TY - JOUR T1 - The internet JF - Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry JO - J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry SP - 619 LP - 628 DO - 10.1136/jnnp.73.6.619 VL - 73 IS - 6 AU - R Al-Shahi AU - M Sadler AU - G Rees AU - D Bateman Y1 - 2002/12/01 UR - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/73/6/619.abstract N2 - The growing use of email and the world wide web (WWW), by the public, academics, and clinicians—as well as the increasing availability of high quality information on the WWW—make a working knowledge of the internet important. Although this article aims to enhance readers' existing use of the internet and medical resources on the WWW, it is also intelligible to someone unfamiliar with the internet. A web browser is one of the central pieces of software in modern computing: it is a window on the WWW, file transfer protocol sites, networked newsgroups, and your own computer's files. Effective use of the internet for professional purposes requires an understanding of the best strategies to search the WWW and the mechanisms for ensuring secure data transfer, as well as a compendium of online resources including journals, textbooks, medical portals, and sites providing high quality patient information. This article summarises these resources, available to incorporate into your web browser as downloadable “Favorites” or “Bookmarks” from www.jnnp.com, where there are also freely accessible hypertext links to the recommended sites. ER -