A Basic Guide to the Internet

The Internet is a computer network made up of thousands of networks worldwide. No one knows exactly how many computers are connected to the Internet. It is certain, however, that these number in the millions.

No one is in charge of the Internet. There are organizations which develop technical aspects of this network and set standards for creating applications on it, but no governing body is in control. The Internet backbone, through which Internet traffic flows, is owned by private companies.

All computers on the Internet communicate with one another using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol suite, abbreviated to TCP/IP. Computers on the Internet use a client/server architecture. This means that the remote server machine provides files and services to the user's local client machine. Software can be installed on a client computer to take advantage of the latest access technology.

An Internet user has access to a wide variety of services: electronic mail, file transfer, vast information resources, interest group membership, interactive collaboration, multimedia displays, real-time broadcasting, shopping opportunities, breaking news, and much more.

The Internet consists primarily of a variety of access protocols. Many of these protocols feature programs that allow users to search for and retrieve material made available by the protocol.

COMPONENTS OF THE INTERNET

WORLD WIDE WEB

 

The World Wide Web (abbreviated as the Web or WWW) is a system of Internet servers that supports hypertext to access several Internet protocols on a single interface. Almost every protocol type available on the Internet is accessible on the Web. This includes e-mail, FTP, Telnet, and Usenet News. In addition to these, the World Wide Web has its own protocol: HyperText Transfer Protocol, or HTTP. These protocols will be explained later in this document.

The World Wide Web provides a single interface for accessing all these protocols. This creates a convenient and user-friendly environment. It is no longer necessary to be conversant in these protocols within separate, command-level environments. The Web gathers together these protocols into a single system. Because of this feature, and because of the Web's ability to work with multimedia and advanced programming languages, the Web is the fastest-growing component of the Internet.

The operation of the Web relies primarily on hypertext as its means of information retrieval. HyperText is a document containing words that connect to other documents. These words are called links and are selectable by the user. A single hypertext document can contain links to many documents. In the context of the Web, words or graphics may serve as links to other documents, images, video, and sound. Links may or may not follow a logical path, as each connection is programmed by the creator of the source document. Overall, the Web contains a complex virtual web of connections among a vast number of documents, graphics, videos, and sounds.

Producing hypertext for the Web is accomplished by creating documents with a language called HyperText Markup Language, or HTML. With HTML, tags are placed within the text to accomplish document formatting, visual features such as font size, italics and bold, and the creation of hypertext links. Graphics and multimedia may also be incorporated into an HTML document. HTML is an evolving language, with new tags being added as each upgrade of the language is developed and released. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), led by Web founder Tim Berners-Lee, coordinates the efforts of standardizing HTML. The W3C now calls the language XHTML and considers it to be an application of the XML language standard.

The World Wide Web consists of files, called pages or home pages, containing links to documents and resources throughout the Internet.

The Web provides a vast array of experiences including multimedia presentations, real-time collaboration, interactive pages, radio and television broadcasts, and the automatic "push" of information to a client computer. Programming languages such as Java, JavaScript, Visual Basic, Cold Fusion and XML are extending the capabilities of the Web. A growing amount of information on the Web is served dynamically from content stored in databases. The Web is therefore not a fixed entity, but one that is in a constant state of development and flux.

For more complete information about the World Wide Web, see Understanding The World Wide Web.

E-MAIL

Electronic mail, or e-mail, allows computer users locally and worldwide to exchange messages. Each user of e-mail has a mailbox address to which messages are sent. Messages sent through e-mail can arrive within a matter of seconds.

A powerful aspect of e-mail is the option to send electronic files to a person's e-mail address. Non-ASCII files, known as binary files, may be attached to e-mail messages. These files are referred to as MIME attachments.MIME stands for Multimedia Internet Mail Extension, and was developed to help e-mail software handle a variety of file types. For example, a document created in Microsoft Word can be attached to an e-mail message and retrieved by the recipient with the appropriate e-mail program. Many e-mail programs, including Eudora, Netscape Messenger, and Microsoft Outlook, offer the ability to read files written in HTML, which is itself a MIME type.

TELNET

Telnet is a program that allows you to log into computers on the Internet and use online databases, library catalogs, chat services, and more. There are no graphics in Telnet sessions, just text. To Telnet to a computer, you must know its address. This can consist of words (locis.loc.gov) or numbers (140.147.254.3). Some services require you to connect to a specific port on the remote computer. In this case, type the port number after the Internet address. Example: telnet nri.reston.va.us 185.

