Unit – 5 Using Internet

Unit 5 USING INTERNET

UNIT OUTCOME
Students will be able to:
 understand the Internet as a global network;
 recognize the meaning of some basic terms related to the Internet;
 recognize the work with a search engine to search for items;
 understand hotspots and hyperlinks;
 comprehend the meaning of some common e-mail terms.

5.1 USING INTERNET

A computer network is defined as an interconnected collection of computers. A network can either
be a small group of two or more computers linked together or a high-end network that links
hundreds or even millions of computers across the globe. Internet is a vast ocean of information. It
is very useful network. Y ou will study about the Internet in this unit.

l Definition of Internet
Internet is the network that is available to users across the globe (see Fig. 5 .1 ). It is called “ the mother
of all networks” .
OR
Internet is the network that contains other networks of computers around the globe into one
seamless network (see Fig. 5 .1 ). These networks link educational, commercial, nonprofit and military
entities, as well as individuals.

Fig. 5.1: Internet—the mother of all networks

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l Uses and Services Available on the Internet

The major use of Internet is for searching the information stored in millions of computers of the
Internet. W hether you are a doctor, an engineer, teacher, student or businessman; the Internet can
keep you update about the latest issues in your field and the past issues already occurred. Y ou can
search for the information, take part in on-line test, audio or video conversation or you can share
the information with the other users of the Internet.
The Internet has given a boom to ‘ Information and Communication Technology (ICT)’ . Today
the world of the Internet permits services hardly imaginable 2 0 years ago. Table 5 .1 provides the
uses and services provided on the Internet.
Table 5.1: The Main Uses and Services Provided on Internet
Activity Purpose

A uctions Sell old stuff, acquire more stuff, with online auctions.

Career advancement Search job listings, post resumes, interview online.

Distance learning A ttend online lectures, have discussions, research papers.

Download files Get software, music, and documents such as e-books.

E-mail and discussion groups Stay in touch worldwide through electronic mail and online chat rooms.

Entertainment A muse yourself with Internet games, music and videos.

E-business Connect with coworkers, buy supplies, support customers.

E-shopping Pr ice anything from plane tickets to cars, order anything from books to
sofas.

Financial matters Do investing, banking and bill paying online.

N ews Stay current on politics, weather, entertainment, sports and financial

news.

Research and information Find information on any subject, using browsers and search tools.

Telephony and conferencing M ake inexpensive phone calls; have online meetings.

Wh o G ov er n s the I n ter n et ?
Y ou will be surprised to know that there is no one who owns or runs the Internet. Every subnetwork
of Internet is responsible for maintenance of its own part and does not bother about the other one.
The Internet is coordinated by many volunteer organisations and no single organisation is having the
complete control over it.

l Terms
Wo rld W ide W eb (WW) is a set of programs, standards and protocols that allows the text, images,
animations, sounds, videos to be stored and accessed and linked together in the form of websites. B asically,
W is a collection of millions of web pages stored in thousands of computers all over the world. It is a
safe house for storing information on the Internet.

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Fig. 5.2: Web inventor: Tim Berners-Lee

Remember that the Internet and the Wo rld W ide W eb are not the same thing. The Internet is a massive
network of networks, connecting millions of computers via protocols, hardware, and communications
channels. The W eb is a means of accessing information available on the Internet using software called a
browser.
Let us discuss some of the important terms associated with W:

Website
A computer with a domain name is called a website (site). The top-level domains are .com, .edu, .org, and
.net. Wh en you decide to buy books at the online site of a bookseller, you would visit its website. The
website is the location of a web domain name in a computer somewhere on the Internet.
Each website has a unique address.

Web Page
A website is composed of a web page or collection of related web pages. A web page is a document on the
Wo rld W ide W eb that can include text, pictures, sound and video. The first page you see on a website
is like the title page of a book. This is the home page, or welcome page, which identifies the website and
contains links to other pages at the site.
If you have your own personal website, it might consist of just one page—t he home page. Large websites
have many pages.
The contents of home pages often change. Or they may disappear, and so the connecting links to them
in other web pages become links to nowhere.

