Unit -II

Web browser:
A ​web browser​ (commonly referred to as a ​browser​) is a ​software application​ for accessing
information on the ​World Wide Web​. When a ​user​ requests a particular ​website​, the web
browser retrieves the necessary content from a ​web server​ and then displays the resulting ​web
page​ on the user's device.
A web browser is not the same thing as a ​search engine​, though the two are often
confused.​[1]​[2]​ For a user, a search engine is just a website, such as ​Google Search​, ​Bing​, or
DuckDuckGo​, that stores searchable data about other websites. However, to connect to a
website's server and display its web pages, a user must have a web browser installed.​[3]
Web browsers are used on a range of devices, including ​desktops​, ​laptops​, ​tablets​, and
smartphones​. In 2019, an estimated 4.3 billion people used a browser.​[4]​ The ​most used
browser is ​Google Chrome​, with a 64% global market share on all devices, followed by
Safari​ with 17.

Web Browser

A web browser, or simply "browser," is an ​application​ used to access and view ​websites​.
Common web browsers include Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla
Firefox, and Apple Safari.

The primary function of a web browser is to render ​HTML​, the code used to design or "mark
up" ​webpages​. Each time a browser loads a web page, it processes the HTML, which may
include text, ​links​, and references to images and other items, such as ​cascading style sheets
and ​JavaScript​ functions. The browser processes these items, then renders them in the
browser window.

Early web browsers, such as Mosaic and Netscape Navigator, were simple applications that
rendered HTML, processed form input, and supported ​bookmarks​. As websites have evolved,
so have web browser requirements. Today's browsers are far more advanced, supporting
multiple types of HTML (such as ​XHTML​ and HTML 5), dynamic JavaScript, and
encryption​ used by secure websites.

The capabilities of modern web browsers allow ​web developers​ to create highly interactive
websites. For example, ​Ajax​ enables a browser to dynamically update information on a
webpage without the need to reload the page. Advances in CSS allow browsers to display a
responsive website​ layouts and a wide array of visual effects. ​Cookies​ allow browsers to
remember your settings for specific websites.

While web browser technology has come a long way since Netscape, browser compatibility
issues remain a problem. Since browsers use different rendering engines, websites may not
appear the same across multiple browsers. In some cases, a website may work fine in one
browser, but not function properly in another. Therefore, it is smart to ​install​ multiple
browsers on your computer so you can use an alternate browser if necessary.

WEB BROWSING AND ITS TYPES

Window to Web Browsing
One of the most common problems all Internet users face is the fact that it can be quite
difficult to find what you want on the Internet. There is no central “main menu” that users can
access to navigate through the Internet. Although there might not be an official menu, there
are several resources available – both on-line and off-line – that can make “surfing the net”
easier. The Internet is a terrific resource. It contains hundreds of web sites dedicated to
thousands of topics. There are some web sites, which are used to search information on the
web. This searching on the web, moving from page to page, website to website in search of
information is known as web browsing. There is one main software/application which is
mainly used for the web browsing, called web browser . There are different types of web
browser.
Search services on the Internet come in two main flavors:
1) ‘search engine’ that index words or terms in Internet documents; and
2) ‘directories’ that classify Web documents or locations into an arbitrary subject
classification scheme or taxonomy.
Most search engines take one or more words entered by the user, search the contents of every
Web page stored in their databases and display the result. Search engines tend to “index”
(record by word) all of the terms on a given Web document. Internet directories are on-line
Web sites that place Web page into one or more categories. Web pages are usually listed with
a brief description and their URL. Directories operate on a different principle. They require
people to view the individual Web site and determine its placement into a subject
classification scheme or taxonomy. Once done, certain keywords associated with those sites
can be used for searching the directory’s data banks to find Web sites of interest some
popular search engineers are:-
• Google- ​http://www.google.com

• Info seek- ​http://guide.infoseek.com

• Alta Vista – ​http://www.altavista.digital.com

• Lycos – ​http://www.lycos.com

• Yahoo! – ​http://www.yahoo.com

Contents
● 1 ​Window to Web Browsing
● 2 ​Web Browser
Web Browser
A web browser is an interface that helps a computer user gain access to all the content that is
on the Internet and the hard disk of the computer. It can view images, text documents, audio
and video files, games, etc. More than one web browser can also be installed on a single
computer. The user can navigate through files, folders and websites with the help of a
browser. When the browser is used for browsing web pages, the pages may contain certain
links which can be opened in a new browser. Multiple tabs and windows of the same browser
can also be opened. There are four leading web browsers: Explorer, FireFox, Netscape and
Safari but there are many others browsers available.

● Netscape

Netscape is one of the original Web browsers. This is what Microsoft designed Internet
Explorer to compete against. Netscape and IE comprise the major portion of the browser
market. Netscape was introduced in 1994.

● Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer (IE) is a product from software giant Microsoft. This is the most commonly
used browser in the universe. This was introduced in 1995 along with Windows 95 launch
and it has passed Netscape popularity in 1998.

● Safari

Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Inc. and included in Mac OS X. It was first
released as a public beta in January 2003. Safari has very good support for latest technologies
like XHTML, CSS2 etc.

● Firefox

Firefox is a new browser derived from Mozilla. It was released in 2004 and has grown to be
the second most popular browser on the Internet.

● Opera

Opera is smaller and faster than most other browsers, yet it is full- featured. Fast,
user-friendly, with keyboard interface, multiple windows, zoom functions, and more. Java
and non Java-enabled versions available. Ideal for newcomers to the Internet, school children,
handicap and as a front-end for CD- Rom and kiosks.

● Google Chrome

This web browser was developed by Google. Its beta and commercial versions were released
in September 2008 for Microsoft Windows. It has soon become the fourth-most widely used
web browser with a market share of 1.23%. The browser versions for Mac OS X are under
development. The browser options are very similar to that of Safari, the settings locations are
similar to Internet Explorer 7, and the window design is based on Windows Vista.
 ❖ bookmarks
How to use the Bookmarks bar
If you're using Chrome on a computer, you can have your bookmark appear in a bar at the top
of every webpage. You can also add, remove, or reorder items in the bookmarks bar at any
time.
Show or hide the bookmarks bar
To turn the bookmarks bar on or off, follow these steps:

1. On your computer, open Chrome.

2. Once your Chrome browser has opened navigate to the top right, click More .

3. Select ​Bookmarks​ ​Show Bookmarks Bar​.

Or use the keyboard shortcuts:

● Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS: Press ​Ctrl + Shift + b​.

● Mac: Press ​⌘​ + Shift + b​.

Organize the bookmarks bar

You can choose which items appear in the bookmarks bar.

Add more bookmarks to the bar

You can fit more items in the bookmarks bar by shortening or removing their labels. Here's how:

1. On your computer, open Chrome.

 2. At the top, in the bookmarks bar, right-click (Windows) or control-click (Mac) a bookmark with a
long name.
3. Select ​Edit​.
4. In the "Name" field, type a shorter name. Or delete the name entirely so that only a favicon shows
on the bar.
5. Click ​Save​.
Reorder bookmarks
To move an item in the bookmarks bar, click and drag it to a new spot.

Move a hidden bookmark into the bar

You can drag a hidden bookmark into the Bookmarks Bar. Here's how:

1. On your computer, open Chrome.

2. At the top right, at the end of the bookmarks bar, open the "Other Bookmarks" folder or click
Overflow .
3. Drag the item into the bookmarks bar.
Note:​ The "Other Bookmarks" folder can't be deleted. It won’t show if it's empty, though. Even if the
folder is hidden you can still add bookmarks to it by using the Bookmark Manager.

Remove a bookmark from the bar

To permanently delete a bookmark, follow these steps:

1. On your computer, open Chrome.

2. At the top, in the bookmarks bar, right-click (Windows) or control-click (Mac) the bookmark.
3. Select ​Delete​.
To delete more than one bookmark at once, use the Bookmark Manager.

Troubleshoot
Here are a few common questions about the bookmarks bar. Click them for troubleshooting steps.

I accidentally deleted a bookmark from the bar. Can I bring it back?

Unfortunately, when a bookmark is deleted, it's gone for good.

Where are my Favorited?

"Favorites" in some browsers, like Internet Explorer or Safari, are called "bookmarks" in Chrome. In
addition to the bookmarks bar, they're stored in two places:

● The bookmarks menu​: More ​ ookmarks

B

● Bookmark Manager​: More ​ ookmarks​

B ​Bookmark Manager
Learn how to import bookmarks or favorited from other browsers.

How can I remove the Apps icon from the bar?

By default, the bookmarks bar shows the Apps icon . It's a shortcut that leads you to the apps
you've installed in Chrome. You can remove it:

1. On your computer, open Chrome.

2. At the top, right-click (Windows) or control-click (Mac) the bookmarks bar.
3. Deselect ​Show Apps Shortcut​.
To bring the Apps shortcut back, re-select ​Show Apps Shortcut​.

Bookmarks on mobile devices

The bookmarks bar is not available on Chrome for Android devices, iPhones, or iPads. But you can
still manage your bookmarks in Chrome on a mobile device.

❖ cookies
What cookies are:
Cookies are files created by websites you visit. They make your online experience easier by
saving browsing information. With cookies, sites can keep you signed in, remember your site
preferences, and give you locally relevant content.
There are two types of cookies:

● First-party cookies​ are created by the site you visit. The site is shown in the address bar.
● Third-party cookies​ are created by other sites. These sites own some of the content, like ads
or images, that you see on the webpage you visit.
●

Many websites use small strings of text known as cookies to store persistent client-side state
between connections. Cookies are passed from server to client and back again in the HTTP
headers of requests and responses. Cookies can be used by a server to indicate session IDs,
shopping cart contents, login credentials, user preferences, and more.

How Cookies work?

As seen from the above diagram, when a user first request for a page, the server along with
the resource sends a cookie object to be stored on the client’s machine. This object might
contain details of the request. Now later, if the user again requests for the same resource, it
sends along with the request the cookie stored which can be used by servers to further
enhance the experience of the user.

