Choosing Where To Buy Software

Software for computers comes in many different forms. It may be applications software or database software. It could be a game for playing in one's leisure time or a business application used at work. It is important to consider several factors when choosing where to buy software.One key item to consider is the importance of verifying the source. For example, a person seeking a suite of programs such as Microsoft Office will want to ensure that the product they receive is an authentic, licensed copy of the programs, not some copy that has been burned by an individual. This can usually be accomplished by looking directly at the disc containing the programs as Microsoft and other companies incorporate authentication markings into their labeling.The type of software being purchased will have a major impact on the choice of where to buy it. Those seeking top of the line business programs will generally purchase from either a computer/electronics specialty store or from a firm that produces and offers the programs directly to their customers. Serious buyers will almost always go to the source of the programs, sometimes even downloading them from the company's website.Those seeking activities to occupy their leisure time can usually find a range of titles and genres at almost any discount store. These types of programs are relatively inexpensive and take only minutes to install from CD. Other possible outlets include book retailers and hobby supply stores, as well as those focused on games and entertainment.Antivirus and other anti-malware titles can be found in discount stores, computer dealers, and online. One should research the available offerings and choose the one that has the desired features at the most affordable price. Depending on individual needs and preference, these titles can be purchased virtually anywhere. Some can even be downloaded from the web at no cost.Certain types of utility programs such as registry repair and optimization programs should usually be purchased only from a computer retailer. For these types of programs, it is a good idea to seek the advice of technicians who are familiar with the system one is using and the hardware that comprises it. These individuals should be able to help one choose a suite of programs that is best suited for the particular configuration they are to be used with.In general, it is never a good idea to purchase software secondhand. Producers are quick to point out that one does not actually buy a program. What one is actually purchasing is a license to use that particular program. Purchasing from individuals, especially if they have not uninstalled the programs from their own systems, bypasses the legal chain of supply that ensures producers receive their payment for the license.It is not at all uncommon for computer users to purchase software bundles when they obtain their hardware. Home users generally obtain systems that have a host of pre-installed titles, including some version of the Windows operating system. It is very rare for a home user to purchase strictly hardware and plan to install all of the programs he/she will run on the machine at home. However, many business systems and web servers do come with their hard drives completely blank. Here, the users choose from several different bundles to get the programs they need installed when the hardware is installed.With so many factors to consider when choosing where to buy software, one may well wonder which is the best supplier. The answer is that there is no single supplier that will meet the needs of all customers. Users will have to do some research on their own to locate the most reputable supplier with the most reasonable pricing for the types of programs they need.Given the number of highly specialized applications in the market today, many find it best to purchase directly from the developer when seeking serious business oriented programs. This can usually be done through the mail if one requires a CD or DVD with the programs on it from which to install. This is often most convenient for businesses seeking several licenses for the same program compared to downloading the programs onto different machines. However, single users may find it more convenient to download from the website of the developer.Others can find the exact programs they need by shopping at the same retailer where they bought their systems. Leisure users seeking games to pass their time can find titles in many different types of stores and on the Web. Here, price is probably the primary factor that determines from whom they buy.Authenticity and licensing are critical elements that go into the choice of where to buy software. A program is useless if it has to be registered with the developer in order to work and has been previously registered by another user. Therefore, avoiding secondhand purchases is essential for serious business users.

Setting Up Internet Access From a New ISP

Setting up Internet access from a new Internet service provider is typically something that a service technician will do upon installation. If your home hasn't been wired for Internet connectivity by previous residents, a representative from the ISP in question will come to your home and install the necessary cables and hardware. If you want to save yourself a great deal of money, the process can end at that point. Instead of paying to have a repair technician install Internet access throughout your home, you can take all of the equipment provided and set up the access point yourself in just a few moments of your time.Begin the process by removing all of the network equipment that you received from its original packaging and laying it all out on a flat surface. Depending on your Internet service provider and the age of the equipment they rented to you, you may see two main pieces of hardware or only a single one. Some Internet service providers use a broadband modem to provide Internet access to your home and a separate wired or wireless router to allow you to connect more than one device to the network. Internet service providers with newer equipment, however, will combine both of the aforementioned hardware components into one device. If you've received a separate modem and router from your ISP, you will need to purchase an Ethernet cable to connect the two devices together (if one was not provided for you).If you plan on setting up a wired network in your home, you will also need one Ethernet cable for each device you want to access the Internet with. Keep in mind that mobile devices like Apple's iPad and similar tablets will not be able to get online using a wired connection. Only wireless connections will provide Internet access to most portable devices. Walk through your home and measure the distance between each device and the location where the wired router will be installed. When purchasing Ethernet cables, make sure to buy cables that are long enough to cover the necessary distance.If you're setting up a wired network in your home, connect the back of the included broadband modem to the rear panel of the wired router using an Ethernet cable. The cable will transfer information from the Internet to the router, at which point the information will be passed along to computers and other devices that are connected. Connect one Ethernet cable to the networking jack on the back of a device you want to be able to use online. Run the cable across the room and connect it to the rear panel on the router. Repeat the process to connect the remaining electronic devices in your home to the Internet. Depending on the router, you may only be able to connect a maximum four devices to the Internet. You can purchase routers with ports for up to eight connections if you so choose.If setting up a wireless network, connect the router to the modem with an Ethernet cable (if necessary). Turn on your computer, open the Control Panel and select the option labeled ‘Connect to a Wireless Network’. Select the name of the wireless network you're trying to connect to and type in the provided password. Many Internet service providers no longer allow homeowners to use their own SSID and passwords for networks. The necessary connection information will likely be provided to you in the documentation that came with your network equipment. Repeat these steps to connect the remaining wireless devices to your home network. Unlike wired networks, there is no limit to the number of devices that can connect to a wireless network.Once your network is up and running, perform a speed test to make sure you're getting the speeds you agreed to pay for with your ISP.Visit an online speed test website like SpeedTest.net and click the button labeled ‘Begin Test’. The test will only take around thirty seconds to complete. Once it is finished, view the upload and download speeds in the graph on your Web browser. Compare the information on screen with the information in the packet you received from the ISP technician to make sure the speeds are similar.

