FAQ: (Frequently Asked Questions) - An FAQ is a document that lists and answers the most common questions on a particular subject. It is considered good netiquette (the Internet's code of conduct) to check for FAQs and read them.

Finger: An Internet tool for locating people on other sites. Finger can also be used to give access to non-personal information, but the most common use is to see if a person has an account at a particular site. The most famous finger site was a Coke machine at Carnegie-Mellon University that students had wired to the Internet. They could then finger the machine and find out how many bottles remained and how long they had been in the machine so they wouldn't walk all the way there and find an empty machine or warm soda.

Firewall: A combination of hardware and software that separates a LAN into two or more parts for security purposes. A firewall is commonly used to separate a network from the Internet.

Flame: Originally, to "flame" meant to debate in a passionate manner, often involving the use of flowery language. More recently, flame has come to refer to any kind of derogatory or inflammatory comment, no matter how witless or crude.

Flame War: When an online discussion degenerates into a series of personal attacks against the debaters, rather than a discussion of their positions, it is referred to as a flame war.

FQDN: (Fully Qualified Domain Name) - The official name assigned to an individual computer. Organizations register names, such as "example.com", then assign unique names to their computers, such as "mail.example.com".

Freeware: Software that is available for download and unlimited use without charge.

FTP: (File Transfer Protocol) - A common method of moving files between two Internet sites. Most FTP sites require a login name and password before files can be retrieved or sent.