Internet Explorer
An Internet (or Web) Browser is a program which allows you to view sites on the Internet - web sites and the pages which they contain.
The most popular are Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Netscape Navigator, and Opera.
On this page we'll take an initial look at Internet Explorer and how to set it up to suit your needs.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0
This is the version of the most popular Internet Browser which comes with Windows XP. Its market share is currently being nibbled away at by Mozilla Firefox, but because IE comes already set up with your Windows installation it is used by most people as the path of least resistance. It also has some advantages over the other browsers.
Browser Security
It's often alleged that IE has more security problems than other browsers. That it has problems is inarguable, because Microsoft regularly provide patches to fix them. But it's also true that browsers like Firefox and Opera, because they're not the major player, are not such a target to the idiots who try to breach security.
Tabbed Browsing
Internet Explorer is a good program, although there are features available in other browsers which are very attractive. Most notable of these isTabbed Browsing- this feature allows you to have multiple web pages open in one window. All the major competitors have this valuable feature.
To have more than one page at a time available in IE you must open more than one window. This means running more than one instance of the program and that uses a lot of RAM (your PC's memory).
There is a way around this, which we will discuss here: Setting up Internet Explorer Toolbars.
Internet Explorer 7.0
The latest version of IE, version 7.0, has been available since 2006. It incorporates tabbed browsing, which is a major, if somewhat late, advance. If you're still using IE6 you should upgrade. See here.
Setting Up Internet Explorer
Click onToolson theMenu Bar,selectInternet Options...
This is what you'll see:
Home Page Setting
The first section of the Internet Properties Dialogue Box isHome page. the default setting for this is the Microsoft Network. If you wish to change your Home Page, which most people do, it's easily accomplished. Here are the options:
- close the dialogue box if you have it open.
- Open the page you wish to use as your home page in Internet Explorer
- Reopen the dialogue box.
- Click the Use Current button (greyed out in the example above). You're done. From now on every time you open IE you will see that page.
- or click on Use Default. That will give you Microsoft's MSN Network.
- or click on Use Blank. That is my choice as you can see from the first screenshot. that's why one button is greyed out.
- Lastly, if you know the URL (web address) of the page you want you can type it in, or copy and paste it from another source.
You can use any page on the web. People commonly use their local news site, Google News, or the local weather page. If you have a slow connection, you might consider saving load time by adopting my "Use Blank" choice.
Temporary Internet Files
When you open a web page, your browser saves a copy of it in a folder
called Temporary Internet Files. Why? So that next time
you go to that page, Internet Explorer can open the saved copy in your
temporary folder saving you the time and bandwidth involved in downloading
it from a source which may be a few thousand miles away.
Settings...
We'll deal with the buttons shown above in reverse order. If you click
on the Settings... button you'll
see something like this:
For most users, the "Automatically" radio button is the best choice. Windows will open the cached version if it was saved in the current session or on the same day. Otherwise Windows takes note of whether or not the cached file is the same as the latest page on the server. Over time Windows builds up a picture of whether or not the page changes often and responds accordingly.
That's the theory. I can't say from my own experience whether it works properly or not. I have my doubts.
There's no hard and fast rule about the amount of disk space to use. It depends upon how much disk space you have to spare, how fast your connection is, and your personal preferences.
There's a trade off. If you make it too big, it can take more time to search for the cached files than it would to download them. I keep mine quite small (5MB) because I have a fast connection and I'm only interested in caching files I've visited in the last hour or so.
Delete Files...
Click on the Delete Files... button and this pops up:
Why do I want to delete these files?
Well, normally you don't. But there may be special circumstances: you may be selling the computer without reinstalling all the software, perhaps other people are going to be using your PC and you don't want them prying into your browsing history.
Some of these files may have been corrupted and strange things happen when you open a page which is stored in the cache. So here goes:
- check the box "Delete all offline content"
- click OK, wait for the hourglass icon to disappear, and the temporary internet files are deleted.
Delete Cookies...
Click on the Delete Cookies... button and this pops up:
Cookies are also Temporary Internet Files, but they must be deleted separately. Click OK and they're gone. This is a vexed question. Cookies can be an entry path for unwanted spam, but they also allow you to enter regularly visited sites without having to enter personal information, passwords and the like every time.
For more information about how to handle this go to Computer Cookies.
