"Nifty Net Facts" — July 1999

1. Who started the Internet?
The Internet was started in the 60's by the U.S. military. They needed a national network that would keep working if there were a disaster. The network that the military created became the Internet many years later, and was expanded throughout the entire world.

2. What is a Web page?
A Web page is kind of like a magazine page because it has text and pictures, only it shows up on your computer screen. Unlike magazine pages, Web pages can contain sounds and motion.

3. What is a Web site?
A Web site is a collection of Web pages that are all linked together.

4. What is a Web browser?
A Web browser is a program that pops up a special window. This window is used for looking at Web pages.

5. What is a server?
Whenever you are on the Internet, you can look at Web pages or download things. You might wonder sometimes where these things come from. When you look at pages or download things, you are getting them from computers that can be located anywhere in the world. These computers are called servers.

6. What is e-mail?
E-mail lets you send messages to anyone in the world that has a special address called an e-mail address. You can use special programs or special Web sites to send e-mail.

7. Why do my parents or other relatives have to pay someone so that I can get on the Internet?
To use the Internet, you pay a company called an Internet Service Provider. An Internet Service Provider keeps the Internet addresses for Web sites and e-mail in order, so that everything will work when you setup Internet software on your computer.

8. What is Spam?
Spam is junk e-mail that may advertise weird or scary things. If you get weird e-mails and you do not know who sent them, it is probably Spam.

9. How do things get to my computer from the Internet?
When you look at Web pages, download something or read e-mail, everything travels a very long distance through high-speed lines, then to your phone lines, then to your computer.

10. How do I find things on the Internet?
When you want to find something on the Internet, you use a special Web site called a search engine. A search engine keeps a record of millions of Web pages, so that anyone on the Internet can search them for information.