Internet Basics

If you've ever typed a question into Google, Bing, Startpage or DuckDuckGo, you've seen the slick results page that pops up. But what makes those results tick? How do search engines work?

By Grant Virellan

Are there legitimate reasons to seek out the dark web? Sure. We explain what's on the dark web, how to access it and why you'll want to proceed with a healthy dose of caution.

By Cherise Threewitt

If you're looking at a news story or website in an unfamiliar language, there is an easy way to have Google Chrome translate it for you.

By Nathan Chandler

Since Google launched as a privately held company on Sept. 4, 1998, it's evolved from a two-man enterprise into a multibillion-dollar corporation. How did a Ph.D. project become one of the most influential companies in the world?

By Jonathan Strickland & John Donovan

And boy it's come a long way since 1989.

By Michelle Konstantinovsky

Your college professors probably told you not to use Wikipedia for papers. But they might have been wrong.

By Kathryn Whitbourne

HowStuffWorks loves podcasts, and our staff of podcast hosts offer up recommendations of their favorite ones to obsess over.

By Yves Jeffcoat

Here's something you've probably never pondered while surfing the internet: Web addresses are in English. Why is that? And how do non-English speakers navigate the web?

By Beth Brindle

Perhaps your friends have posted that Facebook copyright message. Or you've gotten a forward-or-bad-things-will-happen chain email. Technology hasn't killed folklore - it's just created a space where it's shared more quickly.

By Nathan Chandler

About 40 percent of the world's population uses the Web for news, entertainment and communication, but in truth, only a sliver of what we know as the World Wide Web is easily accessible.

By Nathan Chandler

Since the advent of the Internet, we've been producing data in staggering amounts. Who's collecting it, and should we be worried?

By Bernadette Johnson

The dot-com bubble produced plenty of companies that spent and grew too quickly and couldn't sustain themselves, but some burned out in spectacular style. Here are 10 tech companies that lived fast and died young.

By Bernadette Johnson

Millions of mobile devices, computers and data centers make up the Internet. Machines join and drop off every second, and each requires electricity. Is it possible to measure how much juice the Internet uses?

By Jonathan Strickland

You'd like to learn how to put a photo album on a Web page and share it with others. Learn in this article how to put a photo album on a Web page.

By HowStuffWorks.com Contributors

Proxy servers and proxy server software can help you hide your IP address. Learn how to hide an IP address from this article.

By HowStuffWorks.com Contributors

If you have Windows 7 or Windows Vista, you'll find your temporary Internet files on your C drive. Learn how to find temporary Internet files from this article.

By HowStuffWorks.com Contributors

The Internet lets you transfer information around the world in seconds. But the pieces of your file may not all get there the same way. How does all that data get where it's supposed to go without getting lost?

By Jonathan Strickland

Sending pictures by e-mail should be a simple process no matter what e-mail service you use. How can you attach photos to your e-mail and be sure the message gets to your recipient?

By Jane McGrath

Now that the Internet has become such an important part of our everyday lives, it's hard to imagine what life would be like without it. Could the Internet collapse? What would happen if it did?

By Jonathan Strickland

Sure, you consider yourself the king of the Interwebs, but we bet you aren't familiar with all of the sites that made our gallery. Or are you? Guess there's only one way to find out.

By Sara Cheshire

As it lost ground to Google, Microsoft decided to do more than just upgrade Live Search. Instead it created Bing, a "decision engine." But what is the future of Bing and can it ever be no. 1?

By Josh Briggs

Missed your favorite TV show again? Never got around to installing that DVR? Thanks to the power of the Internet, you can go to Hulu.com and watch the shows you love -- and are never home to watch.

By Stephanie Crawford

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?

By Chris Pollette

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?

By John Fuller

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

By Jonathan Strickland