Glossary of Terms
Backup: Main Page
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Backup is a copy of, or the act of copying, any data or files from your device to a 'backup', 'Reserve', or 'Redundancy' device; usually a Hard Drive, Solid State Drive (SSD), USB (Flash) Drive, Memory Card, or to an online Backup Service or Website. It is essential to backup your personal data regularly, in case you have a hardware failure, virus, or other problem with your device. Go to our
Backup page for more information.
Browsers: Main Page
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A Browser is simply a program that allows you to 'browse' or 'surf' web pages on the Internet, such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Apple's Safari and the standard Android Browser, etc.. There are many different Browsers available for all of the various Operating Systems. Most are fairly similar, but they all have their own layout, functions, settings and of course, advantages and disadvantages. Which one you choose is very much down to personal preference, but you should also take security into consideration. Some browsers are inherently safer than others and, depending on what you use yours for, you may be advised to find one with better than average security. However, whichever one you use, by keeping your Browser up to date, by downloading and installing the latest version (usually done automatically for you, but check the settings to see that this is set), you will have all of the latest anti-hacking and anti-malware updates they have available working in your favour!
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A Domain is simply the allocated name and address of a website, such as 'sekureit.com'. This is the same as a personal address. It is not only the address, where people can mail messages to, using the @ symbol in a standard email address, but also the place on the web where the files for the website 'live', or stored and how you find the website. When you type in the address into the address bar of your browser, the Server 'serves' the content of the website page to your browser, in much the way that you might serve someone at a party a drink - they don't get everything in your house, only what you offer or what they ask for, i.e. generally the website's home page. If you want to own and run your own independent website, you will need to decide on and purchase a Domain Name. See 'Hosting'.
Hardware: Main Page
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Hexadecimal, often just stated as 'Hex', is a Number Base System, based on sixteen as opposed to 10 in our standard number base (Decimal, or base 10). Our standard number system (Decimal), is based on ten, meaning that you add another column when you get to ten. With Hexadecimal, you count up to fifteen in the first column, using the numbers and letters 0-9 and A-F, then start a new column in the same way. So, F (Hex.) = 15 (Dec.), 10 (Hex) is 'one zero' (not 'ten') and equals 16 (Dec.). 20 (Hex.) = 32 (Dec.), i.e., 2x16, so 21 (Hex.) would be 32 (Dec.). Hexadecimal hugely increases the amount of numbers that can be expressed with the same number of digits used in our usual Decimal system and is far more convenient when dealing with very large numbers, as in computer/internet IP Addresses and Mac Addresses.
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Hosting is what an Internet Server does. It stores and provides web pages, videos, downloads and all of the other 'stuff' on the web to your computer, laptop or phone. If you want to run your own website, firstly you will need to decide on and register a domain name and a Top Level Domain (TLD), such as .com, .co.uk, or .net etc.. In the address 'Sekureit.com'. Sekureit is the Domain Name and .com is the TLD. Put together with the protocol (https://, www., etc.), they make up a URL, or 'Uniform Resource Locator'. These are two parts together make a website address and have to be registered together. Finding a combination of name and TLD that you like and is appropriate for your needs is not easy though, as it has to be unique - and not already registered!
The next steps in getting your website hosted is to find a Hosting Company and then to design, code and upload your website to the Host Server. You can do this all yourself, or you can use software to put your website together. This is usually provided free by most Hosting companies. Alternatively, you can use a company which will generate and host your website using one of their templates and host it on a Sub-Domain on their servers, such as Wordpress Hosting with companies like WP Engine, SiteGround, DreamHost, Bluehost and many more.
Internet: Main Page
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The internet is the 'backbone' of the web, the network of servers (specialised, dedicated computers) and routers that connect everything on the 'web' together and translate website addresses into IP Addresses, that the Servers understand, allowing you to connect to anything and anyone on the web, from wherever you happen to be. Without the Internet infrastructure, there would be no 'Web'.
