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(For non-beginners, there is a 'More Advanced' section further down the page.)
While much of this speaks of using the internet with a PC running Windows, many of the general issues also apply to users of other operating systems.
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Your 'browser' is probably Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera or Microsoft's Internet Explorer. It is whatever software you use to 'travel' around the internet, to visit those "www" thingies (URLs), or to use the fantastic Google. (By the way, you don't usually have to type the "www." part, and there's no harm in trying to skip that bit.)
Google, by the way, is NOT "the internet", or your browser. Wonderful, yes. But the Google search engine is just one of the places you can go, one of the services you can use.
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The page you are reading started life in the 1900s! Some of the BEST ideas are now in my more concise "Power Browsing" page. If you click that link, a new tab or window should open, making it easy to get back to THIS page for additional ideas.
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Does your system "mis-behave"? Here's one "trap" some people fall prey to...
For users not connected to the internet via a LAN or router, e.g. using a dial up connection... or a DSL modem which connects via a simulated dial up connection... it is important to realize that in addition to your browser, you also have a bit of software running which provides a link between your browser and the internet. It may well be started automatically by your browser. It is often called a Winsock. It is a bit like your printer driver. If you progress with your internet use, you may find that you have several programs which use your connection software. You can use browsers and other internet software for some tasks without (at first, anyway) being connected to the 'net... i.e. without tying up your phone line (and perhaps incurring charges, depending on your ISP (Internet Service Provider). If you have a broadband connection, these issues become less significant and you may be connected all the time.
The next bit doesn't apply if you are lucky enough to have a broadband connection... but that's not everyone, so I will leave it in place...
Once upon a time, many home users were in circumstances that mean the Winsock (or equivalent) software needs you to have a properly set up DUN (Dial Up Networking) connection. Fooling with that can be a real pain! Your starting place is....
If the computer asks you for your password each time you log onto the system, you might want to refrain from clicking 'Save Password' when you get the chance. This will allow you to be sure you know when the computer is connecting to the network. It will also protect you if the computer needs to go into a service center for repair, or if it is taken by a burglar. The following is also possible, if not yet widespread: A program could cause your computer to send your user id and password to whoever wrote the program. The program might look like a game or useful utility on the surface. The password you use to access the internet generally may be the first of many: You may also need to enter a password to enter places you want to go on the internet.
Password management is a topic in it's own right. Give it thought. A final reason not to avail yourself of the option of having the computer remember you password is that when your computer fails.... as one day it will, those of us who put passwords in daily know what they are, and are not stymied when restoring a dead computer.
Near the middle of a page I have with investing information, I present a way to "program" your browser. The link will take you to the right part of the page, and open it in a new tab or window, so you can get back here easily. When I say I'll show you how to "program your browser", I mean I will show you a way to go to a page where stock market data is available, but, along the way, your browser will ask you which stock you want information about. Thus with one click, and the entry of the stock ticker, you can do what would otherwise take...
The techniques demonstrated can be adapted to many similar situations... if the provisions of Firefox's "search" box doesn't do all that you want. I hope you know that you can customize it? Search Wikipedia, IMDB, Google maps, etc...
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I must admit, that the facility the following introduces is something I haven't used for years (at 3/2012)... but you might want to! It would still work!
When you start your browser, you rarely get a blank screen. In most home installations I've seen, it takes a tedious amount of time to start the browser, and then MORE time is spent waiting while the browser fetches a page from the internet... quite often a page which doesn't load particularly quickly. Often the browser automatically tries to dial up the internet, which you may not want yet.
It doesn't have to be like this! You can set your browser to start with a blank page. If you are a little more adventurous....
In addition to saving you the 'fetch a page' delay every time you fire up your browser, you make your browser start with a 'Super' Bookmarks/Favorites page which you can customize to your own preferences.
Before we get too excited: Some ISPs (the people you use to connect to the internet), Juno (the free version), and BT for another have little "features" in their service which mean it won't work if you don't accede to visiting their site every time you log on. Bah. There's no harm in trying to start your session better, but if you have one of the nuisance-inflicting ISPs, you had better have taken my advice about noting the previous start page.
