PROJECT REPORT

SUBMITTED
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR

100 Hours Information Technology Training

(During the month of July, 2008)

The Institute of Chartered Accountants

Information Technology Training program
Project report

Under Supervision of:-

Submitted By:-

Gagan Sharma

Shipra Goyal

Department Of Computer
HISAR BRANCH OF NIRC, HISAR

NRO-0189671

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Content

Candidate declaration

Acknowledgement

Certificate

Basic of computer
Internet
Ms Word

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CANDIDATE DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the project work for 100 Hours Information Technology
Training under The Institute of Chartered Accountant of India is an authentic work
carried out by me under Supervision of Mr. Gagan Sharma Instructor, Department of
Computer Application, HISAR BRANCH OF NIRC.

Shipra Goyal
NRO0189671

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Acknowledgement
No work in itself complete without credit being given to the person who helped in
achieves this task. I here by take this chance to express my knowledge. My sincere and
grateful thanks to Shri S. P. GOYAL, President of HISAR BRANCH OF NIRC,
Hisar, for providing me a chance to work in this project, the knowledge inevitably
polished my skills in due course.
I would like to convey my thanks to Mr. Gagan Sharma, my
computer teacher who always gave valuable suggestions and guidance for compliance of
my project. He helped me to understand and remember details of the project that I would
have otherwise lost. My project has been success only because of his guidance.
Last but not least I would like to thank my beloved parent and brothers for their support
and management.

Shipra Goyal
NRO -0189671

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CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the Project of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of
India is a bonafide work done by Shipra Goyal, Reg.no. NRO 0189671 in partial
fulfillment of The 100 Hours Information Technology Training and has been carried
under my direct supervision and guidance. This report or a similar report on the topic has
not been submitted for any other examination and does not form part of any other course
undergone by the candidate.

Gagan Sharma
Department Of Computer
HISAR BRANCH OF NIRC,
HISAR

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Computer
Definition:A computer is a device that accepts information (in the form of
digitalized data) and manipulates it for some result based on a
program or sequence of instructions on how the data is to be
processed
The two principal characteristics of a Computer are:1. It responds to a specific set of instructions in a well-defined manner.
2. It can execute a prerecorded list of instructions (a program).

How Computers Work :Input :- "How to tell it what to do"

Information and programs are entered into the computer through Input devices such as
the keyboard, disks, or through other computers via network connections or modems
connected to the Internet. The input device also retrieves information off disks.
Examples of input devices:
o

Mouse - most common pointing device

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Track ball - basically an upside down mouse

Joystick

Game controller

Output:- "How it shows you what it is doing"

Output Devices displays information on the screen (monitor) or the printer and sends
information to other computers. They also display messages about what errors may have
occurred and brings up message or dialog box asking for more information to be input.
The output device also saves information on the disk for future use.

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Storage :-"How it saves data and programs"

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Hard disk drives are an internal, higher capacity drive which also stores the operating
system which runs when you power on the computer.

- "Floppy" disk drives

with you.

allow you to save work on small disks and take the data

Memory: - "How the processor stores and uses immediate data"

- When you use a program, the computer loads a portion of the program from the hard
drive to the much faster memory (RAM). When you "save" your work or quit the
program, the data gets written back to the hard drive.
Processing: - The CPU or central processing unit is sometimes called the Control Unit
and directs the operation of the input and output devices. The Coprocessor or the
Arithmetic-Logic Unit does arithmetic and comparisons. The memory or RAM
temporarily stores information (files and programs) while you are using or
working on them. The BIOS or basic input/output system controls the dialogue
between the various devices.

Software
The software is the information that the computer uses to get the job done. Software
needs to be accessed before it can be used. There are many terms used for process of
accessing software including running, executing, starting up, opening, and others.
Computer programs allow users to complete tasks. A program can also be referred to as
an application and the two words are used interchangeably.
Examples of software programs or applications would be the Operating System (DOS,
Windows 9x/Millenium/XP, O/S2, UNIX, MacOS 9.x/10.x and various others),
Wordprocessor (typing letters), Spreadsheet (financial info), Database (inventory
control and address book), Graphics program, Internet Browser, Email and many
others.
As well any document that you create, graphic you design, sound you compose, file you
make, letter you write, email you send or anything that you create on your computer is
referred to as software. All software is stored in files.

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Software is stored on a disk or tape whether that disk is a floppy, hard disk, CD, tape or
one of the dozens of other storage devices available.
There are millions of different pieces of software available for almost every conceivable
need. Software is available commercially through stores and mail order and also available
on the Internet. Software is also available through an Open Source license which allows
anyone to use the Open Source software free of charge as long as the license is
maintained. If you can't find the application that you need software development
companies can custom design software for you.
The largest software companies offer packages of software or suites that include many of
the programs that the average person or business needs. Software packages or suites
contain programs that work together and share information, making it easier to combine
that information in versatile ways. For example when writing a letter you can get the
mailing address from an address book, include a letterhead from a graphics program and
included a financial chart from a spreadsheet and combine this collection of information
in the body of the letter.
The three basic types of software are; commercial, shareware and open source
software. Some software is also released into the public domain without a license.
Commercial software comes prepackaged and is available from software stores and
through the Internet.
Shareware is software developed by individual and small companies that cannot afford
to market their software world wide or by a company that wants to release a
demonstration version of their commercial product. You will have an evaluation period in
which you can decide whether to purchase the product or not. Shareware software often
is disabled in some way and has a notice attached to explain the legal requirements for
using the product.
Open Source software is created by generous programmers and released into the public
domain for public use. There is usually a copyright notice that must remain with the
software product. Open Source software is not public domain in that the company or
individual that develops the software retains ownership of the program but the software
can be used freely. Many popular Open Source applications are being developed and
upgraded regularly by individuals and companies that believe in the Open Source
concept.

Operating Systems
All computers need some sort of Operating System (OS). The majority of modern home
computers use some form of Microsoft's operating systems. The original Microsoft
operating system was called DOS (Disk Operating System) though most computers use
Windows. Windows comes in various versions beginning with version 3.x then 95, 98,
ME and currently XP.
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A few computers use IBM's O/S2. Apple's Mac use their own operating system
beginning with OS 1 though most modern Macs use version 8.x or 9.x. Apple's latest
version is OS 10.1.x. In the past large companies and institutions would have an
operating system design exclusively for them but as the commercial operating systems
become more sophisticated the benefits of this practice is becoming less apparent. Some
computer professionals, Internet Service Providers (ISP) and mainframe computer
users use an operating system such as UNIX (or a variant such as Linux), Windows NT or
2000 (Win2k) or one of the other network or server based operating systems.
There are many smaller operating systems out there. The problem is that software is
currently being developed only for the main operating systems and only the newest
versions of these OS. Many older computers with unique operating systems have lots of
software already developed for them but there is very little new software being developed
for the older computers. The older proprietary operating systems are less likely to offer
technical support than the more modern operating systems.
The operating system controls the input and output or directs the flow of information to
and from the CPU. Much of this is done automatically by the system but it is possible to
modify and control your system if you need to.
When you turn your computer on it first needs to load the operating system sometimes
referred to a booting up. Basically the computer starts from scratch every time you turn
the power on.
It checks all its components and will usually display a message if there is a problem.
Loading the system is usually automatic.
Once the system is loaded the user can start the application or program that they are
going to use.
Most computer users will run Microsoft Windows, Mac OS or Linux as their operating
system. These OS are Graphic User Interface (GUI) which allows the user to control or
run the computer using a Mouse and Icons. The user simply moves the mouse on a flat
surface, rolls the trackball, or moves their hand over the touchpad to control a pointer.
They then choose the option they want by pressing a button or touching the pad.
Without a GUI the user controls the computer using the keys on the keyboard. This is
referred to as a Command Line Interface (CLI).

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Software Applications:Application software uses the operating system software and provides the real
functionality of a computer. Applications include:
- Word Processing (MS Word, WordPerfect, Ami...)
- Spreadsheets (Lotus 123, MS Excel...)
- Database (DBase, Fox Pro, Oracle...)
- Presentation (MS PowerPoint, Persuasion...)
- Internet Browsers (Netscape Navigator, MS Internet Explorer)
- Games

Hardware
The hardware are the parts of computer itself including the Central Processing Unit
(CPU) and related microchips and micro-circuitry, keyboards, monitors, case and
drives (floppy, hard, CD, DVD, optical, tape, etc...). Other extra parts called peripheral
components or devices include mouse, printers, modems, scanners, digital cameras
and cards (sound, colour, video) etc... Together they are often referred to as a personal
computer or PC.
Central Processing Unit (CPU) :Though the term relates to a specific chip or the processor a CPU's performance is
determined by the the rest of the computer's circuitry and chips.
Currently the Pentium chip or processor, made by Intel, is the most common CPU though
there are many other companies that produce processors for personal computers.
Examples are the CPU made by Motorola and AMD.

With faster processors the clock speed becomes more important. Compared to some of
the first computers which operated at below 30 megahertz (MHz) the Pentium chips
began at 75 MHz in the late 1990's. Speeds now exceed 3000+ MHz or 3 gigahertz
(GHz) and different chip manufacturers use different measuring standards (check your
local computer store for the latest speed). It depends on the circuit board that the chip is
housed in, or the motherboard, as to whether you are able to upgrade to a faster chip.
The motherboard contains the circuitry and connections that allow the various component
to communicate with each other.

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Though there were many computers using many different processors previous to this I
call the 80286 processor the advent of home computers as these were the processors that
made computers available for the average person. Using a processor before the 286
involved learning a proprietary system and software. Most new software are being
developed for the newest and fastest processors so it can be difficult to use an older
computer system.
Keyboard :The keyboard is used to type information into the computer or input information. There
are many different keyboard layouts and sizes with the most common for Latin based
languages being the QWERTY layout (named for the first 6 keys). The standard keyboard
has 101 keys. Notebooks have embedded keys accessible by special keys or by pressing
key combinations (CTRL or Command and P for example). Ergonomically designed
keyboards are designed to make typing easier.
Some of the keys have a special use. There are referred to as command keys. The 3 most
common are the Control or CTRL, Alternate or Alt and the Shift keys though there can be
more (the Windows key for example or the Command key). Each key on a standard
keyboard has one or two characters. Press the key to get the lower character and hold
Shift to get the upper.
Removable Storage and/or Disk Drives :All disks need a drive to get information off - or read - and put information on the disk or write. Each drive is designed for a specific type of disk whether it is a CD, DVD, hard
disk or floppy. Often the term 'disk' and 'drive' are used to describe the same thing but it
helps to understand that the disk is the storage device which contains computer files - or
software - and the drive is the mechanism that runs the disk.
USB Flash drives or thumb drives :They work slightly differently as they use memory cards to store information on. Digital
cameras also use Flash memory cards to store information, in this case photgraphs.
Mouse:Most modern computers today are run using a mouse controlled pointer.
Generally if the mouse has two buttons the left one is used to select
objects and text and the right one is used to access menus. If the mouse
has one button (Mac for instance) it controls all the activity and a mouse
with a third buttons can be used by specific software programs.

