Activity 4: Searching the Internet

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using search engines?

ADVANTAGES:

•           -It helps to communicate, information, entertainment, services and E-Commerce. For communication, we can communicate in a fraction of second with a person who is sitting in the other part of the world. Today for better communication, we can avail the facilities of e-mail; we can chat for hours with our loved ones. it has become very easy to establish a kind of global friendship where you can share your thoughts, can explore other cultures of different ethnicity. For information, Information is probably the biggest advantage internet is offering. The Internet is a virtual treasure trove of information. Any kind of information on any topic under the sun is available on the Internet. The search engines like Google, yahoo is at your service on the Internet. You can almost find any type of data on almost any kind of subject that you are looking for.For Entertainment, Downloading games, visiting chat rooms or just surfing the Web are some of the uses people have discovered. There are numerous games that may be downloaded from the Internet for free.

 DISADVANTAGES

• Theft of Personal information
  If you use the Internet, you may be facing grave danger as your personal information such as name, address, credit card number etc. can be accessed by other culprits to make your problems worse. 
• Spamming:
  Spamming refers to sending unwanted e-mails in bulk, which provide no purpose and needlessly obstruct the entire system. Such illegal activities can be very frustrating for you, and so instead of just ignoring it, you should make an effort to try and stop these activities so that using the Internet can become that much safer.
  Virus threat
  Virus is nothing but a program which disrupts the normal functioning of your computer systems. Computers attached to internet are more prone to virus attacks and they can end up into crashing your whole hard disk, causing you considerable headache. 
• Pornography:
  This is perhaps the biggest threat related to your children’s healthy mental life. A very serious issue concerning the Internet. There are thousands of pornographic sites on the Internet that can be easily found and can be a detrimental factor to letting children use the Internet.
  
  Though, internet can also create havoc, destruction and its misuse can be very fatal, the advantages of it outweigh its disadvantages. 

source: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/advantages-disadvantages-internet.html

2. Compare and contrast individual search engines and search meta search engines
 
         -a search engine works by sending out a spider to fetch as many documents as possible. Another program, called an indexer, then reads these documents and creates an index based on the words contained in each document. Each search engine uses a proprietary algorithm to create its indices such that, ideally, only meaningful results are returned for each query.

        -A meta search engine is a search engine that queries many different search engines and combines the results from all of them, or else displays the results separately but in one place. A meta search engine does not actually crawl the web itself, like a real search engine, instead relying on data gathered by other search engines. The meta search engine has been around almost as long as search engines themselves, and some people find them preferable to using a single search engine, as they allow for a wider range of results.


3. When is it appropriate to use a search engine and When is it appropriate to use a search or subject directory?

•  It is appropriate to use a search engine when a person wants to find some information that is reliable and to provide you with results that are clear and easy to read. A basic search result will include a title that links to the webpage, a short description or an actual excerpt from the webpage, and the page's URL.

4. What is an invisible web or "deep web"?

• Is it some kind of Area 52-ish, X-Files deal that only those with stamped numbers on their foreheads can access? Well, not exactly. The term "invisible web" mainly refers to the vast repository of information that search engines and directories don't have direct access to, like databases. Unlike pages on the visible Web (that is, the Web that you can access from search engines and directories), information in databases is generally inaccessible to the software spiders and crawlers that create search engine indexes. 

 5.  How do you find an invisible web?

• Most of the information on the Invisible Web is maintained by academic institutions, and has a higher quality than search engine results. There are "academic gateways" that can help you find this information. However, it's not always easy to find what you're looking for with a search engine, especially if you're looking for something a bit complicated or obscure. 

 6.  Why are these web pages not available in search engines or subject directories?

• because the content of the files or information are protected by passwords and the data are for private use only such as the social networking sites, blogger and other sites which require an account for personal or private use.

Activity 3: Web Browser

1. Web Browser- is a major service which is utilized by people when they had to store, retrieve or add up something new to their range.

