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How to Make the Web Work For You! A Basic Tutorial

What can I Do on the Web? Website Examples
Using Autocomplete Search the Web
Learn Internet Terminology Creating Browser Plug-Ins
Customizing Your Browser Search Shortcuts
What's a web browser? Creating Links
Using Keyboard Shortcuts Search Questions
Changing a home (starting) page Using the "Find" Command
Viruses Email
Creating Favorites Install a Free Toolbar
Spyware Free Email
Library Favorites Using Tabbed Browsing
How do I connect? Browser History
 
 

What is the web?
 
The part of the Internet that most people are familiar with is the World Wide Web (usually called the Web, or web). The web is so popular that people often use the terms Internet and web to mean the same thing. But the Internet also includes other services, such as email and file sharing. You can send an email message or participate in a newsgroup without using the web.

The Internet consists of millions of computers that are able to connect to each other. They share common rules or standards about how information will be transferred. There are over 1 billion users of the web worldwide in 2007.

Approximately 80% of Americans are now online, up from 77% in the previous poll in 2006, and compared with 57% back in 2000. When Harris first began to track Internet use in 1995, only 9% of U.S. adults reported they went online.
(Source: CyberAtlas, 2008)

The web displays information in a colorful, visually appealing format. Headlines, text, and pictures can be combined on a single webpage (or page)—much like a page in a magazine—along with sounds and animation. A website (or site) is a collection of interconnected webpages. The web contains millions of websites and billions of webpages!

Webpages are connected to each other with hyperlinks (usually just called links), which can be text or images. When you click a link on a page, you are taken to a different page. Going from page to page using links is sometimes called surfing the web.
 
  • The Internet is the medium for delivering and receiving information stored in files on many connected computers.

  • The Internet is not the information itself. Think of it as the connecting wire. It is a misstatement to say a "document was found on the Internet." It would be more correct to say it was "found USING the Internet." It was found in one of the millions of computers connected to the Internet.

  • The Internet is not controlled or regulated by any public, governmental, private or corporate agency worldwide. Quality control is difficult.

  • Note: there are more web pages today than there are people in the world and the number is growing geometrically.
 
 
Drawbacks--Anyone can put up a webpage

–about anything
–for pennies
–in minutes

--Many pages not kept up-to-date
–no real regulating authority!
--Viruses, spam
--Interactive Nature--servers go down, speed varies, etc.

DON'T PANIC!
 
 

What can I Do on the Web?

Just about anything. It is an ACTIVE, not a PASSIVE medium...
 
  • read and send email (text, photos, music, video)

  • Use a search engine like Google or Yahoo to find almost anything!

  • Research any product or service before buying it

  • Use an online social "networking" site to communicate with others (like MySpace, Facebook or Friendster) "Interactivity"

  • watch and download high definition movies and animation with a higher speed connections

  • listen to music (millions of titles) or download it to your computer

  • listen to radio programs worldwide

  • make all your telephone calls without the phone company

  • do your banking -- review checking accounts, pay bills, and check your balance--over 40 million Americans now bank online.

  • do your investing in stocks, bonds, funds, etc.

  • shop (buy and sell) at the world's best discounted prices

  • plan a vacation--buy plane tickets, make hotel reservations, etc. (from your dream to the nuts and bolts)

  • get reliable health/medical/drug information, view surgeries, check your doctors' backgrounds, etc.

  • research your family history

  • collect news and information on just about any topic you are interested in

  • chat with friends in real time, e.g., "Instant messaging"

  • view amazing images (from a microscopic cell to the latest global satellite image from the Hubble).

  • meet new people, make new friends, find romantic dates

  • start a business from your home computer (never leave home, eBay, etc)

  • play video and other games of every variety

  • gamble

  • publish your opinions, observations and information on the Internet to a wide audience using weblogs ("blogs").

  • countless other activities
 
Internet addiction
affects 6 to 10 percent of the Net users in the U.S. "Onlineaholics" spend endless hours gambling, exchanging stocks, instant-messaging, playing video games, emailing, using dating services and blogging.
 
What can I do on the Internet?
Find information. The web contains a vast amount of information—far more than even the world's largest libraries. For example, you can read news stories and movie reviews, check airline schedules, see street maps, get the weather forecast for your city, or research a health condition. Reference sources, such as dictionaries and encyclopedias, are widely available, as are historical documents and classic literature.

Most companies, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, museums, and libraries have websites with information about their products, services, or collections. Many individuals publish websites with personal journals called blogs (short for web logs) about their hobbies and interests.
NoteEven though the web is great for research, not all information on the web is reliable. Information on some websites might be inaccurate, out of date, or incomplete. Before you trust information, make sure it comes from an authoritative source, and check other sources to verify the information.

Communicate. Email is one of the most popular uses of the Internet. You can send an e‑mail message to anyone with an email address, and it will arrive almost instantly in the recipient's e‑mail inbox—even if he or she lives halfway around the world. See Getting started with email.

Instant messaging (IM) allows you to have a real-time conversation with another person or a group of people. When you type and send an instant message, the message is immediately visible to all participants. Unlike email, all participants have to be online (connected to the Internet) and in front of their computers at the same time.

Newsgroups and web-based forums allow you to participate in text-based discussions with a community of other people who are interested in the same topic. For example, if you are having trouble using a program, you could post a question in a discussion group for users of that program.

Share. You can upload (copy) pictures from your digital camera to a photo-sharing website. Invited friends and family members can then visit the website to view your photo albums.

Shop. The web is the world's biggest shopping mall. You can browse and purchase products—books, music, toys, clothing, electronics, and much more—at the websites of major retailers (usually a credit card is required). You can also buy and sell used items through websites that use auction-style bidding.

Play. You can play games of every type on the web, often against other players—no matter where they are in the world. Many games are free, and you can download others for a fee. You can also listen to Internet radio stations, watch movie clips, and download or purchase music, videos, and even some TV shows.
 

Connecting to the Internet
To connect your computer to the Internet, you must first sign up with an Internet service provider (ISP). An ISP provides access to the Internet, usually for a monthly fee. You sign up for an account with an ISP just as you do for telephone service or utilities. To find an ISP in your area, try looking in your telephone directory under "Internet Service Providers."

Different ISPs offer different connection types and speeds. There are two basic types of connections:

Broadband. A broadband connection is a high-speed Internet connection. With a broadband connection, you are connected to the Internet at all times and can view webpages and download files very rapidly. Two common broadband technologies are Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) and cable technology. These require a DSL or cable modem, which is often provided by your ISP.

Dial-up. A dial-up connection uses a dial-up modem to connect your computer to the Internet through a standard telephone line. Many computers come with a dial-up modem already installed. In contrast to broadband, dial-up is slower and requires you to establish a new connection each time you want to use the Internet. However, dial-up is less expensive than broadband, and in some areas might be the only option for Internet access.

Once you have an ISP and a modem, you're ready to connect to the Internet. The Connect to the Internet wizard will guide you through the steps.
 
