E-Book Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email

BASIC INTERNET
SEARCHING
TECHNIQUES & E-MAIL

MOHD SYUKOR CHE OMAR
TS. NUR AZIZUL BIN MOHAMAD NOOR

JABATAN MATEMATIK, SAINS DAN
KOMPUTER
POLITEKNIK SEBERANG PERAI



BASIC INTERNET
SEARCHING

TECHNIQUES & E-MAIL

TUDENTS of

MOHD SYUKOR BIN CHE OMAR
Ts. NUR AZIZUL BIN MOHAMAD NOOR

2021
MATHEMATIC, SCIENCE & COMPUTER DEPARTMENT

ii PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this publication may be translated or reproduced in any retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or

otherwise, without prior permission in writing from Politeknik Seberang Perai.

PUBLISHED BY

Politeknik Seberang Perai
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Pulau Pinang

Tel : 04-538 3322 Fax : 04-538 9266
Email : [email protected] Website : www.psp.edu.my
FB : politeknikseberangperai Ig : politeknikseberangperai

Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Mohd. Syukor Che Omar
BASIC INTERNET SEARCHING TECHNIQUES & E-MAIL / MOHD SYUKOR BIN CHE
OMAR, Ts. NUR AZIZUL BIN MOHAMAD NOOR
Mode of access: Internet
eISBN 978-967-0783-97-0
1. Internet searching.
2. Web search engines.

3. Electronic mail systems.
4. Electronic mail messages.
5. Government publications--Malaysia.
6. Electronic books.
I. Nur Azizul Mohamad Noor, Ts.
II. Title. 025.04

PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We want to express our special thanks of gratitude to our colleagues as well as
our Head of Department who gave us the golden opportunity to do this wonderful
project on writing E-Book: Basic Internet Searching Techniques & E-Mail, which also
helped us in doing much research and we came to know about so many new things
we are thankful to them.

Secondly, we would like to thank our parents, families and friends who helped us a lot
in finalizing this writing within the limited time frame. Thanks again.

iv PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email

PREFACE

In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Beneficent. Praise be to the Lord of all worlds.
Prayers and peace be upon our Prophet, Muhammad, his family and all of his
companions.

First and foremost, Alhamdulillah, all praises to Allah for the strengths He gave us and
His blessing in completing this E-Book: Basic Internet Searching Techniques & E-Mail.

These E-Book contents are produced to meet the latest syllabus of DBC20012
Computer Application in Malaysian Polytechnic Curriculum. It may be used as a
complete set of course notes for students undertaking the study of DBC20012
Computer Application in the first and second semester of Diploma courses.

DBC20012 Computer Application for Polytechnic Students Module contains six main
chapters, and Basic Internet Searching & E-Mail is part of it. We hope that this E-Book
will provide helpful resources to the students and lecturers.

This first edition E-Book benefited from the input of numerous lectures. All comments
and positive feedback from the educators and students are welcome and appreciated.

MOHD SYUKOR BIN CHE OMAR
Ts. NUR AZIZUL BIN MOHAMAD NOOR

PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email v

TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER PAGES

COPYRIGHT DECLARATION…………………………………………………………….. ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT…………………………………………………………………….. iii
PREFACE ……………………………..…………………………………………………………. iv

CHAPTER 1: BASIC INTERNET SEARCHING TECHNIQUES 1
2
1.1 Introduction 3
i. Internet ……………………………………………………………………………………………
ii. Web Browser ………………………………………………………………………………….. 4
iii. World Wide Web ……………………………………………………………………………. 7
7
1.2 Use Search Engine
i. What Are Search Engines? ……………………………………………………………… 9
ii. How Internet Search Work? …………………………………....…………………….. 9
iii. Internet Searching Technique …………………………………………………………. 11
13
1.3 Use Keyword, Phrases, And Synonyms 14
i. Use Keyword …………………………………………………………………………………… 15
ii. Use Multiple Keyword ……………………………………………………………..……… 18
iii. Use Phrases …………………………………………………………………………….………
iv. Use + And – Sign ……………………….……………………………………………………. 20
v. Tilde Symbol (~ Keyword) ………………………………………………..……………… 20
20
1.4 Boolean Searching …………………………………………………………………………………… 22
1.5 Truncation …………………………………………………………..………………………………….. 22

