Your web questions answered

Many readers ask the meanings of various terms to do with the Internet and e-mail. Here are some explanations.

Attachment: A file which is added to an e-mail and sent as part of a message. It can be picture, music, video or text.

Browser: It is through this that you view pages on the Internet. Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer (owned by Microsoft) are the ones that most people use. The higher the number after the browser name, the more up-to-date it is.

CD-ROM: Compact disk - read only memory. It looks exactly like a regular CD but in addition to music it can hold video, pictures, computer software, data and text. CDROM drives are standard with most computers but they are being superseded by DVDROM (see below).

DVD-ROM: Digital Versatile Disk, read only memory. It looks just like a CD-ROM but is of a much higher quality and can hold far more information. It can have, for instance, an entire film on a single disc.

Home page: As newspapers have front pages, so do websites. Here is where you find out what a site has to offer. A good one will entice you to browse beyond its home page.

Internet: This is the vessel through which millions of computers around the world can share and access information. They are connected together by telephone lines, cables or satellites.

ISP: Internet Service Provider. A company that connects customers to the Internet. To use this service you need a computer, a modem (see below) and a phone line. ISPs provide free e-mail addresses.

Link: Links are a means of taking you from one Internet page or site to another. They are generally underlined and in a different colour or font.

Modem: Modulator Demodulator. The means of connecting you to the Internet through your phone line.

Navigate: To move within or between websites. Most sites have some sort of "navigation bar" which links to other areas of the site.

Refresh/Reload: The buttons on Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator that you click to re-load a page for updated information or if the page failed to load correctly in the first place.

URL: Uniform Resource Locator. The address of a website or document on the Internet (e.g. www.ireland.com).

Virus: Software designed to reproduce itself within your computer to corrupt data or affect performance. Many will be familiar with the "I LOVE YOU" virus that caused millions of pounds worth of damage in May, 2000.

Web/WWW: World Wide Web. A system of pages composed of graphics, sound, text and user input linked together via the Internet.