How Do I Connect to the World Wide Web
1- Dial-Up,
2- DSL,
3- Cable
4- Fiber-Optic Broadband?
 
To access the Internet you need:
  • A computer,

  • A telecommunications connection in your computer to a (telephone line or cable modem or DSL modem, etc.)

  • Software to connect to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and view the web.
 
How much speed do I need?
Cable, DSL, fiber and satellite offer two types of speed: download and upload. Download is the highest rate at which you can receive data. Upload is the highest rate you can send data. Many factors can affect your speed including:

  • Your Computer and Router (older equipment is not as efficient)

  • Home Wiring

  • Internet Traffic
 
Download Times 1.5 Mbps
(low-speed DSL)		 5 Mbps (cable and high speed DSL) 50 Mbps
(fiber-optic- Verizon FiOS
One 5-megabyte MP3 file 33 seconds 10 seconds 1 second
50 MB of digital photos 5.5 minutes 1.7 minutes 10 seconds
125 MB video-game demo 14 minutes 4 minutes 25 seconds
 
 
What is Verizon FiOS?
FiOS stands for "fiber-optic service. Verizon has attracted consumer and media attention in the area of broadband Internet access as the first major U.S. carrier to offer such a service. Verizon has also launched a television service with its fiber optic lines and is expected to become a competitor to local cable television companies over the next 10 years. At last check, Verizon FiOS is now available in most parts of Rockland County.
 
How much does FiOS cost?
It depends on speed tiers offered by Verizon. The approximate costs are:

5 mbps downstream / 2 mbps upstream - $39.95
15 mbps downstream / 2 mbps upstream - $49.95
30 mbps downstream / 5 mbps upstream - $199.95 [$54.95 in specific areas]
 
Internet service: Fiber vs. Cable vs. DSL vs. dial-up?: Consumer Reports 2006 Study
Check the ongoing monthly rate for broadband ,not just the introductory price. If you spend considerable time online, you'll probably need a broadband (cable or DSL)Internet connection to your home. Broadband offers faster connections and swifter downloads than slower, but cheaper, dial-up Internet service. But broadband service isn't predictable and uniform in performance as the term suggests.

There's no best broadband type. Availability of broadband is growing, with virtually all cable-TV companies now offering broadband Internet service and telephone companies wiring more neighborhoods for digital subscriber line (DSL) service. The best cable and DSL providers offered comparable, fairly high levels of satisfaction--while the least satisfactory of each receive mediocre or worse ratings.

But the two provider types differed in what made their best ISPs score so high. Subscribers to the better-rated cable-broadband providers are more satisfied than most DSL subscribers with the speed of their service, and with its reliability and tech support. But subscribers to the least pricey of the DSL providers were far more satisfied with their monthly bills (around $30) than were subscribers to cable broadband, who paid about $35 to $45 a month.
Budget DSL
While most cable and DSL services reach download speeds of 3.0Mbps, Verizon's new budget DSL has a maximum downstream speed of just 768Kbps. While much slower than other broadband, basic Verizon DSL service is still 15 times faster than a dial-up connection. And because it is DSL, your connection to the Internet is always on and it doesn't tie up your phone line. While reviews say Verizon's basic DSL service is nowhere near as fast as other broadband, its low cost makes it a compelling alternative to a slower dial-up ISP like AOL or Earthlink dial-up, both of which are more expensive.

At its best, dial-up service is satisfactory. Cost is a main attraction. It certainly wasn't speed, which was muchslower for all the dial-ups than the broadband providers. In fact, the least expensive service, Juno, was among the top-rated dial-ups, while AOL, the biggest ISP, had one of the lowest overall scores. America Online (AOL) is the most popular ISP in the United States. AOL claims about 22% of the dial-up ISP market (almost 20.8 million users), yet AOL (*est. $24 per month for dial-up) receives lower scores in customer surveys on almost every ISP performance measure, including reliability, support and overall satisfaction.
 
Why Broadband? The Changing Experience of the Web...
Today's World Wide Web presents an ever-diversified experience of multimedia, programming languages, and real-time communication. There is no question that it is a challenge to keep up with the rapid pace of developments. The following presents a brief description of some of the more important trends to watch.
 
Why Broadband? The Changing Experience of the Web...
Today's World Wide Web presents an ever-diversified experience of multimedia, programming languages, and real-time communication. There is no question that it is a challenge to keep up with the rapid pace of developments. The following presents a brief description of some of the more important trends to watch.
 
Multimedia
The Web has become a broadcast medium. It is possible to listen to audio and video over the Web, both pre-recorded and live. For example, you can visit the sites of various news organizations and view the same videos shown on the nightly television news. Several plug-ins are available for viewing these videos. For example, Apple's Quick Time Player downloads files with the .mov extension and displays these as "movies" in a small window on your computer screen. Quick Time files can be quite large, and it may take patience to wait for the entire movie to download into your computer before you can view it. Soon services will be available like "video on demand" similar to "pay for view" and voice communications (VOIP) to replace or supplement telephone service from your ISP.
 
Interactive Usage
For sharing music, photos, downlaoding, uploading, game-playing, etc.

The problem of slow download times has been answered by a revolutionary development in multimedia capability: streaming media. In this case, audio or video files are played as they are downloading, or streaming, into your computer. Only a small wait, called buffering, is necessary before the file begins to play. The RealPlayer plug-in plays streaming audio and video files. Extensive files such as interviews, speeches and hearings work very well with the RealPlayer. The RealPlayer is also ideal for the broadcast of real-time events. These may include press conferences, live radio and television broadcasts, concerts, etc. The Windows Media Player is another streaming media player. Many sites offer the option to use one player or the other.

Shockwave presents another multimedia experience. Shockwave allows for the creation and implementation of an entire multimedia display combining graphics, animation and sound.

Sound files, including music, may also be heard on the Web. It is not uncommon to visit a Web page and hear background music. Sound files are also available for downloading independent of Web page visits. Sound files of many types are supported by the Web with the appropriate plug-ins. The MP3 file format, and the choice of supporting plug-ins, is the latest music trend to sweep the Web. The once-famous famous Napster site allowed for the exchange of MP3 files but ran into copyright problems.

Live cams are another aspect of the multimedia experience available on the Web. Live cams are video cameras that send their data in real time to a Web server. These cams may appear in all kinds of locations, both serious and whimsical: an office, on top of a building, a scenic locale, a special event, and so on.
 
HIGHEST RATED CABLE BROADBAND PROVIDERS
Today's World Wide Web presents an ever-diversified experience of multimedia, programming languages, and real-time communication. There is no question that it is a challenge to keep up with the rapid pace of developments. The following presents a brief description of some of the more important trends to watch.
 