CHAPTER 2: E-MAIL 25
25
2.1 What Is E-Mail? ……………………………………………………………………………... 26
2.2 History Of E-Mail ……………………………………………………………………………. 26
2.3 How Does E-Mail Works? ………………………………………………………………. 27
2.4 E-Mail Service Provider …………………………………………………………………..
2.5 Comparison Between Email Service Providers ……………………………….. 29
2.6 E-Mail Interface
29
i. Inbox ……………………………………………………………………………………… 30
ii. Starred …………………………………………………………………………………… 30
iii. Sent Messaged ……………………………………………………………………….
iv. Spam ………………………………………………………………………………………
v. Compose ………………………………………………………………………………..

CHAPTER 3: E-MAIL SECURITY & PRIVACY

3.1 E-Mail Verification ………………………………………………………………………….
3.2 E-Mail Security & Privacy

i. What Is Password? …………………………………………………………………
ii. How Does Password Works? …………………………………………………..
iii. Creating Password ………………………………………………………………….

vi PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email

3.3 Use Secure Internet Access 31
i. Rename The Router And Network …………………………………………. 31
ii. Use Solid And Hard-To-Guess Passwords ……………………………….. 31
iii. Constantly Update Anti-Virus And Operating System …………….. 32
iv. Turn On Encryption ………………………………………………………………… 32
v. Use Various Firewalls …………………………………………………………….. 32
vi. Turn Off The WPS Setting ………………………………………………………. 32
vii. Use A VPN ………………………………………………………………………………
vii
REFERENCE…….…………………………………….………………………………………...

PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email 1

CHAPTER 1 | BASIC INTERNET SEARCH TECHNIQUES AND
EMAIL

1.1 Introduction

Today we live in a world of technology, where the internet, spins a web of interconnectivity around
the globe. Through the internet, more than fifty million people in countries around the world have
been connected. The terms Internet and World Wide Web (www) are often used interchangeably, but
they are not the same thing. The World Wide Web (www) is a great source of information, growing
rapidly daily with the content being submitted by individuals, groups, and organizations from all over
the world. It’s easy for students & researchers to become exhausted by the huge volume of offer
information. It’s also easy to waste valuable time searching through results only to find information
that may or may not be relevant. The Web uses the structure to find and display information from a
variety of sources.

i. Internet
 The Internet is known as “the interconnection of computer networks”. It comprises
of millions computing devices that carry and transfer volumes of information from
one device to the other. Desktop computers, GPS units, cell phones, car alarms,
video game consoles, can communicate and share information with any other
devices as long as they are both connected to the Internet.

2 PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email

Figure 1 Internet & WWW

ii. Web Browser
 A web browser (commonly referred to as a browser) is the application software used
to access various websites and web pages such as World Wide Web (www). When a
user requests a web page from a particular website, the web browser retrieves the
necessary content from a web server and then displays the page on the user's device.
 Web browsers are used on a range of devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets,
and smartphones. There are many browsers such as Internet Explorer, Google
Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera.
 In 2020, an estimated 4.9 billion people used a browser. The most used browser is
Google Chrome, with a 64% global market share on all devices, followed by Safari
with 19%. The web browser is not the same thing as a search engine

PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email 3

Figure 2 : Web Browser
iii. World Wide Web

 The World Wide Web (WWW) is an internet-based service, which has massive
collection of digital pages to access information over the Internet. It uses a common
set of rules known as protocols, to distribute documents across the Internet in a
standard way.

 The World Wide Web is also known as ‘Web’ is a part of the Internet. The Web is
viewed through web browser software such as Google Chrome, Internet Explorer,
Mozilla Firefox, etc. Using browsers one can access the digital libraries containing
innumerable articles, journals, e-books, news, tutorials stored in the form of web
pages on computers around the world via hyperlinks.

