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Definitions of Computer and Internet Terms

Internet.gif Internet Terms:

404 Error - File not found error.

802.11bg/n - A standard for wireless area networks (WANs) that offers transmission over short distances at up to 54 megabits per second (Mbps), compared with the 11 Mbps theoretical maximum with the earlier 802.11b standard.


ActiveX - This Microsoft-based technology was built to link desktop applications to the World Wide Web.

Address Bar - An address bar (also location bar or URL bar) is a widget in a web browser that either reflects the current URL or accepts typing-in a target URL.

Adware - Adware is free software that is supported by advertisements. Common adware programs are toolbars that sit on your desktop or work in conjunction with your Web browser.

Affiliate - Website affiliates are what drive Internet marketing. Companies run affiliate programs to generate leads and sales from other Websites.

Apache - The Apache HTTP Server, commonly referred to as Apache, is web server software notable for playing a key role in the initial growth of the World Wide Web. Since April 1996 Apache has been the most popular HTTP server software in use.

Applet - A Java program that can be embedded in a Web page.

Archive - An archive contains multiple files and/or folders within a single file.

ASP - Active Server Page or Application Service Provider

ATM - Asynchronous Transfer Mode

Autoresponder - An autoresponder is a program or script on a mail server that automatically replies to e-mails.

Avatar - An avatar is an online character that represents a person. For example, games like World of Warcraft and the Sims.

Backbone - The Internet backbone refers to the principal data routes between large, strategically interconnected networks and core routers in the Internet.

Backlink - this is a link coming from another website back to your own, also called inward or inbound links. Some Search Engines use backlinks as an indicator of the popularity of a site.


Bcc - Blind Carbon Copy

BIND - (The Berkeley Internet Name Domain) a network service that enables clients to name resources or objects and share this information with other objects in the network. A program that changes IP number to names and names to IP numbers. Example: their IP number

BitTorrent - BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol used for distributing large amounts of data. BitTorrent is one of the most common protocols for transferring large files

Blog - A blog (a contraction of the term "web log") is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.

Bookmark - Using a World Wide Web browser, a bookmark is a saved link to a Web page that has been added to a list of saved links.

Bot - Short for "Robot" a bot is a program that is designed to automate tasks.

Botnet - The word BOTNET is short for the combination of the word robot and network. The term often applies to groups of computer systems that have had malicious software installed by worms, Trojan horses or other malicious software that allows the "botnet herder" or botnet's originator to control the group remotely.

Bounce - When an e-mail message cannot get to its recipient for some reason, it is returned or bounced to the sender, with an error message informing the user that it was not sent.

Broadband - Broadband in telecommunications refers to a signaling method that includes or handles a relatively wide range (or band) of frequencies, which may be divided into channels or frequency bins. Broadband is always a relative term, understood according to its context. IE: DSL, Cable, Wireless

BSOD - aka Blue Screen Of Death A famous fatal-error message that occurs in Windows operating systems. It is a blue screen that interrupts your computer, indicating a fatal error in your operating system.

Captcha - A CAPTCHA or Captcha is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to ensure that the response is not generated by a computer.

Cc - Carbon Copy

Certificate - A certificate is a mechanism used to verify an identity on a computer and/or over a computer network. You might call it a "digital identity".

CGI - Common Gateway Interface - A standard script for running programs on a server from a Web page. CGI programs (also called scripts) can be run independently and were designed to be external so they can run under various (possibly different) servers interchangeably.

Client - A client is a computer program that depends upon another program to function.

Client-Side - A technology or program that runs on your desktop computer (as opposed to running on a server). Example: Java or JavaScript

Cloud Computing - Cloud computing is a general term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the Internet. It is sold on demand, typically by the minute or the hour; it is elastic -- a user can have as much or as little of a service as they want at any given time; and the service is fully managed by the provider.

Co-Location - aka colo - A facility that offer customers a secure place to physically house their hardware and equipment (as opposed to keeping it in their house, office or warehouse).