1- EarthLink earthlink.net
2- Cox.com
3- Road Runner rr.com
4- Optimum Online optonline.net
5- Insight insight-com.com
 
HIGHEST RATED DSL BROADBAND PROVIDERS
Today's World Wide Web presents an ever-diversified experience of multimedia, programming languages, and real-time communication. There is no question that it is a challenge to keep up with the rapid pace of developments. The following presents a brief description of some of the more important trends to watch.
1 - Earthlink.net
2- SBC Yahoo sbc.com
3- Verizon verizon.com
4- BellSouth bellsouth.com
5- Qwest qwest.com
 
If high speed is a priority
Verizon

It received the highest satisfaction scores for speed, although you probably don’t need that speed unless you download full-length movies or back up your hard drive over the Internet. This service cost less, on average, than most of the cable services. And subscribing to fiber, if it’s available to you, also readies you for broadband television service as an alternative to your local cable monopoly.
 
Cable broadband
If fiber-optic isn’t available, consider cable service. Cable customers as a group were more satisfied with their connection speeds than were DSL subscribers. That’s important if you often download large files or access the Internet with more than one computer at a time. Cable costs more than DSL. However, as you compare prices, consider the likely savings available by bundling cable-TV service with your Internet service, which might close or even eliminate the cost gap with DSL service.

Rockland County--80% of broadband users have cable.
 
Cable broadband
If fiber-optic isn’t available, consider cable service. Cable customers as a group were more satisfied with their connection speeds than were DSL subscribers. That’s important if you often download large files or access the Internet with more than one computer at a time. Cable costs more than DSL. However, as you compare prices, consider the likely savings available by bundling cable-TV service with your Internet service, which might close or even eliminate the cost gap with DSL service.

Rockland County--80% of broadband users have cable.
 

Internet Terminology:
Learning a new field requires learning the "jargon" of the field. Terms like: podcast, ISP, cookie, website, HTTP, and download are explained. Here are some excellent glossaries of Internet terms available at these addresses:
 
Net Lingo
Glossary of Internet Terms
Berkeley Glossary of Internet Terms
What Is.com
 

How Do I Get Started?
- What's a web browser? YOUR WINDOW TO THE WEB!

- A web browser is the software which you use to look at web pages.
 
You are using a web browser right now to look at this page.

They "translate" HTML-encoded files into the text, images, sounds, and other features you see. Browsers like Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox or Safari are usually provided to you free from your Internet Service Provider. Most browsers also contain e-mail (electronic mail) software.
 


Internet Explorer 7 is the current leading browser. Google has recently introduced a simplified, faster browser, Google Chrome
Windows Vista is the most popular operating system and most users are using a display with 1024x768 pixels or more, with a color depth of at least 65K colors.

Browsers, allow you to see images and video or hear sound files on your computer. The browser lets you control the way information is displayed on your screen, and you can use the mouse to choose highlighted "links" on the screen. Navigation is accomplished by pointing and clicking with a mouse on highlighted words and graphics.

No 2 computers are exactly alike!
Web browsers "read" hypertext "links" and convert them into a page like the one you are now looking at. Here is a brief guide to the most commonly used features of a browser:
 

Basic navigation
 
Using hyperlinks. Most webpages have dozens or even hundreds of links. To get from one page to another, click any link. However, figuring out which things on a page are links isn't always easy. Links can be text, images, or a combination of both. Text links often appear as colored and underlined, but link styles vary among websites.

Using the Back and Forward buttons. As you go from page to page, Internet Explorer keeps track of your trail. To get back to the previous page, click the Back button. Click the Back button several times to retrace your steps even further. After you've clicked the Back button, you can click the Forward button to go forward in the trail.

Using the Recent Pages menu. If you want to get back to a page you've visited in your current session, but want to avoid repeatedly clicking the Back or Forward buttons, use the Recent Pages menu. Click the arrow next to the Forward button, and then select a page from the list.

A browser screen usually contains several different sections. Take note of them. These are similar on all browsers.
 
  1. The Title Bar--The name of the Web site or title of the page you are viewing is found on the top left hand corner of your screen. Traditionally, this horizontal blue bar runs across the entire width of your screen. This blue bar that contains the name of the Web site is called the Title Bar. The Title Bar lets you know where you are by sharing the title of the Web site you are visiting. This bar does not take you anywhere, but it always lets you know where you are.
 
  2. The Menu bar- The Menu Bar is the horizontal band that contains commands and options that can be chosen. In Internet Explorer, these selections are File, Edit, View, Favorites, Tools, and Help. Clicking on each of the items in the standard Menu Bar at the top of your page will drop down a menu that is a useful way to access the many features of the Internet Explorer program. The last menu item is the Help item.
 
  3. The Toolbar.- The Toolbar is much like the Menu Bar stretching from left to right across the top of your screen just under the Address Bar. The Tool Bar contains many useful icons divided into three areas. Each of these icons has a text description of its function under the icon itself. If you do not see the text description, hold your cursor over the icon, and the function of the icon will appear. Either way, it will not take you long to associate each function with its picture. Let's become familiar with the first area which contains five icons.
 
Back/Forward
The first icon on the Tool Bar is the Back Icon. You will want to return to a Web page or Web site you enjoyed earlier. The Forward button will return you to square one by revisiting each page successively.
 
Stop and Refresh Icons
The Stop icon is located to the right of the Back and Forward arrows. Clicking the Stop icon will stop the page you have selected from downloading. This icon is especially useful. Click the Stop icon if a page is taking too long to download. What if you changed your mind and do not want to visit a page? Just click this icon. Occasionally you find that you have clicked on a wrong link. Again, use the Stop icon.
 
Refresh
makes sure you are viewing the latest version of the current Web page. Remember one of the unique characteristics of the Internet is that it is dynamic and fluid. Information is continuously being added, and Web pages are constantly changing. It might be important to you that you are viewing the very latest information. For that reason, you have a Refresh icon. Just click the Refresh icon and your browser will reload the latest version of the page you are viewing.
 
Home Page Icon
In reference to this icon, home page is the Web page that your browser uses when it starts, the Web page that appears every time you open your browser. Clicking the home page icon found on the Tool Bar will take you to the specific page you have set as your browser's home page.
 
The location field,
a white box which displays the URL (the web address) of the current document. 
The document itself
occupies the large window in the center.
 
Scroll bars
for moving through the document at right and bottom (appear whenever a document is too tall or wide for the screen). 
 
The progress bar,
at bottom, where information about the progress of a document you've chosen appears, and where the URL of a link displays.
 
 
 

POP QUIZ
REFRESH / RELOAD Takes you to the web page which loads when your browser first starts.
FORWARD Loads the page again.
HOME Stops loading a web page.
BACK Prints the web page that you are looking at.
PRINT Shows a list of the pages which you have looked at recently.
STOP Takes you to the last page that you were looking at.
HISTORY If you went back to a previous page, you should push this button to go the next page.
 

Changing a home (starting) page
When we purchase a new computer Internet Explorer's home page will be set to the seller's preference, most often their corporate Web site. Sometimes if you use, for example, an ISP set-up disk to create a dialup or broadband account, your home page may be changed at the same time. And sometimes your home page may be set by malware (malicious software).