                   How does it work? The Worldwide web is a system of Internet servers that support especially formatted documents. It is used to make it easy to access the worldwide web. Browsers are able to display web pages largely in part to an underlying Web Protocol called Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http). It is what allows Web Clients and Web servers to communicate with each other. When you enter a Web address or the URL in your browser. This actually sends an HTTP command to the Web server directing it to fetch and transmit the requested web page and display the information in your browser. All Web servers serving Web sites and pages support the HTTP protocol.

Example: The URL to reach the definition of browser on Webopedia is: http://www.webopedia.com/browser.html

Once you enter the URL "http://www.webopedia.com/browser.html" into your address line, the browser breaks that Web address down into three distinct parts.

1. The Protocol: "http"
2. The server name: "www.webopedia.com"
3. The file name, which follows the server name: "browser.html"

In order for your browser to actually connect to the Web server to retrieve the information you request, it communicates with a name server to translate the server name into an IP address. Your Web browser is then able to connect to the Web server at the resolved IP address on port 80. Once your browser has connected to the Web server using HTTP, the browser then reads the HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the authoring language used to create documents on the World Wide Web, and the data is then displayed in your Web browser.

2. Bookmark - to mark a document or a specific place in a document for later retrieval. A marker or address that identifies a document or a specific place in a document.
3. Purpose of a browser cache is to lets you quickly go back to a page without having to download it from the Web again. In order to ensure that the latest page is displayed, the browser compares the dates of the cached page with the current Web page. If the Web page has not changed, the cached page is displayed immediately. If the Web page has changed, it is downloaded, displayed and cached.
   
   
   When you quit the browser session, the cached pages are stored on disk. Settings in your Web browser let you set the amount of space to use for the cache, which is essentially a disk folder, and the length of time to hold the pages. Source:

4. Web browser plug-ins (sometimes just spelled plugins) are additional pieces of software that add extra capabilities to your web browser, such as the ability to view movies, run Java applets, or see Flash animations. Unfortunately, since plug-ins run with all the privileges of real applications, they can do absolutely anything to your computer.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Tabbed Broswing:

Go to Tools -> Options -> Tabs  and select the open new window s in a new tab instead setting then click OK.

Private Browsing : Tool > Start Private Browsing

2. Set homepages

       ·  Open up the website you want to be your home page. If you want a blank home page, open a    new tab.

      ·  Click on the icon to the left of the web address, drag it to the Home button and then let go.

Click Yes to set this as your home page.

Try it out: Click the Home button and your new home page will load in the current tab. It doesn’t get much easier than that!

      3. How do you customize search providers: There are two ways to search the web in Mozilla Firefox: either using the search field in the navigation bar, as shown on the screenshot, or from the address bar itself. Changing the default search engine from the search field only takes a couple of clicks: you switch search provider in the dropdown menu. But what about the search engine provider inside the address bar (or location bar, or URL field)? This tutorial shows you how to change it, especially useful when another provider has replaced your default search, or a toolbar you installed changed it behind the scenes.

        4. a.Bookmark: By clicking the star right side of the url

            b. Customize Bookmark:  Bookmark menu > organize Bookmark

        5. Clear Cache : go to Tools> Clear recent history > in details check cache then click ok

        6. Install Plug-ins: Tools menu > add-ons>plug-ins then click any plaug-ins then click install. Then the browser will restart

        7. Save Offline pages: click File, then Work Offline. Provided you haven't enabled "Permanent Private Browsing mode" in Tools | Options | Privacy, all the pages you've visited will be available to you without an Internet connection.

Google Chrome

1. Tabbed Browsing -- Just click ctrl + t

Private Browsing-- use the shortcut key Ctrl + Shift + N or choose the Open New incognito window from the menu. The new window that opens up will not store any data to the search and browsing history.

2. Options>Basics>Open this page>Show Home button on the toolbar

3.  Custom search engine

                Step 1

• Go to the Google Images home page and conduct a search for a word. After you search for your word, you want to copy the URL in the address bar. In this case i searched for Chrome, here is a screenshot and you want to take note of your search word for the next step which i have underlined in red as this will need to be changed.

