IT START

FIRST TERM

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 Lesson 8

Useful Programs
and Internet
Services

Contents
Google Maps...................................................................... 3
Google Hangout................................................................ 5
Internet Services................................................................ 7
How to Use Torrent.............................................................. 7
Torrent Files........................................................................... 8
File Sharing Services......................................................... 9
What File Sharing Services Are .......................................... 9
Drawbacks of the File Sharing Services........................... 10

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 Google Maps

Google Maps
You can use Google Maps on both your computer and
your cell phone or tablet to find out how to get to any-
where in the world. Follow the link google.com/maps. Do
not forget to sign in the Internet browser with your Goo-
gle Account. You can navigate the map, zoom in and out
(bottom right corner), and change the display style from
the usual map to the satellite view (bottom left corner).
Maps look like this from the satellite:

Our first task is to find out how your house and the build-
ing of the STEP Computer Academy looks like from space
(satellite). You can search for them by navigating the map, or
you can enter the address in the left upper field. This is a spe-
cial field for finding an address.
The second task is to add your home address and address
of the STEP Computer Academy to the map bookmarks to

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Lesson 8

make it easier to find the way from anywhere.

1. Go to the menu My Places With Shortcuts.
2. Press Home or Work.
3. Enter the address and click Save.
I hope you do not mind if we will add the Academy in-
stead of the work?
The third task is to map a route from the Academy to
your home and find out how long it takes to get from one
place to another in different ways. For example, the route to
the branch of the Academy in Bratislava will look like this.

To do this, click anywhere and select the button with

the arrow and with the “Directions” caption in the opened
menu on the left. You can see different options: car, public
transport, on foot, by bicycle, or even an airplane. Alterna-
tive routes are in gray.

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 Google Hangout

Google Hangout
Google Hangouts allows you to chat through video chat,
share information, and organize meetings. Many gamers
turn on Google Hangouts on the background and commu-
nicate with each other while they play. Especially it is con-
venient in team shooters, when you need to quickly make
decisions and there is no time to type messages or send
them in the records.
Follow the link hangouts.google.com. In the search in
contacts, all gmail addresses, to which you have sent messag-
es earlier, should be presented.

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Lesson 8

Go to Contacts and press the plus button on the top. If

you select any contact, a menu will open on the right, where
you can start the chat.

There are two buttons under the contact name: video and

add a new user to the chat. All messages are saved in dialogs.
Try adding your classmates to your contacts and sending
a few messages to them.

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 Internet Services

Internet Services
How to Use Torrent
BitTorrent is a protocol that is used to share files among
users over the Internet. All of this is very simple, and now you
will understand everything. There are several computers, on
which there is a file you need. With the help of the BitTorrent
protocol, this file is split up into small segments and is shared
among everyone who needs it.
Each user receives different segments, which are down-
loaded to the computer and are also beginning to be shared. If
the connection with one of those, who is sharing, is interrupt-
ed, the program selects another one with the greatest upload
speed, and the process continues. So, every user gets pieces
of the file from other users, and he/she also shares.

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Lesson 8

One of the most popular BitTorrent clients is μTorrent.

It is an easy-to-use program that is not greedy of computer
resources. Download link is utorrent.com.
Torrent Files
Now, we’ll figure out where to download torrent files to
start loading. You can search for torrent files on torrent track-
ers, special sites, and servers where users share files. Some of
them can contain only a list of files; others can contain a sep-
arate page with the detailed description. It is preferable to use
the last ones, especially for beginners.

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 File Sharing Services

File Sharing Services

File sharing service is a special site or a part of a site,
where anyone can download his/her file, after which he/she
will receive a link to download it. Simply put, the link received
is an address in the Internet where the downloaded file is. Af-
ter that, it remains only to forward it to the person, for whom
this file is intended.
By clicking on this link, a person will be able to download
it to his/her computer. You can also post a link on a site, blog,
forum, social network, and send by mail, Skype, etc.
By the way, file sharing service is also called file hosting.
What File Sharing Services Are
There are many file sharing services in the Internet. Some
of them cost money, others are free of charge. Some of them
are more popular, others are less popular. First of all, we are
interested in those file sharing services, which allow you to
download for free. The previously discussed Google Drive
service can also be used as a file sharing service.
Another similar service is Dropbox: dropbox.com.

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Lesson 8

It’s easy to sign in with Google Account, which will add

more extra space to the cloud storages.
Drawbacks of the File Sharing Services
File sharing services have not so many drawbacks, but
they are significant.
The first and most annoyingly-intimidating is a large
amount of advertisement. And, as a rule, this advertisement is
not very pleasant. It would be better for children not to see it,
and many adults quite painfully react to such advertisement.
To put it mildly, it is vulgar and yellowish. Sometimes
it is not so easy to reach the downloaded file because of this
advertisement. It’s necessary to close some windows, wait for
a while, and click on a certain place.
In general, there are subtleties, and for each file hosting
they are different. We will talk about this in the next lessons.
The second, no less significant disadvantage is the download
speed. The fact is that file hosting services earn on advertise-
ment and paid access to download. That is, as a rule, you can
download the file either for free or not for free.
But if you download it for free, the speed will be much
lower. This means that the file will not be downloaded as fast
as we would like. If its size is 50MB–100MB, then it’s not so
bad, but if it’s more than 1GB, then it will take a very long
time to download it.

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 File Sharing Services

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Lesson 8
Useful Programs and Internet Services

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