Monday, July 18, 2005

Top 10 Most Prevalent Global Malware

Top 10 Most Prevalent Global Malware (from July 8 to July 14, 2005)

JAVA_BYTEVER.A
HTML_NETSKY.P
SPYW_GATOR
TSPY_SMALL.SN
SPYW_DASHBAR.300
WORM_NETSKY.P
WORM_SOBER.K
TROJ_DYFUCA.I
SPYW_WEBSEARCH.A
ADW_HOTBAR.A

Friday, July 15, 2005

Microsoft Security issues

Internet-Helpers.com
2005 Vulnerability in JView Profiler Could Allow Remote Code Execution (903235): MS05-037

Affected Software: Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server, Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Web Edition, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows Me, Internet Explorer 5.01, Internet Explorer 6.0, Internet Explorer 6.0 for Windows Server 2003, Internet Explorer 6.0 for Windows XP Service Pack 2 Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 Gold, Windows Server 2003 SP1, Windows 98 Gold, Windows 98 SE Gold, Windows 98 SP1, Windows Me Gold, Internet Explorer 5.01 SP4, Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1 Critical
Jul 12, 2005 Vulnerability in Microsoft Color Management Module Could Allow Remote Code Execution (901214): MS05-036

Affected Software: Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server, Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Web Edition, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows Me Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 Gold, Windows Server 2003 SP1, Windows 98 Gold, Windows 98 SE Gold, Windows 98 SP1, Windows Me Gold Critical
Jul 12, 2005 Vulnerability in Microsoft Word Could Allow Remote Code Execution (903672): MS05-035

Affected Software: Word 2000, Office 2000, Works 2001, Office XP, Word 2002, Works 2002, Works 2003, Works 2004 Word 2000 SP3, Office 2000 Service Pack 3, Works 2001 Gold, Office XP SP3 , Word 2002 SP3, Works 2002 Gold, Works 2003 Gold, Works 2004 Gold Critical
Jun 14, 2005 Cumulative Security Update for ISA Server 2000 (899753): MS05-034

Affected Software: ISA Server 2000, Small Business Server 2000, Small Business Server 2003 ISA Server 2000 SP2, Small Business Server 2000 SP3, Small Business Server 2000 SP4, Small Business Server 2003 Gold, Small Business Server 2003 SP1 Moderate
Jun 14, 2005 Vulnerability in Telnet Client Could Allow Information Disclosure (896428): MS05-033

Affected Software: Services For Unix 2.2, Services For Unix 3.0, Services For Unix 3.5, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server, Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Web Edition Services For Unix 2.2 Gold, Services For Unix 3.0 Gold, Services For Unix 3.5 Gold, Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 Gold, Windows Server 2003 SP1 Moderate
Jun 14, 2005 Vulnerability in Microsoft Agent Could Allow Spoofing (890046): MS05-032

Affected Software: Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server, Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Web Edition, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows Me Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 Gold, Windows Server 2003 SP1, Windows 98 Gold, Windows 98 SE Gold, Windows 98 SP1, Windows Me Gold Moderate
Jun 14, 2005 Vulnerability in Step-by-Step Interactive Training Could Allow Remote Code Execution (898458): MS05-031

Affected Software: Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server, Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Web Edition, Microsoft Interactive Training (Step-by-Step) Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 Gold, Windows Server 2003 SP1, Microsoft Interactive Training Important
Jun 14, 2005 Cumulative Security Update in Outlook Express (897715): MS05-030

Affected Software: Outlook Express 5.5, Outlook Express 6.0, Outlook Express 6 on Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Web Edition, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows Me, Internet Explorer 5.5, Internet Explorer 6.0 Internet Explorer 5.5 SP2, Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1, Windows Server 2003 Gold, Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows 98 Gold, Windows 98 SE Gold, Windows 98 SP1, Windows Me Gold Important
Jun 14, 2005 Vulnerability in Outlook Web Access for Exchange Server 5.5 Could Allow Cross-Site Scripting Attacks (895179): MS05-029

Affected Software: Exchange Server 5.5 Exchange Server 5.5 SP4 Important
Jun 14, 2005 Vulnerability in Web Client Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution (896426): MS05-028

Affected Software: Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server, Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Web Edition Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows Server 2003 Gold Important
Jun 14, 2005 Vulnerability in Server Message Block Could Allow Remote Code Execution (896422): MS05-027

