Internet

What is the Web? The World Wide Web is a collection of electronic files linked together like a spider web. These files are stored on computers called Web Servers located around the world. The Wed has evolved into a global electronic publishing medium The Web has enabled an explosion of electronic commerce

What is the Web made of? The Web consists of: Your Personal Computer or Mobile Device. Web browser software to access the Web. A connection to an Internet Provider (ISP) Servers that host the electronic files. Routers and switches to direct the flow of data

How the Web Works? Web pages are stored on web servers located around the global. Entering the Uniform Resource locater or URL of a web page in your browser or clicking a link sends a request to the server that hosts the content. The server transmits the web page data to your computer and your web browser assembles it into your screen.

Web Pages A web page is an electronic document written in a computer language called HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) . Web pages can contain text, graphics, audio, video, and animation as well as interactive features, such as data entry forms and games. Each page has a unique address known as URL (Uniform Resource Locater), which identifies its location on the network. Web pages usually contain hyperlinks to other web pages or resources. Hyperlinks are text and images that reference the address of other web pages.

Websites A website consists of one or more web pages that relate to a common theme, such as a person, business, organization, or a subject, such as news or sports. The first page is called home page , which acts like an index, indicating the content on the site. Form the home page, you can click links to access other pages on the site or other resources on the web.

Navigating The Web Text links are usually in a different color and underlined from the rest of the text : Move your cursor over the learn the net logo and notice the URL in the status bar at the bottom of your web browser window.

Navigating The Web To determine if a graphic is a hyperlinked, move your cursor arrow over the image. You know the item is hyperlinked if: The arrow turns into a hand. A URL appears in the status bar at the bottom of your web browser.

How Hyperlinks Work A text or graphic hyperlink hides a URL Clicking a hyperlink passes the URL to a browser. Clicking different parts of a linked graphic, called an image map , takes you to different web pages or different places on the same page. In addition to pointing to web pages, hyperlink can access media files, such as audio or video clips.

Web Addresses A URL indicates where the web page is stored on the internet . URLs almost never use black slashes (\). All slashes are forward slashes (/).

Web Addresses You need to type a URL exactly for your browser to locate the desired web page, otherwise you will access the wrong site or get an error message . Although URLs may contain spaces between characters, they usually do not. The location box or address fields on your browser indicates the URL of the page you arrived at after clicking a link.

Examples of URLs http://www.learnthenet.com the home page for the Learn the Net website. http://blogs.reuters.com/soccer A blog or weblog from Reuters news agency.

Examples of URLs ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/ A directory of files at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) That you can download. News:rec.regardnes.roses A newsgroup about rose gardening.

Anatomy of URLs Here’s how to interpret the various parts of the URL for this page: http://www.learnthenet.com/web-at-a-glance/url-anatomy/page_01.php http -- Short for Hypertext transfer protocol, this indicates a web document or directory. www -- This indicates a page on the World Wide Web. (These days , the “www” is optional).

Anatomy of URLs learnthenet.com -- Called domain name, it often indicates the name of a company, university, or organization. It can also tell you the country of origin. www.learnthenet.com -- Together, these indicates the web server name. Web-at-a-glance -- This is a directory or folder on the web server that contains a group of related web pages within the website.

Anatomy of URLs url-anatomy --This is a folder inside the “web-at-a-glance” folder. Page_01.php -- This is a web page inside the folder. (The same file might be named page_01.html ( A URL doesn’t always include the name of the web page, so you might see the URL of this page like this : http://www.learnthenet.com/web-at-a-glance/url-anatomy/

Membership Websites Some websites require you to enter a user ID and a password to access restricted content on the site or to use it server. You can get a user ID and password by registering with the site , usually by filling out an online form. Some sites may require you to pay a fee.

Membership Websites Example includes: Music sites , such as Napster E-mail services like Yahoo! Mail Shopping sites like Amazon.com Financial and banking sites , such as Citibank and HSBC Internet and Extranet sites.

Web Browser The most useful buttons on your browser toolbar include: Back -- Returns you to previous page. Forward -- Returns you to the page you have backed up from .

Web Browser Home -- Takes you to the start page specified in the browser preferences. Reload or Refresh -- Downloads the web page from the server again. Stop -- Stops the browser from loading the current page. Print -- Lets you make a hard copy of the current page displayed in your browser.

