Access All Areas:: The Internet help and connectivity from The Big Room. For only ú29.99 you get a full suite of Internet software plus a super-quick hypertext help system, and voiced-over movies. If you have any problems finding the full version of Access All Areas, call 01924 271637 to order.
Address:: When used in the sense of the Internet - There are three main forms for address on the Internet:
1) IP address
2) Domain Name address
3) Email address.
Basically, every machine on the Internet has its own address no matter how big or how small the actual computer is. This individual addressing system is one of the reasons that the Internet is able to operate over so many different machine types and to send and receive information no matter the state of the Internet-work itself.
The first two address forms: IP and Domain, work in tandem with each other. At base, the IP address is a numeric address (in the form of four numbers from 0 to 255 separated by dots) while the Domain name address is in word form (in the form of machine-name.domain-name.domain-name). The reason for these two addresses is that computers on the Net prefer to think in terms of numbers, while people find it easier to think in terms of words. Hence you would type in WWW.Team17.com to reach Team17's World Wide Web pages but your computer would look for 194.70.228.65.
Your Email address really only adds elements to the domain name address. These are the user name followed by the "@" (or "at") symbol. Therefore to reach someone called Oscar who has an Email address at Team17 for example, you would type Oscar@Team17.com.
You will be issued with a domain name address, IP address and Email address by your service provider.
Archie:: When used in terms of the Internet, Archie is a software tool for finding files stored on anonymous FTP sites by looking up a file in a directory on an Archie server. Find out more about this with Access All Areas.
ARPA-- US Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency - the grandma and grandpa of the Internet. Back in the 1960s ARPANet was set up to link the various elements of ARPA to encourage and speed up research work. The system used to link the machines was based on the, then new, "packet switching" technology. This was revolutionary because it enabled data to be sent in small packets each armed with its own routing and time stamping details rather than in huge chunks which had to be routed from A-to-B. This meant that more than one computer (and computer user) could use a data line at the same time - the data packets were independent of each other and were only reassembled at the end of their journey. This gave rise to mass computer communication, Email, news and the Internet.
ARPANet:: Advanced Research Projects Administration Network - The precursor to the Internet. Developed in the late 60's and early 70's by the US Department of Defense as an experiment in wide-area networking that would survive a nuclear war.
Backbone:: When used in the sense of the Internet - A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a major pathway within a network. The term is relative as a backbone in a small network is likely to be much smaller than many non-backbone lines in a large network.
Backbones:: When used in the sense of the Internet - A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a major pathway within a network. The term is relative as a backbone in a small network is likely to be much smaller than many non-backbone lines in a large network.
Bake Off:: A highly technical 'competition' in which different Internet sites send packets of data to and from each other with the intent on making one or more fail. Bake Offs are used to ensure that the different forms of data transport across TCP/IP are compatible with each other.
Bake Offs:: A highly technical 'competition' in which different Internet sites send packets of data to and from each other with the intent on making one or more fail. Bake Offs are used to ensure that the different forms of data transport across TCP/IP are compatible with each other.
Bandwidth:: When used in the sense of the Internet - The measurement of how much data you can send through a connection. Usually measured in bits-per-second. A full page of English text is about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move about 15,000 bits in one second.
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Bitnet:: Because It's Time Net is just one of the many definitions for this Net setup. Bitnet is an international organisation that connects educational establishments. Like the Internet itself, and similar to Usenet, Bitnet acts as a conduit for discussion across a wide range of topics. However, it uses different technical protocols to the Internet and Usenet.
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BITNIC-- Bitnet Network Information Center. Bitnet connects academic establishments using different protocols to the Internet, but like the Internet's NICs, Bitnet uses certain sites to provide support and information to its users; these are the BITNICs.
CCIRN-- Co-ordinating Committee for Intercontinental Networks. One of the Internet's 'governing' bodies. Organised by the Federal Networking Council (FNC).
