Convergenic - Converging IT and ISP

A

Access or making a connection to the Internet. You would normally do this via an ISP (Internet Service Provider) such as Mesh, but you may also have access to the Internet through an office network.

Account When you sign up for Mesh you are given a username and password. This is your account and each time you go online it allows Mesh to check that you are authorised to access the Internet.

Acrobat Also known as the Acrobat Reader. This program allows you to read documents that are stored in the PDF format (Portable Document Format). There are versions of Acrobat available for PC, Macintosh and Linux computers, which means that documents stored as PDF files can be opened and read by anyone, regardless of what type of computer they use.

Attachments These are files that are sent with an email message. They can be text, graphics, sound, video, spreadsheets, databases, or even an entire application. However, attachments can also come in the form of computer viruses that can damage your computer. Be wary of attachments and don't open any attachment unless you know and trust the person that sent it to you.

B

Bandwidth refers to the amount of data or information that your Internet connection can cope with. The more bandwidth you have, the faster you can receive data from the Internet. A simple text-only email message doesn't need much bandwidth, but audio and video clips require a lot of bandwidth.

Banner Also known as 'banner ad' - an advert in the form of a graphic image, normally situated right at the top of a web page.

Baud Rate This is the technical term for the speed at which you connect to the Internet via your modem, and is measured in kbps (kilobits per second). Most modems have a maximum baud rate of 56kbps - often shortened to just 56k - but the actual connection speed may be somewhat lower because of factors such as interference on the phone lines.

Bookmark Web browsers allow you to add 'bookmarks' that store the address of your favourite Internet sites. This allows you to visit the site whenever you want to, without having to type in the site's full address each time.

Broadband A high-speed Internet connection that is much faster than an ordinary 56kbit modem. The Mesh broadband service, Mesh Broadband, is up to 20 times faster than dial-up with a top speed of 1Mbps (1 megabit per second).

Browser A web browser is a program that allows you to enter and explore the World Wide Web. You are probably using a browser right now to read these Help files. Internet Explorer is the most popular browser at present and comes pre-installed on all PCs and Macintosh computers.

C

Connection Your computer connects to the Mesh Broadband Network via the wireless Subscriber Unit (SU) supplied by Mesh Broadband. This has nothing to do with your telephone line, so you can be accessing the Internet and be on the telephone at the same time.

Cookie A cookie is a small piece of software, usually left by a website and stored on your computer's hard drive, which records information about you and your browsing habits on the Internet. For example, if you are a regular user of online stores such as Amazon.co.uk, a cookie will allow the shop to remember your name and details of all your purchases.

Cursor A blinking line or shape on the screen that tells you where the next character will go while you are typing.

Cyber caf� A caf� or bar that has its own computers or Internet access. Customers can explore the World Wide Web or check their email whilst having a drink or snack. You normally pay for Internet use by the hour or half-hour.

D

Desktop The desktop is the area on your computer screen that you can see when no other files or applications are open. If you are on a computer with the Windows operating system you should see the My Computer, My Documents and Recycle Bin icons on your desktop.

Dial-up Most people connect to the Internet by using their computer and modem to dial the telephone number of their ISP (Internet Service Provider) over an ordinary telephone line. This is known as a 'dial-up connection'.

DNS Domain Name Server. A system housed on a number of servers on the Internet that converts domain names to a unique number known as an IP (Internet Protocol) address.

Domain Name A domain name on the Internet is rather like the street name in an ordinary postal address. Each site on the Internet has its own domain name, such as meshbroadband.co.uk.

Download When you transfer any document or information from the Internet onto your own computer, this is known as a 'download'. See also: Upload

Driver A small piece of software that allows your PC to control another piece of computer equipment, such as a modem, printer or scanner.

F

FAQ An FAQ is a list of 'Frequently Asked Questions' - along with the answers to those questions. There are thousands of FAQs on the World Wide Web, covering a vast range of subjects. Whatever subject you're interested in, there's an FAQ somewhere that can answer your questions for you.

Firewall A firewall is a computer program that acts like a barrier, protecting a company's internal network from unauthorised external access (most commonly in the form of Internet hackers).