To change your home page to your preferred site, click Tools, and then click Internet Options. The home page controls are on the General tab.
 
Internet Explorer 7 allows multiple home pages;
Earlier versions of Internet Explorer allow only one home page.
 
Clicking Use current will set your home page to the currently displayed site. Clicking Use default will set your home page to an MSN portal which differs depending on your computer's regional settings. Clicking Use blank will set your home page to about:blank (an empty page).
 
Tip: The home page capabilities of Internet Explorer 7 are far more powerful than they are in Internet Explorer versions 6 and earlier.
 
Sometimes the Use current, Use default, and Use blank buttons are inactive, meaning we are unable to change our home page to a site of our choosing. This is caused by a registry restriction. Microsoft has released Knowledge Base article Q320159 that discusses this problem in detail and describes the necessary fix: Home page setting changes unexpectedly, or you cannot change your home page setting.
 
If your home page was changed by malware it is essential that you check your system carefully to make sure that the malware is not still on your computer. Bug busting: Getting Rid of Spyware, describes the steps that should be taken to check a system for malware.

Adding Favorites
To add a Web page that you are currently viewing to your Favorites folder, use one of the following methods:

- Click Add Page To Favorites on the Favorites menu.
- Click and hold down the mouse button on the Web page, and then click Add Page To Favorites on the menu that appears.
- Click and hold down the mouse button on a link, and then click Add Link To Favorites on the menu that appears. This adds a Favorite for the Web page the to which the link points.

To add a Web page that you are not viewing to your Favorites folder, click New Favorites on the Favorites menu. On the Info tab, specify a name, Uniform Resource Locator (URL) address, and any comments, and then click OK.
Exercise - Bookmark
Add a bookmark in this short exercise.

1 - Enter the URL http://finkelsteinlibrary.org in the Address box (You may want to open a second window for this).
2 - When the page has loaded, click on Favorites on the Menu bar.
3 - Click on Add to Favorites.

To test your favorites.

1 - Click on Favorites (either on the Menu Bar or the button) to open the Favorites menu.
2 - Select Finkelstein Memorial Library.
3 - WSG page will be loaded.

Organizing Favorites
To organize items in the Favorites folder, click Organize Favorites on the Favorites menu. When the Favorites folder is open, you can create new folders by clicking New Folder on the Favorites menu, add dividers between Favorites by clicking New Divider on the Favorites menu, move Favorites by dragging them to a different location in the Favorites folder, and delete Favorites by dragging them to the Trash.
 
 

Websites Discussed In Class

http://www.nytimes.com/

http://www.thejournalnews.com/rockland/

http://www.cnn.com/

http://www.1stheadlines.com/

http://earth.google.com/index.html

http://www.co.rockland.ny.us/

http://earth.google.com/

http://flightaware.com/live/

http://www.ramapo.org/

http://www.jpost.com/

http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/

http://www.azzaman.com/english/

http://library.uncg.edu/news/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

http://maps.yahoo.com/dd

http://www.refdesk.com/

http://www.thruway.state.ny.us/webcams/index.html

http://medlineplus.gov/

http://www.rxlist.com/

http://www.youtube.com/index

http://webapps.ama-assn.org/doctorfinder/home.html?aps/amahg.htm

http://www.tollfree.att.net/tf.html

http://movies.aol.com/

http://new.referenceusa.com/index2.asp?si=21626271904258

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/ssdi/search_ssdi.asp

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp
 

Using the FIND Command
 
How can you efficiently locate a word or words on a web page?
Have you ever opened a web page only to groan as you scroll through text that seems to go on forever? How can you find the keywords you're after?   This is an occasion for the Find command.  In the Netscape or Firefox browser, under the Edit pull down menu, is an option called Find in this page.  Internet Explorer calls it Find (on this page). The keyboard shortcut Ctrl+f (hold down the control key and tap f) works in both browsers. The Find command lets you enter a word.  Each time you push the Enter/Return button on your keyboard or click the Find button, that word will be found and highlighted in the text on the web page you are reading.  This makes it very easy to find the keyword you are looking for without having to scan long passages.
 
1 - Click the "Edit" menu item at the top of your browser.
2 - Then select the "Find on this page" (Internet Explorer) or "Find in this page" (Netscape or Firefox) command.
3 - When the dialog box appears, type the term you want to find and tap your Enter key.
4 - Click the "Find Next" button to locate the next occurrence of the term in the pag
 

History
Internet Explorer History is a record of all Web sites that have been visited during a particular period of time. The default History setting is 20 days, which most people find sufficient. Generally there is no reason to change this setting for any other reason other than personal preference. Be warned though, if your History folder gets too large it may corrupt, so don't try to keep the maximum number of days in history (99 days).

To reduce or increase the number of days a site is kept in history

In Internet Explorer 7, click Tools, click Internet Options, and then click the Settings button for Browsing History.

We can control how our browsing history is displayed in the History pane. To access the History pane in Internet Explorer 6, click the History button on the toolbar. In Internet Explorer 7, click on Tools, then Toolbars. We can select view by date, view by site, view according to most visited sites, and viewed in order visited today. I personally find the view by date to be the most useful when searching an extended history. The ability to search in the History folder is simple yet powerful, but will only work if we type the search terms exactly as they appear on cachedeb page, or in its URL or page title.

Sometimes people use their History folder as a type of pseudo-Favorites folder. This is not really a good idea. The History folder is dynamic and URLs may disappear if left unvisited for long enough (for example if you go away on holiday and do not turn on your computer for an extended period of time). The sites that you want to ensure are preserved should be saved as a Favorite (click the Favorites menu, and then select Add to Favorites).

An added benefit of saving URLs as Favorites is that you are able to export a backup of your Favorites for safe keeping, or to copy to another computer. It is not possible to export and import the History folder in this way.
 

Using Links On Your Toolbar
Here's how to set them up.

First, make sure you have Links activated on your browser. The Links box may appear on the same line as the Address entry, but various versions of Internet Explorer may place it elsewhere. In some cases, it is not activated.

If the Links tab is not visible, click on the browser's View menu item, select Toolbars, and make sure Links is checked.

Once you do that, locate it on your browser toolbar, and you're ready to make instant links to your favorite sites.

Go to the site you wish to make a link to. Then click on the icon (often the italics "e" for Explorer or other icon representing the current Web site) preceding that site's Web address in the Address box. Drag the icon to a clear area in the Links toolbar.

You'll see a small box with a curved arrow pointing up and to the right as you drag the icon. The arrow turns to an I-bar when you are in the clear, and you can drop the Link there.

When you let go, a tab button will be created with the name of the site. Now, instead of all the steps involved in calling up bookmarks, you can simply click on the tab to immediately go to your site.

If the site name in your link is long, simply right click on the tab, click rename and shorten it. I keep my tab names as short as possible to allow up to a dozen links in a single row.