Browser
B rowsers are software for connecting with websites. A web browser, or simply browser, is software that
enables users to locate and view web pages and to jump from one page to another. It is what you use to
get around the web. A web browser makes it easy to navigate (or “s urf” ) the web and to download items.
For example, Internet Explorer, M ozi lla Firefox, Google Chrome, etc.

l Types of Browsers Software

To use the W eb, the software you use is a browser. This is an intensely competitive field right now and browsers
are undergoing very rapid changes. Some are independent software programs such as those developed by
M icrosoft and M oz illa. Others are integrated into application programs such as word processing programs,
spreadsheets and databases.
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Some of the best-known browsers are:

Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer is one of the most popular web browsers (see Fig. 5.3) .

Fig. 5.3: Internet Explorer

Mozilla Firefox
M ozi lla Firefox browser is coming up very fast i.e., its users are increasing everyday (see Fig. 5.4) .

Fig. 5.4: Mozilla Firefox browser

Google Chrome
Google Chrome is providing a tough fight to other web browsers and is very popular among users (see
Fig. 5.5) .
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Fig. 5.5: Google Chrome

l Screen Elements of Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer (IE) is one of the most popular web browsers. B efore you can use IE to browse the web,
you must be connected to the Internet. Wh en you are connected to the Internet, you are said to be online.
There are three ways to start Internet Explorer:
1. Choose Start, A ll Pr ograms, Internet Explorer.
2. Click the Internet Explorer icon on the Q uick Launch bar (on the taskbar).
3. Double-click the Internet Explorer icon on the desktop.
Figure 5.6 shows some screen elements of Internet Explorer.
W h en IE opens, you will see the browser interface that contains the standard W indows components: a
title bar, a menu bar, a content window and a status bar. It also includes a Standard toolbar and Address bar
similar to those in the W indows Explorer and M y Computer windows.

Fig. 5.6: Internet Explorer browser window

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In addition to the Standard toolbar and the A ddress bar, IE also includes a Links bar and a Radio
toolbar. Like the toolbars in other W indows programs, you can show, hide, size and arrange the IE toolbars
to suit your work style.

Address Bar
The Address bar indicates the location of the W eb page currently displayed in the content window
(see Fig. 5.7) . This location is also known as Uniform Resource Locator (U RL). Y ou can think of a U RL as
the Internet address of a web page. The A ddress bar also provides a drop-down list of the recently visited
sites.

Fig. 5.7: Address bar

To access a web page, you can type its U RL in the A ddress bar and, then, click the GO button (or press
the Enter key).

Standard Toolbar
The Standard toolbar provides buttons to facilitate navigation, searching, printing and other common tasks.
Y ou can customise this toolbar to include other buttons—s uch as cut, copy and paste—an d you can delete
any of the default buttons that you do not commonly use. Figure 5.8 shows the Standard toolbar.

Fig. 5.8: Standard toolbar

History
The history list allows you to quickly return to the page you have recently visited. If you want to return to
a previously viewed site using Internet Explorer, click on History.

Favorites
One great helper for finding your way is the favorite system, which lets you store the U RL or web pages
you frequently visit so that you do not have to remember and retype your favorite address.
If you are at a website you may want to visit again, you click on your Favorites (in Internet Explorer)
button and choose Add to Favorites. Later, to revisit the site, you can go to the Favorites menu, and site will
reappear.

l Using Internet
To connect to the Internet, we have to connect our computer to the computer server of Internet Service
Pr ovider (ISP) . ISP’ s are companies which provide Internet related services to its users. ISP’ s have special
computers called Internet Servers which are connected to the Internet from one end and to several users from
the other end. These servers work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to provide services to their customers.
Y ou must follow the rules and regulations in the use of Internet (netiquette). In general, netiquette has two
basic rules:
1. Do not waste people’ s time, and
2. Do not say anything to a person online that you would not say to his/ her face.
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l Browsing Information
The words “B row si n g ” or “S urf i n g ” are used to describe the process of looking at documents, websites
and web pages on the Internet. A s mentioned earlier you will need to use a W eb B rowser for this. M any
people will use Internet Explorer, which is the M icrosoft B rowser that is supplied with most PC s, but there
are alternative (some say better) solutions such as Firefox and Google Chrome.
B row si n g b eh av i our differs from person to person. To access a website you can either type the domain
name (the website address) of the website directly into the address bar or you can use a search engine to
search for the site using the business name or some other keywords that you know can be found on the
website.

l Saving Document
A fter browsing information, it can be saved for future use. For saving a document, perform the following
steps:
1. Click on the File menu.
2. Select the Save Page As (Ctrl + S) option (see Fig. 5.9) .