              Step 2

• Next Right Click in the address bar and select Edit Search Engines and on the next window select Add. Now you just need to give your custom search engine a name and keyword. On the URL box, we just paste in our Google Images URL we copied in step 1 and we have to modify it slightly.

• You will see where i have underlined the %s portion, this is where my search word Chrome was so all you need to do is replace the word you originally searched for with %s
• Now, whenever you need to search Google Images you can do it directly from the address bar aka Omnibox by typing keyword term
• In my case i gave Google Images the keyword ‘images’ so if i wanted to search for Google Chrome i would type:  images google chrome then hit enter.

Hey Presto the Omnibox will change like the below picture and you will be taken right to your search results when hitting enter.

               You can do this for your favorite site regardless if it’s an actual search Engine like Google or Yahoo.

4. Bookmark: just click the star

When you click the star  icon to create a book, a mini-dialog appears to confirm the addition. Customize your new bookmark in the dialog:

• Edit the bookmark label in the "Name" field.
• By default, the bookmark is placed in your most recently used bookmark folder. You can use the "Folder" menu to choose another location. Bookmarks can only be in one folder at a time.
• If you created the bookmark on accident, click Remove to undo the addition of the bookmark.
• If you want to tweak the bookmark's URL, click Edit. Otherwise, click Close to add the bookmark.

Customize the bookmark:

Use the bookmark manager to organize your bookmarks and folders. To open the manager, follow these steps:

1. Click the wrench icon  on the browser toolbar.
2. Select Bookmark manager.

Here are a few tips for using the manager:

• Move bookmarks or folders around
  Simply click the item you want to move and drag it to its new destination within the folder list on the left.
• Edit the name or web address of a bookmark, or a folder name
  Select the item you'd like to edit, click the Organize menu, then select Edit. You can also easily edit bookmarks and folders from the bookmarks bar by right-clicking the item in question and selecting Rename.
• Search bookmarks
  Use the search box at the top to quickly find a bookmark within the manager.
• Add a new bookmark folder
  In the folder list on the left, right-click the location where you want the new folder to reside and select Add folder
• Delete a bookmark or folder
  Right-click the item and select Delete.

5. Clear Cache:  Ctl+Shift+Del still brings up the "Clear Browsing Data" window but the "Clear Data" button in not made current any longer so you can't just hit the Enter Key to do the clear.  You have to move the mouse over the "Clear Data" Button and click on it.  Slows me up a bit but better than nothing.

6. Install Plug-ins

              If you allow sites to use plug-ins and Google Chrome detects that you're missing a plug-in for a particular  page, it'll prompt you to install the plug-in at the top of webpage.

              Click Install plug-in in the message. Some plug-ins begin the installation process by downloading a set-up file to your computer. For those plug-ins, make sure you confirm the download by clicking Save in the downloads bar that appears at the bottom of your browser window. Once the download has finished, restart       Google Chrome by closing all open windows to complete the installation process.

7. Save offline pages 

•                  -First, open your Google Chrome browser
•                  -Click on the Chrome "page" icon, located in the upper right hand corner of your browser window. When the drop-down menu appears, select the choice labeled Save page as....Please note that the following keyboard shortcut can be utilized in lieu of clicking the aforementioned menu option: CTRL + S
•                  -At this point a standard Windows Save As dialog should be displayed, overlaying your browser window. Select the exact location on your hard drive or removable disk where you would like to save the current Web page. In the example above, I have chosen my Shared Documents folder.
•                  -Once you have chosen a suitable location on your hard drive or removable disk, click on the Save button to complete the process.

Internet Explorer is defaulted to enable tabbed browsing. If you want to disable/enable tabbed browsing in Internet Explorer, go to the following menu:

1. Tabbed Browsing

-> Tools

-> Internet Options

-> Tabs

-> Settings

You can see this in the following print screen:

Note, enabling or disabling tabbed browsing requires you to restart your browser.


2. Set Homepages

1.  Start Internet Explorer
2. On the View menu, click Internet Options.
3. In the Address box, type the Web page address that you want for your home page. 
   NOTE: If you want the page that you are currently viewing in Internet Explorer to be your home page, click Use Current.
4. Click OK.

