Margaret Levine Young

Over the last 20 years, surfing the internet, browsing the web, emailing, and online chat have become part of everyday life. Here are pointers for browsing the web, signing up for email, and understanding what people are saying once you are online.Web browsing basicsThe web is the public face of the internet, with billions of web pages you can read about everything from comics to news to medical information to TV shows.

There are multiple ways you can post things on the internet. But what if you need a little more? What if you need a website with a bunch of pages, with titles you choose, about topics you choose, and maybe even with your own domain name? Credit: ©iStockphoto.com/Maximkostenko Page creators abound You have (as usual) several ways to create a website, beyond using Facebook, photo sharing sites, and blogs.

The internet and the web were originally designed for educational and governmental purposes, not for selling stuff, although that’s hard to believe now. Even in this era of ecommerce, lots of free stuff is available. You can watch tons of video for free on YouTube and other video-sharing sites. You can also try TED talks – short, informative lectures on technology, education, and design.

Most people use Twitter to follow what’s going on in the world. But some use Twitter to get a message out to as many people as possible. If you are one of those people, here are tips for getting other people to retweet your message to their followers. Don’t sound like an ad. No one will retweet a tweet that sounds like self-promotion or an advertisement.

Chances are, a browser is already installed on your computer. If you use Internet Explorer, many think you’re better off installing either Firefox or Chrome, for speed and safety reasons. Fortunately, browser programs aren’t difficult to find and install, and Firefox, Chrome, and Safari are all free. Even if you already have a browser, new versions come out every 20 minutes or so.

When you run your internet browser, it displays your start page. Unfortunately, the people who make browsers usually don’t pick pages that users particularly like. Why not tell your browser to start where you want to start?You may want to start on the Yahoo! page, or Google, or the home page of your local newspaper.

A firewall is a barrier between your computer (or computers) and the internet. In big companies, the firewall may consist of a computer that does nothing but monitor the incoming and outgoing traffic, checking for bad stuff. At your home or office, you have two good options: Use firewall software you already have Here’s how to find it on a Windows: Windows 8 or 8.

You can post information on the internet in lots of different ways. Some require more start-up effort than others. Here’s an overview of the best methods for putting your own information online: Join a social network: Websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace started as glorified personal ads and have expanded to include photos, video, email, blogs, polls — you name it.

People buy lots of airline tickets online. Although the online travel sites aren’t as good as the very best human travel agents, the sites are now better than most agents and vastly better than bad travel agents. Some airlines offer cheap fares on their own websites that aren’t available any other way. The airlines know that it costs them much less to let the web do the work, and they pay you (sometimes in the form of a hefty discount) to use their websites.