HowStuffWorks Newsletter
We look to the Internet for news, socializing, shopping, research and more. From HTML code to instant messaging, we'll break down what's really going on whenever you log on, send an e-mail, visit a popular Web site or post to a blog.
Topics to Explore:
How do large Web sites handle the load of millions of visitors a day? Learn about Domain Name Servers and load balancing switches.
"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.
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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It's a frustration most of us encounter daily - the broken link. It's especially annoying when you're really looking forward to that page you expect to load! Find out what (besides human error) creates broken links.
One of the most unique business models spawned by the Web is the Application Service Provider. Learn all about this innovative Internet-based software-publishing model.
When you type a URL into your web browser's address bar, the correct page appears as if by magic (provided you typed it correctly). Is it the work of sorcery? Nope! Domain name servers are handling all the data behind the scenes.
Much of the world still uses a standard modem to connect to the Internet. In this article, we'll start with the original 300-baud modems and progress all the way through to the ADSL configurations.