The World Wide Web

Ok, so you have your computer up and running and you have a basic idea of some of the items on there, but one of the main reasons for you new purchase was probably to use the Internet.

The Internet opens up you computer to a world of information, a world where you can find out virtually anything and the click of a mouse. But where do you start.

The first thing that you need to choose is who will provide you with this fantastic connection to all this information in your home? This is not an easy question to answer,as it can all depend on cost and the speed you require, and for these reasons we have provided a link to the Top 10 Best Broadband. If you are reading this from your home, you are probably already connected to the Internet, but the list may help you decide if you would like to swap from your exisiting provider.

The speed of your Internet connection depends on what you would like to use the Internet for, you could just be somebody who just wants to browse the web and send the occasional email, for this we would suggest a lower and possibly slower connection. You may like to watch your favourite TV shows on the Internet in which case a faster Internet connection would suit your needs.

Readers Questions - Draft Emails

We have had an email from Alan who asks,


When I am writing an email in Yahoo Mail it keeps getting saved in drafts, what does this mean?

Well Alan, this means that the website is saving the email as you go along so if you lose connection to the Internet or are called away from your computer as you are writing the email you have not lost everything.

What is InPrivate Browsing?

InPrivate browsing, is a feature in Internet Explorer and basically means that you can surf the internet and your computer will not save any information about the sites you have visited, this is especially useful if you are buying a gift for somebody online and using the family computer.
Using InPrivate browsing will allow you to cover your tracks when purchasing a gift and you would like to keep it a secret.

• In Mozilla Firefox, this feature is call Private Browsing.
• In Google Chrome this feature is called Incognito.
• In Apple Safari this feature is called Private Browsing.

The "Start" Menu Part 3

In this concluding part, we will look at the more obvious sections of the "Start" menu.

When you "open" the "Start" menu you will notice that as well as your most commonly used software situated to the left, there are also some sections on the right that are always there, they are really self explanatory but we will expand on them a little more here.

1. Documents (or My Documents) - this is where you can store all of your letters, or files that you would like to keep for future reference.
2. Pictures (or My Pictures) - this is where your pictures taken from your digital camera or saved from an email will be stored.
3. Music (or My Music) - again this is where you will store all of your music that you download or copy from a compact disc, most portable music players such as the Apple iPod will use this section to look for music to copied onto it.
4. Games - again this section has some built in Windows Games. ( This section of the "Start" menu is not available in Windows XP).
5. Recent Items (or My Recent Documents) - this section stores the last used files you used so that you can access them more quickly, if you are writing a letter late at night and decide to go back to it the day after, you can click on this section and the last saved version of the letter will be there.
6. Computer (or My Computer) - this area gives you access to the file structure of your computer, this area really doesn't need to be touched and really should only be used by the more confident and advanced user.
7. Control Panel - this section links to an area where you can make changes to your computer settings. This will be an area we will expand on later.

There are other options on the "Start" menu but these a specific to the version you are using, for more detail on these sections please choose the version that is relevant to you at the top of the site.

Handy Quick Tip - Switching Windows

If you are useing more that one program or folder press the Alt key and the Tab key together to show open windows, then release to select the one you want.

The "Start" Menu Part 2

In Part 1 of this series we looked at what the "Start" menu is, in this part we will expand on the information and start to talk about the various items you will find on the "Start" menu.

When you click the start menu, you will notice a box jumps up and gives you a list, this list will vary from computer to computer as it will all depend on which programs (software) is installed on every individual machine.
Software that you use most often will be automaticallay tagged onto the "Start" menu, you can also tag the software that you choose to the "Start" menu so that it is always directly to hand.

You will also notice on computers that are running Windows Vista and Windows 7 the box at the bottom of the menu that says "Start Search", this box will allow you to search for files and software on your computer, it will also give the option to search the Internet directly from that box. Windows XP does not have this box, instead this version of Windows has a search option, this version will only search for files on your computer and not the Internet.

The way the search works in the newer version of Windows, is that the files on your computer are always collected as the computer is in operation this is also know as indexing. Windows XP however searches after you have typed in the item you are looking, in other words it goes looking for the file rather that finding it instantly in the newer versions of Windows.

Handy Quick Tip - Selecting All Files

If you want to select all files within a folder press Ctrl key plus A.