Attributes of Cookie ​:

● Name = value pair:​ This depicts the actual information stored within the cookie.
Neither the name nor the value should contain white space or any of the following
characters: ​[ ] ( ) = , ” / ? @ : ;
Example of valid cookie name-value pair:

Set-Cookie: session-id = 187-4969589-3049309

● Domain:​ By default, a cookie applies to the server it came from. If a cookie is

originally set by www.foo.example.com, the browser will only send the cookie back
to www.foo.example.com. However, a site can also indicate that a cookie applies
within an entire subdomain, not just at the original server. For example, this request
sets a user cookie for the entire foo.example.com domain:
The browser will echo this cookie back not just to www.foo.example.com, but also to
lothar.foo.example.com, eliza.foo.example.com, enoch.foo.example.com, and any
other host somewhere in the foo.example.com domain. However, a server can only set
cookies for domains it immediately belongs to. www.foo.example.com cannot set a
cookie for www.geeksforgeeks.org, example.com, or .com, no matter how it sets the
domain.

Set-Cookie: user = geek ;Domain =.foo.example.com

● Path:​ When requesting a document in the subtree from the same server, the client
echoes that cookie back. However, it does not use the cookie in other directories on
the site.

Set-Cookie: user = geek; Path =/ restricted

● Expires :​ The browser should remove the cookie from its cache after that date has
passed.

Set-Cookie: user = geek; expires = Wed, 21-Feb-2017 15:23:00 IST

● Max-Age :​ This attribute sets the cookie to expire after a certain number of seconds
have passed instead of at a specific moment. For instance, this cookie expires one
hour (3,600 seconds) after it’s first set.

Set-Cookie: user = "geek"; Max-Age = 3600

Constructor​ : Creates a cookie with specified name-value pair.

Syntax :​ public Cookie(String name, String value)
Parameters :
name : name of the cookie
value : value associated with this cookie

Methods​ :

1. Set Domain() :​ Sets the domain in which this cookie is visible. Domains are
explained in detail in the attributes of cookie part previously.
2. Syntax :​ public void set Domain(String pattern)
3. Parameters :
pattern : string representing the domain in which this cookie is visible.

4. Get Domain() :​ Returns the domain in which this cookie is visible.

Syntax :​ public String get Domain()

5. Set Comment() :​ Specifies the purpose of this cookie.

6. Syntax :​ public void set Comment(String purpose)
7. Parameters :
purpose : string representing the purpose of this cookie.

8. Get Comment() ​: Returns the string representing purpose of this cookie.

Syntax :​ public String get Comment()

9. Set Max Age() :​ Specifies the time (in seconds) elapsed before this cookie expires.
10.Syntax :​ public void set Max Age(long time)
11.Parameters :
time : time in seconds before this cookie expires

12. Get Max Age() : ​Returns the max age component of this cookie.

Syntax :​ public String get Max Age()

13. Set Path() :​ Specifies a path for the cookie to which the client should return the
cookie.
14.Syntax :​ public void set Path(String path)
15.Parameters :
path : path where this cookie is returned

16. Get Path() :​ Returns the path component of this cookie.

Syntax :​ public String get Max Age()

17. Set Secure() :​ Indicated if secure protocol to be used while sending this cookie.
Default value is false.
18.Syntax :​ public void set Secure(Boolean secure)
19.Parameters:
20.secure - If true, the cookie can only be sent over a secure
21.protocol like https.
If false, it can be sent over any protocol.
 22. Get Secure() :​ Returns true if this cookie must be
sent by a secure protocol, otherwise false.

Syntax :​ public Boolean get Secure()

23. Get Name() :​ Returns the name of the cookie.

​Syntax :​ public String get Name()

24. Set Value() :​ Assigns new value to cookie after initialisation.

25.Syntax :​ public void set Value(String new Value)
26.Parameters :
New Value - a String specifying the new value

27. Get Value :​ Returns the value of the cookie.

Syntax :​ public String get Value()

28. Get Version() :​ Returns 0 if the cookie complies with the original Netscape
specification; 1 if the cookie complies with RFC 2965/2109

Syntax :​ public int get Version()

29. Set Version() :​ Used to set the version of the cookie protocol this cookie uses.
30.Syntax :​public void set Version(int v)
31.Parameters :
32.v - 0 for original Netscape specification; 1 for RFC 2965/2109
33. clone() :​ returns a copy of this cookie.

Syntax :​ public Cookie clone()

Below is a Java implementation of a simple servlet program which stores a cookie in the
browser when user first requests for it and then for further requests it displays the cookies
stored.

// Java program to illustrate methods

// of Cookie class
import​ ​java.io.IO Exception;
import​ ​java.io .Print Writer;
import​ ​java. util. List;
import​ ​javax.servlet.ServletException;
import​ ​javax. servlet.annotation.WebServlet;
import​ ​javax.servlet.http.Cookie;
import​ ​javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
import​ ​javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import​ ​javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
​
/**
* Servlet implementation class cookieTest
*/
@WebServlet("/cookieTest")
public​ ​class​ ​cookieTest extends​ ​HttpServlet
{
private​ ​static​ ​final​ ​long​ ​serialVersionUID = 1L;
​
/**
* @see HttpServlet#HttpServlet()
*/
public​ ​cookieTest() {
super();
// TODO Auto-generated constructor stub
}
​
/**
* @see HttpServlet#doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse
* response)
*/
protected​ ​void​ ​doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse
response)
throws​ ​ServletException, IOException
{
​
response.setContentType("text/html");
// Create a new cookie with the name test cookie
// and value 123
Cookie cookie = new​ ​Cookie("test_cookie", "123");
​
// setComment() method
cookie.setComment("Just for testing");
​
// setDomain() method
// cookies.setDomain("domain");
​
// setMaxAge() method
cookie.setMaxAge(3600);
​
// setPath() method
cookie.setPath("/articles");
​
// setSecure() method
cookie.setSecure(false);
​
// setValue() method
cookie.setValue("321");
​
// setVersion() method
cookie.setVersion(0);
​
response.addCookie(cookie);
​
PrintWriter pw = response.getWriter();
pw.print("<html><head></head><body>");
Cookie ck[] = request.getCookies();
​
 ​ ck == null) {
if​ (
pw.print("<p>This is first time the page is requested.</p>");
pw.print("<p>And therefore no cookies found</p></body></html>");
} else​ {​
pw.print("<p>Welcome Again...Cookies found</p>");
for​ ​(int​ ​i = 0; i < ck.length; i++) {
​
// get Name() method
​ ck[i].getName() + "</p>");
Pw .print("<p>Name :"​ +
​
// get Value() method
​ ck[i].getValue() + "</p>");
pw. print("<p>Value :"​ +
​
// get Domain() method
pw.print("<p>Domain :"​ ​+ ck[i].getDomain() + "</p>");
​
// get Path() method
​ ck[i].getPath() + "</p>");
pw. print("<p>Name :"​ +
​
// get MaxAge() method
​ ck[i].getMaxAge() + "</p>");
pw. print("<p>Max Age :"​ +
​
// get Comment() method
​ ck[i].getComment() + "</p>");
pw. print("<p>Comment :"​ +
​
// get Secure() method
pw. print("<p>Name :"​ ​+ ck[i].getSecure() + "</p>");
​
// get Version() method
​ ck[i].getVersion() + "</p>");
pw. print("<p>Version :"​ +
}
pw. print("<body></html>");
​
}
pw. close();
}
​
/**
* @see Http Servlet # do Post(Http Servlet Request request, Http
Servlet Response
* response)
*/
protected​ ​void​ ​do Post(Http Servlet Request request, Http Servlet Response
response)
throws​ ​Servlet Exception, IO Exception
{
​
Do Get(request, response);
}
​
 ❖ Progress Indicator
Progress Indicator is a part of JavaFX package. It’s a circular control which is used for
indicating progress, either infinite or finite. Often used with the Task API for representing the
progress of background Tasks. It usually shows the amount of completion of a task.

Constructor of the class are

1. Progress Indicator()​: creates a new intermediate progress Indicator.

2. Progress Indicator(double p)​: creates a progress Indicator with a specified progress

Commonly used methods

method explanation
Is Indeterminate() Gets the value of the property indeterminate.
Get Progress() Gets the value of the property progress.
Set Progress(double v) Sets the value of the property progress
Below program illustrate the use of Progress Indicator:

Program to create Progress indicator:​ This program creates a progress indicator indicated
by the name ​p b​. The progress indicator will be created inside a scene, which in turn will be
hosted inside a stage. The function set Title() is used to provide title to the stage. Then a tile
pane is created, on which add Children() method is called to attach the progress indicator and
the button inside the scene. Finally the show() method is called to display the final results.

// Java program to illustrate the use of Progress Indicator

import​ ​java fx. application. Application;
import​ ​java fx. scene. Scene;
import​ ​java fx. scene .control.*;
import​ ​java fx. scene. layout.*;
import​ ​java.io.*;
import​ ​java fx. event. Action Event;
import​ ​java fx. event. Event Handler;
import​ ​java fx. scene. control. Label;
import​ ​java fx. stage. Stage;
import​ ​java.net.*;
public​ ​class​ ​progressing extends​ ​Application {
​
static​ ​double​ ​ii = 0;
​
// launch the application
public​ ​void​ ​start(Stage s) throws​ ​Exception
{
// set title for the stage
s. set Title("creating progress Indicator");
​
// create a progress indicator
Progress Indicator p b = new​ ​Progress Indicator();
​
// create a tile pane
Tile Pane r = new​ ​Tile Pane();
​
// action event
​ vent Handler<Action Event>()
Event Handler<Action Event> event = new​ E
{
public​ ​void​ ​handle(Action Event e)
{
// set progress to different level of progress indicator
ii += 0.1;
pb. Set Progress(ii);
}
​
};
​
// creating button
Button b = new​ ​Button("increase");
​
// set on action
b. set On Action(event);
​
// add button
r. get Children().add(pb);
r. get Children().add(b);
​
// create a scene
Scene sc = new​ ​Scene(r, 200, 200);
​
// set the scene
s. set Scene(sc);
​
s. show();
}
​
public​ ​static​ ​void​ m
​ ain(String args[])
{
// launch the application
launch(args);
}
}
Output:

❖ Customize browser
5 Ways to Customize Your Browser
You’re probably familiar with browser extensions, but there are many other ways to
customize your browser and tweak websites. The web isn’t a one-way, passive medium – you
have the ability to remix websites you view on the fly, adding features or changing their look.
Advertisement

Each of these methods has its own advantages and drawbacks. Bookmarklets are ideal for
small buttons you click occasionally, while user scripts and user styles are easy ways to
modify the websites you view, adding features or changing their look every time they load.

