Internet Tools

Information sources about utilities, tools, and applications used on the Internet for information, communication, and interaction

Welcome

This web helps you explore tools used on the Internet for information, communication, and interaction; here, you'll find organized and annotated links to Web sites about Internet utilities, tools, and applications. You can view and link to this information in a variety of ways, and your suggestions are welcome. Use the links at the top of this page to navigate and access this information

Edited by: You can contact the editor of this information with your ideas and corrections; there are different formats for this information
- John December: Editor of this information since 1993
- Suggestion?: please send a correction of any information you find here or your suggestion to johndecember@gmail.com via email with the subject line net-tools
Formats: You can view and link to this information in a variety of ways; find the level of detail that is right for your needs; pages are available for each section; you can link to and use the page that fits your needs
- Net Tools brief: Outline of sections; shows the section names with a link on the section name to a file showing the entries and annotations for that section; put your cursor over the section name to see a popup describing it; this format is useful to quickly select and load only the section that you'd like to see; this is a good format to show someone new to this information so as not to overwhelm them with too many links on a page
- Net Tools index: Table; shows all entries with short labels in a table format; put your cursor over labels or section headings to see a popup description; links on section names take you to a file showing the entries and annotations for that section
- Net Tools mini: Compressed table; shows all entries and section names with short labels and no linebreaks; put your cursor over labels or section names to see a popup description; links on section names take you to a file showing all the entries and annotations for that section; useful if you are familiar with the information and want all the links in a smaller amount of space
- Net Tools all: Everything in one big file; shows all entries and all annotations in one HTML file; useful if you want to see everything at once or search for a text string in this information; to search, use your Web browser's Find feature; in Microsoft Internet Explorer, do this by selecting from the titlebar menu "Edit," then "Find on this page"; or you can just hit Control/F keys; links on section names go to a file showing entries and annotations for that section
Updates: List of recently-added entries or entries that have a new Uniform Resource Locator or description
- Robtext (Information Utilities), Domain Tools (Information Utilities), Social (Communication Group), Video (Communication Mass), WhoisNet

Current

Current conditions and news

Conditions: Current condition of data transfer rates and connectivity of the Internet
- Health: The Internet Health Report; shows data about network performance between major United States Internet backbones; updated every 15 minutes; matrix display shows latency in milliseconds; useful for seeing major latency problems and overall health of Internet; provided by Keynote Systems, Inc
- Attacks: Digital Attack Map; live data visualization of DDoS attacks around the globe; provided by collaboration between Google Ideas and Arbor Networks

Information

Tools used for information retrieval; primarily where the user, with client software, retrieves information from a host or server

Utilities

Software tools that are used to get a specific piece of information or perform a specific, focused task