Affected Software: Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server, Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Web Edition Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 Gold, Windows Server 2003 SP1 Critical
Jun 14, 2005 Vulnerability in HTML Help Could Allow Remote Code Execution (896358): MS05-026

Affected Software: Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server, Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Web Edition, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows Me Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 Gold, Windows Server 2003 SP1, Windows 98 Gold, Windows 98 SE Gold, Windows 98 SP1, Windows Me Gold Critical
Jun 14, 2005 Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (883939): MS05-025

Affected Software: Internet Explorer 5.01, Internet Explorer 6.0, Internet Explorer 6.0 for Windows Server 2003, Internet Explorer 6.0 for Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server, Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Web Edition, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows Me Internet Explorer 5.01 SP3, Internet Explorer 5.01 SP4, Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1, Windows Server 2003 Gold, Windows Server 2003 SP1, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows 98 Gold, Windows 98 SE Gold, Windows 98 SP1, Windows Me Gold Critical
May 10, 2005 Vulnerability in Web View Could Allow Remote Code Execution (894320): MS05-024

Affected Software: Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows Me Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows 98 Gold, Windows 98 SE Gold, Windows 98 SP1, Windows Me Gold Important
Apr 12, 2005 Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Word May Lead to Remote Code Execution (890169): MS05-023

Affected Software: Word 2000, Office 2000, Works 2001, Office XP, Word 2002, Works 2002, Works 2003, Works 2004, Office 2003, Word 2003 Word 2000 SP3, Office 2000 Service Pack 3, Works 2001 Gold, Office XP SP3 , Word 2002 SP3, Works 2002 Gold, Works 2003 Gold, Works 2004 Gold, Office 2003 SP1, Word 2003 SP1 Critical
Apr 12, 2005 Vulnerability in MSN Messenger Could Lead to Remote Code Execution (896597): MS05-022

Affected Software: MSN Messenger 6 MSN Messenger Gold Critical
Apr 12, 2005 Vulnerability in Exchange Server Could Allow Remote Code Execution (894549): MS05-021

Affected Software: Exchange 2000 Server, Exchange 2000 Enterprise Server, Exchange Server 2003 Exchange 2000 SP3, Exchange Server 2003 Gold, Exchange Server 2003 SP1 Critical
Apr 12, 2005 Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (890923): MS05-020

Affected Software: Internet Explorer 5.01, Internet Explorer 6.0, Internet Explorer 6.0 for Windows Server 2003, Internet Explorer 6.0 for Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server, Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Web Edition, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows Me Internet Explorer 5.01 SP3, Internet Explorer 5.01 SP4, Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1, Windows Server 2003 Gold, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows 98 Gold, Windows 98 SE Gold, Windows 98 SP1, Windows Me Gold Critical
Apr 12, 2005 Vulnerabilities in TCP/IP Could Allow Remote Code Execution and Denial of Service (893066): MS05-019

Affected Software: Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server, Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Web Edition, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows Me Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 Gold, Windows 98 Gold, Windows 98 SE Gold, Windows 98 SP1, Windows Me Gold Critical
Apr 12, 2005 Vulnerability in Windows Kernel Could Allow Elevation of Privilege and Denial of Service (890859): MS05-018

Affected Software: Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server, Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Web Edition, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows Me Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 Gold, Windows 98 Gold, Windows 98 SE Gold, Windows 98 SP1, Windows Me Gold Important
Apr 12, 2005 Vulnerability in Message Queuing Could Allow Code Execution (892944): MS05-017

Affected Software: Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows 98 Gold, Windows 98 SE Gold, Windows 98 SP1 Important
Apr 12, 2005 Vulnerability in Windows Shell that Could Allow Remote Code Execution (893086): MS05-016

Affected Software: Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server, Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Web Edition, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows Me Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 Gold, Windows 98 Gold, Windows 98 SE Gold, Windows 98 SP1, Windows Me Gold Important
Feb 8, 2005 Vulnerability in Hyperlink Object Library Could Allow Remote Code Execution (888113): MS05-015

Affected Software: Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server, Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Web Edition, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows Me Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 Gold, Windows 98 Gold, Windows 98 SE Gold, Windows 98 SP1, Windows Me Gold Critical
Feb 8, 2005 Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (867282): MS05-014

Affected Software: Internet Explorer 5.01, Internet Explorer 6.0, Internet Explorer 6.0 for Windows Server 2003, Internet Explorer 6.0 for Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server, Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Web Edition, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows Me Internet Explorer 5.01 SP3, Internet Explorer 5.01 SP4, Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1, Windows Server 2003 Gold, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows 98 Gold, Windows 98 SE Gold, Windows 98 SP1, Windows Me Gold Critical
Feb 8, 2005 Vulnerability in the DHTML Editing ActiveX Control could allow code execution (891781): MS05-013

Affected Software: Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server, Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Web Edition, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows Me Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 Gold, Windows 98 Gold, Windows 98 SE Gold, Windows 98 SP1, Windows Me Gold

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Internet-Helpers.com

Internet-Helpers.com


Two serious security flaws in a technology widely used for network authentication could expose a swath of software products to hacker attack, experts have warned.