Flame An insulting or derogatory message usually sent via email or posted on Internet message boards. These sometime turn into 'flame wars', when lots of other people join in the heated exchanges. It's good manners (netiquette) to try to avoid 'flaming' other people. See also: Email, Netiquette

Flash is a popular program used to create eye-catching animations for Websites. However, over-use of Flash can be annoying as you may have to spend ages waiting for the animation files to be downloaded.

Freeware is computer software that has been released free of charge by its author. However, there may be certain conditions attached to its use, such as a time limit of 30 days, after which you have to start paying for the software. See also: Shareware

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and is one of the main methods used to transfer files quickly across the Internet. Many companies set up FTP sites that act like a library, containing all kinds of files for people to download. See also: Download

H

Hacker A skilled programmer who breaks into other computers or networks. Some hackers are harmless and just do it for a challenge, but others are just plain crooked - sometime known as 'crackers'.

Header At the beginning of all email messages there is a line of text called a 'header' that contains information such as the subject of the message and the email address of the person who sent the message.

Hit Strictly speaking, the term 'hit' specifically refers to the number of files that you download when you visit a website. A web page with a picture on it would count as two hits - one for the page itself and another for the picture. However, some people use the word 'hits' less accurately to refer to the number of people that visit a particular website each month - for example, 2,000 hits per month.

Home Page All sites on the World Wide Web consist of a series of 'pages'. The 'home page' is the first page you see when you visit a website, and acts as the main entry point that leads to all the other areas within the site.

HTML Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the computer programming language used to create web pages. It allows pictures and text to be combined to create web documents that can be viewed by browsers. Its most important feature, though, is 'hypertext' - the ability to create links that take you from one page to another. See also: Gif, Jpeg, World Wide Web

HTTP This stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol - the computer 'language' used to link together all the HTML pages found on the World Wide Web.

Hyperlink On World Wide Web pages, hyperlinks are highlighted text or images which, when selected (usually by clicking the mouse button), follow a link to another page. Hyperlinks can also be used to automatically download other files as well as audio and video clips. See also: Download

I

Icon An icon is a small picture that computers use to represent an area, function or an application to provide a visual target for your cursor to click on. So a picture of a computer accompanies the functions that apply to your computer, and can be found above the words 'My Computer' on the Windows desktop.

Image Map An image map is an image on a web page that is divided into a series of 'hot spots'. Each hot spot acts as a link that will take you to another page with additional information. For example, the image could be a weather map that covers a number of cities. Each city on the map would be a separate hot spot, and clicking on a city would take you to another page that had a detailed weather forecast for that area.

Instant Messaging A form of high-speed chat that lets you instantly exchange messages with friends or colleagues. Popular messaging programs include Microsoft's MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger.

Internet Often referred to just as 'the Net', the Internet is a kind of mega-network that links together all the smaller networks in the world. When you connect to Mesh Broadband your computer becomes part of Mesh's own network, which, in turn, is connected to the wider Internet.

Internet Explorer is the world's most popular web browser. It was developed by Microsoft and is installed on most PCs.

IP Internet Protocol (IP) is the main protocol - or computer 'language' - used to connect computers across the Internet.

IP Address An IP address is a bit like a telephone number. Every computer connected to the Internet has an IP address in the form of a four-number code such as 255.124.165.231. However, these codes can be difficult to remember, so each IP address can also be linked to a 'domain name' that is easier to remember, such as meshbroadband.co.uk. See also: Domain Name ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a digital telephone line that provides faster Internet connection speeds than ordinary analogue lines.

ISDN allows simultaneous transfer of voice, data and video information, but it may soon be made obsolete by ADSL and cable modems, which both provide even faster 'broadband' connections.

ISP An Internet Service Provider (ISP) is a company or organisation, such as Mesh Broadband, dedicated to providing home users and businesses with access to the Internet.

M

Mail Server A computer - and the software running on it - that allows the sending, sorting and retrieval of email messages.

Megabyte (MB) The unit of measurement for computer files - a megabyte is a thousand kilobytes or a million bytes. A 1MB file takes about five minutes to download from the Internet using a typical 56k modem. See also: Gigabyte, Kilobyte

MIME Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions - a format designed originally to include images, sounds, animations and other types of documents within Internet mail messages.