One-Calculator: Use a variety of tools from one panel; includes Ip Subnet Calculator, CIDR Calculator, Wildcard Mask Calculator, IP Range Address Calculator, Broadcast Address Calculator, Steam Estimated Revenue Calculator, Mobile Game AD Revenue Calculator, and Piping Offset Calculator
Network Tools: Explore a variety of online network tools; developed by network engineers, for network engineers; IPv4 Subnet Tools; IPv6 Subnet Tools; Configuration/File Comparison; Cisco Routing Table Comparison
Tools4Internet: for testing different aspects of the Internet and network infrastructure; includes ping or trace route, whois domain name information, web content analysis, web site traffc information, pinpointing any host or IP address on the map, security analysis
CAIDA Utilities: Tools, software, and a taxonomy of research and visualization tools; from the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis
Diagnostic: Net diagnostics; description and reviews of downloadable software to analyze your Internet connection to figure out why it seems so slow; from internet.com portal
Domain Tools: Whois lookup and domain name tools and information; domain suggestions, domains for sale, DNS tools, domain monitor, reverse IP, domain history, traceroute, ping
Network Admin Tools: tools for network administrators and engineers; monitoring and management, Netflow/sFlow/Ipfix collectors and analyzers, Bandwidth Monitoring Software, firewall tools, Snmp and Wmi
IPAddressGuide: Free web-based IP address and domain name tools for Ping, Traceroute, NSLookup, CIDR, geolocation and HTML Validator.
Showipaddress: Identify your IP address plus; other utilities include WHOIS WHOIS IP DNS DIG Valid Email Port HTTP Ping Trace LG Query
ipfinder.info: Displays your computer's Internet Protocol address; includes links to information about related Internet Protocol tools
iTools/Internet: Internet Tools form; Web form to allow use of TCP/IP network tools (ping, nslookup, DNS, host check), Web tools (link popularity, server performance), and HTMTL tools (validator and tidy)
Multimedia tools: Multimedia and Video Viewers; description and reviews of downloadable client software for viewing movies, listening to sound files (including streaming); from internet.com portal
Net: Net utilities; description and reviews of downloadable software such as Internet toolbars, network monitors, automation apps, and others; from internet.com portal
Net Agents: Internet agent software; description and reviews of downloadable software such for filtering and downloading information from Web sites, using multiple search engines, improving the speed of your Internet transfer, downloading product updates, and other tasks; from internet.com portal
Networking: TCP IP Networking freeware; downloadable, freeware software to help with domain lookups, ip addresses, ftp, network information, and others; section from WebAttack.com software site
Nslookup: Utility to query Internet domain servers to find out information about an Internet host; definition from Free-Online Dictionary of Computing;
Nslookup Def: Get Internet Protocol address or addresses based on a domain name
Ping: Ping via Web form; online form you can use to ping an Internet host; includes documentation
Ping Def: Utility used to test reachability of Internet destinations; sends Internet Control Message Protocol echo requests and waits for replies; definition from Free-Online Dictionary of Computing;
Primer: Primer On Internet and TCP/IP Tools and Utilities; an introductory guide to many of the most commonly-available TCP/IP and Internet tools and utilities; covers NSLOOKUP, ping, finger, traceroute, telnet, ftp, WHOIS/NICNAME, KNOWBOT, Archie, Gopher, Veronica, Jughead, WAIS, WWW; note that some of these tools are obsolete (see Graveyard section, below)
Robtext: "Swiss army knife" internet tool; checks a variety of things: if your mailserver is listed in any blacklist, ipnumber, dns-info for a specific hostname, dns-info for a domain, whois-info for a domain, reverse for a c-net, a specific route
Subnet Calcs: free online subnet, supernet, and CIDR calculators
Traceroute: Utility to determine the route packets take from a host to another host; definition from Free-Online Dictionary of Computing;
Visualroute: Visual demonstration of a tracerout service; choose a VisualRoute server to see a map of the route packets travel from it to an Internet host of your choosing
Who.is: Lookup and domain search service ; queries domain registrars and returns domain name report
Whois RFC: NICNAME/WHOIS; a TCP transaction based query/response server that provides netwide directory service to internet users; can be used to identify owner and administrative contacts for a domain name; K. Harrenstien, M. Stahl, E. Feinler, Request for Comments 954, October 1985

Tools

Applications, clients and servers; enable storage of information on servers for access by users who have client software for a range of purposes more complex than just utility tasks

Serverwatch: Information about Internet servers; includes news, downloads, and reviews of Web, mail, news, ftp, and other servers; part of internet.com
FTP RFC: File Transfer Protocol (FTP); describes FTP terms and operation; Request for Comments 959, J. Reynolds, J. Reynolds, October 1985
FTPplanet: Directory of File Transfer Protocol information and software; includes instruction guides, help, and technical information about using FTP
FTP Clients: File Transfer Protocol software; description and reviews of downloadable software for transferring files over the Internet; from internet.com portal
Telnet RFC: The Remote User Telnet Service; describes the telnet protocol and its operation; Request for Comments 818, J. Postel, November 1982
Telnet Clients: Telnet software; description and reviews of downloadable software for allowing you to login to a remote computer host and use it as if on a terminal; from internet.com portal
WWW: World Wide Web Consortium; develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) for the World Wide Web
WWW Browsers: Web Browsers; a list of downloads for Web browser software with reviews; from internet.com portal
Webreference: Web technician's reference; includes discussion of technical issues involved in Web implementation
Web Development: Web content development; discussion of a methodology for Web content development involving issues of audience and purpose
HTML Station: HTML reference; includes demonstrations, tutorials, codes, specification summaries, techniques/technologies descriptions, and supporting information about hypertext markup language (HTML) and related technologies

