites on the World Wide Web. This information usually includes what kind of e-mail message you need to send to join the list. Finding Someone's E-mail Address on the Internet At this point the most reliable way to obtain a person's e-mail address is to ask him or her for it. Most people with Internet e-mail addresses are "unlisted. " This is because they get their access through networks, and most networks do not reveal their users' names. However, you can list yourself by sending an e-mail request to the address info@is.internic.net You may also find several e-mail directories in most bookstores that stock Internet related publications. FTP stands for "File Transfer Protocol." Most commonly used browsers will automatically access FTP sites for downloads. Specific FTP programs will allow for large downloads and for multiple file downloads, and also allow you to upload files to FTP sites that permit this. If you know exactly which computer you want to connect to, Telnet allows you to log into that remote computer across the Internet. Once logged in, you can issue commands as though your keyboard were connected directly to the remote computer, and the results will be displayed in your telnet window. Usually, an account and password set up for your use on the remote system are required before you can log in. Newsgroups, world-wide forum-type discussion groups, are accessed over your Internet connection using newsreader software programs. Often your browser will have a built-in reader, or you will need to download a reader program. UseNet newsgroups are organized hierarchically into seven major categories. Your access to newsgroups will be dependent upon your Internet Service Provider's news server. To fully enjoy the newsgroups you may need an image viewer program for use in conjunction with your reader. The most recent versions of many browsers include all the tools you will need. Some news servers carry groups of local or regional interest that are not transmitted world-wide. The World Wide Web (WWW) is a service on the Internet which allows for graphical "sites" or "pages" of information. Pages on the World Wide Web are visited by using software called browsers. A free version of Netscape Navigator can be downloaded from the Netscape home page at http://www.netscape.com/ Windows 95 includes the Microsoft Internet Explorer which can be configured for use through your local provider. NOTE: Technet customers wishing to use Internet Explorer must have version 3.0 or higher to properly access Technet's menu structure. Additionally, only version 3.0 or higher of Internet Explorer offers good enough security to make credit card transactions over the Web safe. An abundance of information is available on the World Wide Web, from CNN news to information about sports, education, legal and government issues as well as information about journals, music, books, politics, and television, not to mention the computer software, airline tickets and many online shopping sites available. Security on the Web has improved and it is possible to conduct financial transactions without many of the worries reported in the past. A search engine is an indexed database of the sites on the World Wide Web, of domain names, or of topics under discussion in the UseNet newsgroups. The software at the search engine electronically searches the massive indexes based on keywords or groups of keywords that are input by a user. The results are reported in lists of hypertext links, often with brief descriptions of the information available at the site. Using a search engine to find URLs that are pertinent to any topic is the best way to start a research project. Some providers maintain programs that allow a user to search multiple search engines without repeating their keyword choices. Return to FAQ Table of Contents
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