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Centre Europen de la Recherche Nuclaire:: Better known as CERN. This is the scientific research institute in Geneva, famous for having the world's largest particle accelerator. It is also the place where HTML, the basis for the World Wide Web, was developed.
CERFnet:: Set up by General Atomics as one of the world's first commercial Internet providers along with CIX, PSINet and Alternet.
CERT-- Computer Emergency Response Team. Following the Internet Worm disaster of 1988, DARPA formed a rapid response team to guard against such occurrences ever happening again...
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Chat:: When used in the sense of the Internet - This is a term to describe one-to-one conversation sessions rather than the larger, many-to-many conversations of IRC.
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CIX -- Commercial Internet Exchange. One of the world's first commercial Internet providers along with CERFnet, PSINet and Alternet.
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CREN-- Computer Research and Education Network is the new name for the merged computer networks, BITNET and Computer Science Network (CSNET).
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Cyber:: Another catch-all term to describe anything that happens on the Internet or even on-line. Can often be used instead of "Virtual" or "On-line".
Cyberspace:: Term originated by author William Gibson in his novel "Neuromancer", the word Cyberspace is currently used to describe the whole range of information resources available through computer networks.
DARPA-- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Daddy of the Internet.
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Dial-up:: There was a time when the majority of computers on the Internet were connected directly to the Internet (much in the same way as your ISP is). However, recently more and more people using personal computers and modems are connecting.
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DISA-- Defense Information Systems Agency.
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DNS lookup:: The process whereby your Internet applications ask a DNS Server to provide an IP number in response to a domain name (and vice versa).
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DNS Server:: A dedicated machine (or a dedicated program running on a machine) that takes a FQDN and looks up the IP address for the machine. Also known as a Name Server.
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DNS-- The Domain Name System. See our special feature in Data Central for an in-depth description of this technical element of the Internet.
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Domain Name Resolution:: The method by which a numerical (IP) number is matched to is word-based Domain Name. See our special feature in Data Central for more information on this technical area of the Internet.
Dynamic Addressing:: Put at its most simplistic, this is a system that issues a user with an IP address only when they are on-line, and this address can be different each time.
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EARN-- European Academic and Research Network. Set up in the early 1980s, EARN is a network made from IBM Vm and DEC VAX computers.
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EFF-- The Electronic Frontier Foundation. According to the EFF's own remit, it is a non-profit making organisation that is: "dedicated to protecting and promoting the civil liberties of the users of online technology.
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Email address:: Electronic Mail Address. This is your mailing address on the Internet.
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Email:: Electronic Mail. Basically a system for sending and receiving electronic text messages over the Internet. For more information on Email, click on the Email icon on the Main page of Access All Areas.
Emoticon:: Another name for a Smiley.
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Encryption:: The process of changing a readable message or file into one unreadable except to the person having the correct software and decryption key.
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Ethernet:: A very common method of networking computers in a LAN. Ethernet will handle about 10,000,000 bits-per-second...
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Eudora:: Mail application for the Mac and PC. Exists in both shareware and commercial forms. The shareware version is included on Access All Areas.
EUNet:: European Unix Network. Part of the UUNet organisation, EUnet is basically the biggest element of the European Internet backbone (it even extends into Africa).
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EWAN-- Emulator Without A Name. A Telnet application for the Windows-based PC.
Ezine:: Online magazines that can be downloaded or sent via Email and the WWW.
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FAQ-- Frequently Asked Question. Frequently asked questions about the Internet (and a million other subjects) are posed and answered in documents also called FAQs.
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FAQs-- Frequently Asked Question. Frequently asked questions about the Internet (and a million other subjects) are posed and answered in documents also called FAQs
Fidonet:: A world-wide hobbyist BBSnetwork...
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Finger:: When used in the sense of the Internet - An Internet software tool for locating people on other Internet sites.
