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Hints for New Users
If you are a new computer user, welcome to the Internet! You have a vast store of information to tap and learning a few basics will help you get started, and get more out of your Internet experience.
There are many tutorials about the Internet, some of them on-line (we've linked a few of these at the bottom of this page.)
To enjoy this and other websites the most, you want to make sure that your computer settings are compatible with the sites you are viewing.
Screen Resolution
One of the most important settings is screen resolution. This setting determines how much information you can view on your screen without scrolling up, down or sideways. It's annoying if you have to scroll sideways to read a web page, and most pages these days, including ours, are designed for an 800 by 600 pixel screen resolution.
Think of pixels as dots on your screen and you can visualize what this measurement means. Some older computers may be set for a screen resolution of 640x480 pixels, which makes things appear larger but also may make some of the information overflow the sides of your screen. Most web pages, unless very short in length, with be longer than the height of your screen and you'll find a scroll bar to the right of your screen just like the one on this page. Grab it by positioning your mouse over the solid slider, left click and while holding the button down, drag the slider down or up the bar to see the rest of the page. You can also click on the arrows at the bottom and top of the page to move the slider incrementally. Any time you see a scroll bar on your screen, there's more information for you to see and you can view it using this method.
Should a scroll bar appear at the bottom of your screen, then there is also more information at the sides of your display than you can see all at once. This means that the website was designed for a higher resolution than your computer is set for. In almost all operating systems you'll be able to change this setting and here's how you do it in Windows:
Click on the start button at the bottom left of your screen, then click on settings and then on control panel. Next, click on the icon for "Display" then on the tab at the top of the page that says "settings". You'll see a box titled "screen area" near the bottom right of your display, with a slide adjustment. If the setting doesn't already read "800 by 600 pixels", slide move the slider so that it does. Then click on "Apply" and then "OK". For Mac users, if our web pages appear to be too wide for your screen and you have to scoll over to read the right part of the page, open the control strip (the small triangle normally on the left of your screen) and click on the monitor panel (the symbol with the checkered screen). If more than one resolution setting appears, you can increase the size of your monitor's viewing area by selecting a higher number.
Text Size
If your text size is too large, sentences and paragraphs may not appear properly on your screen. The larger your monitor is the smaller the text size that you can use and still read it easily. Run the following check and reset your text size if necessary:
For Internet Explorer web browsers, click on "view" at the top of your screen, and then select "text size" from the drop-down menu. Select "medium" for your text size or, if you have a monitor that's 17 inches or larger, you might want to choose the next lower setting, which is "smaller". Mac users: Select Edit, then Preferences, then Language/Fonts...and change the font size. Smaller numbers are smaller fonts, bigger numbers are bigger fonts.
For Netscape web browsers click on Options, then General Preferences, then Fonts. We recommend that you set encoding as "Latin1", the Proportional Font setting as "Times New Roman, 12" and the Fixed Font setting as "Courier New, 10". Mac Users: Select Edit, then Preferences, then Appearances - Fonts. The default setting is probably OK, but you can probably select the next lower font size (smaller number) if your monitor is 17 inches or larger and still read text quite easily.
Finding Your Way from Page to Page
Getting from one internet page to another is easy - you just click on a selection with your left mouse key, or on a text link which is underlined, (in most cases, indicating that it's a clickable link). This will either take you to another page on the same website, to a different website, or perhaps email, already pre-addressed for you. When you go from one page to another, you may do so in the same browser window as the last page, or you may find that you open a new browser window (which will almost always be smaller - click on the button with a double box, right next to the "X" top right of your screen to enlarge it to full-size).
If you are using the same browser window and wish to return to the page that you viewed previously, you can get there by using the "back" arrow key which is located top left of your screen. In fact in most cases you will be able to back up several pages using this method. There are two exceptions to this: When the page you have entered is coded to "trap" you and prevent you to returning to your last page, or when you opened a new browser rather than staying in the original window. (The website coding determines whether you open a new browser window or use the same browser, you cannot control this.)
If you have been trapped there's nothing you can do other than call up the original page again and never again visit the site that trapped you! Sites that trap you are a real annoyance and nearly everyone despises them. While the intent is to keep you at that site, we can't think of a single reason why you'd want to stay there.