Graveyard

Obsolete or old tools no longer used; these tools were introduced and used, for the most part, extensively during their heyday (except WAIS which was never used extensively); now, information about them is valuable for historical reasons; many of these tools introduced functionality that is used today in other software

Archie: ArchiePlex; Archie was used to search for information stored on FTP servers and is now no longer in operation; this Web page is for historical interest only
Finger: Web form to try the finger command; unlikely to work, as most Internet hosts refuse finger requests; historical interest
Finger RFC: The Finger User Information Protocol; a simple protocol which provides an interface to a remote user information program; finger is now rarely used for security reasons
Gopher RFC: The Internet Gopher Protocol; a distributed document search and retrieval protocol; describes this protocol used for presenting Internet information which was developed at the University of Minnesota just as the World Wide Web was being widely introduced; subsequent development of the Web and its browsers made Gopher obsolete, although for most of the rest of the 20th century, Web browsers would display information presenting from gopher servers; now, some Web browsers don't even support the gopher protocol; Request for Comments 1436, F. Anklesaria, M. McCahill, P. Lindner, D. Johnson, D. Torrey, B. Alberti, University of Minnesota, March 1993
Veronica: Definition; Veronica was used to search for information stored on gopher servers; as gopher died, so did Veronica; name derives from comic book character who was a friend of Archie, reflecting Veronica's similar purpose with regard to Gopher as Archie was to FTP; definition with hypertext links from Free Online Dictionary of Computing
WAIS RFC: WAIS over Z39.50-1988; description of Wide Area Information Servers, a system for searching, browsing, and presenting information which was introduced with just as the World Wide Web grew in popularity with its easy-to-use graphical interface; no known operational WAIS servers in existence well before the 20th century's end; Request for Comments 1625, M. St. Pierre, J. Fullton, K. Gamiel, J. Goldman, B. Kahle, J. Kunze, H. Morris, F. Schiettecatte, June 1994

Communication

Software used primarily to enable human-to-human communication on the Internet; in small or large groups, ranging from interpersonal to mass communication

Interpersonal

Software used for a person communicating with another person or with a small group of people

Email Clients: description and reviews of downloadable software for sending and receiving email; from internet.com portal
Email Free: Directory of free email services; Although free email has becoming less available, there are still some Web sites that offer it, and this directory provides you with information about them as well as information for using Web-based email
Email Spam FYI: Don't Spew; A Set of Guidelines for Mass Unsolicited Mailings and Postings (spam); a discussion of unsolicited electronic mail and how to avoid it; Request for Comments 2635, For Your Information 35, S. Hambridge, A. Lunde, June 1999
ICQ: Instant messaging software; ICQ is short for "I Seek You"
Messenger: America Online Instant Messenger; real-time text exchange for small groups
Phones: Internet Phones; description and reviews of downloadable software to allow for voice communication over the Internet, much like a phone call; from internet.com portal

Group

Software used for group and large group communication, some of which is open (in which anyone with client software can join)

Chat Clients: Real-time exchange software; Description and reviews of downloadable software for real-time exchange (chat) of text and multimeida; from internet.com portal
Collaboration: Section from World Wide Web Organization's web on collaboration; covers collaboration, knowledge representation, annotation of objects by objects, notification, and any other issues which arise in the creation of shared information systems and collaborative development
Conferencing: Conferencing on the Web; a comprehensive guide to software for discussion on the Internet, including econferencing, forums and message boards, instant messaging, video and audio conferencing, groupware, social software for virtual communities, virtual teams, collaborative workgroups, intranets, e-learning, knowledge management; maintained by David R. Woolley
Groupware: Groupware section from Usability First; groupware is software designed for groups and for communication; This section provides a general overview of groupware, computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW), and associated design and usability issues
Blogs: Blogosphere Index; A reference page showing key links and feeds for exploring the blog community
Social: Social Nets Index; A reference page showing key social networking sites
User: User-generated navigation; a list of Web-based user-generated navigation content including social bookmarking and shared tagging or rankings of online resources
IRC Help: Internet Relay Chat (IRC) help archive; provides FAQs, primers, guides, downloadable clients and scripts, and server lists; useful for both beginners and frequent users of IRC
LISTSERV App: Mailing list management software; allows users to create and maintain e-mail lists on their corporate network or on the Internet, including newsletters, moderated and unmoderated discussion groups and direct marketing campaigns; LISTSERV is a software product of L-Soft international, Inc.
LISTSERV lists: CataList public LISTSERV lists; the official catalog of LISTSERV lists containing tens of thousands of public LISTSERV lists available on a wide range of topics
Tile.net: Directory of email discussion lists; provides access to descriptions of electronic mail discussion lists
Topica: Email discussion lists; catalog of thousands of public mailing lists on many topics
Usenet Info: Usenet Info Center Launch Pad; information about Usenet including introduction, history, and help information
Usenet via Web: Google Groups; read and browse Usenet newsgroups using your Web browser as a client software
Usenet FAQs: Archive of Usenet Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) postings; these are the FAQ postings of individual newsgroups on many topics and serve as a kind of collective memory for Usenet knowledge, lore, and historical documents

