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How to Connect to the Internet

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How to Search the Internet

How to Browse the Web

The easiest way to get a sense of the scope of the internet is to browse the web: use a web browser to explore the millions of web pages, images, and videos available online.

Web Browsers

A web browser is a program that lets you view the billions of documents, images, and videos that make up the world wide web. The following web browsers are free and run on both Macs and PCs:

Internet Explorer® (IE): Almost every computer running Microsoft Windows has IE installed on it.
Firefox®: A relative newcomer to the browser world, Firefox is fast, free, and easy to use. Versions for PC, Mac, and Linux are available at www.mozilla.com/firefox.
Safari®: Any Mac running OS X comes with a copy of Safari, Apple’s proprietary web browser.
Netscape®: Netscape was the dominant browser during the early days of the web. Though Netscape has waned in popularity since, it’s still a reliable option for PC, Mac, and Linux. Find it at browser.netscape.com.

Browser Basics

Most browsers include the same set of tools, menus, and options, with slight variations. Within the browser, use your mouse to click on links and scroll through pages.

Browser Controls

Most browsers feature a row of buttons at the top of the window. Use these buttons to navigate through websites.

Address box: Type the address, or URL, of the website you’d like to visit in this text area at the top of your browser window. Then press Enter/Return or click Go.
Back: Takes you back to the last page you viewed.
Forward: If you’ve already gone back a few pages, moves you forward through them again.
Reload: Loads the page again. Reload comes in handy if a web page somehow gets garbled as it loads, or if its content has changed and you want to refresh it.
Stop: Stops a page from loading.
Home: Brings you to your browser home page (see “Home Page,” later in this section).
Search: Some browsers have a search button that takes you to their search engine, or a search window that gives you instant access to web search results.

Bookmarks

Bookmarks are an easy way to save and organize your favorite websites. To save a web page in your bookmarks, go to the Bookmarks or Favorites menu in your brower’s menu bar. To organize your bookmarks, select the Manage, Organize, or Show All Bookmarks option in the Bookmarks or Favorites menu.

Home Page

Your home page is the page that your browser displays every time you open the browser or press the Home button. To change the home page, follow these steps:

Internet Explorer: Go to Tools > Internet Options > General.
Firefox: On a PC, go to Tools > Options > Main. On a Mac, go to Choose Firefox > Preferences > General.
Safari: Go to Safari > Preferences > General.

In the address bar in the Home Page section, simply type or paste the URL of your desired home page, or select “Use Current Page” if you’re currently on the page you’d like to use. Then click OK to save your settings.

Tabs and Windows

Newer web browsers offer tabbed browsing—the ability to view multiple pages within one window. Tabs make it easy to have several web pages open at once without cluttering your desktop with different windows—just click on a tab to view its page. To create a new tab, go to File > New Tab, or press Ctrl-T on the PC, or Command-T on a Mac.

Error Messages

If something goes wrong with a web page you’re viewing, you’ll see an error message. The most common error message is 404 File Not Found, which means that your browser can’t find the page. Usually, that’s because the file (web page, image, etc.) has been moved, deleted, or renamed.

History

Your browser keeps track of the websites you visit in the history list. It uses this list to power the Back and Forward buttons, and you can use it to find sites you’ve been to before, but may have forgotten to bookmark.

To access your history: In Firefox, go to History; in IE, go to View > Explorer Bar > History. Your history is also kept in a list of URLs in the address bar. Click the arrow on the right side of the bar to access it.
To erase your history: In Firefox, go to Tools > Options. Click Privacy. Under Private Data, click Clear Now, check Browsing History in the box that pops up, and click Clear Private Data Now. To do the same in IE, go to Tools > Internet Options. Click General. Under Browsing History, click Delete, then Delete History.

Plug-Ins

In additon to your web browser, you may need a few extra helper applications, or plug-ins, that help you view different types of files on the web. When you surf to a page that requires a plug-in, you’ll probably see a message telling you so, and directing you to a site where you can download the plug-in. The most popular plug-ins include:

Adobe Reader®: Lets you view and print PDF (portable document format) files. PDFs abound on the web: many forms, reports, and other documents that combine text and graphics are saved as PDFs. Download Adobe Reader for free at www.adobe.com.
QuickTime®: Apple’s popular video player. Many videos and movie trailers are in QuickTime format. Macs come pre-equipped with the program, but PC users can download it for free at www.apple.com/quicktime.
FlashPlayer®: A widely used plug-in that plays complex animations. A related plug-in, Shockwave Player, is used mostly in online gaming environments. Both players are free to download at www.adobe.com.
RealPlayer®: A popular audio/video player used on many news sites. Download it for free at www.real.com.