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 encyclopadias 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.