Extensions
Extensions, also known as add-ons, are the most powerful things you can install in your
browser. Extensions can do almost anything, from adding new features to your browser’s
interface to modifying every webpage that loads.

As extensions are basically additional programs that run inside your web browser, they take
up additional system resources. Using many extensions can ​slow down your browser​.
Extensions and add-ons are easy to find. We’ve got a lists of the ​best Firefox add-ons​ and
best Chrome extensions​, or you can just browse the ​Firefox add-ons​ or ​Chrome extensions
sites.
The Best Firefox Addons​ Firefox is famous for its extensions. But which addons are the most useful?
Here are the ones we think are best, what they do, and where you can find them. Read More

Bookmarklets
Book mark lets are small bits of ​JavaScript​ (the code that runs on webpages) that are stored
as a bookmark. When you click the bookmark, the JavaScript code in the bookmark let runs
on the current webpage. Erez recently ​extolled their advantages​ – they don’t always run in the
background, so replacing extensions with bookmark lets frees up system resources.
Some examples of bookmark lets include Share buttons, which share the current page on
social networking sites when clicked, or a password revealer, which runs JavaScript on the
page to reveal a password that appears as ***** characters.

Bookmark lets can’t replace all extensions, though. Bookmark lets only run when you click
them, so they can’t automatically do something to every webpage you load. They also can’t
add user interface elements, such as toolbar buttons, to your browser.

To find bookmark lets, check out the Mark lets search engine, which we’ve covered in the
directory.

User Scripts
If you’ve heard of the popular Grease monkey extension, you’ve heard of user scripts. Think
of user scripts like bookmark lets that always run when certain webpages load – a user script
can run on every webpage or only specific websites. User scripts straddle the line between
bookmark lets and extensions – they’re just JavaScript code that runs on the current page, but
they run automatically.

To use user scripts in Firefox, you’ll need ​Grease monkey​ installed. Chrome users can install
user scripts as if they were extensions – Chrome converts the user script into an extension
when you install it. You can also try the ​Tamper monkey​ extension for Chrome, which is a
Grease monkey-style user script manager that adds additional features scripts may require.

Check out UserScripts.org to browse for and install user scripts. You can also try the
Greasefire extension for Firefox, which shows you user scripts that work with the websites
you visit.
We’ve covered lots of ​things you can do with Grease monkey​ in the past.

User Styles
User styles are like themes for websites. A user style – usually associated with the Stylish
browser extension – is like a user script, but it contains CSS style sheet code instead of
JavaScript code. User styles can add additional CSS rules to a page, changing that page’s
design – for example, you can install a user style that replaces the new Gmail look with ​the
old Gmail look​. Unlike user scripts, user styles are focused on customizing the look or layout
of a page.

To use user styles, you’ll need ​Stylish for Firefox​ or Stylish for Chrome. After installing the
extension, check out UserStyles.org to download user styles.

Because of the way Firefox works, user styles can actually customize and tweak parts of
Firefox’s interface, too.
Check out our ​guide to Stylish​ for information on creating your own user styles.
How to Fix Small Annoyances on the Web With Stylish [Firefox & Chrome]​ Web designers have an
almost impossible job. They need to come up with one design that pleases everyone. When talking
about a service like Gmail, used by countless millions of people all over the world,... Read More

Themes
Themes are an obvious way to customize your browser, but we can’t leave them out. They
don’t add new features or modify webpages, but they do put a new look on your browser’s
interface. Major browsers like Chrome and Firefox both support themes, which you can find
on the ​Chrome themes​ and ​Firefox themes​ websites.
 ❖ Browser Tricks :to Help You Use the
Internet Like a Pro
Internet browsers are something that most of us use every single day; they provide a portal to
all the useful, weird, and wonderful stuff that the web has to offer.
Given the frequency with which we interact with them, it might be tempting to think you’re a
browser-using master. In truth, very few of us are. There are always more tips, more tricks,
and more ways that you can improve your skills.
Here we take a look at ten cool browser tricks that’ll help you use the Internet like pro.

1. ​Restore a Tab:
We’ve all closed a tab by accident. It’s annoying, especially if you’d gone down an
Internet-sized rabbit hole and weren’t sure what site you were even on. In the past, you’d
have to navigate to your browser’s history and reload it from there, though most browsers at
least now offer a “Recently Closed Tabs” list.

Did you know there is an even faster way? Just press ​Ctrl + Shift + T​ and the tab will
magically reappear. You can use the shortcut multiple times to open a succession of your
closed tabs.
2. ​Clear the Cache:
“Cache” can refer to many things in computing​, but in Internet terms it applies to the
temporary storage of web pages and images; it helps to reduce bandwidth usage, server load,
and lag. Sites can be loaded from the cache as long as certain conditions are met.
7 Hidden Windows Caches & How to Clear Them​ Cached files can take up a lot of bytes. While
dedicated tools can help you free up disk space, they might not clear it all. We show you how to
manually release storage space. Read More

Sometimes, a cache can get corrupted. If this is the case, you can easily delete the cache and
reload the proper version of the page by hitting ​Ctrl + Shift + R​.

3. ​Load​ “Dead” Webpages:

You might find that one of your favorite sites has gone offline. This can happen for any
number of reasons – perhaps the domain was not renewed or the company went into
administration.

If this happens to you, try pasting the link into ​archive.org​. They often have old cached
versions of sites available.

4. ​Highlight the URL:

Using keyboard shortcuts​ can often be faster than using a mouse. We all know the commands
for cut, copy, and paste, but this is another great one to add to your repertoire.​The Best
Keyboard Shortcuts in Default Windows Programs​ Keyboard shortcuts increase your
productivity in any application, including the good old programs built into Windows! We
show you how to cut a corner in Microsoft Paint, Calculator, and the Windows Magnifier.
Press ​Ctrl + L​ to automatically select and highlight the current site’s URL. It’s really useful
for quickly sharing links or copying them into a new tab.

5. ​Turn Text into a Web Address:

If you enter plain text into your browser’s search box and hit Enter, you’ll be presented with a
list of search results from your search provider of choice.
If you know the URL of the site you want to visit, you can save yourself a few keystrokes by
pressing ​Ctrl + Enter​ – it’ll wrap your entered text with a www. and a .com.

6. ​Cycle Between Tabs:

ALT + Tab​ is one of the most common keyboard shortcuts on Windows, it will let you flick
between the various programs that are currently open.
Did you know that browsers have a similar function for cycling between you open tabs? ​Ctrl
+ Tab​ will move you one tab to the right, while ​Ctrl + Shift + Tab​ will move you one tab to
the left.

On Chrome and Firefox you can also use ​Ctrl + 1-8​ to jump straight to a tab, with the
number used corresponding to the order of tabs on the top of your screen.

7. Reddit Slideshow:
Reddit is a hugely popular online bulletin board, with subredits dedicated to almost every
topic imaginable.
If you’re browsing a picture-based subreddit such as Earth Porn, add a ​P​ after the word
Reddit in the URL, turning the address from this ​www.reddit.com/r/EarthPorn​ into this
www.redditp.com/r/EarthPorn​.

All the pictures in the subreddit will be shown in slideshow format. It even has settings that
will allow you tweak the speed at which the pictures change.

8. ​Reverse Image Search:

Maybe you’ve got a cool image somewhere on your computer, but you can’t remember
where you got it from.
If so, try out Google’s ​reverse image search​. Head to images.google.com and either click the
camera icon in the search bar or drag and drop an image from your computer.

9. ​Turn Your Browser into a Notepad:

Not got a pen and paper handy? No problem.
Save this code as a ​bookmark​ and you’ll be able to use your browser’s window as an
on-the-fly notepad:
data: text/html, <html content editable>
(Note: You cannot save your notes, so don’t accidentally close the window before you’ve
copied your text to a more secure place.)

10. ​Use Google.com:

In case you missed it, Google recently removed the google.com/ncr feature. “NCR” stood for
“No Country Redirect” – it allowed you to search the US-version of Google without being
redirected to your local version.
The feature still exists, just head to ​Google.com​ and look for the ​Use Google.com​ link in the
bottom right-hand corner.
 ❖ Next Generation Web​ ​browser:​ ​can be
defined as future Web with enhanced current Web features plus other emerging
features. As the Internet usage has been changing with better broadband Internet
access and wireless communications using various mobile communication devices
with converging capabilities of various multimedia services, the shape of future Web,
i.e., Next Generation Web can be figured out as a meaningful Internet usage tool.
Recently, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number (ICANN) announced
the introduction of non-Latin script domain names1 and it would be one of the biggest
changes in its début of the Internet in 1969. This will enable more users of the
Internet to use the Web friendly than before and the Internet usage will continue to be
more active than before. New Web services such as Google Wave were
introduced.2Google Wave is a kind of convergence Web-based e-mail service
integrating communication, collaboration, and file sharing services that are available
in the market. New interesting features of the Next Generation Web will be developed
depending upon the users’ requirements generated in using those new Web services
in their daily activities ( Pasek et al., 2009; Buckland, 2007).Over the Internet, the
users started to use the Web conveniently to execute their common business
application programs online since 2006. These programs are accessible from any
Web browser over the Internet even if the distributive software and data are stored
on servers over the Internet without the users’ knowledge about their locations,
expertise, or control over the technology infrastructure in the “cloud” that supports
them (Danielson, 2008; Min et al., 2009). Cloud computing makes the users storing
files and software remotely in cloud instead of storing them on a hard drive or server
at their offices. A few examples of cloud computing are Web-based e-mail like Gmail
and Hotmail, communication tools like Skype, video sites like YouTube and Vimeo
and music-sharing sites such as Sound Cloud. Since 2008, global IT enterprises
such as Amazon, Google, and salesforce.com started to deliver following services:

● Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) delivering computer infrastructure typically a

platform virtualization as a service.
● Platform as a Service (PaaS) delivering a computing platform and solution stack as a
service.
● Software as a Service (SaaS) delivering a software application license to customers
for use as a service on demand.