Best Mobile Phones for Seniors

This is a wonderful write-up created by a youthful man, Matt Smith, who is not a senior yet seems to recognize their needs in this world of technical complications. The phones he has decided on are: Snapfon EZ One, Doro 410, Samsung Jitterbug, Nokia C2-01.5, and the Samsung Galaxy Note. I'm going to pull out a couple of words regarding each one, yet I recommend you ultimately browse the original write-up and view the photos.1. Snapfon EZ One is the only one especially made for seniors. The most apparent feature is the large numbers that make them easy to read (even without those glasses that keep getting lost). The buttons are very easy to turn on as well without too much tension "This, combined with a simple large-print LCD screen and high earpiece volume, make the Snapfon Ez an obvious choice. Snapfon is a GSM world phone, so it will work with most carriers. There’s also a plan available direct through the phone’s manufacturer." 2. Doro 410 is a flip-phone layout with rounded edges to ensure that it will certainly slip into bags or pockets quickly. It additionally has big numbers and the screen is configured to give bigger print as well. " An emergency SOS button similar to the Snapfon’s is included, although it’s not as large and easy to use."3. Samsung Jitterbug is very fashionable in addition to beneficial and has additional cell phone features such as texting and messaging. Nonetheless, the special feature of the Jitterbug is something associated with the provider called GreatCall. This makes the Jitterbug considerably more audio instead of the common writing. "If you want to enter a calendar event, you don’t have to do it yourself – you can call the operator, tell them the information, and they’ll enter the event for you. Other features include Bluetooth and voice dialing." It's back to using Central as the hand crank phones did.4. Nokia C2 "Unlike the pure-breed senior phones we’ve already discussed, this one has an okay camera, can use apps and can even access the Internet if you pay for a mobile data package." The call high quality is very excellent and could be adjusted to make it louder, Bluetooth works well and basic text messaging is very easy to access and use. "Nokia is a good phone – a much better one, in fact, than many smartphones costing two or three times as much."5. Samsung Galaxy Note has a big screen, and a stylus that resembles a pen. The large 5.3" screen makes it less complicated to focus on content and additionally to compose using the pencil-like stylus that tucks into a pocket in the lower side of the Note. "If you‘re a senior who wants to check out smartphones the Note is a good pick."I have to confess to you that I'm a wonderful supporter of the Galaxy Note. Maybe it's my fat fingers that like the stylus or the mobility with a big screen. It's best for showing to possible customers just what their internet sites can resemble vs. just what they resemble now. Nonetheless, the Nokia C2 will certainly attract those who are tired of all the bells and whistles of contemporary phones and just desire excellent reception and very easy to use. Allow me to know just what cell phone you like. Remarks are most welcome on the Internet on the Go internet site. When you access Matt Smith's original article don't forget the comment section. It's full of other ideas and people's situations with both senior relatives or physically challenged people.

You can now find Chart tools in HTML5 instead of Flash

Graphs and charts are a great way to break down the information at hand to the user in a descriptive and visually enticing manner. These are often employed in nearly every place over the internet, in the news articles and the presentation materials and even in books like comics. As you can find an amount of vendors catering special kind of features and certain limitations seen in the current market, it is therefore very much vital to keenly select the topmost charting tool in order to find the tasks done. Despite some of their Inherent glitches, these vendors all have, for the past decade or so, obtainable a predominantly Flash-based product without a real underpinning technology alternative. Now with the advent of new benchmarks like HTML5, you can see some changes taking position gradually wherein you can see the options of dynamically enabling and rendering some of the topmost charting features, which were not seen earlier. The best thing approximately HTML 5 is the feature of being compatible to an amount of platforms and devices where it is seen excelling in running over the operating systems of Apple and Linux. Talking approximately the performance, the HTML5 just renders charts 60 percent much faster than the older counterpart. With Microsoft announcement on discontinued Flash support on its web browser and Apple's long standing "No Flash" policy on its devices, HTML5 is surely gaining bigger momentum and this is also true for charting vendors as well.Things like SVG and Canvas are both considered as HTML 5 technologies, which help the developers to create rich features and graphics found inside the charts. With the help of SVG based charting functions the developers can for sure help you a lot in just enabling a simple kind of vector graphics and the static animations to incorporating and designing a highly interactive kind of user interface and advance extent animation effects. Similarly, Canvas is especially versatile in that its JavaScript API allows developers to programmatically enable a drawing surgical procedure for creating dynamic and flexible bars, lines, pie charts and much more.In the list of two technical division of HTML 5, KoolChart caters a Canvas based charting resolution that promises a amount of superior features like the Real-Time monitoring charts and the slide charts that happen to be simple to use and proves out unique only to special products of the company.

Don't Game On-Line Without The DLink XTreme N Gaming Router

Most folks don't know that the router they have isn't powerful enough for intense, timing-senstive games and video streaming until it's too late. Most game enthusiasts figure out eventually that an ordinary Wireless N router just doesn't cut it when it comes to intense gameplay. You need a router that's been built with gaming in mind.General performanceWhen taking into consideration gaming performance, the DLink XTreme N Gaming Router comes to mind. The ordinary wireless n router can not touch the DGL-4500 when it comes to shear performance. The DGL 4500 is available standard with gigabit ethernet ports in addition to dual band technology that enables any online games to run faster than ever before. Standard 100Mbps ethernet ports may be a bottleneck on a wi-fi network operating at 300Mbps. Typically the gigabit ethernet ports do away with this by enabling transfer speeds of up to 1000Mbps. Dual bands mean you can operate seperate networks. By placing your game on the 5GHZ frequency band instead of the 2.4GHZ frequency band which everybody else is using you're able to run your online games with less interference. The 5 GHz frequency band is remarkably interference free than the 2.4 GHz frequency band which is often interfered with by other wireless routers as well as household appliances.QOS A vital Gaming FeatureQOS or Quality Of Service lets you to prioritize your video gaming sessions over surfing, e-mail and printing sessions. This prevents other sorts of network activities from interfering with your video games. The DLink DGL 4500 provides you control over what traffic to prioritize on your network. Port Forwarding Controls and the DMZTwo other issues that are crucial to gamers are port forwarding and also usage of a DMZ. Certain software programs and many game titles experience problems when trying to run across the Internet. If the proper ports aren't opened a lot of games simply will not run right. This can be resolved in one of two ways. Port forwarding lets you specify which ports the game needs to perform at it's best. The DMZ removes your online game from being blocked by any kind of firewall whatsoever which is in some cases the most effective solution for certain games. A word of warning however. You do not want to put computers or any device with sensitive or personal data on the DMZ.Other Gaming FeaturesIn addition to all of these capabilities the DGL 4500 provides other advancements that have been specifically created for avid gamers.You get graphic, up-to-the-minute updates of the state of your network from the DLinks ingenious "Heads Up Display" system. You will fully understand what is happening with your network and your router using this feature. Viewing the data on the screen is nearly as exciting as the video game itself. If you're a game lover the D-Link DGL 4500 was designed with you in mind and can help you get the best gaming experience possible.DownsideApart from the look being a little dated the only drawback with the D-Link DGL 4500 is that it's a "selectable" dual band router. If this is an issue a simultaneous dual band router such as DLink DIR 825 may be more suitable. The big difference between a normal wi-fi router and a gaming router should be obvious to you by now. You are no longer among the many folks who don't know such a thing as a "gaming router" is out there. You have the knowledge to take your video gaming to the next level and leave your competition in the dust with a wifi router developed for gaming.


