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City of Boise.org
Boise Public Library
715 S. Capitol Blvd
Boise, Idaho 83702
Ph. (208) 384-4076
Telecirc (208) 384-4450
TTY: 1-800-377-3529
 
Director: Kevin Booe
 
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Internet Basics - Boise Public Library
Internet Basics

WHAT IS THE INTERNET?

The Internet is a collection of thousands of computer networks, hundreds of thousands of computers and millions of users all connected together via telephone lines to form the world's largest network. The term Internet can be thought of as shorthand for Interconnected Networks.

What can I do on the Internet?

  • Send and receive
    email
  • Contact subject    experts
  • Market, sell, advertise

  • Share information
  • Search for information
  • Communicate

  • Join discussions groups -  on any topic imaginable

  • Publish professional or personal works

  • Read newspapers and
    magazines

 

What is WWW - the World Wide Web?


WWW makes "surfing" the Internet easy. The WWW is just one part of the Internet but it is the fastest growing and most popular part. It's called a distributed hypermedia system, which means information is formatted and linked following certain specifications, allowing you to move from one topic to another quickly and easily by simply "clicking" on hypertext links. The information you seek might reside on a computer in Hong Kong, Russia, Fiji or Boise. No matter where, using the Internet makes the data accessible anytime with just a few keystrokes and mouse clicks! 

Who Controls the Internet?
 

The Internet was originally funded by the US government and started by UCLA, Stanford Research Institute, and the University of Utah. No one controls the Internet at the present time. Anything and everything can and is posted on the Internet. The Internet is a reflection of society in that it's a big mixture of good and bad, intelligent and ignorant and everything in between. 

  • Don't be surprised it you see something that might offend

  • Be skeptical of what you read as it may or may not be entirely true <http://www.virtualchase.com/quality/checklist.html>

  • Exercise caution when sharing personal information such as your real name, address, phone number, credit card numbers or other personal and valuable information.

  • E-Commerce - deal only with known, reputable firms

Internet Service Providers (ISP)

  • Provides your link to the Internet

  • Cost range from about $10 to $25 per month for dial-up/modem access.

  • High speed access (via DSL or cable) is available in most areas for about $40 + per month.

  • Usually have several access plans from which to choose

  • Should provide phone support and technical assistance

  • Providers can be local, regional or national but each will get you on the Internet

  • Check under "Internet Service Providers" or "Internet Access Providers" in the Yellow Pages

CHOICES, CHOICES, CHOICES. . .

Good overview article about high speed access choices: http://pcworld.about.com/magazine/2009p112id102511.htm?terms=broadband+internet 

LOW COST OR MAYBE. . .FREE???   

Before You Subscribe to a Free Internet Service http://compnetworking.about.com/od
/internetaccessbestuses/bb/freeinternet.htm

Some free ISP's can be found at http://www.internet4free.net

 

Internet Browsers


A browser is an application or program that enables you to see and hear content on the World Wide Web. This includes text, graphics, sound, and video. Internet Explorer (IE) is the most commonly used browser because it comes with the Microsoft Windows operating system.  Popular browsers include:

  • Internet Explorer 6 (on all library computers)

  • FireFox

  • Opera

Read "Browser Wars" to understand the pros and cons of each of these browsers: http://pcworld.about.com/news/Dec152004id118959.htm


Internet Explorer Window Components 

  • Title Bar - tells you the web page and browser program you are using

  • Menu Bar - all the functions needed to manipulate the program, the window, or the text

  • Tool bar - common functions (these are also found via the menu bar)

  • Address field - Key in the address (like www.cnn.com) and press ENTER

  • Links - additional web sites usually related to the current web page.

  • Scroll Bar - if the scroll bar and scroll arrows are visible on the window side or bottom, then there is more to view on the page.

 

Common Functions of the Internet Explorer Toolbar

 

Back & Forward Use these buttons to retrace your steps in either direction.

 

Stuck and can't go back?

  • If it seems like the BACK button does not work (it is "grayed out"), check to see if the link you clicked on opened an new browser window. If so then close this window and the original window is still on your screen underneath.

