Glossary of Terms

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N

Name Server - See domain name server.

Net Nanny - A program that censors your Internet account. Used by parents who want to control what their kids see on the Net. Also See: SurfWatch

Netiquette - The etiquette on the Internet. See Also: Internet

Netscape - The Netscape (tm) browser was originally based on the Mosaic program developed at the National Centre for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). Netscape Corporation also produces web server software. Netscape provided major improvements in speed and interface over other browsers, and has also engendered debate by creating new elements for the HTML language used by Web pages, but the Netscape extensions to HTML are not universally supported. The main author of Netscape, was hired away from the NCSA by Jim Clark, and they founded a company called Mosaic Communications and soon changed the name to Netscape Communications Corporation. See Also: Browser, Explorer, Mosaic, Server, and WWW

Network - Lots of things are called networks, but for our purposes we're talking about lots of computers that are connected together. Those in the same or nearby buildings are called local area networks, those that are farther away are called wide area networks, and when you interconnect a large number of networks all over the world, you get the Internet! Any time you connect 2 or more computers together so that they can share resources, you have a computer network. Connect 2 or more networks together and you have an Internet. See Also: Internet, Intranet

News Server - A computer on the Internet that not only gets Usenet newsgroups but also lets you read them. Programs such as Free Agent, Trumpet, and Cello use a news server to get the articles for the newsgroups you request.

Newsgroup Kill File - A file that tells your newsreader which articles you always want to skip. This file applies to only a specific newsgroup Also See: Global Kill File

Newsgroup - A distributed bulletin board system about a particular topic. The Usenet news (also known as Net news) system distributes thousands of newsgroups to all parts of the Internet.

NIC - Network Information Centre. - The address of the one for the U.S. part of the Internet is networksolutions.net. An NIC is responsible for coordinating a set of networks so that the names, network numbers, and other technical details are consistent from one network to another.

NNTP Server (Network News Transport Protocol) - The protocol used by client and server software to carry USENET postings back and forth over a TCP/IP network. If you are using any of the more common software such as Netscape, Nuntius, Internet Explorer, etc. to participate in newsgroups then you are benefiting from an NNTP connection. Also See: Newsgroup, TCP/IP, USENET, and News Server

Node - A computer on the Internet, also called a host. Computers that provide a service, such as FTP sites or places that run Gopher are also called servers.

NSFNET - The National Science Foundation's former network, a part of the Internet devoted to research and education and funded by government money. It has gone away, replaced by pieces of commercial networks. ANS, which formerly ran the NSFNET, now belongs to America Online.

NT Server - A type of server platform that runs Microsoft NT server. Also See: Windows NT