 The Web page has a unique address called a URL or Web Address. For example:
http://www. psp.edu.my

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Figure 3 Politeknik Seberang Perai website

1.2 Use Search Engine

i. What are search engines?
 A search engine is a website that provides links to other websites. However, to
connect to a website's server and display its web pages, a user must have a web
browser installed.
 Search engines are large databases of web page files. You can search for information
on the Web using any number of different search engines.
 The search engine matches the exact keywords entered against the documents
available on the Internet and returns a list of documents in which the keywords were
found. Google and Yahoo are the most popular search engines.
 The information is searched through a Search Engine & there are a number of these
available. The most commonly used include Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com, AOL, and
MSN. All Search Engines have a different interface and function slightly differently.
For example, Google & Ask.com are linked ranking engines which means that they

PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email 5

consider the relevance and importance of the results found. Other Search Engines
such as Yahoo rank by general content. Consequently, Search Engines will often find
different search results, so it’s a good idea not to rely solely on just one Search
Engine.

Figure 4 Internet Search Engine

Figure 5 www.bing.com

6 PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email

Figure 6 www.google.com
Figure 7 Photo Courtesy to google

PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email 7

ii. How does internet Search work?
 When you use a search engine (such as Google, Yahoo, Ask, Bing) you are asking it
to scan its index of sites and match your keywords and phrases with those in the
texts of documents within its database.
 The information you retrieve will depend on the search engines and the search
terms you use.
 How does Google search works (in 5 minutes)?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eKVizvYSUQ

iii. Internet Searching Technique
 Check your search engine’s home page or initial screen to find out its default or
basic settings. Look for “tools”, “images”, “videos”, “news” and “maps” for quick
searching.

Figure 8 Google search engine tools setting

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Figure 9 Microsoft Bing search engine tools setting

 The following basic commands should be plenty of info for most people and should
work in most of the major search engines:
a. Use keywords, phrases and synonyms, and symbols
b. Use Boolean technique
c. Use truncation.

1.3 Use keywords, phrases, and synonyms

a. Firstly, take time to think about exactly what you are looking for and be specific.
b. Once you identify your topic break it into key concepts or points.
c. Write down all the keywords and phrases that best describe your topic.
d. Think of synonyms or related terms for each concept or point.
e. Consider spelling variations as well as the singular and plural of words.
Example:
Topic: I want to research on Social Media among the teenagers.

• What about this topic are you interested in?
• Do you want to how many teenagers using social media (statistics), most social media

applications, effect, and impact on teenagers?

PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email 9

i. Use Keyword
Example: If you are researching social media and the teenager consider these related terms:
Social Media: Social media sites, apps, platforms, social networks.
Teenager: boys, girls, age

Figure 10 Result searching of keyword
ii. Use multiple keywords

d. A multiple keyword searches retrieves more specific or focused results
e. Example: impact of social media among teenagers
f. When using a multiple keywords search, put the most important keywords first

10 PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email

Figure 11 Result searching using google

PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email 11

Figure 12 Result searching using Microsoft bing
iii. Use phrases

a. Use quotes “ ” marks around phrases to make sure they are searched exactly as is
otherwise most search engines will look for each word separately

b. Example:
i. “nursing care plan”
ii. “Covid-19 Epidemic in Malaysia”

12 PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email

Figure 13 Result searching “nursing care plan” using google

Figure 14 Result searching “Covid-19 Epidemic in Malaysia” using google

PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email 13

iv. Use + and - sign
a. Use a plus sign + in front of a word to require its inclusion (no space between the
sign and the word).
b. A word or phrase preceded by a + must be present in the search results.
Example: Microsoft +gates
c. Use a minus sign – in front of a word to require its exclusion (no space between the
sign and the word)
d. A word or phrase preceded by a – will exclude that word in the search results
Example: Microsoft -gates

Figure 15 Result of searching Microsoft +gates

14 PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email

Figure 16 Result of searching Microsoft -gates
v. Tilde symbol (~ keyword)

a. Use tilde when you want synonyms to appear in the result.
b. Example: music ~classes
c. Here you only get music classes, lessons, and coaching.

Figure 17 Photo courtesy to google

PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email 15

1.4 Boolean searching

The biggest mistake a search engine user makes is to enter a single non-descript keyword. If you type
“car” into Google and click the Google Search button, you will receive over 900 million search results.
To narrow your search, start by adding more keywords. Adding the keywords battery dead after car
will return less than a million search hits. To enhance your search further, you will need to construct
a complex inquiry. A complex ask uses Boolean operators to define the relationships among your
keywords.

