 Q QuickTime: A common video file format created by Apple Computer. Video files found on the Internet are often stored in the QuickTime format - they require a special viewer program for playback. R Register: With shareware, when you contact the vendor and pay for the product, you are registering. In return, you will receive either a password to turn off the nag notices or a copy of the full commercial version. RFC: (Request For Comments) -- The name of the result and the process for creating a standard on the Internet. New standards are proposed and published on line, as a Request For Comments. The Internet Engineering Task Force is a consensus-building body that facilitates discussion, and eventually a new standard is established, but the reference number/name for the standard retains the acronym RFC, e.g. the official standard for email is RFC 822. Robot: A program that automatically searches the World Wide Web for files. Router: A
special-purpose computer (or software package) that handles the
connection between 2 or more networks. Routers spend all their
time looking at the destination addresses of the packets passing
through them and deciding which route to send them on. RTFM: A commonly used abbreviation on Usenet in response to a silly, or often answered question. One that can almost always be found in the relevant FAQ. It stands for 'Read The F***ing Manual '. A repository of FAQS can be found by ftping to rtfm.mit.edu.S Search Engine: A tool for searching information on the Internet by topic. Popular engines include InfoSeek, Alta-Vista and HotBot (Yahoo is in the strictest sense not a search engine, but a directory).Security Certificate: A
chunk of information (often stored as a text file) that is used by
the SSL protocol to establish a secure connection. Server: A computer, or a software package, that provides a specific kind of service to client software running on other computers. The term can refer to a particular piece of software, such as a WWW server, or to the machine on which the software is running, (e.g. Our mail server is down today, that's why email isn't getting out). A single server machine could have several different server software packages running on it, thus providing many different servers to clients on the network.See Also: Client , Network Shareware: Software that is available on a free limited trial basis. Sometimes this is a fully featured product, other times it lacks some of the features of the commerical version. If you find the product useful, you are expected to register the software, for which in return you will receive the full featured commercial version. Shell Account: A software application that lets you use someone else's Internet connection. It's not the same as having your own, direct Internet connection, but pretty close. Instead, you connect to a host computer and use the Internet through the host computer's connection. Signature File: An ASCII text file, maintained within e-mail programs, that contains a few lines of text for your signature. The programs automatically attach the file to your messages so you don't have to repeatedly type a closing. Site: A single web page or a collection of related Web pages. SLIP: (Serial Line Internet Protocol) -- A standard for using a regular telephone line (a serial line) and a modem to connect a computer as a real Internet site. SLIP has been widely replaced by PPP.See Also: Internet , PPP SMTP: (Simple Mail
Transport Protocol) -- The main protocol used to send electronic
mail on the Internet. SNMP: (Simple Network
Management Protocol) -- A set of standards for communication with
devices connected to a TCP/IP network. Examples of these devices
include routers, hubs, and switches. Devices that are SNMP compatible contain SNMP agent software to receive, send, and act upon SNMP messages. Software for managing devices via SNMP is available for every kind of commonly used computer and is often bundled along with the device they are designed to manage. Some SNMP software is designed to handle a wide variety of devices. See Also: Network , Router SRS: (Shared Registration System) -- The central system for all accredited registrars to access and register/control domain names. Spam (or Spamming): An
inappropriate attempt to use a mailing list, or USENET or other
networked communications facility as if it was a broadcast medium
(which it is not) by sending the same message to a large number of
people who didn't ask for it. The term probably comes from a
famous Monty Python skit which featured the word spam repeated
over and over. The term may also have come from someone's low
opinion of the food product with the same name, which is generally
perceived as a generic content-free waste of resources. (Spam is a
registered trademark of Hormel Corporation, for its processed meat
product.) SQL: (Structured Query Language) -- A specialized programming language for sending queries to databases. Most industrial-strength and many smaller database applications can be addressed using SQL. Each specific application will have its own version of SQL implementing features unique to that application, but all SQL-capable databases support a common subset of SQL. (Secure Sockets Layer) -- A protocol designed to enable encrypted, authenticated communications across the Internet. The more recent set-up is based on SET.SSL used mostly (but not exclusively) in communications between web browsers and web servers. URL's that begin with "https" indicate that an SSL connection will be used. SSL provides 3 important things: Privacy, Authentication, and Message Integrity. In an SSL connection each side of the connection must have a Security Certificate, which each side's software sends to the other. Each side then encrypts what it sends using information from both its own and the other side's Certificate, ensuring that only the intended recipient can de-crypt it, and that the other side can be sure the data came from the place it claims to have come from, and that the message has not been tampered with. See Also: Browser , Server , Security Certificate , URL Subscribe: To become of a member of. One can subscribe to a mailing list, a newsgroup, an online service or an Internet Service. SyOD:
(System Operator on Duty) -- The system operator that is on
stand-by to supervise a computer system or network resource.
Mostly used for the poor guy who has the nightshift in 24/7 online
support services. Sysop: (System
Operator) -- Anyone responsible for the physical operations of a
computer system or network resource. A System Administrator
decides how often backups and maintenance should be performed and
the System Operator performs those tasks.
T
TAR: Tape ARchive - a
compression format commonly used in the transfer and storage of
files residing on UNIX computers.
T-1: A leased-line
connection capable of carrying data at 1,544,000 bits-per-second.
At maximum theoretical capacity, a T-1 line could move a megabyte
in less than 10 seconds. That is still not fast enough for
full-screen, full-motion video, for which you need at least
10,000,000 bits-per-second. T-3: A leased-line
connection capable of carrying data at 44,736,000 bits-per-second.
This is more than enough to do full-screen, full-motion video. TCP/IP: (Transmission
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) -- This is the suite of
protocols that defines the Internet. Originally designed for the
UNIX operating system, TCP/IP software is now available for every
major kind of computer operating system. To be truly on the
Internet, your computer must have TCP/IP software. Telnet: An Internet
protocol that let you connect your PC as a remote workstation to a
host computer anywhere in the world and to use that computer as if
you were logged on locally. You often have the ability to use all
of the software and capability on the host computer, even if it's
a huge mainframe.
Terabyte: 1000
gigabytes. Terminal: A device
that allows you to send commands to a computer somewhere else. At
a minimum, this usually means a keyboard and a display screen and
some simple circuitry. Usually you will use terminal software in a
personal computer - the software pretends to be (emulates) a
physical terminal and allows you to type commands to a computer
somewhere else.
Terminal Adapter: An
electronic device that interfaces a PC with an Internet host
computer via an ISDN phone line. Often called "ISDN
modems." However, because they are digital, TAs are not
modems at all. (See modem definition.)
Terminal Server: A
special purpose computer that has places to plug in many modems on
one side, and a connection to a LAN or host machine on the other
side. Thus the terminal server does the work of answering the
calls and passes the connections on to the appropriate node. Most
terminal servers can provide PPP or SLIP services if connected to
the Internet. Thread: An ongoing
message based conversation on a single subject.
TIFF: Tag Image File
Format - a popular graphic image file format.
Trolling: Deliberately
posting false information in order to elicit responses from people
who really want to help.
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