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An IP Address is the actual address of a website, server, computer, or an other device on the web. When you type in an address, such as 'sekureit.com, or 'mysite.au', this is simply the user-friendly version of the address, or URL (Uniform Resource Locator), which Internet Routers then translate into an IP Address, so that it can be found in a routing table and your browser or other software directed to it. Because of the huge number of devices and sites, most have 'local' IP Addresses, below a Main Address. IP Addresses are in the format xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (IPV4,32 bit address, where each x will be replaced by a number or letter in the range 0-9, or a much longer (IPV6) address, which is 128 bit.
Hardware: Main Page
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A MAC (Media Access Control) Address should not be confused with IP Address. IP Addresses are assigned to Computers, Phones, Systems and Websites, whereas MAC Addresses are assigned to very specific hardware devices and these are permanent and do not change. For instance, you laptop or other device will be assigned an IP Address when you connect to or log onto a network or the internet, but inside your device, each and every hardware component that connects to a network of any sort will have it's own MAC Address to identify itself, such as your Wi-Fi Adapter, Your Ethernet Adapter, Bluetooth Adapter, etc.. Each of these have a unique number, which is given and 'burnt-in' (stored electronically) to that component at the time of manufacture. Due to the huge number of these components/devices, the numbers are very long, but by using Hexadecimal numbering system, trillions of devices can have unique devices with a manageable length number of just 12-digit digits.
Hardware: Main Page
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The resources of your device, whether it is a PC, Laptop, Phone or Tablet, are basically the same. It includes your processor (CPU) power (operating frequency and number of cores (mini processors)), the amount of memory available for processes (programs) to run or operate in and the amount of storage available for your data and other files to be stored on and run from, including your Operating System. On a PC or Laptop, memory and storage are generally very separate items; a Hard Drive (or Solid State Drive) for storage and RAM (Random Access Memory) chips or modules for temporary memory to run programs in. On a phone, tablet or other (usually) hand-held device, memory and storage are usually both solid state chips, and may be listed separately, or just as one amount, as either 'memory' or 'storage'. Though they may be listed separately, be careful. As with all devices, your Operating System uses a portion of your storage, so even if the specification says 64GB for instance, not all of this will be available for you to store data on, so check how much
IS
'available' storage.
The Cloud: Main Page
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A Server is simply a specialised computer for 'serving' web pages and other content to another computer or device, know as the 'client'. They run specialist software to do this, usually Apache (server software), PHP (code translation), MySql (or other) database software, plus other software. They are also usually small 'card' computers, which are part of large racks, with many cards in one rack and many racks in an air-conditioned room, or rooms, as they generate a lot of heat! They usually run either Windows or Linux Operating Systems. When you own a website, it is stored and 'hosted' on one of these severs and 'served' to users on demand. You can turn your own computer or laptop into a server simply by installing the necessary software. If you have a Windows computer, look up 'WAMP' (Windows, Apache, MySql, Php), for Apple Mac, look up MAMP and for Linux, LAMP, though there are other options, such as Windows Home Server, Ubuntu Server and many others too, as well as Server-specific Operating Systems.
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A Sub-domain is simply a separate area of a website that is not normally accessible without a direct link, due to it being a separate part of the main domain, instead of a page, which is 'below' the main domain or address, with it's name separated by a '/', after the domain name. There can be many levels of pages, one off another. A Subdomain is noticeable by it's URL, or address, which is the same as the main/normal address, such as 'sekureit.com' but is
preceded by another name and a period (a 'full stop'), such as 'help.sekureit.com'. Business email addresses often use this format (as ours does), as it is more secure.
Internet: Main Page
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The Web is the collection of Websites that reside on the Internet (the Servers that the websites are 'Hosted' on). The Server stores the files that comprise the website and 'Serve' the requested pages when someone 'Visits' or requests that site.
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WWW is simply the acronym for 'World Wide Web' and all the websites and servers that host them, see 'Web'. This is rarely used nowadays, as it is not really essential and has in any case mostly been replaced by the use of 'https://' (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure), which uses a technology called SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) to encrypt the connection and is required for secured websites, such as anything that requires a login, or transfers personal or sensitive information, such as bank accounts.
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