The flaws could allow an online intruder to crash or gain access to computers running Kerberos, a freely available authentication technology that was developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

MIT rates both flaws "critical," according to two advisories released Tuesday. The university also made available patches to fix the problems and stated that exploitation of the bugs by attackers "is believed to be difficult."

Several software makers have already released updates to their products to address the problem. Red Hat, Turbolinux and Gentoo have issued fixes for their Linux versions, for example. Sun Microsystems on Tuesday issued two alerts acknowledging that several versions of Solaris are vulnerable, but it does not have a patch available yet.

Because Kerberos is so widely used, more vendors are likely to publish security alerts, said Brian Grayek, chief technology officer at Preventsys, a vulnerability management company in Carlsbad, Calif. "I think you are going to see a floodgate of patches open," he said.

Microsoft also uses Kerberos, but a homegrown version that is not affected by the flaws.

Both bugs affect Kerberos 5 Release 1.4.1 as well as earlier versions, according to MIT.

Independent security-monitoring company Secunia rates the issues "highly critical," its second most serious rating. The French Security Incident Response Team, or FrSIRT, deems the bugs "critical," its highest ranking.

Preventsys' Grayek agreed that the vulnerabilities are serious but noted that crafting attacks is difficult. "It is going to take somebody with a great deal of knowledge to turn these vulnerabilities into exploits," he said.

This isn't the first flaw in Kerberos. In March, MIT warned of a "serious" bug in the telnet program supplied with Kerberos. Last August, a "critical" flaw was discovered and patched.

Earlier this month a vulnerability in another widely used software component exposed some of the same products to attack. That flaw affects the open-source "zlib" data compression technology. Using a specially crafted file, an attacker could take control over a computer or crash applications that use zlib.

Friday, July 08, 2005

Internet-Helpers.com - Virus Info

Internet-Helpers.com

Virus - Prevention - Protection - Cleanup

The only way to get a computer virus is to download an infected, executable file (like .EXE or .COM) and then run it; or use an infected boot up disk. "A virus CAN NOT be spread to your computer from merely opening your e-mail... but BEWARE of the attachment files." -- And that WAS TRUE until someone dug a tunnel into Microsoft's E-mail program. If you use Microsoft Outlook (or Outlook Express) with Internet Explorer, you need to stay alert of the viruses that are popping up.

For more Microsoft virus information check their Security Advisor Bulletin. You can signup for their free security bulletins if you want them sent to you.


Internet-Helpers.com Terminology

Internet-Helpers.comTerminology
BACK / FORWARD

Buttons in most browsers' Tool Button Bar, upper left. BACK returns you to the document previously viewed. FORWARD goes to the next document, after you go BACK.

If it seems like the BACK button does not work, check if you are in a new Netscape window; some Web pages are programmed to open a new window when you click on some links. Each window has its own short-term search HISTORY.

BLOG or WEB LOG

A blog (short for "web log") is a type of web page that serves as a publicly accessible personal journal (or log) for an individual. Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author. Blog software usually has archives of old blogs, and is searchable. Frequently blogging software is used by web pages providing excellent information on many topics, although very frequently the content is personal and requires VERY careful evaluation.

BOOKMARK/FAVORITES

Way in Netscape to store in your computer direct links to sites you wish to return to. The equivalent in Internet Explorer (IE) is called a "Favorite." To create a bookmark in Netscape, click on BOOKMARKS, then ADD BOOKMARK. Or left-click on and drag the little bookmark icon (in Netscape 4.6 and higher, to the right of the word BOOKMARK) to the place you want a new bookmark filed. To visit a bookmarked site, click on BOOKMARKS and select the site from the list.

The equivalent in Internet Explorer to Netscape's Bookmarks is called "Favorites."

