W3C:

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international community where member organizations, a full-time staff and the public work together to develop and crowd-source web standards. W3C’s mission is to lead the internet to its full potential.

W3C Standards:

An Open Web Platform for application development that has the unprecedented potential to enable developers to build rich interactive web experiences, powered by vast data stores, that are available on any device. Although the boundaries of the platform continue to evolve, industry leaders speak nearly in unison about how HTML5 will be the cornerstone for this platform. But the full strength of the platform relies on many more technologies that W3C and its partners are creating, including CSS, SVG, WOFF, the Semantic Web stack, XML and a variety of APIs. W3C develops these technical specifications and guidelines through a process designed to maximize consensus about the content of a technical report, to ensure high technical and editorial quality, and to earn endorsement by the W3C community.

Wall Mount:

Typically Viasat installers mount the Viasat satellite Dish on the roof or side of your house, which is considered standard installation. The wall mount installs the Viasat Dish to the side of your home.

WAN:

Wide Area Network (WAN) typically refers to a business’s network spread over multiple locations. It can also refer to simply as “the internet”. Not be confused with a Local Area Network (LAN), which is a local network used for a home, office or farm.

WAV:

Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE, or more commonly known as WAV due to its filename extension) is an audio file format, created by Microsoft, that stores an audio bitstream on PCs. A Wave file is identified by a file name extension of WAV (.wav) and has become a standard PC audio file format for everything from system and game sounds to CD-quality audio. Used primarily in PCs on Microsoft Windows systems, the WAV file format has been accepted as a viable interchange medium for other computer platforms, such as Macintosh. This allows content developers to freely move audio files between platforms for processing.

Waze:

A community-based GPS navigation software app that works on smartphones and tablets. Waze provides turn-by-turn navigation information and user-submitted travel times and route details, while downloading location-dependent information over a mobile telephone network. Waze offers suggestions for the best daily route, with real–time help from other drivers who share traffic and road conditions, saving time and gas on your day-to-day commute. This is a free service available to use via the internet at the Official Waze.com website or as a mobile app.

Web Browser:

The software people use to access the internet and serves as the interface between your computer and the World Wide Web. Your web browser interprets web scripts like HTML code including text, images, hypertext links, Javascript and Java applets. After rendering the HTML code, the browser displays a formatted webpage. Popular browsers include Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Safari. And now you can choose the new Viasat Browser, specially created for Viasat satellite internet. Faster than the leading browsers on Viasat internet, the Viasat Browser was designed to learn & evolve, by crowdsourcing the internet. The more you use it, the better it gets! The Viasat Browser also includes an ad-blocking feature, making it more secure, while protecting your privacy by blocking internet trackers. It is available for use on Windows, macOS, Android and iOS systems. To learn more about the Viasat Browser click here.

Web Host:

In order to publish a website online, you need a web hosting platform. The web host stores all the pages of a website and makes them available to computers connected to the internet. The domain name, such as “getruralinternet.com,” is actually linked to an IP address that points to a specific computer. When somebody enters a domain name into their browser’s URL address field, the IP address is located and the web site is loaded from its web host.

A web host can have anywhere from one to several thousand computers that run web hosting software, such as Linux, OS X or Windows Server. Most websites you view on the internet are accessed from a “shared host,” which is a single computer that can host hundreds of websites. Larger websites often use a “dedicated host,” which is a single machine that hosts only one website. Sites with extremely high amounts of traffic, such as apple.com or microsoft.com, use several computers to host the site.

If you want to publish your own website, you will need to sign up for a “web hosting service.” There are numerous web hosting servers available; however, most require a monthly or annual fee that varies depending on how much disk space and bandwidth your site needs.

Web Page:

Webpages are internet-based documents that are written in web-based scripts such as HTML (hypertext markup language) and are translated by the web browser. Webpages can either be static or dynamic. Static pages show the same content each time they are viewed. Dynamic pages have content that can change each time they are accessed. These pages are typically written in scripting languages such as PHP, Perl, ASP or JSP. The scripts in the pages run functions on the server that return things like the date and time and database information. A webpage is not the same thing as a website. A website is a collection of webpages, while a webpage is an individual scripted document.

Webcam:

The term webcam is a combination of “web” and “video camera.” The purpose of a webcam is to broadcast video on the internet. Webcams are typically small cameras that either attach to a user’s monitor or sit on a stationary unit like a desk or shelf. Most webcams connect to the computer via USB, though some use a Firewire connection. Webcams typically come with software that allows the user to record video or stream the video online. If the user has a website that supports streaming video, other users can watch the video stream from their web browsers.

Webcams can also be used for video chat sessions with other people. Instead of broadcasting the video online, users can set up a video chat session with one or more friends and have a conversation with live audio and video streaming. For example, Apple’s iSight camera, which is built into Apple laptops and Macs, allows users to video chat using the iChat instant messaging program. Several other chat programs also work with webcams, allowing users to set up video chat sessions with friends. Webcams are also used for security cameras and allow users to watch their household, children and pets when they are away from home.

Since streaming video over the internet requires a lot of bandwidth, the video stream is typically compressed to reduce the “choppiness” of the video. The maximum resolution of a webcam is also lower than most handheld video cameras, since higher resolutions would be reduced anyway.

