You have chosen to own a computer and have chosen to connect to the internet. Just like a car, you can start the engine and press the gas, and maybe even stop, but that does not make you a driver.
Anyone can manage to go on the internet, but they don't call it the superhighway for nothing. The internet is the audobon of driving, and if you are a slow driver you will get run over.
I speak in analogy because the internet terms and use is derived from real life.
The moment you connect to the internet, you are in a plane that can land anywhere in the world. Some planes are jets, because they have fast engines and quick connections at the terminals once you land. Others are private, smaller planes that still have propellers, and can only land at small airports.
The speed of your plane is the capacity of your computer and your modem. So, computers purchased within the past year will be the fastest. At this writing, an average computer will have from 333 MHz to 2 Ghz of processing power. Which is the procesing power of your "engine". Then, your "telemetry" or your modem determines how fast you can communicate with the various terminals around the world. The "dial-up" norm is currently 56k. There is also cable connections, sattelite, and DSL (direct server link) connections. These all determine the speed that you communicate with the other computers.
You communicate with a control tower who routes you and guides your path request. This control tower is your internet service provider, ISP. Some people connect thru a LAN, or local access network, but, that is not your concern. I am assuming that you are already browsing on the internet, and the connection process has been done. My purpose is for you to know how to drive on the internet highway and recognize what town you are in.
The browsing environment
It is only natural to love the one you are with, that is, if you connect to the internet using aol, that is the screen you see when you log on.
Dependent upon who you have your service with, the start screen and environment will vary from computer to computer.
All of this is just a facade, or "window dressing". A start page is a control panel of your Jet when you land in the main terminal. Some people can control their own plane manually, some people need the control panel. What this is is merely a very special web page with buttons and pictures on it. This window on the internet makes the browsing environment easy to navigate.
What is really happening is that the internet is just a couple of millions of computers all connected to a phone routing system just like your telephone. Except, that the phone lines to these other computers are always open. You are allowed to "eavesdrop" or peak into these other computers because you know their address (explained in the next chapter). Search engine companies, and internet providers have Graphics on their start pages. This is called a Graphic User interface or GUI. These pages arrive at your screen automatically, but you can actually choose the start page you wish, or even start out blank.
Note: a good visual analogy might be to think of a start page as a picture frame with sections for different pictures. The squares in your frame are like little tv sets. Each one has a channel with a specific type of program that gets fed into it. If you;ve ever seen the picture within a picture on your tv, it works the same way on your internet page. The feed or picture that shoots to the various boxes on your screen comes from different files on the company you browse with.
Companies like AOL.com, one of the largest internet providers connect you into their own special environment. You actually connect to the aol computers and see a start screen which is not on the internet, it is actually on your computer. The only time you actually browse the internet is when you type an address in the browser text line. So, connection to the internet is just that, a connection. Your destination is where you want to land your jet.
Aol uses whatever "browser" you have as you "default" browser. Or, you can use any browser you have installed on your computer.
When you type an address in your aol screen, a new "window opens up, which is actually a browser window.
You may bypass the aol environment by finding another browser on your computer which is usually Internet explorer. That is the Big "E" on your desktop screen. You can also have both an aol browser open to one address and an explorer screen open as well to another page or two or more. Browsers are empty pages or "frames", like a picture frame. The address bar finds the page you are searching for and displays it in the browser frame below it, or sometimes opens a second frame which covers the first one. The first page you see when you open a browser is a "start" page. This is usually the company you bought your computer from, or the copmpany who provided your software. You can change this "start page" anytime you like. But most new computer users wind up sticking with the first one they were exposed to.
Later on that. But, lets talk about an address.
Adresses, links and mail
When someone asks your address, you generally can tell them your name, street number, city, state and zip. And when you stand outside your home, and look at your front door, you know that mail will reach you there, or visitors can find you as well.
Its the same thing on the internet.
Lets start with your name and address:
Joe User, 1234 Internet way, Computerville, wisconsin 12345
The zip code at the end of the address tells the post office what town you are in. So, even though you write the leter to Computerville, wisconsin. You could just as well put your zip code and your mail will go to the town it represents.
The internet is very similar. Every computer in the world has an address, and yes it is a number.