You can download a bookmark file to diskette and install it on another computer. To do this in Netscape, select BOOKMARKS, then EDIT BOOKMARKS, then, in the FILE menu, select SAVE AS. To do this in IE, select from the main browser tool bar FILE, then Import and Export... and follow directions for exporting to a file. Import (part of the same IE program) allows you to bring a Netscape Bookmark file into IE as Favorites.

BOOLEAN LOGIC

Way to combine terms using "operators" such as "AND," "OR," "AND NOT" and sometimes "NEAR." AND requires all terms appear in a record. OR retrieves records with either term. AND NOT excludes terms. Parentheses may be used to sequence operations and group words. Always enclose terms joined by OR with parentheses.

BROWSE

To follow links in a page, to shop around in a page, exploring what's there, a bit like window shopping. The opposite of browsing a page is searching it. When you search a page, you find a search box, enter terms, and find all occurrences of the terms throughout the site. When you browse, you have to guess which words on the page pertain to your interests. Searching is usually more efficient, but sometimes you find things by browsing that you might not find because you might not think of the "right" term to search by.

BROWSERS

Browsers are software programs that enable you to view WWW documents. They "translate" HTML-encoded files into the text, images, sounds, and other features you see. Microsoft Internet Explorer (called simply IE), Netscape, Mosaic, Macweb, and Netcruiser are examples of browsers that enable you to view text and images and many other WWW features. They are software that must be installed on your computer.

CACHE

In browsers, "cache" is used to identify a space where web pages you have visited are stored in your computer. A copy of documents you retrieve is stored in cache. When you use GO, BACK, or any other means to revisit a document, the browser first checks to see if it is in cache and will retrieve it from there because it is much faster than retrieving it from the server.

CACHED LINK

In search results from Google, Yahoo! Search, and some other search engines, there is usually a Cached link which allows you to view the version of a page that the search engine has stored in its database. The live page on the web might differ from this cached copy, because the cached copy dates from whenever the search engine's spider last visited the page and detected modified content. Use the cached link to see when a page was last crawled and, in Google, where your terms are and why you got a page when all of your search terms are not in it.

CASE SENSITIVE

Capital letters (upper case) retrieve only upper case. Most search tools are not case sensitive or only respond to initial capitals, as in proper names. It is always safe to key all lower case (no capitals), because lower case will always retrieve upper case.

CGI

"Common Gateway Interface," the most common way Web programs interact dynamically with users. Many search boxes and other applications that result in a page with content tailored to the user's search terms rely on CGI to process the data once it's submitted, to pass it to a background program in JAVA, JAVASCRIPT, or another programming language, and then to integrate the response into a display using HTML.

COOKIE

A message from a WEB SERVER computer, sent to and stored by your browser on your computer. When your computer consults the originating server computer, the cookie is sent back to the server, allowing it to respond to you according to the cookie's contents. The main use for cookies is to provide customized Web pages according to a profile of your interests. When you log onto a "customize" type of invitation on a Web page and fill in your name and other information, this may result in a cookie on your computer which that Web page will access to appear to "know" you and provide what you want. If you fill out these forms, you may also receive e-mail and other solicitation independent of cookies.

DOMAIN, TOP LEVEL DOMAIN (TLD)

Hierarchical scheme for indicating logical and sometimes geographical venue of a web-page from the network. In the US, common domains are .edu (education), .gov (government agency), .net (network related), .com (commercial), .org (nonprofit and research organizations). Outside the US, domains indicate country: ca (Canada), uk (United Kingdom), au (Australia), jp (Japan), fr (France), etc. Neither of these lists is exhaustive.

DOMAIN NAME, DOMAIN NAME SERVER (DNS)ENTRY

Any of these terms refers to the initial part of a URL, down to the first /, where the domain and name of the host or SERVER computer are listed (most often in reversed order, name first, then domain). The domain name gives you who "published" a page, made it public by putting it on the Web.

A domain name is translated in huge tables standardized across the Internet into a numeric IP address unique the host computer sought. These tables are maintained on computers called "Domain Name Servers." Whenever you ask the browser to find a URL, the browser must consult the table on the domain name server that particular computer is networked to consult.

"Domain Name Server entry" frequently appears a browser error message when you try to enter a URL. If this lookup fails for any reason, the "lacks DNS entry" error occurs. The most common remedy is simply to try the URL again, when the domain name server is less busy, and it will find the entry (the corresponding numeric IP address).

DOWNLOAD

To copy something from a primary source to a more peripheral one, as in saving something found on the Web (currently located on its server) to diskette or to a file on your local hard drive..