Web Browser Anatomy Access indicator icon -- When animated, it tells you the browser is retrieving data. Status bar (bottom of browser window) -- Reports on the progress of the data download. History menu -- Lets you select a web page you have previously accessed.

Setting a home page in FireFox On the browser Menu bar , click Tools , then Select Options . In the Startup section, type the address of the web page you want as your start-up page or if you are on the page you want to be your home page, click Use Current Page. Click OK.

Setting a Home Page in Internet Explorer Go to the web page you want to use as your start-up page. On the browser menu bar, click Tools , select Internet Options, then select General tab. The address of the web page you want as your start-up page should appear in the Address box . Click Use Current .

Saving an Image from the Web Place your cursor over the graphic you want to save. Windows users : Click the right mouse button. A pop-up box appears. Macintosh users : Click and Hold the mouse button. A pop-up box appears. Save the image to your hard drive by selecting Save option. You can accept the current file name or rename the file . (Graphic files are usually in .gif, jpg or .png formats.)

Printing a Web Page Most browser have a Print button on the toolbar that lets you print a web page. Some web pages are divided into multiple section called frames. You can only print one frame at time. To print a particular frame, first select by clicking it, then click the Print button or select Print frame from the file menu. Note that when printing a web page the background image or color doesn’t print . Typically the text prints over a white background.

Multimedia on the Web Audio, Video, Animation, and interactive games are referred to as Multimedia . Some multimedia content, called streaming media , are embedded in a web page and begin to play when you access the page. Others requires that you download the multimedia file to your computer first. Multimedia files often require that your browser use a plug in program, like Quick time or Flash , to play the file.

E-Mail Etiquette When we converse, we expect other people to observe certain rules of behavior. The same is true for E-Mail, the most popular form of online communication. Here are a few pointers to help you communicate more effectively. 1. Clearly summarize your message in subject line . Properly titled message help people organize and prioritize their E-mail.

E-Mail Etiquette 2. Don’t use the CC (carbon copy) function to copy your message to everyone. This is particularly true at work. These days everyone receives too much E-Mail. Unnecessary messages are annoying. If only a few people really need to receive our message, only direct to them. Similarly. When responding to e-mail, do not respond to all recipients, By choosing Reply to All or a similar button when responding to a message, you may end up broadcasting your response to your entire company.

E-Mail Etiquette 3 . Use BCCs (Blind Carbon Copies) when addressing a message to a group of people you don’t want necessarily know each other. Just as it’s not polite to give out a person’s telephone number without his or her knowledge. It’s not polite to broadcast everyone’s e-mail address. For instance, when you send a message to 30 people and use the To or CC fields to address the message, all 30 people see each other’s address. By using BCC’s, each other recipient see only two – theirs and yours.

E-Mail Etiquette 4. Keep your messages short and focused. Few people enjoy reading on their computer screens; fewer still on the small smart phone screens and other mobile devices. Recipients to ignore long messages. 5. Avoid using all capital letters. IT MAKES IT LOOK LIKE YOU’RE SHOUTING! IT’S ALSO MORE DIFFICULT TO READ.

E-Mail Etiquette 6. Don’t write anything you wouldn’t say in public. Anyone can easily forward your message, even accidentally. This could leave you in an embarrassing position if you divulged confidential information. Made a nasty comment about someone or circulated an off-color joke. If you don’t want to potentially share something you write, consider using telephone.

E-Mail Etiquette 7. Use a smiley to make sure that a statement is not misunderstood. Smileys are typically used in personal e-mail and are not considered appropriate for business. Insert them judiciously in office e-mail. If your message needs a smiley for better understanding most likely you should not be delivering it via e-mail. Even with a smiley. Someone may misconstrue your message. Use smileys to support a statement. It’s rude to write something mean or derogatory, then place a happy smiley at the end of sentence.

E-Mail Etiquette 8. Avoid sending e-mail to large numbers of people unless you have a legitimate reason to do it. E-mail sent to many recipients my be considered spam. 9. Avoid nasty e-mail. These messages have their own term; flame. Flame e-mail is an insulting message designed to cause pain, as when someone “gets burned”.