By : thomas kalik

5 Tips for Keeping Your VPN Service Safe

In corporate networks remote access is typically granted to trusted employees and key customers. Access to the corporate network is possible, for example, through the use of VPN service. Maintaining a secure network containing virtual private networks is a demanding task. Every remote and uncontrolled computer, creates a potential loophole for Internet attacks. Here are five safety tips for VPN software users.1. Enforce the use of strong passwords. If you are not using effective authentication methods, such as cryptographic smart cards or tokens, you must reckon with the fact that static password can be easily guessed or stolen. EBay has lost hundreds of user accounts because someone was able to guess banal passwords. Block trivial set of words and numbers(such as "admin1234"), which might be easy to remember, but bear a serious threat to network safety. Check if your VPN software allows the use of whole sentences as passwords; if yes, find a method to encourage the users to use them - they can be stolen, but it is virtually impossible to simply guess them. If VPN user authentication is password-based, never use the same password for email, since most email programs remember passwords, and extracting them from the OS registry is as easy as pie even for an inexperienced hacker.2. Protect users from viruses and Trojans. Enforce the use of anti virus programs and personal firewalls on client computers connecting to the VPN. When connected to your network via VPN, even one infected computer can infect all the others. Do not give full access to the uncertain computers. If a remote consultant desires to connect to your network using a VPN server and you are not sure about safety of his operating system, do not give him full access until you make sure that it is not spreading viruses or Trojan horses.3. Define clear policies for Internet use. Some companies are forcing remote users to connect to the Internet via VPN, others allow you to enter the Web through a separate user's connection, , using VPN service only in the corporate network. The first solution is obviously safer, yet the latter is faster for the user. If - because of security requirements - the users can access the Internet through corporate proxy server, then make sure they connect to the VPN server from business notebooks only, on which they cannot change the VPN client configuration.4. Use the strongest data encryption protocol available. Security breaches can be prevented with great success rate by using commonly accepted protocols such as IPSec - including ESP (Encapsulation Security Payload), SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS (Transport Level Security).5. Do not forget about the WLAN on the client’s side. Many people use low-cost WLAN access-points, whose default security measures, such as WPA (Wifi Protected Access) are disabled, or which have only weak WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy). An intruder in your home network can quickly and effortlessly invade the corporate network. Educate users on proper WLAN security, and tell them how to enable simple but effective security measures such as WPA-PSK (WPA Pre-Shared Key).


By: Maurice Stoltmann

Eight Points to Consider When Moving to the Cloud

There is a common misconception that all cloud services are the same. This couldn’t be further from the truth, as like any service, there are a good providers and there are bad providers. Before committing themselves to a cloud service provider, businesses need to be sure what they’re signing up to. Outlined below are some key points to consider.Disaster recovery and data backupDisaster recovery systems are a vital to any cloud service; if the service goes down, businesses lose access to data and hosted applications. Many service providers claim to store data in environments within a certain jurisdiction, such as the UK, however it’s important to find out if and where mirrored sites are located.Data locationData location is an important consideration when considering a cloud services provider, as the secure transfer and encryption of backed-up data should not be taken for granted. however it’s an area that’s often overlooked. A recent study suggests that an alarmingly small percentage of businesses had not considered where their data is stored. Further still, an even lower number of businesses had no knowledge of where data would be sent to in the event of an outage. Be sure to find out details of of where data is stored prior to signing contracts as to avoid potential issues further down the line.AssessmentMany businesses fail to ask the most basic questions when it comes to discussing contracts with potential providers, including asking whether they’re dealing with a data centre owner or a reseller. While many resellers are highly reputable and reliable, dealing with data centre owners directly allows for more control over data access and more insurance in terms of management and security.Security and physical accessOrganisations that suffer security breaches can be fined up to £500,000 by the Commissioner’s Office (ICO), so naturally, data centre providers are keen to establish high levels of security. It’s important to establish every facet of a data centre provider’s security before signing a contract.A secure data centre is vital, but should not be at the expense of physical access when required.Customer supportWhen moving to the cloud, it’s important to find a supplier that offers the level of support that ensures any issues are dealt with quickly and efficiently. A good way to gauge the level of support is to look behind the scenes and meet with the team who will be responsible for managing your data.Service level agreementsEnsuring a satisfactory service level agreement (SLA) can help avoid many of the potential issues associated with cloud computing. As with any contract, always read the small print and have legal specialists assess the paperwork. It’s vital that the SLA is understood fully before signing on the dotted line as it sets the standard for the level of service you will receive, from security and monitoring, to operations and support.CostsWhile seemingly obvious, the issue of cost should not be ignored, especially when it comes to the possibility of ‘hidden extras’. Failing to establish costs at the start of an agreement can potentially result in having to find additional funds further down the line. A service provider’s cost model should be transparent and simple, and ensure that actual usage is paid for, rather than available capacities.ReputationWhile contracts and SLAs provide a clear overview of the service you should receive, there’s every benefit in conducting additional background checks on potential providers. All providers are not the same, so conducting thorough checks on all of the areas above can help prevent unwanted surprises down the line.The points raised here, though by no means exhaustive, are aimed to provide a starting point for businesses considering taking their IT to the cloud. Migrating to the cloud is not a decision to be taken lightly, but by following the advice given here, businesses can expect a successful and rewarding journey. By: mark palmer