Accomplishing this requires two simple steps.
First, optionally, you may wish to save a page of html to your hard disk. This is not as difficult as you might think. Then you have to tell your browser to use that page as its start, or "home", page. (Don't worry: This will have no effect on the "homepage" of any website you may have published for people to visit.)
(If you don't want to use this option, you can use your browser's setting to tell it to launch with a blank page.)
The following is a suggested page of html. Use copy/ paste to copy everything from (inclusive) the <html> below through (inclusive) the </html> to a Notepad blank document.
<html> <head> <title>Local Home Page</title> </head> <body> <center> <h1>My local Home Page</h1> </center> <hr> <br><a href="http://www.google.com/">Google</a> <br><a href="http://groups.google.com/">Newsgroup resource at Google</a> <br><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/">BBC News homepage</a> <br><a href="http://www.arunet.co.uk/tkboyd/offers.htm">Freeware, etc from Sheepdog Software)</a> <br><a href="file://C:\MyFiles\LocalStuff.htm">See text</a> </body> </html>
Save the document. You can change the folder or name, but for the sake of this let me suggest C:\MyFiles\StrtPage.htm (If you don't have a MyFiles, it isn't important... put it where you like. Somewhere within "My Documents" would be good, if you know how to do that.) The name must end .htm. (Beware: Your computer may be set up to force ".txt" onto the end of the name.... and hide it!)
Now go back to your browser. Make it take about a quarter of your screen. Move things around so that you can see it and see the Notepad Window with StrtPage.htm in it. In the place you usually put URLs (www.thing.com), enter C:\MyFiles\StrtPage.htm (or whatever folder /name you used).. and press return. You should see a simple 'web page'. If you don't, go to the Notepad window, find, fix any typos, save the Notepad document. Hit the 'Refresh' (Internet Explorer) or 'Reload' (Opera / Netscape) button on your browser. You then go back and forth like this until the page is right.
After you have the above working, you can add lines.. the pattern is simple enough. It is most clear in the first two HREF lines.
An aside, which you can ignore if the rest is proving heavy going: The link....
<br><a href="file://C:\MyFiles\LocalStuff.htm">See text</a>
...will fetch a page, but from your hard drive, not from the internet. If you find something static (for example this page!) which you want to access frequently, you can. Save a copy of the .htm or .html page onto your hard disc. Add a link to it (like the 'LocalStuff' link) in your start page, and access is easy. This won't work with some of the content of some pages... for example don't use this for your favorite weather forecast page... but it will work with many.
Now you must tell your browser to use your start page.
Before I give detailed instructions, I will point something out. When you go to CHANGE the start page setting, it would probably be a good idea to note your current start page setting. I usually add a link to it in the user's new, local, start page.
+++++ For Firefox (These instructions have been around since version 1.0.7, at least. They've been edited to bring them up to what you need for version 10 (If this doesn't suffice for what you're using, please let me know?))
Click on the Tools | Options menu item. Choose the "General" page. At the top, in the "Startup" section, there's a "Home page" section to fill in. Click the "use current" button to fill in the file's location. (Assuming you have the browser displaying the right page, as you were told to, above!)
+++++ For Internet Explorer (version 6, in any case (If this doesn't suffice for what you're using, please let me know?))...
Click on the Tools menu item. From that, click on Internet Options. Select the General tab. Assuming you have the browser displaying the right page, as you were told to, above, all you need to do now is click on the "Use Current" button, which will fill in the "Address" box with what's right. Don't be alarmed by the "/"s where you might expect "\"s.
While you've got the "Internet Options" dialog box up, you might want to do the following, too. Select the "Advanced" tab.80% of the way down the list, you will find a section with choices about "Search from the address bar." I recommend "Do not search from the address bar." It will often save you time. You might also want to un-tick the box near the start of the list, under "Browsing" that says "Automatically check for Internet Explorer updates". Updating is a double edged sword.... you may be in trouble if you do it... and you may be in trouble if you don't. (The big exception is the updates for your anti-virus software. You must do them frequently.
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I hope you enjoy that enhancement of your surfing!
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