Webroot Antivirus:

An anti-malware utility developed by Webroot Software. The Webroot AntiVirus product added an antivirus detection engine to the company’s previous standalone anti-spyware product Spy Sweeper. Webroot AntiVirus is available for PC and Mac and provides lightning-fast scans with no interruption. Webroot AntiVirus secures businesses and individuals worldwide.

WEP:

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is a security protocol for WiFi networks. Since wireless networks transmit data over radio waves, it is easy to intercept data or “eavesdrop” on wireless data transmissions. The goal of WEP is to make wireless networks as secure as wired networks, such as those connected by ethernet cables.

The wired equivalent privacy protocol adds security to a wireless network by encrypting the data. If the data is intercepted, it will be unrecognizable to system that intercepted the data, since it is encrypted. However, authorized systems on the network will be able to recognize the data because they all use the same encryption algorithm. Systems on a WEP-secured network can typically be authorized by entering a network password.

The Viasat WiFi Gateway Modem supports WEP and WPA security standards. To learn more about the Viasat WiFi Modem click here.

WhatsApp:

An ad-free instant messaging (IM) and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service owned by Facebook. WhatsApp Messenger uses the internet as an alternative to the SMS text messaging system. WhatsApp is a cross-platform instant messaging application that allows smartphone and tablet users to exchange secure text messages and making video or voice calls for free. The application allows the sending of video and audio messages, as well as images and other media, documents, and user location. WhatsApp is available for Android, iPhone, Mac or Windows PC and Windows Phone.

Wide Area Network (WAN):

A business or organization’s network spread over multiple locations. It can also refer to simply as “the internet”. Not be confused with a Local Area Network (LAN), which is a local network used for a home, office or farm.

WiFi:

A WiFi or wireless-network is one that connects multiple devices to the internet using wireless radio signals. The benefit is the ability to use computers, smartphones and other devices without needing a wired connection.

WiFi Modem:

The modem is the device that provides access to the internet. Today, most modems include a built-in wireless router, allowing multiple computers & devices to join the same network. The new Viasat Gateway Modem comes with a built-in wireless router that allows you to cut the cord, while reducing clutter with two devices combined into one slick new design. To learn more about the Viasat WiFi Modem click here.

WiFi Protected Access (WPA):

A security protocol designed to create secure a wireless (WiFi) network. It is similar to the WEP protocol, but offers improvements in the way it handles security keys and the way users are authorized. For an encrypted data transfer to work, both systems on the beginning and end of a data transfer must use the same encryption/decryption key. While WEP provides each authorized system with the same key, WPA uses the temporal key integrity protocol (TKIP), which dynamically changes the key that the systems use. This prevents intruders from creating their own encryption key to match the one used by the secure network.

WildBlue:

WildBlue is owned by Viasat. WildBlue was an earlier generation of satellite internet service, provided by a company called WildBlue. Before the launch of Viasat’s latest satellite, the Viasat-2, WildBlue was the forerunner to today’s Viasat residential satellite internet service with the development of the first Viasat-1 satellite. Viasat acquired WildBlue in 2009. Since 2012, most WildBlue customers have upgraded to Exede or Viasat internet service. WildBlue is no longer available for purchase.

WinZip:

A free trialware .zip file archiver and compressor for Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. WinZip is the best-known software for creating and opening compressed file archives. It can create archives of large files in a .zip file format and unpack some other archive file formats. WinZip allows users zip & unzip files instantly, protect files with banking-level AES encryption and share files directly to iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive and ZipShare. There is no free version of WinZip, however, you can download a 30-day free trial by visiting the WinZip.com ;website.

WLAN:

A wireless local area network (WLAN, sometimes referred to as LAWN, for local area wireless network) is one in which a mobile user can connect to a local area network (LAN) through a wireless (radio) connection. The IEEE 802.11 group of standards specify the technologies for transmitting data over wireless (WiFi) LANs. 802.11 standards use the Ethernet protocol and CSMA/CA (carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance) for path sharing and include an encryption method, the Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) algorithm.

Word Processor:

A word processor, or word processing program, does exactly what the name implies. It processes words. Examples of word processing programs include Microsoft Word, WordPerfect (Windows only) and AppleWorks (Mac only) and OpenOffice.org.

The first word processors were basically computerized typewriters, which did little more than place characters on a screen that could then be printed by a printer. Modern word processing programs, however, include features to customize the style of the text, change the page formatting, and add headers, footers, and page numbers to each page. Some also include a “Word Count” option, which counts the words and characters within a document.

The most significant improvement over the typewriter is the word processor’s ability to make changes to a document after it has been written. By using the mouse, you can click anywhere within the text of a document and add or remove content. Since reprinting a paper is much easier than retyping it, word processing programs have made revising text documents a much more efficient process.

The term “text editor” can also be used to refer to a word processing program. However, it is more commonly used to describe basic word processing programs with limited features.

WPA:

WiFi Protected Access (WPA) is a security protocol designed to create secure a wireless (WiFi) network. It is similar to the WEP protocol, but offers improvements in the way it handles security keys and the way users are authorized. For an encrypted data transfer to work, both systems on the beginning and end of a data transfer must use the same encryption/decryption key. While WEP provides each authorized system with the same key, WPA uses the temporal key integrity protocol (TKIP), which dynamically changes the key that the systems use. This prevents intruders from creating their own encryption key to match the one used by the secure network.

The Viasat WiFi Gateway Modem supports WEP and WPA security standards. To learn more about the Viasat WiFi Modem click here.