Common Boolean operators include AND, OR, and NOT. The AND operator restricts your search results
by telling the search engine to return only Web pages that contain all the specified keywords (e.g., car
AND battery AND dead). It is unnecessary to use this Boolean operator in Google because, by default,
it assumes any keywords or phrases you enter are connected by the AND operator. The OR operator
lets you expand your search by locating all the pages that contain a least one of the specified keywords
(e.g., car OR automobile OR vehicle). The NOT operator, symbolized by the (-) minus sign in Google,
causes the search engine to exclude pages that contain certain keywords (e.g., -buy). You can combine
these operators to create a complex query that will locate the exact information you desire.

For example, if you are looking for details about a dead car battery and you don’t want to be bothered
with sales pitches, you could enter this complex query: car battery dead (buy OR -purchase OR -sale).
Google will return pages about dead car batteries, but exclude those with the words “buy, purchase,
or sale,” thus, reducing the chances you will be pestered by sites attempting to sell you a new battery.
To learn more about how to improve your searches with Boolean operators, here’s how they work:

a. Use of the “operator” AND narrows your search because the results must contain all
of the search terms connected by the word AND, not just one of the words.
Example: i. heart AND lung

ii. caffeine AND sports performance

16 PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email

Figure 18 heart AND lung search result

PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email 17

Figure 19 caffeine AND sport performance search result
b. Use of the “operator” OR broadens your search because the results must contain at

least one of the search terms connected by the word OR. The same purpose as OR, we
can use Vertical bar ( | ).

Example: i. heart OR lung
ii. adolescent OR teenager

18 PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email

Figure 20 heart OR lung search result
c. Use of the “operator” NOT excludes the term so that your results do not contain any

of the terms that follow it.
d. Use of NOT excludes unwanted concepts or words.

Example: i. lung disease NOT smoking

Figure 21 lung disease NOT smoking search result

1.5 Truncation

Truncation also called stemming, is a technique that broadens your search to include various word
endings and spellings. Examples of spelling variations can be seen in the difference between American
and British spelling. To use truncation, enter the root of a word and put the truncation symbol at the
end. The database will return results that include any ending of that root word. For example, if you
type in the keyword, interact* the database will search for interact, interacting, interaction, and
interactivity.

Examples:
allerg$ = allergy, allergic, allergen
gastro* = gastroenteritis, gastrointestinal, gastroenterologist
pediatric* = paediatric, orthopedic, orthopaedic

Truncation symbols may vary by database; common symbols include: *, $ or ?

PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email 19

Figure 22 Example of truncation search

20 PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email

CHAPTER 2 | E-MAIL

2.1 What is e-mail?

E-mail (abbreviation of e-mail, synonym for e-mail, e-mail) is a method of dialling, using, storing, and
receiving messages by an electronic communication system. The term "e-mail" (as a noun or verb)
means an Internet e-mail system based on the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) as well as X.400
systems, as well as intranet systems that users for users in an organization that uses mutual e-mail.
Often these workgroups can use Internet protocols or 400 for internal e-mail services. E-mails that are
often used to send mass messages without the need for so-called "spam" are still filtering programs
to delete them related to the problem.

2.2 History of e-Mail

E-mail was designed long before the existence of the Internet and was an essential tool in the creation
of the Internet. In 1961, MIT first demonstrated a Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS) that
allowed many users to log into the IBM 7094 from a remote dial terminal and online store files to disk.
These new capabilities encourage users to share information in new ways. E-mail was started in 1965
as a method for many mainframe computer users to share time to communicate with each other.
Although the exact history is unclear, the earliest systems to have such facilities are the Q32 by SDC
and CTSS by MIT.
E-mail so rapidly evolved into network e-mail that allowed users to send messages between different
computers as early as 1966 (it is possible that the SAGE system was somewhat similar to this
sometimes before).
The ARPANET computer network contributed significantly to the development of e-mail. A report
marked the transfer of e-mail between systems experimented on it shortly after its creator in 1969.
Ray Tomlinson began using the ‘@’ symbol to separate usernames and machine names in 1971. The
ARPANET significantly increased the popularity of e-mail; hence e-mail is the founder application for
the ARPANET.

PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email 21

2.3 How does e-Mail works?

Figure 23 How E-Mail Works?

The diagram above shows the typical sequence of events when Alice composes a message using her
Mail Operator (MUA). She enters or selects from her address book the email address of her addressee.
She clicked the "send" button.