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One type of mouse has a round ball under the bottom of the mouse that rolls and turns
two wheels which control the direction of the pointer on the screen. Another type of
mouse uses an optical system to track the movement of the mouse.
Note: It is important to clean the mouse periodically, particularly if it becomes sluggish.
A ball type mouse has a small circular panel that can be opened, allowing you to remove
the ball. Lint can be removed carefully with a tooth pick or tweezers and the ball can be
washed with mild detergent. A build up will accumulate on the small wheels in the
mouse. Use a small instrument or finger nail to scrape it off taking care not to scratch the
wheels. Track balls can be cleaned much like a mouse and touch-pad can be wiped with a
clean, damp cloth. An optical mouse can accumulate material from the surface that it is in
contact with which can be removed with a finger nail or small instrument.
Monitors:The monitor shows information on the screen when you type. This is called outputting
information. When the computer needs more information it will display a message on the
screen, usually through a dialog box. Monitors come in many types and sizes from the
simple monochrome (one colour) screen to full colour screens.
Most desktop computers use a monitor with a cathode tube and most notebooks use a
liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor.
To get the full benefit of today's software with full colour graphics and animation,
computers need a color monitor with a display or graphics card.
Printers:The printer takes the information on your screen and transfers it to paper or a hard copy.
There are many different types of printers with various levels of quality. The three basic
types of printer are; dot matrix, inkjet, and laser.
Dot matrix printers work like a typewriter transferring ink from a ribbon to
paper with a series or 'matrix' of tiny pins.
Ink jet printers work like dot matrix printers but fires a stream of ink from a
cartridge directly onto the paper.
Laser printers use the same technology as a photocopier using heat to transfer
toner onto paper.

Modem:A modem is used to translate information transferred through telephone lines or cable.
The term stands for modulate and demodulate which changes the signal from digital,
which computers use, to analog, which telephones use and then back again.

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A high speed connection also requires a modem but because the information is
transferred digitally it isn't required to change the signal from digital to analog but is used
to create the connection between your computer and the computer you are connecting
with.
Modems are measured by the speed that the information is transferred. The measuring
tool is called the baud rate. Originally modems worked at speeds below 2400 baud but
today analog speeds of 56,000 are common. Cable, wireless or digital subscriber lines
(DSL) modems can transfer information much faster with rates of 300,000 baud and up.
Modems also use Error Correction which corrects for transmission errors by constantly
checking whether the information was received properly or not and Compression which
allows for faster data transfer rates. Information is transferred in packets. Each packet is
checked for errors and is re-sent if there is an error.
Anyone who has used the Internet has noticed that at times the information travels at
different speeds. Depending on the amount of information that is being transferred the
information will arrive at it's destination at different times. The amount of information
that can travel through a line is limited. This limit is called bandwidth.
There are many more variables involved in communication technology using computers,
much of which is covered in the section on the Internet.
Scanners :Scanners allow you to transfer pictures and photographs to your computer. A scanner
'scans' the image from the top to the bottom, one line at a time and transfers it to the
computer as a series of bits or a bitmap. You can then take that image and use it in a
paint program, send it out as a fax or print it. With optional Optical Character
Recognition (OCR) software you can convert printed documents such as newspaper
articles to text that can be used in your word processor. Most scanners use TWAIN
software that makes the scanner accessable by other software applications.
Digital cameras :They allow you to take digital photographs. The images are stored on a memory chip or
disk that can be transferred to your computer. Some cameras can also capture sound and
video.
Case :The case houses the microchips and circuitry that run the computer. Desktop models
usually sit under the monitor and tower models beside. They come in many sizes,
including desktop, mini, midi, and full tower. There is usually room inside to expand or
add components at a later time.

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By removing the cover off the case you will may find plate covered, empty slots that
allow you to add cards. There are various types of slots including IDE, ASI, USB, PCI
and Firewire slots.
Notebook computers may have room to expand depending on the type of computer. Most
Notebooks also have connections or ports that allows expansion or connection to exterior,
peripheral devices such as monitor, portable hard-drives or other devices.
Cards - Cards are components added to computers to increase their capability. When
adding a peripheral device makes sure that your computer has a slot of the type needed by
the device.
Sound cards:They allow computers to produce sound like music and voice. The older sound cards
were 8 bit then 16 bit then 32 bit. Though human ear can't distinguish the fine difference
between sounds produced by the more powerful sound card they allow for more complex
music and music production.
Colour cards:They allow computers to produce colour (with a colour monitor of course). The first
colour cards were 2 bit which produced 4 colours [CGA]. It was amazing what could be
done with those 4 colours. Next came 4 bit allowing for 16 [EGA and VGA ] colours
Then came 16 bit allowing for 1064 colours and then 24 bit which allows for almost 17
million colours and now 32 bit is standard allowing monitors to display almost a billion
separate colours.
Video cards:They allow computers to display video and animation. Some video cards allow
computers to display television as well as capture frames from video. A video card with a
digital video camera allows computers users to produce live video. A high speed or
network connection is needed for effective video transmission.
Network cards:They allow computers to connect together to communicate with each other. Network
cards have connections for cable, thin wire or wireless networks.
Cables connect internal components to the Motherboard, which is a board with series of
electronic path ways and connections allowing the CPU to communicate with the other
components of the computer.

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Memory:Memory can be very confusing but is usually one of the easiest pieces of hardware to add
to your computer. It is common to confuse chip memory with disk storage. An example
of the difference between memory and storage would be the difference between a table
where the actual work is done (memory) and a filing cabinet where the finished product
is stored (disk). To add a bit more confusion, the computer's hard disk can be used as
temporary memory when the program needs more than the chips can provide.
Random Access Memory or RAM is the memory that the computer uses to temporarily
store the information as it is being processed. The more information being processed the
more RAM the computer needs.
One of the first home computers used 64 kilobytes of RAM memory (Commodore 64).
Today's modern computers need a minimum of 64 Mb (recommended 128 Mb or more)
to run Windows or OS 10 with modern software.
RAM memory chips come in many different sizes and speeds and can usually be
expanded. Older computers came with 512 Kb of memory which could be expanded to a
maximum of 640 Kb. In most modern computers the memory can be expanded by adding
or replacing the memory chips depending on the processor you have and the type of
memory your computer uses. Memory chips range in size from 1 Mb to 4 Gb. As
computer technology changes the type of memory changes as well making old memory
chips obsolete. Check your computer manual to find out what kind of memory your
computer uses before purchasing new memory chips.

Computer Viruses
A virus is a program designed by a computer programmer (malicious hacker) to do a
certain unwanted function. The virus program can be simply annoying like displaying a
happy face on the user's screen at a certain time and date. It can also be very destructive
and damage your computer's programs and files causing the computer to stop working.
The reasons why hackers create viruses are open for speculation. The most quoted reason
is simply to see if it can be done. Other reasons are Ludite based "smash the machine"
motivations, antiestablishment/anti-corporate actions, criminal intent, and various others
that range into the "conspiracy theory" realm.

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Viruses take two basic forms:One is a boot sector virus which infect the section of a disk that is first read by the
computer. This type of virus infects the boot or master section of any disks that it comes
in contact with.
The second is a program virus that infects other programs when the infected program is
run or executed. Some viruses infect both and others change themselves (polymorphic)
depending on the programs they encounter.
Though viruses do not damage computer hardware there have been attempts to create
programs that will do things like run the hard drive until it fails or lodge itself in the
computer's clock (which has a rechargeable battery) allowing it to remain active even
months after the computer has been unplugged. Other viruses affect certain microchips
(BIOS chip for instance). These microchips need to be modified under normal computer
use but the virus program can produce changes which cause them to fail. Other viruses
will affect the characters or images displayed on the screen which may give the
impression of monitor failure.
Viruses can cause a great deal of damage to the computers it infects and can cost a lot of
time and money to correct it.
Computer viruses have been around for a long time, even before computers became
widely used and they will likely remain with us forever. For that reason computer users
will always need ways to protect themselves from virus programs. The main, common
feature of a virus is that it is contagious! Their sole purpose is to spread and infect other
computers.
A computer gets a virus from an infected file.
The virus might attach themselves to a game, a program (both shareware and
commercial) or a file downloaded from a bulletin board or the Internet.
You cannot get a virus from a plain email message or from a simple text file! That is
because the virus needs to be 'run' or executed before it can take effect. This usually
happens when the user tries to open an infected program, accesses an infected disk or
opens a file with an infected macro or script attached to it. A plain email message is made
up of text which does not execute or run when opened.
Modern email programs provide the ability to allow users to format email messages with
HTML and attach scripts to them for various purposes and it is possible for a malicious
hacker to attempt to spread a virus by building a virus script into an HTML type of email
message.

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When you are accepting software or scripts on Internet sites or reading mail from
unknown senders it is best not to run a program from that site or sender without checking
it with an anti-virus program first.

Protect yourself:You can take safeguards against virus infection. The first thing is to get an anti-virus
program. Most reputable companies that create virus protection programs release an
evaluation copy that a Internet user can download for free and use for a certain amount
of time. This anti-virus program will be able to check your computer for viruses and
repair damage or delete files that are infected with viruses. You may have to replace
infected files that cannot be repaired.
The second thing you can do is purchase a copy of the program. The reason for this is
that viruses are constantly being created. When you purchase an anti-virus program you
are also purchasing periodical updates which keep your anti-virus program up-to-date
and able to deal with new viruses as they are encountered. Commercial virus programs
also allow the user to customize when and how the program will check the computer for
viruses. You will need to renew this updating service periodically.
If you find that your computer has been infected with a virus use an anti-virus program to
clean your computer and make sure to check all the disks that you use. This includes all
the hard drives on your computer(s) and all your floppy disks and CDs as well as any
media that you save information on. Remember that the virus can easily re-infect your
computer from one infected file!
If you have to reload your computer programs, use the original program disks. You may
want to check your original disks before reinstalling the software. If your original disks
are infected contact the distributor to get replacements.
Always take the time to ensure that your computer is properly protected. Spending money
on a good virus checking program could save you hundreds of dollars and lots of time
later.
A discussion of viruses would not be complete without mentioning hoaxes. Malicious
people without programming skills will send out fake virus warnings causing people to
take unnessary measures which often cause your computer harm. One example tries to
get the unsuspecting computer user to delete an important system file by warning them
that it is a virus. A legitimate virus warning will provide a link to a website operated by
an anti-virus company with more information about that virus. Don't forward a virus
warning until you have check out whether it is legitimate.

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Internet

What is the Internet?

The Internet or the Net is

a collection of computers, all link
together,
to
share
information globally. It was first
developed in the U.S. by two universities who were both working on the same contract
and wanted to share their data. They were faxing information back and forth and then
retyping it until they came up with a piece of software called Unix to Unix Copy
Program or UUCP.
The Internet was born and has mushroomed outward from that point.
There are 4 things that are necessary to "get on the net" with a full graphic interface
(picture, sounds, animation, etc...).
A computer - preferably with a fast processor (around 100 MHz or more) and lots
of memory (16 meg or more)
A modem - preferably 56,000 baud or high speed digital
Browser Software - often installed with your operating system or can be
downloaded off the Internet
An ISP - An Internet Service Provider is a service that connects your home or
office computer to the Internet

Once you have purchased an account with an ISP you will be given an account name.
This is often your email address as well. You will also be given a password and should
also be provided with instructions on how to change the password to a unique and
personalized. The generic password provided with your account should be change to one
of your own. Protect your password as you would any personal identification number
(PIN) number.
The ISP will also provide information on how to configure your software. This can be
simple or difficult depending on your Operating System. Once configured you simply
run the software to connect your computer's modem to the ISP's modem, giving you
access to the Internet.

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There are a number of pieces of software that work together to connect you to the
Internet.