Telnet is available on the World Wide Web. Probably the most common Web-based resources available through Telnet have been library catalogs, though most catalogs have since migrated to the Web. A link to a Telnet resource may look like any other link, but it will launch a Telnet session to make the connection. A Telnet program must be installed on your local computer and configured to your Web browser in order to work.

With the increasing popularity of the Web, Telnet has become less frequently used as a means of access to information on the Internet.

FTP

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. This is both a program and the method used to transfer files between computers. Anonymous FTP is an option that allows users to transfer files from thousands of host computers on the Internet to their personal computer account. FTP sites contain books, articles, software, games, images, sounds, multimedia, course work, data sets, and more.

If your computer is directly connected to the Internet via an Ethernet cable, you can use one of several PC software programs, such as WS_FTP for Windows, to conduct a file transfer.

FTP transfers can be performed on the World Wide Web without the need for special software. In this case, the Web browser will suffice. Whenever you download software from a Web site to your local machine, you are using FTP. You can also retrieve FTP files via search engines such as FtpFind, located at /http://www.ftpfind.com/. This option is easiest because you do not need to know FTP program commands.

E-MAIL DISCUSSION GROUPS

One of the benefits of the Internet is the opportunity it offers to people worldwide to communicate via e-mail. The Internet is home to a large community of individuals who carry out active discussions organized around topic-oriented forums distributed by e-mail. These are administered by software programs. Probably the most common program is the listserv.

A great variety of topics are covered by listservs, many of them academic in nature. When you subscribe to a listserv, messages from other subscribers are automatically sent to your electronic mailbox. You subscribe to a listserv by sending an e-mail message to a computer program called a listserver. Listservers are located on computer networks throughout the world. This program handles subscription information and distributes messages to and from subscribers. You must have a e-mail account to participate in a listserv discussion group. Visit Tile.net at /http://tile.net/ to see an example of a site that offers a searchablecollection of e-mail discussion groups.

Majordomo and Listproc are two other programs that administer e-mail discussion groups. The commands for subscribing to and managing your list memberships are similar to those of listserv.

USENET NEWS

Usenet News is a global electronic bulletin board system in which millions of computer users exchange information on a vast range of topics. The major difference between Usenet News and e-mail discussion groups is the fact that Usenet messages are stored on central computers, and users must connect to these computers to read or download the messages posted to these groups. This is distinct from e-mail distribution, in which messages arrive in the electronic mailboxes of each list member.

Usenet itself is a set of machines that exchanges messages, or articles, from Usenet discussion forums, called newsgroups. Usenet administrators control their own sites, and decide which (if any) newsgroups to sponsor and which remote newsgroups to allow into the system.

There are thousands of Usenet newsgroups in existence. While many are academic in nature, numerous newsgroups are organized around recreational topics. Much serious computer-related work takes place in Usenet discussions. A small number of e-mail discussion groups also exist as Usenet newsgroups.

The Usenet newsfeed can be read by a variety of newsreader software programs. For example, the Netscape suite comes with a newsreader program called Messenger. Newsreaders are also available as standalone products.

FAQ, RFC, FYI

FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions. These are periodic postings to Usenet newsgroups that contain a wealth of information related to the topic of the newsgroup. Many FAQs are quite extensive. FAQs are available by subscribing to individual Usenet newsgroups. A Web-based collection of FAQ resources has been collected by The Internet FAQ Consortium and is available at /http://www.faqs.org/.

RFC stands for Request for Comments. These are documents created by and distributed to the Internet community to help define the nuts and bolts of the Internet. They contain both technical specifications and general information.

FYI stands for For Your Information. These notes are a subset of RFCs and contain information of interest to new Internet users.

Links to indexes of all three of these information resources are available on the University Libraries Web site at /http://library.albany.edu/reference/faqs.html.

CHAT & INSTANT MESSENGING

Chat programs allow users on the Internet to communicate with each other by typing in real time. They are sometimes included as a feature of a Web site, where users can log into the "chat room" to exchange comments and information about the topics addressed on the site. Chat may take other, more wide-ranging forms. For example, America Online is well known for sponsoring a number of topical chat rooms.

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a service through which participants can communicate to each other on hundreds of channels. These channels are usually based on specific topics. While many topics are frivolous, substantive conversations are also taking place. To access IRC, you must use an IRC software program.

A variation of chat is the phenomenon of instant messenging. With instant messenging, a user on the Web can contact another user currently logged in and type a conversation. Most famous is America Online's Instant Messenger. ICQ, MSN and Yahoo are other commonly-used chat programs.