E-Mail Etiquette 10. Include your name at the bottom of the message. The messages contain your e-mail address in the header, but the recipient may not know that the sender’s address is yours, especially if it’s different from your real name. Email Etiquette may take a while to learn, but don’t let your fear of mistakes inhibit you. All internet users were beginners once, so most people are quite forgiving.

How E-mail Works? It can take a day to send a letter across the city and weeks to go around the world. To save time and money, you can’t beat electronic mail, it’s fast, easy and cheaper than the using the postal service.

What is e-mail? In it’s simplest form, e-mail is an electronic message sent from one device to another. While many messages go from computer to computer, e-mail can also be sent and received by mobile phones, PDAs and other portable devices. With e-mail, you can send and receive personal and business- related messages and attachments, such as photos and documents. You can also send music, podcasts, video clips and software programs.

What is e-mail? Let’s say you have a small business with sales reps working around the country. How do you communicate without running up a huge phone bill? Or what about keeping in touch with far- flung family members? E-mail is the way to go. It’s no wonder e-mail has become the internet’s most popular service.

Follow the trail Just as a letter makes stops at different postal station along the way to its final destination, e-mail passes from one computer, known as a mail server, to another as it travels over the internet. Once it arrives at the destination mail server, it’s stored in an electronic mailbox until the recipient retrieves it. The whole process can take a seconds, allowing you to quickly communicate with people around the world at any time of the day.

Sending and Receiving Messages To receive e-mail, you need an account on a mail server. This is similar to having a postal box where you receive letters. One advantage over regular mail is that you can retrieve your e-mail from any location on earth, provide that you have an internet access. Once you connect to your e-mail server, you either download your messages to your computer or wireless device, or use your web browser to read them online.

Sending and Receiving Messages To send e-mail, you need a connection to the internet and access to a mail server that forwards your mail to its final destination. The standard protocol used for sending Internet e-mail is called SMTP, short for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. It works in conjunction with POP--Post Office Protocol--Servers. Almost all internet service providers and all major online services offer at least one e-mail address with every account.

Sending and Receiving Messages When you send an e-mail message, your computer routes it to an SMTP server. The server looks at the e-mail address (similar to the address on an envelop), then forwards it to the recipient's mail server, where it’s stored until the address retrieves it. You can send e-mail anywhere in the world to anyone who has an e-mail address. In fact astronauts on the international space station use e-mail to keep in touch with their earth-bound colleagues.

Sending and Receiving Messages At one time, you could only send text messages without attachments via the Internet. With the advent MIME, which stands for multipurpose Internet Mail Extension, and other types of encoding schemes, such as Uuencode, you can now send formatted documents, photos, audio and video files, Just make sure that the person to whom you send that attachment has the software capable of opening it.

Sending and Receiving Messages E-mail messages are similar to letters, with tow main parts: The headers contains the name and e-mail address of the recipient, the name and e-mail address of anyone who is being copied, and the subject of the message. Most e-mail program also display your name, e-mail address and date of the message.

Sending and Receiving Messages The body contains the message itself. Just like sending a letter, you need recipient’s correct address. But with e-mail, spelling is critical. If you use the wrong address or mistype it, your message will bounce back to you--the old Return to Sender, Address Unknown routine.

An electronic Postmark When you receive an e-mail, the header tells you where it came from, how it was sent, and when. It’s an electronic postmark. Unlike a letter, which is sealed in an envelope, e-mail is not as private. It’s more like a postcard. Messages can be intercepted and read by people who shouldn’t be looking at it. Avoid including any confidential information unless you have a way to encrypt it.

Understanding e-mail address E-mail addresses typically have two main parts: the user name and the domain name. Here’s an example : [email_address] Professor is the user name and refers to recipient’s mailbox. After the @ sign come the learnthenet. The host name, also called the domain name. This refers to mail server, the computer where the recipient has an electronic mailbox. It’s usually the name of a company or organization.

Sending an E-mail Message E-mail is by far the most popular service on the Internet. Sending messages is a snap. Just follow these simple steps. (Although this example uses Microsoft Outlook, most e-mail programs work the same way) .

Sending an E-mail Message 1. Open your e-mail program and launch a new message window by clicking on the appropriate icon. 2. In the TO box, type the name of the recipient. It should take this form: [email_address] . Make sure you enter the address correctly or the message will return to you. You can send the message to more than one person by entering multiple addresses. Just put a semicolon (;) between each address.