The first and most complicated is the dialer or socket software. This is the software that
makes the physical connection with the ISP's computer and the internet. This needs to be
configured only once but you will need instructions from your ISP on how to do this as
each ISP has a different setup.
The second piece is an Internet browser. This is the program that locates websites for
you and allows users to maneuver around (surf) the World Wide Web and view web
pages. Some of the more popular browsers are Mozilla Firefox

and Microsoft's

Internet Explorer.
b>Mosaic was the first browser and most modern browsers still
use the basic model that the first browser used. Some other browser is Opera, Safari,
Netscape as well as dozens of others. Before graphic browsers Lynx
was the most
popular browser and is still available for text browsing. New browser are being
developed and current browsers are constantly updating there programs. It is extremely
important to update your browser every once in a while. Some ISP have a proprietary
type of browser though most have given up this practice as it limits the users abilities to
browse the Internet.
Type the url or web address of the website that you want to visit in the address bar of
your browser and press Enter or click Go. Collect your favorite websites by adding them
to your Favorites or Bookmarks. To go to a Favorite or Bookmark, click on the menu
and click on the link.
Another piece of software is an email program
. This program controls
sending, composing and receiving email. Most email programs can also be used to read
postings on newsgroups.
There are many different ISPs. If you attend a university or college or belong to a military
or government organization you can most likely get Internet access through your school
or work. If not you will most likely buy access from a commercial provider.
Another option, if you are in a major center, is the Freenet. Many major cities have
groups devoted to making the Internet accessible to the greater majority of people and
create Freenets which allowing members free access to the Internet. They run on private
and public donations. It is an excellent way of learning about the Internet in a helpful
environment.

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Once you are connected you will have access to Email, Newsgroups, the World Wide
Web (WWW), File Transfer Protocol (ftp), Internet Relay Chat (irc), Search
Engines, ICQ and other Internet Services.

History
The Internet was the result of some visionary thinking by people in the early 1960s who
saw great potential value in allowing computers to share information on research and
development in scientific and military fields. J.C.R. Licklider of MIT, first proposed a
global network of computers in 1962, and moved over to the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) in late 1962 to head the work to develop it. Leonard Kleinrock
of MIT and later UCLA developed the theory of packet switching, which was to form the
basis of Internet connections. Lawrence Roberts of MIT connected a Massachusetts
computer with a California computer in 1965 over dial-up telephone lines. It showed the
feasibility of wide area networking, but also showed that the telephone line's circuit
switching was inadequate. Kleinrock's packet switching theory was confirmed. Roberts
moved over to DARPA in 1966 and developed his plan for ARPANET. These visionaries
and many more left unnamed here are the real founders of the Internet.
The Internet, then known as ARPANET, was brought online in 1969 under a contract let
by the renamed Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) which initially connected
four major computers at universities in the southwestern US (UCLA, Stanford Research
Institute, UCSB, and the University of Utah). The contract was carried out by BBN of
Cambridge, MA under Bob Kahn and went online in December 1969. By June 1970,
MIT, Harvard, BBN, and Systems Development Corp (SDC) in Santa Monica, Cal. were
added. By January 1971, Stanford, MIT's Lincoln Labs, Carnegie-Mellon, and CaseWestern Reserve U were added. In months to come, NASA/Ames, Mitre, Burroughs,
RAND, and the U of Illinois plugged in. After that, there were far too many to keep
listing here.
The Internet was designed in part to provide a communications network that would work
even if some of the sites were destroyed by nuclear attack. If the most direct route was
not available, routers would direct traffic around the network via alternate routes.
The early Internet was used by computer experts, engineers, scientists, and librarians.
There was nothing friendly about it. There were no home or office personal computers in
those days, and anyone who used it, whether a computer professional or an engineer or
scientist or librarian, had to learn to use a very complex system
E-mail was adapted for ARPANET by Ray Tomlinson of BBN in 1972. He picked the @
symbol from the available symbols on his teletype to link the username and address. The
telnet protocol, enabling logging on to a remote computer, was published as a Request
for Comments (RFC) in 1972.

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RFC's are a means of sharing developmental work throughout community.

The ftp protocol, enabling file transfers between Internet sites, was published as an RFC
in 1973, and from then on RFC's were available electronically to anyone who had use of
the ftp protocol.
Libraries began automating and networking their catalogs in the late 1960s independent
from ARPA. The visionary Frederick G. Kilgour of the Ohio College Library Center
(now OCLC, Inc.) led networking of Ohio libraries during the '60s and '70s. In the mid
1970s more regional consortia from New England, the Southwest states, and the Middle
Atlantic states, etc., joined with Ohio to form a national, later international, network
The Internet matured in the 70's as a result of the TCP/IP architecture first proposed by
Bob Kahn at BBN and further developed by Kahn and Vint Cerf at Stanford and others
throughout the 70's. It was adopted by the Defense Department in 1980 replacing the
earlier Network Control Protocol (NCP) and universally adopted by 1983.
The Unix to Unix Copy Protocol (UUCP) was invented in 1978 at Bell Labs. Usenet was
started in 1979 based on UUCP. Newsgroups, which are discussion groups focusing on a
topic, followed, providing a means of exchanging information throughout the world .
While Usenet is not considered as part of the Internet, since it does not share the use of
TCP/IP, it linked unix systems around the world, and many Internet sites took advantage
of the availability of newsgroups. It was a significant part of the community building that
took place on the networks.
Similarly, BITNET (Because It's Time Network) connected IBM mainframes around the
educational community and the world to provide mail services beginning in 1981.
Listserv software was developed for this network and later others. Gateways were
developed to connect BITNET with the Internet and allowed exchange of e-mail,
particularly for e-mail discussion lists. These listservs and other forms of e-mail
discussion lists formed another major element in the community building that was taking
place.
In 1986, the National Science Foundation funded NSFNet as a cross country 56 Kbps
backbone for the Internet. They maintained their sponsorship for nearly a decade, setting
rules for its non-commercial government and research uses.
As the commands for e-mail, FTP, and telnet were standardized, it became a lot easier for
non-technical people to learn to use the nets. It was not easy by today's standards by any
means, but it did open up use of the Internet to many more people in universities in
particular. Other departments besides the libraries, computer, physics, and engineering
departments found ways to make good use of the nets--to communicate with colleagues
around the world and to share files and resources.
While the number of sites on the Internet was small, it was fairly easy to keep track of the
resources of interest that were available. But as more and more universities and

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organizations--and their libraries-- connected, the Internet became harder and harder to
track. There was more and more need for tools to index the resources that were available.
The first effort, other than library catalogs, to index the Internet was created in 1989, as
Peter Deutsch and his crew at McGill University in Montreal, created an archiver for ftp
sites, which they named Archie. This software would periodically reach out to all known
openly available ftp sites, list their files, and build a searchable index of the software. The
commands to search Archie were unix commands, and it took some knowledge of unix to
use it to its full capability.
At about the same time, Brewster Kahle, then at Thinking Machines, Corp. developed his
Wide Area Information Server (WAIS), which would index the full text of files in a
database and allow searches of the files. There were several versions with varying
degrees of complexity and capability developed, but the simplest of these were made
available to everyone on the nets. At its peak, Thinking Machines maintained pointers to
over 600 databases around the world which had been indexed by WAIS. They included
such things as the full set of Usenet Frequently Asked Questions files, the full
documentation of working papers such as RFC's by those developing the Internet's
standards, and much more. Like Archie, its interface was far from intuitive, and it took
some effort to learn to use it well.
Peter Scott of the University of Saskatchewan, recognizing the need to bring together
information about all the telnet-accessible library catalogs on the web, as well as other
telnet resources, brought out his Hytelnet catalog in 1990. It gave a single place to get
information about library catalogs and other telnet resources and how to use them. He
maintained it for years, and added HyWebCat in 1997 to provide information on webbased catalogs.
In 1991, the first really friendly interface to the Internet was developed at the University
of Minnesota. The University wanted to develop a simple menu system to access files and
information on campus through their local network.

A debate followed between mainframe adherents and those who believed in smaller
systems with client-server architecture. The mainframe adherents "won" the debate
initially, but since the client-server advocates said they could put up a prototype very
quickly, they were given the go-ahead to do a demonstration system.
The demonstration system was called a gopher after the U of Minnesota mascot--the
golden gopher. The gopher proved to be very prolific, and within a few years there were
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over 10,000 gophers around the world. It takes no knowledge of unix or computer. In a
gopher system, you type or click on a number to select the menu selection you want.
Gopher's usability was enhanced much more when the University of Nevada at Reno
developed the VERONICA searchable index of gopher menus. It was purported to be an
acronym for Very Easy Rodent-Oriented Netwide Index to Computerized Archives. A
spider crawled gopher menus around the world, collecting links and retrieving them for
the index. It was so popular that it was very hard to connect to, even though a number of
other VERONICA sites were developed to ease the load. Similar indexing software was
developed for single sites, called JUGHEAD (Jonzy's Universal Gopher Hierarchy
Excavation And Display).
In 1989 another significant event took place in making the nets easier to use. Tim
Berners-Lee and others at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, more popularly
known as CERN, proposed a new protocol for information distribution. This protocol,
which became the World Wide Web in 1991, was based on hypertext--a system of
embedding links in text to link to other text, which you have been using every time you
selected a text link while reading these pages. Although started before gopher, it was
slower to develop.
The development in 1993 of the graphical browser Mosaic by Marc Andreessen and his
team at the National Center For Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) gave the protocol
its big boost. Later, Andreessen moved to become the brains behind Netscape Corp.,
which produced the most successful graphical type of browser and server until Microsoft
declared war and developed its MicroSoft Internet Explorer
Since the Internet was initially funded by the government, it was originally limited to
research, education, and government uses. Commercial uses were prohibited unless they
directly served the goals of research and education. This policy continued until the early
90's, when independent commercial networks began to grow. It then became possible to
route traffic across the country from one commercial site to another without passing
through the government funded NSFNet Internet backbone.
Delphi was the first national commercial online service to offer Internet access to its
subscribers. It opened up an email connection in July 1992 and full Internet service in
November 1992. All pretenses of limitations on commercial use disappeared in May 1995
when the National Science Foundation ended its sponsorship of the Internet backbone,
and all traffic relied on commercial networks. AOL, Prodigy, and CompuServe came
online. Since commercial usage was so widespread by this time and educational
institutions had been paying their own way for some time, the loss of NSF funding had
no appreciable effect on costs.

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Today, NSF funding has moved beyond supporting the backbone and higher educational
institutions to building the K-12 and local public library accesses on the one hand, and
the research on the massive high volume connections on the other.
Microsoft's full scale entry into the browser, server, and Internet Service Provider market
completed the major shift over to a commercially based Internet. The release of Windows
98 in June 1998 with the Microsoft browser well integrated into the desktop shows Bill
Gates' determination to capitalize on the enormous growth of the Internet. Microsoft's
success over the past few years has brought court challenges to their shows Bill Gates'
determination to capitalize on the enormous growth of the Internet. Microsoft's success
over the past few years has brought court challenges to their dominance. We'll leave it up
to you whether you think these battles should be played out in the courts or the
marketplace.
During this period of enormous growth, businesses entering the Internet arena scrambled
to find economic models that work. Free services supported by advertising shifted some
of the direct costs away from the consumer--temporarily. Services such as Delphi offered
free web pages, chat rooms, and message boards for community building. Online sales
have grown rapidly for such products as books and music CDs and computers, but the
profit margins are slim when price comparisons are so easy, and public trust in online
security is still shaky. Business models that have worked well are portal sites, that try to
provide everything for everybody, and live auctions. AOL's acquisition of Time-Warner
was the largest merger in history when it took place and shows the enormous growth of
Internet business! The stock market has had a rocky ride, swooping up and down as the
new technology companies, the dot.com's encountered good news and bad. The decline in
advertising income spelled doom for many dot.coms, and a major shakeout and search for
better business models took place by the survivors.
A current trend with major implications for the future is the growth of high speed
connections. 56K modems and the providers who supported them spread widely for a
while, but this is the low end now. 56K is not fast enough to carry multimedia, such as
sound and video except in low quality. But new technologies many times faster, such as
cablemodems and digital subscriber lines (DSL) are predominant now.
Wireless has grown rapidly in the past few years, and travellers search for the wi-fi "hot
spots" where they can connect while they are away from the home or office. Many
airports, coffee bars, hotels and motels now routinely provide these services, some for a
fee and some for free.
The next big growth area is the surge towards universal wireless access, where almost
everywhere is a "hot spot". Municipal wi-fi or city-wide access, wiMAX offering broader
ranges than wi-fi, Verizon's EV-DO, and other formats will joust for dominance in the
USA in the months ahead. The battle is both economic and political.

