Glossary Page Bottom Frame

ASP: Active Server Pages. A programming language developed by Microsoft. Unlike Java, the source code is hidden and compiled on the server so that the users can't see the code. It is very common nowadays on the web and is often used to handle user interaction.

Bandwidth: The maximum speed that an internet connection can send and receive data. Usually measured in Kilobits per second.

Browser: Software that allows you to view and explore the web. The most popular are Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Mozilla FireFox.

Connectivity: The state of being connected to the Internet or some other type of computer network. On the Internet, if you lose your connectivity then you are no longer online and must redial into your ISP. When ISPs get a lot of users signing on all at once, the quality of the connections tend to be poor

CRT: Cathode Ray Tube The display.

Desktop: The actual computer. AKA Tower. This is what a computer is. Contains many components inside, drives, processor, memory, pc card, etc. NOTE keep away from moisture, vibrations, heat, etc. Could break a part or destroy some of the components.

Domain Name: The name that identifies a web site. For example, GreenNet owns two domains: greennet.net and greennet.com. Because domain names must be unique, nobody else can put sites on either of these domains without our permission. If you are interested in registering your own domain, the company you would most likely use would be Network Solutions.

Email: Quite simply, electronically transmitted mail. As opposed to "snail mail," e-mail sends your correspondence instantaneously anywhere in the world. 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.
Linked by high speed data connections that create a global network, e-mail lets you compose messages and transmit them in seconds to one or more recipients anywhere in the world. Some of the more popular e-mail programs are Outlook Express, Eudora, and Netscape Messenger. All you need is an e-mail account.

F.A.Q.: Abbreviation for Frequently Asked Questions. A list of questions and answers related to a newsgroup, software, Web site, or whatever. FAQ lists prevent newsgroup discussions from being overrun by common user questions.

FTP: File Transfer Protocol. A protocol on the internet that allows you to send and receive large files from anywhere in the world. To use FTP, you need an FTP client. Your web browser will be able use ftp, but not as nicely as a dedicated client such as CuteFTP

GUI: Graphical User Interface. A term used to describe how a user interacts with a program. GUI programs usually support a mouse so a user can simply click on pictures to perform actions, as opposed to typing in commands at a prompt. Most programs nowadays use GUIs.

Hard Drive: The part of you computer that stores all of the information on the computer. A common misconception to call it the memory. This usually is called the c: drive. measured in GB.

HTML: Hypertext Markup Language. This is the computer language most commonly used in web pages so that your web browser knows how to display the site on your screen.

Internet: A network of computers all across the world linked together by phone lines, cables, and other types of connections. Often used incorrectly to refer to the World Wide Web

IP Address: Short for Internet Protocol Address. This is the address of a computer when it is connected to a network such as the Internet. An IP Address consists of 4 numbers (octets) which can be no higher than 255 and no less than 0. GreenNet is physically located at 420 Main Street in West Newbury MA, while www.greennet.net is located on the Internet at 208.192.4.11

IRC: Short for Internet Relay Chat. Another protocol on the Internet that allows you to chat with other people in real time. To use IRC you will need an IRC client such as mIRC

ISP: Short for Internet Service Provider. Your ISP is the company which provides your connection to the Internet. If you are reading this page, than most likely your ISP is GreenNet

Java: Java is a programming language developed by Sun Microsystems which was designed to create programs that could be embedded into web pages, downloaded by web browsers automatically, and then compiled on the clients computer (unlike ASP which compiles server-side). Java allows pages to contain content such as animations and calculators.

Kbps: Kilobytes per second. An unit of measurement as to the speed of a transfer over a network. It is how many thousands of characters can be sent in one second. Do not confuse this with kilobits per second, which is how many bits of data can be sent in one second. If you need to convert from kilobits per second to kilobytes per second, simply divide by 8.

Memory: This is temporary storage space on your computer the more memory you have the fast the processor can process you data instead of going to you hard drive then back. For Windows XP you should have 256MB or RAM (random access memory) but 512MB you would have no speed issues what so ever. More than 512MB is only for people who are working on large files and home users do not need that much.

Modem: Short for Modulator Demodulator. This is the piece of hardware inside your computer (or possibly outside) that converts, sends, and receives data across the internet. It is up to your computer to process it

News Readers: Programs that allow you to browse USENET newsgroups. USENET newsgroups are essentially thousands of little bulletin boards that you can post messages to, and read messages from

Operating System: The low-level software which schedules tasks, allocates storage, handles the interface to peripheral hardware and presents a default interface to the user when no application program is running. In English, it's the software that makes your programs work

PPP: Point to Point Protocol. A communication protocol used to support Internet Connectivity

Processor: The processor is the chip which is the brains of the computer. It is also know as the CPU (Central Processing Unit). This is one of the most important part of a computer. Manufacturers are Intel and AMD. Intel makes Pentium 4/3/2/1and Celeron processors (P4 and Celeron are most common for new computers)

Query: The process where a user enters in a string to be searched; on a web page for example. The web browser then sends the information to the server which performs the search, and returns the data to the user.

Search Engine: A search engine is a website on the Internet that allows a user to type in a search phrase that will then be searched by the search engine. The search engine will then a return a list of websites containing that phrase.

SPAM: Spam is essentially, junk mail on the Internet. Email that you receive that is from large corporations trying to sell you stuff that you don't want is Spam. It is usually sent out to large amounts of people, and it is NOT tolerated by GreenNet.

<G>	User is grinning
<EG>	User has an evil grin on his face
<F>	User is frowning
:-)	User is smiling
:-(	User is frowning
;-)	User is winking
:-<	User is upset/angry
:->	Sly grin. User said something funny
8-)	User has eye glasses
:-p	User is looking at you strangely
:-0	User is shocked or surprised
:-()	User is singing.
:-C	User really bummed out
>;->	User has devilish Smirk
:-D	User has very big smile
:-\	Hmmmmm...
:- \|	User is unmoved
:-B	User has bucky beaver teeth
:-@	User is screaming
<:-I	User is a dunce
:-X	User says: my lips are sealed
=:c)	Babe The Pig
IMHO	In my humble opinion
TIA	Thanks in advance
YMMV	Your mileage may vary
BTW	By the way
BRB	Be right back
ROFL	Rolling on the floor laughing
ROFLMAO	Rolling on the floor laughing my ass off
RTFM	Read the..fantastic.. manual (really!)
STFW	Surf the..fabulous..web (really!)