Friday, July 15, 2011

Activity 4 Search Engines

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using search engines?

Advantages:
1.The use of search engines enables us to precisely describe the information that you are seeking.
2.Search engines help organize the internet and your website.
3.No matter the size or complexity of your business, using search engines will be to your advantage.

Disadvantages:
1.may come up with something unsuitable and may take to much time looking for your chosen website.
2.Using search engines does involve a learning curve. Many beginning Internet users, because of these disadvantages, become discouraged and frustrated.
3.Regardless of the growing sophistication, many well thought-out search phrases produce list after list of irrelevant web pages. The typical search still requires sifting through dirt to find the gems.

Compare and Contrast individual search engines and search meta/search engines.

Meta search engines query several other Web search engine databases in parallel and then combine the results in one list. Because they do not need to create their own databases, there are many meta search engines out there. While Individual Search engines index web sites using electronic means such as spiders, robots or worms which roam the web and compile a database of information.

When is it appropriate to use a search engine? When is it appropriate to use a search/subject directory?

When to use a search engine:

provide organized results for search queries
gain information from websites

When to use a subject directory:

General topics
Popular topics
Specialized Directories
Current events
Product information

What is an invisible web or DEEP WEB?

The Deep Web (also called Deepnet, the invisible Web, DarkNet, Undernet, or the hidden Web) refers to World Wide Web content that is not part of the Surface Web, which is indexed by standard search engines.

How do you find an invisible web?

You can find searchable databases containing invisible web pages in the course of routine searching in most general web directories.

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

The Invisible Web is home to thousands of searchable databases that search engines cannot access. This is because these sites need some type of human interaction; you need to do something on the home page, that search engine spiders are incapable of doing.

References :
http://www.inspree.com/advantages-of-using-search-enginesadvantages-of-using-search-engines/
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_2_disadvantages_to_using_a_search_engine
http://www.gsn.org/web/research/internet/disadse.htm
http://www.articleinput.com/e/a/title/When-to-use-a-subject-directory-and-not-a-search-engine/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_Web
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/InvisibleWeb.html
http://blog-well.com/2007/04/24/finding-information-on-the-web-visible-vs-invisible-web/

Friday, July 8, 2011

act3web browser

1. What is a web browser? How does it work?
Web browsers are a software application that retrieves information and resources on the world wide web. The major web browser applications are Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Google Chrome..

A web browser works by parsing a file that contains HTML which is a markup language that tells it what and how to display the information. HTML is standardized way of presenting data.

2. What is a bookmark?
Bookmarking allows you to return to the site as often as you like without having to remember its address, simply by clicking on its name in your browser.

3. What is the purpose of a web [browser] cache?
Web caches reduce the amount of information that needs to be transmitted across the network, as information previously stored in the cache can often be re-used.

4. What is a web [browser] plugin?
is a set of software components that adds specific abilities to a larger software application. If supported, plug-ins enable customizing the functionality of an application. For example, plug-ins are commonly used in web browsers to play video, scan for viruses, and display new file types. Well-known plug-ins examples include Adobe Flash Player and QuickTime.

5. Choose three types of web browsers and answer the following questions for each browser.

Three types of browser:
Mozilla Firefox
Google Chrome
Internet Explorer

1.How do you enable tabbed browsing? Private browsing?(MOZILLA)
.Launch Firefox from the Start menu or desktop and type "about:config" on the address bar. Read and understand the warning and click the "I'll be careful, I promise!" button.
Type "private" on the "Filter" text box to see the list of privacy settings.
Double-click the "browser.privatebrowsing.autostart" item so its corresponding value switches to "True." Restart Firefox to begin a private browsing session.