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WHO RUNS THE INTERNET

The Domain Name System
The Internet evolved as an experimental system during the 1970s and early 1980s. It then
flourished after the TCP/IP protocols were made mandatory on the ARPANET and other
networks in January 1983; these protocols thus became the standard for many other
networks as well. Indeed, the Internet grew so rapidly that the existing mechanisms for
associating the names of host computers (e.g. UCLA, USC-ISI) to Internet addresses
(known as IP addresses) were about to be stretched beyond acceptable engineering limits.
Most of the applications in the Internet referred to the target computers by name. These
names had to be translated into Internet addresses before the lower level protocols could
be activated to support the application. For a time, a group at SRI International in Menlo
Park, CA, called the Network Information Center (NIC), maintained a simple, machinereadable list of names and associated Internet addresses which was made available on the
net. Hosts on the Internet would simply copy this list, usually daily, so as to maintain a
local copy of the table. This list was called the "host.txt" file (since it was simply a text
file). The list served the function in the Internet that directory services (e.g. 411 or 703555-1212) do in the US telephone system - the translation of a name into an address.
As the Internet grew, it became harder and harder for the NIC to keep the list current.
Anticipating that this problem would only get worse as the network expanded,
researchers at USC Information Sciences Institute launched an effort to design a more
distributed way of providing this same information. The end result was the Domain Name
System (DNS) which allowed hundreds of thousands of "name servers" to maintain
small portions of a global database of information associating IP addresses with the
names of computers on the Internet.
The naming structure was hierarchical in character. For example, all host computers
associated with educational institutions would have names like "stanford.edu" or
"ucla.edu". Specific hosts would have names like "cs.ucla.edu" to refer to a computer in
the computer science department of UCLA, for example. A special set of computers
called "root servers" maintained information about the names and addresses of other
servers that contained more detailed name/address associations. The designers of the
DNS also developed seven generic "top level" domains, as follows:
Education - EDU
Government - GOV
Military - MIL
International - INT
Network - NET
(non-profit) Organization - ORG
Commercial - COM

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Under this system, for example, the host name "UCLA" became "UCLA.EDU" because it
was operated by an educational institution, while the host computer for "BBN" became
"BBN.COM" because it was a commercial organization. Top-level domain names also
were created for every country: United Kingdom names would end in .UK, while the
ending .FR was created for the names of France.
The Domain Name System (DNS) was and continues to be a major element of the
Internet architecture, which contributes to its scalability. It also contributes to controversy
over trademarks and general rules for the creation and use of domain names, creation of
new top-level domains and the like. At the same time, other resolution schemes exist as
well. One of the authors (Kahn) has been involved in the development of a different kind
of standard identification and resolution scheme [xvii] that, for example, is being used as
the base technology by book publishers to identify books on the Internet by adapting
various identification schemes for use in the Internet environment. For example,
International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs) can be used as part of the identifiers. The
identifiers then resolve to state information about the referenced books, such as location
information (e.g. multiple sites) on the Internet that is used to access the books or to order
them. These developments are taking place in parallel with the more traditional means of
managing Internet resources. They offer an alternative to the existing Domain Name
System with enhanced functionality.
The growth of Web servers and users of the Web has been remarkable, but some people
are confused about the relationship between the World Wide Web and the Internet. The
Internet is the global information system that includes communication capabilities and
many high level applications. The Web is one such application. The existing connectivity
of the Internet made it possible for users and servers all over the world to participate in
this activity. Electronic mail is another important application. As of today, over 60 million
computers take part in the Internet and about 3.6 million web sites were estimated to be
accessible on the net. Virtually every user of the net has access to electronic mail and web
browsing capability.

Introduction to Internet Terminology

AVI:Audio Video Interleaved is A Microsoft Corporation multimedia video format. It uses
waveform audio and digital video frames (bitmaps) to compress animation.
Bandwidth:The capacity of an electronic line, such as a communications network or computer
channel, to transmit bits per second (bps).

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Bitmap:A representation, consisting of rows and columns of dots, of a graphics image in

computer memory. The value of each dot (whether it is filled in or not) is stored in one or
more bits of data. For simple monochrome images, one bit is sufficient to represent each
dot, but for colors and shades of gray, each dot requires more than one bit of data.
Bits and bytes Bit stands for binary digit: 0 or 1
A byte is made up of 8 bits
It takes 1 byte to store one ASCII character ASCII stands for the American
Standard Code for Information Interchange
The combination of bits (which makes up one byte) below represents the letters
below
A
0100 0001
B
0100 0010
C
0100 0011
K stands for kilo and = 1024 (2 to the tenth power)
M stands for mega. A MB, megabyte is about a million bytes (1024x1024)
G stands for giga. A GB, gigabyte is about a billion bytes (1024x1024x1024)
T stands for tera. A TB, terabyte is about a trillion!
RAM is usually measured in MB
Hard disk spaces is usually measured in gigabytes
Blog:A blog is information that is instantly published to a Web site. Blog scripting allows
someone to automatically post information to a Web site. The information first goes to a
blogger Web site. Then the information is automatically inserted into a template tailored
for your Web site.
Bookmark:A way of storing your favorite sites on the Internet. Browsers like Netscape or Internet
Explorer let you to categorize your bookmarks into folders.
Boolean logic :A type of logic (using AND, OR, NOT operators, for example) used by search engines to
find information on the Internet and in electronic databases. (For example, to find
computer viruses instead of human viruses, you might try the keywords "computers and
viruses.")

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Browser:A software program that allows users to access the Internet. Examples:
Nongraphical
Graphical

a user interface for computers which allows you to read plain text, not
pictures, sound, or video, on the Internet. It is strictly text based, nonWindows, and does not place high memory demands on your computer.
An example is lynx .(http://lynx.browser.org/)
a user interface for computers which enables people to see color,
graphics, and hear sound and see video, available on Internet sites.
These features are usually designated by underlined text, a change of
color, or other distinguishing feature; sometimes the link is not obvious,
for example, a picture with no designated characteristic. Examples are
Netscape and Internet Explorer.

CGI (Common Gateway Interface script) - a specificiation for transferring information

between a Web server and a CGI program, designed to receive and and return data. The
script can use a variety of languages such as C, Perl, Java, or Visual Basic. Many html
pages that contain forms use a cgi program to process the data submitted by users/clients.
Chat:Real-time, synchronous, text-based communication via computer.
Cookie:Information (in this case URLs, Web addresses) created by a Web server and stored on a
user's computer. This information lets Web sites the user visits to keep of a user's
browsing pattterns and preferences. People can set up their browsers to accept or not
accept cookies.
Cyber culture:A collection of cultures and cultural products that exist on and/or are made possible by
the Internet, along with the stories told about these cultures and cultural products. David
Silver,Introducing Cyberculture,
Digit:A single character in a numbering system. In decimal, digits are 0 through 9. In binary,
digits are 0 and 1. The os and 1s equate to "on and off functions. Digitization allows for
perfect copying. When text, music, voice and video are in digitized, they can be
electronically manipulated, preserved and regenerated without degredation of quality at
high speed. Each copy of a computer file is exactly the same as the original.

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Domain Name:A method of identifying computer addresses. Your e-mail address has a domain address.
If you have an "edu" at the end of your e-mail address that means your account is
affiliated with an educational institution. A "com" extension means you have a business
account. A government account has a .gov suffix.
Dpi:Dots per inch are the way the resolution of display and printing is measured.
FAQs:Frequently Asked Questions. A list of questions and answers to explain products and
troubleshoot problems.
Firewall:The name "firewall" derives from the term for a barrier that prevents fires from
spreading. A computer "firewall" is a barrier between your computer and the outside
world. Just like a fire is most likely to
spread through open doors in a building, your computer is most vulnerable at its ports
(the doors). Without ports you could not go on the Internet or let Internet traffic enter
your computer.
An effective software firewall isolates your computer from the Internet using a code that
sets up a blockade to inspect each packet of data, from or to your computer to
determine whether it should be allowed to pass or be blocked.
Firewall software operates in various ways: Packet filters block traffic from IP addresses
and/or port numbers. Proxy servers can break the connection between two networks.
NATs (Network Address Translators) hides the IP addresses of client stations by
presenting one IP address to the "outside" world. Stateful inspection verifies inbound and
outbound traffic to be sure the destination and the source are correct. Firewall software
can allow your computer to operate in stealth mode, so that its IP address is not visible.
Flash:Animation software used to develop interactive graphics for Web sites as well as desktop
presentations and games (Windows and Mac) by the company Macromedia. Flash on the
Web is displayed by a browser plug-in. Non-Web presentations are run by a Flash player,
included on a floppy or CD-ROM. Flashcan be used to create vector-based graphics in
one or more timelines that provide a sequential path for actions.

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FTP:Using file transfer protocol software to receive from upload) or send to (download) files
(text, pictures, spreadsheets, etc.) from one computer/server to another.
.gif:Graphic interchange format is the usual format for a graphic that is not a photo. Animated
gif files are embedded with coding that creates movement when the graphic is activated.
Home page:Generally the first page retrieved when accessing a Web site. Usually a "home" page acts
as the starting point for a user to access information on the site. The "home" page usually
has some type of table of contents for the rest of the site information or other materials.
When creating Web pages, the "home" page has the filename "index.html," which is the
default name. The "index" page automatically opens up as the "home" page.
HTML:A type of text code in Hypertext Markup Language which, when embedded in a
document, allows that document to be read and distributed across the Internet.
HTTP:The hypertext transfer protocol (http) that enables html documents to be read on the
Internet.
Hypertext :Text that is non-sequential, produced by writing in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)
language. This HTML coding allows the information (text, graphics, sound, video) to be
accessed using HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol).
Hyperlink:Text, images, graphics that, when clicked with a mouse (or activated by keystrokes) will
connect the user to a new Web site. The link is usually obvious, such as underlined text or
a "button" of some type, but not always.
Instant Messaging (IM) :A text-based computer conference over the Internet between two or more people who
must be online at the same time. When you send an IM the receiver is instantly notified
that she/he has a message.