Even though your home computer number is unknown to you, it still exists, and when you are connected to the internet, that is your identity. Someone, somewhere can look at that number and see the "zip code" you are dialing from. But, never mind that, lets get back to your address.
Your name for instance may be Joe user, but you also have a social security number. It is #123-456-7890, you also have other identities, like a nick name that your friends call you, or an endearing name like snookums your spouse may call you. Whatever it is, when someone says snookums, you perk up. When someone rattles off your social number, you also may pay attention, it is you as well. If you are in a big room, and someone yells snookums, another person may answer, If they yell Joe, 20 people could perk up, if they yell Joe User, someone could also pay atention. If someone shouts the zip code, or says your town name, half the crowd could cheer. These are the ways we group people and identify people and places.
The internet is also a big neighborhood, with addresses and locations, and identities. Some are numbers, names, or both. Some addresses and identities have nick-names as well.
This name is as unique as your social security number. Most of the public has to buy this name, (although some can get free ones with a lot of effort), or share it like an apartment can be shared. The first place you could buy your "domain name" was from a company called InterNic, short for Internet Nickname. Unlike your own nickname, you could only buy a nickname if someone else wasn't using it. There are NO DUPLICATES!!
So if snookums.com was bought, you would have to perhaps buy a similar name like snookums1.com etc.
So, you now bought your nickname, snookums.com and snookums.com has a number very similar to your social security number: 123.456.7890.
This address can be found by typing either name or number, but generally the name is easier.
Now, snookums.com travels all over the world, but he has no home, no address, he is just a name or actually a "domain name" without a domain (or home) yet. So, we must find him a home or a domain location. This domain could be your home computer (with the right equipment), but that means that you have to buy your own home.. Lots of people rent their location, and they also rent the internet domain site.
Lets pick one, like aol.com.Great neighborhood, good post office, private, sometimes a busy neigborhood but fairly dependable and accessible. When you rent your "apartment" from aol.com, they let you pick the name you want on your apartment door. It could be "snookums" at aol.com. As a matter of fact, you can get mail delivered to your apartment and your mailing address is "snookums@aol.com".
The mail goes to your mailbox outside your apartment location (mail address), and you open your mailbox when you insert your personal key into the lock, and this displays the contents of your mailbox. You then open your letters and read them, close your letter and open another one. Throw out your junk mail into a trash can, save a few important ones in a filing cabinet in one of your rooms in your apartment.
Same as on the internet. You enter your apartment neighborhood by typing "aol.com", you go to your address which is a "gated community", so you must stop at the security gate and enter your name and password. The "gate" to your community has a place to enter your unique name "snookums", and a password you gave the rental agent when you signed the lease, "mypassword".
Now you are in your comunity hall, lots of billboards, and ads, and places to vsist in this "gated community". But first, you stop at your mailbox and read your mail. You have a badge on your lapel, so the mailbox knows your identity.
Now you go to your apartment?? Yes, you have an apartment at aol. And, you can see your apartment by typing your apartment location "members.aol.com/snookums". If you type in your "apartment name" you will see your apartment door (files area), which has a directory.
Each door has a name on it. One door may be the utility room, you only go there if you know what you are doing. One door may say "home" on it. This is probably what you want.
This apartment is very unique in that you can add as many rooms as you need by just creating and naming them. But, more on that later, for now you can just look around your apartment.
Now, you have things you brought with you, lots of pictures, a few file cabinets, a desk, some drawers etc., and you want to bring that into your apartment.
Now, snookums,you can be a slob and just dump (upload) all of your things at your front door, or you can make some room and put all of your pictures in their own room, your books in another rooms, and your videos elsewhere, you also have some tools and other items. I suggest that you open a room (new file), put each item in the proper room (file), and name it with a name that is easy to remember. The apartment gave you labels to hang on each room door, file1, file2, etc. I would name or rename the rooms with somename (label) you are comfortable with.
So, you now have your apartment, your home, your location. And your new address is:
"Members.aol.com/snookums"
When anyone in the world types that, they can view your apartment door, even open your rooms up, and look at your things like your pictures, letters, personal items...uh, oh we have to change that later.