Sending an E-mail Message You can also send a copies (cc:) and blind copies (Bcc:) to multiple addresses You return address is automatically sent to recipient.

3. Type the subject of the e-mail. Sending an E-mail Message

Sending an E-mail Message 4. Write your message in the message window. You can also copy text from a word processing program and paste it into the window.

Sending an E-mail Message 5. Click on the send icon or select Send the File menu.

Add a signature to your message Most people sign their letters in written correspondence. With electronic messages, you can add a signature too, although it’s a bit different.

Add a signature to your message Most E-mail programs let you insert a signature file at the bottom of the messages. It can be anything from a clever quote to some additional information about you, such as your title, company, phone number and website address. If you’re creative, use the characters on your keyboard to make a unique design. You can also add a graphic if you wish.

Add a signature to your message Once you create a signature file, your e-mail program will insert it automatically, instead of you having a retype it with each message. If you send a lot of e-mail, this saves time and keystrokes.

Creating A signature file Most e-mail programs work similarly, so we’ll show you how to do this using Microsoft Outlook. 1. Under the tools menu click Options 2. When the dialog box opens, click the Mail format tab, then click the Signature button at the bottom.

Creating A signature file 3. Click the New button.

Creating A signature file 4. Now type the name of the new signature. If you want, you can have more than one signature, maybe one for professional use and one personal messages.

Creating A signature file 5. Type your signature information into the text box. Make sure it’s formatted and spelled correctly. When you’re done, click OK button.

Creating A signature file 6. Finally, click OK at the bottom of the options box. That’s it. If any time you want to make a change, follow the same steps to edit your signature file.

Smileys When you talk to someone face-to-face, your body language, the tone of your voice, your inflections and facial expressions impart great meaning to what you say. These non-verbal cues may be more important than your words. You can personalize your written communication by using a smiley or emoticon--a "face" you create from keyboard characters. You'll be amazed at the range of emotions these little characters express. Below are some of the more popular smileys. Can you guess what they mean? Roll your mouse over each one to find out.

Smileys :-@ = Cursing : #) = Drunk : -0 = Surprised :-x = Big kiss :-( = Sad :-D = Laughing :~) = Wondering :-{ = Angry ;-) = Wink :-) = Happy

Abbreviations While smileys add personality to your messages, abbreviations save keystrokes. Some common ones include: < BFN > Bye For Now < BRB > Be Right Back < BTW > By The Way < G > Grin < HTH > Hope This Helps < IJWTK > I Just Want To Know < IJWTS > I Just Want To Say < IMHO > In My Humble Opinion

Abbreviations < LOL > Laughing Out Loud < OTOH > On The Other Hand < ROTFL > Rolling on the Floor Laughing < TOY > Thinking of You < YMMV > Your Mileage May Vary

Attaching Files With the advent of an Internet protocol called MIME, Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension, and other types of encoding schemes, you can send formatted documents, photos, sound and video files as attachments to your e-mail messages

Attaching Files These protocols use a complex mathematical formula to convert files to text and then back to their original form. This conversion process is known as encoding and decoding. If the person to whom you are sending an attachment uses a MIME-compliant or UUencode e-mail program--and almost all programs do--it automatically detects the attachment, decodes it, and either opens it or prompts the recipient to save the file.

Attaching Files Before you send binary files or formatted documents as attachments, make sure that the person you are sending them to has the ability to open the files. For instance, if you send a spreadsheet created in Excel, the recipient needs that program to view the file. By the way, don't confuse encoding a file with encrypting a file. Encoding files adds no security. Anyone with the right decoding software can view it.

How to do it The procedure for attaching files varies depending on the type of e-mail program you use. In general, you click an icon, such as a paper clip, located on the toolbar of the program. If you use a Web-based e-mail service like Hotmail or Gmail, click "Attach" on the toolbar to attach a file. Select the file you want to attach by locating it on your hard drive or on a disk. Once you've selected the file, either its name will appear as part of the e-mail header, or as an icon within the body of your message. Most programs allow you to attach multiple files, but may limit the size of the files. (As of this writing, many e-mail services won't let you send files larger than 10 Mb.) Once the files are attached, click the Send button and off they go. For more help, see Step-by-Step: Sending E-mail Attachments.