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Interlaced:A graphics formatting technique that causes an image to gradually appear on your screen
instead of appearing all at once. The image appears blurry at first and is replaced by
successive waves of bit streams that gradually fill in the missing lines until the image
fully appears in full resolution. This gradually rendering of the image is helpful for Web
users who have slow modems and connections, since this technique allows the viewer to
see enough of the image to decide whether or not to continue loading it. For fast
connections, there is no discernible difference.
Internet:A global network of thousands of computer networks linked by data lines and wireless
systems.
IP Address:Internet Protocol is The number or name of the computer from which you send and
receive information on the Internet.
JAVA:A computer language, developed by Sun Microsystems, that lets you encode applications,
such as animated objects or computer programs, on the Internet
Javascript:A Web scripting language developed by Netscape. It was developed independently of the
full JAVA language and is an "open" language, free for anyone to use and adapt. For
example, The Java Script Source has many scripts people can adapt for their own
purposes.
.jpg (or jpeg):Joint photographic expert group is a file format for photographs on Web pages. The "jpg"
format compresses large photo files so they don't take up as many kilobytes of memory.
Listserv:An e-mail list of e-mail addresses of people with common interests. Software enables
people who belong to a list to send messages to the group without typing a series of
addresses into the message header. Usually members of the group in the listserv have to
subscribe to the mailing list.

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Modem :- (Modulation-Demodulation)
A device that connects your computer to the Internet, when you are not connected via a
LAN (local area network, such as at work or on a campus.) Most people connect to a
modem when using a home computer. The modem translates computer signals to analog
signals which are sent via phone lines. The telephone "speaks" to the computer/server
which provides your Internet access.
MPEG:Moving Picture Experts Group
MPEG- Format for compressing video with audio for playback from storage
1
media with low data transfer rates such as CDROMs or over the
network at
VHS quality.
MPEG- Format for compressing video with audio at broadcast quality
2
resolution for playback in higher data transfer rate environments.
Usually
used for real-time encoding in the professional market, satellite digital
television (DirecTV, USSB), and for DVDs and other types of video
CDs.
MP3
Format for compressing audio only defined in both MPEG-1 and
MPEG MPEG-2. Commonly used for digital music played on personal
Layer 3 computers (MP3
songs) but also targeted at applications such as digital phones and new
hardware MP3 players intended as discman or car CD player
replacements.
Multimedia:The Web's integration of audio, video, graphics and text.
Newsgroup:An Internet "site" centered around a specific topic or course. Some newsreader software
can "thread" discussion so there can be various topics centered around a central theme.
An advantage over e-mail is that the messages are archived and don't reside in your email account, taking up your memory, unless you set up a "sent mail" or "carbon copy"
option. The messages can often be threaded according to a particular discussion.
PHP:-

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Hypertext Preprocessor is an open source, server-side HTML scripting languaage used to

create dynamic Web pages. PHP is embedded within tags, so the author authorr can move
between HTML and PHP instead of using large amounts of code.
Because PHP is executed on the server, the viewer cannot see the code. PHP can
perform the same tasks as a CGI program can do and is compatible with many different
kinds of databases.
Portal:A Web site "gateway" that provides multiple services, which could include Web searching
capability, news, free-email, discussion groups, online shopping, references and other
services. A more recent trend is to use the same term for sites that offer services to
customers of particular industries, such as a Web-based bank "portal," on which
customers can access their checking, savings and investment accounts.
RSS:Rich Site Summary or RDF [Resource Description Framework] Site Summary is
An XML format for sharing content among different Web sites such as news items. How
does it work? A Web site can allow other sites to publish some of its content by creating
an RSS document and registers the document with an RSS publisher. A web publisher can
post a link to the rss feed so users can read the distributed content on his/her site.
Syndicated contentcan can include news feeds, listings of events, stories, headlines, etc.
Search Engine:Specialized software, such as AltaVista and Yahoo, that lets WWW browser users search
for information on the Web by using keywords, phrases, and Boolean logic. Different
search engines have different ways of categorizing and indexing information. Search
engines are accessed by typing in the URL of that engine or using a browser's
compilation of search engines in its Internet search function.
Shockwave:A three dimensional (3D) animation technology/format creataed by the Macromedia
company. Macromedia Director Producess Shockwave files, which can be viewed
through a Shockwave player, a browser"plug-in" computer program or other multimedia
applications that access the player. Shockwave can be used to create more sophisticated
animations than the Macromedia Flash format. Shockwave uses the .dir file extension for
source files and .dcr extension for Shockwave "movies."
Telnet:The command to log on to another computer on the Internet.

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URL:A universal resource locator (a computer address) that identifies the location and type of
resource on the Web. A URL generally starts with "http."
Vector:A line in computer graphics designated by its end points (x-y or x-y-z coordinates). A
vector layer does not use pixels for storing image information. Instead, it stores a vector
object as a set of properties that describe its attributes, dimensions, and position in the
image. Each time an image is opened; these properties are used as instructions for
drawing the objects. Because the objects are independent elements, you can move them
without affecting the rest of the image.
Virtual Community :A term commonly used to describe a group of people who exchange ideas through
computer networks, listservs, newsgroups, and Web-based bulletin boards. They might
not ever meet face-to-face. Generally these people meet over the long-term, on a regular
basis, and share their ideas about a variety of subjects, depending upon their special
interest. The discussions could relate to hobbies, music, health, self help issues, and
professional and scholarly activities.
Virus:A computer program usually hidden in an existing program. Once the existing program
is executed, the virus program is activated and can attach itself to other programs or files.
Viruses can range from benign activities such as attaching a harmless message to
performing malicious activities such as destroying all the data on a computer hard drive.
Viruses are commonly distributed as e-mail attachments which activate when the
attachment is opened. Virus protection software, updated regularly with the latest virus
definitions, can help protect computers from viruses.
Web Bot:A term that applies to programs/applets (macros and intelligent agents) used on the
Internet. Such bots perform a repetitive function, such as posting messages to multiple
newsgroups or doing searches for information.
Wide World Web (WWW) :A hypermedia information storage system which links computer-based resources around
the world. Computer programs called Browsers enable words or icons called hyperlinks
to display, text, video, graphics and sound on a computer screen. The source of the
material is at a different location - a different file in the same directory, a file in another
computer, which can be located anywhere in the world.

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WORM:A destructive computer program that replicates itself throughout your computer's hard
drive and and memory. Worms use up the computers resources and pull the system
down. Worms can be spread in mass-e-mailing if the user opens an attachment.
(2) A program that moves through a network and deposits information at each node for
diagnostic purposes or causes idle computers to share some of the processing workload.
XML (Extensible Markup Language) :It is a less robust variety of SGML, a system for organizing and tagging elements of a
document so that the document can be transmitted and interpreted between applications
and organizations. Human readable XML tags defines "what it is," and HTML defines
"how it looks." XML allows designers to create their own tags. For example:
HTML
<font size="2">Jane Doe</font>
<b>March 27, 1975</b>
XML
<firstName>Jane</firstName>
<lastName>Doe</lastName>
<dateBirth>03-27-75</dateBirth>
In the HTML version the tags identify formatting options, such as font size and bold. In
the XML example, the tags identify the content.
Because XML can support business-to-business transactions by making the transmission
and interpretation of data easier, it has the potential to become the standard for the
exchange of data over the Internet.

Advantages
Communication: The foremost target of internet has always been the communication. And internet has
excelled beyond the expectations .Still; innovations are going on to make it faster, more
reliable. By the advent of computers Internet, our earth has reduced and has attained the
form of a global village.

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Now we can communicate in a fraction of second with a person who is sitting in the other
part of the world. Today for better communication, we can avail the facilities of e-mail;
we can chat for hours with our loved ones.
With help of such services, it has become very easy to establish a kind of global
friendship where you can share your thoughts, can explore other cultures of different
ethnicity.
Information:Information is probably the biggest advantage internet is offering. The Internet is a virtual
treasure trove of information. Any kind of information on any topic under the sun is
available on the Internet. The search engines like Google, yahoo is at your service on the
Internet. You can almost find any type of data on almost any kind of subject that you are
looking for. There is a huge amount of information available on the internet for just about
every subject known to man, ranging from government law and services, trade fairs and
conferences, market information, new ideas and technical support, the list is end less.
Students and children are among the top users who surf the Internet for research. Today, it
is almost required that students should use the Internet for research for the purpose of
gathering resources. Teachers have started giving assignments that require research on the
Internet. Almost every coming day, researches on medical issues become much easier to
locate. Numerous web sites available on the net are offering loads of information for
people to research diseases and talk to doctors online at sites such as, Americas Doctor.
During 1998 over 20 million people reported going online to retrieve health information.
Entertainment:Entertainment is another popular raison d'tre why many people prefer to surf the
Internet. In fact, media of internet has become quite successful in trapping multifaceted
entertainment factor. Downloading games, visiting chat rooms or just surfing the Web are
some of the uses people have discovered. There are numerous games that may be
downloaded from the Internet for free. The industry of online gaming has tasted dramatic
and phenomenal attention by game lovers. Chat rooms are popular because users can
meet new and interesting people. In fact, the Internet has been successfully used by
people to find life long partners. When people surf the Web, there are numerous things
that can be found. Music, hobbies, news and more can be found and shared on Internet.
Services:Many services are now provided on the internet such as online banking, job seeking,
purchasing tickets for your favorite movies, guidance services on array of topics
engulfing the every aspect of life, and hotel reservations. Often these services are not
available off-line and can cost you more.

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E-Commerce:Ecommerce is the concept used for any type of commercial maneuvering, or business
deals that involves the transfer of information across the globe via Internet. It has become
a phenomenon associated with any kind of shopping, almost anything. You name it and
Ecommerce with its giant tentacles engulfing every single product and service will make
you available at your door steps. It has got a real amazing and wide range of products
from household needs, technology to entertainment.

Disadvantages
Theft of Personal information:If you use the Internet, you may be facing grave danger as your personal information
such as name, address, credit card number etc. can be accessed by other culprits to make
your problems worse.
Spamming:Spamming refers to sending unwanted e-mails in bulk, which provide no purpose and
needlessly obstruct the entire system. Such illegal activities can be very frustrating for
you, and so instead of just ignoring it, you should make an effort to try and stop these
activities so that using the Internet can become that much safer.
Virus threat:Virus is nothing but a program which disrupts the normal functioning of your computer
systems. Computers attached to internet are more prone to virus attacks and they can end
up into crashing your whole hard disk, causing you considerable headache.
Pornography:This is perhaps the biggest threat related to your childrens healthy mental life. A very
serious issue concerning the Internet. There are thousands of pornographic sites on the
Internet that can be easily found and can be a detrimental factor to letting children use the
Internet.

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Microsoft Word
Definition:A full-featured word processing program for Windows and the Macintosh from
Microsoft. Included in the Microsoft application suite, it is a sophisticated program with
rudimentary desktop publishing capabilities that has become the most widely used word
processing application on the market. The first versions of Word came out under DOS
and provided both graphics-based and text-based interfaces for working with a document.
IMPORTANT FEATURES OF MS-WORD
Ms-Word not only supports word processing features but also DTP features. Some of the
important features of Ms-Word are listed below:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
vii.
viii.
ix.
x.

Using word you can create the document and edit them later, as and when
required, by adding more text, modifying the existing text, deleting/moving some
part of it.
Changing the size of the margins can reformat complete document or part of text.
Font size and type of fonts can also be changed. Page numbers and Header and
Footer can be included.
Spelling can be checked and correction can be made automatically in the entire
document. Word count and other statistics can be generated.
Text can be formatted in columnar style as we see in the newspaper. Text boxes
can be made.
Tables can be made and included in the text.
Word also allows the user to mix the graphical pictures with the text. Graphical
pictures can either be created in word itself or can be imported from outside like
from Clip Art Gallery.
Word also provides the mail-merge facility.
Word also has the facility of macros. Macros can be either attached to some
function/special keys or to a tool bar or to a menu.
It also provides online help of any option

Basic operations of Ms-Word

Create a Document:To create a Word document, click the Start button on the Windows Taskbar, choose
Programs and Microsoft Word from the submenu.
Word opens to a blank document which has preset margins and font styles. A new Word
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document is named Document1 until it is saved and renamed. If additional documents are
created before you exit Word, they will be named Document2, Document3 and so on.