  • Some sites don't let you leave their site (how rude!). To get back to where you were position your mouse over the back button and RIGHT click it. You should get a drop down list of your previously visited web sites. OR notice the small down arrow next to the "back" button. Clicking on that will also give you your last 10 or so web sites visited.

 

Stop Use to stop a site from loading or trying to load, particularly if it is taking a long time to load a web page.
Reload Allows you to "refresh" a page, especially if it didn't load or isn't working properly.
Home The page your browser will always load when first opened. It can be any page you choose. To make a web site your home page go to: Tools, select "Internet Options", cut and paste the URL into the box at the top of the page.
Search Internet Explorer's own search tool
Favorites A way to "bookmark" or save an address of a web site. Instead of retyping an address each time you visit the site, you can go to Favorites and click on the site name. Favorites are located on the menu bar.
Creating Favorites:
  1. Go to the web page you want to save as a Favorite
  2. On the menu bar, Click "Favorites" 
  3. Click "Add to Favorites" to add site to list. 

To revisit a saved or marked web page:

  1. Click "Favorites"
  2. Choose your desired web page and click on it.
History View all the sites you have visited over a specific period of time. You set how long you want the browser to hold your history. To do this go to: Tools, select "Internet Options", then use the arrows at the bottom of the page to set the number of days to keep pages in history.
Print To print a page from the Internet click on this icon HOWEVER this will print EVERYTHING on the page.  To print only the section you need follow the directions below.

 

Printing from the Internet

  1. Highlight the section of the web page that you want to print.
  1. Click on FILE on the menu bar
  
  1. Click on PRINT
  
  1. Choose Selection

 
  1. Click PRINT
  

Have it Your Way - Setting Up Your Internet Options in Your Browser


To set your favorite web page to be your browser's home page, to clear your cookies or your temporary Internet files or handle other options...

  • Go to Tools (on your Menu Bar at the top of the browser

  • Select Internet Options at the bottom of the list

  • And you will see the window of options


Advertisements
 

Sometimes positioned at the top of the screen. Don't click on the ad unless you want to go there!



Sometimes positioned at the bottom of the screen. Some ads look like part of the web page.

It's a trick . . . don't click!

Search Engines, Directories and Metasearch engines

Although these 3 search tools will all search the web each one does it in a slightly different way.  Knowing the difference can help you seearch more effectively.

Search Engines

  • Go to the search engine web site and enter your search word(s).

  • It will search for the occurrence of your key word(s) on web sites.  This may mean the site is not about the topic you want; only that the word was on the web page.

  • Will retrieve web pages they have in their database but NOT everything on the web.  At best you will be searching 25 - 35% of the web.

Popular search engines

Search Directories

  • Your key words will retrieve web sites about that topic or subject.

  • The search directory categorizes web sites by topic or subject.

  • Many search directories also offer search engine searches, i.e. Yahoo.

  • If you search both the search engine and the search directory using the same key words you will most likely get different results.

  • Search directories are often smaller in scope because they often use human assistance to create.

Popular search directories

MetaSearch Engines

  • The Fred Meyer of search engines....they provide quick, one stop searching.

  • Allows you to search across multiple search engine databases all at one time.

  • Best for basic simple searches.

Popular Metasearch engines

Internet Search Tips


For better searching follow these guidelines:

  • Use double quotes around words that are part of a phrase. (Example: "great barrier reef")
  • Put a + (plus sign) in front words or phrases that must appear in documents. No space between the plus and the word or phrase. (Example: recipe +chicken)
  • Put a - (minus sign or dash) in front of words that must not appear in result documents. No space between the dash and the word or phrase.  (Example: greyhound -bus)
  • Case sensitivity: a lower case search string will retrieve both upper and lower case matches. The reverse is not true--upper case search strings produce only exact matches.
  • To increase your search success try your search in more than one search engine or directory

INTERNET SAFETY & SECURITY


Internet Safety

Internet safety and security go hand in hand when surfing, chatting, shopping, emailing or whatever else you do on the Internet.  Use the same common sense and caution in the virtual world as you would in the the real world. 

  • Don't share personal information indiscriminately.

  • Shop at reputable "stores" or merchant sites.

  • Don't be careless with financial or credit information.

  • Don't believe everything you read.