A quick tip: Find a Web site you'd like to preserve as a Favorite in an instant? With Internet Explorer, don't waste time going to the pull-down menu to click on Favorites; instead, simply press Control-D, and the page will be instantly stored.
 
How to Use Tabbed Browsing to Open Multiple Pages:
 
Under TOOLS/Internet Options/General/Tabbed Settings
 
Tabbed browsing is a feature in Internet Explorer that allows you to open multiple websites in a single browser window. You can open webpages on new tabs, and switch between them by clicking the tab. If you have multiple tabs open, you can use Quick Tabs to easily switch to other tabs. The advantage is that you have fewer items open on the taskbar.
 
Launch Internet Explorer 7 and your home page opens in the first tab. To view other sites at the same time, just click the new tab button in the toolbar and then type the address of the site you want to visit in the address bar. Your home page stays open in the first tab. Closing tabs is as easy as opening them. Just click the close button that appears on the right side of the selected tab.
 
When you have several tabs open, use Quick Tabs to find the site you want to view or to close sites you're no longer interested in viewing.
 
Yahoo! Toolbar
 

Install a Free Toolbar
 
There are many ways you can search the web without going directly to a search engine. These free browser toolbars provide direct access to search engines from within your browser. Most include pop-up ad blockers. Some provide free Spyware detection.
 
GOOGLE

YAHOO

MICROSOFT WINDOWS LIVE TOOLBAR
 
ach of the toolbars has a wide variety of options. The primary common feature is a search box with direct access to the search engine. Enter a query in the box, press enter, and the search results appear in the main window, just as if you had gone directly to the search engine first. The toolbar helps speed searching by leaving out that first step of having to go the search engine's Web site before starting a search.

In addition, most of the other kinds of searches available from a search engine are available via the toolbar. Ask Jeeves has additional buttons for searching pictures, news, Ask Jeeves Kids, and a dictionary. AltaVista has images, audio, video, news, U.S. Web, translation, dictionary, conversions, and more. Google offers images, groups, directory, news, Froogle, dictionary, and more.

In general, the toolbars pack in all sorts of quick links, search tools, and quick find features into a small amount of screen real estate. The problem is to find all the capabilities of the toolbar and what all the icons offer.

As a starting point, be sure to look through all the menu choices and configuration options when the toolbar is first loaded. Look for button choices and other toolbar options or configuration links. Click on the search engine logo and explore those menu options as a starting point.
 
Toolbar Advantages
Using a toolbar makes some search tasks much simpler. Instead of entering the search engine's URL or clicking on a favorite or bookmark, you just enter the query in the search box. Three toolbars—AltaVista, Google, and Dogpile—now include pop-up blockers. They have links to dictionary, phone number, thesaurus, acronym, currency, conversion, and other quick information look-up services. Highlight buttons mark the query terms in the displayed document.
Built-in Pop-Up Blocker:
For those who have not found another solution to the annoyance of pop-up and pop-under ads, this feature alone may warrant loading one of these toolbars. Turned on (the default setting), the blockers prevent unrequested pop-up windows, which are usually just ads. In the event it might be actual information content, click the button and the blocker is either turned off or will now allow pop-ups from this specific site. The toolbars like to count the number blocked and emit some sound (Dogpile's barking dog is the most annoying). But the sounds can be turned off and the counters re-set through the options configuration.

The site search capability of the Google and AltaVista toolbars is also a great convenience. Visiting a Web site where you can't find the document you expected to be there? Just enter a keyword or two in the toolbar search box. Instead of clicking "Search the Web," click the arrow to the right of it to choose the "Current Site" (Google) or "This Site" (AltaVista) search. Bear in mind that the site search is limited by which pages from the site are actually in the search engine's database. A local site search may be more comprehensive, but in a surprising number of cases, the search engine site search is more accurate and comprehensive than a local site search.
 
The Highlight and Find in Document functions are other nice conveniences. After entering a search query in the toolbar search box, the query words also appear on the toolbar. Clicking on any of the query words in the toolbar will jump to the first occurrence of that search word in the document currently being displayed. These words will stay in the toolbar until the next search is done, so even after browsing to a results page, they can still be used. AltaVista, Dogpile, and Google toolbars all offer this Find in Document feature. Of course, it could just as easily be accomplished with a Control-F or Find in Document function of the browser, but that usually requires re-typing the word.

Highlighting the query terms is a popular option available in toolbars. The ones from AltaVista, Ask Jeeves, Dogpile, Google, Teoma, and Yahoo! all have a button for it. Sometimes, the button is a toggle. Click the button once, and all future search terms will be highlighted until the button is clicked again. For others, the highlight button must be clicked each time the highlight function is needed.

Here’s a list of the browser toolbars we recommend:
 
Google Toolbar
As you type a search query into the new Toolbar’s search box, you’ll see a list of useful suggestions based on popular Google searches, spelling corrections and your own Toolbar search history and bookmarks.
 
Yahoo! Toolbar Companion
This is the one we use! Find and uninstall programs on your PC that may be considered spyware. Stop most types of pop-up ads before they pop up.
 
AltaVista
The AltaVista Toolbar is free, customizable and gives you the research tools to perform searches and translations from your browser anywhere on the web. Also includes pop-up blocker.
 
Ask Jeeves Toolbar
Configure web pages for easy 1-page printing, using the cool ‘Zoom’ feature. Instantly email any web page to a friend. In addition to searching Ask.com, the Jeeves toolbar lets you limit your search to news, dictionary, stock market, weather, events, maps, and the Ask Jeeves Kids web sites. Includes pop-up blocker.
 
Dog Pile Search Toolbar
Look up residential listings from around the U.S., access business listings easily from one location. SearchSpy™ lets you watch scrolling terms to see what people are searching for in real-time.
MSN Toolbar
Search the web, start MSN Hotmail, or open MSN Messenger – all without leaving the page you’re on. Find email messages in seconds from Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express. Fill out forms and web site passwords in one click.
 
All Headlines News Toolbar
Features one click access to late breaking news and headlines allowing you to search the news and web from any anywhere online. A popup Blocker and instant pop-up ad eliminator is also included. THis toolbar provides fast access to search, dictionary and thesaurus.
 
Alexa Toolbar
Alexa could not exist without the participation of the Alexa Toolbar community. Simply by using the toolbar each member contributes valuable information about the web, how it is used, what is important and what is not. This information is returned to the community as Related Links, Traffic Rankings and more.
 
Ask Toolbar
Search the Web, your desktop or your email directly from your browser using the Ask Toolbar. Personalize your search experience with saved locations, your local news and read the latest news in your toolbar.
 

What are Plug-Ins?
Plug-ins are small software programs that extend the capabilities of your browser by enabling it to play sounds and video clips or do other functions, such as automatically decompressing files that you download. Windows Media, Quicktime, etc.

Plug-ins may come with your browser software or can be downloaded from websites.