Create Another Document :To create another document, select the File menu and then New (File/New). Word will
ask you which "template" you want to use. A template serves as a master style sheet that
contains preset margins and tabs (and other layout settings) which are applied to the new
document when it is created. The Blank Document is the most commonly used template
and is the default when you start Word.

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Working with Fonts:A font is a set of type characters of a particular typeface design and size. Usually, each
typeface (Times Roman, Arial, etc.) is made available in four variations: normal weight,
bold, italic and bold italic. The default font in Word is Times New Roman, 10 point.

Any of the available fonts may be selected as the default font. To do so, select
Format/Font. Choose the preferred options and click Default. From now on until you
change it, each time a new document is opened, the default font will be the one you just
selected.

- 41 -

- 42 -

Change Fonts for Part of the Document:To change a portion of text within a document, highlight the text, and click the down
arrow next to the Font Name on the Word toolbar. Scroll through the list and select
another font. To save you time scrolling through the list, the font list puts your often-used
fonts at the top. For example, if one of your fonts were Verdana, it can be selected from
the top of the list instead of having to scroll down to the V's.
If you have not highlighted text before, just point the mouse to the beginning of the text,
press the left mouse button down, and while holding the button down, move the mouse to
the end of the text. Then let go of the button. You can move diagonally over the section to
highlight a rectangular area.

Change Font Size :To change font size, highlight the text to be changed, and click the down arrow next to
the Font Size on the Word toolbar.

- 43 -

Bold - Italics Underline :To change existing text to bold, italics or underline, highlight the text and click the B, I or
U buttons on the Word toolbar. To type in new text with a different format, switch to the
new style by clicking B, I or U. To switch back to normal, click B, I or U when you are
finished typing.

The Ruler Line:At the top of the document is a set of ruler markings that show the margins and tabs that
are set in the document. You also use the ruler to set tabs and margins.

Setting Margins:Margins are invisible lines that keep text away from the edges of the page. There are
preset margins at the top, bottom, left and right. The margins at the top and bottom allow
room for headers and footers.

- 44 -

Change Margins for the Whole Document :To change Margins for the entire document, choose File/Page Setup and change the
numbers. Be sure that Whole Document is selected in the Apply To box. As soon as you
make a change, the effect can be seen in the Preview area.
To change the default margins for all your documents, select File/Page Setup, set your
margins and click Default. Word will now apply your new margin settings to all the
documents created with that same template.

- 45 -

Drag the Margin Markers:To change margins, you can also highlight your text and drag the margin markers on the
ruler just like you do on an electric typewriter. There is an up-arrow marker for the right
margin, but there are two arrows for the left margin. The down-arrow marker is for the
first line of the paragraph, and the up-arrow is for the rest of the paragraph. They move
independently so you can create an indent for the first line that is either in or out. When
the first line extends farther to the left than the body of the paragraph, it is called a
"hanging indent" or "hanging paragraph" as in the example below.

Hanging Indent The hanging indent in this example is created by moving the downarrow farther over to the left than the up-arrow.

Change Margins for a Section of Text :To change margins for a section of the document, highlight the text, and drag the margin
markers to the new location.
Centering and Justification :Word automatically aligns text to the left margin with a ragged right margin, which is the
most common style. To change the alignment, highlight the text to be changed and click
the left, center, right or justified buttons, which are located next to the B, I and U buttons
on the Word toolbar.
To type text with a different alignment, click the appropriate alignment button before you
start typing. Justification means both left and right margins are straight like a newspaper
column.

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Tab Stops :A tab stop is used in a document to line up columns. When you press the Tab key on the
keyboard, the screen cursor moves to the next tab stop on the line.
There are four types of tabs, but the most commonly used are left aligned and decimal.
Use the left tab to line up columns of names, and use the decimal tab to line up columns
of numbers.

The Four Tab Types Note the symbol on the left side of each example.

Setting Tabs :To set a tab, be sure the tab symbol on the left side of the ruler is set to the type you want.
If not, click the symbol until the type you want is visible. Then, click the ruler where you
want the tab to go. The tab stop symbol will be displayed on the ruler. After placing the
tab stop on the ruler, you can move it by dragging it to a new location.

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Save, Close and Exit :Saving your document transfers everything on screen to the hard disk so you can retrieve
it later. To save a document, select File/Save. Closing your document does the same thing
but also removes the document from the screen. When you are finished with the
document, select File/Close.
Save As:The Save As function is very useful for making copies of the same document with
different names or saving your document with the same name in different folders. The
difference between Save As and save is that Save As prompts you for a file name,
whereas Save just writes the contents of your screen to the same file.
Quitting Word:To quit Word, select File/Exit. If you made changes without saving, Word will prompt
you to save the changes.

The Default Folder :Word defaults to saving your new document in the My Documents folder. You can
override that by selecting another folder. If you are unfamiliar with file and folder
organization.
Word also makes up a new name for your file by taking the first characters of text in the
document. You can override this by typing directly on top of the suggested name.
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Open a Document :To open a Word document, select File/Open. Select the folder the document was saved in,
and click on the document to open it.

Cut - Copy Paste :Text can be moved around easily in Word. To move a sentence or section of text to a
different location in a document, highlight the text and select Edit/Cut, then go to the new
location and select Edit/Paste. To copy a selection, select Edit/Copy instead of Edit/Cut.

- 49 -

The Word 97 Clipboard Is Monogamous :When text is cut in Word 97, it is removed from the original location and placed
temporarily in the clipboard, but the clipboard holds only one selection. When you cut or
copy the next time, the new selection is placed into the clipboard, and the previous
selection is lost. So when you cut something from your document, be sure to paste it
somewhere before you cut or copy again. But, you can paste the same selection into as
many places or as many documents as you wish as long as you do not cut or copy
something else.
The Word 2000 Clipboard Holds 12 Selections :Word 2000 can hold up to 12 selections that have been cut or copied. The only
unfortunate thing is that you have to remember the sequence. When you cut or copy
something in Word 2000, the following clipboard dialog box will be displayed.

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Word 2000 Clipboard Each time you cut or copy something, a document icon is added
to this clipboard dialog. To paste a selection, click the appropriate icon, but you have to
remember which is which.

Word 2000 Clipboard Options You can paste the entire sequence of selections into your
document by clicking the Paste All button. To clear the entire clipboard, click the Delete
All button.
And now it is 24 instead of 12.

- 51 -

Button/Keyboard Tip! Click these buttons on the Word toolbar to cut, copy and paste.
Or, press Ctrl-X (cut), Ctrl-C (copy) and Ctrl-V (paste) on the keyboard.

Undo :Word lets you reverse the actions you take. To undo the last thing you did, choose
Edit/Undo. To Undo several actions, click on the Undo list button on the Word toolbar
and click as far down the list as you want to go. All the actions will be undone to that
point.

Button/Keyboard Tip! Click this button on the Word toolbar to undo your last action.
Or, press Ctrl-Z on the keyboard.
Page breaks :When a page is filled with text or images, Word adds a new page to the document. To
start a new page before the page would break automatically, place the cursor at the
desired location on the page and select Insert/Break, then click Page Break.

- 52 -

Keyboard Tip! Press Ctrl-Enter to break the page.

Page Numbers :To add page numbers to your document, select Insert/Page Numbers to open the Page
Numbers dialog box. Be sure Position and Alignment are set the way you want. As soon
as you make a change, the effect can be seen in the Preview area.

Spell Checking :When Word encounters a misspelled word, it puts a red wiggly line underneath it. To see
Word's suggestions for the correct spelling, right click on the word. Select the correct
word or select Ignore All to bypass it. If you use this word a lot and want to add it to the
dictionary, click Add. All future occurrences of the word will be considered correctly
spelled.

- 53 -

Have Word Correct Your Types:If you select AutoCorrect and pick the correct spelling, Word will automatically correct
your misspelling whenever you type it.
Turn Spellchecking On and Off :To stop Word from spellchecking your words as you type, select Tools/Options, click the
Spelling & Grammar Tab and deselect Check Spelling as You Type.

- 54 -

Button Tip! Click this button on the Word toolbar to check the spelling of a selected
word.
Find & Replace :To locate a word or phrase in a Word document, use Edit/Find. Enter the word or phrase
into the Find what: field and select Find Next.
To replace a word or phrase, select the Replace tab and enter the text to be found and the
text to be replaced. Select Replace for one instance at a time or Replace All to change all
at once.

- 55 -

Where to Search :Find and Find and Replace can be applied to an entire document or to just a portion of it.
That choice is made from the Search drop-down menu, which is viewed on the left side
of the dialog box about half way down. If this option is not shown, click the More button
to display the bottom half of the dialog with more options.

Search Direction If this feature is not visible, click the More button on the Find &
Replace dialog box to make the options visible.
Other Features we must know :Following are several features you might use when working in Word. They are
summarized here, but the details follow under their own topic headings.

- 56 -

Looking For a Better Word :If you're searching for just the right word, Word comes with a thesaurus that will let you
choose from a variety of synonyms.

Tables :Tables are rows and columns of data that have their own borders, colors and interesting
effects for dressing up your documents. For details, see MSW Tables.

- 57 -

Preview Mode :The print preview mode lets you see how your text flows over multiple pages without
wasting paper to find out.

- 58 -

Headers and Footers :Headers and footers are blocks of text that appear at the top and bottom of every page.
They usually contain information such as page numbers, title, date and so on..

- 59 -

Inserting Graphics :You can place a variety of graphic images into a Word document, and they can be resized
right on the page.
Autoshapes:-

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MS WORD 2000 MAIL MERGING MADE EASY :Mail merge provides a way to create custom documents for mass mailings. Merge in its
simplicity combines a main document with a data source. For example, you may want to
send a letter with the same basic information to several individuals. In this case, you
create a basic form filea letter. In Word, this basic form is called the main document.
The parts of the form, which are different, are called fields. Labels and envelopes are
other examples of form files.
The complementary file is a data source file, which contains field information to insert
into the form. The data source is usually a mailing or address list of namesa database.
A data source can be merged with several different main documents to produce letters,
mailing labels, and envelopes.
The main document and the data source can always be modified and easily merged again
if mistakes occur; otherwise, each individual document would have to be individually
edited, (not unlike the days when each letter had to be typed individually).
The Mail Merge Helper provides step-by-step procedures for creating a merged
document.

Steps :1. CREATE DATA SOURCE FILE :1.

2.
3.
4.

Open a new document window if necessary.

Choose Tools | Mail Merge from the Main menu bar.
Click the [Create] button on the Mail Merge Helper dialog box.
Select the type of document you want to create from the following: Form
Letters, Mailing Labels, Envelopes..., Catalog, choose: Form Letters
5. Choose the [Active Window] button instead of the [New Main Document] button
to create the form letter in the current letter.
Tip: You will not create the form now. The data source will be created first.
6. Click the [Get Data] button and choose [Create Data Source]. A Create Data
Source dialog box appears.

