Definition

surf

Part of the Computing fundamentals glossary:

In using the World Wide Web , to surf is to either:

Next Steps

Google Earth: Surfing at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia
(ComputerWeekly.com)
shoulder surfing
Shoulder surfing is using direct observation te...
(SearchSecurity.com)

1) Explore a sequence of Web sites in a random, unplanned way, or

2) Simply use the Web to look for something in a questing way.

As the term is ordinarily used, if you are going to one specific site you already know about, you aren't surfing. The term suggests an analogy between surfing ocean waves with a surfboard and surfing cyberspace .

This was last updated in April 2005

Posted by: Margaret Rouse

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Glossaries

Computing fundamentals
- Terms related to computer fundamentals, including computer hardware definitions and words and phrases about software, operating systems, peripherals and troubleshooting.
Internet applications
- This WhatIs.com glossary contains terms related to Internet applications, including definitions about Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery models and words and phrases about web sites, e-commerce ...

Dig Deeper

Google Earth: Surfing at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia

(ComputerWeekly.com)
SurfEasy: A new way to bypass IT

As if IT didn’t have enough to worry about. SurfEasy’s new SSL VPN browser on a USB key lets end users circumvent corporate firewalls. ()
What's the best Internet monitoring software?

(SearchWinIT.com)

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