Tel-Net

Telnet, protocol, or set of procedures, that enables a user of one computer on the Internet to log on to any other computer on the Internet, provided the user has a password for the distant computer or the distant computer provides publicly available files.

Telnet is also the name of a computer program that uses those rules to make connections between computers on the Internet. Many computers that provide large electronic databases, like library catalogs, often allow users to telnet in to search the databases. Many resources that were once available only through telnet have now become available on the easier-to-use World Wide Web.