How do you enable tabbed browsing? Private browsing?(CHROME)
Shortcut key to start private session
With Google Chrome window opened, just press Ctrl + Shift + N keys to open new Chrome window with private browsing (also called incognito) turned ON. MAC users can use command + shift + N shortcut keys.
Menu option for new private session
In opened Chrome window, goto Tools > New Incognito Window option to launch a new window with private browsing incognito mode turned ON.
Open any link in private browsing mode
While browsing any webpage in Google Chrome, just right click any weblink and then click “Open link Incognito Window” to launch a new window with private browsing feature enabled. [via Chrome Blog]

How do you enable tabbed browsing? Private browsing?(EXPLORER)
Open the Group Policy Editor by clicking "Start," typing "gpedit.msc" into the search box in the Start menu and pressing "Enter."
Expand "Administrative Templates" under "Computer" in the "Group Policy Editor" window by clicking the arrow to its left.
Expand "Internet Explorer" under "Windows Components" in the "Group Policy Editor" window by clicking the arrow to its left.
Click "InPrivate" under "Internet Explorer" in the "Group Policy Editor" window.
Click "Turn Off Private Browsing" in the "Setting" list in the right pane of the "Group Policy Editor" window.
Click "Edit Policy Setting" at the top of the middle pane of the "Group Policy Editor" window.
Click the "Enabled" radio button in the "Turn Off InPrivate Browsing" window and click "OK."

How do you set homepages?(MOZILLA)
Open Mozilla Firefox by selecting it from the Start menu or double-clicking on the Firefox icon.
Choose the "Tools" menu and click on "Options" to open the "Options" dialog box. From the "Options" dialog box, you can change the settings for your Firefox browser such as privacy, content and download settings.
Click the "General" tab at the top of the "Options" dialog box, if necessary, to display the general settings for your Firefox browser.
Locate the "Home Page" section of the "Options" dialog box at the top of the "General" tab settings.
Type in the homepage you would like to use in the "Location(s):" text box or use the buttons to set the homepage in your Firefox browser. The "Use Current Page" button will set your homepage to the website you are currently at, the "Use Bookmark..." button will let you choose a stored bookmark and use it to set as your homepage and the "Use Blank Page" button will set your homepage to a blank page.
Use your mouse to click the "OK" button to close the "Preferences" dialog box and set your homepage to what you specified in the previous steps.
Close and reopen your Firefox browser to view your new homepage.
How do you set homepage?(CHROME)
To set your homepage in Google Chrome, firstly open the Google Chrome browser. Then click on the spanner icon on the top right hand corner.


This will open a drop-down list. Click on 'Options', which will open a new tab. Look at the Homepage section, as indicated below.




Make sure 'Open this page' is selected. Then type in the address of the page you would like as your homepage. At the moment, my homepage is set to http://www.google.com. Let's change this to http://www.rte.ie.

Once you have typed in the address in the 'Open this page' box, this change is saved. If you close this tab and click on the home icon to go to your homepage, you will get your selected homepage.
How do you set homepage?(EXPLORER)
Open your Internet Explorer browser by choosing it from your Start menu or double-clicking on the shortcut icon.
Choose the "Tools" menu and click on "Internet Options" to open the "Internet Options" dialog box. The "Internet Options" dialog box contains all the settings related to security, privacy and other options that you can change for your browser.
Click the "General" tab, if necessary, at the top of the "Internet Options" dialog box to view the general settings for Internet Explorer.
Locate the "Home page" section of the "General" tab of the "Internet Options" dialog box. Here is where you set the home page for your Internet Explorer browser.
Type in the address you want to set your homepage to in the "Address" text box or alternatively use the buttons below the text box to set your homepage. The "Use Current" button to set the browser homepage to the page you are currently at, click the "Use Default" button to set the browser homepage to the default homepage that was originally set in your browser, or click the "Use Blank" button to set the homepage to a blank page.
Use your mouse to click the "OK" button to close the "Internet Options" dialog box and set your homepage.
Close and reopen Internet Explorer. Your homepage should now be set to the website you specified in the previous steps.
How do you customize search providers?(MOZILLA)
Launch the Firefox Internet browser. Navigate to the search bar in the top right-hand corner of the browser window.
Click on the tiny arrow next to the search engine icon (a magnifying glass) and a drop down menu will appear.
Change the search engine by clicking on a desired alternative and the new search engine will automatically show up in the search bar.
Manage the search engines by clicking on the 'Manage Search Engines' option at the bottom of the drop-down menu.
Watch for the new dialog box in the center of your screen, which will contain the list of all installed search engines. If you want to install more search engines, click the 'Get More Search Engines' link and you'll be brought to the Firefox add-ons page for more search bar search engines.
Browse through the options and download any new search engines to the Firefox browser.

