The Internet is considered as a global network of people, commonly referred to as ?the net?. It is a service available on a computer, where people meet to chat, exchange or gather information, and use several other services. It is a collection of computers connected on a network by wires, a network of networks. While the World Wide Web, also known as ?the Web?, is a collection of information connected by Hyperlinks or URLs, a collection of websites.

Most people use the Internet for several reasons and at the same time other people do not use it for several reasons. The net is a public place where you can get and receive information easily and conveniently, but it is also the same reason why some are afraid to give their information.

Below are some more advantages brought about by the advent of the Internet:

Gathering Information : Whether its for office work, school assignment or self studying, gathering information via Internet is the easiest way to get them. By the use of Search Engines, you can simply type the word or words you want to research about. A Search Engine helps you find stored information, some popular Search Engines are the Google, Yahoo!, MSN, Ask, AOL Search, AltaVista, and many more.

E-mail : Electronic messages are sent and received through the Internet by email. These messages are same as writing a letter based on a Simple Mail Protocol Transfer (SMPT) System, messages are send over electronic communication systems.

Search for Jobs : Aside from the classic use of ?newspaper searching? for jobs, the web have sites that allow people to search for jobs they want locally or abroad. Job ads are also becoming popular because of the speed, accuracy and ease on applying for a job and employment.

Online Games : Games that are played via the Internet are called Online Games. Some of the popular types of games are the Browser Games and MMORPG. Browser games uses Web Browsers as clients, normally free to play and download, single player games played using the HTML and HTML Scripting (JavaScript). Graphics are developed by using Flash and Java programming, commonly called ?Flash Games? and ?Java Games?. Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games or MMORPG, is the most popular game played today using the Internet to connect several people from different countries to play the same game together Online. This also includes chatting with other people while playing.

Software Downloads : Softwares are programs created to instruct a computer to do a task. The net has several websites which includes information about the latest softwares available on the market, software downloads, and free trial version downloads before ordering the product.

Online Advertising & Shopping : The Intenet is also used for Online advertising and Online Shopping. Online Advertising is a marketing strategy used to attract people, or commonly called potential customers, to a website that sells stuff. Online Advertising includes the use of contextual ads, banner ads and email marketing. Some websites uses Search Engine results page by improving their Page Rank (PR). Some are ad stores that allows people to post their own ad for a certain period of time with payment, and .

Online Shopping provides convenient and easy way of purchasing products and/or services over the Internet (online payment of bills are also become popular). An online shop vary from categories depending on the type of product and/or services they offer, one popular example are shops that sells household products, cars, motocycles, software downloads, and more.

Information Theft : Personal information you send over the net can be accessed by other people. However, restricted information that are accessed by ?hackers? are through the use of programming, they make small changes or add codes to the existing codes in order to gain access.

Fraud : Also known as ?cyberscams?. Fraud or scams are common these days, they are usually conducted through telephone calls, text messaging, and now over the net. These scams are common in chat rooms, emails (spamming), and message boards to perform fraud transactions (to rob people). If you are a victim of Internet Fraud you must report it quickly for immediate shut down of the operation to avoid more victims.

Phishing Sites : These are sites that hides their identity by copying other websites in order to gain information such as user names and passwords. This act is commonly targets online banks, eBay's Auction Site and PayPal's Payment Processing.

Internet Virus : They generally damage or destroy files on your computer without your knowledge. A computer virus is program created to infect a single computer and spreads throughout a network when an infected file is transfered to or accessed from another computer. Often results to loss of data and system crashes. Famous viruses includes the ?Melissa? virus (March 1999) created by David L. Smith from New Jersey, and the ?I Love You? email virus (May 200) created by Onel de Guzman from the Philippines.

Internet Pornography : Pornography is distributed over the net. Though Adult Pornography is common on the net, it should be of great concern of parents for their children users.

Spamming : Is most common the method of spamming is the email spamming, the sending of unsolicited messages to your, which are unnecessary and serves no purpose, although some advertisers uses this method. Email spamming often consist of adult themes such as pornography or drugs, advertisements of some online shops, and some could cause fraud online services.

As an Internet surfer there are lots of things that you could do online. It is entirely up to you on how you can use it and you need to understand the responsibilities that it entails. Through the use of the Internet, you become a part of the community where by just a click of your finger, you can access the world through cyberspace.