If you opened a new browser window you'll need to close it to return to the last page that you were on or, if you prefer, simply change windows. Down at the bottom bar on your screen you should see two Internet Explorer or Netscape buttons, depending on which web browser you're using. If you are finished viewing the site that you went to, close the browser you're using by clicking on the "X" top right of your screen and you'll find you're back at your original browser window or, if you want to switch back and forth from one web page to the other, click on the button at the bottom of the screen that is not depressed, and you will be taken to the alternate page, utilizing the two different browsers. Remember to close the extra browser at some point by clicking on its "X" or else you could end up with many browsers all running at once, which could overload your computer's resourcs and cause strange things to start happening.
Printing a Web Page
Have you ever tried to print a web page and found that you didn't get what you thought you would? This is frustrating but easily explained. Many web sites, including this one, have pages that are made up of "frames". There are three frames on your screen as you read this: A top Frame (with our Logo, a couple of banners and a site navigation button that takes you to our site map), A side frame (with clickable links to the main sections of this site), and the information frame, which is the one that you are now reading.
If you wanted to print out this page (and why not do so for a handy reference?), DON'T simply click on the Printer Icon in the toolbar at the top of your screen as you won't know which of these frames you are actually going to print. Select the frame that you wish to print by left clicking anywhere in the frame, then and then click on the print icon. This will produce the desired result.
Spam
Spam is something you're going to learn to live with on the Internet. This is unsolicited e-mail that you'll receive on an ever-increasing basis. Spammers send out emails by the millions! All web users frown upon this practice but attempts to stop it have been fruitless, as unscrupulous spammers send the mail through other people's e-mail accounts! To avoid having spam sent through your account, or to avoid getting more than your share of spam messages, Never reply to these messages. If you send the spammer email requesting to be removed from his list, chances are that you'll simply increase the amount of spam that you receive! The best thing to do is to simply delete it as quickly as it comes in.
Don't volunteer information about yourself or your e-mail address to people you don't know, and check the privacy policy of a website before you provide information. (If the sitehas one, it will probably be linked from the bottom of the home page).
Viruses
The Internet has it's own vandals. Instead of throwing rocks through windows and keying cars, they create viruses that replicate themselves and quickly spread through the Internet. Unless you protect yourself against viruses, you will be infected sooner or later! Viruses can be introduced to your hard drive by programs imported via disc or via the Internet and most frequently, by e-mail attachments.
E-mail viruses are very sneaky. You'll get an e-mail from someone you know with a joke or other attachment, and the first thing you know your computer starts acting strangely, or perhaps if you're really unlucky, all of the information on your computer is wiped out! Before you notice this, though, the virus has searched your e-mail address book and sent itself onward to all of your friends without your knowledge!
The best thing to do is to buy and install an anti-virus program right away. Two good ones are Norton and McAfee. Both of these offer frequent updates over the Internet. You'll want to download these updates every two weeks to keep your anti-virus files up to date, or whenever you hear about a new virus threat. Otherwise, a new virus could still get you.
Backing Up Files
Get in the habit of backing up important work. If your computer catches a virus or if something causes your system to crash, you may end up having to re-format your hard drive. Should this happen, everything that you had on your computer will be lost and you'll have to start all over again.
You can always re-install programs. While this will take a little time, it will probably take you less time to install than initially, as you've already learned how to do this. But you need to back up your data files on a regular basis, so that once you've re-installed your programs, you can also re-install all that data that took you so long to develop.
Unfortunately, you probably won't heed our advice and, when your computer crashes (and you can be sure that it will), you'll wish that you had. Don't be too hard on yourself, though, as very few people have the discipline to back up their computer files as often or as completely as they should. To begin with, you'll probably be able to back up most of your important work on floppy discs, but in a very short time this will start to become increasingly impractical, and you'll probably want to invest in a zip disc, read/write CD Rom or other device that can back up larger amounts of data.
Internet Security
This is a fairly technical issue that we won't get into here, other than to say that you should be aware that unscrupulous people with the right talent can access your computer through your modem and obtain all kinds of personal information, including credit card numbers! Those of you using cable modems are particularly susceptible to this type of invasion. For now, limit the information you keep on your computer (don't save your credit card information when ordering over the internet - enter it each time instead) and once you've got your computer pretty well figured out, install a firewall. "Black Ice" is a very good program.
For More Information
There are of course many more "tricks" that you'll want to learn, but the purpose of this site is to tell you all about bareboats and not how to operate your computer. We've listed some links below that you may find useful for additional information about your computer and browsing the web.
About.com has two useful pages here
and
here
Newbie Internet Help is available at Windweaver.com
The Help Web
We hope that this brief article has helped you to get started on the right track. If you have unresolved questions, please direct them to one of the websites we've recommended above - don't ask us as we're not nearly as expert as they are.
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