... Basic Computer Skills ...

The Internet and Using Internet Software

By getting to this page, you used a Web Browser to get to my website and then to this page of my website ... a Web Browser is a software application which is used to browse or surf the Internet's World Wide Web. Now if you are an AOL user, then your browser is the one built into the AOL software, otherwise you are most likely using Netscape or Internet Explorer ... These, and others, are different browsers made by competing software companies ... Many AOL users use either Netscape or Internet Explorer (IE) instead of or in addition to the built in AOL browser.

You can use several different browsers or several iterations (copies) of the same browser running at the same time if you want to ... This is convenient, for example, when connected to a chat room (or doing any special work on one browser) ... to be able to visit other Internet sites, without leaving the chat room (or whatever) by running another browser or another copy (iteration) of the same browser at the same time. When this is done, the browser windows will appear as separate blocks in the active area of the Task Bar, and you can switch between which one is active on your Desktop by clicking them there ... another example of multitasking.

Software which handles Internet email is an Email Client. AOL has its own built in email client, as does Juno, and some others. While people who use other Internet Service Providers (ISP's) may use other email clients such as Hotmail or Eudora Lite or Eudora Pro, Pegasus Email, Outlook Express or others.

Once you are connected to the Internet through, whatever ISP you may use ... you may use ANY browser and ANY email client you choose to. AOL users can minimize their AOL software and launch IE and/or Netscape if they wish to in addition to or instead of the AOL browser, and can use any other email client. What is needed for using an email client are the names of the ISP's POP3 mail server ... (that would be for incoming email) and the SMTP mail server (for outgoing email) to enter into the setup of the email client software ... IE comes with Windows 98 and is a part of it, Netscape can be downloaded and installed for free (that's what I use) and Eudora Light can also be downloaded and installed for free.

There are a large number of personal communications software applications that are available from the Internet for use on it, and the majority of them are entirely free ... These include instant message software, personal chat software, and also Internet telephone software. All of these can be used while you are connected to the Internet, regardless of which ISP or browser you use.

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