Basics of Internet Connections

Connecting to the Internet

What is internet? The Internet is the largest computer network in the world, connecting millions of computers. A network is a group of two or more computer systems linked together. Web Page A Web page can be explained as one area of the World Wide Web. Comparable to a page in a book, the basic unit of every Web site or

document on the Web is a page.

Home Page Home page also refers to the main Web page out of a collection of Web pages. Internet Browser An Internet browser is a software program that enables you to access and navigate the Internet by viewing Web pages on your computer.

The label Internet Browser describes a software program that

provides users with a graphical interface that allows them to connect to the Internet and "surf the Web." Simply speaking, a browser is a software program that enables you to view Web pages on your computer.

Web Site A site or area on the World Wide Web that is accessed by its own

Internet address is called a Web site. A Web site can be a collection of

related Web pages.

Modem
A modem (modulator-demodulator) is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted

easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data.

External vs. Internal Modems External Modem: This is a modem separated from the system unit in

the computer case.

It is connected to the serial port of the computer by means of a cable. It is connected to the telephone wall jack by another cable.

Internal Modem: An internal modem is a circuit board (a modem

card) that can be added to the system unit of the computer. It takes one of the expansion slots.

Internet communication protocols Computers connected to the internet communicate by using Internet Protocol (IP).

IP slices information into packets and routes them to their

destination. IP uses dynamic routing, so that even if one part of the network is

knocked out, packets can be rerouted.

Along with IP, most computers on the internet communicate with TCP.

Internet hosts
Each computer on the internet is called a host computer or host. Computers on the internet are connected by cables, phone lines and satellite connections.

They include large mainframe, smaller mini computers and PCs.

IP Address

Each host computer on the internet has a unique number called its IP address. IP addresses identify the host computers, so that packets reach the

correct computer.
If we use dial-up account, ISP assigns your computer an IP address each time you connect. Computers on LAN usually have IP addresses that are reserved for use on LAN. The most common IP assignment server is called DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol).

Commands Used

To open it, enter "ipconfig" in the command prompt. If you are

connected directly to the Internet, you will obtain your IP address.

ipconfig /all-. To know the windows ip configuration.

Ping (Command Name: Ping Ipaddress of the system) sends out a packet to a designated internet host or network computer

and measures its response time.

Netstat displays the active TCP connections and ports on

which the computer is listening, Ethernet statistics, the IP

routing table, statistics for the IP, ICMP, TCP, and UDP protocols.

Internet service options

Dial-up

Internet access via telephone lines

DSL Digital Subscriber Line

Digital data transmission (Frequency) over the wires of a local telephone network (telephone lines).

Broadband

A type of data transmission in which a single wire can carry several channels at once.

How do you navigate the Internet?

The Browser

A browser is a software program used to view, download, upload, browse or otherwise access pages on the Internet.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs)

It is an organization that provides Internet accounts. The other features provided by the Internet account are Email mailboxes, Web server space and Domain hosting. Types of Internet Connections To connect to the internet we have different types of connections. They are:

Dial-Up connections
This works over an ordinary phone line. It uses the point-to-point protocol. A modem is needed.

DSL connections
Digital Subscriber Line is a digital, high-speed line that uses the normal phone wires with special modems on either end. The line is asymmetric, because it has more capacity for data received by the computer than for data sent from the computer.

With DSL line we can connect the computer to the internet and talk on
the phone at the same time on the same phone line. DSL modems connect to the computer through an Ethernet or other

network card in the computer

ISDN Connections Integrated Services Digital Network is an upgraded phone

line that can be used for faster internet access and for
regular voice calls.

Using one line, we can talk on the phone and surf the web.
For residential use ISDN provides BRI. On one line, BRI provides two 64-Kbps channels, or B channels, and one 16Kbps channel, or D channel. An ISDN adapter is needed to connect the computer to an ISDN line.

oLeased Lines

If large amount of data is to be transferred we can go fo leased line. Leased lines come in various speeds including T! and T3. Cable TV internet connections

Cable modem service brings dozens of TV channels as well as web sites.