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Flame War:: Flame Wars are the bane of Usenet or one of its great pleasures depending on your level of tolerance, patience and humour. A Flame War is, at its heart, a conflict of words around a certain (usually meaningless) topic. Flame Wars are very similar to the kind of arguments you find held in pubs around closing time on a hot Friday night...
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Flame:: When used in the sense of the Internet - In the verb sense ("to flame") this means to send abusive Email or Usenet postings to one or other people.
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FTP:: File Transfer Protocol. A very common method of moving files between two Internet sites. FTP is a special way to login to another Internet site for the purposes of retrieving and/or sending files.
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Gopher:: One of the best systems with one of the worst names on the Internet. Gopher is another distributed database that can be queried with the correct software.
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Home Page:: The first link your Web Browser software accesses when it is run. This can be local file on your own machine, or a URL to the outside Web.
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HTML-- HyperText Markup Language. The coding language used to create Hypertext documents for use on the World Wide Web. HTML looks a lot like old-fashioned typesetting code...
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HTTP-- HyperText Transport Protocol - The protocol for moving hypertext files across the Internet.
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Hyperlink:: Areas of a document, defined by either text or pictures which link users to another document or another part of the same document when clicked on. Well used in Access All Areas to help you get into the Internet quickly.
Hyperlinked:: Areas of a document, defined by either text or pictures which link users to another document or another part of the same document when clicked on. Used in Access All Areas to help you get into the Internet quickly.
IAB-- Internet Activities Board. An organisation set up internationally to ensure the evolution and integrity of the TCP/IP protocols. The IAB also deals with publishing Internet documentation (such as RFCs).
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IETF-- Internet Engineering Task Force. An offshoot of the IAB. Its primary function is to ensure the evolution of the TCP protocol.
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Internet Service Provider:: ISP. A company that enables personal computer owners to access the Internet over dial-up lines. The Netforce Group who provide One Month's FREE access with Access All Areas is an Internet Service Provider.
Internet Worm:: A programming experiment by a teenage student called Robert Tappan Morris that went disastrously wrong.
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Internet:: The series of interconnected networks that includes local area, regional, and national backbone networks. Networks in the Internet use the same telecommunications protocol (TCP/IP) and provide electronic mail, remote login, and file transfer services.
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Internetting Project:: DARPA's 1973 project to study packet transport of data.
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InterNIC-- Internet Network Information Center. Internic is one of the main NICs on the Internet.
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Interoperability:: The notion that different systems and protocols should be able to communicate with each other over the Internet.
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IP Address:: Also called IP number. Leaving aside the question of dynamic addressing for a while, the basic equation of Internet addressing is that you are issued with a Domain Name address, in the form of words (machine.network.organisation.country) and this is mirrored by a numbered, or IP address (158.152.25.251 for example).
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IP Number:: Another name for an IP Address.
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IRC Bar:: Many IRC channels double as virtual bars, cafes or pubs. Basically they let you pretend that you are drinking, smoking, eating pretzels and having a good time without the hassle of hangovers, cancer or choking to death.
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IRC-- Internet Relay Chat. Basically a huge multi-user live chat facility.
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ISP-- Internet Service Provider. A company such as the Netforce Group - providers of One Month's FREE Internet connection with Access All Areas.
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JANET-- Joint Academic NETwork, the UK's academic network which also provides a gateway to a great deal of commercial traffic.
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JEEVES-- The original DNS system, designed by Paul Mocapteris in 1992.
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Mailbomb:: (verb) To send large amounts of mail in retaliation for some perceived offence. Mailbombing is often the first course of action taken by many people who don't understand the double-edged nature of mailbombing.
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Mailhost:: Another name for the Post or Mail Server usually located at your ISP (although commercial sites use their own), that acts as the post office.
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MILNET-- MILitary NETwork. Back in the dim distant past (the 1970s), ARPANet (the original Internet) was split into ARPANet and MILNET.