- 61 -

7. Select the fields for the data source by deleting the fields you do not want. After
the fields have been chosen, click [OK].

- 62 -

8. This dialog box contains the fields most frequently used to set up a data source.
The fields not used are deleted. Fields not displayed can be added. The position of
the fields can be rearranged with the Move button.
9. You will have to type in a unique field name called OrderNum, and then choose
the Add Field Name button. OrderNum will be added to your list of fields.
10. Enter the name of the data source file. It is a good idea to introduce some
reference to a data source in your file name. For example, FORM-DS.DOC.

11. After the data source has been saved, choose the [Edit Data Source] button in the
Microsoft Word box, which appears.
12. Fill in the data for each record in the Data Form. Use the [Tab] key to move from
one field to the next. Press [Enter] or choose [Add New] to move to the next
record to add new data.
13. Choose [OK] when all records have been added. Note that records display a
number in the lower left corner of the screen. To view the records, choose the
View Source button. All data source information displays as a table.
14. After entering the records, save the file as FORM-DS.DOC.

The Form you'll be using is reproduced below. There are two ways to enter data records
into your Database. One is with the Form below or the Table that is produced from this
Form. It is completely at your discretion as to the format you choose to enter data. For an
employee not completely comfortable with Microsoft WORD 2000 Tables, perhaps the
form would be the best method for them. The Table is shown below the Form.

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This is the Database Toolbar that appears when you are in the Table viewing mode.
Each column heading is a Merge Field; each row is a unique Record.

Title FirstName LastName Address1 Address2 City

Mr.

Robert

Zooken

8432
Grand
Elm Blvd.

Mr.

William

Batey

5240
Sobey
Circle

Elstenson

3180
Woodlake
Hills Rd.

Ms. Judy

Citrus
Heights
P.O.Box
3248

State PostalCode OrderNum

CA

95610

AA 1234

Orangevale CA

95662

AB 1002

Fair Oaks

95628

AC 2234

CA

After clicking [OK] on the last record entered for the data source file, you will see a
blank screen with the mail merge toolbar ready for action. Choose the [Insert Fields]
button to display all fields set up in the data source file. Or, choose the Edit Data Source
button on the Mail Merge Toolbar shown above, it's the last button on the right side.

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2. CREATE THE FORM LETTER:Insert the Date then leave three (3) blank lines (press the [Enter] key 4 times) between the
date and the field codes, which represent the letter address, etc. Note: Set up the
document formats for the form as usual. For example, adjust top, left and right
margins.
Choose the [Insert Field] button and select the fields, as you need them in your form.
(The fields in the exercise are surrounded by double angle brackets << >>. These
come automatically, do not try to type them that way.)
When you have inserted the fields and typed the text for the form, save the file. Include
an MD in the file name to help you identify it as a main document. Save the
practice file as FORMLETTER-MD.DOC
Use the information displayed below to enter as your main document.
Date (Insert Date and Time from the Insert menu; choose option 3; Update
automatically)
[Enter] key 4 x (Note: Include a space between each merge field for normal spacing.)
<<Title>> <<FirstName>> <<LastName>>
<<Address1>>
<<Address2>>
<<City>>, <<State>> <<PostalCode>>
[Enter] key 2 x
Dear <<Title>> <<LastName>>:
[Enter] key 2 x
This letter is to confirm receipt of your generous order from the Folsom Market
Widget Experience. We are processing your order today and you should expect
delivery in three (3) days.
[Enter] key 2 x
<<Title>> <<LastName>>, would you please refer to this order number
<<OrderNum>>, when calling or corresponding about your purchase.
[Enter] key 2 x
Please accept our sincere thanks for being able to serve you.
[Enter] key 2 x
Sincerely,
[Enter] 4 key x
Mary A. Wildt
Ordering & Shipping Department
Folsom Market Widget Experience

- 65 -

3.MERGE THE DOCUMENT:Choose the [Mail Merge] button (3rd button from the right) on the mail merge toolbar,
Merge to New Document, to perform the merge. Please note that the option button
next to Dont print blanks lines when fields are empty is to be chosen. This
means that if information is blank in one record the blank line will not be evident
when data for that record is printed. (In these exercises, the second address
<<Address2>> may be blank in some of the merges since not all will have a P. O.
Box number). The Check Errors and Query Options can be set, but that's for a
more advanced look at Mail Merging and not included in this basic tutorial.

4.EDIT THE MERGED DOCUMENT :Choose the [Edit Data Source] button (first button on the right side of the mail merge
toolbar) to add more records.
Add the following information to the Data Form:
Mrs. <<Title>>
Kim <<FirstName>>
Williams <<LastName>>
5678 Blue Ravine Drive <<Address1>>
P. O. Box 3299 <<Address2>>
Folsom <<City>>
CA <<State>>
95630 <<PostalCode>>
AA 1250 <<OrderNum>>
Perform the merge again by choosing the 5th button from the rightMerge to a New
Document.
Check the document for accuracy.

- 66 -

5.CREATE A LABELS MAIN DOCUMENT :Choose the Mail Merge Helper button on the Mail Merge toolbar (or choose Tools | Mail
Merge).

Click Create and choose Mailing Labels; then click New Main Document.
Click Get Data and then click Open Data Source (use the data source file previously
createdFORM-DS.DOC).

- 67 -

Click Set Up Main Document. The Label Options dialog box appears (shown below),
displaying the stock number of several popular label sizes of well-known makers of
labels (Avery). You need to choose or verify (1) printer type; (2) brand name or
label products; (3) product number for the labels - note label information describing
type, height, width, and paper size. Choose the Details command button to see
additional size information about the label.

Choose [OK] to select the label. The label is now a main document.

On the screen displaying the label sheet, click on Insert Merge Field and choose the
following:

- 68 -

<<Title>> <<FirstName>> <<LastName>>

<<Address1>>
<<Address2>>
<<City>>, <<State>> <<PostalCode>>
To merge label form with data source:
Click on the [Merge to New Document] button on the Mail Merge toolbar. The merged
label form appears. If the text is too small, choose [CTRL]+[A] or Edit | Select All
to change to a larger point size. (You'll see a page of labels such as these shown
below. When merged to your database, each label will reflect the database chosen
and will be ready for sticking and mailing.)

Since merged documents require more than one file (see Window on the Menu Bar to
display documents in use), you can close all files by depressing the [Shift] key
while clicking on File on the Menu Bar. Choose Close All. When you choose Close
All you are prompted to save changes to any open documents and to give names to
any unnamed documents before Word closes the files.
If you plan on using these labels on a regular basis, save each with a unique name and
you'll be able to print them without using Mail Merge. And, you thought this was
hard!

What is a Macro:A macro is a tool that allows you to automate tasks and add functionality to your forms,
reports, and controls. For example, if you add a command button to a form, you associate
the button's OnClick event to a macro, and the macro contains the commands that you
want the button to perform each time it is clicked.
In Access, it is helpful to think of macros as a simplified programming language that you
write by building a list of actions to perform. When you build a macro, you select each
action from a drop-down list and then fill in the required information for each action.
Macros enable you to add functionality to forms, reports, and controls without writing
code in a Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) (Visual Basic for Applications (VBA): A
- 69 -

macro-language version of Microsoft Visual Basic that is used to program Microsoft

Windows-based applications and is included with several Microsoft programs.) module.
Macros provide a subset of the commands that are available in VBA, and most people
find it easier to build a macro than to write VBA code.
For example, suppose that you want to start a report directly from one of your data entry
forms. You can add a button to your form and then create a macro that starts the report.
The macro can either be a standalone macro (a separate object in the database), which is
then bound to the OnClick event of the button, or the macro can be embedded directly
into the OnClick event of the button itself a new feature in Office Access 2007. Either
way, when you click the button, the macro runs and starts the report.
You create a macro by using the Macro Builder, which is shown in the following
illustration.
To display the macro builder:

On the Create tab, in the Other group, click Macro. If this command is
unavailable, click the arrow beneath either the Module or the Class Module
button, and then click Macro.

Understand macros :The term macro is often used to refer to standalone macro objects (that is, the objects that
you see under Macros in the Navigation Pane), but in reality, one macro object can
contain multiple macros. In that case, it is referred to as a macro group. A macro group is
displayed in the Navigation Pane as a single macro object, but a macro group actually
contains more than one macro. Of course, it is possible to create each macro in a separate
macro object, but often it makes sense to group several related macros into a single macro
object. The name in the Macro Name column identifies each macro.
A macro consists of individual macro actions. Most actions require one or more
arguments. In addition, you can assign names to each macro in a macro group, and you
can add conditions to control how each action is run. The following sections discuss each
of these features in more detail.
Macro names :If your macro object contains only one macro, macro names are unnecessary. You can
just refer to the macro by the name of the macro object. However, in the case of a macro
group, you must assign a unique name to each macro. If the Macro Name column is not
visible in the Macro Builder, click Macro Names
in the Show/Hide group on the
Design tab. More information about running macros in macro groups appears later in this
article.

- 70 -

Arguments :An argument is a value that provides information to the action, such as what string to
display in a message box, which control to operate on, and so on. Some arguments are
required, and some others are optional. Arguments are visible in the Action Arguments
pane at the bottom of the Macro Builder.
Conditions :A condition specifies certain criteria that must be met before an action will be performed.
You can use any expression (expression: Any combination of mathematical or logical
operators, constants, functions, and names of fields, controls, and properties that
evaluates to a single value. Expressions can perform calculations, manipulate characters,
or test data.) that evaluates to True/False or Yes/No. The action will not be executed if the
expression evaluates to False, No, or 0 (zero). If the expression evaluates to any other
value, the action will be run.
You can have one condition control more than one action by typing an ellipsis (...) in the
Condition column for each subsequent action that you want the condition to apply to. If
the expression evaluates to False, No, or 0 (zero), none of the actions are performed. If
the condition evaluates to any other value, all of the actions are performed.
To display the Conditions column in the Macro Builder, on the Design tab, in the
Show/Hide group, click Conditions
.
Use this expression to carry out the action

If:
Paris is the City value in the field on the
[City]="Paris"
form from which the macro was run.
There are more than 35 entries in the
DCount("[OrderID]", "Orders")>35
OrderID field of the Orders table.
There are more than 3 entries in the Order
DCount("*",
"Order
Details", Details table for which the OrderID field
"[OrderID]=Forms![Orders]![OrderID]")>3 of the table matches the OrderID field on
the Orders form.
The value of the ShippedDate field on the
[ShippedDate] Between #2-Feb-2006# And form from which the macro is run is no
#2-Mar-2006#
earlier than 2-Feb-2006 and no later than
2-Mar-2006.
The value of the UnitsInStock field on the
Forms![Products]![UnitsInStock]<5
Products form is less than 5.
IsNull([FirstName])
The FirstName value on the form from
which the macro is run is null (Null: A
value you can enter in a field or use in
expressions or queries to indicate missing
or unknown data. In Visual Basic, the Null

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[Country/Region]="UK"
And
[SalesTotals]![TotalOrds]>100

[Country/region] In ("France",
"Spain") And Len([PostalCode])<>5

MsgBox("Confirm changes?",1)=1

[TempVars]![MsgBoxResult]=2

keyword indicates a Null value. Some

fields, such as primary key fields, can't
contain Null.) (has no value). This
expression is equivalent to [FirstName] Is
Null.
The value in the Country/region field on
the form from which the macro is run is
Forms!
UK, and the value of the TotalOrds field
on the SalesTotals form is greater than
100.
The value in the Country/region field on
"Italy", the form from which the macro is run is
France, Italy, or Spain, and the postal code
is not 5 characters long.
You click OK in a dialog box in which the
MsgBox function displays "Confirm
changes?". If you click Cancel in the
dialog box, Access ignores the action.
The temporary variable that is used to
store the result of a message box is
compared to 2 (vbCancel=2).