EXTENSION or FILE EXTENSION

In Windows, DOS and some other operating systems, one or several letters at the end of a filename. Filename extensions usually follow a period (dot) and indicate the type of file. For example, this.txt denotes a plain text file, that.htm or that.html denotes an HTMLfile. Some common image extensions are picture.jpg or picture.jpeg or picture.bmp or picture.gif

FAVORITES

In the Internet Explorer browser, a means to get back to a URL you like, similar to Netscape's Bookmarks.

FIELD SEARCHING

Ability to limit a search by requiring word or phrase to appear in a specific field of documents (e.g., title, url, link).

FIND

Button in Netscape Tool Button Bar at top. Searches for word(s) keyed in document in screen only. Useful to locate a term in a long document. Can be invoked by the keyboard command, Ctrl+F.

FRESHNESS

How up-to-date a search engine database is, based primarily on how often its spiders recirculate around the Web and update their copies of the web pages they hold, and discover new ones. Also determined by how quickly they integrate new sites that web authors send to them. Two weeks is about as good as most search engines do, but some update certain selected web sites more frequently.

FRAMES

A format for web documents that divides the screen into segments, each with a scroll bar as if it were as "window" within the window. Usually, selecting a category of documents in one frame shows the contents of the category in another frame. To go BACK in a frame, position the cursor in the frame an press the right mouse button, and select "Back in frame" (or Forward).

You can adjust frame dimensions by positioning the cursor over the border between frames and dragging the border up/down or right/left holding the mouse button down over the border.

FTP

File Transfer Protocol. Ability to transfer rapidly entire files from one computer to another, intact for viewing or other purposes.

FUZZY AND

In ranking of results, documents with all terms (Boolean AND) are ranked first, followed by documents containing any terms (Boolean OR) are retrieved. The farther down, the fewer the terms, although at least one should always be present.

GO

Button in Netscape Menu Bar at top. Provides list of recent sites you visited, retained for the current session only. Click on any site in the list to return to the site. For a more permanent marker, make a BOOKMARK.

HEAD or HEADER (of HTML document)

The top portion of the HTML source code behind Web pages, beginning with and ending with . It contains the Title, Description, Keywords fields and others that web page authors may use to describe the page. The title appears in the title bar of most browsers, but the other fields cannot be seen as part of the body of the page. To view the portion of web pages in Netscape, click VIEW, Page Source. In Internet Explorer, click VIEW, Source. Some search engines will retrieve based on text in these fields.

HISTORY, Search History

Available by using the combined keystrokes CTRL + H, a more permanent record of sites you have visited/retrieved than GO. You can set how many days your Netscape retains history in Edit Preferences, and in Internet Explorer in Tools Internet Options ? General.

HOST

Computer that provides web-documents to clients or users. See also server.

HTML

Hypertext Markup Language. A standardized language of computer code, imbedded in "source" documents behind all Web documents, containing the textual content, images, links to other documents (and possibly other applications such as sound or motion), and formatting instructions for display on the screen. When you view a Web page, you are looking at the product of this code working behind the scenes in conjunction with your browser. Browsers are programmed to interpret HTML for display.

HTML often imbeds within it other programming languages and applications such as SGML, XML, Javascript, CGI-script and more. It is possible to deliver or access and execute virtually any program via the WWW.

You can see HTML in Netscape by selecting the View pop-down menu tab, then "Document Source." If you download a document as "Source," the file will contain HTML markup codes and can be viewed in Netscape and other browsers.

HYPERTEXT

On the World Wide Web, the feature, built into HTML, that allows a text area, image, or other object to become a "link" (as if in a chain) that retrieves another computer file (another Web page, image, sound file, or other document) on the Internet. The range of possibilities is limited by the ability of the computer retrieving the outside file to view, play, or otherwise open the incoming file. It needs to have software that can interact with the imported file. Many software capabilities of this type are built into browsers or can be added as "plug-ins."

INTERNET (Upper case I)

The vast collection of interconnected networks that all use the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the ARPANET of the late 60’s and early 70’s. An "internet" (lower case i) is any computers connected to each other (a network), and are not part of the Internet unless the use TCP/IP protocols. An "intranet" is a private network inside a company or organization that uses the same kinds of software that you would find on the public Internet, but that is only for internal use. An intranet may be on the Internet or may simply be a network.