1. The MUA formats the message in an Internet e-mail format and uses the Simple Mail Transfer
Protocol (SMTP) to send the message to a local mail transfer agent (MTA), smtp.a.org operated by
the Internet Service Provider (ISP) Alice subscription.

2. The MTA checks the destination address given in the SMTP protocol (not from the message
header), i.e., [email protected]. The Internet address e-mail address is a series of forms
[email protected], identified as a Fully Qualified Domain Address (FQDA). Before,
the '@' symbol is the local part of the address, which is usually the recipient's username, while the
part after the '@' symbol is the domain name. The MTA searches for this domain name in the
Domain Name System to find the mail exchange server that receives messages from that domain.

3. The DNS server for the b.org domain, ns.b.org, responded with an MX record is listing the mail
exchange server for that domain, namely mx.b.org, a server operated by Bob's ISP.

4. smtp.a.org sends the message to mx.b.org using SMTP, which sends it to a user's mailbox named
bob.

5. Bob presses the "get mail" button in his MUA, which picks up the message using Post Office
Protocol (POP3).
Be reminded that the parties, e-mail addresses, and domain names in this explanation are purely
non-existent.

22 PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email

2.4 Example e-mail service provider

Figure 24 E-Mail Service Provider

2.5 Comparison between email service providers.

This comparison is based on the launch year, cost of service, storage in the mailbox, attachment
limit, and language support.

Table 1 Comparison Between Email Service Providers

Product Released Cost Mailbox Attachment limit Supported
storage 25 MB languages
AOL Mail 1993 Free (with ads)
Unlimited 54

Mail.com 1996 Free (with ads) or Unlimited 30 MB 3
$3.95/month or

$19.95/year

Outlook.com 1996 Free (with ads); Paid 15 GB 32 MB (Unlimited 106
(Hotmail) option via OneDrive)
(Live Mail, German,
Hotmail) 2012 Free (with ads) 1 GB English,
(Outlook) 65 GB (free French,
Excite Free (with ads) or Paid Spanish
GMX Mail 1997 (€3–5/month) for
gmx.com), English
(gmx.net) 1997 $4.95 per month 50 MB (free)
$19.95 yearly 1.5 (for 50–100 MB (paid)
Lycos 1997 gmx.de/net)
35 MB
5 GB

PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email 23

Rediffmail 1997 Free (with ads) and Unlimited 25 MB 11
Paid: ₹399 (US$5.60)

/year
for POP3; ₹50 (70¢ US)

/month for mobile

Yahoo! Mail 1997 Free (with ads) 1 TB 25 MB 27
Mail.ru 1998 Unlimited (150 MB per file 11
Fastmail 1999 Yahoo! Mail Plus $49.99 37
Hushmail 1999 via Dropbox) English
Free (with ads) or paid
options 50 MB

$30/year to $90/year[9] 2 GB to 50 MB
100 GB
Free 14-day trial 20 MB per file,
$49.98 year (Premium) 10 GB total 50 MB per
(Premium)
mail

Runbox 2000 Minimum (micro plan): 1 GB (micro 100 MB (micro 2
$19.95/year or plan) plan)
€14.95/year[70]

Yandex Mail 2000 Free (with ads) Unlimited 22 MB per file, 10
Rackspace 2001 total 30 MB per 12
2004 mail (2 GB per file 71
Gmail 2007 via Yandex Disk)[84] 38
Gandi 2008 16
Zoho Mail 2009 $2.99/user/month 25 GB 50 MB 3
Posteo free: 15 GB
Free (with ads); [20] (can 25 MB
$6/user/month on the purchase
(10 GB per file
user's domain more); via Google Drive)

Free (no ads); Multi- paid: 30 GB 25 MB
tiered pricing
3 GB (free), 20MB free, 30 or
Personal Free (no ads); 50 GB 50 MB paid
Premium options $24 to
5 GB "Lite".
$99/user yearly
"Standard":
10 & 15 GB

2 GB storage 50 MB

24 PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email

€1/month to (can be
€1,45/month increased)

iCloud[c] 2011 Free (no ads) or 5 GB (Free), 20 MB 4
$0.99/month, 50 GB, 200
Tutanota 2011 $2.99/month, or GB, or 2 TB (5GB per message 30
$9.99/month[d] with Mail Drop via
Kolab Now 2013 monthly English
Mailfence 2013 Free (no ads) iCloud) 7
ProtonMail 2013 1 GB Free 10
2020 €12 year (Premium) and 25 MB
HEY English
Free 30-day trial Premium,
From 4.41 CHF/month 10GB Teams.

