Guide to the Internet: Logging in, fetching files, reading news

Aside from email and the world wide web, there are several other systems for distributing information on the Internet. Telnet is a system that allows you to log on to a remote computer from anywhere on the Internet and affords access to many useful biomedical sites on the Internet. File transfer protocol (FTP) is a method of transferring files from one computer to another over the Internet. It can be used to download files, including software, from numerous publiclly accessible "anonymous FTP archives" around the world. Such archives can be searched using a tool known as Archie. Network News is a system of electronic discussion groups covering almost every imaginable subject, including many areas of medicine and the biomedical sciences; MOOs are virtual environments that allow real time electronic conferencing and teaching over the Internet. It is difficult to predict the future of medicine on the Internet. However, the net opens up many possibilities not available through previous technologies. It is now up to medical practitioners to realise the Internet's full potential.