Terms

Unit 7: 

Unit 7 Information and Communication

HTTP….: 

HTTP…. Stands for ‘Hyptertext Transfer Protocol’ It is a ‘Protocol’ or a set of rules that define webpages and webpage language.

URL: 

URL Stands for ‘Uniform Resource Locator’ It is the unique web address for every single webpage http://www.amazon.co.uk The protocol WWW: World Wide Web Domain Name Country or organisation type

Hyperlink: 

Hyperlink A link from a web page, which when clicked takes you to another page. The link can be a button, words or an image.

ISP: 

ISP Stands for ‘Internet Service Provider’ An organisation that provides a service to you which enables you to access the Internet. You have to pay them for this service.

Web Browser: 

Web Browser A web browser is a piece of software that allows you to view webpages. The web browser that you use most of the time is Internet Explorer. Others are Netscape, Opera and Firefox

FTP: 

FTP Stands for ‘File Transfer Protocol’ This is the method used to ‘upload’ and ‘download’ files and webpages to and from the internet.

Search Engines: 

Search Engines Search Engines enable you to search for specific things on the Internet by using Keywords. You can use a ‘logical operator’ to search E.g. Jaguar AND Cars will search for pages that must contain both terms ‘Jaguar’ and ‘Cars’ Jaguar OR Cars will search for pages that contain the words Jaguar or Cars so you might get a page about cars or you might get one about a big cat.

WWW and Internet: 

WWW and Internet The Internet tends to mean all of the webpages that are available for you to access. The WWW includes the webpages, but also e-mail, newsgroups, bulletin boards, research databases etc.

Cookie: 

Cookie A ‘Cookie’ is a bit of software or code that is downloaded onto your computer from a webpage. It can store things like your password details or your preferences for a page. You can choose not to allow cookies to be downloaded if you are worried about security or privacy

Cache: 

Cache The first time you visit a webpage all of the text and the images have to be downloaded and you might notice it is slow. Once you have visited that page, it is stored in your ‘cache’ on the computer (a bit like memory) so that next time you want to view that webpage, it will be loaded from your cache, so making it faster to access. You can clear your cache regularly or periodically as it can get full.

Digital Certificate: 

Digital Certificate An electronic file that verifies the identify of an organisation. This helps you to be sure that you are dealing with a trustworthy company if you want to purchase something from them.

Digital Signature: 

Digital Signature A digital code that can be attached to an electronically transmitted message that uniquely identifies the sender. Like a written signature, the purpose of a digital signature is to guarantee that the individual sending the message really is who he or she claims to be.

Encryption: 

Encryption In order to keep some details secure such as your credit card number when you choose to purchase an item from the Internet, encryption will be used. The credit card details are ‘scrambled’ and put into a complicated code. The details are sent from the computer in this encrypted form and arrive at the recipients computer still encrypted. The recipient has a special ‘key’ to de-encrypt the file.

Fraud: 

Fraud Fraud is becoming more commonplace with the increasing use of the Internet for business. Criminals try to steal credit card details or identities in order to commit crimes. Encryption can help to reduce fraud.

Firewall: 

Firewall A Firewall is a piece of software that you load onto your computer to protect it from hackers and viruses. The firewall is set to only allow certain IP addresses to access your computer. Hackers use programs to scan the internet looking for vulnerable machines.