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ACROBAT A software program by Adobe that creates and reads .pdf (portable document format) files. ALPHA The first testing stage of a new program. The alpha stage occurs before a program becomes a beta version. ANCHOR A synonym for a hyperlink (see hyperlink, below). ANONYMOUS A way of logging on to servers as a guest, which gives you limited access to that server. Many FTP sites allow you to login anonymously in order to download files. Directories or files requiring a secure User ID and Password will not be accessible. APPLET A small Java- and JavaScript-based Web application. Applets can display animation, perform database queries, or make other Web page enhancements. ARCHIE A tool used for searching FTP sites for various program files. ARCHIVE There are two Internet-oriented definitions of archive: A group of files compressed into a single file, which is then used for storage or transfer. Common archive types include .zip and .tar. Internet sites that house files for its users to download. ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange. This is the basic clear-text Latin characters. There are 128 standard ASCII codes, each of which can be represented by a 7 digit binary number: 0000000 through 1111111. ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. Delivers and receives information on current telephone lines at higher bandwidth speeds. ADSL is a new form of Internet connection rapidly growing in the US. ATTRIBUTE Permission set on a file (such as read/write/execute) to allow certain rights to groups, owners, and public users of that file, i.e. .cgi, .pl, class files. This is done through a telnet or FTP session.

BAUD The "baud rate" of a modem is how many bits it can send or receive per second. Your modem uses this measurement to tell you what speed you are connected at or transferring. BBS Bulletin Board System. A computer that allowed users to dial-up and connect from remote computers and acted as a central meeting place to chat or play games. The Internet has largely replaced the BBS. BBSes were generally run from someone's home PC that had a few phone lines hooked up to it. BETA The second stage a software program goes through before a final is released. Software undergoes rigorous testing until it is ready to be released. BINARY A numeric system that represents all numbers using only two digits: 1 and 0. BIT The basic unit of information in a binary numbering system. A computer detects the difference between two states (high current and low current) and represents these two states as one of two numbers (1 or 0). BMP Bitmap. A proprietary Microsoft Windows image format. This file format cannot be used on a Web page. BANDWIDTH The range of frequencies a channel can carry. The higher the frequency, the higher the bandwidth and the greater the capacity of a channel. In Internet terms, higher bandwidth means a higher ability to transmit and receive data. BPS Bits per second. The amount of data that can be transmitted over a digital line. BROWSER A program used to view, download, upload, surf or otherwise access documents (pages) on the World Wide Web. Popular Web browsers include Netscape and Internet Explorer. BYTE A series of 8 bits, which represent a single character.

CGI Common Gateway Interface. The standard for running programs on a server from a Web page. Cgi files are commonly used for form submission, guestbooks, Web-based games and more. CLIENT A remote computer connected to a host or server computer. Also refers to the software that makes this connection possible, such as an FTP client. CPU Central Processing Unit. Simply put, it's the main processor of a computer that makes everything work.

DNS Domain Name Server. Specific software that runs on a server and resolves domain names to actual IP addresses. Nodes communicate with each other using IP addresses rather than domain names, though users may never see the actual IP addresses being used. DIRECTORY There are many directories of web sites on the internet. It is usually a listing of websites and decriptions of what that web site's content is. Some online directories are open to anyone who wishes to have their web site listed, while others are more selective. Two examples of directories are at Clik2Go.com and Sites2See.info.  Sites2See also offers a free newsletter of approved and suggested web sites to visit. QwikSearch.net also incorporates the use of the directory method in it's online search engine. DOMAIN NAME The "address" or URL of a particular Web site.  Domain extensions vary depending on the site in question: COM - An Internet domain used for business or commercial ventures. EDU - An Internet domain used for educational facilities. GOV - An Internet domain used by the government. MIL - An Internet domain used by the military. NET - An Internet domain used for network businesses. ORG - An Internet domain used for non-profit organizations. BIZ - An Internet domain used for business purposes. INFO - An Internet Domain usually used by information services. US - An Internet Domain used by websites located in the United States. DOS A command line operating system that Windows runs on top of. Bill Gates created DOS while working for IBM. DOWNLOAD To copy a file from a remote computer to your computer. There are a few methods of doing this on the Internet. HTTP, FTP and e-mail attachments are the most common.

E-MAIL Electronically transmitted mail. E-mail sends your correspondence instantaneously anywhere in the world via the Internet. It is the most popular use of the Internet because of the capability to send messages at anytime, to anyone for less money than it would cost to mail a letter or call someone on the phone. Some email services are provided through Internet Connection services such as those provided by Clik2go.com.  There are also free email services available, such as the unique UrlRoute1.com (Rural Route One). ETHERNET One of the most common local area network (LAN) wiring schemes, Ethernet has a transmission rate of 10 megabits per second; a newer standard called Fast Ethernet will carry 100 megabits per second.

FAQ Frequently Asked Questions. A list of questions and answers related to a newsgroup, software, Web site, internet access service (ISP), etc. FILTER A way of hiding certain file types by their file names or extensions. FINGER Software that allows you find out more information about an Internet user, such as their real name and if they are logged in at the present moment. FIREWALL A firewall is a safeguard utilized by many Local Area Networks (LANs) or Wide Area Networks (WANs) to protect the network from unauthorized access from the outside. They are basically gates that verify the users before they leave or enter the network by way of a User ID, Password or IP address. FTP File Transfer Protocol. A standard protocol for transferring files between remote computer systems. Until recently, it was used almost exclusively on UNIX workstations and mainframes, but after PC users gained access to the Internet it became a popular alternative to BBS systems. The biggest limitation was that FTP-compliant software usually used a command line interface, which wasn't easy for beginners to work with. As the Internet grew in popularity, new standards appeared (Gopher, WWW), providing more user-friendly front-end software. FTP, however, still remains the popular choice among power users and computer professionals.

GATEWAY A computer system for exchanging information across incompatible networks that use different protocols. For example, many commercial services have e-mail gateways for sending messages to Internet addresses. GIF Graphics Interchange Format. A graphics format developed by CompuServe using compression technology from Unisys. GIFs are common on Web pages due to their small size. GIGABYTE A billion bytes. A thousand megabytes. GOPHER An Internet server document browsing and searching system that lets you search and retrieve texts on the Internet. Gopher has since been surpassed by the World Wide Web. GUI Graphical User Interface. A software front-end meant to provide an attractive and easy-to-use interface between a computer user and an application.

HOST A computer that is setup to allow connections from other machines (known as clients). Host also refers to a company that, essentially, rents server space to customers who then publish their web site in that space. When internet users then enter that web site's domain name in their browser, they will be taken to the site hosted by the hosting company. WebMeUSA.Net is an example of a web site host. HOST ADDRESS The Internet IP Address (IP number) or hostname of a remote server. HTML Hypertext Markup Language. The language used to create and design Web sites. HTML is a standard text file with specific tags that a browser reads and interprets into a Web page. HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol. A protocol that your Web browser uses to connect to and receive data from Web servers. HYPERTEXT A system of writing and displaying text that enables the text to be linked in multiple ways, to be available at several levels of detail, and to contain links to related documents. HYPERLINK The text you find on a Web site which can be "clicked on" with a mouse, which in turn will take you to another Web page or a different area (to an invisible anchor) on the same Web page.

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