Fig. 5.9: Saving document

3. The Save As dialog box will appear.
4. Identify the location where the file to be saved and enter the file name and click Save.

l Saving Images
A fter getting the images, perform the following steps to save these:
1. Right click on the image.
2. A menu appears (see Fig. 5.10) .

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Fig. 5.10: Saving images

3. Select the Save Image As option.
4. The Save Image dialog box will appear.
5. Enter the file name and click Save.

l Printing Documents
For printing a document, perform the following steps:
1. Click on the File menu.
2. Select the Print (Ctrl + P) option (see Fig. 5.1) .

Fig. 5.11: Printing document

3. The Print dialog box will appear.
4. Fill the desired options and click OK.
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l Searching Information
In order to help you locate information easily, there are a number of websites on the Internet that provide
a search engine (a program that helps to locate information on the Internet). Let us have look at a search
engine and use it to locate information. First, let us go to the side http:/ / [Link]/ , which offers a
search engine.
In the space provided for the search, you need to enter the word or words that describe the item you
wish to search for, specify if you want the search to be based on the Wo rld W ide W eb or Ethiopia tourism
(see Fig. 5.12) and then press Enter key.

Fig. 5.12: Searching information using Google search engine

The result of the search, will be displayed as a list that contains the required information with a short
description of each site (see Fig. .5 13) .

Fig. 5.13: Search Results

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The names of the websites are links; you can click them to access the requried page. N ow, go ahead
and find the required information.
H yperlinks enable you to navigate the W eb by clicking words, icons, pictures or other graphics on
a web page. Wh en you point to a hyperlink, your mouse pointer changes to a pointing hand. A t the
same time, the browser status bar shows you the U RL associated with the hyperlink to which you are
pointing.
Text-based hyperlinks are often underlined or displayed in a different color than the rest of the text on
a W eb page. Graphics-based hyperlinks can be icons, logos, buttons, photographs and so on. Clicking
a hyperlink is just one way to access a specific U RL.

Activity 5.1
TO INVESTIGATE FOUR SEARCH ENGINES (FOR EXAMPLE ALTAVISTA, LYCOS, GOOGLE AND YAHOO),
EXPLAINING THE FEATURES OF SEARCH ENGINES, AND WRITE A REPORT ON THE PREFERRED SEARCH
ENGINE, GIVING REASONS OF ITS PREFERENCE.
In small groups students will investigate four search engines, explain their features and present their report in
the class.
Search Engine
A search engine is a website that collects and organizes content from all over the Internet. Those who wish to
locate something would enter a query about what they want to find and the engine provides links to content
that matches it. For example, AltaVista, Lycos, Google and Yahoo.
Let us investigate these search engines and explain their features:
1. AltaVista: It is a web search engine owned by Yahoo! (see Fig. 5.14). AltaVista was once one of the most
popular search engines but its popularity declined with the rise of Google.

Fig. 5.14: AltaVista search engine

Key Features: AltaVista provides a free translation service, branded Babel Fish, which automatically
translates text between several languages. In May 2008, this service was re-branded as a part of Yahoo!

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2. Lycos: It is one of the oldest search engines (see Fig. 5.15). It was originally developed at Carnegie Mellon
University to calculate the size of the web using a “spider” robot program that walked around the Internet
from site to site through page links.

Fig. 5.15: Lycos search engine

Key Features: Probably the top reason to use Lycos would not necessarily be for its search results, but
for its fun features.
3. Google: This search engine has a great reputation for relevant and thorough search results, and is a good
first place to start when searching (see Fig. 5.16).