IP Address or IP Number

(Internet Protocol number or address). A unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, e.g. 165.113.245.2

Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP address. If a machine does not have an IP number, it is not really on the Internet. Most machines also have one or more Domain Names that are easier for people to remember.

ISP or Internet Service Provider

A company that sells Internet connections via modem (examples: aol, Mindspring - thousands of ISPs to choose from; not easy to evaluate). Faster, more expensive Internet connectivity is available via cable, DSL, ISDN, or web-TV. Often these companies also provide Web page hosting service (free or relatively inexpensive web pages -- the origin of many personal pages).

JAVA

A network-oriented programming language invented by Sun Microsystems that is specifically designed for writing programs that can be safely downloaded to your computer through the Internet and immediately run without fear of viruses or other harm to our computer or files. Using small Java programs (called "Applets"), Web pages can include functions such as animations, calculators, and other fancy tricks. We can expect to see a huge variety of features added to the Web using Java, since you can write a Java program to do almost anything a regular computer program can do, and then include that Java program in a Web page.

JAVASCRIPT

A simple programming language developed by Netscape to enable greater interactivity in Web pages. It shares some characteristics with JAVA but is independent. It interacts with HTML, enabling dynamic content and motion.

KEYWORD(S)

A word searched for in a search command. Keywords are searched in any order. Use spaces to separate keywords in simple keyword searching.

LIMITING TO A FIELD

Requiring that a keyword or phrase appear in a specific field of documents retrieved. Most often used to limit to the "Title" field in order to find documents primarily about one or more keywords.

LINK

The URL imbedded in another document, so that if you click on the highlighted text or button referring to the link, you retrieve the outside URL. If you search the field "link:", you retrieve on text in these imbedded URLs which you do not see in the documents.

LINK "ROT"

Term used to describe the frustrating and frequent problem caused by the constant changing in URLs. A Web page or search tool offers a link and when you click on it, you get an error message (e.g., "not available") or a page saying the site has moved to a new URL. Search engine spiders cannot keep up with the changes. URLs change frequently because the documents are moved to new computers, the file structure on the computer is reorganized, or sites are discontinued. If there is no referring link to the new URL, there is little you can do but try to search for the same or an equivalent site from scratch.

LISTSERVERS

A discussion group mechanism that permits you to subscribe and receive and participate in discussions via e-mail.

LYNX browser

Lynx is a "browser" program like Netscape or Internet Explorer that can access information on World Wide Web, but without access to images, film, or sound. It is used often from slow modems to eliminate the need to wait to download images and other features. Lynx allows you to read the text of any WWW document, and to select hypertext links in these documents. You can use Lynx to go to any WWW document, to fill out forms available on WWW, to print and save files and perform many other tasks.

META-SEARCH ENGINE

Search engines that automatically submit your keyword search to several other search tools, and retrieve results from all their databases. Convenient time-savers for relatively simple keyword searches (one or two keywords or phrases in " ").

NESTING

A term used in Boolean searching to indicate the sequence in which operations are to be performed. Enclosing words in parentheses identifies a group or "nest." Groups can be within other groups. The operations will be performed from the innermost nest to the outmost, and then from left to right.

NEWSGROUP

A discussion group operated through the Internet. Not to be confused with LISTSERVERS which operate through e-mail.

PERSONAL PAGE

A web page created by an individual (as opposed to someone creating a page for an institution, business, organization, or other entity). Often personal pages contain valid and useful opinions, links to important resources, and significant facts. One of the greatest benefits of the Web is the freedom it as given almost anyone to put his or her ideas "out there." But frequently personal pages offer highly biased personal perspectives or ironical/satirical spoofs, which must be evaluated carefully. The presence in the page's URL of a personal name (such as "jbarker") and a ~ or % or the word "users" or "people" or "members" very frequently indicate a site offering personal pages.

PACKET, PACKET JAM

When you retrieve a document via the WWW, the document is sent in "packets" which fit in between other messages on the telecommunications lines, and then are reassembled when they arrive at your end. This occurs using TCP/IP protocol. The packets may be sent via different paths on the networks which carry the Internet. If any of these packets gets delayed, your document cannot be reassembled and displayed. This is called a "packet jam." You can often resolve packet jams by pressing STOP then RELOAD. RELOAD requests a fresh copy of the document, and it is likely to be sent without jamming.