The cable network was designed to move information in one

direction, from the broadcaster to the user. Downstream speeds are much faster than the upstream speed.

Satellite Internet Connections

Digital satellite Systems or direct broadcast satellite lets
to get internet information by satellite.

With early satellite systems, we can receive data from the

internet at a high speed through the satellite, but to send data we need a dial-up connection and an ISP. Later the companies StarBand and DirecPC offered twoway system connection that doesnt use a phone line at all, with uploads and downloads by satellite.

Wireless Internet Connections

In a few urban areas wireless internet access can be used. To set it up, a radio modem is attached to the laptop.

Another way to connect to the internet via wireless is by

using a digital cell phone. Some ISPs offer wireless connections to Personal Data Assistants (PDA) such as Blackberry, Compaq ipaq, or Palm. These small devices have tiny screens which can be used to read e-mail and browse the web.

Domain Name System The name of each host computer consists of a series of words

separated by dots.
The last part of the domain name is called the top-level domain (TLD).

The last two parts of a host computer name constitute the domain.
The second to last part of the name (second-level-domain) is chosen by the organization that owns the computer. Eg:yahoo.com Because most organizations own more than on computer on the internet, most host computer names have at least one more part,

preceding

the

domain

name

called

third-level-domain.

Eg:

www.yahoo.com, mail.yahoo.com.

A domain name system (DNS) server translates between the

numeric IP addresses that identify each host computer on the internet and the corresponding domain names.

Web Address or URL The address for a website. (URL stands for

Uniform Resource Locator web addresses usually start with the letters www (for World Wide Web) and end with a dot followed by letters that indicate the type of website it is:

com = commercial enterprise or business .org = non-profit organization .edu = educational institution .gov = government agency .mil = military agency .net = another ending for a commercial website

10/21/13

E-Mail Concepts
E-mail messages are passed through the internet by using a protocol called simple mail transfer protocol.

The incoming messages are received in an e-mail mailbox that

resides on a mail server. Mail servers receive and store e-mail messages in mailboxes by using a protocol called Post office Protocol or IMAP. To read e-mail, a mail client is needed.

We can write e-mail messages by using e-mail application,

The messages are transferred to an SMTP server- a mail server that accepts e-mail.

E-mail Addressing
Internet e-mail addresses consists of two parts joined by @ sign. User name It contains characters other than letters-they can contain numbers, underscores, periods, and some

other special characters. They cant contain commas or

parantheses. Host or domain name It provides the internet location of

the mailbox, usually the name of a company or internet

service.

Formatted E-mail HTML This is formatted with HTML tags, just like web

pages. It includes text formatting, numbering, bullets,

alignment, horizontal lines, backgrounds, hyperlinks. It is actually sent using the MIME protocol. Rich Text Format This format can be read by most word processing applications. Documents in this format are also called RTF files. MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) It is used for attachments. Formatting includes text formatting, pictures,

video and sound.

Web-Based E-mail

Using web based email we can access the web as well as read our mail.

Most web-based e-mail is free.

We can read two kinds of messages on the web : Messages sent to a web-only account.

Messages stored in the POP mailbox

Sending Attachments
To send a file by e-mail, create a message to which the file is to be attached.

Address the mail as usual and type the subject. If

needed type the text in the body of the message. Now attach the file by choosing a menu command or by clicking a toolbar button. Large files can be compressed, so that the sending and downloading time can be minimized.

Receiving Attachments
Most e-mail applications store the attachments in the

mail message.
First, open the message and then open or save the attachment. When the message with an attachment is deleted, the attachment is also deleted.

To use the attachment later, it has to be saved.

Attaching files to a Microsoft Outlook e-mail

To attach files to a Microsoft Outlook, follow the below steps. Open Microsoft Outlook. Reply to an existing e-mail, or compose a new e-mail by clicking on the New icon in the top left portion of the window. In the e-mail, click on the 'Insert file' icon that looks like a small paperclip, or click on Insert at the top of the window and choose file.

Browse to the location that contains your file and double-click it

insert it.