Mass

Sites that demonstrate the Internet's use as a means of mass communication; these lists link you to resources to find Internet-based mass media or streaming media outlets

Mass Media: List of mass media outlets; use to locate newspaper, television, radio, magazine, Web sites, and streaming media outlets
Net Audio: Index of Net audio resources; includes streaming audio directories, international broadcasters, radio networks, and information on streaming audio technology, publications, and organizations related to Internet broadcasting and streaming media
Net Video: Index of Net video; includes content sites

Interaction

Interactivity software; these listings show how the Internet can be used to enable immediate human-computer communication

Java: Java Information Sources; sources of information about the Java programming language including major sites, news, discussion, software engineering and object-oriented reference information
BotSpot: Portal for information on Internet robots (bots); A Bot is a software tool for processing data; It will seek information based on instructions and return with answers or perform a useful task

Reference

Sources of further information

Info

Information for further exploration of Internet tools issues as well as source information used to prepare the Internet Tools Summary

Infrastructure: Computing, networks, and content infrastructure; technologies that support the computing, network, and content infrastructure for enabling computer-mediated communication on the Internet
Organizations: Networking and Standards; organizations involved in setting standards to enable computer-mediated communication on networks
Docs RFC/etc: Internet document archives of Internet RFC/STD/FYI/BCP documents; a collection of information on topics related to the Internet; Official Internet Protocol Standard; scurrent information as well as historical memos; includes the Request for Comments (RFC) series of notes still used to exchange information about Internet topics; includes FYI (For Your Information), STD (standards), and BCP (Internet Best Current Practices)
Net Spaces: Net Spaces reference chart; provides an overview of the different protocols that have been used on the Internet for information and communication and the searchers, subject, and server directories and lists available in each; provides historical interest in that some of these protocols are no longer used
Internet: Training and searching; information related to training others how to use the Internet and searching the Internet
CMC: Computer-Mediated Communication; information sources related to computer-mediated communication (CMC) technology, use, and study, with an emphasis on the study and understanding Internet-based CMC
Tools/EARN: Guide to Network Resource Tools; overview of Internet Tools, now of historical interest; European Academic Research Network Staff, Request for Comments 1580, For Your Information 23, March 1994
NIR Tools: Report on Tools; A Status Report on Networked Information Retrieval:Tools and Groups; report to increase the awareness of Networked Information Retrieval by information about networked information retrieval tools, their developers, interested organizations, and other activities that relate to the production, dissemination, and support; J. Foster, Editor, Request for Comments 1689, RARE Technical Report 13, For Your Information 25, August 1994
Net Tools 1997: Internet Tools Summary 1997; an archived state of the Internet Tools Summary in 1997 showing a collection of information sources about software used on the Internet for network information retrieval, computer-mediated interaction, and computer-mediated communication at that time
Top Software: Top Software Resources; lists sources of software for Internet tools as well as other applications

Periodicals

Publications which cover aspects of Internet infrastructure and applications from a technical, policy, or user perspective

Boardwatch: Magazine reports on business aspects of communications networks
Cook Report: Monthly newsletter; focuses on the technology and policy complexities of Internet infrastructure development
.net: .net Magazine; Web site and paper magazine covering issues of Internet use, culture, and techniques, from the United Kingdom
Net Watch: Newsletter; reports on the Internet
Product Watch: Datamation Product Watch; a resource for getting and providing information about new computer hardware and software