How do you customize search providers?(CHROME)
Start Google Chrome. Go to Customize > Options
Open the Options window in Chrome
From the windows that opens now, select the Basics tab. In this tab you will see an option for selecting the Default Search Provider. Select your search provider from the dropdown menu and click on close.
Choose the search engine you like from the dropdown menu
You are done. If you chose Google as your new search engine then you will see an search results in Google from now onwards.
How do you customize search providers?(EXPLORER)
Launch Internet Explorer.
Click on the Search button.
Click on the Customize button.
Click on the Autosearch settings button.
Select a search provider from the drop down list.
Now, when you search for something on the web from the Address Bar the selected search provider will be used.

How do you bookmark a page? How do you organize your book marks?(MOZILLA)

Launch Firefox from the icon on your desktop or through your "Start"(Explorer) menu by finding Mozilla Firefox in your "Programs" or "All Programs" section.
Click on "Bookmarks" in the top toolbar (in between "History" and "Tools").
Click on "Bookmarks" in the top toolbar (in between "History" and "Tools"). Under this menu, click "Organize Bookmarks". Another browser window will pop up listing all your bookmarks. In this new window, there is a list of icons at the top.
Select "Bookmarks" from the far left pane, then click on "New Folder", which is the second icon button at the top.
Select "Bookmarks" from the far left pane, then click on "New Folder", which is the second icon button at the top. A new folder will appear at the bottom of your bookmark list in the far left pane, and a dialog window will appear.
Rename the folder to something appropriate, then click "Ok".
Rename the folder to something appropriate, then click "Ok".
Scroll through your bookmarks in the right pane to find the ones you want to move to this folder.
Click on the first one you'd like to move.
Hold down the "Ctrl" key and continue to click on others to move.
Hold down the "Ctrl" key and continue to click on others to move. This will highlight only the bookmarks you select.
Click and drag your selections to the new folder you have created in the far left pane.
Click and drag your selections to the new folder you have created in the far left pane.
Repeat these steps to create additional folders and organize related bookmarks.

How do you bookmark a page? How do you organize your book marks?(CHROME)

Click "Customize and Control Google Chrome" menu.
Select the "Always show bookmarks bar" section so it shows a check mark in front of it.
Now click on the "Other bookmarks" button which appears below the address bar.
Select your bookmark and right click on it. Then click "Edit" button.
n the "Edit Bookmark window" you can edit your URL or the Name you have given it.

How do you bookmark a page? How do you organize your book marks?(EXPLORER)
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.

How do you clear the cache?(MOZILLA)

At the top of the Firefox window, click on the Tools menu and select Options...On the menu bar, click on the Firefox menu and select Preferences...At the top of the Firefox window, click on the Edit menu and select Preferences....
Select the Advanced panel.
Click on the Network tab.
In the Offline Storage section, click Clear Now.
Click OK to close the Options window
Click Close to close the Preferences window

How do you clear the cache?(CHROME)

At the top right of your browser, click on tools button. Now click on options.
Go to Personal Stuff tab, under Browsing data click on Clear browsing data.
Check “Empty the cache” option. From “Clear data from this period” menu, select the amount of data you want to delete.

How do you clear the cache?(EXPLORER)

Click the "Start" button in the bottom-left corner of your computer's main screen and select "Control Panel."
Click "Network and Internet" and select "Internet Options." Press the "Safety" button.
Click "Delete Browsing History" and click the check boxes next to the various categories of stored information you want deleted.
Put a check mark in the "Preserve Favorites Website Data" to keep any cookies or files associated with the Web sites in your Internet Explorer's "Favorites" list. Click the "Delete" button to clear Internet Explorer 8's cache.

