Top 5 Ways to Improve Your Internet Browsing Experience
1. Upgrade Your Browser!
Internet browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc. are notorious for not completely supporting the web standards put forth by the World Wide Web Consortium, the internet standards association.
As time goes on the companies that make these internet browsers realize the importance of adhering to the standards and launch a new version of their browser. Here are some links to the most common browser update sites.
Internet Explorer
Firefox
Safari
Opera
Camino
2. Clear Your Cookies
What are cookies??? Cookies are just a little bit of code that is stored on your computer by almost all web sites. Cookies are not necessarily bad. However, they will start slowing your computer down when you are online. A lot of companies use them to see how people view their site. In this way they actually are helpful to the owner to make sure their site is navigable and why people may be having problems viewing their site.
Other times, sites put cookies on your computer so they can display targeted advertising. Ever notice when you visit a site you'll start seeing ads for that site on the major web sites? For instance, I once visited the web site for Chevy trucks. I then left that site and went to yahoo.com. Ads for cars were all over the place!
Go to the About Cookies web site for information on how to clear your cookies on your particular browser.
3. Learn Your Options
If you can't read the text on a site for any number of reasons do you know how to change that? Do you know how to turn off your annoying toolbars? Do you know how to bookmark a page or view the history?
Here's a good one: If you are on a PC, press F11...interesting, huh? To turn it off, press F11 again.
To zoom in or out on a web page: on Firefox, go to 'View'>'Zoom'>'In' or 'Out'. You can also press 'ctrl'+'+' on a PC while viewing Firefox.
For Internet Explorer, go to 'View'>'Text Size'>Choose your preference.
Changing Toolbar preference: For several reasons, I usually just erase them off of my computer! First, they tend to slow down your computer because they are all gathering information about you while you browse through the internet. Secondly, they take up a lot of room. You can take them off your PC by going to your desktop and going to 'Start'>'Control Panel'>'Add or Remove Programs'>(scroll to the toolbar you want to erase).
If you just want to turn it off for the time being, on Firefox, go to 'View'>'Toolbars'>(check off what toolbars you want). In Internet Explorer, go to 'View'>'Toolbars'>(check off what toolbars you want). If you accidentally get rid of the 'menu bar', just right click and it will give you the option to turn it back on.
Bookmark a page: I may be preaching to the choir here, but this is one of the best options in internet browsers. You really want to read a web page, but you can't right now...and you know you won't remember it. In Firefox, go to your menu bar, press 'Bookmark'>'Bookmark this page'. In the new version of Firefox, you can just press the star in the address bar and you don't have to worry about it. To find it later, go to 'Bookmark'>'Recently Bookmarked pages'.
In Internet Explorer, go to 'Favorites'>'Add to favorites'.
View or Erase History: Internet Explorer makes it hard to view the history these days. Apparently they all got in trouble with their wives and they want to make sure you really want to see the history from now on. Supporting my theory is the fact that you can easily erase your history by merely going to 'Tools'>'Erase browser History'.
To actually view the history in Internet Explorer you have to go to 'View'>'Explorer Bar'>'History', or just press 'ctrl'+'shift'+'H' all at the same time.
Firefox isn't afraid of their History. They put it right on the menu bar.
4. Update Your Operating System
Supposedly, there are many security risks and holes in browsers that I don't quite understand, but I trust the companies who make operating systems and browsers to be telling the truth when they admit fault with their browsers. Along with upgrading your browser to get the latest security, upgrade your operating system so it has the latest standards to back up your browser.
If you have an older operating system, like pre-Windows XP, I would suggest updating your operating system as often as possible. Eventually, Microsoft will no longer provide updates and you will be out of luck. If you have Windows XP, you may have heard Microsoft stopped selling it. That does not mean they will stop updating the software. As a lover of XP, I dread the day I have to switch to Vista or whatever else they put out next.
You can find your operating system updates by going to their web site.
5. Update Your Plugins
Plugins are 'server-side' programs that start up automatically within a web site when you visit a site that utilizes them. Included are Flash, Shockwave, Java, etc.
By keeping them updated, you won't have to continually be stopped at a site that requires the latest version. Go to the Plug-ins 101 web site to learn more and get links to latest versions.
What the heck is a server-side program??? Let's contrast that with a browser side program, like HTML. When you load up a web page that is all html, the site's host is delivering the content to your browser. When you are interacting with a server-side program, you tell the browser what to do, then it tells the server what to do, then it delivers the server-side content. It's comparable to any site where you login and get tailored information, like Yahoo mail or hotmail.
Plug ins are server-side languages that use your computer as the server. So the web site tells the browser that it wants to use Flash, then it looks for Flash on your computer. That's why Flash and Java takes so long to load!