 If successfully attached you should see an icon of the attachment in your e-mail. Below is an alternative method of attaching a file into an email. Open My computer or Windows explorer and browse to the location of where your pictures are located.

Highlight and copy the picture you wish to send in an e-mail.

Open a new e-mail or the e-mail you're replying to that you wish to attach the file into, right-click in the message portion of the e-mail and click paste.

Spam

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Spam is most often considered to be electronic junk mail or junk

newsgroup postings. . Some people define spam even more generally as any unwanted email. However, if a long-lost brother finds your email address and

sends you a message, this could hardly be called spam, even

though it is unsolicited. Real spam is generally email advertising for some product sent to

a mailing list or newsgroup.

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In addition to wasting people's time with unwanted e-mail, spam

also eats up a lot of network bandwidth. Consequently, there are many organizations, as well as individuals, who have taken it upon themselves to fight spam with a variety of techniques.

But because the Internet is public, there is really little that can be
done to prevent spam, just as it is impossible to prevent junk mail. However, some online services have instituted policies to prevent

spammers from spamming their subscribers.

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The term spam can also be used to describe any "unwanted"

email from a company or website. Typically at some point a user would have agreed to receive the email via subscription list opt-in. A newer term called graymail is used to describe this particular type of spam.

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The phrase anti spam (or anti-spam) refers to any software, hardware or process that is used to fight the creation of spam or to keep spam from entering a system.

For example, a Bayesian filter is an anti spam software

application, and the use of opt-in e-mail is an anti spam process.

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Steps to Deal With Spam

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1. Prevention: Prevention is the best medicine so avoid giving your email address to unfamiliar recipients. Use more than one email address; one for friends, family and colleagues and second for unfamiliar sources. If you have an e-mail address that receives a large amount of spam replace it with a new address.

Once your e-mail address is on a spammer's mailing lists, it is

likely that you will receive increasing amounts of spam. At work, use your work email address only for work communication.

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2. Use Filters: A second way to stop spam is to use your email

application's filtering features. Most email applications allow you to block specific messages. When an offending email comes in, set the filter to block further incoming mails from that sender.

At the network level, implementing spam and virus checking

isn't very difficult. Depending on the mail server, implementing spam filtering

such that it is able to reject spam before the SMTP session is

over can be difficult.
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3. Report Spammers: A more aggressive approach to ridding

unwanted email is to report the e-mailer to the spammer's ISP.

This is not always an easy task. First you must determine the spam's origins. Many of the bigger and more commercial ISPs forbid spammers from using their services and, once discovered, will

actively ban the offending parties from using their services.

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To find the spam's origins, instruct your email program

to display all of the email header information. View the "Received" lines, and working from top to bottom you can often pinpoint the origin of spam.

Spammers collect email addresses from chatrooms, websites,

customer lists, newsgroups, and viruses which harvest users'

address books, and are sold to other spammers.
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Spam is a business, and the spammers keep doing it because people keep falling for scams like penny stocks or clicking on links to install key loggers. Don't be fooled by phrases such as "to be removed from this list, click here. Spammers use these types of catch phrases to entice users to respond to the emails.

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By clicking and performing the action you have told the spammer that your email address is valid and reaches a real person.

This can actually be more valuable to the spammers because

they can now sell your address to another spammer with the assurance that the email address is legitimate.

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1. Spammers in most cases need to know your email address before they can spam you so keep your email address to yourself as much as possible and use it only for work

purposes
2. When posting on a forum do not include your email address as part of your signature

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3.Some guest books automatically hyperlink your email to your

username; avoid posting in such forums and never include your email address in the post itself.

4.Do not use your work email for this kind of personal use. 5.When signing up for forums, offers and other public services never use your work email address;

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6.Never click on links in a spam email;

7.Always review the privacy terms on sites before registering.

You need to know that whoever youre signing up with will not
give away your email address to third parties who might actually end up selling your email address for money. 8.If you use IRC and chatrooms ensure that youre not displaying your email address publicly

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9.Do not use the unsubscribe links in spam emails.