❖ Current major technologies for next generation Web.

There are five outstanding major technologies for Next Generation Web in the market as a
following list.

1. Emerging mark up languages – HTML5

2. Mobile web
3. Social Web
4. Structure data
5. Real-time Web
To satisfy the diverse and ever increasing Web users’ dynamic requirements, Web
applications for client interoperability, W3C develop following features and web.
 • Mobile Web to better support the mobile device usage environment
• Voice standards to support verbal communications
• Web Services to deliver diverse services in a distributed environment
• Semantic Web standard to support intelligent service processing
• Privacy/Web security standards.
Overall, the Web is continuously evolving towards the Next Generation with three major
elements: Web Services, Semantic Web, and Ubiquitous Web (Lee, 2005):

As one of the possible set of component technologies of Next Generation Web, there are
five major component technologies such as Ubiquitous Web, Mobile Web, Web 2.0 (Lim,
Park, 2009; Jeon, Lee, 2006, 2007) Web Platform (TTA, 2009), and Web Accessibility.
Ubiquitous Web Technologies make possible different types of devices including desktops,
office automation devices, home appliances, mobile phones, ubiquitous devices such as
sensors and effectors to communicate each other seamlessly via the Web. Mobile Web
Technologies make it possible for diverse types of mobile devices including cell phones,
Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) to exchange Universal Resource Indicator (URI) based
resources via Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and use markup languages such as
Extended Markup Language (XML). Web 2.0 technologies make it possible to use a more
distributed and open Web as a Platform by enhancing the capabilities of existing Web
applications and service environments. Web as a Platform Technologies make it possible for
users to link and execute local or remote applications, services, and data by using the
various currently available standardized Web technologies. Web Accessibility Technologies,
including cursor-based browsing, adaptive zoom, Accessible Rich Internet Application
(ARIA) markup support make it possible the Web users primarily for disabled uses, but for all
user agents including highly limited devices such as mobile phones to access Web content.
A series of Web content access guidelines were published by W3C as the document WCAG
(Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)6. The Web is also migrating toward Social Web
which is used for people socialize via WWW. People are brought together by people oriented
Websites such as Facebook and My Space or by common hobby oriented Websites such as
Flickr and Kodak Gallery. There are many Web based Collaboration Tools available in the
market.7 Although there are paid or subscription services such as Basecamp and Zimbra,
there are many alternatives providing free and similar, if not better, features including MS
Live docs, Google Docs and bubbl.us. The functions of those tools are very diverse ranging
from basic brainstorming or white boarding to fully-featured project management application​.

4. Future development direction of next generation Web

technologies​:

The following list of standard organization organizations (SDOs) have been working on the
emerging technologies of Next Generation Web.

• Consumer Electronics Linux Forum (CELF)

• Digital Video Broadcasting Project (DVB)
• Electronic Product Code (EPC)
• Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
• International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
• Java Community Process (JCP)
• Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG)
• Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)
• Open Mobile Alliance (OMA)
• Object Management Group (OMG)
• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
• 3rd Generation Partnership Object (3GP)

❖ Search Engines
Introduction:
Search Engine​ refers to a huge database of internet resources such as web pages,
newsgroups, programs, images etc. It helps to locate information on World Wide Web.
User can search for any information by passing query in form of keywords or phrase. It then
searches for relevant information in its database and return to the user.

Search Engine Components:

Generally there are three basic components of a search engine as listed below:
1. Web Crawler

2. Database

3. Search Interfaces

Web crawler
It is also known as ​spider​ or ​bots.​ It is a software component that traverses the web to gather
information.
Database
All the information on the web is stored in database. It consists of huge web resources.
Search Interfaces
This component is an interface between user and the database. It helps the user to search
through the database.

Search Engine Working​: Web crawler, database and the search interface are the major
component of a search engine that actually makes search engine to work. Search engines
make use of Boolean expression AND, OR, NOT to restrict and widen the results of a search.
Following are the steps that are performed by the search engine:
● The search engine looks for the keyword in the index for predefined database instead
of going directly to the web to search for the keyword.
● It then uses software to search for the information in the database. This software
component is known as web crawler.
● Once web crawler finds the pages, the search engine then shows the relevant web
pages as a result. These retrieved web pages generally include title of page, size of
text portion, first several sentences etc.
These search criteria may vary from one search engine to the other. The retrieved information is
ranked according to various factors such as frequency of keywords, relevancy of information, links
etc.

● User can click on any of the search results to open it.

Architecture
The search engine architecture comprises of the three basic layers listed below:
● Content collection and refinement.
● Search core
● User and application interfaces
Why Search Engines are Important:
Search engines are part of daily life for two types of people.

● Users who search and get information

● Site owners who try to optimize their websites for getting top rank in the search results.

User do more than billions of searches only on Google to find relevant information. This
opens out a huge scope for businesses and online content publishers to attract people to their
website for free. Search engines follow guidelines and have their own algorithm to decide the
ranking of websites in search results. ​Optimizing websites​ for Google and other search
engines is an essential part of any website owner for reaching out the large audience. The
visitors can generate revenue for site owners either through advertisements displayed on the
site or though purchasing products.

Different Types of Search Engines​:

Search engines are classified into the following three categories based on how it works.

1. Crawler based search engines

2. Human powered directories
3. Hybrid search engines
4. Other special search engines

Let us discuss all types of search engines in detail in the following sections.
1. ​Crawler Based Search Engines
All crawler based search engines use a crawler or bot or spider for crawling and ​indexing new
content​ to the search database. There are four basic steps, every crawler based search engines
follow before displaying any sites in the search results.

● Crawling
● Indexing
● Calculating Relevancy
● Retrieving the Result

​ rawling
1.1. C
Search engines ​crawl​ the whole web to fetch the web pages available. A piece of software
called ​crawler​ or ​bot​ or ​spider, ​performs the crawling of the entire web. The crawling
frequency depends on the search engine and it may take few days between crawls. This is the
reason sometimes you can see your old or deleted page content is showing in the search
results. The search results will show the new updated content, once the search engines crawl
your site again.
1.2. Indexing
Indexing​ is next step after crawling which is a process of identifying the words and
expressions that best describe the page. The identified words are referred as keywords and the
page is assigned to the identified keywords. Sometimes when the crawler does not understand
the meaning of your page, your site may rank lower on the search results. Here you need to
optimize your pages for search engine crawlers​ to make sure the content is easily
understandable. Once the crawlers pickup correct keywords your page will be assigned to
those keywords and rank high on search results.
1.3. Calculating Relevancy
Search engine compares the search string in the search request with the indexed pages
from the database. Since it is likely that more than one page contains the search string, search
engine starts ​calculating the relevancy​ of each of the pages in its index with the search
string.
There are various algorithms to calculate relevancy. Each of these algorithms has different
relative weights for common factors like keyword density, links, or meta tags. That is why
different search engines give different search results pages for the same search string. It is a
known fact that all major search engines periodically change their algorithms. If you want to
keep your site at the top, you also need to adapt your pages to the latest changes. This is one
reason to devote permanent efforts to SEO, if you like to be at the top.
1.4. Retrieving Results
The last step in search engines’ activity is ​retrieving​ the results. Basically, it is simply
displaying them in the browser in an order. Search engines sort the endless pages of search
results in the order of most relevant to the least relevant sites.
Examples of Crawler Based Search Engines
Most of the popular search engines are crawler based search engines and use the above
technology to display search results. Example of crawler based search engines:

● Google
● Bing
● Yahoo!
● Baidu
● Yandex

Besides these popular search engines there are many other crawler based search engines
available like DuckDuckGo, AOL and Ask.
2. Human Powered Directories
Human powered ​directories​ also referred as open directory system depends on human based
activities for listings. Below is how the indexing in human powered directories work:

● Site owner​ submits a short description of the site to the directory along with category it is to
be listed.
● Submitted site is then manually reviewed and added in the appropriate category or rejected
for listing.
● Keywords​ entered in a search box will be matched with the description of the sites. This
means the changes made to the content of a web pages are not taken into consideration as
it is only the description that matters.
● A good site with good content is more likely to be reviewed for free compared to a site with
poor content.

Yahoo! Directory and DMOZ were perfect examples of human powered directories.
Unfortunately, automated search engines like ​Google​, wiped out all those human powered
directory style search engines out of the web.
3. Hybrid Search Engines
Hybrid Search Engines use both crawler based and manual indexing for listing the sites in
search results. Most of the crawler based search engines like Google basically uses crawlers
as a primary mechanism and human powered directories as secondary mechanism. For
example, Google may take the description of a webpage from human powered directories and
show in the search results. As human powered directories are disappearing, hybrid types are
becoming more and more crawler based search engines.
But still there are manual filtering of search result happens to remove the copied and spammy
sites. When a site is being identified for spammy activities, the website owner needs to take
corrective action and resubmit the site to search engines. The experts do manual review of the
submitted site before including it again in the search results. In this manner though the
crawlers control the processes, the control is manual to monitor and show the search results
naturally.
4. Other Types of Search Engines
Besides the above three major types, search engines can be classified into many other
categories depending upon the usage. Below are some of the examples:

● Search engines have different types of bots for exclusively displaying images, videos, news,
products and local listings. For example, ​Google News​ page can be used to search only news
from different newspapers.
● Some of the search engines like ​Dogpile​ collects meta information of the pages from
other search engines and directories to display in the search results. This type of search
engines are called metasearch engines.
● Semantic search engines like ​Swoogle​ provide accurate search results on specific area by
understanding the contextual meaning of the search queries.

❖ HTTP(HYPERTEXT TRANSFER
PROTOCOL):
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application-level protocol for distributed,
collaborative, hypermedia information systems. This is the foundation for data
communication for the World Wide Web (i.e. internet) since 1990. HTTP is a generic and
stateless protocol which can be used for other purposes as well using extensions of its request
methods, error codes, and headers.
Basically, HTTP is a TCP/IP based communication protocol, that is used to deliver data
(HTML files, image files, query results, etc.) on the World Wide Web. The default port is
TCP 80, but other ports can be used as well. It provides a standardized way for computers to
communicate with each other. HTTP specification specifies how clients' request data will be
constructed and sent to the server, and how the servers respond to these requests.

