What more can we use the internet for?

The reason why the internet became so popular is that you can do so much, including sendind eletronic messages (called e-mail), browsing for content, and connecting with other users either live (via a chat) or by posting messages on a eletronic message board (called newsgroup).

The internet is also a very rich resources for all kinds of information. Not only you can find information on almost any topic, written by authorities from all over the world, but the information is updated and you can find the most current data is available. You can read the lastest news, search for a job, listen to new CDs, purchase textbooks and many other things, very faster and easier than if you had to do it offline.

How to make searches on the internet?

For the most effective search, consider this tips:
- If you get too many results, try changing the words
- Try search options
- Use Boolean operators
- Use search channels
- Try other search tools
- Look for people and places
- Check the credential of the sites

The last one is one of the most important because when you put something in a worksheet you have to be sure of the verity of the information.

What means the web address?

The web address is what you are going to write in the URL search.
In a web address there are important informations about the web site.
For example:
http://www.cnn.com

http stands for HyperText Tranfer Protocol and is the language, or protocol, used for displaying Web pages.
www stands for World Wide Web which is the worldwide network that the computers connect to the internet communicate.
cnn is the name of the site
com it indicates the type of the network

Sometimes after the http, may appear a 's' which stands for security.
 

What is a browser and how to choose one

A browser is software that accesses and displays pages and files on the web. Browsers require a connection to the Internet.

 Your options are:

Internet Explorer
The numbers vary, but it seems IE has around 50% of the browser market. What are the reasons to choose Internet Explorer?
IE now offers some ways to customize your browser. The new IE8 is faster and safer than ever.


Firefox
Firefox is the second most popular browser, mainly because it’s safe, fast and easy to use. It is the most customizable browser, which is a bonus for every individualist online.
Lately we have noticed that Firefox tend to take up a lot of CPU resources, especially on the Mac. It may actually slow down the computer significantly if you open several tabs at once.

Safari
Safari is an Apple product, but comes in versions for both PC and Mac. It is a very fast browser, which is easy to use and looks good. Cover Flow offers a visual way of reviewing your site history and bookmarked sites, presenting full-page previews of the websites that look exactly as they did when you last visited them.


Google Chrome
Chrome is a new browser and it is not yet available for the Mac.
Chrome is made by Google and shares the uncluttered, minimalistic design of many Google products. Yet it has some powerful and innovative features like powerful tab navigation: Pull a tab out into its own window and pop a tab into another window by clicking and dragging the tab out to the top of the new window. And it’s fast.
Chrome is also very stable. If one tab or window crashes, it will not take down the whole browser.


Opera
Opera, the smallest of the “large” browsers is developed in Pandia’s home country Norway. It has always been an innovative browser packed with features.
The latest version introduces tools for in-browser sharing of photos, music and other files. It also has a way to compress Web pages, boosting your browsing speed on crowded Wi-Fi hotspots, mobile phones or dial-up connections.
Power users will appreciate the possibility of using keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures to speed up browsing.

How to get a connection?

Connecting to the Internet with a modem

Connecting to the Internet using a computer modem is the most widely available method of connecting to the Internet. Although connecting to the Internet with a modem is a much cheaper solution, it will be a much slower connection. If you plan on doing more than the occasional web surfing and reading and sending e-mail, you should consider broadband.

To connect to the Internet using a modem, your computer must have a modem and be in reach of being connected to your home phone line. Almost every computer today will come included with a modem, although many computer manufacturers are not including modems because of the increased popularity of broadband connections.

Connecting to the Internet with a broadband connection

Connecting to the Internet over broadband is becoming a popular solution for connecting to the Internet. Broadband is a much faster solution for connecting to the Internet when compared to a modem and allows you to do more exciting things on the Internet, such as watching movies, listening to music, playing games, and have a much more enjoyable experience loading web pages without having to wait for each page to load.

Unfortunately, however, this service, even today, is not available in all areas. Therefore, before getting this service, you must first determine if it is available in your area. Most broadband services are provided by your local phone companies or cable companies. Contact your local service providers to see if they have a broadband service available in your area.

If the broadband service is available in your area, the company will often provide you with the hardware required in order to connect to their service. Often, you will have to either have a computer with a Network card (RJ-45 connector) connection or a USB connection to connect to most services.

Define the internet: what is internet?

It means connecting a computer to any other computer anywhere in the world via dedicated routers and servers. When two computers are connected over the Internet, they can send and receive all kinds of information such as text, graphics, voice, video, and computer programs.

No one owns Internet, although several organizations the world over collaborate in its functioning and development.