IT Service Outsourcing Factors to Consider

When your business is growing, it’s hard to tell at what point you should consider outsourcing your IT service. One of the first things to consider is if your business is even ready for this. Take a step back and look at the big picture: are all areas of your business ready to engage in outsourcing? Do you have enough money in your budget to hire an outside company to take on this task? Bear in mind that if you don’t have to worry too much about your business’ IT needs because there is another company handling them, that will allow you to put more of your attention on other aspects of the business, like administrative tasks. But also keep this in mind – if your employees need any training on this new technology, you will have to allot time and money for this training, so be sure that is in the budget too. Consider if the part of your business you are trying to outsource is your core business. If it is, you might not want to outsource it. But if you decide that this is the best bet for your business and the outsourced aspect isn’t part of your core business, here are a few things to think about while you’re in the process of hiring an IT service. First, while it will help if you think about your budget, don’t focus too much on the cost when it comes to choosing your IT service provider. Bear in mind that you get what you pay for! See how much the entire package will cost: from upfront money to monthly service fees. Second, look into what service-level agreements the IT service company offers and focus on the monthly reporting they should provide to you. Are the services they are providing worth it? Do the savings align with your original goal? Third, look into what brands the IT service company offers and supports. Are they well-known brands with good reputations? Does your IT service company offer a choice among those brands? If the answer to either or both of these questions is "no," you may want to keep shopping around for a better IT service company. Fourth, word of mouth is often the best way to find a good service or product. Ask colleagues and other business owners about their experiences outsourcing their IT service. Who did they end up hiring (or firing) and why? If you keep these in mind while going through the process of finding and outsourcing an IT service, this information should be a good jumping-off point.

IT Consulting - Real Life Example

If you're a business owner, or even a manager at a business, then there's a high likelihood that at one point or another you've experienced some sort of a computer problem. Whether it was as small as having troubles with a particular software program or as significant as a hard drive crashing. In today's day and age we all are exposed to technology every day and therefore it's just a matter of time before we encounter a problem with the technology. While some of these problems are common across the board occasionally you'll find an issue that stems from an inexperienced person patching something together. With the end result being an overly exposed and vulnerable network. Take for example Fran's Frozen Yogurt (a pseudo company for the sake of this article). Fran's has a Point-of-Sale system that is hard wired into their network. There is one main computer and then two mobile peripheral POS systems. For the two peripheral systems, the main computer acts as a server for them to connect to. There is also a wireless network setup for the customers to use while they're eating their frozen yogurt. Seems simple enough right? Well...yes and no. It just so happens that the company Fran's worked with wasn't a highly qualified Dallas IT consulting firm and as a result, all of their internal sensitive information was extremely exposed. So what happened?Well, first off whenever you are having a network put in, whether it's a wireless network, VPN (Virtual Private Network), or a LAN (Local Area Network) it's extremely important to map out what is going to be connected to what and how data is going to be transmitted via the network. If you are going to be processing credit cards and sending that data over the network then there are increased security measures that need to be considered. You want to avoid having any weaknesses in your system, which isn't an impossible task. Many a times it can be as simple as moving a wire or adding a router with a built in firewall. The main point being that you just can't expect to plug and play when it comes to your business network. So getting back to the network problem at Fran's. When they had their network installed the Dallas IT consulting firm that did the work placed the networking equipment in a backwards configuration. They had attached a wireless router (with all of their POS systems directly plugged into it) to the local Internet Service Providers modem, which isn't any sort of problem if the settings are correct on the network. However, because they offered their customers free Wifi access, what became a security risk for them is how they connected a second wireless router to the network. Rather than having the wireless router used by customers connect directly to the ISP modem and then having the main wireless router come off of that router they connected the customer wireless router to the main company wireless router. Thereby enabling any users on the wireless network to already be inside the built in firewall that is present within the wireless router.. Meaning that any technically savvy person with harmful intentions could very easily and quickly access Fran's internal network with all of the sensitive information and do so with little security resistance. Now, getting to the fix. This was a classic case of an easily remedied situation and involved very little time but made a world of difference when it came to security risks for the company. It didn't require any new equipment or even any new programming. All it involved was simply rewiring the customer wireless router so that it no longer connected directly to the company router but instead connected to the ISP modem. This simple task of just changing the order that the equipment was wired together in, made all the difference in the world with their network security. And now the owner's of that business can have peace of mind knowing that their network is secure and it didn't cost them an arm and a leg. All it took was a knowledgeable Dallas IT consulting firm. So next time you need an IT consulting firm to do any of your networking needs make sure that they have a game plan for mapping out your network needs and ask them how they plan on keeping everything secure.

The Next Steps to Build Your Network

You’ve come home from the conference with a stack of business cards from people whom you have met. Now what? Don’t let them sit on the corner of your desk until next year. It’s time to start developing and building relationships with newly added members to your network. A quick "Nice to have met you" or "It was great to see you again" e-mail gets you started in the right direction with developing a relationship with your contact.The next step involves shifting your focus on giving. What do the people in your network need? Information? Connections? If you give something to somebody, they will generally give you more than what you gave him/her according to the Law of Reciprocity. Giving first positions you as a resource.What do you have to give? Try the 4 I’s : Information, Introductions, Invitations, and Interaction.Information – Share relevant or helpful information to one person in your network each day. You might have read an article or blog post that might be pertinent to that person’s work. Sharing useful information is one of the easiest ways to let a colleague know you are thinking of her. This may lead to a deeper conversation about the topic you just sent to her and allows for an opportunity to advance the relationship.Introductions – Introduce two people in your group who don’t know each other yet have a common interest (could be a professional interest or personal interest). If you are not comfortable making the introduction, ask each individual if they would like to be introduced. Chances are they would, since many are looking to meet others with common interests and expand their own networks.Invitations – If you are sponsoring an event/webinar or going to an event that you think a colleague would enjoy, invite him or her – especially if the event is relevant to their business or industry. Make it a win-win where your colleague can gain new knowledge or contacts through you.Interactions – Recognize birthdays and other special days of members in your network with a card, e-mail or phone call. Social media sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook make it easy to reach out, and a small gesture of kindness will go a long way to nurture your network.You say you don’t have time to connect? If you are just reaching out to 1 person a day, it should only take 10-15 minutes. And over time, if you invest in your network, you will see your network flourish. You will experience better relationships, and you will stay top of mind to the people who are important to you in achieving your goals.Only the top 1% of all people take the next step to grow their network and make a connection – are you part of that 1%?

Why Search Engine Optimization?