Other types of real-time communication are addressed in the tutorial Understanding the World Wide Web.

MUD/MUSH/MOO/MUCK/DUM/MUSE

MUD stands for Multi User Dimension. MUDs, and their variations listed above, are multi-user virtual reality games based on simulated worlds. Traditionally text based, graphical MUDs now exist. There are MUDs of all kinds on the Internet, and many can be joined free of charge. For more information, read one of the FAQs devoted to MUDs available at the FAQ site at

Courtesy :  

http://dipakbchho.blogspot.com

cadre of system administrator

Dear friends,
               I am very well aware of the frustration and anxiety among the System Administrators because I am also sailing on the same boat. I did nothing in the past except organising our cadres to fight for one cause. Of course I agree the battle was postponed due to some unforeseen circumstances and certain developments on the issues.
            However the development is not complete. The retrograde proposals given by a Multinational Company Messrs.McKENZIE has created a huge hue and cry among the employees. Mail Optimisation, Technology Induction has been the Buzz word for the officers in the Directorate. In this context do not ignore this as an usual email sent by SENTHIL KUMAR to make the System Administrators to participate in the strike. I cannot make you to participate in the strike. It will be your perseverance, commitment and knowledge about the practical reality that will make you to participate in the strike.
            The recent developments in Technology is very alarming and department is taking measures which are against the interest of the System Administrators. The induction of Core Banking will roll out in a few months. In order to implement Core Banking the entire country is divided into three regions. The Technology and database maintenance for Northern part of India is going to be given to IDBI. In the same way the Central part of India is going to be given to HSBC and finally the Southern part of India is going to be given to ICICI. This means that the database maintenance is going to be completely outsourced.
            I do not know that how of many of you are going to scold me and our Union leaders because nothing has happened as far as the demand of System Administrators are concerned. In recent post of Union blog for the past one year if you observe you will not find any details of our leaders meeting the DG or any Member of any other officers in the Directorate. Yes the fact is that the Department is not at all willing to meet the Union leaders and is functioning like a unilateral organisation without consulting the Staff-side. It is unfortunate the leaders of either of the Unions are not given any appointment to meet the officers.
            One basic understanding which is lacking among our System Administrators is that in a Globalised economy Technology Induction will always be oriented towards displacement of Man-power. Do you agree with this or not? In such scenario we System Administrators are also not exception. Department has the agenda of displacing the crucial role played by the System Administrators in by using us against us. Please understand the tactics played by the department.
          In many regions especially Kerala and Maharashtra the PMGs have already started to churn out the next generation slaves. Yes. The newly identified System Administrators from the newly recruited PAs. Yes, this is nothing but continue this exploitation for the next few years. Are we not responsible to put a FULL STOP for this exploitation.
          Now is high time that the very existence of Department itself is under question. This struggle is basically to establish our right. Please understand your responsibility.
          I know there is an element of doubt prevailing in minds whether the strike will be called off on July 4th itself. For this the answer is

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Because the report from various circles are very positive and the mood of employees are also oriented towards conducting a major struggle. So it my appeal to come forward.

THOSE WHO REALISE THAT OUR DEPARTMENT NEEDS TO BE SAVED JOIN HANDS IN THIS STRUGGLE. JOINING THIS STRIKE ITSELF IS NOT SUFFICIENT PLEASE EDUCATE OUR EMPLOYEES AND ENCOURAGE OUR FELLOW EMPLOYEES ALSO TO JOIN THE STRIKE.

          VERY IMPORTANT:
                   IF THE DEMANDS OF THE SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR IS NOT MET EVEN AFTER THIS STRIKE IT IS MY PERSONAL OPINION THAT WE NEED NOT CONTINUE AS SYSTEM ADMINISTRATORS. WE MAY GIVE AN ENMASS DECLARATION TO THE DEPARTMENT THAT WE ARE NOT WILLING TO WORK AS SYSTEM ADMINISTRATORS. HERE AFTER THERE IS NO POINT IN WAITING. PLEASE REMEMBER ON FACT. I AM REVEALING AN OPEN FACT THAT THE SYSTEM ADMINISTRATORS WHO ARE WORKING IN RURAL DIVISIONS ESPECIALLY EVEN THOUGH THEY WORK HARD IN CORNER OF THEIR MINDS THEY CONTINUE TO WORK AS SYSTEM ADMINISTRATORS IN ORDER TO AVOID TENURE TRANSFERS. THEY PREFER TO REMAIN IN A SINGLE STATION WITHOUT ANY TRANSFERS AND BEAR THE HARDSHIPS IN WORKING AS SYSTEM ADMINISTRATORS. IF OUR SYSTEM ADMINISTRATORS ARE HAVING THIS PRIORITY THEN THE ENMASS DECLINING FROM SYSTEM ADMINISTRATORS ALSO WILL NOT WORK. PLEASE TRY UNDERSTAND THAT ALSO AND  BE BRAVE ENOUGH TO COME OUT OF THIS WEAKNESS.