Now remember, your location is your domain location. But, you have an easier way to find your address. You have your "domain name' you bought. That name doesn't forward your mail, nor does it send people to your location. So, you tell the domain name people to point the domain name to your "apartment" or location wher you keep your things. Now, when somone types your address, "members.aol.com/snookums", or they type: "snookums.com" they will both open the door to your apartment. The really cool thing is, that if you move to a different apartment, no-one will know. You just tell the domain name people to "redirect" your name "snookums.com" to point to earthlink.net, instead of aol.com.
Since your apartment isn't furnished yet, you might want to wait before giving out your apartment address, or making it "public".
The first room the public sees is your directory area. If you dumped your things on the floor, they will be accessible but unorganized. So, you want to "index" your room and only list the items you want your visitors to see.
You need a big sign that dresses up the main room. This is the start page or home page.
You can name this page anything you want, but if you name it "index.html", all visiors will see that sign when they visit you. That sign will hide everything in your apartment, and only allow visitors to enter the rooms that you make public.
This is your web site entrance page.
Now, you have lots of friends, and clubs you belong to, and people you know. But, not everyone feels comfortable calling you by your nickname "snookums.com"
You can buy another name, snookumsinc.com, point that to your office location which could be at your apartment or anywhere you want.
Your rent at your apartment (aol.com) includes a lot of space, so make yourself an office door (file directory), and call it "snookumsinc".
Inside snookums inc, is a room (file or "page") called index.html as well. This one is furnished like an office. Nice and business like.
So when someone types in "snookumsinc.com", the domain name server "points' that name to your new address which is next door to your "dwelling area".
"Members.aol.com/snookums/snookumsinc/" or"members.aol.com/snookums/snookumsinc/index.html", which is a lot of typing, so use youe domain nickname "snookumsinc.com" which will redirect to the file page. You could also use your other name as well, and type in "snookums.com/snookumsinc.html" and that will go to your office page as well.
Lets review using a map:
Type in your address: and your mail goes to your home.
Type in your e-mail address and the mail goes to your apartment mailbox. "snookums.aol.com"
Type in your nickname: and you are "routed" to your community address, in the gate, and directly to you office or home page location.
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Suppose you want to show off your copy of van Gogh on your apartment wall, but you don't want your neigbors to know that you have a van Gogh.
You can allow people to view your van gogh, by showing them the shortcut to the location or the actual location.
You merely hang the Van Gogh in the "images" directory (room).
By placing the "file" called VanGogh.gif", it has a location.
Its real location is "members.aol.com/snookums/images/VanGogh.gif".
Its shortcut is: "snookums.com/images/VanGogh.gif"
You can "hang" the van gogh on the wall of your office if you like, by putting on a page in your main directory. So, now people can type "snookums.com/VanGogh.html" and see a page with a picture of van gogh, some text explaining the picture etc.
Lets complete the analogy by discussing "buttons", they are the equivalent of a doorbell. An electronic knock-knock on the door. If the occupant (the new page) is home, the door to a new room opens up. The cool thing about this doorbell is that you can pace the doorbell anywhere. It can be in your room on the wall next to the picture, or it can even Be the picture. Some buttons are text, sometimes they area graphic that say the contents of the room, or the direction of the room. So, the text or graphic that says "back" rings the doorbell of the previous room you had visited, or "next" is the next room over.
So, lets review a moment.
But, this is generally easier than typing in the browser. Your apartment complex just has a door with a key (your password and username), You press the mail "doorbell" link and it opens the mailroom and lets you see the outside of the letters (the address and list of the e-mails you have waiting. You click on the letter (link to the letter), and the envelope opens up and lets you read the letter. You can trash the junk mail, and keep the important ones.
IF you are not using your personal service like aol, outlook express, or earthlink etc. You actually can enter the address of your mail. You type in "mail.yourcompany.com", and that takes you to a username, password and entry page (your lock and key). Then you view your mail the same way you do when in an aol environment. Companies, like yahoo.com, and tripod.com, or netscape.com have virtual access rather than the conrolled access of aol.com or some others.
Parts of the computer screen
Okay, you were told to type in the address of your site. Where do you type it? If your screen is blank, there is no place to type on the screen, so you type the web address into the space at the top of your screen. The computer then searches the web and places the requested page into the blank area.