PDF or .pdf or pdf file

Abbreviation for Portable Document Format, a file format developed by Adobe Systems, that is used to capture almost any kind of document with the formatting in the original. Viewing a PDF file requires Acrobat Reader, which is built into most browsers and can be downloaded free from Adobe.

PHRASE

More than one KEYWORD, searched exactly as keyed (all terms required to be in documents, in the order keyed). Enclosing keywords in quotations " " forms a phrase in AltaVista, , and some other search tools. Some times a phrase is called a "character string."

PLUG-IN

An application built into a browser or added to a browser to enable it to interact with a special file type (such as a movie, sound file, Word document, etc.)

POPULARITY RANKING of search results

Some search engines rank the order in which search results appear primarily by how many other sites link to each page (a kind of popularity vote based on the assumption that other pages would create a link to the "best" pages). Google is the best example of this.

+REQUIRE or -REJECT A TERM OR PHRASE

Insert + immediately before a term (no space) to limit search to documents containing a term. Insert - immediately before a term (no space) to exclude documents containing a term. Can be used immediately (no space) before the " " delimiting a phrase.

Functions partially like basic BOOLEAN LOGIC. If + precedes more than one term, they are required as with Boolean AND. If - is used, terms are excluded as with Boolean AND NOT. If neither + no - is used, the default if Boolean OR. However, full Boolean logic allows parentheses to group and sequence logical operations, and +/- do not. .

RELEVANCY RANKING of search results

The most common method for determining the order in which search results are displayed. Each search tool uses its own unique algorithm. Most use "fuzzy and" combined with factors such as how often your terms occur in documents, whether they occur together as a phrase, and whether they are in title or how near the top of the text. Popularity is another ranking system.

SCRIPT

A script is a type of programming language that can be used to fetch and display Web pages. There are may kinds and uses of scripts on the Web. They can be used to create all or part of a page, and communicate with searchable databases. Forms (boxes) and many interactive links, which respond differently depending on what you enter, all require some kind of script language. When you find a question marke (?) in the URL of a page, some kind of script command was used in generating and/or delivering that page. Most search engine spiders are instructed not to crawl pages from scripts, although it is usually technically possible for them to do so.

SCROLL (DOWN, UP, LEFT, RIGHT)

Moving up or down within a document in your screen. Use scroll bar at right. Click on arrow down or arrow up. Drag the scroll button down or up. Or click on the page up or page down icons at the bottom of the bar. If you need to scroll left or right, use the scroll bar at the bottom.

SERVER, WEB SERVER

A computer running that software, assigned an IP address, and connected to the Internet so that it can provide documents via the World Wide Web. Also called HOST computer. Web servers are the closest equivalent to what in the print world is called the "publisher" of a print document. An important difference is that most print publishers carefully edit the content and quality of their publications in an effort to market them and future publications. This convention is not required in the Web world, where anyone can be a publisher; careful evaluation of Web pages is therefore mandatory. Also called a "Host."

SERVER-SIDE

Something that operates on the "server" computer (providing the Web page), as opposed to the "client" computer (which is you or someone else viewing the Web page). Usually it is a program or command or procedure or other application causes dynamic pages or animation or other interaction.

SHTML, usually seen as .shtml

An file name extension that identifies web pages containing SSI commands.

SITE or WEB-SITE

This term is often used to mean "web page," but there is supposed to be a difference. A web page is a single entity, one URL, one file that you might find on the Web. A "site," properly speaking, is an location or gathering or center for a bunch of related pages linked to from that site. For example, the site for the present tutorial is the top-level page "Internet Resources." All of the pages associated with it branch out from there -- the web searching tutorial and all its pages, and more. Together they make up a "site." When we estimate there are 5 billion web pages on the Web, we do not mean "sites." There would be far fewer sites.

SPIDERS

Computer robot programs, referred to sometimes as "crawlers" or "knowledge-bots" or "knowbots" that are used by search engines to roam the World Wide Web via the Internet, visit sites and databases, and keep the search engine database of web pages up to date. They obtain new pages, update known pages, and delete obsolete ones. Their findings are then integrated into the "home" database.

Most large search engines operate several robots all the time. Even so, the Web is so enormous that it can take six months for spiders to cover it, resulting in a certain degree of "out-of-datedness" (link rot) in all the search engines.