(individuals), 5.38 Can be
CHF/month (groups) upgraded to
10GB, 100GB,
Free (no ads)
€2.5/month (Entry) or 1TB.
€7.5/month (Pro)
€25/month (Ultra) 2 GB, can ?
purchase
Free (no ads); Multi-
tiered pricing more

Free 14-day trial 500 MB (free) 10 MB (Free)
$99/year 5 GB (Entry) 50

or 20 GB (Entry/Pro/Ultra)
(Pro) or 50
GB (Ultra) 25 MB

500 MB (free)

5 to 20 GB

100 GB ?

PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email 25

2.6 E-Mail interface

We will then look at the e-mail interface, including the features available in an e-mail. To see what
functionality is available on an e-mail service, we will refer to GMAIL as an example. There are several
features available in e-mail, such as inbox, message pane, and compose pane.

a. INBOX

Figure 25 GMAIL Inbox
In this mailbox, it displays the inbound email. We will know who sent the email, the email's
subject, and the attachment on the mailbox.
b. STARRED

Figure 26 Starred Messages
Each email we receive can be set to a "star" to quickly tag and locate essential emails.

26 PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email

c. SENT MESSAGE

Figure 27 Sent Messages Folder
In the 'SENT' section, it displays all emails sent by the sender.
d. SPAM

Figure 28 Spam Messages
Spam Mail also referred to as Spam or simply SPAM is an unsolicited message sent en masse via
email (Spam). The name comes from a Monty Python sketch where Spam's canned pig product
is ubiquitous, inevitable, and repetitive. Spam has continued to grow since the early 1990s, and
in 2014 it was estimated to represent about 90% of total email traffic.

PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email 27

e. COMPOSE
When the 'COMPOSE' button is clicked, it will display a new 'WINDOWS,' 'COMPOSE PANE.'

Figure 29 New Compose Message Window
TO: In the 'TO' section, the sender must type the recipient's email address. If multiple recipients,
each recipient's address must be spaced with a comma ',.' Examples [email protected],
[email protected].
CC: Carbon copy - the email address in that section CC will also receive a copy of the email.
BCC: Blind Carbon Copy - allows the message sender to hide the list of recipient names
entered in the BCC field from other recipients.
SEND: When this button is clicked, the email continues to be sent to all addresses in TO, CC, and
BCC. The sender can also schedule the delivery time.
A: Allows the sender to format the email text, e.g., font type used, font size, font colour,
underlined format, bold, and so on.
Paper Clip Icon: Attachment - An email attachment is a computer file sent within an email
message. An email attachment can be numerous different types such as image, video, MP3,

28 PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email

document, file or zipped folder, etc. You may send up to 25MB as attachments. If there is more
than one attachment, the total cannot exceed 25MB. If your file is more significant than 25 MB,
Gmail will automatically add a Google Drive link to your email instead of including it as an
attachment.

Insert Link: You can easily create hyperlinks within your Gmail drafts by clicking the hypertext
button or using the CTRL (or COMMAND) + K option on your desktop.

Further functions of the Composer Pane include insert emoji, insert file using the drive, insert
photo and insert signature.

PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email 29

CHAPTER 3 | E-MAIL SECURITY & PRIVACY

3.1 Email Verification

Each user who has registered an email account must verify and complete the registration across

multiple media such as SMS verification, second email verification, and ReCAPTCHA verification. The

authentication techniques for this email provider are shown in the table below.