Lets say you have yahoo as a start page. Well, yahoo has a blank area to enter a search as well.
A big mistake people make is to type in an address on a browser page. The blank area you see before the word search is not for web addresses, that is for key words, or phrase and subject searches. If you type aol.com in that search, you will get a list of page links that have the word aol.com in them. If you type aol.com in your browser address bar, you will go directly to aol.com.
The address bar also doubles as a search bar. So if you type aol and do not put ".com" at the end, you will also get a list of links or sites that mention the word "aol".
It is very important to know what a link really is, because a link is NOT what you see. What you SEE on a web page is text, NOT a link.
If you type "http://www.aol.com" in the browser, you WILL get aol.com. But, if you see the link text on some page somewhere that says "http:www.aol.com" it may NOT take you to aol. Heres why.
When a web page is written or formatted, it is done by entering text and brackets and symbols that are actually shorthand. Anyone can make a web page from scratch. If you have any text program like wordpad, word, or any basic program for typing a letter, you can create a web page by merely naming it correctly. Hmmm. If I type: "hello there" then save that as a document, it will be stored on your computer as a file. The name of the file is "whatever.txt", or "whatever.wps". The ".txt and .wsp" is the name of the word processor you are using. If you found that are your computer somewhere and clicked on it, your computer will look for the corresponding program it needs to view it. You can also name any text file as an web page. By using "save as" and typing in "whatever.html". When you look for this file on your system, it will have a "web page" icon on it rather than a text icon. And, when you open it, it opens in a brwoser rather than a text editor.
Of course, just like a text editor "formats" text. The web page editor, formats web pages in a language that web pages understand.
One such basic language is called "html". And, the ONLY reason I am introducing you to html, is so you know that what you see on a page is NOT always what you get.
If you type in your text editor and put the term "html" at the top of the page, in a bracket
Like this <html>, you have just told the computer to wake up and interpret your page as "hyper tense machine language" or HTML. It will now recognize many commands and formatting that is stange to you and unique to "html", but very important to know about.
First, when you save a page that has html on it, anything in the bracket is a command or a format, and will be invisible when you view the page.
If, for instance, I type <b>hello</b> and view that in a browser page. You will see bold.
If I format it as <i>hello</i> it looks like hello or italics.
My intention is NOT to teach you HTML, but to know that when you see a link, it is written in html language as the same as what you see in your browser, with a small addition.
A bracket, that name the type of file your button will look for, an address for the button to go to, and the text you see when you press the button. That last thing is VERY IMPORTANT.
The code behind a link is as follows:
<a href="http://www.aol.com">AOL.COM</a>
What you see is AOL.COM .
What the heck is this?? Well, <a href=" means "the address reference" then, whatever is in quotes is the address. Then the "> ends the formatting and you put whatever you want as text, then you place the code </a> which tells the formatting to end the button link address.
Remember, you don't see the actual link "http:www/aol.com", all you see is the text part.
And, here is why this is important to know. Suppose you see this: AOL.COM. And you click on it, you will expect to go to aol, but that is NOT always true.
The code may be:
<a href="http://maliciouspornsite.com/virus">AOL.COM</a>, you still see AOL.COM.
You now say, OH MY GOD I am throwing out my computer. Well, you should if you don't pay attention. Luckily, there are several ways to know the difference between a malicious button link and a good one. If you take your mouse and place it over the link http://aol.com
And the link is the same as the "hovering text that appears", you are cool.
Even if the link is http://aol.com/afgshetdhhjtkkrkl , yu will probably be okay. If you see
Http://aol.com/redirect&maliciousite.com you may be in trouble if you press that link.
The hover over the link text, will be the address the link is going to take you.
Just be careful, especially in e-mails that have text links that are not web links.
<a href=http://fakepaypalsite.com">BUY IT NOW</a> Will say BUY IT NOW, but might go to a company who will steal your credit card info.
Good rule: If you want to go to ebay or aol or any major site, use the browser and type it in, do not use links.
Some pictures are links as well.
Remember, that I said a picture has an address. Well, with pictures, and html, the picture shows up on the page by something very similar to a link code.
Once again, the html code requires the brackets, a pointer, a location.