Some plug-ins enable streaming audio or video, which lets you hear or view a multimedia file before it has completely downloaded to your computer. Examples: Windows Media, Real Media, Adobe Acrobat
 

AutoComplete
Internet Explorer will automatically record Web addresses, forms data, and passwords. The first time that we fill in a Web form we will be prompted to decide whether to allow Internet Explorer to record password and form data.Whichever decision we make is easily reversible. In addition, as the Web address, password, or forms cache gets overly-large its size may impact performance. In extreme cases, any attempt to delete the cache will cause Internet Explorer to freeze.

To access the Internet Explorer AutoComplete options, click Tools, click Internet Options, and then click the Content tab. In Internet Explorer 6, click AutoComplete; in Internet Explorer 7, click Settings.
 
The AutoComplete Settings window in Internet Explorer 7.

Internet Explorer 6 is slightly different to the screen pictured above. AutoComplete data is deleted in the AutoComplete Settings screen.
 

Internet Explorer Keyboard Shortcuts
How to View and Explore Web Pages With Shortcut Keys
 
To view and explore Web pages with shortcut keys:
 
Display Internet Explorer Help or to display context Help about an item in a dialog box F1
Toggle between full-screen and other views in the browser F11
Move forward through the items on a Web page, the Address box, or the Links box TAB
Move through the items on a Web page, the Address box, or the Links box SHIFT+TAB
Go to your Home page ALT+HOME
Go to the next page ALT+RIGHT ARROW
Go to the previous page ALT+LEFT ARROW or BACKSPACE
Display a shortcut menu for a link SHIFT+F10
Move forward between frames CTRL+TAB or F6
Move back between frames SHIFT+CTRL+TAB
Scroll toward the beginning of a document UP ARROW
Scroll toward the end of a dot DOWN ARROW
Scroll toward the beginning of a document in larger increments PAGE UP
Scroll toward the end of a document in larger increments PAGE DOWN
Move to the beginning of a document HOME
Move to the end of a document END
Find on this page CTRL+F
Refresh the current Web page, even if the time stamp for the Web version and
your locally stored version are the same		 CTRL+F5
Stop downloading a page ESC
Go to a new location CTRL+O or CTRL+L
Open a new window CTRL+N
Close the current window CTRL+W
Save the current page CTRL+S
Print the current page or active frame CTRL+P
Activate a selected link ENTER
Open the Search box CTRL+E
Open the Favorites box CTRL+I
Open the History box CTRL+H
In the History or Favorites boxes, open multiple folders CTRL+click
 

Staying Safe Online: Computer Viruses, Spam, Spyware
 
The best of the free security software available online didn't perform quite as well as the best for-pay programs, which offer the greatest margin of safety against any or all online threats.

But no-cost programs are worth considering as supplementary protection, or even as primary protection providing you practice safe computing and fully use the security tools built into your operating system. A few caveats, though: Compared with for-pay suites with a single interface, you'll need to manage a myriad of programs even in the best free anti malware applications. And some freeware may become for-pay eventually.

Drawn mostly from Consumer Reports test results, here's a miser's suite of security freeware, arranged by type.

Antivirus Alwil Avast Home Edition 4.7.

Antispyware/antiadware Install both Microsoft Windows Defender and SpyBot Search and Destroy 1.4.

Antispam SPAMfighter standard or Microsoft's Outlook or Windows Mail with Junk Mail Filter.

Browser security toolbar McAfee Site Advisor. Not rated, but free anti malware worth trying. See tip No. 4 in Best ways to stay safe online.

Software firewall ZoneAlarm 7.0 (Windows XP, 2000) and 7.1 (Vista).
 
PROTECTION SOFTWARE CONTACT INFORMATION

Alwil Software: support@avast.com; www.avast.com. Apple: 800-275-2273; www.apple.com. BitDefender: 954-776-6262; www.bitdefender.com. CA/e Trust: 888-423-1000; www.ca.com. Check Point: 877-966-5221; www.zonealarm.com. Cloudmark: online support; www.cloudmark.com. F-Secure: 866-295-2725; www.f-secure.com. Grisoft: online support only; www.free.grisoft.com. Kaspersky Labs: 781-503-1800; www.kaspersky.com. Lavasoft: online support only; www.lavasoft.com. McAfee: 866-622-3911; www.mcafee.com. Microsoft: 800-642-7676; www.onecare.live.com or www.microsoft.com. PC Tools Software: 800-764-5783; www.pctools.com. SmithMicro: 831-761-6200; www.allume.com. SPAMfighter: 561-962-4166; www.spamfighter.com. SpyBot: N/A; www.spybot.com/en. Sunbelt Software: 800-336-3166; www.sunbeltsoftware.com. Symantec: 800-441-7234; www.symantec.com. Trend Micro: 800-864-6027; www.trendmicro.com. Webroot Software: 866-612-4227; www.webroot.com.
 
A computer virus is a small program written to alter the way a computer operates, without the permission or knowledge of the user.

A virus must meet two criteria:
It must execute itself. It will often place its own code in the path of execution of another program.
It must replicate itself. For example, it may replace other executable files with a copy of the virus infected file. Viruses can infect desktop computers and network servers alike.

The best of the free security software programs are worth considering as supplementary protection, or even as primary protection providing you practice safe computing (see Best ways to stay safe online) and fully use the security tools built into your operating system. A few caveats, though: Compared with for-pay suites with a single interface, you'll need to manage a myriad of programs even in the best free anti malware applications. And some freeware may become for-pay eventually.

Symantec: 800-441-7234; www.symantec.com Norton Antivirus $39.99

McAfee: 866-622-3911; www.mcafee.com  McAfee® VirusScan® Plus

Antivirus Alwil Avast Home Edition 4.7.

Antispyware/antiadware Install both Microsoft Windows Defender and SpyBot Search and Destroy 1.4.

Antispam SPAMfighter standard or Microsoft's Outlook or Windows Mail with Junk Mail Filter.

Browser security toolbar McAfee Site Advisor. Not rated, but free anti malware worth trying. See tip No. 4 in Best ways to stay safe online.

Software firewall ZoneAlarm 7.0 (Windows XP, 2000) and 7.1 (Vista). See tip No. 1 in Best ways to stay safe online.
 
PROTECTION SOFTWARE CONTACT INFORMATION

Alwil Software: support@avast.com; www.avast.com.
Apple: 800-275-2273; www.apple.com.
BitDefender: 954-776-6262; www.bitdefender.com.
CA/e Trust: 888-423-1000; www.ca.com.
Check Point: 877-966-5221; www.zonealarm.com.
Cloudmark: online support; www.cloudmark.com.
F-Secure: 866-295-2725; www.f-secure.com.
Grisoft: online support only; www.free.grisoft.com.
Kaspersky Labs: 781-503-1800; www.kaspersky.com.
Lavasoft: online support only; http://www.lavasoft.com.
McAfee: 866-622-3911; www.mcafee.com.
Microsoft: 800-642-7676; www.onecare.live.com or www.microsoft.com.
PC Tools Software: 800-764-5783; www.pctools.com.
SmithMicro: 831-761-6200; www.allume.com.
SPAMfighter: 561-962-4166; www.spamfighter.com.
SpyBot: N/A; www.spybot.com/en.
Sunbelt Software: 800-336-3166; www.sunbeltsoftware.com.
Symantec: 800-441-7234; www.symantec.com.
Trend Micro: 800-864-6027; www.trendmicro.com.
Webroot Software: 866-612-4227; www.webroot.com.
 
he odds are 1 in 3 that your computer will be infected by spyware or viruses. Spyware infections are epidemic and continuing to spread. Two free recommended anti-spyware programs are:

1. Ad-Aware.

2. Microsoft Antispyware

Trend Micro, Symantec Norton Antivirus and McAfee VirusScan are other recommended anti-virus programs with nominal costs.