E-commerce is a cut throat business. You have to arm yourself with the proper know-how and the tools to make your site a cut above the rest. Each day, more and more sites are clambering to optimize their rankings in websites and if you lose your guard, you may just get trampled on and be left in the abyss filled with so many failed e-commerce sites.Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a term widely used today by many e-commerce sites. For the past few years and the next ten years or so, search engines would be the most widely used internet tool to find the sites that they need to go to or the product or information they need.Most people that use search engines use only the ten top search results in the first page. Making it to the first page, more so to the top three is a barometer of a sites success in search engine optimization. You will get a higher ratio of probability in being clicked on when you rank high. The more traffic for your site, the more business you rake in.But, it is essential to grab a hold of that spot or make your ranking even better. As I aforementioned, each day is a new day for all e-commerce sites to make them selves rank higher using search engine optimization. It is imperative to make your site better and better everyday.So just what is search engine optimization and do you have to use it? The answer to why you have to use it is an easy one. You need search engine optimization to be number one, or maybe at least make your site income generating.With search engine optimization you can get the benefit of generating a high traffic volume. Let’s just say you get only a turn out of successful sales with 10 to 20 percent of your traffic. If you get a hundred hits or more a day, you get a good turn out of sales already. If you get only twenty to ten hits a day, you only get one or two if not any at all.So once again, what is search engine optimization? Search engine optimization is utilizing tools and methods in making your site top ranking in the results of search engines. Getting yourself in the first page and better yet in the top half of the page will ensure that your site will generate public awareness of your site’s existence and subsequently generate more traffic, traffic that could lead to potential income and business.Search engine optimization requires a lot of work to be fully realized. There are many aspects you have to change in your site or add as well to get search engine optimization. These will include getting lots of information about the keyword phrases that are popular in regards to your sites niche or theme.You may also need to rewrite your sites contents so that you could get the right keyword phrases in your site without making it too commercial but light and informative. There are certain rules and guidelines to be followed with making your site’s content applicable and conducive to search engine optimization.You will also need to collaborate with many other sites so that you could get link exchanges and page transfers. The more inbound and outbound traffics generated by sites among others are one of the components search engines uses to rank sites.Try to search the internet for many useful help. Tips, guidelines and methods for search engine optimization are plenty to be found. Read many articles that can help you optimize your site in search engine results. The more knowledge and information you gather the better. This will all help you in getting those high rankings. This may require a little time and effort in your part but the benefits will be astounding.If you can part with some money, there are many sites in the internet that can help you in search engine optimization. There are many sites that help in tracking keyword phrases that can help your site. There are also some content writers that have lots of experience in making good keyword laden content for your sites that have good quality.Act now and see the benefits garner withsearch engine optimization. All of these will result to better traffic and more business for your site and company.

Network Structure

In this course, our target is understand the meaning of network infrastructure, differentiate between core and access networks, understanding the meaning of ‘bearer’, and which bearers are used in different parts of the network and ‘node’, and the network configurations to interconnect nodesNetwork Infrastructure• Lines• Equipment to interconnect the linesNetwork Transmission Media• Copper wire• Radio transmission lines• Silicon fibre strandsTypes of Copper Wire Lines• Overhead copper wire• Twisted pair cable• Polyquad cable• Coaxial CableOverhead Copper Wire Lines• Wires suspended from poles and masts• Wires have to be insulated from one another• Wires have to be insulated from earth• Wires have to form a complete end-to-end circuitTwisted Pair Cable• Same characteristics as overhead wires• Less unsightly• More circuits per routePolyquad Cable• Can be used for low frequency radio signals• Can be used for low rate digital transmissionCoaxial Cable• Better direct current characteristics than overhead wires or twisted pair cable• Can be used to transmit high frequency radio signalsTypes of Radio Lines• Microwave - line of sight terrestrial• Microwave - earth satelliteMicrowave Radio - Line of Sight• Can be affected by adverse weather• May be subjected to physical obstruction• Could be harmful to people and/or animalsFibre Optic Technology• Uses Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (LASER)• Precursor was clear atmosphere line of sight• Then wave guidance• Technology is still being refined after more than 30 yearsNodes• Used to:** Interconnect links or bearers** Derive communications channels** Enhance network signals** Produce, accept, or pass signalsNetwork Topology• Fully Interconnected• Bus• Ring• Star• Interconnected Star• Interconnected Star Plus Ring• Through Connected Link• The Tandem Principle• Hierarchical StructureBearers • Consist of:** Copper wire cables** Fibre-optic cables** Radio transmission links• Serve:** User access networks** Wide area networksUser Access Networks• Traditionally a copper wire pair connecting users’ premises to the public networkOften referred to as:** the local loop** the last kilometre or mile** the local distribution networkTransmission Bearer Networks• Used to link:** telephone exchanges** packet switching exchanges** frame relay exchanges etc• Analogue networks used coaxial cable and microwave links• Digital networks use fibre-optic cable• Used to provide transmission infrastructure

General Overview of Enterprise Networks

In this tutorial which titled General Overview of Enterprise Networks, we will identify different network types, Ascertain essential network characteristics, Ascertain main network functionality, Understand what is meant by transmission and Appreciate the need for signaling in networks. This is one of about 14 others articles.Network Functionality• Separate networks for voice, television, data and text is outmoded• Separate networks may nevertheless be around for some time• Ultimately the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and the Internet will become one• Mobile networks will remove travel constraints• Virtual reality will allow physical actions to be conducted remotelyNetwork Structures• Start by considering what is needed to be achieved• Networks must achieve functionality in an economic manner• A variety of configurations are possibleNetwork Structures• Star• Multi-exchange• Typical National Network HierarchyTypical National Network Hierarchy• Lines within users’ premises• Lines to users’ premises (the access network)• Junction to interconnect local exchanges• Trunks to interconnect trunk exchangesTypes of Network Node• User nodes • Service nodes • Switching nodes • Transmission nodesNetwork Services• Historically different networks were provided for different services• Despite differences a common transmission infrastructure was usedTelecommunications Regulations• Need to take account of :** Control of pricing ** Access to customers** Ensuring effectiveness of competition** Public network protection from harmTelecommunications Standards• Needed to ensure interoperability between different :** Networks ** Systems ** CountriesTelecommunications Standards Bodies• International Telecommunications Union (ITU) was CCITT• ITU consists of ITU-T and ITU-R• International Standards Organization (ISO)• European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)• America Standards Institute (ANSI)• Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)• The Association Francais du Normalisation (AFNOR)• The British Standards Institution (BSI)• The Deutsches Institute fur Normung (DIN)Telecommunications Standards Use• Aid interworking between networks and features• Aid interconnection between components• Reduce complexity• Promote and encourage competitionThe ISO Reference Model for Open System Interconnection• A model to describe all types of networks in 7 discrete layers• Compliance with one layer ensures interworking with adjacent layers• Sending layer passes information down to layer beneath until lowest layer is reached• Information then passes up the layer stack at the receiving end• Voice network need only comply with layers 1 to 3• Data networks need to comply with layers 1 to 6Reference ModelThe ISO Seven Layer• Physical : Which deals with physical attachment to communications lines.• Data Link : Which provides transfer and control of data over communications lines, error correction, etc.• Network : Which adds destination switching, routing and relaying functions and presents these in a manner which is • independent of the actual network in use. • Transport : Which provides user-to-user services, including multiplexing, to make the most effective use of network facilities. It enhances the quality of the service to that necessary for the application.• Session : Which controls the dialogue between users and supports synchronization of their activity.• Presentation : Which allows for the selection of the representation of data, resolving differences between systems.• Application : Providing the interface to user applications and common services, such as file transfer and terminal support.