Fig. 5.16: Google search engine

Key Features: Google search engine provides at least 22 special features beyond the original word-search
capability. These include synonyms, weather forecasts, time zones, stock quotes, maps, earthquake data,
movie show times, airports, home listings, and sports scores.
4. Yahoo: This is one of the best known and most popular Internet portals. Originally a subject directory of
sites, it now is a search engine, directory, and portal (see Fig. 5.17).
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Fig. 5.17: Yahoo search engine

Key Features: Yahoo has a large and unique search engine database, includes cached copies of pages,
includes links to the Yahoo! directory, supports full Boolean searching, and includes Wild Card Word in
Phrase.
Preferred Search Engine
Each search engine competes with other search engines for users, just as online businesses compete with each
other for customers. This creates a fierce rivalry to provide better results and services for users as they surf the
Internet
On [Link] the following definition of Google was given:
“The Internet’s most popular search engine. Can be found at [Link]”.
The glossary of [Link]/ agrees with above and gives the next Google definition:
“The world’s current dominating search engine.”
These both statements are proved by the next Google definition, made by the free encyclopedia “Wikipedia”:
“Google is a search engine owned by Google Inc. whose mission statement is to ‘organize the world’s information
and make it universally accessible and useful.’ The largest search engine on the Web, Google, receives over 200
million queries each day through its various services”. This Google definition formulates the main mission of
the search engine. The efforts of Google are evident, and it is confirmed by the number of queries, over 200
million each day. Such activities illustrate this Google definition, as the most popular search engine.

KEY CONCEPTS
 Internet is the network that is available to users across the globe.
 The major use of Internet is for searching the information stored in millions of computers of the Internet.
 A web browser, or simply browser, is software that enables users to locate and view web pages and to jump
from one page to another. For example, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome etc.
 Screen elements of Internet Explorer are: Menu bar, Address bar, Standard toolbar, Workspace, Content
window, Status bar etc.
 Examples of search engines are AltaVista, Lycos, Google and Yahoo.
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Assessment 5.1
Fill in the Blanks
1. ...................................... is called “t he mother of all networks”.
2. A computer with a domain name is called a ...................................... .
3. To use the web, the software you need is a ...................................... .
4. Google has a ...................................... engine.

State whether True or False

1. Internet is not a vast ocean of information.
2. The Internet and the Wo rld W ide W eb are not the same thing.
3. Internet Explorer is not a very popular web browser.
4. There are a number of websites on the Internet, that provide a search engine, which help you locate
information easily.

Answer the Following

1. Wh at is Internet? Wh o governs it?
2. Explain how Internet and W are used?
3. Define website, webpage and a browser.
4. List and describe some different types of browser.

Suggested Activities
1. Explain the difference between a website and web pages; show some sites and pages.
2. Explain that each website has a unique address; a website holds information; creation of websites briefly;
there may be a few or many pages on the website.
3. Explain and demonstrate some hyperlinks, and returning back to the original web page.

Field Trip
Students to locate the name and telephone number of a local Internet access provider. A lso, get the name,
telephone number, and e-mail address of their help desk so they can help if you have any questions getting
connected. A sk the following questions.
(i) Wh at is the one-time connect charge, if any?
(ii) Wh at is the monthly charge?
(iii) H ow many free hours are there?
(iv) Wh at is the cost per hour after you exceed the maximum free hours?
(v) Do they provide an e-mail address?
(vi) Wh at browser is required? Do you have a choice?

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5.2 USING E-MAIL

E-mail or electronic mail is the exchange of messages stored on computers, through a communication
channel. E-mail was one of the first uses of the Internet and is still the most popular. To send and receive
e-mail, you need to create an account with an e-mail service provider. The Internet does not limit you to
one e-mail address. Y ou can create multiple e-mail addresses. There are many Internet based e-mail service
providers. For example,
http:/ / [Link]/
http:/ / [Link]/
E-mail offers cheap, reliable, speedy communication with patience and user friendliness. It
is helpful in reducing the volume of papers in offices. It has completely changed the modern
communication system.