10.Do not open attachments in spam, you could get infected with Trojans that will send your email contacts to a spammer

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What Are Email Viruses?

Email viruses are viruses which can infect the computer simply through the reading or in some cases even the previewing of email messages. Email viruses work by spreading around through email messages, and they usually replicate themselves by

automatically mailing themselves to dozens of people in the

victim's email address book

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Worms are pieces of software that use that of computer networks and security holes to replicate themselves.

The worm has replicated itself, a copy of it will then scan the network for any another machine that has a security hole. And if it finds one, it will then copy itself to this new machine, and will then start replicating from there as well.

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How To Prevent Email Viruses

The best way to stop email viruses or to go about avoiding

email viruses altogether would be to use the proper safety

measures whenever you receive an email, especially if you weren't expecting it.

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 If you receive an email from someone - even if you know the person- and you were not expecting it, you should simply delete it, especially if there is an attachment that came with the email itself.

Never open the attachment to see what it is, for even if you know
the person who sent the email,. The computer may be infected with a virus and they may not even realize it, and so there is no point in taking that risk if you don't have to.

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Email computer viruses are incredibly popular, including hoaxes

email viruses, many of which have been rather notorious in their own time

email viruses is a dangerous and illegal crime. It is then quite

obviously that they send fake email viruses. There are in fact an incredible amount of hoax virus warnings that are presently circulating around through email.

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A good way to prevent any of this from happening to you

is by installing the most recent and best quality antivirus software on your computer.

You should also learn how to understand the nature of an

attachment, as any executable type of attachment has the

potential to be infected.

The best idea here is to make sure that you have file extension
viewing enabled.
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Turn on your firewall to alert you on suspect over any harmful sites, data download and access over insecure data on the internet. Protect your system and internet mailing accounts with strong password; changing your password frequently helps to protect your

account from virus attacks.

Before you download any files from the net check if they are free from virus or bugs.

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Check out for updates on your Anti-virus software as they are

more important to cross check your PC for new threats on scanning your system. Configure antivirus software to run 'on-access,' protecting

the computer while you work.

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1) Do you know the sender? 2) Is the email making a request or an offer?

3)Is there any attachment?

4)Check it out whether it is a .exe file. 5)Update your Operating System.

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12/18/2013

Videoconferencing

Videoconferencing What Is It? : Video conferencing in its most basic form is the transmission of image (video) and speech (audio) back and forth between two or more physically separate locations.

Why Video Conference?

Save money Save time Build relationships Communicate face to face where it would otherwise be impossible Avoid parking hassles Teach

Collaborate

Benefits of Videoconferencing : Benefits of Videoconferencing Can improve work quality Reduce costs Improves communication Groups can meet more frequently

Critical meetings can be convened in less time.

More faculty and staff can be involved & trained faster without increasing training resources.

Limitations of Videoconferencing :

Limitations of Videoconferencing The initial cost of the

equipment and leasing the lines to transmit conferences may be prohibitive. If the system is not properly configured, class members may observe an audio echo effect.

The result is audio interference that detracts from the

learning environment

Types of Conferences : Point-to-point. Point-to-multipoint.

Multi-point conferencing.
Point-to-point : Point-to-point A videoconference that connects two locations. Each site sees and hears the other sites at all times.

Point-to-multipoint :

Point-to-multipoint A videoconference that connects to more than

two sites through the use of a multi-point control unit, or MCU. Participants at all sites can hear one another at all times and see the site that is currently speaking. Multi-point conferencing : Multi-point conferencing Multi-point conferencing can be effective although the scheduling, technical, and logistical dimensions of

MCU conferences can be imposing.

Various Uses:
Presentations Virtual meetings Videoconference-based learning JIT (just in time) events Recruitment/search committees General

meetings

Various Uses: Various Uses: Presentations Virtual meetings Videoconferencebased learning JIT (just in time) events Recruitment/search

committees General meetings

Additional Uses: : Additional Uses: Project coordination Informal work sessions sessions Alumni relations Question and answer