SPONSOR (of a Web page or site)

Many Web pages have organizations, businesses, institutions like universities or nonprofit foundations, or other interests which "sponsor" the page. Frequently you can find a link titled "Sponsors" or an "About us" link explaining who or what (if anyone) is sponsoring the page. Sometimes the advertisers on the page (banner ads, links, buttons to sites that sell or promote something) are "sponsors." WHY is this important? Sponsors and the funding they provide may, or may not, influence what can be said on the page or site -- can bias what you find, by excluding some opposing viewpoint or causing some other imbalanced information. The site is not bad because of sponsors, but you they should alert you to the need to evaluate a page or site very carefully.

SSI commands

SSI stands for "server-side include," a type of HTML instruction telling a computer that serves Web pages to dynamically generate data, usually by inserting certain variable contents into a fixed template or boilerplate Web page. Used especially in database searches.

STEMMING

In keyword searching, word endings are automatically removed (lines becomes line); searches are performed on the stem + common endings (line or lines retrieves line, lines, line's, lines', lining, lined). Not very common as a practice, and not always disclosed. Can usually be avoided by placing a term in " ".

STOP WORDS

In database searching, "stop words" are small and frequently occurring words like and, or, in, of that are often ignored when keyed as search terms. Sometimes putting them in quotes " " will allow you to search them. Sometimes + immediately before them makes them searchable.

SUBJECT-BASED POPULARITY RANKING of search results

A variation on popularity ranking in which the links in pages on the same subject are used to in ranking search results. Used by Teoma.

SUBJECT DIRECTORY

An approach to Web documents by a lexicon of subject terms hierarchically grouped. May be browsed or searched by keywords. Subject directories are smaller than other searchable databases, because of the human involvement required to classify documents by subject.

SUB-SEARCHING

Ability to search only within the results of a previous search. Enables you to refine search results, in effect making the computer "read" the search results for you selecting documents with terms you sub-search on.

TCP/IP

(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) -- This is the suite of protocols that defines the Internet. Originally designed for the UNIX operating system, TCP/IP software is now available for every major kind of computer operating system. To be truly on the Internet, your computer must have TCP/IP software. See also IP Address.

TELNET

Internet service allowing one computer to log onto another, connecting as if not remote.

THESAURUS

In some search tools, the terms you choose to search on can lead you to other terms you may not have thought of. Different search tools have different ways of presenting this information, sometimes with suggested words you may choose among and sometimes automatically. The terms are based on the terms in the results of your search, not on some dictionary-like thesaurus.

TITLE (of a document)

The official title of a document from the "meta" field called title. The text of this meta title field may or may not also occur in the visible body of the document. It is what appears in the top bar of the window when you display the document and it is the title that appears in search engine results. The "meta" field called title is not mandatory in HTML coding. Sometimes you retrieve a document with "No Title" as its supposed title; this is caused when the meta-title field is left blank.

In Alta Vista and some other search tools, title: search also matches on the "meta" field, which contains document descriptors not displayed on the Web.

TRUNCATION

In a search, the ability to enter the first part of a keyword, insert a symbol (usually *), and accept any variant spellings or word endings, from the occurrence of the symbol forward. (E.g., femini* retrieves feminine, feminism, feminism, etc.)

URL

Uniform Resource Locator. The unique address of any Web document. May be keyed in Netscape's OPEN or Netscape's LOCATION / GO TO box to retrieve a document. There is a logic the layout of a URL:

Anatomy of a URL:

Type of file (could say ftp:// or telnet://)
Domain name (computer file is on and its location on the Internet)
Path or directory on the computer to this file
Name of file, and its file extension (usually ending in .html or .htm)

http://
www.yourwebsite.com/
Links/
link.html



USENET

Bulletinboard-like network featuring thousands of "newsgroups."

WORD VARIANTS

Different word endings (such as -ing, -s, es, -ism, -ist,etc.) will be retrieved only if you allow for them in your search terms. One way to do this TRUNCATION, but few systems accept truncation. Another way is to enter the variants either separated by BOOLEAN OR (and grouped in parentheses). In +REQUIRE/-REJECT non-Boolean systems, enter the variant terms preceded with neither + nor -, because this will allow documents containing any of them to retrieved.

XHTML

A variant of HTML. Stands for Extensible Hypertext Markup Language is a hybrid between HTML and XML that is more universally acceptable in Web pages and search engines than XML.

XML

Extensible Markup Language, a dilution for Web page use of SGML (Standard General Markup Language), which is not readily viewable in ordinary browsers and is difficult to apply to Web pages. XML is very useful (among other things) for pages emerging from databases and other applications where parts of the page are standardized and must reappear many times.

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