Step by step : Sending e-mail Attachment Here's how to e-mail documents, spreadsheets, photos or any other type of file. The example below uses Microsoft Outlook, but most e-mail programs, even Web-based e-mail like Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail, work the same way. (Here are instructions for Yahoo! Mail. 1. Open your e-mail program, launch a new message window and compose your message.

Step by step : Sending e-mail Attachment

Step by step : Sending e-mail Attachment 2. Click the attachment icon (the paper clip) or insert the file by selecting from the drop-down menu.

Step by step : Sending e-mail Attachment 3. Browse your hard drive or removable disks to locate the file you want to attach. Click it to highlight the name, then click the Insert button.

Step by step : Sending e-mail Attachment 4. An icon or message should now appear indicating that the file has been attached.

Step by step : Sending e-mail Attachment 5. Finally, click the Send button and off it goes!

Step by step : Sending e-mail Attachment 1. Access your e-mail account, and then launch a new message window by clicking the New button. Now enter the address and compose your message.

Step by step : Sending e-mail Attachment 2. Click the Attach Files button. A new screen will appear like the one below.

Step by step : Sending e-mail Attachment 3. Click the Browse... button to search your hard drive or removable disks to locate the file you want to attach. Click to highlight the file, and then click the Open button.

Step by step : Sending e-mail Attachment 4. The file name will appear in the File 1 box. You can now add more files using the same procedure. When you are finished, click the Attach Files button.

Step by step : Sending e-mail Attachment 5. A paper clip icon with the file name appears indicating that the file has been attached. Click the Send button and off it goes!

Opening Attachment One of the most useful features of e-mail is the ability to send digital files. But once you receive an attachment, how do you open it? The answer depends on the type of file and how your computer is configured.

Opening Attachment All digital files have names, such as "balloon1.jpg." The letters after the "." are known as the file extension and indicate which kind of program can open the file. For instance, you can view a .jpg photo file with your web browser or a picture viewer and listen to an .mp3 music file with Windows Media Player and iTunes, among others. The most common types of files sent over the Net include these:

Opening Attachment A web browser, Office Picture Manager, image editing programs .jpg .gif Images Opens With... Extension File Type

Opening Attachment Windows Media Player or iTunes Windows Media Player RealPlayer Windows Media Player or iTunes Windows Media Player .mp3 .mpg .ra .wav .wmf Music Opens With... Extension File Type

Opening Attachment Windows Media Player QuickTime QuickTime RealPlayer .avi .mov .qt .ram Video Opens With... Extension File Type

Opening Attachment Word Excel Acrobat Reader doc .xls .pdf Documents Opens With... Extension File Type

Opening Attachment Open Sesame Once you're sure that an attachment is safe, here's how to open it: 1. Double-click the attachment icon. 2. A dialog box opens.

Opening Attachment 3. To view the file without saving it, check Open it, then click OK. The application should open, allowing you to view the file. If the file extension isn't associated with an application, follow the directions below. 4. If you saved the file, locate the folder where you saved it, find the file and double-click it. The appropriate program should open. Alternately, you can first open the associated application—for instance, Word if the you received a ".doc" file--then locate the file and open it.

How to Associate Files If an attachment won't open, but you have the program that can open it, associate the file type with the program as follows: 1. Click the My Computer icon on the desktop, then on the View menu and select Folder Options.

How to Associate Files 2. Click the File Types tab, then locate the file type from the list. Click it once to highlight it. You will see which application, if any, is associated with the file. To associate a new application, click the Change button.

How to Associate Files 3. When the dialog box opens, click the program you want to use to open the file. If the program doesn't appear in the list, click the Browse button and locate it on your hard drive. Once you've made your choice, click OK. There's no doubt that the above procedure is a bit complicated, so if you encounter problems, ask someone to walk you through the steps. After a while, you'll get the hang of it.

Managing your E-mail Each day billions of e-mail messages zap across the Internet. If it seems that most of them make their way to your Inbox, you're not alone. "Overwhelming" is how many people feel about this electronic communication. The bad news is that it will only get worse as the popularity of e-mail increases. The good news is that you can avoid drowning in a sea of messages by following some simple steps.