Table 2 Email Service Provider and Verification Methods

Product SMS verification Secondary email Proprietary captcha
verification (ReCAPTCHA or
other)
AOL Mail Yes Unknown Yes

Excite Yes Yes Yes

FastMail Yes Yes Yes

Gmail Yes Optional Yes
GMX Mail email or mobile phone email or mobile phone Yes
Hushmail Yes
iCloud Yes Yes Yes
Laposte.net Unknown Unknown Yes
Lycos Optional Optional Yes

Mail.com Yes No Yes

Mail.ru No Optional Yes
Mailfence Yes
Outlook.com Yes Unknown Yes
ProtonMail No Yes Yes
Rackspace Yes Yes
Rediffmail email or mobile phone Unknown Yes
No Optional secondary email Yes (ReCaptcha on
Yes registration)
Yes No
Yes Yes
Yes
Runbox No Yes Yes

Tutanota No No
Yahoo! Mail Yes Unknown
Yandex Mail Yes Unknown
Zoho Mail Yes
Yes

3.2 E-mail Security & Privacy

i. WHAT IS PASSWORD
A password is a type of data combined with several characters used by users to identify and
self-authenticate when accessing a computer network or resource to obtain or read the desired
information. The data to be entered is confidential and strictly controlled, where everyone who
wants to enter the system will be tested so that only people who know the correct password
can enter.

30 PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email

ii. HOW DOES PASSWORD WORKS?

How is a password used to grant access?
Here are the steps on how a password works.
Step 1 - Users browse the website and create their username and password.
Step 2 - The password that has been created will be entered into the hash function, and the
hash stores it in the database.
Step 3 - When users log in, they re-enter their username and password on the site.
Step 4 - The password entered will go through the same hashing function as used previously.
Step 5 - The server checks this hash with the one stored for the user in the database.
Step 6 - If the two hashes are the same (user-entered input and data stored in the database),
the user is granted access.

iii. CREATING PASSWORD
Each individual needs to set a password on the device as well as on any account online.
Examples are social media, online banking, and e-commerce platforms. This password is used
to verify the identity of the user during the verification process. It is also essential to protect
user data within the forum from being exposed. Creating your password is necessary because
it is a personal secret. We cannot create passwords that others can guess, such as identity card
numbers, vehicle plate numbers, dates of birth, etc. Unique keyword creation (long passwords,
combinations of characters and numbers, and symbols). The longer the password, the harder it
is for hackers to guess and hack. Email also requires a password to prevent intrusion from third
parties. The table below shows examples of basic passwords and passwords that consist of a
combination of symbols and numbers and the position of the password in terms of security.
Also displayed is the length of time the password can be guessed and hacked.

PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email 31

Figure 30 Password Strength Chart

3.3 Use secure internet access

Network security prevents unauthorized users and hackers from accessing Wi-Fi networks and devices
that use them. Several techniques can be practiced protecting the security of internet access.

i. Rename the router and network.
Users who use routers and network adapters at home should always change their passwords as
often as possible. This is to prevent hacking activities. Of course, both devices are equipped with
a default password, but users must set a new password once they activate both devices.

ii. Use solid and hard-to-guess passwords (read previous topics)
For a detail of this, you can refer to the previous sub-topic.

iii. Constantly update anti-virus and operating system.
The router needs to be updated periodically. The router manufacturer updates the firmware on
the router whenever a vulnerability is detected, as does the operating system on your phone or
PC. Set a reminder to check your router settings every month to see if there are any updates.
All these updates will notify you of new threats that will attack your device.

32 PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email

iv. Turn on encryption.
These days every router on the market includes encryption, which is one of the easiest methods
to secure your internet connection. For setup steps, you can refer to the supplied manual. One
of the steps requires you to set a password. At this point, you will need to enter a password or
network key. This password is different from the one you use for your router and will connect
all devices to your Wi-Fi network.

v. Use various firewalls to prevent hacking activities.
A firewall is a security device - computer hardware or software - that can help protect your
network by filtering traffic and blocking outsiders from gaining unauthorized access to personal
data on your computer. Firewalls not only block unwanted traffic but can also help stop
malicious software from infecting your computer. You are encouraged to install more than one
firewall so that your computer equipment gets more protection.

vi. Turn off the WPS setting (Wi-Fi protected setup).
To turn off this WPS function on your router, you can refer to the manual that came with your
router.

vii. Use a VPN (a virtual private network).
Virtual Private Network or VPN allows you to establish a more secure connection to other
networks via the internet. VPNs can also be used to access websites or online services that are
restricted according to certain countries. It is also often used to protect your data and activities
from third parties that you may not be aware of while surfing the internet.

PSP eBook | Basic Internet Searching Techniques & Email vii

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Edwards, R. (2021, SEPTEMBER 10). How Can I Secure My Internet Connection? Retrieved
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Searching with Truncation, Wildcards, and Proximity. (2019, October). Retrieved from
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