Command Line - The location where a programmer enters commands to tell a Unix host system what he or she wants it to do. In DOS, the command line is the text you type after the prompt.

Command Line Weenie - a.k.a. command liner. A geek who prefers using the command line instead of a mouse.

Cookie - A cookie, also known as a web cookie, browser cookie, and HTTP cookie, is a piece of text stored on a user's computer by their web browser. It is information that a Web site puts on your hard disk so that it can remember something about you at a later time.

Compiler - A program that reads statements written in a human-readable programming language and translates them into a machine-readable program.

CPA - Cost Per Action

CPC - Cost Per Click

CPL - Cost Per Lead

CPM - Cost Per 1,000 Impressions

CP/M - CP/M (Control Program for Microcomputers) is an operating system originally created for Intel 8080/85 based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc.

CRM - Customer Relationship Management

Cross-Browser - Cross-browser refers to the ability for a website, web application, HTML construct or client-side script to support all the web browsers.

CSS - Cascading Style Sheet

CTR - Click-Through Rate


Cyberspace - a computer network consisting of a worldwide network of computer networks that use the TCP/IP network protocols to facilitate data transmission.

Cybersquatter - Cybersquatting refers to using, trafficking in or registering a domain name with the intention of taking advantage of the popularity of another company'strademark. These cybersquatters generally register these domains before the target company, thus forcing the latter to buy the domain from them at a higher price.

DHCP - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

Dial-up - Dial-up is a form of Internet access that uses telephone lines.

DNS - Domain Name System

DNS Record - DNS records, (or Resource Records) are stored in the zone file for a domain name and are used for translating domain names to IP addresses.

Domain Name - A domain name is a unique address on the Internet. If a domain name is not currently registered, you can register the domain name with an approved domain name registrar, which will give you rights to that particular domain until such time as the domain name registration expires, is cancelled, or is transferred to another domain name registrant.

Domain Suffix - A domain suffix is the last part of a domain name and is often referred to as a "top-level domain" or TLD. Popular domain suffixes include ".com," ".net," and ".org," but there are dozens of domain suffixes approved by ICANN.

Download - A download is a computer file or set of files which is designed to be transferred from a server to an individual user.

Dynamic IP - An IP address that changes every time you log on to the Internet.

Dynamic Website - a dynamic website provides response according to user's request. That is a dynamic wesite creates web pages at run time and provides dynamic content to the user. Whereas a static website is one that always provides same pages to all the users. It consists of pages that have predifined content.

E-commerce - E-commerce, EC (electronic commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet, especially the World Wide Web.

E-mail - Electronic Mail. It's hard to remember what our lives were like without e-mail.

E-mail Bankruptcy - Email Bankruptcy is a term used to identify or explain a decision to close an e-mail account due to an overwhelming receipt of garbage messages.

EDI - Electronic Data Interchange

Emoticon - a representation of a facial expression (as a smile or frown) created by typing a sequence of characters in sending email, chatting, and text messages.

Extranet - An extranet is a private network that uses Internet protocols, network connectivity. An extranet can be viewed as part of a company's intranet.

Facebook - is a social network service and website.

FiOS - Fiber Optic Service


Flaming - Flaming, also known as bashing, is hostile and insulting interaction between Internet users

Flash - Flash is a vector animation (read about vector animation software) software, originally designed to create animations for display on web pages.

FTP - File Transfer Protocol

Gateway - A gateway is a network node that allows you to gain entrance into a network and vice versa.

Google - Google is the world's largest search engine.

Gopher - The Gopher protocol /ˈɡoʊfər/ is a TCP/IP Application layer protocol designed for distributing, searching, and retrieving documents over the Internet.

Handle - The handle, or username, you choose will identify you to other members of our website.

Hit - A hit is a request to a web server for a file (web page, image, JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheet, etc.).

Home Page - A home page or homepage has various related meanings to do with web sites: It most often refers to the initial or main web page of a web site.

