internet basics library

 

In Internet Basics, learn about the basic components of the World Wide Web and common tools that can make or break your Internet experience: search engines, Web browsers, RSS, spam and more.

Featured Article:  How Pop-up Blockers Work

It's happened to almost all of us at some point in our Web surfing experience -- you're visiting a new site when all of a sudden your screen begins to fill with boxes advertising goods and services. Enter the pop-up blocker. See more »

How RSS Works

How RSS Works

Short for Really Simple Syndication, RSS is a way to subscribe to a source of information, such as a Web site, and get brief updates delivered to you. So what should you subscribe to, and what happens next?

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How Spam Works

How Spam Works

You block it, you filter it, you unsubscribe from lists you actually want to be on, and still it lands in your inbox. If you have an e-mail account, chances are you also have spam. Learn where spam comes from, who's doing the spamming and how to stop it.

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How Streaming Video and Audio Work

How Streaming Video and Audio Work

Streaming video and audio has come a very long way since the mid-to-late 1990s, when streaming media suffered from poor quality and slow load times.

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How the Wikipedia Scanner Works

How the Wikipedia Scanner Works

Someone at the CIA is editing Wikipedia entries about lightsabers. How do we know? The Wikipedia Scanner. Virgil Griffith created the WikiScanner to catch politicians, corporations and government agencies in the act of trying to change their Wikipedia entries anonymously.

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How to Add a Video to YouTube

How to Add a Video to YouTube

The evolution of dance, a laughing baby, Filipino inmates performing Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video: This is what we watch on YouTube. How did it get there?

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How to Create Your Own Podcast

How to Create Your Own Podcast

Podcasting may be the ultimate democratization of radio. Anyone with an Internet connection and some inexpensive audio equipment can produce their own podcast and make it available online.

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How Wikis Work

How Wikis Work

The basic idea behind any wiki is very simple: It's a collection of articles that multiple users can add to and edit freely on-line. Learn all about wikis and the communities that keep them alive.

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How Wolfram|Alpha Works

How Wolfram|Alpha Works

It's been called a Google killer, but Stephen Wolfram's computational knowledge engine doesn't work like Google. So what does it do, and does it live up to its hype?

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Is it against the law to violate a Web site's terms of service?

Is it against the law to violate a Web site's terms of service?

If you've joined MySpace, Facebook or one of the Web's other communities, you've accepted their terms of service. If you break those terms, did you break the law?

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Tech Talk: E-mail Quiz

Tech Talk: E-mail Quiz

Whether you keep it short and sweet or you're a spam champion, you've no doubt used e-mail. But how much do you really know about it? Take our quiz to find out!

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Tech Talk: Internet Cookie Quiz

Tech Talk: Internet Cookie Quiz

Right now, your computer has an array of tiny files that are keeping tabs on you. Test your knowledge of Internet cookies, one the most misunderstood aspects of the Internet.

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Tech Talk: Internet Quiz

Tech Talk: Internet Quiz

Since its popularization during the 1990s, the Internet has become a big part of many of our lives. But it's changed a good deal since then -- test how much you know about the Internet.

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What are the standard top-level domain names and who controls them?

What are the standard top-level domain names and who controls them?

"Howstuffworks.com" is a domain name. The com portion of the name is called the top-level domain name. See the other standard top-level names and who uses them.

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What do you call the   symbol used in e-mail addresses?

What do you call the symbol used in e-mail addresses?

The funny little "a" with its tail circling back around it is probably one of the most commonly used symbols today. So it is truly amazing to learn that there is no official, universal name for it.

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What is an Internet cookie?

What is an Internet cookie?

Cookies have, for some reason, gained a rather sinister image, but a cookie is just one or more pieces of information stored as text strings on your machine. Find out how they work and how they got their dangerous image.

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What is an IP address?

What is an IP address?

Your IP address is one of 4.3 billion unique numbers that identifies your computer on the internet. Learn the different IP classes and why businesses and government get different numbers.

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What's new about Internet Explorer 7?

What's new about Internet Explorer 7?

Five years after the debut of IE6, Microsoft released the first truly upgraded version of its Web browser. Take a look at what made it such a dramatic improvement.

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What's new with Internet Explorer 8?

What's new with Internet Explorer 8?

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 appeared only two years after its predecessor. What improvements are included in this next-generation Web browser?

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What's the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web?

What's the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web?

Many people assume that the World Wide Web and the Internet are one and the same. But despite its size, the Web contains only a small fraction of the content on the Internet.

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Who owns the Internet?

Who owns the Internet?

The Internet is a giant system made up of smaller systems. If it's one thing, does it have one owner? Is there some person or entity that controls it?

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