So, <a href="http://aol.com/yoursite/yourpic.gif">MY PIC</a> will give you the text
MY PIC, and when you press it, you will see the picture in a browoser window.
But, html code also allows you to view the picture, on the page you are browsing. I reffered to it as "hanging it on the wall of your room" in the last chapter.
The code is:
<img src="http://aol.com/yoursite/yourpic.gif"> which is a little simpler than a link code.
The <img src=" is "image source equals" the the location of the image in quotes, then you clos ethe bracket.
You might refer to the brackets as an envelope with contents.
Anyway, when you view the page, you only see the picture.
Lastly, you can combine codes and actually make the picture a button.
<a href="http://aol.com"><img src="http://yoursite.com/yourpic.gif"></a>
All you will see is the picture, but when you press it, it will take you to the link location. This is handy if you do ads on ebay or just viewing a picture in the browser.
Once again, watch out for malicious links, like <a href="http:maliciousite.com"><img src="ebaylogo.gif"></a> What you might see is the company logo for ebay, but it will take you to a malicious site. Once again, check it by waiting for the hover text to appear before you press the link.
Lastly, both text or picture may have a special link that you don't press. You merely move your mouse over it, and you will be taken to a web page or a popup page.
The code they use for that is something like <A HREF="index.html" onMouseOver=> This type of link is a royal pain to determine. It is usually used for a popup ad.
Just one more simple thing to know is the e-mail link. Just like in the web site "cloaking" your e-mail address on a website can be something other than what you see written.
If the html writer puts hisname@anysite.com the html will show it as hisname@anysite.com.
The code writer can also write it as
<a href="mailto:hisname@anysite.com">hisname@anysite.com</a>
And you also see hisname@anysite.com.
But, you can also write:<a href="mailto:hisname@anysite.com">E-Mail ME</a>
You will see E-Mail Me and the mail will go to the address in brackets. OF course, it could also be:
<a href="http:malicoussite.com">E-MAIL ME</a>
Which also looks like E-Mail ME but really goes to a bad site. So, double checkit by a mouse-hover test. The "status bar" is text at the very bottom of your screen. This will also show the name of the link you have your mouse over.
ABOUT CONTROLS
Internet explorer has control buttons that allow you to customize your screen settings. You really should know anbout some of them. For instance, I mention status bar.
Some people have the "status bar" off. You can turn it on or off by looking at the top of your browser on "explorer" and finding "view", click on view and check or uncheck "status bar". This will allow the bar to be seen or hidden.
Pop-Ups, redirects, jumpto, onleave
Some links can contain the site of a legitimate company and then you wind up in a bad site. This is a re-direct as part of the address.
Then there is a timed re-direct where after a few seconds, you are taken to another page.
Your page jumps to another page automatically
The 1 is the time delay (you can change this)
and the URL is of course where you want to jump to.-->
<META HTTP-EQUIV=REFRESH CONTENT="1; URL=page2.html">
The most annoying redirect is the one where you close the screen, only to have another appear instantly. The more you close, the more that appear.
This is called an "onleave" command. If you close the screen, the browser sends you to a new page. This is done on a lot of porn sites (so they say). The porm sites let you see teasers of lewd acts and then require that you pay a fee. At that point, the merely curious will attempt to close the page before the spouse sees the naughty activity. The newer page brings up more solicitations and more graphics. The only way to get rid of this is to close you machine, or close the browser itself.
You can end a browser activity by pressing CTRL ALT and DELETE at the same time. This brings up a screen that allows you to close the screens.
These types of sites, have other malicious action that can happen. You will have an implanted popup embedded on your computer or even on your main page. This is a form of a virus, as it invaded your computer and actually doesn't even have to be online to appear.
You then need some serious protection from a spyware, adware, or virus program. But, you may wind up having to re-install your operating system as fresh.
Best advice, get some good protection for your computer.
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I actually stopped using OUTLOOK EXPRESS which is the usual e-mail interface on your computer, it is a major source of problems with spam and viruses. I use aol, or an online e-mail like yahoo.
DECIDING ON YOUR COMPUTER ACTIVITY
Just like your brain, most people only use 10% of the their computers capacity. The majority of people have huge amounts of processing power and only use the computer for e-mail and browsing. What else is there?