In Summary
Your internet experience is only as good as your browser settings!
Internet browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc. are notorious for not completely supporting the web standards put forth by the World Wide Web Consortium, the internet standards association.
As time goes on the companies that make these internet browsers realize the importance of adhering to the standards and launch a new version of their browser. Here are some links to the most common browser update sites.
Internet Explorer
Firefox
Safari
Opera
Camino
2. Clear Your Cookies
What are cookies??? Cookies are just a little bit of code that is stored on your computer by almost all web sites. Cookies are not necessarily bad. However, they will start slowing your computer down when you are online. A lot of companies use them to see how people view their site. In this way they actually are helpful to the owner to make sure their site is navigable and why people may be having problems viewing their site.
Other times, sites put cookies on your computer so they can display targeted advertising. Ever notice when you visit a site you'll start seeing ads for that site on the major web sites? For instance, I once visited the web site for Chevy trucks. I then left that site and went to yahoo.com. Ads for cars were all over the place!
Go to the About Cookies web site for information on how to clear your cookies on your particular browser.
3. Learn Your Options
If you can't read the text on a site for any number of reasons do you know how to change that? Do you know how to turn off your annoying toolbars? Do you know how to bookmark a page or view the history?
Here's a good one: If you are on a PC, press F11...interesting, huh? To turn it off, press F11 again.
To zoom in or out on a web page: on Firefox, go to 'View'>'Zoom'>'In' or 'Out'. You can also press 'ctrl'+'+' on a PC while viewing Firefox.
For Internet Explorer, go to 'View'>'Text Size'>Choose your preference.
Changing Toolbar preference: For several reasons, I usually just erase them off of my computer! First, they tend to slow down your computer because they are all gathering information about you while you browse through the internet. Secondly, they take up a lot of room. You can take them off your PC by going to your desktop and going to 'Start'>'Control Panel'>'Add or Remove Programs'>(scroll to the toolbar you want to erase).
If you just want to turn it off for the time being, on Firefox, go to 'View'>'Toolbars'>(check off what toolbars you want). In Internet Explorer, go to 'View'>'Toolbars'>(check off what toolbars you want). If you accidentally get rid of the 'menu bar', just right click and it will give you the option to turn it back on.
Bookmark a page: I may be preaching to the choir here, but this is one of the best options in internet browsers. You really want to read a web page, but you can't right now...and you know you won't remember it. In Firefox, go to your menu bar, press 'Bookmark'>'Bookmark this page'. In the new version of Firefox, you can just press the star in the address bar and you don't have to worry about it. To find it later, go to 'Bookmark'>'Recently Bookmarked pages'.
In Internet Explorer, go to 'Favorites'>'Add to favorites'.
View or Erase History: Internet Explorer makes it hard to view the history these days. Apparently they all got in trouble with their wives and they want to make sure you really want to see the history from now on. Supporting my theory is the fact that you can easily erase your history by merely going to 'Tools'>'Erase browser History'.
To actually view the history in Internet Explorer you have to go to 'View'>'Explorer Bar'>'History', or just press 'ctrl'+'shift'+'H' all at the same time.
Firefox isn't afraid of their History. They put it right on the menu bar.
4. Update Your Operating System
Supposedly, there are many security risks and holes in browsers that I don't quite understand, but I trust the companies who make operating systems and browsers to be telling the truth when they admit fault with their browsers. Along with upgrading your browser to get the latest security, upgrade your operating system so it has the latest standards to back up your browser.
If you have an older operating system, like pre-Windows XP, I would suggest updating your operating system as often as possible. Eventually, Microsoft will no longer provide updates and you will be out of luck. If you have Windows XP, you may have heard Microsoft stopped selling it. That does not mean they will stop updating the software. As a lover of XP, I dread the day I have to switch to Vista or whatever else they put out next.
You can find your operating system updates by going to their web site.
5. Update Your Plugins
Plugins are 'server-side' programs that start up automatically within a web site when you visit a site that utilizes them. Included are Flash, Shockwave, Java, etc.
By keeping them updated, you won't have to continually be stopped at a site that requires the latest version. Go to the Plug-ins 101 web site to learn more and get links to latest versions.
What the heck is a server-side program??? Let's contrast that with a browser side program, like HTML. When you load up a web page that is all html, the site's host is delivering the content to your browser. When you are interacting with a server-side program, you tell the browser what to do, then it tells the server what to do, then it delivers the server-side content. It's comparable to any site where you login and get tailored information, like Yahoo mail or hotmail.
Plug ins are server-side languages that use your computer as the server. So the web site tells the browser that it wants to use Flash, then it looks for Flash on your computer. That's why Flash and Java takes so long to load!
In Summary
Your internet experience is only as good as your browser settings!
posted by Mary at
11:59 AM
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