Telnet is a program that emulates a computer terminal, allowing you to view information on site rather than downloading it to your personal computer for viewing. This is extremely useful if you need to view large amounts of information, such as all the files and folders on a web site, or a library catalog for example. Imagine how long it would take for you to download a web page containing the entire catalog of book titles from just a city library! With Telnet, you are able to actually view the information on the library site, eliminating the download time.

Telnet is not graphics capable, does not play sound files and is not one tiny bit entertaining. But it is the best tool to use for certain tasks. You will have a white screen with black text, much like the old DOS screen only in reverse. And, again like DOS, you will need to type in your commands. If you use Windows you will have a Telnet program already on your system. Go to Start, Programs, Run, and type the word "telnet" (no quotes) into the window.