Internet
The Internet is an international connection of millions of computers through out the
world.
The Internet is made up of smaller networks of computers scattered all over the world. A
network is a connection of two or more computers together for either communication
purposes or for sharing resources. There are basically two types of networks.
LAN
(Local Area Networks) – This is a connection of two or more computers with a small
location e.g. within the same building.
WAN (Wide Area Networks) – This is a connection of computers over a large
area.
To connect to the Internet you need the following.
For a Single User
a. A computer
b. Modem (Modulator / Demodulator) – This is a device that converts digital
signals to analogue (Modulate) and analogue signals to digital format
(Demodulate).
c. Telephone and telephone line
d. ISP (Internet Service Provider) account.
e. Web Browser. This is a program, which is used to connect your computers to
the Internet. Web browsers include Internet Explorer, Netscape Explorer,
Gopher e.t.c.
For an organization or many Users you need the following.
a. Computers
b. Hubs – For connecting the computers on the network.
c. ISP Account
d. VSAT (Very small aperture terminals) these are satellites used to connect
directly to the Internet. Currently not allowed for Internet connection in
Kenya apart for some Parastatals.
e. Web browser.
Connecting to the Internet.
The Internet using various protocols for computers to be able communicate. A protocol
is a set of rules used to send information from one computer to another.
Examples of protocols
Http – Hyper Text Transfer Protocol is the commonly used protocol on the Internet. It is
used to send and receive information on the Internet.
Ftp – File Transfer protocol is used to send and receive file on the Internet.
Smtp – Simple mail transfer protocol is used to send and receive electronic mails on the
Internet.
Telenet – Enables you to log into and work on a remote system.
WWW (World Wide Web)
The World Wide Web is the information scattered all over the Internet. Its works hand
on hand with the Internet. The information on the WWW is stored in form of HTML
(Hyper Text Markup Language) documents on host computers. A host computer is used
to store web pages (internet documents) and can be accessed by millions of computers on
the Internet. To access a web page on a host computer you need the URL assigned to that
particular web page. URL (Uniform resource locator) or the web address is a piece of
text “address” assigned to a web page. Example of a URL is
[Link]
http:// is the protocol.
Www is the World Wide Web.
graffinscollege is the desired name for the address
. com is the Domain
Domains
This is used to identify the address of the computer and where the document is stored.
The following are examples of domains
.com - Identifies commercial organizations.
. [Link] - Country and country code
.gov - Governmental organizations
. org - Non governmental organizations
.net - Networking Services
.mil - Military institutions
.edu - Educational organizations
Browsing the Internet.
Home Page
A home page can mean one of the following.
a. The page that is automatically opened when you start a web browser.
b. The first page opened when you open a URL
To open a URL you can do one of the following.
a. On Internet explorer click on open, then type the URL and click ok.
b. Type the URL on the address bar of your computer.
To set a Home page
a. On the tools menu, click Internet options.
b. Under home page set the URL to be used as the home page and click ok.
Temporary Internet files.
This are files that are downloaded to your computer while surfing the Internet without
your knowledge. To delete the temporary files.
a. On the tools menu click Internet options.
b. Under temporary Internet files click delete files.
c. Select the option delete all offline files and click ok.
d. Click on the internet options dialog box
History.
These are the URL’s that you computer remembers as the recently opened address.
If you want to clear the history of your browser
a. On the tools menu, click Internet options.
b. Under history click clear history.
c. Click ok
d. Click ok on the Internet options dialog box.
Internet
The Internet has 4 levels of security
a. Internet – All sites generally fall under this category unless you specify to
another level. It has a medium security level with all addresses being opened.
You are prompted when downloading information from unsafe sources.
b. Local Intranet – Intranet is a local private network. All addresses are opened
if specified under this level. There are no prompts in this level.
c. Trusted sites – You can set websites that you totally trust under this level. All
information from these sites is displayed without any prompts. The security
level is very low at this level.
d. Restricted Sites – This level is used to set websites that can possibly damage
your computer or any site you don’t want its information to be displayed on
your computer.
Downloading Information from the Internet
Downloading information means to get information from a website to another medium
like your diskette or you computers hard disk.
Viewing information while offline.
Offline means the period that your computer is not connected to the Internet. Viewing
information offline can help to minimize the cost of your Internet. This applies only to
those using a dial up connection since you are charged on the time you spend on the
internet. For those using leased line this does not cut the cost but it can cut the time used
to open a website.
To set a web page to be viewed offline
a. Open the website
b. Under favorites menu click add to favorites
c. Select the option make available offline
d. Click ok. (This might take a while for the page to be wholly downloaded to
your computer).
To make a website load faster you can do the following
- Set pictures not to be downloaded
- Set multimedia information not to be downloaded
To do this
a. from the tools menu click internet options.
b. Click the advanced tab
c. Under multimedia select the options not to be downloaded.
Saving your web page
You can save a web page on your hard disk for latter viewing. You save a web page just
like any other file. The advantage of viewing you website online and also saving it is that
you get to see the downloaded website just the way the original looks like.
Downloading Pictures.
You can save a picture directly to any drive by right clicking on the picture, choosing
save picture as and selecting the location to store the picture. Give the picture a name
and click save.
You can also right click on the picture, click copy paste it in word and save it.
You can also download the contents of a website by highlighting on the text and copying
and pasting the text in Ms Word. This is a faster way of downloading information from
the internet and the only disadvantage is that the information does not appear the same
way as in the original website.
Advantages and disadvantages of the internet.
Advantges.
1. Informative – Almost any topic on anything can be found on th
2. Entertaining – You can watch movies and play games from the in
3. Educative – Some Universities offer learning through the Internet.
4. Fast – Communication can be done over the Internet in matter of seconds.
Mails can be sent to far away places in record times.
5. Cheap – You can easily access the Internet from cyber cafes at affordable
prices.
6. Reachable – You can access your emails from anywhere in the world
Disadvantages
1. Expensive – It cost a lot to set up internet at home or for commercial purposes
2. Literacy level – Requires a certain level of literacy
3. Ponographic materials – Ponorgraphis materials are easily available from the
internet
4. Hard to control – It’s very difficult to police the Internet.
5. False Information – Not everything found on the internet is true
Searching Information from the Internet.
To search for information from the Internet you can do the following
a. Use search option on Internet explorer.
b. Use a search engine
c. Use auto search
Search Engines
A search engine is a website used to locate for information from the internet.
Examples of seach engines.
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
To use a search engine, open any website used as a search engine
Type the key word to locate for the information
You can refine you keyword if the search engine returns a wide area on a topic
Eg instead of typing Kenya as the keyword you can type Tourism in Kenya or Kenya and
tourism or Kenya + Tourism
To use auto search type “go and the key word” on the address bar.
Eg go Kenya + Hospitals and press enter or click go