The Internet For Dummies

From The Internet For Dummies, 11th Edition by John R. Levine, Margaret Levine Young, Carol Baroudi

Looking to surf the Net? Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) are free, downloadable browsers for the Internet. Programs for setting up and running an email account include, Thunderbird or Microsoft’s two versions, Outlook Express and Windows Mail.

Browsing the Internet with Firefox

The latest browser from the open source Mozilla project is Firefox. Firefox is small, quick and runs fast. Here are some great reasons to browse the internet with Firefox:

Download it for free from www.mozilla.org. After that, it can update itself automagically.
Go directly to a Web site: Type an address into the Address box and press Enter. (You can leave off the http://.) Press F6 to move the cursor into the Address box.
Reload the current page: Press Ctrl+R or click Reload.
Open a new tab in the Firefox window: Press Ctrl+T. Or, Ctrl+click a link to open it in a new tab. To close the current tab, press Ctrl+W. To display the next tab, press Ctrl+Tab.
Add the current page to your bookmarks: Press Ctrl+D.
Edit your bookmarks: Press Ctrl+B.
Set your browsing preferences: Choose Tools→Options.
Set the current page (or pages) to be your start page: Choose Tools→Options, click Main, and select Use Current Pages in the Startup section. If you have multiple tabs open, Firefox remembers them all.
Enter or exit Full Screen mode: Press F11.
Erase cookies, or the history of which Web sites you‘ve viewed: Choose ToolsOptions, click Privacy, click Clean Now in the Private Data section, choose which information to delete, and click Clear Private Data Now.
Block popup windows: Choose Tools→Options, click Content, and make sure that Block Popup Windows is selected. Click Exceptions to its right to specify sites that can or can’t open popups.
Choose how to handle RSS news feeds: Choose Tools→Options, click Feeds, and choose the program you want to use to read blogs and other news feeds.

Browsing the Internet with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer

Every version of Windows, since Windows 98, has Internet Explorer (IE) built into it by Microsoft. Internet Explorer is free and downloadable from the Internet. Here are some other reasons to check out this browser:

It comes with Windows. Download and install new versions from http://www.microsoft.com/ie. Beware of Internet Explorer’s many security holes, for which Microsoft issues frequent updates to patch. Check for updates at windowsupdate.microsoft.com.
Go directly to a Web site: Type its address in the Address box and press Enter. (You can leave off the http://.)
Refresh the current page: Press Ctrl+R or click Refresh.
Add the current page to your favorites: Click the Add to Favorites icon or press Alt+Z.
Edit your favorites: Click the Favorites icon or press Alt+C.
Set your browsing preferences: Choose Tools→Internet Options.
Set the current page to be your start page: Choose Tools→Internet Options, click the General tab, and click Use Current in the Home Page section.
Enter or exit Full Screen mode: Press F11.
Erase the history of which Web sites you‘ve viewed: Choose Tools→Internet Options, click the General tab, and click the Delete button in the Browsing History section (or Clear History in IE6).
Control cookies on your computer: Choose Tools→Internet Options, click the Privacy tab, click Advanced, select Override Automatic Cookie Handling (in IE7 only), set First-party Cookies to Accept and Third-party Cookies to Block.
Block pop-up windows: Choose Tools→Options, click the Privacy tab, select Turn On Pop-up Blocker, and click Settings to specify exceptions.

How To Run the Internet E-Mail Program Thunderbird

The latest email program from the Mozilla project, which created the browser Firefox, is Thunderbird. Here is useful information about installing and using an email account in Thunderbird:

Download it for free from: www.mozilla.org
Set up an e-mail account: Choose Tools→Account Settings.
Set your e-mail preferences: Choose Tools→Options.
Compose a new message: Press Ctrl+M or click the Write button.
Attach a file: Click the Attach button or choose File→Attach.
Check spelling before sending messages: Choose Tools→Options, click the Composition category, and select Check Spelling Before Sending.
Send and receive messages: Press Ctrl+Shift+T or choose File→Get New Messages For→Get All New Messages.
Block JavaScript and images: Choose Tools→Options, click the Advanced category, and deselect the Enable JavaScript In Mail Messages option. Also, select the Block Loading of Remote Images in Mail Messages option.
Delete the current message: Press Delete or click the Delete button.
Reply to the current message: Press Ctrl+R or click the Reply button.
Forward the current message: Press Ctrl+L or click the Forward button.
Display your Address Book: Press Ctrl+2 or click the Address Book button.
Create a new mail folder: Choose File→New→New Folder, type a name, and set the Create As a Subfolder Of box to the folder name in which you want the new folder to live.
Configure junk mail filtering: Choose Tools→Junk Mail Controls.
Create mail filters: Choose Tools→Message Filters from the menu to display the Message Filters window, where you can see, create, edit, and delete filters.

How To Use Windows E-Mail Programs, Outlook Express or Windows Mail

Outlook Express and Windows Mail are two free e-mail programs provided by Microsoft. Here is useful information for setting up and running your e-mail account:

Beware of security holes, for which Microsoft issues frequent security updates. Download new versions from www.microsoft.com/windows/oe/. Check for updates at windowsupdate.microsoft.com.
Set up an e-mail account: Choose Tools→Accounts, click the Mail tab, and click Add.
Set your e-mail preferences: Choose Tools→Options.
Compose a new message: Press Ctrl+N or click the Create button.
Check spelling before sending messages: Choose Tools→Options, click the Spelling tab, and select the Always Check Spelling Before Sending setting.
Send and receive messages: Press Ctrl+M or click the Send/Recv button.
Block images (OE 6): Choose Tools→Options, click the Security tab, and select Block Images and Other External Content in HTML E-mail.
Delete the current message: Press Ctrl+D or click the Delete button.
Reply to the current message: Press Ctrl+R or click the Reply button.
Forward the current message: Press Ctrl+F or click the Forward button.
Display your Address Book: Click the Addresses button.
Create a new mail folder: Choose File→Folder→New or File→New→Folder from the menu, give the folder a name, and choose which folder to put this new folder in.
Attach a file: Click the Insert→File Attachment from the menu or click the Attach button.
Create mail filters: Choose Tools→Message Rules→Mail.