Managing your E-mail 1.Establish separate business and personal accounts. Keep your personal and professional lives separate, especially since employers in many countries can legally review messages on company mail servers. Do you really want your boss reading those off-color jokes? Having a separate personal account also means you aren't dealing with personal business on company time.

Managing your E-mail 2.Develop a routine. Answer your e-mail at set times during the day- -perhaps the first thing in the morning, then mid-afternoon. This prevents incoming mail from interrupting other things you may be doing.

Managing your E-mail 3.Set up your e-mail software for rapid review. With e-mail programs such as Microsoft Outlook, you can customize the multi-pane display for quick viewing. Ideally you want to see who the sender is, the subject and be able to read the first few lines of the message. That way you don't have to open every message to discern its content.

Managing your E-mail 4.Scan new messages and delete spam immediately. Junk e-mail has become a fact of electronic life, so turn them to your advantage. Quickly review the message subject line and scan a line or two to identify spam. Now use the Delete key. Weeding out spam reduces your Inbox by half or more, providing a psychological boost when you only have fifty messages to deal with, instead of one hundred!

Managing your E-mail 5.Use filtering. To further reduce the volume of mail, use filtering tools built into your e-mail program. They let you block messages sent from certain addresses, an excellent way to reduce spam. You can also 241 automatically route messages from certain addresses into folders you set up. For instance, if you belong to a discussion group, messages will go directly into that folder, instead of your Inbox.

Managing your E-mail 6.Organize messages into folders. Create a series of folders to categorize your e-mail, using action items (pending, review etc.) and subjects (travel, newsletters, etc.). After you receive messages, file them away for later action and reference. Messages remaining in your Inbox are those requiring immediate action. Reply, then file or delete them.

Managing your E-mail 7.Write short responses. Everyone is pressed for time, so keep replies brief and to the point. E-mail has developed its own shorthand that doesn't require the formal prose of a letter. 8.Prepare boiler plate responses. You may find that you are often asked the same questions. To save time and avoid retyping the answers, just cut-and-paste a prepared reply. You can then tailor it as required.

Ten Tips to Stop Spam What most annoys Internet users? The answer is a four letter word: spam, those obnoxious, unsolicited e-mail messages touting get rich quick schemes, miracle diets, amazing beauty products and pornographic pleasures. Unlike paper junk mail, which senders pay for, spammers pay almost nothing to e-mail millions of their offensive messages. It's your Internet Service Provider and ultimately you that have to bear the cost. AOL, MSN, Gmail, Yahoo! and other email providers try to filter spam before it reaches your mailbox, but their efforts are only partially effective.

Some countries have laws against spam and some spammers have been fined for their actions, but the practice continues. In fact, it's increasing. Why, you may wonder, when spammers are universally despised? Because it works. Sending e-mail in bulk is so cheap that even if only a handful of people respond, there's a profitable payoff for the spammer. Ten Tips to Stop Spam

Ten Tips to Stop Spam Unfortunately, spam is here to stay. That doesn't mean you have to be an innocent victim. Here's how to fight back: 1.Protect your e-mail address. Spammers either buy lists of e-mail addresses or use software programs that mine the addresses from the Internet. If your address is posted in discussion groups, websites, chat rooms, blogs, social networking sites, etc., the chances are that it will end up on one or more of these lists. Only post your address publicly when absolutely necessary. If you have to post your address, you can fool the mining software by writing it this way: professor(at)learnthenet.com. Instruct people who want to e-mail you to replace (at) with the @ sign.

Ten Tips to Stop Spam 2.Set up multiple e-mail accounts. If you do participate regularly in online activities where you post your address, then set up another e-mail account. Only give it to close friends and family.

Ten Tips to Stop Spam 3.Filter out spam. Many e-mail programs, such as Outlook, have built-in tools that block messages sent from certain addresses or that filter messages based on keywords you define. To learn how these features work, check the online help files for your e-mail software

Ten Tips to Stop Spam 4.Use anti-spam software. You can install special software designed to eliminate spam. Some work by matching incoming messages against a list of known spammers; others block messages that don't match a preapproved list of acceptable addresses. Most e-mail programs now have built-in spam filters. If yours doesn't, download and test drive the latest anti-spam programs at Download.com.

