How to Search Databases

Gopher, FTP, WAIS, Archie, Veronica, Jughead. What do all these strange terms mean? Basically, these are older tools or network services that represent different ways of searching and retrieving files on the Internet. With the development of the World Wide Web, you really don't need to know the gory details of how to use these anymore, but in case you're interested, read on.

Gopher is an application that organizes access to Internet resources using a menu-based search and retrieval system. It indexes the many databases, online library catalogs, bulletin board systems and campus-wide information services available on the Internet, by subject, type of service, or geographic location. While you are "sniffing" around Gopherspace, you are actually doing things that are not obviously visible to you, like transferring files, changing directories, connecting to computers and querying servers all over the world.

Gopher automatically takes care of finding whatever data you want, no matter where it is. You may use a dozen or more different Gopher servers in a single session, but you hardly know it. You need a Gopher client program to run Gopher, but if you don't have one, there are public Gopher sites that you can telnet to. When you get there, you log in as Gopher and then you can run its Gopher client program to do a search.

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, which is a widely used method of copying files from one system to another on the Internet. With FTP you can list the files in a directory and upload or download files to and from that directory.

The transfer of publicly available information is one of the most widespread uses of the file transfer capability on the Internet. Many organizations connected to the Internet provide openly accessible file transfer sites with information that anyone can obtain. Files are stored in "open" areas of computers. You access them by using FTP to connect to those systems. These are called Anonymous FTP sites because to access them you log in with the word anonymous, and use your e-mail address as the password. If you are not using a web browser with built-in FTP capability, or if you want to upload files to a remote server, you need an FTP client program.

If you go to one of the Internet software sites, like Download.com, you can find many FTP programs. We like WS_FTP for Windows and Fetch for the Mac. FTP is also built into many applications, like Web management tools, word processors and so on.

I have to sketch out the details once again before this Monday for a official presentation. But then what i want to share here with you is my experience of sharing the E-mail Support and providing computer support assistance

Anatomy of a Web Page

This post Describe about Email Support Functionality. But I want to share My Experience with E-mail Support and Computer Support.

A web page is an electronic document written in a computer language called HTML, short for Hypertext Markup Language. Each web page has a unique address, called a URL or Uniform Resource Locator that identifies where it's located on the network.

A website has one or more related web pages, depending on how it's designed. Web pages on a site are linked together through a system of hyperlinks, enabling you to jump between them by clicking.

When you browse the Word Wide Web you'll see the term home page often. Think of a home page as the starting point of a website. Like the table of contents of a book or magazine, the home page usually provides an overview of what you'll find at the website. A site can have one page, many pages or a few long ones. If there isn't a lot of information, the home page may be the only page. But usually you will find at least a few other pages.

Web pages vary wildly in design and content, but many use a traditional magazine format. At the top of the page is a masthead or banner graphic, then a list of items, such as articles, often with a brief description. The items in the list usually link to other pages on the site, or to other sites. Sometimes these links are highlighted words in the body of the text, or are arranged in a list, like an index. They can also be a combination of both. A web page may also have "hot" images that link to other content.

How can you tell which text are links? Text Links appear in a different color from the rest of the text--typically in blue and often underlined. When you move your cursor over a text link or over a graphic link, it changes from an arrow to a hand. The hypertext words often hint at what you will link to.

When you return to a page with a link you've already visited, the hypertext words will often be in a different color, which indicates that you've already been there. But you can certainly go there again by clicking the link. Don't be surprised though, if the next time you visit a page it looks different and the information has changed. The Web is a dynamic medium. To encourage visitors to return to a site, many web publishers update their sites frequently. That's what makes browsing the Web so engaging.

In This post I discussed on Anatomy of web page. How to work with Word Wide Web and Computer Help on Internet

Share Your Digital Photos

Digital cameras and camera phones have certainly captured the public eye. Last year consumers bought over 500 million of them. The chances are that you already have one of these handy devices and have amassed a pile of pictures.

Part of the fun of photography is sharing your images with friends and family. Traditionally, people have made prints from their film. With a color printer, you can easily print your digital files at home--no need to spend money for film processing anymore. But with digital photos you have some 21st century options: e-mailing your images or sharing them online.

E-mailing: Just Attach and Send

E-mailing can be quick and simple--all you have to do is download the pictures from your camera to your computer, select the ones you want and attach them to your message. (If you need help with this, see our step-by-step instructions for attaching files.) But before you click the Send button, keep these things in mind:

Digital images are typically stored as jpeg files (you'll notice the .jpg file extension at the end of the file name). With today's megapixel cameras, snapping a photo at high resolution can result in an image with a very large file size, sometimes .5 megabyte or more. If you plan to print your photos, you want high resolution images, since they provide sharper, clearer prints. But e-mailing high resolution images presents some problems.

