The Internet is full of files (applications, graphics, sound clips, and more) available for you to use, but first you have to move them onto your hard drive. Downloading is the process of moving files from a network into your home computer.

E-mail is the best part of being on the Net. It's just like the mail you receive in your box at home (except you won't get as many bills!), but it's quicker -- darn near instantaneous, actually.

Who are you? Where are you? There's no need to have an existential crisis if you have an e-mail address. E-mail addresses have two parts: a user I.D. and a domain name (the who and the where, respectively), and these parts are separated by an "@" sign. So if you go by the name of "luscious" on a BBS called Venus, your e-mail address might be: .

Because it can be difficult to convey humor or emotion in ASCII text, people have developed an elaborate way of using punctuation to suggest mood in their electronic communications. Here's an example: : - ) It's a sideways smiley face. If you want to convey a smirk, you can use this one: : - / Be advised, though, that certain systems frown upon the use of emoticons. : - (

This is the scrambling of text or other data to prevent intruders (hackers, government officials, system administrators, etc.) from reading the messages you send to others. If you are using a strong method to encrypt data, only the intended recipient of your mail will have the proper key (or program) to decode your message.