Introducing The Internet

The Internet has created a revolution in the way in which people and businesses communicate. The World Wide Web is the most important application of Internet technologies and no business can ignore the opportunities that it offers. In the late 1990s these opportunities seemed endless and led eventually to the ‘dot com’ boom and to the eventual bust. Despite this speculative bubble, the underlying business benefits of the web are still just as strong, and we are now in a better position to be able to separate unrealistic dreams from good business applications.The Internet• Created a revolution in communication• WWW - most important Internet technology** No business can ignore the opportunities it offers** led to ‘dot com’ boom of the 90s, and its eventual bust (business benefits of the web are still as strong)Internet History>> The Internet developed from work done in the 60s/70s by the US Department of Defence on the ARPAnet (Advanced Research Projects Agency net) project** connecting computers in a network** networks assumed to be unreliable** resilience was a critical objectiveInternet Theory• A collection of networks• Any computer can talk to any other• No single computer in control• ScalabilityNote:** an internet is an idea - a collection of networks** the Internet is the implementation of the ideaCommunications Networks• Circuit switched (used by the telephone system)** complete circuit from sender to receiver** connections need to be maintained for duration of conversation** not always the most efficient way of transmitting data between networks• Packet switched (the Internet uses this approach)** Message broken into chunks (packets)** Each packet may take a different route** Packets can arrive out of sequence** Users share communication links** Efficient utilization of communication infrastructureInternet Protocol (IP) Addresses• Computers that connect to the Internet are known as hosts• Each host has a unique address (IP address)** a.b.c.d (numbers between 0 and 255)** e.g. Google.com : 64.233.187.99• Four numbers separated by dots – hence known as the ‘dotted quad’Internet Protocols• The Internet is based on well-defined rules - protocols• Ensure that computers can communicate• Fundamental to Internet success• Many communication protocols are created by national and international standards organizations, and documented• Internet protocols are defined through Request For Comment (RFC) documentsRequest For Comment• Less formal than international standards• Not all RFCs become standards• Well defined standardization process** proposed standard** draft standardInternet standard• Each RFC has a unique serial number (RFC 2026 describes the process)• Publicly available, free of chargeInternet Protocol• Rules for transferring packets• Dependent on IP addresses• Does not guarantee reliable delivery**packets could be delivered out of sequence, with unpredictable timing, not delivered at allTransmission Control Protocol• Operates on top of IP to produce reliable delivery** breaks data into packet-sized chunks** checks for corrupt packets** checks for missing packets** requests replacement packets** re-assembles packets into a message at destinationUser Datagram Protocol• UDP simpler/faster• All message data in one packet• No replacement packets• Useful for simple applications onlyDomain Name System (DNS)• Each host given a textual name in place of numerical IP address• Words separated by dots• DNS translates these to the corresponding numerical addressInternet Administration and Funding• No-one owns the Internet** a vast number of networks, communications infrastructure and other equipment• Some funded directly or indirectly by governments• Other parts of the infrastructure is owned by commercial organizations such as telecommunications companies** charge for providing a connection to the Internet• End users (individual home users or businesses) gain access to this network in a variety of different ways** different types of chargesTypes of Charges• Pay as you go** user pays the usual telephone charges for making a connection to the ISP - no other fees** ISP receives a small proportion of the call charge from the telecommunications operator• Monthly subscription by user to the ISP** user does not pay for the telephone calls, or alternatively a low fixed rate - more economical for regular Internet end-users• A fixed fee is paid periodically to an ISP for an ‘always on service’** typical for small businesses• Often, ISPs provide additional services such as a technical support, email, special content etc.The Internet and the Law• The Internet is not outside the law• Because of rapid Internet growth, national legislation lags• Import and export regulations• Intellectual Property Rights• Damaging statements• Network etiquette• Activities that are unlawful via some other media - usually unlawful if accomplished over the InternetInternet Applications• Applications use Internet protocols• Designed for user interaction• Quality and usefulness of applications account for the success of the Internet• Most important applications are:** electronic mail (email)** file transfer protocol (ftp)** remote login (telnet)** newsgroups (nntp)** World Wide Web (WWW)** instant messaging and Internet Relay Chat (IRC)Electronic Mail• One of the most heavily used Internet tools• Uses store-and-forward approachEmail Addresses• Email relies on the use of addresses• Address is made up of two parts** Domain name, e.g. google.com• The user name, such as joe** (user_name)@(domain_name)Example** joe@google.com** yazmeen@yahoo.comEmail Message• Consists of:** message text** recipient address** address of sender• Other information may be included providing information about:** who replies should be sent to** subject for the message** date and time stamp• Email clients and servers are used for the processes of preparing, transmitting, receiving and reading emailsEmail Client and Server• Email client, also known as user agent** edit text message** recipient address** carbon copy (cc) / blind carbon copy (bcc)** sends the message to email server• Email server** transmits out-going message** stores in-coming messagesMultipurpose Internet MailExtension (MIME)• Conventional email designed to handle 7-bit ASCII text• Word processed files generally use 8-bit formats• Many Asian languages cannot be mapped to 7-bit ASCII text• Encoding scheme used to convert 8-bit files to 7-bit• Internet standard - MIME** Email client which complies with this standard used to compose and read messages with 8-bit attachmentsFTP• Protocol designed to facilitate copying files from one host to another• Used to retrieve files from Internet archives• Useful for binary and text files• Login identification• Anonymous ftp - no user name and password• Driven by typing simple commandsTelnet• Protocol which allows remote login to server machine• Useful for solving problems with web servers• Simple client program is required to manage connection and display data sent by remote computer• Terminal emulation, for example:** DEC VT100** IBM 3270Telnet Usage• Log in to remote machine using a user name and password• No anonymous login facility (security reasons)• User name and password sent back to remote machine** intercepting packets relatively easy, so this is a major security flaw** extensions to basic telnet protocol can prevent this problem, e.g. SSHNewsgroups• Public bulletin board• Hierarchy of topics• New newsgroups daily, many fall into disuse quickly• Main categories:** comp** news** rec** sci** soc** alt** de, fr, uk• Similar to email, with additional features** ‘threads’ allow responses to be followed in sequence to original posting• Newsreader software required to read and contribute messages** Outlook Express has some simple newsreading capabilities• Contributing may lead to ‘spam’WWW• Resulted from project started by Tim Berners-Lee at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN)• Modern implementation of hypertext idea developed by Ted Nelson in the 60s• Hypermedia - instead of just text, includes sounds, pictures, etc• Extended to User navigation from document to document through hyperlinksWWW Objectives and Operation• Unify Internet protocols** telnet** ftp** newsgroups• Browser based navigation** recognizes references to other documents and provides links• Content based search engines• Give user access to any type of materialBrowser Features• Home** default website• Forward** move to next resource in current list• Back** move to previous resource• Search** call up a search engine to locate a resourceWWW Architecture• Vast number of web pages connected by links• Pages (resources) - textual, graphics, sound, video, etc or any combination• User can follow a link from one resource to another• Each page is identified by a URLBrowser• User requests web page by specifying URL• Browser:** receives data from web server** interprets the data** displays in an appropriate form** allows user navigation through resourceUniform Resource Locators• Used to specify the location and form of a request to a web server• URL made up of two parts• Scheme refers to the protocol required• Most common choices are:** ftp File Transfer protocol** http Hypertext Transfer Protocol** news USENET news** nntp USENET news using NNTP accessWeb Based Email• Grown in popularity• Website holds all messages** access by connecting to website URL and logging into email with name and password** access from any computer with Internet connectivity• Advantages for travelers, but…** access via a fully graphical website is slow** generally need to be connected for reading and writing (therefore more expensive)** easier for hackers to accessInstant Messaging• Email is not spontaneous** lacks instant feedback of direct communication• Range of Internet applications that fill this gap, mostly based on old UNIX program ‘talk’** conversation through keyboard and screen** extends to ‘conference calls’• Using the Internet, instant messaging has grown in an unstandardised manner** many suppliers providing systems that do not work well together• Several ‘instant message’ services - all popularInternet Relay Chat (IRC)• Similar to the newsgroup idea, but all participants can ‘chat’ on line• Some degree of standardization• Chat rooms share a common theme** users can enter or leave at will and possibly create new chat rooms for different topic• Fast-moving, anarchic, time wasting, BUT…** closed chat rooms useful for business** more productive and less expensive than videoconferencingVoice Over IP• Process:** convert analogue voice to digital data** put data into packets** transmit using TCP/IP (packets follow different routes (possibly), timing unpredictable)** assemble packets back into digital data stream** convert back to analogue signal (with acceptable reproduction of the original audio signal)• Possible large cost advantages** e.g. if the mix of calls includes many higher cost destinations