Basic Features:
There are three basic features that make HTTP a simple but powerful protocol:
● HTTP is connectionless:​ The HTTP client, i.e., a browser initiates an HTTP request
and after a request is made, the client waits for the response. The server processes the
 request and sends a response back after which client disconnect the connection. So
client and server knows about each other during current request and response only.
Further requests are made on new connection like client and server are new to each
other.
● HTTP is media independent:​ It means, any type of data can be sent by HTTP as
long as both the client and the server know how to handle the data content. It is
required for the client as well as the server to specify the content type using
appropriate MIME-type.
● HTTP is stateless:​ As mentioned above, HTTP is connectionless and it is a direct
result of HTTP being a stateless protocol. The server and client are aware of each
other only during a current request. Afterwards, both of them forget about each other.
Due to this nature of the protocol, neither the client nor the browser can retain
information between different requests across the web pages.
HTTP/1.0 uses a new connection for each request/response exchange, where as HTTP/1.1
connection may be used for one or more request/response exchanges.

Basic Architecture:
The following diagram shows a very basic architecture of a web application and depicts
where HTTP sits:

The HTTP protocol is a request/response protocol based on the client/server based

architecture where web browsers, robots and search engines, etc. act like HTTP clients, and
the Web server acts as a server.

Client
The HTTP client sends a request to the server in the form of a request method, URI, and
protocol version, followed by a MIME-like message containing request modifiers, client
information, and possible body content over a TCP/IP connection.
Server
The HTTP server responds with a status line, including the message's protocol version and a
success or error code, followed by a MIME-like message containing server information,
entity meta information, and possible entity-body content.
The set of common methods for HTTP/1.1 is defined below and this set can be expanded
based on requirements. These method names are case sensitive and they must be used in
uppercase.

HTTP METHOD :
S.N. Method and Description

GET

1 The GET method is used to retrieve information from the given server using a given URI.
Requests using GET should only retrieve data and should have no other effect on the
data.
HEAD
2
Same as GET, but transfers the status line and header section only.
POST
3 A POST request is used to send data to the server, for example, customer information,
file upload, etc. using HTML forms.
PUT
4
Replaces all current representations of the target resource with the uploaded content.
DELETE
5
Removes all current representations of the target resource given by a URI.
CONNECT
6
Establishes a tunnel to the server identified by a given URI.
OPTIONS
7
Describes the communication options for the target resource.
TRACE
8
Performs a message loop-back test along the path to the target resource.

GET Method
A GET request retrieves data from a web server by specifying parameters in the URL portion
of the request. This is the main method used for document retrieval. The following example
makes use of GET method to fetch hello.htm:
GET /hello.htm HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE5.01; Windows NT)
Host: www.tutorialspoint.com
Accept-Language: en-us
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Connection: Keep-Alive
The server response against the above GET request will be as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:28:53 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.14 (Win32)
Last-Modified: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:15:56 GMT
ETag: "34aa387-d-1568eb00"
Vary: Authorization,Accept
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Content-Length: 88
Content-Type: text/html
Connection: Closed
<html>
<body>
<h1>Hello, World!</h1>
</body>
</html>
HEAD Method
The HEAD method is functionally similar to GET, except that the server replies with a
response line and headers, but no entity-body. The following example makes use of HEAD
method to fetch header information about hello.htm:
HEAD /hello.htm HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE5.01; Windows NT)
Host: www.tutorialspoint.com
Accept-Language: en-us
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Connection: Keep-Alive
The server response against the above GET request will be as follows:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:28:53 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.14 (Win32)
Last-Modified: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:15:56 GMT
ETag: "34aa387-d-1568eb00"
Vary: Authorization,Accept
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Content-Length: 88
Content-Type: text/html
Connection: Closed
You can notice that here server the does not send any data after header.

POST Method
The POST method is used when you want to send some data to the server, for example, file
update, form data, etc. The following example makes use of POST method to send a form
data to the server, which will be processed by a process.cgi and finally a response will be
returned:
POST /cgi-bin/process.cgi HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE5.01; Windows NT)
Host: www.tutorialspoint.com
Content-Type: text/xml; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 88
Accept-Language: en-us
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Connection: Keep-Alive
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<string xmlns="http://clearforest.com/">string</string>
The server side script process.cgi processes the passed data and sends the following
response:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:28:53 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.14 (Win32)
Last-Modified: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:15:56 GMT
ETag: "34aa387-d-1568eb00"
Vary: Authorization,Accept
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Content-Length: 88
Content-Type: text/html
Connection: Closed
<html>
<body>
<h1>Request Processed Successfully</h1>
</body></HTML>
PUT Method​:
The PUT method is used to request the server to store the included entity-body at a location
specified by the given URL. The following example requests the server to save the given
entity-body in ​hello.htm​ at the root of the server:
PUT /hello.htm HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE5.01; Windows NT)
Host: www.tutorialspoint.com
Accept-Language: en-us
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-type: text/html
Content-Length: 182
<html>
<body>
<h1>Hello, World!</h1>
</body>
</html>
The server will store the given entity-body in hello.htm file and will send the following
response back to the client​:
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:28:53 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.14 (Win32)
Content-type: text/html
Content-length: 30
Connection: Closed
<html>
<body>
<h1>The file was created.</h1>
</body>
</html>
DELETE Method
The DELETE method is used to request the server to delete a file at a location specified by
the given URL. The following example requests the server to delete the given file ​hello.htm
at the root of the server:
DELETE /hello.htm HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE5.01; Windows NT)
Host: www.tutorialspoint.com
Accept-Language: en-us
Connection: Keep-Alive
The server will delete the mentioned file hello.htm and will send the following response
back to the client:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:28:53 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.14 (Win32)
Content-type: text/html
Content-length: 30
Connection: Closed
<html>
<body>
<h1>URL deleted.</h1>
</body>
</html>
CONNECT Method
The CONNECT method is used by the client to establish a network connection to a web
server over HTTP. The following example requests a connection with a web server running
on the host tutorialspoint.com:
CONNECT www.tutorialspoint.com HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE5.01; Windows NT)
The connection is established with the server and the following response is sent back to
the client:
HTTP/1.1 200 Connection established
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:28:53 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.14 (Win32)
OPTIONS Method
The OPTIONS method is used by the client to find out the HTTP methods and other options
supported by a web server. The client can specify a URL for the OPTIONS method, or an
asterisk (*) to refer to the entire server. The following example requests a list of methods
supported by a web server running on tutorialspoint.com:
OPTIONS * HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE5.01; Windows NT)
The server will send an information based on the current configuration of the server,
for example:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:28:53 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.14 (Win32)
Allow: GET,HEAD,POST,OPTIONS,TRACE
Content-Type: httpd/unix-directory
TRACE Method
The TRACE method is used to echo the contents of an HTTP Request back to the requester
which can be used for debugging purpose at the time of development. The following example
shows the usage of TRACE method:
TRACE / HTTP/1.1
Host: www.tutorialspoint.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE5.01; Windows NT)
The server will send the following message in response to the above request​:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:28:53 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.14 (Win32)
Connection: close
Content-Type: message/http
Content-Length: 39

TRACE / HTTP/1.1
Host: www.tutorialspoint.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE5.01; Windows NT)
HTTP HEADER:
HTTP header fields provide required information about the request or response, or about the
object sent in the message body. There are four types of HTTP message headers:
● General-header:​ These header fields have general applicability for both request and
response messages.
● Client Request-header:​ These header fields have applicability only for request
messages.
● Server Response-header:​ These header fields have applicability only for response
messages.
● Entity-header:​ These header fields define meta information about the entity-body or,
if no body is present, about the resource identified by the request.

❖ URL:
Uniform Resource Locator (URL):

A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is a unique identifier used to locate a resource on

the ​internet​. It is also referred to as a web address. URLs consist of multiple parts -- including
a protocol and domain name -- that tell a web browser how and where to retrieve a resource.
End users use URLs by typing them directly into the address bar of a browser or by clicking a
hyperlink found on a webpage, bookmark list, in an email or from another application.

How is a URL structured?

The URL contains the name of the ​protocol​ needed to access a resource, as well as a resource
name. The first part of a URL identifies what protocol to use as the primary access medium.
The second part identifies the ​IP address​ or ​domain name​ -- and possibly subdomain -- where
the resource is located.
URL protocols include ​HTTP​ (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and ​HTTPS​ (HTTP Secure) for
web resources, mail to for email addresses, FTP for files on a File Transfer Protocol
(​FTP​) ​server​, and ​telnet​ for a session to access remote computers. Most URL protocols are
followed by a colon and two forward slashes; “mail to” is followed only by a colon.
Optionally, after the domain, a URL can also specify:

● a path to a specific page or file within a domain;

● a network ​port​ to use to make the connection;
● a specific reference point within a file, such as a named ​anchor​ in an HTML file; and
● a query or search parameters used -- commonly found in URLs for search results.

Importance of a URL design

URLs can only be sent over the Internet using the ​ASCII​ character-set. Because URLs often
contain non-ASCII characters, the URL must be converted into a valid ASCII format. URL
encoding replaces unsafe ASCII characters with a "%" followed by two hexadecimal digits.
URLs cannot contain spaces.