Don't ever give out your password. Anybody official who needs your password already has it. Never give it out in email, chat rooms, instant messages, or over the phone. And make sure to choose a good password.

If you use Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, you are particularly vulnerable. Free patches are available from Microsoft. Download them when available.

Use Antivirus software. Some have a “Live-Update” feature to catch the latest viruses. Norton Antivirus and McAfee VirusScan are the most popular.

Consumer Reports Rating of Antivirus Software:
  1. BitDefender ($30)
  2. Symantec Norton Antivirus ($30)
  3. Kaspersky Labs ($50)
  4. Norton Antivirus ($40)
  5. McAfee VirusScan ($50)
 

Spyware?
More than 7 million people are victims of identity theft each year—or nearly 20,000 thefts a day—according to Gartner Research and Harris Interactive.

Spyware is a broad software category that covers any program that secretly tracks or records information about you, your computer use or personal information. Often these programs have the ability to report back to a central database computer on the Internet without you knowing it. Since many people now have 'always on' broadband Internet connections, it is easy for spyware software to report it's findings without you ever knowing it. Marketing is the most common reason for using it.

How would my computer get infected?
Spyware can be delivered and installed on your computer in many forms. It is sometimes included in the install package of many popular shareware programs. Sometimes forms or spyware come installed in your operating system or program directly from the manufacturer! Here are some spyware resource lists that will help you check for spyware.

Consumer Reports Rating of Anti-spyware Software:

  1. F-Secure ($60)
  2. Webroot ($25)
  3. PC Tools ($30)
  4. Trend Micro ($30)
  5. Lavasoft Ad-Aware ($30)
 

Customizing Your Web Connection
1. Change your starting page e.g., refdesk.com, google starting page http://www.google.com/ig

2. Add favorite websites to your computer.3. Use links to capture frequently used pages.

4. Add a toolbar (Google or Yahoo).
http://toolbar.google.com/

5. Install virus/spyware protection.6. Learn to Use Internet Tools to delete cache files, history, cookies, etc.

Searching the Web!
It’s QUALITY; not QUANTITY

(Every time you search Google, you are scanning over 4 billion web pages.)
 
DYNAMIC/CHANGING WEB
 
 - Some estimate search engines (tools that enable you to find information on the web) only reach 40% of web
 
- About 25% of pages change daily
 
- Pages average 10 day half-life (half the pages gone in 10 days)
 
ANYONE CAN PUT UP A WEBSITE
 
 
  • about anything
  • for pennies
  • in minutes
  • Many pages not kept up-to-date
  • No quality control
  • most sites not “peer-reviewed”
  • less trustworthy than scholarly publications
  • no international regulating body!
   
Before you search, consider:
   
- What do I want to know?
   
- Who is likely to produce/publish such information?
 
If I know who, what do I know about them that would help me find their site?
 
• Do I have a “favorite” website to check? OR
 
• How should I frame my search?
   
 
What's a Search Engine?
 
An attempt to organize the world's information.

A tool that enables you to locate information on the World Wide Web.

Search engines use keywords entered by users to find Web sites which contain the information sought.
 
Top 5 Search Engines in the United States (The Majors) by Rank
1 - Google
2- Yahoo! Search
3- MSN Live Search
4- AOL Search - Powered by Google
5- Ask - Powered by Teoma
 
What do search engines do?
 
They search the Internet -- or select pieces of the Internet -- based on important words.
- They keep an index of the words they find, and where they find them.
- They allow users to look for words or combinations of words found in that index.

SEARCH SHORTCUTS: e.g. peanut butter
 

+ AND peanut +butter Star Wars Episode +1
 

OR peanut OR butter
 

" quotations" "peanut butter"
 

~ synonyms  ~peanut ~butter
 
Choosing keywords
 
  • Be specific! Use words that describe specific things or concepts. Example: “19th century chairs” instead of “old furniture” or “oatmeal cookie recipes” instead of “cookie recipes”

  • Use several keywords to clarify the meaning. Example: “baltimore oriole history bird”

  • Don’t use capital letters. Example: “jay leno” instead of Jay Leno

  • Use quotation marks around keywords to search for a phrase. Example: “digital camera reviews” or “impossible dream”

  • Try different keywords that have similar meanings if you don’t find the results you want. Example “global warming” instead of  “greenhouse effect”

  • Use the minus sign (-) to exclude a specific word or words from the results. Example: “dogs –poodles” or “virus –computer”
 
 
Choose your keywords wisely. Select descriptive, specific words.
 
  • Search for: Vancouver 2010 Olympics rather than Olympics

  • Search for: 2004 football statistics rather than football
 
CAPITALIZATION Google searches are NOT case sensitive. All letters, regardless of how you type them, will be understood as lower case. For example, searches for george washington, George Washington, and gEoRgE wAsHiNgToN will all return the same results.
 
 
INTERPRETING YOUR RESULTS
 
A. Google navigation bar
Click the link for the Google service you want to use. You can search the web, browse for images, news, maps and videos, and navigate to Gmail and other Google products.
   
B. Search field
To do a search on Google, just type in a few descriptive search terms, then hit "Enter" or click the "Search" button.
   
C. Search button
Click this button to submit a search query. You can also submit your query by hitting the 'Enter' key.
   
D. Advanced search
This links to a page on which you can do more precise searches. [ Learn more about Advanced Search ]
   
E. Preferences
This links to a page that lets you set your personal search preferences, including your language, the number of results you'd like to see per page, and whether you want your search results screened by our SafeSearch filter to avoid seeing adult material.
   
F. Search statistics
This line describes your search and indicates the total number of results, as well as how long the search took to complete.
   
G. Top contextual navigation links
These dynamic links suggest content types that are most relevant to your search term. You can click any of these links in order to see more results of a particular content type.
   
H. Integrated results
Google's search technology searches across all types of content and ranks the results that are most relevant to your search. Your results may be from multiple content types, including images, news, books, maps and videos.
   
I. Page title
The first line of any search result item is the title of the web page that we found. If you see a URL instead of a title, then either the page has no title or we haven't yet indexed that page's full content, but its place in our index still tells us that it's a good match for your query.
   