l Creating an E-mail Account

A s mentioned earlier, to send and receive e-mail, you need to create an account with the e-mail service
provider. The steps to create an e-mail account on different online service providers are almost similar. The
process simply involves filling account and personal information. Some steps may be different in different
service providers like yahoo, rediff, hotmail etc. Y ou are advised to use common sense while creating
e-mail accounts.
Let us use the site http:/ / [Link]/ to create an E-mail account, i.e., a mail ID (see Fig. 5.18) . Go
ahead and create your e-mail ID by accessing the site,
http:/ / [Link]/

Fig. 5.18: Using the site [Link]

OR
Y ou can directly open the site by typing http:/ / [Link]
Since you are a new user, to create a new account, select the ‘ Create N ew A ccount’ option
(see Fig. 5.19 ).
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Fig. 5.19: Selecting the Create New Account option

Type in your N ame, Gender, B irthday, Country etc., in the spaces provided (see Fig. 5.20) .

Fig. 5.20: Typing the details

The name that you enter in the Y ahoo ID text box is your yahoo mail ID. Y ou can choose any name for
the ID, but it should be one that you can identify easily. It has to be unique, since two people cannot have
the same ID. For example, let us assume your name is Senya A li and you choose Senya_A li as your ID. If
there is already another user with the same ID, you will be asked to choose a different ID.
Click the ‘ Create M y A ccount’ button (see Fig. 5.21) .

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Fig. 5.21: Selecting Create My Account

On successful creation of the account, a page similar to the one shown in Fig. 5.2 will be displayed.

Fig. 5.22: Ready to explore the created account

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Y our account is created (see Fig. 5.2 3) .

Fig. 5.23: New User Account Mail box

N ow you can use your account for sending and receiving mails.

l Composing and Sending an E-mail

Composing an e-mail
Click on the ‘ N ew’ link on the left side of the mail box to compose a new mail.
Composing of an e-mail message is done very much like a paper letter. It consists of three parts, the
header, the body and the signature. The header, at the top of the message, is the envelope, the body is the
actual message, the signature comes at the end (see Fig. 5.24) .

Fig. 5.24: Composing an e-mail

Y ou do not have to be online while composing your e-mail messages. E-mail lets you write messages
offline, so you can save them, then go online, and send them all at once.
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Editing of an e-mail message can be done like editing of text in M S Wo rd. V arious editing features like
font, font size , bold, italic, underline, text color, emoticons, text alignment, bullets, numbering etc. are
available in the mail box.
Spell checking must be done before sending e-mail messages by the user. Y ou can spell check by
clicking the Spelling button in the mail box.

Sending an e-mail
First of all compose your e-mail. N ow, enter the recipient’ s e-mail address in the ‘ To’ option. Y ou can send
copies of the mail to other users by using the ‘ Cc’ option. Y ou can enter the contents and addresses in the
appropriate places provided.
Click the ‘ Send’ button when you have typed in the message and addresses and you are ready to send
the e-mail. M ka e sure that y ou hav e sp el l c hec k e d the m es sag e b ef ore sen d i n g i t.
From the Sent folder, you can view the message sent.

l Receiving and Replying to an E-mail

Receiving an e-mail
To send and receive mails, log on to the site using the Y ahoo ID and the password.
To read the received mails, click on the Inbox shown on the left side of the screen.
On clicking the Inbox you will see the list of received mails. Select anyone of these and click to read it
(see Fig. 5.25) .

Fig. 5.25: Receiving an e-mail

Replying to an e-mail
To reply to an e-mail, use the Reply command icon. A fter clicking Reply button you will see a screen similar
to shown in Fig. 5.26, where you can type your reply message.

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Fig. 5.26: Replying to an e-mail

l Facilities of an e-mail System

N ow you are familiar with basic concepts of e-mail. So let us understand the facilities of an e-mail system.
A ll e-mail systems have the ability to send, receive and discard mail (see Fig. 5.27) .