HTML - Hyper-Text Markup Language

HTTP - HyperText Transfer Protocol

HTTPS - HyperText Transport Protocol Secure


Hypermedia - a multimedia system in which related items of information are connected and can be presented together.

Hypertext - Hypertext is text displayed on a computer or other electronic device with references (hyperlinks) to other text that the reader can immediately access, usually by a mouse click or keypress sequence.

ICANN - Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers

ICF - Internet Connection Firewall

ICMP- Internet Control Message Protocol

ICQ - ICQ is a popular instant messaging computer program, which was first developed by the Israeli company Mirabilis, now owned by AOL.

ICS - Internet Connection Sharing

ICT - Information and Communication Technologies

IM - Instant Message

Impression - An impression is defined as the point in which an ad is viewed once by a visitor, or displayed once on a web page.

Inbox - This is the area on you computers email program that stores the emails sent to you.


InterNIC - Internet Network Information Center

IP - Internet Protocol

IP Address - An Internet Protocol (IP) Address is the number assigned to a network equiped piece of hardware by which other device identify it.

IPv4 - Internet Protocol version four, or IPv4, is a system of addresses used to identify devices on a network.

IPv6 - Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is the next-generation Internet Protocol version designated as the successor to IPv4. IPv6 is designed to solve the problems of IPv4. It does so by creating a new version of the protocol which serves the function of IPv4, but without the same limitations of IPv4.

IRC - Internet Relay Chat

iSCSI - Internet Small Computer Systems Interface

ISDN - Integrated Services Digital Network

ISP - Internet Service Provider

JavaScript - JavaScript is the most popular client side scripting language on the internet, and works in all major browsers, such as Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Internet Explorer.

JSP - Java Server Page


LDAP - Lightweight Directory Access Protocol

Leaderboard - A leaderboard ad is a popular type of banner advertisement. At standard dimensions of 780 X 90 pixels, a leaderboard is the width of the page.

Link - In computing, a hyperlink (or link) is a reference to a document that the reader can directly follow, or that is followed automatically.

LinkedIn - LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 80 million members and growing rapidly. LinkedIn connects you to your trusted contacts and helps you exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader network of professionals.

Linux - Linux is a completely free(both free as in speech and free as in beer) operating system. In itself only a kernel, it only becomes useful when paired with other tools, such as the GNU utilities and several other core utils, to create a so-called "distribution" of Linux.

Listserv - an electronic mail-based discussion forum for subscribing members. Individuals send e-mail to the listerv's address, and all members on the distribution list receive the message. An effective, low bandwidth, user-driven medium for content focused on a particular area of interest.

Mashup - A derivative work consisting of two pieces of (generally digital) media conjoined together, such as a video clip with a different soundtrack applied for humorous effect, or a map overlaid with user-supplied data; A remix that combines two or more songs from different artists into one track.

Meta Search Engine - A meta-search engine is a search tool that sends user requests to several other search engines and/or databases and aggregates the results into a list.

Meta Tag - Meta tags are HTML or XHTML elements used to provide structured metadata about a Web page.

Mirror - A mirror is a Web site or set of files on a computer server that has been copied to another computer server so that the site or files are available from more than one place. A mirror site is an exact replica of the original site and is usually updated frequently to ensure that it reflects the content of the original site.

Moodle - Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment is a free and open-source e-learning software platform.

MySpace - MySpace is a social networking website.

Name Server - A name server (nameserver) maintains a directory of domain names that match certain IP addresses (computers).

NAT - Network Address Translation

Netiquette - Netiquette (a portmanteau formed from "network etiquette") is a set of social conventions that facilitate interaction over networks, ranging from Usenet and mailing lists to blogs and forums.

Netmask - A netmask is a 32-bit mask used to divide an IP address into subnets and specify the networks available hosts.

Newsgroup - A usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users in different locations. The term may be confusing to some, because it is usually a discussion group. Newsgroups are technically distinct from, but functionally similar to, discussion forums on the World Wide Web. Newsreader software is used to read newsgroups.