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MIT:: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One of the main institutions for computer and Internet research in the world.
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Modem:: MOdulator, DEModulator - a device that you connect to your computer and to a phone line, that allows your computer to talk to other computers via the phone system.
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Multimedia:: Computer programs or documents which combine text, pictures, video and sound. Multimedia was a buzzword for much of the early Nineties. The World Wide Web is an effective multimedia delivery system for example, as is CDROM.
NASA-- National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Along with being one of the most famous organisations in the world...
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NCSA-- The National Center for Supercomputer Applications. An American research centre based at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign...
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NetForce:: The parent company of County Internet Services. Netforce is based in Chelmsford, Essex. Contact County and Netforce on (Tel +44-1245-348000 or Fax +44-1245-287057).
Netiquette:: The un-official but often spoken set of rules that, depending on your views makes the Internet a more pleasant and efficient place to be, or interferes with your freedom of expression and merely adds to other busy-body's arsenal of flamebait. See our feature on Netiquette in Data Central.
Newbie:: (Also 'Newby') A term used to describe somebody with limited experience of the Internet. Widely understood to mean someone who is brand new to the Internet, it is actually far more ambiguous than that. For example, someone who has been using UNIX-based Net connections since 1979, and is used to command-line interfaces from a very technical level, is more than likely to view someone who's had a personal computer connection since 1989 as a "newbie".
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News:: When used in the sense of the Internet, this is synonymous with Usenet and Usenet postings.
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NewsHopper:: Extremely popular commercial newsreader for the Mac that allows off-line reading of Usenet groups. Included on Access All Areas.
Newsreader:: A name given to software that enables you to access Usenet newsgroups using the NNTP protocol.
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NFS-- Network File System. Initially developed by Sun Microsystems...
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NREN-- The National Research and Education Network. A proposed national computer network to be built upon the foundation of the NSF backbone network, NSFNet.
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NSF-- National Science Foundation. The US organisation responsible for the formation of NSFNet...
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NSFNet:: The US National Science Federation's network which set the pace for other networks by linking faster and better supercomputers to the Internet. NSFNet...
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NSI-- NASA Science Internet. Fairly obvious really, it's NASA's own network system responsible for NSINet.
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NSINet-- NASA Science Internet Net. NASA's connection to the Internet which is often referred to as a backbone.
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Online:: (also On-line) To be connected to the Internet (or any other system that entails connecting your computer via the telephone lines, or a network).
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PARC-- Palo Alto Research Center - Xerox's legendary research centre in California.
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PGP:: Pretty Good Privacy. An encryption program by Philip Zimmerman which uses RSA encryption algorithms to strongly encrypt Email or other data.
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Ping:: Packet Internet Groper.
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Pornography:: Porn is one of the topics you've probably heard most about regarding the Internet.
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Post:: When used in the sense of the Internet - To add an article to a Usenet newsgroup. Also known as a posting.
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PPP-- Point To Point Protocol. PPP is the most fashionable way of connecting a home computer such as a Macintosh or PC to the Internet using the serial port and a modem.
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Pretty Good Privacy:: An encryption program by Philip Zimmerman which uses RSA encryption algorithms to strongly encrypt Email or other data.
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RARE-- European Reseaux Associos pour la Recherche Europienne (yes, a French name with a strange acronym).
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Shareware:: 'Try before you buy' software. Shareware is distributed through public channels (BBSs, newsgroups, FTP sites etc.) but is not free; if you decide to continue using it you should pay the shareware author a fee. Enforcement varies from none at all, through the program nagging you to cough up every time you launch it, to the program refusing to run after a trial period.
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SLIP-- Serial Line Internet Protocol. A standard for using a regular telephone line (a "serial line") and a modem to connect a computer as a real Internet site.
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Smileys:: The plural of Smiley. The more widely used name for an emoticon. Smileys are used (and sometimes definitely not used, check with the newsgroup, MUD, MOO, IRC channel, or email correspondent you're dealing with if the use of Smileys is acceptable) to add emotion or feeling to a message.