Parts of a URL:
Using the URL ​https://whatis.techtarget.com/search/query?q=URL​ as an example,
components of a URL can include:

● The protocol or scheme​. Used to access a resource on the internet. Protocols include http,
https, ftps, mailto and file. The resource is reached through the domain name system (​DNS​)
name. In this example, the protocol is https.
● Host name or domain name​. The unique reference the represents a webpage. For this
example, whatis.techtarget.com.
● Port name.​ Usually not visible in URLs, but necessary. Always following a colon, port 80 is
the default port for web servers, but there are other options. For example, :port80.
● Path​. A path refers to a file or location on the web server. For this example, search/query.
● Query​. Found in the URL of ​dynamic pages​. The query consists of a question mark, followed
by parameters. For this example, ?.
● Parameters​. Pieces of information in a query string of a URL. Multiple parameters can be
separated by ampersands (&). For this example, q=URL.
● Fragment​. This is an internal page reference, which refers to a section within the webpage. It
appears at the end of a URL and begins with a hashtag (#). Although not in the example
above, an example could be #history in the URL
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet#History.
Other examples of parts of a URL can include:

● The URL ​mailto:president@whitehouse.gov​ initiates a new email addressed to the mailbox

president in the domain whitehouse.gov.
● The URL ​ftp://www.companyname.com/whitepapers/widgets.ps​ specifies the use of the
FTP protocol to download a file.

HTTP vs. HTTPs

Both HTTP and HTTPS are used to retrieve data from a web server to view content in a
browser. The difference between them is that HTTPS uses a Secure Sockets Layer (​SSL​)
certificate to encrypt the connection between the end user and the server.
HTTPS is vital to protecting sensitive information, such as passwords, credit card numbers
and identity data, from unauthorized access.
HTTPS uses ​TCP/IP​ port number 443 by default, whereas HTTP uses ​port 80​.
URL vs. URI
A URL is the most common type of Uniform Resource Identifier (​URI​). URIs are strings of
characters used to identify a resource over a network. URLs are essential to navigating the
internet.
URL shorteners
URL shortening​ is a technique in which an URL may be made substantially shorter in length
and still direct to the required page. A shortener achieves this using a redirect on a domain
name that is short. There are many URL shortener services available. While many are free,
those that offer capabilities such as Web analytics, charge a fee. Companies that offer URL
shorteners include Rebrandly, ​Bitly​, Ow.ly, clicky.me, Budurl.com.

Internet tools:
Online Chatting:
Chat​ is a text-based communication that is live or in real-time. For example, when talking to
someone in chat any typed text is received by other participants immediately. In contrast,
other text-based communications such as ​e-mail​ are modes of correspondence that are not
real-time.
There are also several million users chatting through other networks such as ​IRC​. A good
example of a chat on IRC is the ​Computer Hope chat​.
Online chatting​ :is a text-based communication between two or more people over the
network. In this, the text message is delivered in real time and people get immediate
response.
Talkomatic​ was the world first online chat system. It was developed by ​Doug Brown​ and ​David R.
Woolley​ in 1973.

Chat Etiquette:
Chat etiquette​ defines rules that are supposed to be followed while online chatting:
● Avoid chat slang
● Try to spell all words correctly.
● Don’t write all the words in capital.
● Don’t send other chat users private messages without asking them.
● Abide by the rules created by those running the chat.
● Use emoticons to let other person know your feelings and expressions.

❖ Type of online chatting

1. Instant Messaging (IM):
Instant messaging​ is a software utility that allows IM users to communicate by sending text
messages, files, and images. Some of the IMs also support voice and video calls.
Application Description

It is native iPhone app. It supports voice and video chats, file sharing, and group
Nimbuzz
chats with panache.

eBuddy IM helps to have all your buddies from multiple IM accounts in one single
eBuddy
list.

It has capability to link all your IM accounts together. You can log on to all of your IM
Imo.in
accounts by just logging into imo.in.

It offers video based chat between the clients to create video conferencing rooms
MeBeam
for up to 16 people.

Yahoo! It offers PC-PC, PC-phone, Phone-to-PC, file transfer, webcam hosting, text
Messenger messaging service etc.

GoogleTalk It is an IM by Google and one of the most widely used.

Lync is an IM developed by Microsoft. It is widely used in corporate sector for

Lync
internal and external communication as well.
2.Internet Relay Chat (IRC):
Internet Relay Chat​ is a protocol developed by Oikarinen in August 1988. It defines set of
rules for communication between client and server by some communication mechanism such
as chat rooms, over the internet.
IRC consist of separate networks of IRC servers and machines. These allow IRC clients to
connect to IRC. IRC client runs a program client to connect to a server on one of the IRC
nets. After connecting to IRC server on IRC network, user can join with one or more
channels and converse over there.

3.IRC Commands:
Following commands are used while connected to an IRC server. Almost of the below
commands will work with most of IRC clients and servers.
Command Description

/away (message) Leaves a message let the others know why you are gone.

/clear Clears the text from current window.

/clearall Clears all the text from all of the opened windows.

/dcc chat (username) Opens a chat window with the username that you specify.

/help Brings up a list of all the commands or the help window.

/ignore (on/of) (username) Allows you to ignore or not ignore a user.

/ignore (+/-) (username) Alternative to ignore or not ignore a user.

/join (#channel) Joins a particular chat group.

/nick (username) Changes the username

/part (channel) Leaves specified channel.

/ping (username) Pings a specified user and it let you know how far they are in seconds

/whowas (username) Shows information about specified user that was in earlier.

/ping (channel) Pings all users in specified channel.

Video Conferencing
4.Video conferencing or Video teleconferencing​ ​:​is a method of
communicating by two-way video and audio transmission with help of telecommunication
technologies.
Modes of Video Conferencing
Point-to-Point
This mode of conferencing connects two locations only.
Multi-point
This mode of conferencing connects more than two locations through ​Multi-point Control
Unit (MCU).

Video Sharing
Video sharing​ is an ​IP Multimedia System (IMS)​ service that allows user to switch voice
calls to unidirectional video streaming session. The video streaming session can be initiated
by any of the parties. Moreover, the video source can be the camera or the pre-recorded video
clip.

Usenet newsgroup​:
Usenet (USEr NETwork):
Usenet​ is a frequently updated collection of user-submitted notes / messages on a variety of
subjects that are posted frequently to servers on a worldwide network. Each of these
collections comprising of posted notes is called a newsgroup. There are hundreds of
thousands of newsgroups on the server and it is possible for any user to create a new one.
Most of these newsgroups are hosted on servers that are connected to the Internet, but these
newsgroups can also be hosted from servers that are not connected to the Internet. Usenet
continues to be an unrestricted, worldwide forum for debate and information exchange.
Usenet's​ original protocol in the early 1980's was UNIX-to-UNIX Copy (UUCP), but today
it's protocol is Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP). So this is Usenet.
Like mailing lists Usenet is also a way of sharing information. It was started by Tom Truscott
and Jim Ellis in 1979. Initially it was limited to two sites but today there are thousands of
Usenet sites involving millions of people.
Usenet​ is a kind of discussion group where people can share views on topic of their interest.
The article posted to a newsgroup becomes available to all readers of the newsgroup.

What is a Newsgroup?
A newsgroup is an active online discussion forum that is easily accessible through Usenet.
Each newsgroup on the server contains discussions about some specific topic, which is often
indicated in the name or title of the newsgroup. Users who are looking for a particular
newsgroup can browse and follow them. Users can also post or reply to the topics they are
interested in, using a newsreader software. Access to these newsgroups also requires a Usenet
subscription. Most of the Usenet Providers have monthly subscription for $10 USD a month..

Newsgroup Classification:
There exist a number of newsgroups distributed all around the world. These are identified
using a hierarchical naming system in which each newsgroup is assigned a unique name that
consists of alphabetic strings separated by periods.
The leftmost portion of the name represents the top-level category of the newsgroup followed
by subtopic. The subtopic can further be subdivided and subdivided even further (if needed).
For example, the newsgroup ​comp.lang.C++​ contains discussion on ​C++​ language. The
leftmost part ​comp​ classifies the newsgroup as one that contains discussion of computer
related topics. The second part identifies one of the subtopic ​lang​ that related to computer
languages. The third part identifirs one of the computer languages, in this case ​C++.

Working of Usenet Newsgroup:

When a newsreader such as outlook express connects to a news server, it downloads all the
new messages posted in the subscribed newsgroup. We can either reply a message after
reading or post a news article to the news server.
The article posted to a news server is appended to the file maintained for that newsgroup
Then the news server shares article with other news servers that are connected to it.
Then each news server compares if both carry the same newsgroup. If yes, then by comparing
the files it checks that if there are any new articles in the file, if so they are appended to the
file.
The updated file of the news servers is then sent to other news servers connected to it. This
process is continues until all of the news servers have updated information.

● Reading Articles
If user wants to read article, user has to connect to the news server using the newsreader. The
newsreader will then display a list of newsgroups available on the news server where user can
subscribe to any of the news group. After subscription the newsreader will automatically
download articles from the newsgroup.
After reading the article user can either post a reply to newsgroup or reply to sender by email.
The newwsreader saves information about the subscribed newsgroups and articles read by the
user in each group.
● Posting an Article
In order to send new article to a newsgroup, user first need to compose an article and specify
the names of the newsgroup to whom he/she wants to send. An article can be sent to one or
more newsgroup at a time provided all the newsgroups are on same news server.
It is also possible to cancel the article that you have posted but if someone has downloaded an
article before cancellation then that person will be able to read the article.

● Replying an Article
After reading the article user can either post a reply to newsgroup or reply to sender by email.
There are two options available Reply and Reply group. Using Reply, the reply mail will be
sent to the autor of the article while Reply group will send a reply to whole of the newsgroup.
● Cancelling an Article
To cancle an article after it is sent, select the message and click Message > Cancel message.
It will cancle the message from the news server. But if someone has downloaded an article
before cancellation then that person will be able to read the article.
● Usenet netiquette
While posting an article on a newsgroup, one should follow some rules of netiquette as listed
below:
● Spend some time in understanding a newsgroup when you join it for first time.
● Article posted by you should be easy to read, concise and grammatically correct.
● Information should be relevant to the article title.
 ● Don’t post same article to multiple newsgroups.

❖ Best Usenet Providers And Their Features:

These Usenet Services​ are the most popular and well-established Usenet Providers in the
market today.

1.​UsenetServer​ is the most popular Usenet provider, similar to Newshosting, offering users faster
speed and longer retention period. But the number of newsgroups is comparatively low, around
80,000. It is preferred by majority of intermediate users.

2.​Newshosting​ ​is without doubt the most efficient of all Usenet Provider. It offers great value for
money with fast speed, reliable service, a free newsgroup browser, as well as, a large number of
newsgroups (100,000). It also offers classic NNTP access / a modern web-based newsreader option.
Users can also avail a free trial account of 30 GB for the first 14 days.