3. Searched Provider:

              To add a provider to the Internet Explorer Instant Search box, click the provider's link below. You can set any of these as the default search provider by selecting the Make this my default search provider check box in the Add Search Provider dialog box that appears when you click the link.

4. Bookmark: 

•  ·  Engage Internet Explorer on your computer. Go to the 'Favorites' heading at the top of the browser window.
• · Click on 'Add to Favorites.' This will bookmark the Web page you are currently on. You can do this with any Web page you visit that you wish to save.
• · Organize your bookmarks. Go to the 'Favorites' heading again and click on 'Organize Favorites.' This will give you the opportunity to create categories for your bookmarks.
• · Click 'New Folder' to make a folder for a category of bookmarks. You can name this folder anything you like.
• · Manage your bookmarks. When you add a new Web site to your bookmarks and want it to be placed in a particular category, click on 'Favorites,' then 'Add to Favorites.' You will then select the category for your bookmark from the drop-down menu. Click the 'Add' button when you have made your selection.
• ·Move, rename or delete your bookmark categories. This is another way in which you can manage your bookmarks. Click on 'Favorites,' then 'Organize Favorites.' You can then use the buttons provided to move bookmarks from one category to another, rename bookmarks or categories or delete them.

5. To clear your cache:

	On the Internet Explorer 6 Tools menu, click Internet Options. The Internet Options box should open to the General tab.
	On the General tab, in the Temporary Internet Files section, click the Delete Files button. This will delete all the files that are currently stored in your cache. The Delete Files button
3.	Click OK, and then click OK again.

Tip: You can adjust your Internet Explorer 6 settings to automatically clear the cache whenever you close Internet Explorer 6. Go to the Tools menu, and click Internet Options. Click the Advanced tab. In the "Settings" box, scroll down to the section labeled "Security," and click to check the box next to the "Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed" option. Click OK to finish. This option does not delete cookies, but it will clear your cache of other files when you close your browser.

6. Install plug-ins

• . ·  Review information about any plugin before installing it. Search the web for user reviews and technical information. Make sure the plugin does not include spyware or adware. Read the privacy policy, user agreement and instructions thoroughly.
• · Make sure you have administrative rights on your computer so that you can download and install programs. Go to "user accounts" in the control panel. Check your user status.
• · Answer a prompt to download a plugin. This will usually come up when you try to run an application that requires a plugin. Once you know the plugin is safe and necessary, click "Yes" or "Install" to install the plugin. If the plugin does not download and install automatically, you may need to download it manually.
• · Download plugins from the software developer's website or from download sites like download.com. Make sure you are downloading from a legitimate, well known site. Click the "download" or "download now" button.
• · Save the plugin installer. It's usually easiest to save downloads to your desktop. In some cases, you will be required to install the plugin to a specific directory, such as the "Application Data" folder under your username in "Documents and Settings."
• · Wait until you see the message "Download complete." Double-click the installer icon. Follow any prompts. Close open Internet Explorer browser windows if prompted to do so. Click "Finish" when the installation is complete.
• · Open Internet Explorer. Visit a website that requires the plugin to make sure it has been installed properly.

7. Save pages: just click ctrl + s then choose any type of folder or destination then click save

Sources:

http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=browser+cache&i=38971,00.asp

http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/internet_browsers.asp

http://www.boutell.com/newfaq/definitions/plugin.html

http://www.maxi-pedia.com/Internet+Explorer+tabbed+browsing+enable+tabs

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/How%20to%20set%20the%20home%20page

http://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/answer.py?answer=142064

     

Activity 2: The Internet

                    Internet is the most widely used in the world. It lets the people to communicate, exchange information or ideas and interact or socialize with other people. The Impact of the internet in our world today is that it creates an interconnection with the people worldwide especially to those who are in the field of business, health care and education. Many people prefer to use the internet because it is the faster way of exchanging of information. The Internet creates new ways for citizens to communicate, congregate, and share information of a social nature. All people are encouraged to participate and contribute drawing on their experiences and resources. In the areas of business, security is of great concern and importance.Therefore, The Internet has changed the way we study, do research, and where we get other information. It has effected our culture in good and bad ways- changing the way we work, how we spend free time, and the way we communicate.The Internet impacts different areas of our lives and cultures for better and for worse.