How do you install a plugin?(MOZILLA)
Go to the Flash Player download page at Adobe.com and download the Flash installer.
At the top of the Firefox window, click on the Firefox button (File menu in Windows XP) and then click ExitOn the menu bar, click on the Firefox menu and select Quit FirefoxAt the top of the Firefox window, click on the File menu and select QuitAt the top of the Firefox window, click on the File menu and select ExitOn the menu bar, click on the Firefox menu and select Quit FirefoxAt the top of the Firefox window, click on the File menu and select Quit.
Open the file you downloaded (i.e. install_flash_player.exe), then follow the installer's instructions.
How do you install a plugin?(CHROME)

First you should download and Dev Channel installer from the Chromium Developer page.
Next, right click on the chrome icon, click on properties and type the following” To Enable Plugins: –enable-plugins, To Enable Extensions: –enable-extensions, To Enable Greasemonkey Scripts: –enable-greasemonkey and click “Apply”
You have all three at a time for better compatibility like this – enable-plugins –enable-extension –enable-greasemonkey.
You are all set to install Plugins, Greasemonkey and Extensions in the Chrome Browser. Just start the browser and get sample extension page.

How do you install a plugin?(EXPLORER)

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.

How do you save pages offline?(MOZILLA)
Open your Internet browser. Navigate to the Web page you want to save for offline use.
Click the "File" menu if using Mozilla Firefox , Click the "Save as" or "Save Page as" option.
Type the desired file name in the "File name" section or type nothing in this section to leave the default title. In the "Save as type" box, click "Web Page, complete" if you want save the entire page offline, including graphics and sound, or "Web Archive, single file" if you only want an HTML snapshot of the page from which you can read the page text. Click the "Save" button.
Double-click the saved file to open it any time you are "working offline" or disconnected from the Internet and want to view your saved Web pages.
How do you save pages offline?(CHROME)
Open your Internet browser. Navigate to the Web page you want to save for offline use.
"Control the current page" icon if using Google Chrome, Click the "Save as" or "Save Page as" option.
Type the desired file name in the "File name" section or type nothing in this section to leave the default title. In the "Save as type" box, click "Web Page, complete" if you want save the entire page offline, including graphics and sound, or "Web Archive, single file" if you only want an HTML snapshot of the page from which you can read the page text. Click the "Save" button.
Double-click the saved file to open it any time you are "working offline" or disconnected from the Internet and want to view your saved Web pages.
How do you save pages offline?(EXPLORER)
Open your Internet browser. Navigate to the Web page you want to save for offline use.
Page" menu in Internet Explorer, Click the "Save as" or "Save Page as" option.
Type the desired file name in the "File name" section or type nothing in this section to leave the default title. In the "Save as type" box, click "Web Page, complete" if you want save the entire page offline, including graphics and sound, or "Web Archive, single file" if you only want an HTML snapshot of the page from which you can read the page text. Click the "Save" button.
Double-click the saved file to open it any time you are "working offline" or disconnected from the Internet and want to view your saved Web pages.
References:
http://www.ask.com/ans?q=What+Is+Web+Browser%3F&qsrc=2987&o=15732&l=dir
http://answers.ask.com/Computers/Software/how_does_a_web_browser_work
http://www.mesotheliomaweb.org/bookmark/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cache#Web_cache
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-in_%28computing%29
http://www.ehow.com/how_6756886_disable-private-browsing-ie8.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_2156923_set-homepage-firefox.html
http://sites.google.com/site/dcuyahs/how-to/how-to-set-your-homepage-with-google-chrome
http://www.ehow.com/how_2156921_set-homepage-internet-explorer.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_2033411_change-search-engine.html
http://digitizor.com/2009/10/10/how-to-change-the-default-search-provider-in-google-chrome/
http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=212
http://www.wikihow.com/Organize-Bookmarks-in-Firefox
http://googlechrometutorial.com/google-chrome-general-settings/Google-chrome-bookmarks-or-favorites.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_2033258_manage-bookmarks-internet.html
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/How%20to%20clear%20the%20cache
http://www.ehow.com/how_5066726_clear-cache-internet-explorer.html
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/installing-flash
http://www.techprone.com/how-to-install-google-chrome-plugins/
http://www.ehow.com/how_2239874_install-internet-plugins-explorer.html
http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_6930955_save-pages-offline.html

Friday, July 1, 2011

ACN112act2


"Impact of the Internet in our world today"

- The internet has made huge, remarkable changes in every aspect of civilization. First, it has made communication better and faster than expected, making long-distance conferences and private conversations possible and firmly secure. Second, it has changed the ways of business and commerce; companies and retailers alike have benefitted from the essential skills needed to promote their products to different viewers or clients from different countries around the globe. Lastly, it has changed the rules of security worldwide; for having such advanced technological approaches which are simple and accessible, police and military forces can now take security to a higher level, which turns out to be accurate and at the same time, simple.