Tip To cause Access to temporarily skip an action, enter False as a condition.

Temporarily skipping an action can be helpful when you are troubleshooting a macro.
Macro actions :Actions are the basic building blocks of macros. Access provides a large number of
actions from which to choose, enabling a wide variety of commands. For example, some
of the more commonly used actions can open a report, find a record, display a message
box, or apply a filter to a form or report.
New macro features in Office Access 2007 :In earlier versions of Access, many commonly used functions could not be performed
without writing VBA code. In Office Access 2007, new features and macro actions have
been added to help eliminate the need for code. This makes it easier to add functionality
to your database and helps make it more secure.

Embedded macros You now have the ability to embed macros in any of the
events provided by a form, report, or control. An embedded macro is not visible in
the Navigation Pane; it becomes part of the form, report, or control in which it
was created. If you create a copy of a form, report, or control that contains
embedded macros, the macros are also present in the copy.
Increased security When the Show All Actions
button is not highlighted in the
Macro Builder, the only macro actions and RunCommand arguments that are
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available for use are those that do not require trusted status to run. A macro built
with these actions will run even when the database is in disabled mode (when
VBA is prevented from running). Databases that contain macro actions that are
not on the trusted list or databases that have VBA code need to be explicitly
granted trusted status.
Error handling and debugging Office Access 2007 provides new macro actions,
including OnError (similar to the "On Error" statement in VBA) and
ClearMacroError, that allow you to perform specific actions when errors occur
while your macro is running. In addition, the new SingleStep macro action allows
you to enter single-step mode at any point in your macro, so that you can observe
how your macro works one action at a time.
Temporary variables three new macro actions (SetTempVar, RemoveTempVar,
and RemoveAllTempVars) allow you to create and use temporary variables in
your macros. You can use these in conditional expressions to control running
macros, or to pass data to and from reports or forms, or for any other purpose that
requires a temporary storage place for a value. These temporary variables are also
accessible in VBA, so you can also use them to communicate data to and from
VBA modules.

Create a macro:In Office Access 2007, a macro or macro group can be contained in a macro object
(sometimes called a standalone macro), or a macro can be embedded into any event
property of a form, report, or control. Embedded macros become part of the object or
control in which they are embedded. Standalone macros are visible in the Navigation
Pane, under Macros; embedded macros are not.

Macro Builder features

Create a standalone macro

Create a macro group

Create an embedded macro

Example: Embedding a macro in the On No Data event of a report

Edit a macro

Learn more about macro actions

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Macro Builder features :You use the Macro Builder to create and modify macros. To open the Macro Builder:

On the Create tab, in the other group, click Macro. If this command is
unavailable, click the arrow beneath either the Module or the Class Module
button, and then click Macro.
Access displays the Macro Builder.

You use the Macro Builder to build the list of actions that you want to carry out when the
macro runs. When you first open the Macro Builder, the Action column, the Arguments
column, and the Comment column are displayed.
Under Action Arguments, you enter and edit arguments for each macro action, if any are
required. A description box that gives you a short description of each action or argument
is displayed. Click an action or action argument to read its description in the box.
The following table shows the commands that are available on the Design tab of the
Macro Builder.
Group
Tools

Command
Run

Single Step

Builder

Rows

Insert Rows

Delete
Rows
Show/Hide Show

Description
Performs the actions listed in the macro.
Enables single-step mode. When you run the macro in this
mode, each action is performed one at a time. After each action
is complete, the Macro Single Step dialog box is displayed.
Click Step in the dialog box to advance to the next action.
Click Stop All Macros to stop this and any other running
macros. Click Continue to exit single-step mode and to
perform the remaining actions without stopping.
When you enter an action argument that can contain an
expression, this button is enabled. Click Builder to open the
Expression Builder dialog box, which you can use to build the
expression.
Inserts one or more blank action rows above the selected row
or rows.
Deletes the selected action row or rows.

All Displays more or fewer macro actions in the Action drop- 74 -

Actions

down list.
To display a longer list of macro actions, click Show
All Actions. When the longer list of macro actions is
available, the Show All Actions button appears
selected. If you select a macro action from this longer
list of macro actions, then you may need to grant the
database explicit trust status before you can run the
action.
To switch from a longer list of macro actions to a
shorter list that displays only those macro actions that
can be used in a database that has not been trusted,
make sure that the Show All Actions button is not
selected.
Tip If the Show All Actions button is selected, click
the Show All Actions button to clear the selection.

Macro
Names
Conditions

Arguments

When the Show All Actions button is not selected, the

shorter list of trusted macro actions is available.
Shows or hides the Macro Name column. Macro names are
required in macro groups to distinguish the individual macros
from each other, but otherwise macro names are optional. For
more information, see the section Create a macro group, later
in this article.
Shows or hides the Condition column. You use this column to
enter expressions that control when an action is performed.
Shows or hides the Arguments column. This column displays
the arguments for each macro action and makes it easier to
read through your macro. If the Arguments column is not
displayed, you have to click each action and read the
arguments under Action Arguments. You cannot enter
arguments in the Arguments column.

Create a standalone macro:1. On the Create tab, in the Other group, click Macro. If this command is
unavailable, click the arrow beneath either the Module or the Class Module
button, and then click Macro.
The Macro Builder is displayed.
2. Add an action to the macro:
o In the Macro Builder, click the first empty cell in the Action column.
o Type the action that you want to use, or click the arrow to display the
action list (action list: The list that appears when you click the arrow in the

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Action column of the Macro window.), and then select the action that you
want to use.
Under Action Arguments, specify arguments for the action, if any are
required. To see a short description of each argument, click in the
argument box, and then read the description on the right side of the
argument.

Create a macro group

If you want to group several related macros in one macro object, you can create a macro
group.
1. On the Create tab, in the Other group, click Macro. If this command is
unavailable, click the arrow beneath either the Module or the Class Module
button, and then click Macro.
The Macro Builder is displayed.
2. On the Design tab, in the Show/Hide group, click Macro Names
if it isn't
already selected. The Macro Name column is displayed in the Macro Builder.
Note In macro groups, macro names are necessary to identify the individual
macros. The macro name appears on the same line as the macro's first action. The
macro name column is left blank for any subsequent actions in the macro. The
macro ends at the next entry in the macro name column.
3. In the Macro Name column, type a name for the first macro in the macro group.
4. Add the actions that you want the first macro to carry out:
o In the Action column, click the arrow to display the action list.
o Click the action that you want to add.
o Under Action Arguments, specify arguments for the action, if any are
required. To see a short description of each argument, click in the
argument box, and then read the description on the right side of the
argument.
5. Move to the Macro Name column of the next empty row, and then type a name
for the next macro in the macro group.
6. Add the actions that you want the macro to carry out.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for each macro in the group.

Create an embedded macro :Embedded macros differ from stand-alone macros in that embedded macros are stored in
the event properties of forms, reports, or controls. They are not displayed as objects under
Macros in the Navigation Pane. This can make your database easier to manage, because
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you don't have to keep track of separate macro objects that contain macros for a form or a
report. Use the following procedure to create an embedded macro.
1. Open the form or report that will contain the macro in Design view or Layout
view. To open a form or report, right-click it in the Navigation Pane, and then
click Design View
or Layout View
.
2. If the property sheet is not already displayed, press F4 to display it.
3. Click the control or section that contains the event property in which you want to
embed the macro.
To select the entire form or report, click Report in the drop-down list at the top of
the property sheet.
4. In the property sheet, click the Event tab.
5. Click the event property in which you want to embed the macro, and then click
next to the box.
6. In the Choose Builder dialog box, click Macro Builder, and then click OK.
7. In the Macro Builder, click in the first row of the Action column.
8. In the Action drop-down list, click the action you want.
9. Fill in any required arguments in the Action Arguments pane and then move to the
next action row.
10. Repeat steps 8 and 9 until your macro is complete.
11. Click Save, then click Close
The macro will run each time that the event is triggered.
Access allows you to build a macro group as an embedded macro. However, only the first
macro in the group runs when the event is triggered. Subsequent macros are ignored
unless they are called from within the embedded macro itself (for example, by the
OnError action).
Example: Embedding a macro in the On No Data event of a report
When you run a report and its data source does not contain any records, the report
displays an empty page that is, a page that has no data. You may prefer to have a
message box displayed instead, and that the report not be displayed at all. Using an
embedded macro is the ideal solution for this situation.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Open the report in Design view or Layout view.

If the property sheet is not already displayed, press F4 to display it.
On the property sheet, click the Event tab.
Click On No Data.
Click
In the Choose Builder dialog box, click Macro Builder, and then click OK.
Enter the actions and arguments from the following table.
Action
Arguments
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MsgBox
No Records Found., Yes, Information, No Data
CancelEvent [no arguments]
8. Note that the preceding table shows the arguments as they are displayed in the
Arguments column. They are actually entered under Action Arguments, as
detailed in the following table.
Action Argument
Message
Beep
Type
Title
9. Click Close.

Value
No Records Found.
Yes
Information
No Data

The Macro Builder closes, and the On No Data event displays [Embedded
Macro].
10. Save and close the report.
The next time that you run the report and no records are found, the message box is
displayed. When you click OK in the message box, the report cancels without displaying
the empty page

Edit a macro:

To insert an action row Click the macro row above which you want to insert the
new action, and then on the Design tab, in the Rows group, click Insert Rows
.
To delete an action row Click the action row you want to delete, and then on the
Design tab, in the Rows group, click Delete Rows
.
To move an action row Select the action by clicking the row selector to the left of
the action name. Drag the row selector to move the action to a new position.

More about macro actions :While you are working in the Macro Builder, you can learn more about an action or
argument by clicking it, and then reading the description in the box in the lower-right
corner of the Macro Builder window. Also, each macro action has a Help article
associated with it. To learn more about an action, click the action in the action list, and
then press F1.
Run a macro :Standalone macros can be run in any of the following ways: directly (for example, from
the Navigation Pane), in a macro group, from another macro, from a VBA module, or in
response to an event that occurs on a form, report, or control. A macro embedded in a
form, report, or control can be run by clicking Run
on the Design tab while the macro

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is in Design view; otherwise, the macro will only run whenever its associated event is
triggered.
Run a macro directly
To run a macro directly, do one of the following:
Navigate to the macro in the Navigation Pane, and then double-click the macro
name.
On the Database Tools tab, in the Macro group, click Run Macro
, click the
macro in the Macro Name list, and then click OK.
If the macro is open in Design view, click Run
on the Design tab, in the Tools
group. To open the macro in Design view, right-click it in the Navigation Pane,
and then click Design View
.

Run a macro that is in a macro group

To run a macro that is in a macro group, do one of the following:

On the Database Tools tab, in the Macro group, click Run Macro
click the macro in the Macro Name list.

, and then

Access includes an entry for each macro in each macro group, in the format
macrogroupname.macroname.

Click OK.
Specify the macro either as an event property (event property: A named attribute
of a control, form, report, data access page, or section you use to respond to an
associated event. You can run a procedure or macro when an event occurs by
setting the related event property.) setting on a form or report or as the Macro
Name argument of the RunMacro action. Refer to the macro by using this
syntax:

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******************************

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