                   INCULAB ZINDABAD

Fraternally

R.SENTHIL KUMAR
SO CALLED SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR
MOBILE 9884373390

India Post Partner with Fabindia to benefit Customers

 India Post Introduces Retail Counter at Fabindia Store With the opening of first postal retail extension counter at Fabindia’s flagship store, India Post and Fabindia partner to benefit customers in a first of its kind Public- Private Partnership. The counter was jointly inaugurated here today by smt. Radhika Doraiswamy – Secretary (Post) to Government of India, Director General Department of Posts and the Chairman of the Postal Services Board and Mr. William Bissell - Managing Director, Fabindia Overseas Private Limited.

Delhi Postal Circle in collaboration with Fabindia Overseas Private Limited - India’s private retail platform for craft based products, opened its counter at Fabindia’s flagship store at 14, N Block Market, Greater Kailash-1, New Delhi.

As a part of the joint endeavour to enhance customer experience, India post will now offer customers hassle free postal retail service which would enable the customers to buy, pack and dispatch Fabindia products not only within India but also to international destinations. To help the customers in booking consignments, Delhi Postal Circle staff will be deployed at Fabindia store.

While this comes as an expansion of the existing postal retail service earlier introduced at the Jawahar Vyapar Bhawan (Cottage Emporium), New Delhi-1, where customers can avail Speed Post Services & Registered Parcel booking within the premises of the shopping complex, this is the first partnership with a private player.

With 140 stores across 58 cities in India and four international stores, Fabindia Overseas Private Limited is India’s largest retail platform for a wide range of products produced by artisans living largely in rural areas.

The POST OFFICE counter at the Fabindia outlet will offer the following domestic and international services from 1100 Hours till 1900 Hours (on all working days):

Flat Rate Parcel Service (Domestic) – Air Express Service, High Quality Boxes as a part of postage charges, One India One Rate

Flat Rate Parcel Service (International) – Any destination, anywhere in the world. Total composite Rates are applicable

EMS Speed Post Service (Domestic & International) – Fast, reliable, guaranteed Service

 http://centralgovernmentemployeesportal.blogspot.com/

3 Simple Things To Do To Avoid Virus Infection On Windows Computer

  Viruses are malicious programs that can run down your entire system and leak your private data into the wrong hands. What about you system’s performance after been infected by viruses? How right can a computer perform in the presence of viruses? Your computer cannot be as right as it ought to be when there are viruses in your computer. The performance of your computer will deteriorate as soon as it is infected with viruses and by this time you fall on the brink of losing the entire documents and files on your computer.

Many people have been hacked and have loosed their paypal and email accounts to hackers due to the presence of viruses and spywares on their computer. Some viruses that seem to look harmless are the most dangerous; some viruses pose as antivirus and upon installing them on your computer you then begin to experience difficulties with your computer: such as applications mysteriously ending while in use, your browser directing you to harmful sites etcetera, etcetera. I shall be explaining some few tips on how to protect your computer against virus attack.

Install an up to date antivirus

Antivirus programs are developed to protect your system against virus attacks of all forms. Antivirus programs neutralizes any virus or spyware that gets into your computer; an antivirus can clean your computer if there are viruses on it and also disarm those that come along with files that are copied from flash drives and attachments from your email box. When you are installing an antivirus, you should make sure the antivirus you are installing is a well trusted and widely used by many computer users. You can easily purchase an antivirus program in the market while you can also get it for free if you care to use the free ones.

Keep your antivirus updated regularly

After installing an antivirus on your system, your system might still be visited by viruses if the antivirus you are using is not regularly updated. For your antivirus program to perform well for you, you have to update it regularly and frequently run a system scan. The fact that an antivirus is installed on your computer does not mean a virus can’t find its way into your computer, you can only assume that you are fully protected when you antivirus program is kept updated regularly.

Download from trustworthy sites

When downloading files and applications from the internet to your computer system make sure the sites you are downloading from are trustworthy sites. If you want to know the rank or the quality of websites you are downloading from you can install alexa toolbar on your web browser by visiting

BASIC COMPUTER KNOWLEDGE

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Travelling Allowance - Certain Frequently Asked Questions

Charges for transportation of conveyance on transfer is admissible only when the conveyance is owned by the Government Servant.

