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How the Internet Works From Click to Page
Follow a single click across home networks, providers, name lookups and servers to see how a web page reaches your screen, in plain language.
Apps and Everyday Tech
How the Internet Works
The networks and standards that make websites and email possible.
How DNS Turns Names Into Addresses
Learn how a DNS lookup works, from your device's cache to root, top-level and authoritative servers, and why changes to a site can take time to appear.
How Email Gets From Sender to Inbox
Trace an email from the send button through SMTP servers, MX lookups and spam checks to the recipient's inbox, and see what SPF, DKIM and DMARC do.
How Search Engines Find and Rank Pages
A basic look at how search engines crawl the web, build an index and rank results, plus what site owners can and cannot control about the process.
How Web Browsers Display Websites
See how a browser turns HTML, CSS and JavaScript into the page on your screen, from parsing and layout to painting, and why some pages load slowly.
HTTPS and the Padlock: What They Mean
Learn how HTTPS encrypts web traffic, how certificates work, and why the browser padlock shows a private connection but does not prove a site is safe.
What an IP Address Is
An IP address is a numeric label that lets devices find each other on a network. Learn about public and private addresses, NAT, DHCP and what an address reveals.
What Bandwidth and Latency Mean
Bandwidth is how much data a connection can carry; latency is how long a response takes. Learn how they differ, what jitter is and why both affect speed.
What IPv6 Is and Why It Was Created
IPv6 is the newer internet addressing system built to replace IPv4 after its address pool ran short. Learn how it works, how it looks and how adoption is going.
Wi-Fi Versus Ethernet: Differences in Home Networks
Compare Wi-Fi and Ethernet for typical households: speed, latency, reliability, convenience, cost and security, plus tips for choosing and improving each.
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