Mirror site Some websites are so popular that they can become congested by all the people trying to download files from the site - sort of like an online traffic jam. To relieve this congestion, the owners of the site may create several 'mirror' sites around the world. The mirror site contains all the same files as the original site. If you find a mirror site that is close to you - in the same country or continent - you will probably be able to download sites more quickly than using the main site. See also: Download

Modem Short for MODulator/DEModulator, a modem is the device that connects your PC to the telephone network so that it can communicate with other computers on the Internet. Modems these days are often built into your PC, but you can also buy external modems if you have an older computer that doesn't have one built in. See also: Baud Rate

MP3 MP3 files are used to store music or audio information on the Internet. The full name is actually Motion Picture Expert Group: Layer 3, but that has thankfully been compressed down to MP3. And, in the same way, the audio content of an MP3 file is compressed so that it is smaller and easier to download than the original audio file.

Mpeg Motion Picture Expert Group - a video compression format used for movie or animation clips on the World Wide Web. MP3 is a spin-off from this standard. The filename extension for Mpeg movies is .mpg or .mpeg.

N

Net-savvy An experienced netizen - someone who's familiar with all the ins and outs of the Internet.

Netiquette Short for 'net-etiquette'. This is an informal set of guidelines for polite behaviour on the Internet.

Netizen A netizen is a 'net-citizen' - in other words, anyone that uses the Net.

Network A network is simply two or more computers that are connected together so that they can share information.

Newsgroup A newsgroup is a kind of discussion group devoted to a specific topic. There are thousands of newsgroups on the Internet, covering everything from aardvarks to zoology. To use a newsgroup you need a program called a newsreader - although Outlook Express has one built in.

Newsreader A program that allows the user to read and create newsgroup messages. Some email programs, such as Microsoft's Outlook also include options for reading newsgroups.

NNTP Net News Transport Protocol (NNTP) is the protocol - or computer 'language' - that computers use to connect to newsgroups.

P

Page All websites consist of a series of linked 'pages'. This document that you are reading right now is a web page.

Password A password is a secret pass which is used to gain access to an account, site, and various other resources and devices.

Plug-In Web browsers such as Netscape and Internet Explorer are primarily designed for viewing pages that contain simple text and graphics. In order to view more complex types of data - such as audio, video and animation - you need a 'plug-in'. The plug-in is a small program that bolts onto the main browser program and allows it to view these new types of data.

POP This stands for 'Post Office Protocol'. A POP server is a central computer that stores your email for you and allows you to collect your email whenever you connect to the Internet.

Portal A portal is a website that is designed to lead you to other websites that contain information you are interested in. The meshbroadband.co.uk website is a good example of a portal, as it leads you to a wide range of other websites and pages that are divided into convenient categories.

PPP Point to Point Protocol (PPP) is the language that allows a computer to connect to the Internet using a telephone line. A PPP connection requires a modem, a standard telephone line and an account with an ISP (Internet Service Provider).

Protocol A protocol is simply a set of guidelines that allow computers to communicate with each other. Unfortunately there are lots of different protocols designed for different tasks. There are protocols for email, newsgroups, websites and lots of other things. Wherever you see a bunch of letters ending with 'P' you know there's a protocol in there somewhere. See also: FTP, HTTP, IP, NNTP, POP, PPP, SMTP, and TCP.

S

Search Engine A special website that lets you search for specific information. You type the words or phrase that you are looking for into the Search Engine and it will attempt to locate web pages that contain relevant information.

Self-extracting archive Compressed files are sometimes referred to as 'archives'. A self-extracting archive can decompress itself without the need for a separate decompression program.

Server A server is a computer on a network that stores files and delivers them to other computers when requested

Service Provider Also known as an Internet Service Provider (ISP). The role of an ISP is to provide its users with a connection to the Internet.