NNTP - Network News Transfer Protocol

NOC - Network Operations Center

Optical Carrier - A fiber optic connection capable of transferring data at 51.85 Mbps

OSPF - Open Shortest Path First

Outbox - A box in which you put all the mail to be sent out; In computing, an electronic folder serving the same purpose.

P2P - Peer To Peer

Packet - A packet is a basic unit of communication over a digital network. A packet is also called a datagram, a segment, a block, a cell or a frame, depending on the protocol.

Page View - A page view (PV) or page impression is a request to load a single HTML file ('page') of an Internet site.

Payload - A "payload" is code in a worm designed to do more than spread the worm–it might delete files on a host system for example.

PCC - PCLinuxOS Control Center

PCLinuxOS - PCLinuxOS is a Linux distribution, which is distributed completely free of charge. Released under a GPL licence, it is completely open for developers to modify and release their own customized version. It uses the RPM package system. Initially based on Mandriva Linux, it is now a fully-fledged independent distribution of Linux.

PCLOS - PCLOS is a shortened form of PCLinuxOS. See PCLinuxOS for further information.

Permalink - A permalink, or permanent link, is a URL that points to a specific blog or forum entry after it has passed from the front page to the archives.

Personal URL - A "URL" (also called a "domain" or "domain name") is just a fancy word for a site address. For example or

Pharming - Pharming is a hacker's attack aiming to redirect a website's traffic to another, bogus website.


PHP - Hypertext Preprocessor (originally called Personal Home Page)

PIM - Personal Information Manager


POP3 - POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3) is the most recent version of a standard protocol for receiving e-mail. POP3 is a client/server protocol in which e-mail is received and held for you by your Internet server.

Portal - A portal is a central place for making all types of information accessible to an audience of varying range. Also known as a link page.

PPC - Pay Per Click

PPL - Pay Per Lead

PPP - Point to Point Protocol

PPPoE - Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet

PPTP - Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol


Proxy Server - In computer networks, a proxy server is a server (a computer system or an application program) that acts as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers.

RPM - Revenue Per 1,000 Impressions or Redhat Package Management

RSS - RDF Site Summary

SDSL - Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line

Search Engine - A Web site (actually a program) that acts as a card catalog for the Internet. Search engines attempt to index and locate desired information by searching for the keywords a user specifies.

SEO - Search Engine Optimization

SERP - Search Engine Results Page

SFTP- Secure File Transfer Protocol

Session - In telecommunication, a session is a series of interactions between two communication end points that occur during the span of a single connection.


Skyscraper - Is an online ad which is taller vertically than it is wide horizontally, thereby resembling the shape of a skyscraper. There are two sizes: 160 x 600 pixels is considered a " wide" skyscraper, and 120 x 600 pixels is the size of a regular skyscraper.

Slashdot - Slashdot (sometimes abbreviated as /.) is a technology-related news website.

SMM - Social Media Marketing

SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

SOAP - Simple Object Access Protocol

Social Networking - Social networking is the grouping of individuals into specific groups, like small rural communities or a neighborhood subdivision, if you will.

Socket - In computer networking, an Internet socket or network socket is an endpoint of a bidirectional inter-process communication flow across an Internet.

SOHO - Single Office Home Office (pronounced: so-hoe) refers to small businesses, especially those that are headquartered in the entrepreneur's home.

Spam - No it is not a canned meat made largely from pork. Spam is flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive. Contrary to popular belief, spam is not protected by national Free Speech laws.

Spider - A spider is a program that visits Web sites and reads their pages and other information in order to create entries for a search engine index.

Spoofing - A method of attacking a computer program, in which the program is modified so as to appear to be working normally when in reality it has been modified with the purpose to circumvent security mechanisms.

SSH - Secure SHell

SSL - Secure Sockets Layer

Stallman, Richard - aka RMS pioneered the concept of copyleft, and he is the main author of several copyleft licenses including the GNU General Public License, the most widely used free software license. With the launch of the GNU Project, he initiated the free software movement; in October 1985 he founded the Free Software Foundation.