Web Server Part 2

HTTP TransactionsHTTP is a protocol that allows Web browsers to talk to server and exchange information, it provides a standard way of communicating between browsers and Web servers. HTTP expects the client to initiate a request and the server to respond. Each request and response has three parts:the request or status line, the header fields, and the entity body.HTTP Request (example) If we typed http://www.fti.com/index.php, the browser would issue an HTTP request similar the following : GET /index.php HTTP/1.0User-Agent : Mozilla/4.5 [en] (X11; SunOs 5.5.1 sun4m)Accept : image/gif, image/x-xbitmap, image/jpeg HTTP Response (example)For the previous example, the server response might look something like this HTTP/1.1 200 OKDate : Sat, 15 July 2006 20:00:00 GMTServer Apache/2.0.54 (Unix)Last-Modified : Fri, 14 july 2006 21:00:00 GMTContent-Length : 59Content-Type : text/htmlWelcome to Information Technology Faculty…..Request Methods• The request line of a client contains an HTTP command called a request method. • The server uses the method command to determine what to do with the request. • The most widely used methods are GET, HEAD, and POST. • Method commands should be in all-capital letters. • Other method (PUT, DELETE, etc)Request Methods• GET ** Typical way of getting an information (document: static, dynamic, or error message) from a server ** Can be used to pass data to the server, it must be include as part of the URL, followed by a question mark (?) and then parameters. • HEAD ** Server returns only header data ** Use to verify the existence of a resource • POST ** Used to send data to the server ** Typically- send HTML form data to the server ** It passes data to the server in the entity body of the requestServer Response• The server response has three parts : ** Status line -> the protocol version, the status code and description phrase ** Header fields ** Entity body • The status code is a three digits integer result code defined by the HTTP specification. • The first digit of the status code represent the category of the spesification.HTTP Status Code Categories• (1) : Informational** The request was received and is being processed.• (2) : Success** The client request was successful• (3) : Redirection** The client request was not performed; futher action must be taken by the client.• (4) : Client error** The client’s request was incomplete or incorrect and cannot be fulfilled.• (5) : Server error** The request was not fullfilled, due to a server problem.HTTP Status Code Categories (Detail)• Informational 1XX ** 100 Continue • Successful 2XX ** 200 OK ** 240 No Content • Redirection 3XX ** 301 Moved permanently ** 302 Found (Moved Temporarily) ** 304 Not Modified • Client Error 4XX ** 400 Bad Request ** 403 Forbidden ** 404 Not Found • Server Error 5XX ** 500 Internal Server ErrorCLIENT REQUEST HEADER• Accept ** Used to specify which media types the client prefers to accept.• Cookie ** Contains cookie information.• If-Modified-Since ** Used to do a conditional GET request.• Referer ** Allow the client to specify the URL on the page from which the currently requested URL was obtained• User-Agent ** Contain information about the client program originating the request.SERVER RESPONSE HEADERS• Server ** Contains information about the server software handling the request.• Set-Cookie ** Allows the server to set a cookie on the client browser permitted) for the given URL or domain.ENTITY HEADERS• Content-Length ** Specifies the size (in bytes) of the data transferred the entity body. Only for static documents.• Content-Type ** Specifies the MIME type of the data returned in the entity body• Expires ** Specifies the time/date afther which the response is considered outdated.• Last-Modified ** Specifies the date and time the document was last modifiedProxy Server• Proxy Servers is an intermediary server that goes between a client and the destination server – a middleman • Instead of connecting directly to destination server, the browser sends the request to the proxy, the proxy then passes the request to the destination server, receives the response, and passes the response back to the browser. • Proxy servers have three main uses : security, content filtering and caching.Main of Uses Proxy Server• Used for security purposes ** The proxy server can act as a firewall, allowing only HTTP traffict through and rejecting other protocols, limits what kinds of services are available to the people outside your local network.• Filter data ** The Proxy server restricting access to certain sites or analyzing content for questionable material.• Caching proxy servers ** The Proxy server stores frequenly accessed web pages, so when one is requested, the cache server can return the page rather than retrieving it from the Internet.** Make pages that we to to load much quicker.