Catching up with the Internet

Aimed specifically at the older user this book will take the mystery out of computing and the Internet and will give users the confidence to get online. The book offers a step-by-step guide from what the Internet is and how it works, to sending e-mail, to searching for and buying bargains.

List of contents

 Contents  I Instant Internet 1  The Net and the Web 2  Before you start& 2  Hands-on time! 4  Using a browser 5  Instant Internet Explorer 6  Yahoo! and we re off 8  Browsing 10  Search engines 14  Ask Jeeves 14  Web communities 19  E-mail 23  Outlook Express 23  Going offline 27  2 The Net and the Web 29  The Internet FAQs 30  What is the Internet? 30  Who s in charge? 31  How did it start? 31  How big is it? 32  Ways of working online 36  Mailing lists 36  Newsgroups 38  File transfer 39  Gopher 40  Telnet 41  Internet addresses 42  Host computers 42  Domain names 42  Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) 44  Getting connected 47  Hardware and software 48  3 Internet Explorer 49  The screen 50  The menus 52  The File menu 52  The Edit menu 54  The View menu 54  The Favorites menu 56  The Tools menu 56  The Help menu 57  The toolbar 58  Customising the screen 60  Bars and toolbars 60  Internet Options 61  General options 62  Security options 66  Content options 69  Connections options 71  Programs options 73  Advanced options 74  Addresses and the Address bar 75  AutoComplete 75  Selecting from the Address bar list 76  Address lists and History 76  Guessing addresses 77  Favorites 79  Returning to Favorites 80  Organising Favorites 81  Favorites in the Explorer bar 83  Offline viewing 84  History 88  Swamped by History? 89  Searching in the Explorer bar 90  Printing Web pages 92  4 Searching the Web 93  Web directories 94  Portals 94  Yahoo! 95  Refining your searches 99  Excite 99  AltaVista 104  UK Directory 106  InfoSpace 108  Searching the Web 112  Search techniques 113  Google 114  Excite Search 118  AltaVista 122  5 Mining the Internet 125  There s gold in them thar URLs! 126  Stores of knowledge 126  Dictionaries and encyclopædias 126  Web libraries 132  Worldwide maps 136  The media 139  Newspapers 139  Magazines and e-zines 141  TV 144  Internet Radio 145  The movies 147  Site seeing 150  Files from the Net 153  Software sites 153  Installing downloaded files 155  Hardware and software companies 155  Files from Web pages 156  6 The Interactive Web 157  Online shopping 159  Buying online 159  Banks and finance 167  Is it safe? 168  Interacting with others 169  Chat rooms 169  Games rooms 171  Communities 173  Net phones and video links 175  Your own Web site? 176  7 E-mail 177  How does e-mail work? 178  The advantages of e-mail 179  And the disadvantages& 179  Outlook Express 180  The Outlook Express screen 180  Customising the display 182  Using the Headers area 184  The menu commands 186  The File menu 187  The Edit menu 188  The View menu 189  The Tools menu 191  The Message menu 193  The toolbar 194  Setting the options 196  The sending options 198  Incoming mail 200  E-mail addresses 202  Finding addresses 203  Address Book 206  Sending messages 208  Formatted and plain text 210  Stationery 211  Spell-checking 212  Sending mail 212  Receiving, replying, forwarding 213  E-mail etiquette 214  Information overload 215  Message rules 216  Organising old mail 217  Finding messages 219  Identities 220  Attached files 221  Saving attachments 223  Opening attachments 224  Web mail 225  Configuring Hotmail 227  Using Hotmail through the Web 229  Hotmail through Outlook Express 231  8 Newsgroups 233  Newsgroups and mailing lists 234  Newsgroups 234  Mailing lists 237  Subscribing to newsgroups 238  Reading the news 240  Posting 242  Managing subscriptions 243  Newsgroup netiquette 244  Smileys and other conventions 246  Smileys 246  Abbreviations 246  Emphasis 247  Files from newsgroups 247  Combine and Decode 250  Stuffit Expander 251  Munpack 251  Appendix: Using Windows 253  The Windows environment 254  A brief history 254  Why Windows ? 255  Essential jargon 256  The Desktop 256  The Taskbar and Start menu 257  Hardware and software 257  Program 257  Document 258  File 258  Folder 258  Window components 259  The mouse 260  Menus 261  The Menu bar 262  Menus from the toolbars 262  Shortcut menus 263  The Start menu 264  Menus and the keyboard 266  Making choices 268  Text boxes 268  Checkboxes 268  Radio buttons 269  Drop-down lists and combo boxes 269  Number values 270  Buttons 270  Try it! 271  Index 273
CONTENTS
1 The Net and the Web
What's on-line?
What is the Internet and what can you do with it?
The Web, e-mail, newsgroups, other ways of working
The Background
brief history, 'how it works' overview
Getting connected
Hardware - minimum, optional
Software
Choosing an ISP
Set up and running costs

