How to use the Internet, Part 1
Browsing

I'm continually asked "How does my computer know how to get to a website?"

So, let's take a look at how browsing the Internet works:

You're browsing the Web and you type in this address: www.office.microsoft.com. How does the computer (or more precisely, the browser) find that website?

The answer is a DNS look-up (Domain Name Server — a computer that keeps an up-to-date listing of which computers hold what addresses). Here is how it works:

Let's say you opened your browser and typed in www.google.com.

A query is made by your browser to your DNS (Domain Name Server, which lists the millions of domain names and where their websites are located; the location of your particular Domain Name Server is supplied to you by your ISP) to find where google.com is. Then the DNS would send you Google's address in numeric form. Your browser would go to that numeric address and you will then see the webpage at Google. If you've ever seen a website address comprised solely of numbers — 111.222.333.444 — that's the numeric address.

Your browser simply queries the Domain Name Server regarding where google.com is, and brings up Google's website for you.

That's all there is to it. Our next article will touch on POP3 and SMTP.