** Make better use of the ISP’s bandwidth by going outside the local net only when new pages need to be retrieved.Streaming Audio and Video• For browser to play audio or video file, it must first download the entire file. It takes a long time. • The solution : Streaming Media, which allow a media player (or plug-in) to start playing multimedia content while the data is still being received. • HTTP doesn’t support streaming media, so a different server must be used to publish it. • Browser don’t support streaming media, so a plug-in must be used to view any type of streaming content.Streaming Audio and Video• Many streaming media formats may use UDP (User Datagram Protocol) instead of TCP/IP as a network protocol. • UDP is a good at transmitting very small pieces of data quickly and digital audio and video. Unlike TCP/IP, UDP will not retransmit data if there is an error, this is fine for digital audio and video because a few bits lost will hardly be noticeable. • The two leading streaming media packages are RealNetworks’ RealSystem and Microsoft’s Windows Media (formerly NewShow).Databases• A database provides an efficient, organized way to store lots of information, BUT most databases don’t provide a friendly interface that anyone can use to access this information. The Web provides a familiar, easy-to-use way of accessing data. • A large corporate database should typically be installed on its own dedicated server and not on a machine also used as a Web server. • The database will also have a daemon running to respond the queries; this allows programs on the Web server to communicate with the database server. This type of database daemon is often called a listener.Secure Sockets Layer• SSL is a protocol that allow secure, encrypted communication over TCP/IP. It is often used with HTTP to allow information to be exchange securely between a browser and a Web server. • Most commercial Web server software include an SSL server that can run alongside the HTTPD. • SSL is used mostly for web transaction, but it can be used to encrypt any communications over TCP/IP.

Web Server Part 1

How documents are published on the WWW?How computers on the Internet talk to each other?How Web pages get from a Web server to a browser?The underlying technology :• The communication protocols• Network terminology• Document FormatsClients and Servers• A Client is a piece of hardware or software used to communicate with a data provider (server)• A server is usually a large computer capable of providing data to many clients at the same time.• The word ‘Server’ can mean the physical computer or piece of hardware, or it can refer to the actual server software or daemon running on that machine.• Server accepts requests from clients, processes the requests and returns the results to the requesting client.• A Web Server is a spesific type of server that knows how to communicate with clients using HTTP.• On the Web, the clients are Web browsers (applications especially well suited for displaying HTML content).History of a Web Server• The European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) produced one of the first Web Servers.• The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) supports a java-based server known as jigsaw.• CERN HTTPD was dificult to configure and not available for many platforms, so the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) wrote their own version.• Apache is a popular server based on the NCSA implementation.The First Web BrowserThe first real HTML browser, NCSA Mosaic, came into being in early 1993.• It was free• It was available for all major platforms : UNIX, Macint0osh, and MS Windows.• It was easy to create content.TCP/IP Network Connections/PortsStandard Port Numbers• FTP : 20, 21• Telnet : 23• SMTP (email) : 25• HTTP : 80On unix servers• Port number below 1023 : root• Port number above 1024 : normal userServers and Browsers• The main goal of any Web server is to provide documents to clients.• The purpose of a Web browser is to retrieve and display information from a Web server by using HTTP.• Browsers have evolved, adding features that far extend the capabilities of browsers that once displayed only basic HTML.Browsers Plug-Ins• Extends browser capability• More than just HTML• RealPlayer live audio and video• Shockwave animations• Acrobat Reader view PDF filesFile Types• ASCII text files** Letters number and punctuation** View and edit with standard tools** HTML• Binary files** Images** Sound** ProgramsHTML Authoring Packages• Netscape Composer• Microsoft FrontPage• Macromedia Dreamweaver• Adobe PageMill• Alaire HomesiteImage File Types• GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)** 256 colours** Lossless compression** Transparency** Can be animated** Good for illustrations** Proprietary (patent)• PNG (Portable Network Graphic)** As GIF, except** more colours** no animation** not proprietary• JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)** Millions of colours** Lossy compression** Good for photographsAudio File Types• WAV** Windows• AIFF** Macintosh• AU** UNIX• Modern browsers support all these and MoreMIME• Multipurpose internet mail extensions• MIME are a set of rules that allow multimedia documents to be exchanged among many different computer systems.• MIME was originaly designed for sending attachments in e-mail.• MIME uses media types and subtypes to describe the format of a file.MIME Types• Application** application/excel• Audio** audio/midi• Image** image/jpeg• Message** message/news• Multipart** multipart/digest• Text** text/html• Video** video/mpegRequest Methods• GET** Typical way of getting a resource from a server** Can be used to pass data to the server• HEAD** Server returns only header data** Use to verify the existence of a resource• POST** Used to send data to the server** Typically- send HTML form data to the serverHTTP Status Code Categories• Informational• Success• Redirection• Client error• Server errorFTP• Copies files from one host to another• Used to retrieve files from internet archieves• Useful for binary and text files• Log in identificationSSL• Secure Sockets Layer• Encrypts data in TCP/IP packets** ordinary HTTP uses clear text• Commercial web applications• Web server support