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SMTP:: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. There are two main forms of Email protocol to be concerned with on a dial-up account using a modem and personal computer:
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Snailmail:: The conventional postal service. Also, in the UK, referred to as the Royal Smail.
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Stanford:: One of the original sites for TCP protocol testing in 1974.
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Surf:: When used in the sense of the Internet - A word meaning to look around the Internet...
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TCP-- Transport Control Protocol. Part of the TCP/IP suite of protocols. TCP itself is a standard for sending and receiving data between computers over a link.
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TCP/IP-- Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol - the suite of data transmission protocols that enable the Internet to function. Originally designed for the UNIX operating system, TCP/IP software is now available for every major kind of computer operating system.
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Team 17:: The computer games software company famous for bringing the World the game Worms. Team 17 is the parent company of The Big Room, and therefore is indirectly responsible for bringing you Access All Areas You can find out more about Team 17 and The Big Room by pointing your Web browser to: http://www.team17.com
Telnet:: A protocol, command and type of program that enables you to log-in to other computers (that support the Telnet protocol) with a few simple commands.
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The Internet:: Defining the Internet is both simple and very complex. On the one hand it is simply defined as a network of computers connected by the common use of the TCP/IP suite of protocols.
Once you've got beyond this basic explanation however, things get complex. The Internet began as a way of connecting computers so that they could send and receive data across a network that could withstand a military attack. The idea was that data should be free to find its own route to a destination without being reliant on any single computer or connection along that route. Read our feature on The Story of the Net in Data Central for a more detailed history of the Net.
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The Well:: The Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link. A bulletin board based in the San Francisco Bay Area. It derives its name from the now defunct Whole Earth Catalogue.
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The World-- Better known as world.std.com. The Internet's first commercial provider...
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Trubshaw:: Credited with being the co-instigator of MUD1, the Internet's first multi-player game.
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Truscott:: Credited with being the co-instigator of Usenet while at Duke University.
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University College London:: One of the original sites for TCP protocol testing in 1974.
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Usenet:: USErsNETwork. Usenet is more commonly known as straightforward old "News". Usenet is essentially one huge forum for discussion, argument, insult-flinging and contact making. To make use of Usenet, you simply use your Newsreader software.
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VR-- Virtual Reality. Virtual Reality is a 3D computer simulation of a real (or imaginary) environment.
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VRML-- Virtual Reality Mark-up Language. VRML is a language which enables users to enter an interactive 23D environment over the Internet. It's planned usage includes the creation of virtual offices, or shop, or just for fun.
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WAIS-- Wide Area Information Servers - A commercial software package that allows the indexing of huge quantities of information, and then enables those indices to be search-able across networks such as the Internet.
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Whois:: Another Internet term with more than one meaning: on the one hand, Whois refers to a look-up system that enables you to find out about an Internet domain name by querying a Whois Server such as ns.internic.net.
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WINSOCK-- WINdows SOCKets. Winsock is a PC Windows software interface between Windows and the TCP/IP.
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World Wide Web:: The most fashionable, and possibly most user-friendly, face of the Internet at the moment.
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WWW-- Acronym for the World Wide Web. The most fashionable, and possibly most friendly, face of the Internet at the moment.
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Glossary Entries:: There thousands of Glossary entries in Access All Areas. The ones that you see in this Demo are just a tiny selection.
Glossary:: There thousands of Glossary entries in Access All Areas. The ones that you see in this Demo are just a tiny selection.
Games:: The Internet is packed with realtime games to play with millions of people around the globe. Check out the feature in the full version of Access All Areas for more on this.
Virtual Reality:: Virtual Reality is a 3D computer simulation of a real (or imaginary) environment.
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Cybergate:: One of the Internet's first and best Virtual Reality browsers. This is included on the full version of Access All Areas.
