Computer Lesson 4

Lesson 4, Using E-mail and the Internet
Jay D Weaver
What is the Internet? The Internet is simply a network of computers which are hooked together from sites all over the world. Individual computers, called servers, are used to maintain various sites. Other computers are used to gain access to the network. Various types of services are available for “getting on the web.

1) You can subscribe to an Online Service such as AOL, Prodigy, Compuserve, ATT, MSN, etc. For approximately $20.00/month, they will provide many of their own features, plus E-mail service, plus access to the web. This is done via a telephone hookup. You want to look for services which have local numbers wherever you reside. Long distance charges can be exorbitant. The two major advantages of online services are ease of use and easy access to special services provided on their own computers.

2) You can gain access by using an Internet Service Provider (ISP). They also charge approximately $20.00/month. They use what is called a PPP connection. Most will provide you with a dialer or an explanation of how to use the Windows 95/98 dialer. They may or may not supply you with a browser and E-mail program to use once you are connected to the web. The advantages of an ISP connection are that you get directly onto the web without going through another layer of stuff. Also, you can use any 3rd party software for E-mail, newsgroups, and web browsing.

3) There are very inexpensive providers such as Netzero , Netscape , Highstream , and many others.

What is a browser? A browser is a program which reads pages of the world-wide-web written in HTML (Hyper-text markup language) and displays the pages in ordinary English (or other) language. It also displays graphics. The big advantage of this system is that access to the sites is independent of the type of computer you are using. Also, links are used that can connect you to other pages or other sites with a simple click of the mouse. There are a number of browsers available, but the two most commonly used are Microsoft Internet Explorer and Foxfire.
What is E-mail? Electronic mail consists of messages sent from one computer to another via the same Internet that provides access to web sites via browsers. Messages are formed and read by programs written for this purpose. Netscape provides this capability directly in their web browser. Microsoft provides it with a separate program called Outlook Express. There are also third party programs such as Eudora and others available. For all of these you must still pay for a connection to the Internet either via an online service or an ISP.

Installing the software: Each provider will give you step-by-step instructions for installing the software. You must follow these precisely or it will not work properly. I cannot go into these procedures here since they are all set up differently.

Working with E-mail: Composing messages is rather straightforward. You must know the E-mail address of the person you are contacting. The address always takes the form of userid@network. For example, my address is weaverrr@gte.net. Others might be jsmith@aol.com or betty238@desupernet.net. As a user you get a choice of userid. Use a little imagination in selecting it.

You also have a password for your access to either E-mail or the web. Usually the provider will give you a password that is simply a jumble of characters. The first thing you should do is change that password online to something you can remember. I have spent a great deal of time helping people who got screwed up on their passwords. You should choose something that people in general will not automatically associate with you. For example, I once used the password “walleye” because it was my favorite fish. I don’t use that one anymore, and I never will again now that I have made it public. Never give anyone your password. Do write it down someplace where you can find it again. I find it convenient to use the same password for almost everything I do on the computer. This somewhat degrades my security, but it sure makes it a lot easier to remember my passwords. I do use different passwords for all financial web sites.

Your Address book: Every E-mail program provides an address book to keep the addresses of those with whom you correspond regularly. This is a lot easier to use than lots of slips of paper in your wallet with addresses on them. Also, you don’t ever have to retype them. You can access them with a few clicks of the mouse.

Your Mail folders: You are provided a few folders at the beginning for storing incoming mail, mail that has been sent out, mail that is under construction, mail that is waiting to be sent out, etc. In addition you can create folders for various types of people or purposes. You might use categories such as family, friends, business, genealogy, etc. You can then transfer the messages to those folders for safekeeping. Periodically you will want to go through them and discard messages that you no longer want to keep. There is even a trash folder which maintains discarded messages. Periodically you will want to dump them out. When the trash folder is emptied, they are gone forever.

Bookmarks and Favorites: When you use a web browser, you must type in the address of the site you are seeking. This address is called a URL. It always takes the form of http://address.
The address often, but not always, begins with the letters www which stand for world-wide-web. For example, my URL for my personal web site is http://home1.gte.net/weaverrr/ You must type in the URL exactly right or you will not be able to access it. Hence, it is convenient to keep a list of the URL’s that you regularly access. In Netscape, these are called bookmarks. In Internet Explorer and AOL they are called favorites. Just as with your mail folders, these can be organized by categories. Learn how to do this. Otherwise you end up with a huge mess and the ones you are seeking are hard to find. For example, you might organize them with folders for shopping, hardware, software, literature, music, government, news sources, search engines, etc.

What are Search engines? Search engines are maintained on the web for searching for web sites that relate to certain words. Some of the common search engines are: Google, Yahoo, Hotbot, MSN Search, and others. They provide a space where you can type in words to use in the search. For example, if you were trying to find a site that gave you pictures and names of various sea shells, you might type in (sea shell photo name description). The search engine will then give you a list of sites that you can click on which relate to those words. These sites usually allow you to select various options. For example you might want only sites that have all those words in them, or you might want any site that has one or more of those words. You have to read the instructions for each search engine. They are all different.

Once you find your site, then bookmark it or place it among your favorites. That way you can come back to it easily.

Security: In general, E-mail is not secure. Never put anything in E-mail that you want kept private. Once it is in someone else’s computer, you have lost control of the information. Also, it is possible for third parties to intercept your messages and read them. There are ways of encoding the information on E-mail so that it is private, but both parties must have the encryption information. This is very complicated.

There are secure versions of browsers available. If you are going to do any business on the web, that requires the use of such things as account numbers, credit card numbers, money transactions, stock transactions, etc., you must have a 128-bit secure browser. These versions are available on all browsers at no extra cost. If you are subscribing to an online service, make sure that they provide a 128-bit secure browser. As a word of assurance, if you are using a 128-bit secure browser, your transactions are far safer on the Internet than on the telephone, or in person. However, you must still trust any human being with whom you are transacting the business.

Incidentally, web sites which are secure usually begin with https:// rather than http:// . Your browser will have a little icon which shows you whether or not you are hooked up to a secure site. Never send out confidential information unless you are sure that you are hooked up to a secure site.

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