T he Internet can be compared to the streets of New York City. The services available on the Internet have their analogies in the city's libraries, department stores, bookshops, art galleries, street vendors, and street-corner zealots passing out literature or lecturing the passing crowds. It is safe to assume that somewhere on the streets of the city there will be found information and services of interest to almost anyone. However, finding that information might take some time for someone who is new to the city and its resources. Similarly, somewhere on the Internet there also will be found information and services of interest to almost anyone.
T raveling on the Internet requires only a few basic tools.
First is a computer with a network connection to the Internet. A direct connection to the Internet uses a PC equipped with a network interface card that connects to a local area network that is in turn linked to the Internet. Such a connection is common at universities, and becoming common in businesses. Any of these connections can be used with a variety of commercial or shareware software to make your local computer a host on the Internet and to access services and information from the entire earth. This tutorial emphasizes the use of freeware and shareware versions of software running under Microsoft Windows 3.x and Windows 95.