Internet organizations:
o ISOC (Internet Society)- is an international, nonprofit organization founded during 1992 to provide direction in Internet related standards, education, and policy. It states that its mission is "to assure the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world".[2]
o IAB (Internet Architecture Board)- is the committee charged with oversight of the technical and engineering development of the Internet by the Internet Society (ISOC).It oversees a number of Task Forces, of which the most important are the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF).
o IESG(The Internet Engineering Steering Group)-is a body composed of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Chair and Area Directors:
  • Applications Area (app)
  • Internet Area (int)
  • Operations & Network Management Area (ops)
  • Routing Area (rtg)
  • Real-time Applications and Infrastructure Area (rai)
  • Security Area (sec)
  • Transport Area (tsv)
and Liaison and Ex-officio Members:

It provides the final technical review of Internet standards and is responsible for day-to-day management of the IETF. It receives appeals of the decisions of the working groups, and the IESG makes the decision to progress documents in the standards track.

o IRTF (The Internet Research Task Force)-focuses on longer term research issues related to the Internet while the parallel organization, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), focuses on the shorter term issues of engineering and standards making. The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) promotes research of importance to the evolution of the Internet by creating focused, long-term research groups working on topics related to Internet protocols, applications, architecture and technology.

o IETF (The Internet Engineering Task Force)-develops and promotes Internet standards, cooperating closely with the W3C and ISO/IEC standards bodies and dealing in particular with standards of the TCP/IP and Internet protocol suite. It is an open standards organization, with no formal membership or membership requirements. All participants and managers are volunteers, though their work is usually funded by their employers or sponsors; for instance, the current chairperson is funded by VeriSign and the U.S. government's National Security Agency.

o IANA (The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority )-is the entity that oversees global IP address allocation, autonomous system number allocation, root zone management in the Domain Name System (DNS), media types, and other Internet Protocol-related symbols and numbers. IANA is operated by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, also known as ICANN.
o InterNIC
o ICANN(The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers )- is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998[1] to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly on behalf of the U.S. government by other organizations, notably the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).
ICANN is responsible for managing the Internet Protocol address spaces (IPv4 and IPv6) and assignment of address blocks to regional Internet registries, for maintaining registries of Internet protocol identifiers, and for the management of the top-level domain name space (DNS root zone), which includes the operation of root nameservers. Most visibly, much of its work has concerned the introduction of new generic top-level domains (TLDs). The technical work of ICANN is referred to as the "IANA function".
W3C ( The World Wide Web Consortium)-is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web (abbreviated WWW or W3).
Founded and headed by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations which maintain full-time staff for the purpose of working together in the development of standards for the World Wide Web. As of 18 February 2011, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has 322 members.
W3C also engages in education and outreach, develops software and serves as an open forum for discussion about the Web.
* Arrange the organizations in chronological order
·          IAB
·           IANA
·           ICANN
·           IESG
·           IETF
·           IRTF
·           ISOC
·           W3C

What made the internet reliable and efficient?
-          The internet, having different yet accessible routes throughout its domain, can make desired or specific data travel to a single recipient without much of the tedious human effort.

What principles applied in the Internet that could also be beneficial in other areas?
- The internet’s theme of unity and socialization has a huge impact even in far-flung areas or those places which have little or hardly any influence.

* In your own words, explain the TCP/IP Protocol Suite (Internet Model).
- The TCP/IP Protocol Suite is a systemized method of sending and receiving files obtained from the internet. It is through the Protocol Suite that any acquired information is made sure that the desired or formulated contents are not intercepted and replaced.

Reference:
Wikipedia, youtube videos.