ARPANET - (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) was the network, developed by the Department of Defense, that eventually evolved to become the Internet.

E-mail - (Electronic Mail) -- Messages, usually text, sent from one person to another via computer. E-mail can also be sent to a large number of addresses via mail lists. (See also spam.)

FTP - (File Transfer Protocol) -- A common method of moving files between two networked computer systems. Commonly used for uploading web pages.

Home Page - Originally, the web page that your browser is set to use when it starts up. The more common meaning refers to the main web page for a business, organization, person or simply the main page out of a collection of web pages. 

Host - On the Internet, the term "host" means any computer that has full two-way access to other computers on the Internet.

HTML - (HyperText Markup Language) -- The coding language used to create web pages (Hypertext documents) for use on the World Wide Web.

HTTP - (HyperText Transfer Protocol) -- The protocol for moving hypertext files across the Internet. Requires an HTTP client program on one end, and an HTTP server program on the other end. 

Internet - (Upper case I) The vast collection of inter-connected networks that all use the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the ARPANET of the late 60Õs and early 70Õs.

IP Address - (Internet Protocol Address) -- A unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, e.g. 192.168.1.1 Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP address.

IRC - (Internet Relay Chat) -- Basically a huge multi-user live chat facility. There are a number of major IRC servers around the world which are linked to each other.

ISP - (Internet Service Provider) -- An institution that provides access to the Internet in some form, like Inland Wireless.

Java - Java is a network-oriented programming language that is specifically designed for writing programs that can be safely downloaded to your computer through the Internet and immediately run without fear of viruses or other harm to your computer or files.

Mailing List - A (usually automated) system that allows people to send e-mail to one address, whereupon their message is copied and sent to all of the other subscribers to the maillist.

MIME - (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) -- The standard for attaching non-text files to standard E-mail messages. Non-text files include graphics, spreadsheets, formatted word-processor documents, sound files, etc.

Modem - (MOdulator, DEModulator) -- A device that you connect to your computer to a phone line and allows the computer to talk to other computers through the phone system.

Netiquette - (Network Etiquette) -- Refers to broadly accepted set of Internet do's-and-don'ts. 

POP3 - (Post Office Protocol 3) is the most recent version of a standard protocol for receiving e-mail. POP3 is a client-server protocol in which e-mail is received and held for you by your Internet server.

POTS - (Plain Old Telephone Service) -- POTS is a term which refers to the technology which provides regular dial-up voice grade telephone service. It is also used in reference to the circuit, usually a single pair of wires, which connects a customer's phone to the telephone network.

PPP - (Point to Point Protocol) -- Most well known as a protocol that allows a computer to use a regular POTS line and a modem to make TCP/IP connections and thus be really and truly on the Internet.

SMTP - (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) -- The main protocol used to send electronic mail on the Internet. SMTP consists of a set of rules for how a program sending mail and a program receiving mail should interact.

Spam - Any unwanted or unexpected e-mail that was sent to you without your permission. Some examples of spam might include commercial messages, chain letters, virus warnings, etc.

TCP/IP - (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) -- This is the suite of protocols that defines the Internet. To be truly on the Internet, your computer must have TCP/IP stack (operating software) and an IP Address.

Telnet - The program used to login from one system on the Internet to another. The telnet command/program gets you to the login prompt of another host.

URL - (Uniform Resource Locator) -- The standard way to give the address of a resource on the Internet that is part of the World Wide Web (WWW). A URL looks like this: http://www.inlandwireless.com

Virus - A virus is a piece of programming code inserted into other programming to cause some unexpected and, for the victim, usually undesirable event.

Web Page - An HTML document available via the Internet.

WWW - (World Wide Web) - All the resources and users
on the Internet that are using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).