3.​Eweka​ is a Usenet provider which offers Usenet access in both block and flat rate payment
options. It’s affordable and a wise choice for the tech-savvy. There are Usenet providers all over the
world. Eweka – the company is based in the Netherlands, and it’s an affordable Usenet service that
put quality as their prime goal.

4.​EasyNews​ is considered to be the best web browser for Usenet and one that is ideal for beginners.
It has a web-based interface that enables thumbnail viewing for people who are interested in
searching with images and video binaries. This newsreader a large user base and offers the best
customer service.

5.​Fast Usenet ​offers excellent retention rates, a free trial, a mobile friendly newsreader and a web
newsreader as part of their core package. Fast Usenet also comes with a free copy of GrabIt
newsreader, offering built in global search which normally costs $2.50 a month. Included with your
membership

6.​Giganews​ is another great Usenet provider but is comparative most expensive andslickest of all
providers. It offers a good customer service and comes with a free bundled newsgroup browser,
known as, Mimo. It also has the largest number of newsgroups (110,000). and offers a free trial of 10
GB to new users

❖ Chatroom and discussion boards​:

The term ​chat room​, or ​chatroom​, is primarily used to describe any form of ​synchronous
conferencing​, occasionally even ​asynchronous conferencing​. The term can thus mean any
technology ranging from real-time ​online chat​/.. and online interaction with strangers (e.g.,
online forums​) to fully immersive ​graphical social environments​.
The primary use of a chat room is to share information via text with a group of other users.
Generally speaking, the ability to converse with multiple people in the same conversation
differentiates chat rooms from ​instant messaging​ programs, which are more typically
designed for one-to-one communication. The users in a particular chat room are generally
connected via a shared internet or other similar connection, and chat rooms exist catering for
a wide range of subjects. New technology has enabled the use of file sharing and webcams to
be included in some programs. This would be considered a chat room.
 ● Discussion Boards :
There are discussion boards or forums on many individual web sites. You usually need to
register to take part.
There are also mailing list discussions which can be read on a web site or conducted in the
form of emails, such as ​Yahoo Groups​. These can be similar to newsgroups.
An email list is like a club. When you subscribe to it, you receive emailed messages from
other members. These are sent to the whole list, not just to you. If you send a reply to a
message it will be sent to the whole list, not just the person whose message you are replying
to. If you subscribe to a popular list you may find dozens of emails each time you connect to
the internet. (You could choose not to receive messages by email, but access them via the
web site instead.) Some newsreaders or email programs can thread the messages from an
email list, so that they work like newsgroups.
Like newsgroups, these are not as instant as other types of chat. You do not have to be online
at the same time as other people. Replies may be given later in the day, or even several days
later. Several people may reply to one message, so that the conversation divides into several
strands. Conversations (or threads) are spread out over a longer period.

Create your discussion board in 3 easy step:

 
1.Choose from dozens of beautiful themes:
Easily customize the colors, and add your logo, header, and custom CSS to make your
discussion board your own.

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Website Toolbox is completely invisible to your users! Embed the discussion board, match
your domain and layout, and enable single sign on.
Don't have a website? We've got you covered. Choose your own domain and create your own
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3.Make money from your discussion board.
Show ads, get sponsors, accept donations, or charge a one-time or recurring subscription fee
to view the discussion board, view specific categories, read discussions, or download files.
Discussion Board owners have already earned over $150K worth of payments from over 10K
subscribers!

What is Web Security?

Web security is also known as “Cybersecurity”. It basically means
protecting a website or web application by detecting, preventing and
responding to cyber threats.

Websites and web applications are just as prone to security breaches as

physical homes, stores, and government locations. Unfortunately,
cybercrime happens every day, and great web security measures are
needed to protect websites and web applications from becoming
compromised.
That’s exactly what web security does – it is a system of protection
measures and protocols that can protect your website or web application
from being hacked or entered by unauthorized personnel. This integral
division of Information Security is vital to the protection of websites, web
applications, and web services. Anything that is applied over the Internet
should have some form of web security to protect it.

Details of Web Security

There are a lot of factors that go into web security and web protection. Any
website or application that is secure is surely backed by different types of
checkpoints and techniques for keeping it safe.
There are a variety of security standards that must be followed at all times,
and these standards are implemented and highlighted by the OWASP.
Most experienced web developers from ​top cybersecurity companies​ will
follow the standards of the OWASP as well as keep a close eye on the
Web Hacking Incident Database to see when, how, and why different
people are hacking different websites and services.
Essential steps in protecting web apps from attacks include applying
up-to-date encryption, setting proper authentication, continuously patching
discovered vulnerabilities, avoiding data theft by having secure software
development practices. The reality is that clever attackers may be
competent enough to find flaws even in a fairly robust secured
environment, and so a holistic security strategy is advised.

Available Technology
There are different types of technologies available for maintaining the best
security standards. Some popular technical solutions for testing, building,
and preventing threats include:

● Black box testing tools

● Fuzzing tools
● White box testing tools
● Web application firewalls (WAF)
● Security or vulnerability scanners
● Password cracking tools

Likelihood of Threat
Your website or web application’s security depends on the level of
protection tools that have been equipped and tested on it. There are a few
major threats to security which are the most common ways in which a
website or web application becomes hacked. Some of the top
vulnerabilities for all web-based services include:

● SQL injection
● Password breach
● Cross-site scripting
● Data breach
● Remote file inclusion
● Code injection

Preventing these common threats is the key to making sure that your
web-based service is practicing the best methods of security.

The Best Strategies

There are two big defense strategies that a developer can use to protect
their website or web application. The two main methods are as follows:

● Resource assignment​ – By assigning all necessary resources to

causes that are dedicated to alerting the developer about new web
security issues and threats, the developer can receive a constant and
updated alert system that will help them detect and eradicate any
threats before security is officially breached.
● Web scanning​ – There are several web scanning solutions already
in existence that are available for purchase or download. These
solutions, however, are only good for known vulnerability threats –
seeking unknown threats can be much more complicated. This
method can protect against many breaches, however, and is proven
to keep websites safe in the long run.

Web Security also protects the visitors from the below-mentioned

points –

● Stolen Data: ​Cyber-criminals frequently hacks visitor’s data that is

stored on a website like email addresses, payment information, and a
few other details.
● Phishing schemes: ​This is not just related to email, but through
phishing, hackers design a layout that looks exactly like the website
to trick the user by compelling them to give their sensitive details.
● Session hijacking: ​Certain cyber attackers can take over a user’s
session and compel them to take undesired actions on a site.
● Malicious redirects. ​Sometimes the attacks can redirect visitors
from the site they visited to a malicious website.
 ● SEO Spam. ​Unusual links, pages, and comments can be displayed
on a site by the hackers to distract your visitors and drive traffic to
malicious websites.

Thus, web security is easy to install and it also helps the business people
to make their website safe and secure. A web application firewall prevents
automated attacks that usually target small or lesser-known websites.
These attacks are born out by malicious bots or malware that automatically
scan for vulnerabilities they can misuse, or cause DDoS attacks that slow
down or crash your website.
Thus, Web security is extremely important, especially for websites or web
applications that deal with confidential, private, or protected information.
Security methods are evolving to match the different types of vulnerabilities
that come into existence.

What is Internet Privacy​? 

Internet privacy, also commonly referred to as online privacy, is a subset 
of ​data privacy​ and a fundamental human right. Basically, it refers to the 
personal privacy that you’re entitled to when you display, store, or provide 
information regarding yourself on the Internet. 

 
his can include both personally-identifying information (PII) as well as 
non-personally identifying information, such as your behavior on a website. 
Without Internet privacy, all your activities are subject to being collected 
and analyzed by interested parties! 

Common ​Internet Privacy Issues​ to Watch Out 

For 
Now that you understand what is an Internet privacy and its importance, 
let’s discuss the most common issues that surround your privacy online 
today: 
1. Tracking 
When you browse the Internet, you may have noticed those pesky ads 
following you where you go that are based on your earlier web searches or 
visits to websites. Well, that’s because your movements are tracked by 
websites, advertisers, etc. 

 
Cookie profiling and other techniques are used to track your overall 
activities online and create a detailed profile of your browsing habits. 
Some people may not mind having relevant ads being served up to them, 
but for others, this is a serious invasion of privacy. 

2. Surveillance 
Some governments spy on their citizens online to supposedly assist law 
enforcement agencies. Take, for instance, the UK’s Investigatory Powers 
Act that authorizes mass surveillance and allows the government to legally 
monitor the Internet usage of its citizens. 
Learn more about the UK’s Investigatory Powers Act ​here​. 

 
Internet companies (ISPs), telcos, as well as other communication service 
providers are required to retain customers’ Internet connection records for 
a year, which can be obtained by government authorities and used in 
investigations – even if you’re not related to them in any way! 

3. Theft 
A staggering 17 million Americans have been affected by identity theft in 
2017, according to ​Javelin Strategy​. Cybercriminals use malware, spyware, 
and phishing techniques to break into your online accounts or device and 
steal your personal information to engage in activities like identity theft. 

 
The victims, of course, end up losing most or all of their hard-earned 
money, just because they didn’t exercise caution when it comes to 
opening attachments, instant messages, or emails from unknown sources. 

Internet Behaviors That Impact Your Privacy 

You’ve heard time and time again that online privacy and security is 
important, but do you actually do something about it? Most of us practice 
bad Internet hygiene and don’t even realize it, so don’t forget to avoid 
doing the following: 

1. Using the Same Credentials for Multiple Accounts 

Sure, it’s easy to remember and get things done online when you use the 
same credentials across your accounts. But if a cybercriminal is able to 
gain access into your one accounts, they’ll most likely get into the other 
ones as well. 

2. Staying Logged into Websites 

Not logging out of websites and having them remember your credentials 
is indeed convenient. However, it also leaves your online accounts and 
personal information vulnerable to anyone who uses or hacks into your 
device. 

