At Slingshot we like the simple things in life so we have created a Glossary internet terms, explained simply.

These days people use the word 'internet' or 'net' to mean the web. (Check out the definition of web.) Technically speaking though, they're different things. The internet is a worldwide network of computers. When your computer is hooked up to the internet, your computer can talk to other computers, accessing information and sometimes, allowing you to talk directly with other users.

Just to be clear again - the internet is what allows you to use the web.

A technical definition of the World Wide Web is: all the resources and users on the Internet that are using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or internet language.

If that sounds confusing, don't worry. All you need to know is that the web is a really cool place that works a bit like an online library. It's FULL of information. Companies, universities, newspapers - you name it, they all have web sites that you can search for information. A good way to start is with a search engine like Google. Type in the name of something you're interested in and it will bring up a list of sites for you to visit.

This is the technical language of the internet in which computers speak to each other.

Put simply - a server is a computer program. It provides services to other computer programs in the same or other computers. For example, you can access the web because you have a web browser in your computer requests HTML files from the Web.

Just a quick word - sometimes you won't be able to access a website and you'll have a message on the screen that says the server might be down. There's probably nothing wrong with your computer, they're usually talking about the web server. That's a computer program (housed in a computer) that sends requested web pages or files to your computer. When this happens there's nothing you can do, except check back later and hope they've sorted it out.

This one actually makes sense. A website is a place that you visit on internet, right? So the person or company who run that site is your host. Likewise, if you start up your own site, you're the host.

And for those that need to know more… hosting (also known as Web site hosting) is the business of housing, serving, and maintaining files for one or more Web site.

A hosting service lets many companies share the cost of a fast internet connection for serving files. A number of hosting companies describe their services as virtual hosting. Virtual hosting usually implies that their services will be transparent and that each Web site will have its own domain name and set of e-mail addresses.

This is just another name for a website's address. For example, our domain name is www.slingshot.co.nz.

Well, type in a domain name and it will take you straight to the website. The domain name is mapped to an IP address (which represents a physical point on the internet).

More than one domain name can be mapped to the same internet address. This allows multiple individuals, businesses, and organizations to have separate internet identities while sharing the same internet server.

This is how you write and send messages over the net. Technically speaking it's called electronic mail messaging. For example, if you get set up with Slingshot's email service, you'll get an email address like - 'yourname'@slingshot.co.nz. This is where people will send your emails to and it's the place you'll go to when you want to send an email to someone else.

There are two different types of internet connections. Dial-Up and Broadband. All you really need to know is that broadband is faster (Dial-Up can take a lot longer to connect, search sites and download stuff). It allows you to use the internet without holding up your phone line (another thing that Dial-Up does) and you can download a lot more stuff.

Now for the technical bit - in general, broadband (highway) refers to telecommunication in which a wide band of frequencies are available to transmit information, in the same way as more lanes on a highway allow more cars to travel on it at the same time.

This is the maximum speed at which your Broadband connection will download or upload data to or from the Internet.

The speed of your service will depend on the plan you select. The table below is only a guideline and speeds may vary because of factors outside of our control - such as availability of bandwidth, time of day, congestion, the number of people using the network and the distance of your modem from the local Telecom Exchange.

Full Speed means that your connection speed can't go any faster - it's as fast as your line will allow.

A modem is what allows your computer to talk to the internet. Technically speaking, it modulates the ADSL data coming into your connection from the phone line.

Spam is an internet term for junk mail. These are unsolicited emails that can clutter your mailbox. To stop this we've developed a Spam filter that will apply rules to all emails sent to your mailbox. These rules are based on keywords and phrases that commonly appear in Spam mail and it also checks the source of the email against a regularly updated Spam blacklist.

This is just a term for watching or listening to a video/music over the web. It's different to downloading though as the information comes slowly, bit by bit.

The term 'streaming media' is streaming video with sound. With streaming video or streaming media, you don't have to wait to download a large file before seeing the video or hearing the sound. You can view movies and live content in real time, live as they happen.

If you want to know how it works keep reading … the media is sent in a continuous stream and it's played as it arrives. You'll need a player, which is a special program that uncompresses and sends video data to the display and audio data to the speakers. You might already have a player - it's usually part of your browser, otherwise it can be downloaded from the software maker's web site.

Software is a general term for the different kinds of programs that are used to operate computers and related devices.

Knock gently on your laptop, the keyboard, the mouse or your modem. See how it's hard? That's why it's called hardware. Lesson over.

When you want to search the web go to an internet browser, like Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. A browser is an application program that provides a way to look at and interact with all the information on the web.

A computer hacker is someone who creates nasty programmes, called viruses, that are designed to hurt your computer. They then send them in an email attachment or find ways to hide them in places where you might accidentally download them.

If your computer catches a virus, it can cause big problems. You can even spread the virus by accidentally emailing it to your friends and family, if you don't have the right protection. Slingshot Email Anti-virus protection helps to safeguard your computer from emails infected by viruses by filtering all email attachments sent to your mailbox. It's also a good idea not to open emails from strangers - if you can help it.

Spyware is a broad description of software designed to intercept or take partial control of a computer's operation. This is generally without the informed consent of the owner or legitimate user.

When Spyware is installed on your computer, it collects many different types of information about the user. The programs attempt to track what types of websites the user visits and send this information to an advertising agency, others simply launch popup advertisements. More malicious versions will try to record what a user types to try to intercept passwords or credit card numbers however.

Phishing is essentially cyber criminals building a fake or clone website that looks identical to a trusted company's site. You are generally taken there after receiving a bogus email (from your bank for example) instructing you to follow a link. This link will then take you to the fake or clone website where you are asked to enter your details.

It allows customers to make cheap phone calls over the internet (IP) using a standard phone handset plugged into your modem or Gateway. VoiP is available with all Slingshot broadband plans via our Italk Service.

File sharing means you can make files on your computer available for other users to download over the internet. Usually file sharing follows the peer-to-peer (P2P) model, where the files are stored on and served by personal computers of the users. Most people who file share are also downloading files that other users share.

Here's where we get technical again - by the way, if you have any problems understanding this, feel free to contact our helpline. We're here to help!

Here we go - bandwidth is another word for the data transfer rate - the amount of data that can be carried from one point to another in a given time period (usually a second). This kind of bandwidth is usually expressed in bits (of data) per second (bps). Occasionally, it's expressed as bytes per second (Bps). In general, a link with a high and fast bandwidth might be able to carry enough information to sustain the succession of images in a video presentation like a movie in real time or a live sports event, much like your TV would.

This is an exciting new addition to our webmail service, which affects how you access your mail. With webmail all your emails are stored on Slingshot's servers. That means customers can access and manage their email, calendar events and personal information in real time, from any Laptop, PC or device with an internet connection

Your broadband usage isn't based on the length of time that you're connected, rather it's the amount of data uploaded and downloaded. Data usage is generally measured in gigabytes (GB) and refers to any form of data that is either sent or received on your connection. This includes the downloading of web pages, sending and receiving email, file sharing and live streaming. One gigabyte is equal to 1024 megabytes (MB).

Your data cap is the amount of data (GB) you can download at broadband speed. Once you have reached your cap you can choose to buy more data by going to our website and clicking on ‘my account’. Otherwise you can have your speed limited to Dial-Up speed and continue to surf the internet at no additional cost.