"Just What is the Internet? I hear you ask."
To most people the Internet, or World Wide Web, or Net, is just a piece of wire that mysteriously appears from their wall and is shoved into the back of their computer so that they can access their emails!
Whilst it does this with great ease there is so much more to being online or connected to the net than this!
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Picture Your Town or City
Your house is your computer.
Your street is your connection to the Internet.
Your street leads to other roads and streets and cities which lead to other houses (connect to other computers).
When you go online and surf, you travel down your street onto the other roads and call at someone elses house.
You knock on their door (website) and they talk to you (you view the online web page) |
If you were to follow that wire backwards you will find that it leads you to a network of other computers, some big, some small, but all talking to each other.
This means that you can share information with all of these computers if you know how to connect to them.
"Just Another Tool"
To get the best from the net you have to realise that it is just another tool and like every tool you need to learn how to use it.
What is the point in having a shiny new car if you don't know how to drive it? Well the internet is just the same!
A poor workman always blames his tools!
Be patient, learn how to use the net, because until you know how to get the best from it you will always be blaming the Internet for not living up to it's promises.
"You need to learn in order to gain more from the internet"
To really learn about the Net, and what it means to be online without too much associated Jargon you would do well to get a copy of the book Teach Yourself the Internet and World Wide Web Visually, it's full of time saving practical advice and simple, easy to follow illlustrations which even a total newbie can understand.
Go Online
To connect to the net you obviously need your computer and a couple of programs to give you access to it. The most essential of these is the Internet Browser, without this you cannot do anything online.
An email client makes management of your emails so much easier. You can access them directly online, but if you have a lot of emails and a slow dial up connection it can get frustrating and you will quickly run up high phone charges.
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When I first started with email I didn't have a PC but regularly went to an Internet Cafe to read my emails.
One day, when I hadn't checked my account for a few days, I went to the cafe and it took me over three hours to get through all the emails I had - the connection was that slow!!! |
You will also need to instal some protection onto your computer - there are many people who want to steal your personal information or take control of your computer and use it for their own nefarious purposes! don't give them the opportunity!
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