Telnet

Telnet is a program that is used to connect to another host (computer) on a specified port. Telnet reliably transmitts all characters typed to the remote host. Users can access resources and services provided by the host, such as software, web pages, etc. However, telnet is unsecure. That is, telnet does not encrypt any data that is being transmitted to and from the remote host. For secure/encrypted telnet sessions, use a program that supports the ssh protocol, such as SecureCRT, PowerTerm, or PuTTY.

SSH

SSH is a program that is used to connect via a secure port to another host (computer) on a specific port. SSH reliably transmits all characters typed to the remote host fully encrypted. Users can access resources and services provided by the host, such as software, webpages, etc.

FTP

File Transfer Protocol (as the title suggests) is used to transfer files from other computers. FTP can be used to transfer files to or from your accounts on two different computers, i.e. you could transfer files from charlie.acc.iit.edu to another computer on the Internet. When you use FTP in this way, you log on to the remote computer using you own username and password, and you are in your own directory initially.

Another common use of FTP is to access resources that someone has made available on the Internet through an anonymous FTP site . This is a means of allowing anyone on the Net to login with an FTP session and send or receive files from the anonoymous FTP server. This is a way of making files accessible to the world.

FTP is a line-mode (i.e. text based) type of Internet tool. The commands are pretty simple and there aren't very many of them, but there are no menus to fall back on! Some tools include Internet Explorer, WS-FTP, and SmartFTP.

Alias

An alias is a pointer, or forwarding device, which allows users to send to a custom email address. You cannot check mail at the alias because there is no message storage associated with an alias. Mail destined for your alias automatically (and instantaneously) gets routed to your email address.