Without a broadband connection, it can take a long time to send these huge files. The same is true for the recipient--downloading large attachments over a dial-up connection can try anyone's patience. Also, large files may clog the recipient's mailbox or worse, be rejected because it's over the account limit. So what do you do?

If you don't plan on making prints, then shoot at low resolution, say 600 x 800 pixels. Most cameras let you set the image size. An added benefit is that because the images are smaller, you can store more of them in the camera's memory.

Another option is to shoot at high resolution, then reduce the file size of the photos you want to e-mail. You can do this a few different ways. If you use Microsoft Outlook, there's a handy feature that will automatically reduce the size of photo files. After you attach the photos, click on the Attachment Options button, then select the appropriate setting.

Many digital cameras now come with photo editing software that you can install on your computer. For under US $100, you can buy programs such as Photoshop Elements and Paint Shop Pro that easily reduce file size, as well as a lot of other useful things. Once you've reduced your masterpieces to a manageable size, just attach and send.

source www.learnthenet.com

How to Download Files

Downloading Files refers to the method by which you access digital information from a remote computer. As it turns out, almost everything you do on the Web is some form of downloading. For instance, when you access a web page, you are actually downloading the text document and all its associated graphics from a web server. As the digital data arrives, your web browser assembles it on your screen.

Another way to download a file is to click on a link with your right mouse button (or hold the mouse button down if you are using a Mac), and select Save to Disk or Save Target As... From the pop-up menu. In some cases, you will be prompted to save the file somewhere on your hard drive, or the file may download automatically to your desktop, depending on how your browser is configured.

Saving an Image

Once a graphic or photo is displayed on your monitor, you may want to save it for future reference. Here's how to do it:

1. First, place your cursor over the graphic.

2. Windows users: Click your right mouse button. A pop-up box appears. Macintosh users: Click and hold the mouse button until the pop-up box appears.

3. Save the image to your hard drive by selecting the Save Picture AS option.

4. You can accept the current file name or rename the file.( Graphic Files are usually in .gif or .jpg format.)

Compressed and Self-Extracting Files

With software, more often than not, you will be downloading files that have been compressed. These may be individual files or groups of files that have been compressed into a single file. This is done to save downloading time and disk space. If the files have been compressed, you need a separate software utility to decompress them.

The exceptions are self-extracting files, those with a .sea (Macintosh) or .exe (Windows) extension. These files do not require a separate software program to run. Because many files take considerable time to download to your computer, you will want to save yourself the headache of discovering, after the fact, that you downloaded a file that won't run on your computer. How can you tell? Read the Learn the Net article about file formats and extensions for more information on file extensions and how to interpret them. For additional help, see our step-by-step downloading instructions.

How Private Is Your E-Mail

Every day, tens of millions of people use electronic mail to conduct business and to communicate with friends and family. But if you think your e-mail is private, guess again.

E-mail is no more private than a postcard. Unlike other forms of communication, such as telephone calls, which are protected in the United States under laws like the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 and by similar laws in other countries, e-mail has little similar protection. The situation becomes even murkier for messages sent or received at your place of business.

For Your Eyes Only?

An electronic message typically makes numerous stops at computers along the route to its final destination. At each stop, it can be intercepted and read by snoops. Why would someone want to do this? For hackers, there's the challenge of eavesdropping in cyberspace; for business competitors, confidential data may have strategic value. After all, information is power.

Where Has All the E-mail Gone?

Even after you've received a message and deleted it, the message doesn't vanish. Many Internet service providers archive e-mail for some period of time. These archives can be accessed and even subpoenaed in the event of an investigation or lawsuit. The same holds true for messages received at work. Although you hit the Delete key, the message may still exist in the company system. Those off-color remarks you wrote may come back to haunt you!

What is an E-mail Smileys

When you talk to someone face-to-face, your body language, the tone of your voice and your 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 messages by using a smiley or emoticon--a "character" you create with your keyboard. You'll be amazed at the range of emotions these little characters express.

Here are some of the more popular Smileys.

: - @ Cursing	:#) Drunk
: - O Surprised	: - X Big Kiss
: - ( Sad	: - D Laughing
: ~) Wondering	: - { Angry
; - ) Wink	:- ) Happy