3. Using Services without Reading their Terms & 

Conditions 
Never click “agree” until you understand what you’re getting yourself into. 
You wouldn’t want to legally grant companies and service providers access 
to all kinds of data. Then sell this information to the highest bidder! 

4. Opening Suspicious Attachments or Downloading 

Malicious Files 
You should be careful when opening attachments in emails or on social 
media as they could contain malware and viruses. Similarly, it always 
downloads files from trusted sources because it may result in virus 
infection. 

10 Ways to Protect Your Privacy and Security on 

the Internet 
If you’ve made it this far, you’ve probably got a better idea of what 
Internet privacy concerns affect users. Now, you may be wondering “how 
do I protect my privacy online?” Well, here are some measures that should 
be followed: 

1. Secure Your Web Browser 

 
Your browser is the main program you use to go online, so make sure that 
you take the necessary steps to secure it. After all, cybercriminals can take 
advantage of loopholes in browsers to access the personal data on your 
device. To protect your online privacy and security, we’d recommend that 
you follow the recommendations in our ultimate ​browser security​ guide. 

2. Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) 

 
Using a VPN is the best way to protect your Internet privacy. Not only 
does it change your IP address and assign you a new one based on the 
VPN server you’re connected to, but it also protects your incoming and 
outgoing traffic with military-grade encryption. 
As a result, your online activities and personal information stay secure and 
private from snoopers. Pure VPN is regarded as the ​best VPN​ when it 
comes to online privacy and security, and for all the right reasons. 

3. Keep Your Software Up-to-Date 

 
If you leave vulnerabilities in your software, chances are that the bad guys 
will exploit them! Keep your operating system, browser, as well as other 
software (like Adobe Flash and Java) up to date to ensure that you don’t 
miss out on new features and security fixes. If you find it a hassle to 
manually apply updates, you can always use tools to automate your 
software updates. 
4. Install an Anti-virus Program & Activate Firewall 

 
You can keep your safe from harmful content on the Internet with a few 
simple precautions. A strong anti-virus program will keep your device free 
from all types of malware, such as spyware, viruses, Trojans, etc. You 
should also activate your firewall to keep unwanted network traffic at bay. 
The good news is that most operating systems come with it built-in. 

5. Delete Cookies at Browser Exit 

 
You should delete cookies regularly as they’re used by websites, 
advertisers, and other third parties to track you online. While you can clear 
your cookies manually, you’re better off configuring your browser to 
automatically delete them at the end of the browsing session. If you don’t 
know how to, follow our guide to ​deleting browsing cookies 
automatically​ at browser exit. 
6. Adjust Your Settings on Google, Facebook, etc. 

 
Take advantage of the options that are available to you. Big Internet 
companies such as Facebook and Google usually give you options to 
opt-out of some, if not all, of their personalization and tracking. For 
example, you can manage your ads preferences on Facebook from ​here​, 
while Google allows you to turn off ads personalization from ​here​. 

7. Use HTTPS to Secure Your Online Connection 

If you are on a website that uses HTTPS, it’s likely that any personal data 
flowing between you and the website is probably being monitored by 
trackers or potentially intercepted and stolen by malicious hackers. These 
entities are commonly referred to as man-in-the-middle. 

 
An HTTPS or Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encrypts your online 
communication with that website. If you are on any website especially a 
shopping website, you should ensure that you have an HTTPS connection. 
For the utmost online privacy and security, you should resort to a VPN 
service. 

8. Defuse Threats When Backing up to the Cloud 

In today’s era, we constantly back up our pictures and other files on the 
cloud. Backing up on the cloud comes packed with its own privacy issues. 
Anyone could intercept your internet connection and view the data you 
are backing up or downloading from the cloud. 

 
To defuse this threat, it’s advised that you use ​state-of-the-art AES 256-bit 
encryption​ that will secure your internet connection, meaning you can 
download and upload sensitive information without worrying about 
anyone tapping in on your private data. 

9. Secure Online Communications 

Most of your online communications platforms are unsecure. While 
numerous ​messaging apps offer end-to-end encryption​, security experts 
advise adding an additional layer of encryption to your online 
communication. 

As far as emails and messaging on chat apps are 

concerned, you should opt for reputable services such as Signal, 
Telegram, etc. When it comes to emails, use ​secure mail services​. 
10. Share Online Files Securely 
Securely share files with anyone on the web by password protecting them. 
With a​ password protecting your PDF​ or any other file, you can rest 
assured that it is only viewed by the intended recipient. 

 
  

Internet Privacy FAQs 

The following are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions 
about Internet privacy: 

Is Internet Privacy Dead? 

Yes, it sure does seem that way. Every time you browse the Internet, your 
privacy is under constant threat from cybercriminals, governments, and 
corporations who want to get their hands on your personal information. 
That’s exactly why it’s up to each one of us to protect our privacy and 
personal space on the Internet. 

Why Does Internet Privacy Matter? 

Take a second and imagine a world without privacy on the Internet, where 
all your activities and personal information such as medical records, bank 
balances, credit card information, and emails exist out in the plain open 
for ​anyone​ to see. 
Still, think you have nothing to hide? Probably not. Privacy matters 
because, without it, the Internet becomes a less safe place for us to 
indulge in. After all, there would be nothing stopping what you do online 
from being entirely public. 
Will the Desire for Internet Privacy Gradually Decrease? 
The desire for privacy on the Internet is only going to increase with time. 
Why? Because our online activities are always being tracked and recorded 
by somebody – whether it’s the ISP, big internet companies like Google 
and Facebook, or government bodies. 
As such, more and more Internet users are realizing the importance of 
protecting their privacy and personal data. This is evident from the fact 
that over the last few years, there has been significant growth in the use of 
VPNs and other anonymizing technologies. 

What Countries Have the Toughest Internet Privacy 

Laws? 
According to Privacy International, the following countries rank in the top 5 
of the Privacy Index, meaning they give their citizens the least protection 
in terms of Internet privacy: 

1. England 
2. Singapore 
3. Russia 
4. Malaysia 
5. China 

Learn more about internet privacy laws in certain countries ​here​. 

Site blocking  
Site Blocking is a process by which a ​Firewall​ or ​WWW Proxy​ prevents users 
from accessing some network resources, such as ​World-Wide Web​ sites 
or ​Ftp​ servers. 

Site Blocking is a legally dangerous practice, since it prevents the organization 

which employs it to effectively argue that their Internet connection constitutes 
a ​Common Carrier​. This may make the organization liable for offensive or illegal 
documents downloaded from the Internet. 

How do I block a website?

Several options are available for blocking a
website. Consider one of the options below,
depending on your needs.

Blocking a website on a router

Most home networks today have a ​network

router​ for sharing an Internet connection
between multiple devices and can even
block websites. We recommend blocking a
website through a router because it can be
password protected, prevents blocks from
being bypassed, and because it blocks all
devices. Blocking on the router can
prevent your children from accessing a
page (e.g., ​Facebook​) on the computer,
and any ​cell phone​ or ​tablet​ connected to
your home network.

To block a website on a router, connect to

the home network router. For most
routers, this is done by opening a browser
and visiting the default router
address: ​http://192.168.1.1

If this address does not work or you're

having trouble accessing your router
setup, visit the link below.

After connecting to the router, block a

website through one of the below features.
Unfortunately, each router setup is
different, so you'll need to find one of the
below settings for your manufacturer of
the router. Generally, one of these options
will be available under a "Security,"
"Parental control," or "Firewall" tab or
button.

● URL Filter​ - Some routers may have a ​URL​ filter

section, which allows you to enter the URL for

each website you want to block.

● Parental controls​ - New and more advanced

routers have a section dedicated to parental

controls, which gives you not only the option to

block websites, but also specify the times the

Internet can be accessed.

● Firewall​ - Finally, if neither of the above options

is available, the router should offer some type of

filtering through the Firewall router settings.

Note

Although blocking a website on the router is one of the best ways to prevent
access to websites, a child could still access the website through other
means. They could connect to a neighbor's network if it's unprotected or use
their cell phone's data service (e.g., ​4G​) to access the website. If you see any
open networks in your neighborhood, try to educate your neighbors about the
security vulnerabilities of leaving a network open.

Blocking a website in Windows

A website can be blocked on any Windows
computer by editing the ​hosts file​ (also
see the ​lm host file​).
Locate the hosts file in ​Windows Explorer​.

● Windows XP and later versions:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\

● Windows 2000 & NT:

C:\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc\

● Windows 98 & ME: C:\WINDOWS\

Navigate to the proper directory using

Windows Explorer. Double-click the hosts
file. Choose Notepad from the list of
programs to open the file and edit it in
Notepad.

Find the line below:

127.0.0.1 localhost

Right underneath it, add the following lines

(replacing badsite.com with the site you
want to block):

127.0.0.1 badsite.com

127.0.0.1 www.badsite.com

Click ​File​ in the menu bar and

select ​Save​. Close the file. The site should
be blocked in all web browsers and now
instead of trying to access that site, the
computer will redirect you to the local
host.

Desktop
1. Visit the ​Block site extension​ page on the
Chrome web store.
 2. Click the ​Add to Chrome​ button at the top-right
of the page.

3. Click the ​Add extension​ button on the pop-up

window to confirm install of the extension. Once
the extension is installed, a thank you page
opens as a confirmation.

4. Access the Chrome menu by clicking

the ​Customize and control Google Chrome​

button at the top-right corner of the

Chrome program window.

5. Select ​More tools​ and then E

​ xtensions​ in the
menu.

6. On the ​Block Site Options​ page, enter the

website you want to block in the text box next to
the ​Add page​ button.

7. Click the ​Add page​ button to block the website.

There are other website blocking

extensions available for Chrome. Visit
the ​Chrome web store​ and search for
"blocksite" to pull up a listing of available
extensions that block websites.

Android mobile
To block sites on your
Android ​tablet​ or ​smartphone​, follow the
steps below.

1. Open the ​Google App Store​.

2. Search for and install the BlockSite app.

3. Open the BlockSite app.

4. Move through the prompts and enable

permissions for BlockSite in your device's
settings.

5. Tap the "+" symbol in the lower-right corner of

the screen.
 6. Type in the web address of the site you'd like to
block, and then tap the checkmark icon.