Static IP - An IP address that is the same every time you log on to the Internet.

Static Website - A static web page (sometimes called a flat page) is a web page that is delivered to the user exactly as stored.

sysAdmin - short for system administrator (pronounced: sis-admin) The person(s) responsible for running and maintaining a computer system.

SysOP - Short for System Operator (pronounced: sis-opp)

Syntax - The grammar, structure, and order of elements in a language statement. In personal computing, it refers to the rules that govern the structure of computer commands.

System - A complete computer installation, including peripherals, disk drives, a monitor, a mouse, the operating system, a printer, and software.

T1 - A T1 line is a fiber optic line that can carry roughly 60 times more data than a normal residential 56K modem.

T3 - A type of data connection able to transmit a digital signal at 44Mbps. T3 lines are often used to link large computer networks, such as those that make up the Internet.

Tag - A tag is a generic term for a language element descriptor. The set of tags for a document or other unit of information is sometimes referred to as markup, such as html.

TCP/IP - Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol

Telnet - Telnet (teletype network) is a network protocol used on the Internet or local area networks to provide a bidirectional interactive communications.

Terminal - An input/output (I/O) device that allows you to send commands to a computer that's somewhere else.

TLD - a.k.a. TLD, gTLD, or generic top-level domain - In the Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy, it is the highest level under the root. In a domain name, it is that portion that appears furthest to the right; for example, the "com" in
  |       |         |
  |       |         ----> top level domain
  |       ----> second level domain
  ----> third level domain

Traceroute - Traceroute is a computer network tool used to show the route taken by packets across an IP network.

TTL - Time To Live

Tunneling - Tunneling is a way in which data is transferred between two networks securely. All the data that is being transferred are fragmented into smaller packets or frames and then passed through the tunnel.

Tweet - A tweet is a post or status update on Twitter.

Twitter - Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that allows you answer the question, "What are you doing?" by sending short text messages.

UDP - User Datagram Protocol

Unfriend - To stop being the friend of; To defriend; to remove from one's friends list (eg on a social networking website)

Upload - Upload is the process of sending a copy of a file to a remote network location. For example, when you send an email with attachments through an email client software, the email client needs to upload the files to the email server first. The opposite is download.

URI - Uniform Resource Identifier

URL - Uniform Resource Locator

Vaporware - Software that never makes it off the drawing board, or that's been hyped up for months but isn't available anywhere.

VCI - Virtual Channel Identifier

Virtual - A simulation of the real thing, it means the same as "almost." You will see this term appear before various Internet terms to indicate a simulation technology that enables you to cross boundaries and experience something without needing it to be physically present.

Virtual Hosting - A Web hosting company that keeps your Web site on its server but allows you to use your own domain name. Virtual hosting is affordable for individual people's Web sites (vanity pages) and small businesses because this technology allows many sites to share the same server (there could be hundreds or thousands of them on a server). The important thing is that no one else has access to your directories.

Virus - A software program that replicates on computer systems by incorporating itself into shared programs. Viruses range from harmless pranks that merely display an annoying message to programs that can destroy files or disable a computer altogether.

VoIP - Voice Over Internet Protocol - A technology that uses Internet Protocol (IP) instead of voice recognition as the conduit for a voice conversation by telephone. The technology transmits ordinary telephone calls over the Internet using packet-linked routes.

VPI - Virtual Path Identifier

VPN - Virtual Private Network

W3C - World Wide Web Consortium - An organization that exists to realize the full potential of the Web, it is a special interest group comprised of programmers, Web developers, execs in the industry, and users who help define specifications for the development of Web technology.

WAIS - Wide Area Information Server

WAN- Wide Area Network - A network that uses high-speed, long-distance communications cables or satellites to connect computers over distances greater than those traversed by LANs (which range about two miles). The Internet itself is considered a WAN.