Ten Tips to Stop Spam 5.Don't respond. Spammers continue their pernicious practice because it's effective. Help stomp it out by boycotting them. Don't buy their products regardless of how enticing the offers may be. Some clever spammers include instructions at the bottom of the message on how to remove your name from their list. The worse thing you can do is to reply. Why? Because this tells the spammer that you read your mail and that your address is valid. The result? Even more junk mail!

Ten Tips to Stop Spam 6.Don't retaliate. After receiving dozens of unwanted messages, a natural reaction is to fire off a nasty missive. Resist the urge. It could backfire, resulting in more, not less spam. 7.Opt-out. Some websites require you to register to use their services. Before you do, review the site's privacy policy to see how it uses your personal information like your e-mail address. If the site sends out commercial messages, you should be given a choice whether you want to receive email from the site or from its third party partners. If you don't want to hear from them, be sure to check the No box. In other words, just say no.

Ten Tips to Stop Spam 8.Remove your address from directories. Your address may be listed with people finder services, such as Yahoo! People Search and other directories that are goldmines for spammers. To prevent your address from being harvested, email these lookup services and ask them to remove your name.

Ten Tips to Stop Spam 9.Report violators. A number of government agencies and private organizations accept complaints. Whether they can actually do anything to stop the deluge is an unanswered question. Among the ones to contact are: SpamCop The National Fraud Information Center You can also forward spam to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov.

Ten Tips to Stop Spam 10.Use your Delete key. Perhaps the path of least resistance is to highlight the offending message and delete it, banishing it to the trash bin. If everyone ignored spam, it would eventually go away.

Mailing Lists Once you start using the Internet, you'll notice people talking about joining lists and participating in groups. While there are tens of thousands of ongoing newsgroups and forums on different subjects, there are also thousands of e-mail list discussions as well. What's the difference? Newsgroups and forums are public discussions that anyone can subscribe to and participate in. You read what members have written and post comments if you choose. Think of it as an electronic bulletin board. On the other hand, a mailing list is a list of e-mail addresses of people interested in the same topic. You can think of them as electronic newsletters.

Types of Lists Mailing lists can be public or private, with as few as two participants or many thousands. Mailing lists are often used to provide subscribers with current information. For music fans, that might include upcoming concert dates or ticket purchasing details. Generally, there are two types of lists: Announcement-type lists, where you receive messages, but can't post to the list yourself. Discussion-type lists, where everyone on the list can participate. When a list subscriber sends a message, it goes to everyone on the list. You can reply to messages you receive, send new messages, or just read the messages without participating. The key advantage of a mailing list over a newsgroup is that instead of having to go somewhere to read or retrieve postings, messages are automatically delivered to your e-mail box. All of this traffic is automatically managed by programs called Mailing List Managers (MLMs). Two popular ones are Listserv and Majordomo.

Subscribing To join a mailing list, all you need is an e-mail address. To subscribe, you send a message to the list administrator (this is usually not an individual, just an automated process) and your e-mail address is added to the list. Subscribing to a mailing list is usually free. After you subscribe, you should receive a reply giving you details about the list and how to participate. Soon, you'll begin receiving messages. To be removed the mailing list, you must unsubscribe by sending an e-mail message to the list administrator. Typically, in the body of the message you type something like unsubscribe followed by the name of the list and your e-mail address. The process varies from one list to another, depending on what MLM is in use. Check the instructions you received. If you don't want to be overwhelmed with a daily flood of e-mail messages, subscribe to the digest version, if one is available. A digest provides a periodic summary of the messages. Some digests are now posted on a website so you can access them with your browser, avoiding the traffic in your e-mail box altogether.

Some Mailing Lists Tips Subscribe to one or two mailing lists at a time. Wait to see how many messages you receive before subscribing to any others. Save the list subscription instructions. After you subscribe, you will get a response with instructions on how the list works, and perhaps most important, how to unsubscribe. Read and save these instructions. It's bad netiquette to send messages to the list requesting help in unsubscribing. Turn off the list when you go on vacation if you don't plan on checking your e-mail. It's like stopping your newspaper delivery. Some lists offer a vacation option. For others, you have to unsubscribe, then re-subscribe when you return. A high traffic list can generate hundreds of messages a day, overloading your mailbox.

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