J. Text below the title
This is an excerpt from the results page with your query terms bolded. If we expanded the range of your search using stemming technology, the variations of your search terms that we searched for will also be bolded.
   
K. URL of result
This is the web address of the returned result.
   
L. Size
This number is the size of the text portion of the web page, and gives you some idea of how quickly it might display. You won't see a size figure for sites that we haven't yet indexed.
   
M.

Cached
Clicking this link will show you the contents of the web page when we last indexed it. If for some reason the site link doesn't connect you to the current page, you might still find the information you need in the cached version.
   
N.

Similar pages
When you select the Similar Pages link for a particular result, Google automatically scouts the web for pages that are related to this result.
   
O. Indented result
When Google finds multiple results from the same website, the most relevant result is listed first, with other relevant pages from that site indented below it.
   
P. More results
If we find more than two results from the same site, the remaining results can be accessed by clicking on the "More results from..." link.
   
Q. Plus Box results
Clicking the "plus box" icon reveals additional info about your search result. You'll see this feature for pages related to publicly traded U.S. stocks, local businesses, and Google and YouTube videos.
   
R. Related search terms
Sometimes the best search terms for what you're looking for are related to the ones you actually entered. Click these related search terms to see alternate search results.
Use the Address bar
n the Internet Explorer Address bar, type Find, Go, or ? followed by a keyword, website name, or phrase, and then press ENTER. If you want the search results to display in a new tab, press ALT+ENTER after typing the phrase.
 

Practice Questions--Searching The Web
 
1. To err is human, to forgive divine is a quote from which Shakespearean play?

2. Where does the phrase "pushing the envelope" come from?

3. Where did the potato originate?

4. I need information about viruses but not computer viruses.

5. Where can I find large, full color pictures of US soldiers in Iraq?

6. Where can I find a video of the Virginia Tech shootings?

7. Where will the 2008 Super Bowl be played?

8. Search for vacations in Los Angeles or San Francisco?

9. Where can I find financial information about IBM?

10. I'm moving to to a condo on Chatfield Drive in Pequannock, NJ . What does the neighborhood look like?

11. Find a personal home budget spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel

12. Where can I find winter gardening tips?

13. Where can I find pizza shops in Spring Valley, NY?

14. Where can I find a Spanish translation of the Finkelstein Memorial Library web page?

15. Where can I find a DVD player between $50 and $100?

16. Who is located at the telephone number 845 352-5700?

17. Where can I find articles about Michael Bloomberg during the past week only?

18. Find news articles about the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001

19. How can I be kept posted about prostate cancer in the news?

20. How many teaspoons in a cup?

21. Where can I find a current New York State tax form IT-201?

22. Find email on this computer from Gary Price

23. Where can I find out about gas mileage for hybrid cars?

24. Where can I find what people are saying about Dell or Gateway computers? Which is better?

25. Find information about computer viruses ONLY from IBM web sites

What is Email?
   
- E-mail is an electronic message sent from one computer to another. It is the MOST POPULAR use of the Internet.
 
- You can send or receive personal and business-related messages with “attachments,” such as pictures or sound files.
 
- Email works on all computers (Microsoft, Apple, etc.)
 
- Fast and convenient. No stamps! Not intrusive
 
Email Usage is exploding
 
 
- We send about 3 billion E-mail messages a day, compared with about 300 million pieces of first-class mail. Email is the most popular use of the web.
 
- The average business user spends an hour a day dealing with email and sends and receives between 60 and 200 email messages each day.
 
- A recent study found that for 34 percent of IT managers, a week without e-mail would be more traumatic than events such as a minor car accident, moving to a new home, or getting married or divorced. 
 
 
YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
You need to set-up an email address with your Internet Service Provider.

It is unique to you - like a fingerprint!

No one else in THE WORLD has your address!
 
Keep at least 3 Email addresses
1.Your Primary email address
2.Your Backup email address
3.Your Disposable email address
Formatting Email Messages
 
HTML Messages
Any time you see colored text, graphics, words that are underlined (besides hyperlinks), bold text, etc. in an email, you are looking at an HTML email message.
 
Text Messages
Plain text email accounts for the remaining messages that are sent. A plain text message looks like something written in a basic text editor. Notepad, which comes loaded with your PC’s operating system, is a great editor for sending text messages.
 
 
Formatting Email Messages
 
1. The username created by you

2.The @ symbol

3.The name of the computer that handles your mail (also called a Server, e.g., aol.com)

4.There are NO spaces in an email address

5.Most addresses are case-sensitive

6.Do not enter an email address containing brackets, parentheses, quotation marks, apostrophes, colons, spaces, or percent signs
 
 

About Free Email
   

There are several “Web” based services that offer free email addresses. They allow you to check your email from any computer that has an Internet connection. They allow you to keep your email address forever, even if you change Internet Service Providers or jobs.
   
Here are the most popular email websites:
 
Gmail
Web-based email service from Google.		 Yahoo! Mail
 
Hotmail
Free web-based email service from MSN.		 Excite Mail
Free web-based email.
 
Lycos Mail
Provides email, voice mail, and instant messaging services.		 Mail.com
Provides personalized, web-based email. Also offers premium service upgrades.
 
MailCity
Free web-based email, available through any Internet connection.		 Mail2Web
Web-based email application which allows users to access accounts anywhere.
 
Netaddress
Provides email accounts.		  
 
YOUR ASSIGNMENT:
 
  1. Send an email message to yourself

  2. Send an email message to someone you know

  3. If you're politically minded, send an email message to the President (president@whitehouse.gov), the Vice President (vice-president@whitehouse.gov) or maybe you'd prefer to write Newt Gingrich (gingr_ne@rep.house.gov) or Rush Limbaugh (70277.2502@compuserve.com).
 
Browser Quiz
Internet Explorer is a Web browser that helps you surf the Net. This quiz recaps the basics about this tool. For each question you can check your answer by clicking on the hypertext-linked word and re-reading the particular section. Return to this page by clicking on IE Basics Quiz in the left frame.
 
 
  1. What is a Web page?

  2. What is the Address bar?

  3. What happens when you click on Customize Links, Free Hotmail or any of the other Quick Link buttons?

  4. What does the bar at the bottom of the screen display? Name three types of information.

  5. What is the Explorer Frame that pops up in the left part of your screen?

  6. How can the History button help you when you are on the Net?

  7. What is Home and how can you change it?

  8. This tutorial is made up of frames. What does this mean?

  9. How do you open a new Explorer Window?

  10. What is the URL comprised of?

  11. What does the favorites list do for you?

  12. Name a fast way to add a favorite to a folder.

  13. What can you use to check a site you visited a week ago but can't remember the URL? Can you also view the page while you are offline?

  14. What is the easiest way to change the font size of the displayed page?

  15. How can you find out which version of Internet Explorer you are using?

  16. If you have a specific question about some aspect of Internet Explorer, what is the fastest and cheapest way of getting an answer?
 
 

 

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