Fig. 5.27: You can send, receive and discard an e-mail

M ost systems have facilities for storing mail which is to be kept rather than discarded. It is important
for you to discard mail which does not need to be kept, as it uses storage space on disks. M ailboxes can
soon accumulate a large number of mail messages making it difficult to read and process new mail, in
addition to wasting disk space.
There is almost always a connection between the e-mail system and the computer’ s standard file system
which allows mail to be read from files or written to files. This enables greater flexibility in how the mail
system is used. For example, a mail message may be prepared in a normal file using a familiar text editor
and then sent by the e-mail system. Sections of other files may be included in the mail message as well.
M ost systems have a reply facility, although some of these do not always work as expected. A great
care should be taken when using this facility in e-mail, as replies do not always go back to the sender.

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l Distribution List
A distribution list, also known as a mailing list, is a collection of e-mail addresses that allows you to e-mail
multiple people at one time. A distribution list can contain a few addresses, or many. Wh en you send to a
distribution list, you are really sending to everyone whose address is included in the list (see Fig. 5.28) .

Fig. 5.28: A distribution list makes e-mailing easier

B y grouping all of the e-mail addresses together, you can address one e-mail to the category name and
avoid typing each individual’ s e-mail address.
Y ahoo M ail provides a means of making distribution lists, which Y ahoo refers to as “C ategories”.
To create a distribution list, perform the following steps:
1. Open a browser. H ere, we have opened M ozi lla Firefox.
2. Type the address w w w .y ah oom ai l .c om into the address bar of your web browser and press Enter
key. Log into Y ahoo if you are not already signed in. This takes you directly to your Y ahoo M ail
address book (see Fig. 5.29) .

Fig. 5.29: Yahoo Mail Box

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3. Click “C ontacts” link in the left pane of the window if you are using “Y ahoo M ail” or click the
“C ontacts” tab near the top of the window if you are using “Y ahoo M ail Classic” (see Fig. 5.30) .

Fig. 5.30: Clicking Contacts

4. Click the “ A dd Category” button on the Y ahoo M ail toolbar. Type a name (upto 15 alphanumeric
characters, no spaces) for the distribution list into the “C ategory N ame” box (see Fig. 5.31) . Y ou can
now add contacts to the category. Click “S ave.”

Fig. 5.31: Typing Category Name and Clicking Save

5. Select “V iew” and click the “ A ll Contacts” button (see Fig. 5.32) . Select the check boxes to the left
of each contact whom you wish to add to the distribution list. Click “ A dd to Category” in the main
window.

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System
Categories
User-defined
Categories

Fig. 5.32: Selecting View and Clicking All Contacts

6. Select the check box for the distribution list to which you want to add your contacts. Click the
“D one” button.
1. To send an e-mail to your distribution list, click the “ V iew” button and select the list name. Click
the “ Select A ll” check box. Click “ Send e-mail” in the main window and compose your e-mail.
W hen you send the message it will be sent to everyone in the list.
2. Y ou can rename and delete the user-defined categories, but you cannot rename or delete system
categories.

l Attachments
If a file of your matter exists in the computer from which you are sending e-mail, you can write your e-mail
message, (your cover note) and then use the A ttach link to attach the document. Such attached documents
may be in M S Wo rd or Excel and are called attachments.
W h ile you could also copy your document into the main message and send it that way, some e-mail
software lose formatting options such as bold or italic text or special symbols. Thus, the benefit of the
attachment feature is that it preserves all such formatting, provided the recipient has the same software
that you used for creating the attachment. Y ou can also attach pictures, sounds, videos, and other files to
your e-mail message.

Sending
To send an e-mail attachment,
1. A ddress the person who will receive the attachment.
2. Wr ite a ‘ ‘ cover letter’ ’ e-mail or your message advising the recipient of the attachment.
3. Click on Attach button on your e-mail software’ s toolbar.
4. Select the file you want to attach.
5. Click on Send to send the e-mail message and the attachment (see Fig. 5.3) .

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Fig. 5.33: Sending an e-mail attachment

Receiving
Wh en you receive a file containing an attachment, you will see an icon indicating that the message contains
more than just text. Y ou can click on the icon to see the attachment. If you have the software the attached file
was created in, you can open the attachment immediately to read or print, or you can save the attachment
in a location of your choice (on your computer). Y ou can also forward the attachment to another person.

