Safe-Sites-Only(tm) (White List) - A concept of providing 100% safe internet by blocking all access but allowing browsing or access to only websites or Internet resources that are prestablished to be safe for use. This is often called a 'white list' of safe sites.

Safe-Programs-Only(tm) - A concept of providing 100% safe computer use by the blocking the running of all programs on a PC except those that have been prestablished to be safe for use.

Save - To store a file on a disk or other storage medium.When a file is being edited, the changes are only in temporary memory (RAM), and will be lost when the power is shut off.To keep the changes in permanent memory, the file must be saved.It is a good idea to save often when working on a file, because if there is a power failure or the computer has to be restarted, all data not saved will be lost.

Save As - A command used to make a copy of a file, giving the copy a different name.The command "Save As" can be selected from the File menu.

Search Engine - A server system and/or program(s) used to search for things on the Web.

Secure Server - A Web server that uses encryption (usually SSL or Secure Socket Layer) to prevent others from reading messages to or from your browser Web based shopping sites normally use secure servers so that others cannot intercept credit card ordering information. These servers usually use the 'https://' or 'secure' hypertext protocol.

Security - Refers to techniques for ensuring that data stored in a computer cannot be read or compromised. Most security measures involve data encryption and passwords. Data encryption is the translation of data into a form that is unintelligible without a deciphering mechanism. A password is a secret word or phrase that gives a user access to a particular program or system.

SSL - Short for Secure Sockets Layer, a protocol developed by Netscape for transmitting private documents via the Internet. SSL works by using a private key to encrypt data that's transferred over the SSL connection. Both Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer support SSL, and many Web sites use the protocol to obtain confidential user information, such as credit card numbers. By convention, Web pages that require an SSL connection start with https//: instead of http//:.

Search Engine - A tool for searching information on the Internet by topic. Popular engines include InfoGrid, InfoSeek, Google and Web Crawler.

Serial Port - The place on the back of your computer where you plug in an external modem.

Server - Server commonly refers to a software designed to 'serve-up' data or to 'receive-data' on a network. there are many kinds of Servers on the Internet, for e-mail, web pages, file exchange, etc. E-mail utilities will work with an e-mail server, Web Browsers will work with a website server, etc. The term can refer to a particular piece of software or to the machine on which the software is running,

Server Based Filter - Unlike client-based software, which is installed on your own computer, server-based filters work on a host server (for example, a Web server) generally located at an Internet Service Provider or a LAN at a company. Your computer is connected to this server so that you receive only the Web pages that are not filtered on the server.

Shareware - Software that is freely distributed, but for which the author expects payment from people who decide to keep the software and use it.

Shockwave - A program made by Macromedia that allows viewing interactive multimedia on the Web.

Signature -A personal tag automatically appended to an email message. May be short, such as the author's name, or quite long, such as a favorite quote.

Software - A file or files containing instructions that tell the computer what to do.

Shortcut - In Windows 95 and Windows 98 a special type of file that points to another file or device. You can place shortcuts on the desktop to conveniently access files that may be stored deep in the directory structure. Double-clicking the shortcut icon is the same as double-clicking the actual file.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) The method by which Internet mail is delivered from one computer to another. An SMTP server is the computer to which you send your outgoing e-mail.

SPAM (Unsolicited Email) The act of sending unrequested Email to uninterested recipients or of posting inappropriate messages to many uninterested newsgroups or mailing lists. Derived from Monte Python SPAM skits.

Spider - A software program that "crawls" the Web, searching through Web pages and sites and indexing those pages in a database of Web pages that can then be searched using a search engine.

Snail Mail - Refers to using the old postal service to deliver mail by hand.

SQL (Structured Query Language) - A specialized programming language for sending queries to databases. Most industrial-strength and many smaller database applications can be addressed using SQL. Each specific application will have its own version of SQL implementing features unique to that application, but all SQL-capable databases support a common subset of SQL.

Startup Screen - A screen that is automatically displayed when the computer starts up.It may have text or images, and can be programmed by the user.

Subnet - A part of a network, which has the same network address as other parts of the network but a unique subnet number.

Surfing - Wandering around the World Wide Web and looking for interesting/useful information.

SysOp - The SYStem OPerator of a Bulletin Board System. The person responsible for setting up and maintaining the BBS.