Web 2.0 - Web 2.0 is term that was introduced in 2004 and refers to the second generation of the World Wide Web.

Web Forum - Sometimes called a bulletin board or message board, a Web forum is an online center for ongoing, in-depth discussions of specific topics and issues. It originated as the modern equivalent of a traditional bulletin board, and a technological evolution of the dialup bulletin board system.

Web Host - In order to publish a website online, you need a Web host. The Web host stores all the pages of your website and makes them available to computers connected to the Internet.

Web Hosting - The business of providing the equipment and services required to host and maintain files for one or more Web sites and to provide fast Internet connections to those sites. It can include virtual/shared, or dedicated.

Webmail - There are two primary ways of checking your e-mail – using an e-mail program like Microsoft Outlook or with a eb-based interface called webmail. When you check or send e-mail via the Web, you are using webmail.

Webmaster - The webmaster is the person in charge of maintaining a Web site.

Web Page - A single HTML file (static or generated on the fly) on the Internet, often hyperlinked to others, and intended to be viewed with a web browser.

Web Ring - A webring (or web ring) is a collection of websites linked together in a circular structure, and usually organized around a specific theme.

Web Server - A Web server is a computer program that delivers (serves) content, such as Web pages, using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), over the Woeld Wide Web.

Web Space - The amount of space set aside on a server for a Web site. Most ISPs allocate free Web space for their users. The minimum amount offered is usually 10 megabytes, which is ample space for most people's needs.

Website - A website, or Web site, is not the same thing as a Web page. Though the two terms are often used interchangeably, they should not be. So what's the difference? To put it simply, a Web site is a collection of Web pages.

Web Crawler - One of the original popular search engines on the Web. It was one of the first indexes of World Wide Web pages by title and URL.

Webmaster - A commonly used term that can refer to a variety of individuals involved with the creation or management of a Web site. Most correctly, a Webmaster is the person who maintains, runs, or "watches over" the content and functionality of a Web site.

Webmistress - A female Webmaster - see the term Webmaster above.

WHOIS - This is an Internet service that finds information about a domain name or IP address.

WiFi - A high-speed wireless networking standard (at 11Mbps and increasing to 20Mbps), it is a leading RF technology backed by Apple and 3Com. Dubbed "Wi-Fi" (because that's easier to remember than 802.11a/b/g/n). Wi-Fi wireless networks originally came in two speeds: "b" 11Mbps (the first version to gain public acceptance) and "g" 54Mbps (which is faster and backwards compatible with b).

Wiki - A wiki is a Web site that allows users to add and update content on the site using their own Web browser.

WiMax - (802.16e) Unlike Wi-Fi, which covers an area of a few hundred feet, WiMax networks are capable of extending over several square miles.

WWW - World Wide Web (web 1.0) - You're in it ;-) "The Web," as it is more commonly called, can be described as a collection of graphical pages on the Internet that can be read and interacted with by computer.

'WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get (pronounced: whiz-ee-wig) An acronym for a technology that allows you to view or print a document exactly as it looks.

XHTML - Extensible Hypertext Markup Language

X Windows System - A networked windowing system developed first by MIT and now by the X Consortium. It is commonly used on Unix (and VMS systems).

XModem - A protocol for transferring files during direct dial-up communications. Developed by Ward Christensen in 1977, Xmodem has basic error checking to ensure that information isn't lost or corrupted during transfer.

Yahoo! - Yahoo! is an Internet portal that incorporates a search engine and a directory of World Wide Web sites organized in a hierarchy of topic categories.

YouTube - YouTube is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos.

Zombie - Originally it referred to an abandoned Web site that remains online (such as a ghost site or an orphan annie). The definition of "zombie" has been extended to include a PC that has received either a virus or a Trojan program which causes it to be used as a spam generator without the user's knowledge.

Zone File - A zone file is a text file that describes a portion of the Domain Name System (DNS) called a DNS zone. A zone contains information that defines mappings between domain names and IP addresses and other resources, organized in form of resource records