How to...
Computer help for beginning computer users
The history of the Internet is fascinating (and BTW… it has nothing to do with Al Gore), the different things that can be done online grows everyday and is also fascinating. Both are outside the scope of this article.
I will however, touch on a few important things to watch for when you are on the web. Be aware of your surroundings.
Q: What is this browser thing?
A: A browser is a piece of software that allows you to view pre-made web pages on the Internet. Browsers also allow you to do other Internet functions like view pictures and 'FTP'.
Microsoft has included a browser, Internet Explorer (IE), with it's Operating System since Windows 95. The early versions of this browser included many undesirable ‘features’ such as occasional crashes and improperly formatted web pages. But for the last couple of versions it has improved greatly and now it dominates the market. There are other browsers available such as Firefox. Firefox is a free download and is known as a 'lightweight browser'. It does not include many of the plug-ins that are included with IE out of the box. Some really nice new features appear to be driving the browser market here, like 'tabbed browsing' and a 'Spyware blocker'. I encourage you to download and try this product, I have started to use and enjoy it.
This tutorial will focus on browsing the internet with Internet Explorer as everyone already has it on their system. Firefox has many of the same features but they may be located in a different part of the interface, just look around a bit to find it.
First and foremost is to make sure you are fully patched and properly configured. Patching your computer is also out of the scope of this tutorial. But remember that it is extremely important when you are on the Internet to be patched to the hilt. Let's move forward assuming that this has already been done. Let's also assume that your computer is running Windows XP SP2.
Launch (start the program) IE and make note of the drop down menus at the top --> Tools --> Internet Options... left mouse click. We are going to make some changes to your options. Doing so we will free up hard drive space and nobody will notice a thing.
This will open a dialog box for all your different options. Notice the tabs across the top: General, Security, Privacy, Content, Connections, Programs and a tab for Advanced settings. I will touch on each of these tabs except for the Advanced tab. We will leave you with that when you feel you are ready to tackle it or for another article.
The first tab is 'general'. Here you set your home page. Type any web page that you want for your home page in here then click the 'apply' button at the bottom. If it seems like it takes a long time to load your home page and you want to just open the browser without a home page loading, just select the button 'Use Blank' then click on the 'Apply' button at the bottom.
The second thing that you can change on the 'General' tab are the settings for your Temporary Internet Files. Click the 'Settings' button --> 'Check for newer versions of stored pages' --> Choose 'Automatically'.
Below that are the settings for: 'Temporary Internet files folder'. Let's free up some hard drive space by moving the slider to the left or type in the box --> '1' Mb for 'Amount of disk space to use'. Select the 'OK' button once. Now you are back at the 'General' tab.
Next we are going to change the number of 'days to keep pages in history' --> change it to something reasonable like 5 maybe 7 days. (This also effects the amount of hard drive space you have). Now select the 'OK' button.
Congratulations! You have completed the first step to configuring your browser.
The Rest of the tabs
Security
Set your Internet zone Security level here. I recommend having your system to at least the Medium level as seen in the screen shot above. A higher setting might make your browsing experience a difficult one. The same goes for a lower setting as it might allow your computer to be exploited.
Privacy
Again I recommend a setting of at least Medium. You can see the difference in how IE will handle cookies as you adjust slider up and down. At a setting of Medium you are protected enough for most of the browsing you do. This setting will allow for unfettered browsing, from a cookie standpoint.
The Popup blocker (which you can see in the graphic above) is one of the best things that Microsoft has added to IE for years. It has worked really well for me. I haven't had a pop-up for over 3 years. Feel free to set the pop-up to whatever setting you feel you want. Experiment with it. I have noticed some pop-up's are starting to get through. Someone has found a way around it. But keep quiet - word hasn't gotten out yet.
Content
The 'Content Advisor' is supposed to allow you to restrict the content that you will be exposed to. I have never used it. I don't personally wish to restrict the amount of information I have access to. But if you have children I imagine you might want to keep them from 'extreme hate speech' as well as sex and violence. As I have never used it I don't know how well it works. But feel free to Experiment with it. If you want, feel free to drop me a note telling me what your experience with it was like.
The Certificates section is important but chances are you wont need to do any thing here. Unless you are having a specific problem and a help desk person is asking you to do something, leave it alone. You can however view the certificates that you have with the 'Certificates' button. I would not recommend deleting or changing anything here.
Under the 'Personal information' section, you can turn on (or off) "AutoComplete" in web forms, addresses and User Name and passwords. AutoComplete will fill in the information in forms as long as you have already filled it in at least once before.
The Connections tab is used to set-up your network settings for IE. As a new user, I would not recommend that you make any changes here unless you are instructed to do so by a computer help desk person. For more advanced users the 'LAN settings' section is where you will set-up for any proxy servers. Useful if you travel with your computer.
Programs
Under the Programs tab you are able to set your preferences for your internet programs like Email, Newsgroups and a few others that you could specify if you want. If you have Microsoft Office installed it will look like the graphic above. Chances are you wont need to make any changes here.
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