  • Teach your children Internet safety as you would teach them street safety.

Internet Security - Common Threats and Nuisances


Spam - Unsolicited bulk email, usually advertising, on the Internet or Usenet newsgroup postings sent to large numbers of people.

Adware/Malware - A program that displays banners while being run, or reports users habits or information to 3rd parties. Often installed with software that is free to the user, but supported by advertisers.

Pop-ups - a new browser window that appears unrequested (by you) on your screen. Commonly used for advertisements. The Google toolbar http://toolbar.google.com/  has an effective popup blocker.  A pop-up blocker is build into the Internet Explorer 6.0 browser.

Viruses - a piece of programming code, usually disguised as something else, that causes some unexpected and usually undesirable event on your computer. Often designed so it automatically spreads to other computer users. Viruses can be transmitted through:

  • email attachments
  • by downloading infected software or files
  • from a disk or floppy

The best protection is to use regularly updated virus software and to only open attachments or use software from known and trusted sources.

Spyware - A general term for a program that surreptitiously monitors your actions. While they are sometimes sinister, like a remote control program used by a hacker, software companies have been known to use spyware to gather data about customers.

Phish Email -  Email disguised to look like it comes from a legitimate source but redirects the user to dummy site to collect valuable information, usually credit card or banking information.

Browser Hijacking - when you browser setting are changed without your permission or knowledge.  This term covers a range of malicious software.  It may change your home page, add Favorites links to sites of dubious content. In most cases, the hijacker will have made registry changes to your system, causing the home page to revert back to the unwanted destination even if you change it manually.

Security Resources: Prevention and Fixes

These are just a few of the products available.  Please read about each one before making a selection for your computer.
Suites
Bundles several types of software altogether such as, firewall, antivirus, spam blocking. etc.

  • McAfee - http://www.mcafee.com One time purchase and then fee each year for daily updating.  May include: AntiVirus, Personal Firewall, Popup Blocker, Privacy Control, AntiSpam and Parental Control
  • Symantec: http://www.symantec.com  One time purchase and then fee each year for daily updating.  May include: AntiVirus, Personal Firewall, Privacy Control, AntiSpam and Parental Control

Anti-virus

Pop up or pop under ad stoppers

Spyware or malware - what is it & can you stop it?

Spyware / Adware Remover

Spam Blocking - stop it from overwhelming your mailbox.
You may get some assistance from your ISP but may still need more help.

Browsers

Consider using something other than Internet Explorer and reduce your vulnerability to viruses and hackers. 

Browser Encryption Level

Ensure that your Internet browser, like Internet Explorer, is the latest version. Encryption is the conversion of data into a form, called a cipher.  Current ciphers strength is 128 bit.   See Cipher Strength just below the version information.

 

Look at the bottom right side of the window to see if there is padlock visible.  No padlock means the page is not encrypted and information sent from this page is vulnerable.  A padlock indicates it is a safe page from which to send information.

Browser Hijacking

Email Clients

Try something other than Outlook to avoid the viruses.

Firewall

Miscellaneous Tips

  • Create a free web based email account.  Use it for anything on the open web to avoid having your more permanent personal email address begin picked up by spammers.
     
  • To avoid malware only download software, shareware or freeware from recognized and trusted sites, such as Tucows.com or Download.com
  • Consider regularly clearing your "temporary Internet files".  They take up space on your hard drive.  You can do this manually or use software so it is an automated process.  Read all about the pros and cons at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/using/howto/customizing/
    clearcache.mspx


    Internet Explorer Instructions

    1. Open IE, then select Internet Options from the Tools menu.
    2. Under the "Temporary Internet files" section on the General tab, click Delete Files. You can also select the "Delete all offline content" check box on the Delete Files dialog box to delete offline files.
    3. Click OK to return to the main dialog box

 

Question or comments?
Contact Glenna R. Rhodes, Electronic Resources Librarian, Boise Public Library
grhodes@cityofboise.org, 208-384-4442 office or 208-384-4076 Reference Desk

 

This document can be found at www.boisepubliclibrary.org/About_BPL/Computers/computer_classes/internetbasics.shtml

 

Last Updated: 07/16/2008

 
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