Internet and Email

Introduction of Internet

 The internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use
the standard Internet Protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide.
 The Internet facility is a service provided by an ISP (Internet Service
Provider).

Uses of Internet

When the internet has become popular it is being used for many purposes.
Today internet has brought a globe in a single room. Here is the list of some
common uses of internet.
1) Online Banking:
There are so many banks, which provide the facility of
online banking. By using online banking the account holder can get the
information of their account as well as they can pay telephone bill, school
fee etc
2) Email:
With email we can send and receive instant messages. Email is now
an essential communication tools in business. It is also excellent for keeping
in touch with family and friends. The advantages to email is that it is free
that is no charge per use when compared to telephone, fax etc.
3) Downloading:
We can download many things such as picture, music, videos
etc through internet. We can also download many software documents as per
our needs.
4) Buy or Sell Products:
The internet is a very effective way to buy and sell
products all over the world which is also known as E- Commerce. Along
with getting information on the Internet, we can also shop online. There are
many online stores and sites that can be used to look for products as well as
buy them using our credit card. We do not need to leave our house and can
do all our shopping from the convenience of our home.
5) Entertainment:
On internet we can find all forms of entertainment from
watching films to playing games online. Almost anyone can find the right
kind of entertainment for themselves. When people surf the web, there are
numerous things that can be found. Music, hobbies, news and more can be
found and shared on the internet.
6) Job Search:
Internet makes life easy for both employers and job seekers as
there are plenty of job sites which connect employers and job seekers.
7) Information:
Any kind of information on any topic is available on the
internet. The search engines like Google, Yahoo etc on the internet can help
us to find data on any subject that we need.

Misuse of the Internet

a) Personal Information
If we use the internet, our personal information such as our name, address,
contact numbers etc can be accessed by other people who may cause us badly. If
we use a credit card for online shopping, our credit card information can also be
stolen which is like similar to give someone a blank cheque.
b) Pornography
This is a very serious issue concerning the internet, especially when it comes to
young children. There are thousands of pornographic sites on the internet that
can be easily found and can be harm to letting children use the internet.
c) Spamming
This refers to sending unwanted emails in bulk, which serve no purpose and
unnecessarily obstructs the entire system. We may face this kind of problem
frequently nowadays in email by sending us fake information.

Concept of Protocol

 A set of rules which is used by computers to communicate with each other
across the network is called protocol.
 Protocol specifies the format of message and the rules for exchanging the
message.
The TCP/IP internet protocols, a common examples, consists of
 Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), which uses a set of rules to exchange
messages with other Internet points at the information packet level.
 Internet protocol (IP), which uses a set of rules to send and receive messages
at the internet address level.
 Additional protocols that include the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
and File Transfer Protocol (FTP), each with defined sets of rules to use with
corresponding programs elsewhere on the internet.

Some of the common terms
Web Browser: 
An application software or program designed to enable users to access, retrieve
and view documents and other resources on the internet. For example: Mozilla
Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Safari etc.
Web Page: 
A document on the World Wide Web, consisting of an HTML file and any
related files for scripts and graphics, and often hyperlinked to other documents
on the web is called web page.
Web pages can be either static or dynamic. Static web pages show the same
content each time they are viewed. Dynamic web pages have content that can be
change each time they are accessed. These pages are typically written in
scripting languages such as PHP, ASP etc.
The scripts in the pages run functions on the server that return things like the
date and time, and database information.
Web Site: 
A website is actually a collection of files and documents which is saved in a
server. A server is a specific or main computer that is connected to the internet
all the time. Every file has its own address that is known as URL (Uniform
Resource Locator).
Web Server: 
A web server is a program that, using the client / server model and the world
wide web‟s Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), servers the files that form
web pages to web users. Every computer on the Internet that contains a web site
must have a web server program. Two leading web servers are Apache, the most
widely installed web server, and Microsoft‟s Internet Information Server (IIS).
URL (Uniform Resource Locator): 
The URL is a string of characters that specify way to refer to the resources and
mechanism to get it.
For example: http://www.facebook.com; https://www.alk.com.np/ https://alknote.blogspot.com/
We can also say that the URL is the global address of documents and other
resources on the World Wide Web.
DNS (Domain Name System)
 DNS is a hierarchical naming system for computer available in internet.
 Domain name is an identification label for a region which has administrative
control in the internet based on the domain name system.
 An often used analogy to explain the Domain Name System is that it serves
as the phone book for the internet by translating human-friendly computer
hostnames into IP addresses.
Search Engine:
People can get a lot of benefits from a search engine. Through search engine,
the users can provide a topic about which they want to find out. The search
engine shows the websites in which the related information can be found.
Example: Google, Yahoo , Bing, Alta-Vista etc.

Messenger Service:
Messenger service is an instant messaging program that enables you to:
 See who is online.
 Send an instant message.
 Call a contact‟s computer.
 Send someone a file.
 Have an instant message conversation with a group of friend.

Setting Browser properties:
You can change your Internet Explorer settings by using Internet Options. You
can specify the first web page you see when you start the browser (Home Page),
delete temporary Internet files stored on your computer, use Content Advisor to
block access to objectionable material, and specify how colors and fonts are
displayed on web pages. You can also set your security level and specify which
programs to use email and reading Internet newsgroups.

Email(Electronic Mail)

Concept of Email
 Electronic mail service is one of the most widely used services on the
internet.
 Email is the method of the transmitting data, text file, digital photo or audio
and video files from one computer to another over the internet.
 It has become an important means of communication for personal computer

and business use.

Uses of Email are:-
 The e-mail is actually used to transfer message between one another, those
are normally far apart, and the message exchanging is useful for different
purpose as follow.
a) Group discussion
b) Stay in touch
c) Transmitting documents through attachments
d) Group mail to multiple users
e) Convenient way of sending job application
f) Easy method of advertisement
g) Receiving conformation of service

Different types of e-mail account
Since e-mail is the widely used application in the internet, there are varieties of
e-mail account. Some of them are as follow:
i. Pop e-mail account.
ii. Web based email account.
iii. Email account provided by company.
iv. Email account provided by academic institution.
v. Email account provided by ISP.
vi. Website e-mail account.

WEB BASED E-MAIL & POP EMAIL

WEB BASED E-MAIL ACCOUNT:
The web based email service provides a web page through which the user
accesses the email server. The web page accesses the email on behalf of the user
and stores the mails access their mails by logging into the web page by
providing the user name and password into the system. Through the web page
the user can view, send, store and manage the emails. The web pages can be
accessed from any point of the world anywhere and anytime. Some of the free
web based services are Hot mail, Yahoo, Gmail etc.

POP E-MAIL ACCOUNT:
This type of email address requires a client application installed in the user
computers. The user has to set the service from the email service provider for
free or by paying some amount. The user then gets user ID and Password along
with the POP mail server configuration required to set up the email client. The
popular email clients are Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird etc.


Exercise:
1. What is web page? List the features of web page.
2. What is internet? Write down the uses of internet?
3. What is internet? List out the positive and negatives impacts of internet in
our society.
4. Define Email. Write down the uses of Email.