2 Tools for the job
Internet Explorer
screen, tools, setting up, using, Favorites, History
Navigator
briefer coverage
E-mail software
Focus on Outlook Express, brief coverage of other common software

3 Browsing the Web
Starting points
Directories and portals - Hairnet, Yahoo, MSN, etc
URLs
understanding, using, finding
Navigation
Hyperlinks, Back button, History
Favorite places
Creating, using, organising links

4 Searching for stuff
Search engines
Google, AltaVista, Infoseek
Directories
Excite, Yahoo, UK directory
Metasearches
Ask Jeeves
Searching from your PC
Internet Explorer search bar, add-ons/active links to search sites

5 Internet communities
Meeting places
myhairnet.com and other communities, Chat rooms, Bulleting boards
Making your home
Setting up a site at a community, becoming active on-line
Finding people
E-mail addresses, phone numbers, tracking down lost friends

6 The Internet Mall
Shopping on-line
E-mail order - Amazon, other book/ CD/gifts
Bargain hunting
Price searchers, auctions, cooperatives
Getting the groceries
Tesco, Iceland, specialist suppliers
On-line services
Banking, shares, mortgages, insurance, etc.

7 Siteseeing
The world of knowledge
Encyclopedias, papers, magazines, TV, other reference, news feeds
The armchair tourist
Tourist sites, guides, web cams, galleries and museums
Games and hobbies
On-line games, enthusiasts' sites

8 E-mail
E-mail addresses
Address book
Sending messages
Formatted and plain text, working on and off-line, e-mail etiquette
You've got mail!
Receiving, replying, forwarding
Organising old mail
Folders, deleting, archives
Web mail
Hotmail - why and how

9 Newsgroups
The amazing range
What's covered, how to find them
Lurking, FAQs
Active group work
Subscribing, posting, threads
Mailing lists
How they work, what's available

10 Mining the Internet
Files from the Net
Downloading, viruses, times
Shareware
Key sites, downloading, costs
Making the most of multimedia
Sound & video, getting RealPlayer, what is Flash?
Software updates
New tools, updates and drivers from manufacturers
Saving from the page
Text and graphics from Web pages

11 Where to go from here
Online learning
myhairnet.com tutorials, "tech talk" forums
Offline learning
Hairnet one-to-one training
Advanced learning?
other web tecchie resources - webmonkey.com, javascript.com, etc

CD will include links to various web sites, and an ISP

About the author

THE AUTHOR

P K McBride has written extensively on Computing and the Internet. He is series editor for the Made Simple series and titles include:

Explorer 5.0 for Windows; The Internet for Windows 95; Internet for Windows 98; The Internet; JavaScript Programming; Office 2000; Office 97 for Windows; Pascal Programming; Sage Accounts, Windows (Version 3.1); Windows 95; Windows 98; Works for Windows 95; Internet for Windows 3.1; Internet for Windows 95; Outlook 99

He also contributes to the Clear and Simple series:
Windows 95
Windows 98
The Internet for Windows 95
C Clearly: an Introduction to C Programming

And he has written a number of others:
IT Core Skills: Perfect Office Edition
IT Core Skills: Microsoft Office Edition
The Daily Mail Book of Business and Personal Computing
Choosing and Using CP/ M Business Software on the Amstrad PCW 8256/ 8512
Caterer and Hotelkeeper Guide to the Internet, getting your business online
Introductory Visual BASIC

Summary

Aimed specifically at the older user this book will take the mystery out of computing and the Internet and will give users the confidence to get online. The book offers a step-by-step guide from what the Internet is and how it works, to sending e-mail, to searching for and buying bargains.

Product details

• Authors: P Mcbride
• Publisher: Pearson Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.01.2001
• EAN: 9780130908247
• ISBN: 978-0-13-090824-7
• No. of pages: 276
• Weight: 840 g
• Series: Prentice Hall; Prentice Hall
• Subject: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > IT, data processing > Internet