QOne of the officer, on his permanent transfer from Lucknow to New Missamri preferred in his Transfer TA, claim charges for transporting a Motor Car from old station to new station registered in the name of his wife. However, CDA(O), Pune disallowed the same on the grounds that the car registered in the name of the officer alone is admissible for transportation. Please clarify.

ACharges for transporting the conveyance on transfer are admissible ONLY if it is owned by the Government Servant.

Time-limit for claiming TA is one year

QConsequent upon the transfer of a Govt. Official in the interest of service to a place beyond 150 kms., the official has been granted Transfer TA for an amount equal to one month's basic pay. After expiry of one month from
the date of his joining the new station, he has been directed by the DDO at his new office to deposit the entire amount drawn by him as Transfer TA along with an amount as interest calculated at the rate of 2% over the interest rate as applicable in GPF on the ground that the adjustment bill in respect of the Transfer TA has not been submitted within one month from his joining the new
office. Kindly clarify whether the action of the DDO is in order.

AAs per SR 194-A of "Swamy's Compilation of FR & SR – Part –II – Traveling Allowances Rules" claim for TA is to be preferred within one year. The action taken by your office is therefore, not in order. The one month time limit referred by your office is applicable to LTC claim only.

Production of Railway tickets along with TA claim is not compulsory

QOne of our Sr. Private Secretary who was transferred from Chennai to Mumbai submitted his Transfer TA claim. For his total 3 journeys, he has submitted two original tickets and for bringing family he has mentioned
PNR number and ticket not enclosed as the same was lost. However DDO is insisting to produce the tickets. Kindly clarify whether production of ticket is compulsory ?

AThere is no rule to demand the train tickets as the same are to be surrendered to the Railway Authorities at the destination station. Hence furnishing of PNR/Ticket number will be sufficient.

Option to claim either normal TA or conveyance hire charges for local journey beyond 8 kms, but within municipal limits.

QIn accordance with the earlier orders if a Govt. servant performs journey in the public interest within a radius of 8 kms, from his headquarters, he is entitled to reimbursement of actual conveyance charges in respect of the expenditure incurred by him in hiring taxi/scooter, etc. However, with the deletion of the words "a radius of 8 kms" a doubt has arisen whether a Govt. servant who performs the journey to or/and a place beyond a radius of 8 kms but within the municipal limits of the city in which his Headquarters is situated, will be entitled to Travelling Allowance or reimbursement of conveyance hire charges. While a plain reading of the amended para 1(a) in the said Annexure indicates that he shall be entitled to normal traveling Allowance (as admissible within the municipal limits), a doubt has been raised in certain quarters that even when the local journey is performed beyond a radius of 8 kms, from Headquarters, whether the claim shall be in the form of TA or merely reimbursement of actual conveyance hire charges. To exemplify, Sewa Bhawan in RK Puram is at a distance of about 8 kms from Shram Shakti Bhawan and a specific doubt has been raised whether in such circumstances a Govt. servant shall be entitled to normal TA or reimbursement of conveyance hire charges.

AGovernment Decision: For local journey performed by a Govt. servant in public interest withinmunicipal limits but exceeding 8 kms, Govt. servant can either to claim reimbursement of conveyance hire charges under the D.F.P.Rs or to claim traveling allowance under the normal TA Rules.

Road mileage admissible between residence and Railway Station on both ends while on tour.

QOne of the Government Employee has traveled by his own car on official tour from his residence at New Delhi to Chandigarh and claimed road mileage, i.e., taxi fare from his residence at New Delhi to New Delhi Railway Station and AC-II-tier fare, i.e., entitled class fare from New Delhi Railway Station to Chandigarh Railway Station. The Accounts Section restricted his claim to
New Delhi Railway Station to Chandigarh Railway Station only and denied the road milage he claimed for the travel by his own car from his residence to New Delhi Railway Station. Kindly clarify whether road mileage from residence to Railway Station is admissible or not.

AAs per GID (2) below SR 46, the official is entitled to Road Mileage between residence and Railway Station at both ends.

Source : http://www.gconnect.in/

RIGHT TO LEAVE - CCS (LEAVE) RULES - RULE -7

Right to leave

 (1) Leave cannot be claimed as of right

 
(2) When the exigencies of public service so require, leave of any kind may be refused or revoked by the authority competent to grant it, but it shall not be open to that authority to alter the kind of leave due and applied for except at the written request of the Government servant