Shareware is software that can be distributed freely, but with certain conditions applying to it. Many programs are released as shareware on a trial basis, but you are expected to pay for the software if you decide to keep it and use it regularly. See also: Freeware

Signature A 'signature' is a few lines of text that can automatically be added onto the end of your emails. A signature may contain details such as your email address, full name and other details, but people often include jokes or quotations to add a personal touch to their emails. Beware, though, because long signatures that are full of irrelevant information are considered an annoying waste of time by many Internet users. See also: Email, Header

Smileys Characters often used in news messages, emails and on web pages to offer some degree of character or emotion. For example :-). Also known as emoticons.

SMTP You've probably heard or seen these initials used quite often on the Internet and within the set-up pages of your email software. For the record, SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. This is a system that allows emails to be sent between computers connected to the Internet.

SoHo Short for 'small office/home office'. Refers to small companies or individuals that work from home.

Spam is junk email. The term comes from an old Monty Python sketch where the characters keep nonsensically repeating the word spam, spam, spam, spam, spam�

Streaming audio or video files start playing as soon as you start to download them, rather than having to download the entire file first. You need a high-speed broadband connection to stream audio and video properly as an ordinary modem isn't fast enough.

Surfing Exploring the World Wide Web by following a series of links on web pages is known as 'surfing the net'.

T

Task bar The bar in the Windows operating system that typically runs across the bottom of the screen. It displays the Start button, any programs or windows that are active, plus tiny 'shortcut' icons as well as the time.

TCP/IP Stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol - the two most important protocols that form the basis of the Internet. See also: Protocol

Telecommuting Someone who works at home and communicates with a main office over the Internet is known as a 'telecommuter'.

Telnet is another Internet protocol (computer language) for creating a connection with a remote machine. It gives the user the opportunity to be on one computer system and do work on another, which may be across the street or thousands of miles away. It uses a text-driven interface that may be a bit off-putting for people used to menus and mouse pointers.

Terabyte 1,000 gigabytes. See also: Kilobyte

Thread A thread is a series of messages in a newsgroup that all relate to one particular topic. A newsgroup will generally contain many different threads simultaneously.

Timeout The often-annoying function, which automatically disconnects you from the Internet after a set period of inactivity.

Trojan A Trojan is a computer program, or part of a programs code, that disguises itself as a useful software application that is used to gain access, or change settings on your computer. It takes its name after the Trojan horse used to infiltrate Troy.

V

Virus A virus is a computer program - but it's a program that is designed to damage your computer by destroying files or damaging your hard drive in some way. Sometimes viruses are attached to emails, but they can also be hidden on floppy disks and CD-ROMs, so it's a good idea to use an anti-virus program to scan your emails and any disks that you may insert into your computer.

Voicemail A digital phone answering service that allows you to leave messages, when the person you are calling is not available.

VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), is the process of transmitting voice communication over the Internet. This allows for cheaper calls than would be available through a regular telephone line.

W

WAN A Wan is a 'Wide Area Network' - a network of computers that are located a long distance apart. A company that has offices in different countries around the world will use a Wan to link those offices together.

WAP Wireless application protocol - the computer 'language' that allows wireless devices such as a mobile phone to connect to the Internet.

WEP Wireless Encryption Protocol - it helps to ensure that only authorised users attach to the network to begin with, regardless of their ability to authenticate to network devices. Without WEP anyone can see the packets sent across the network, and those packets can include passwords. Work with 128 or 256 bit encryption.

Webmail An email account where you access, read and write your emails through a regular website, such as Hotmail.com.

WiFi Wireless Fidelity - Otherwise known as Wireless Networking, commonly using the 802.11b protocol. A local area network that uses high frequency radio signals to transmit and receive data over distances of a few hundred feet; uses Ethernet protocol.

WWW The World Wide Web - also known simply as 'the Web' - is a vast, worldwide collection of sites containing all sorts of information. Websites can be created by any organisation or individual that has an Internet connection. Each site consists of a series of pages that contain text, graphics and other types of information, and each page contains links that lead you to other pages or other sites on the Web. Many people think that the Web is the same as the Internet, but the Web is actually just one part of the Internet. Email and newsgroups are other parts of the Internet that are separate from the Web. See also: Browser, Internet

Worm Computer Worms are viruses that reside in the active memory of a computer and duplicate themselves. They may send copies of themselves to other computers over the Internet, for example taking advantage of security loopholes in computer operating systems, as seen with the Sasser virus.