Here are following Internet organizations:

ISOC (Internet Society)

• Provide leadership in addressing issues that confront the future of the Internet. 
• Are the organisational home for the groups responsible for Internet infrastructure standards, including the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Internet Architecture Board (IAB). 
• Act as a global clearinghouse for Internet information and education. 
• Facilitate and coordinate Internet-related initiatives around the world. 

IAB (Internet Architecture Board)

• The IAB is a technical advisory group of the ISOC (Internet Society). Its responsibilities are to appoint a new IETF chair and IESG candidates, serve as an appeal board, manage editorial content and publication (RFCs), and provide services to the Internet Society. 

IESG (Internet Engineering Steering Group)

• The IESG is chartered by ISOC to provide technical management of IETF activities and the Internet standards process. The IESG manages the IETF working groups and is directly responsible for the actions associated with entry into and movement along the Internet "standards track," including final approval of specifications as Internet standards. 

IRTF (Internet Research Task Force)

• The purpose of the IRTF is to create research groups that focus on Internet protocols, applications, architecture, and technology. The groups are small and long term, and are put together to promote the development of research collaboration and teamwork in exploring research issues. Participation is by individual contributors rather than by representatives of organizations. The IRSG manages the research groups and holds workshops that focus on the evolution of the Internet and discuss research priorities from an Internet perspective. 

IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force)

• The IETF is a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet. The actual technical work of the IETF is done in its working groups, which include Applications, Internet, Network Management, Operational Requirements, Routing, Security, Transport, and User Services. Working groups are managed by members of the IESG. The IAB provides architectural oversight. The IETF also facilitates technology transfers from the IRTF to the wider Internet community. 

IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority)

• This was chartered by ISOC to coordinate the assignment of Internet "identifiers" such as domain names, autonomous system numbers, IP address numbers, protocol numbers, and port numbers. 

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers)

• A non-profit, international corporation that was formed in September 1998 to take over global responsibility for Internet Protocol (IP) address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, Domain Name System (DNS) management, and root server system management functions. 

InterNIC (The Internet's Network Information Center)

• The InterNIC is currently an informational Web site established to provide the public with information about domain name registration. 

Sources: http://www.linktionary.com/i/internet_organizations.html

              http://www.isoc.org/isoc/

What makes the internet reliable and efficient?

                   The internet is an excellent first source for quick reference which must be checked with actual reliable sources. It somehow depends on the article we read just as it depends on the show we watch.But internet is reliable and effiecient in such ways that it gives more information to the user and it is the fastest way to search and to communicate with others. Sometimes people tend to use the internet with their research projects or to meet new friends and find some jobs which nowadays popular to job seekers or share some files and a great way to share of new ideas and some stuffs.

What principles applied in the Internet that could also be beneficial in other areas?

                Some use it to secure some files and benefited them in exchanging of information and communicating with other companies. Some also use it to share files with the use of online file sharing and to give on socialization and the usage and knowledge of tools, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or serve some purpose.

TCP/IP Protocol Suite (Internet Model)


                 The TCP/IP protocol suite maps to a four-layer conceptual model known as the DARPA model, which was named after the U.S. government agency that initially developed TCP/IP. The four layers of the DARPA model are: Application, Transport, Internet, and Network Interface. Each layer in the DARPA model corresponds to one or more layers of the seven-layer OSI model.

                 The Application layer which send continuos data streams then the TCP fragment data stream to segments that the IP fragment segments if required, prepare datagrams then if its required the network access layer will fragment datagram into bits and defines how to use the network to transmit an IP diagram and encapsulation of IP datagrams into the frames transmitted by the network, and mapping of IP addresses to the physical addresses used by the network. After that, the network access layer will reconstruct again the datagrams into bits, then the IP reconstructs again the segments from datagrams, which the TCP will defragment segments and reconstruct data stream and so, the application will now receive continuous data streams and vice versa.