Internet Service Providers (ISP)

An ISP is a company that provides a method of connection to the internet. For a monthly fee, the company provides you with software, a user account, a temporary password and access phone number. With your computer's modem or a cable modem provided, you can then log on to the internet and use client programs to access internet resources stored on server computers.

A Canadian web site that offers to list most ISPs by province is Canadian ISP.com. Missing from the Saskatchewan list is Sasktel and Shaw Cable. Check your telephone yellow pages under Internet Access Providers or Internet Service Providers for additional ISPs.

Servers

So what is a server and how does it work. This electronic page you are reading right now is stored on a web server. To get an overview of how servers dish out millions of pages every hour, we resort once again to the people who write how stuff works. Please read the article, "How Web Servers Work" at howstuffworks.

Browsers

Programs designed to look at pages of information stored on servers are called browsers and include titles such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Mozilla Firefox and Opera to name just a few. Even the Visual Basic program we will be using has its own web browser. Ensure your browser is up-to-date to take advantage of all the security updates, decreasing the chances that rogue programs will exploit your computer system.

E-mail

Your ISPs will normally provide you with one or more e-mail accounts. There are a number of programs designed to access these accounts. Using the internet to access information about e-mail programs reveals a number of free and commercial solutions. The web site www.about-the-web.com provides information about e-mail programs (and other stuff).