Fig. 5.34: Receiving an e-mail attachment

To exit your mailbox, click the ‘ Sign Out’ link.
1. It is important that the persons receiving the e-mail attachment have the exact same software that
created the attached file, such as M icrosoft Wo rd 207, or have software that can read and convert
the attached file.
2. M any viruses—t hose rogue programs that can seriously damage your P C or programs—r ide along
with e-mail as attached files. Thus, you should never open an attached file from an unknown source.

l Auto Reply
A uto Reply feature is useful when you are on holidays and want to inform people that you would not be
checking your e-mail for a few days. In other words, you may also want to take holidays from e-mail and
answering it.
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Surely, you will read and reply to all your e-mail when you will be back. Y ahoo M ail offers a nice way
to tell those who send you e-mail during this period that they should not expect an immediate answer.

Auto-Reply in Yahoo Mail

To have Y ahoo M ail reply to e-mails automatically, perform the following steps:
1. Select Options → More Options... in Y ahoo M ail (see Fig. 5.35) .

Fig. 5.35: Selecting More Options for Auto Reply

2. Go to the Vacation Response category.
3. M ake sure Enable auto-response during your vacation is checked.
4. Specify your auto-responder’ s start and end date under Auto-respond from and up until (and including)
respectively.
5. Type the desired response you wish to be sent to all incoming mail under Generic Response.
6. It is good to include a note on when you expect to be back — and be able to respond personally.
7. Click Save Changes.
Y ahoo M ail’ s auto-reply system does not know to whom a holiday reply was already sent to, so all
repetitive mailers will get repetitive replies. M ay be they deserve it.

KEY CONCEPTS
 E-mail is the exchange of messages stored on computers, through a communication channel.
 To send and receive e-mail, you need to create an account with an e-mail service provider.
 Composing of an e-mail message is done very much like a paper letter.
 All e-mail systems have the ability to send, receive and discard mail.
 Auto Reply feature is useful when you are on holidays and want to inform people that you would not be
checking your e-mail for a few days.

Information Communication Technology — Grade 9 Student Textbook 115

Unit – 5 Using Internet

Review Questions
Fill in the Blanks
1. E-mail was one of the first uses of the ..................... .
2. Y ou do not have to be ..................... while composing your e-mail messages.
3. The attached documents (e.g., in M S Wo rd or Excel) with your e-mail message are called ..................... .
4. A ..................... is a collection of e-mail addresses that allows you to e-mail multiple people at one time.
State Whether True or False
1. E-mail is not very popular now a days.
.2 To send and receive your e-mail, you do not require an e-mail account.
.3 Y ou can attach pictures, sounds, videos, and other files to your e-mail message.
.4 A uto Reply is not a useful feature during your holidays.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Wh o owns the Internet?
(a) N o one owns the Internet (b) M icrosoft (c) IB M (d) U .S. government
2. A location on the Internet is called a/ an ...................................... .
(a) U ser ID (b) Domain (c) B rowser (d) W eb
3. Wh ich of the following is/ are e-mail service provider(s)?
(a) Y ahoo (b) Gmail (c) H otmail (d) A ll of these
4. A distribution list is also known as a ...................................... .
(a) M ailing list (b) A uto reply (c) A ttachment (d) Item list
Match the Following
Column A Column B
1. B rowsing (a) Search engine
.2 A ltaV ista (b) A lso known as surfing
.3 E-mail systems (c) Can be used when you are on holidays
4. A uto Reply (d) H ave the ability to send, receive and discard mail
Answer the Following
1. Wh at is e-mail? Give the steps to create an e-mail account.
2. Give the steps to compose and send an e-mail.
3. Give the steps to receive and open an e-mail.
4. Discuss the facilities provided in the e-mail system.
Suggested Activities
1. Explain why distribution lists are useful and demonstrate how to implement.
.2 Explain and demonstrate how to attach a file to an e-mail, and how to open an attachment on an
incoming mail.
3. Open a browser and indicate the following screen elements:
M enu bar, A ddress bar, Standard toolbar, Status bar and Wo rkspace.
116 Information Communication Technology — Grade 9 Student Textbook