Enhancing Productivity

141

An overview of using the Internet

Internet features

The Internet offers many types of communication tools to help you perform many tasks.

❖Internet email

To send and receive email of your own, you need a mailbox on the Web, or an email address.

If you have an account with an ISP, you can probably set up an email address at the same time you sign up for the service.

❖Internet chat rooms

A chat room is a Web site that offers a place where people with similar interests and ideas communicate in real-time, one-on-one or in groups, by typing messages which are instantly viewed by others on their computer screens.

❖Internet news groups

A newsgroup is similar to a chat room, but instead of using a dedicated site to converse about a specialized subject with others in real-time, it uses a Web site as a clearinghouse where all the messages are placed, like a gigantic bulletin board.

❖Online shopping

Many Web sites offer products and services for sale.

Uploading and downloading files from the Internet

Transferring files from one computer to another is termed uploading (transferring data from your computer to a site on the Web), or downloading (transferring data from a site on the Web to your computer).

There are several ways to upload or download data. It can be as simple as attaching a file or document to an email, or you can use the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) features of your Web browser to transfer large amounts of data.