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Browsing the Internet
Once you’re connected, you might wonder how to start browsing or
"surfing" the Web. The first page that appears when you start your browser will
most likely have links on it. You can click those links to see other pages, or you can
search for pages that interest you. There are also links on the Links bar near the top of
the browser window.
A link, sometimes known as a hyperlink, is an electronic path to another page or
address on the Internet. Sometimes it appears as colored and/or underlined text, sometimes
as a picture. If you’re not sure where the links are, move the mouse pointer around
the screen until the pointer turns into a hand.
Every Web page has an address, known as the Uniform Resource Locator, or URL.
You’ll see it in the Address bar, near the top of the browser window, every time you
open a new Web page. An address usually appears as a string of letters, punctuation, and
slashes, such as http://home.microsoft.com/, but it may contain numbers as well.
You can go directly to a Web page by typing its address in the Address bar near
the top of the browser window. The Address bar also displays the address for the Web page
you’re currently viewing.
Tip If the Address bar does not appear, click the View menu, point to Toolbar,
and then click Address.
Sometimes it’s not so easy to remember the exact address of
the page you want to go to. With Internet Explorer, you don’t need to type the entire
address. Just start typing, and the AutoComplete feature suggests a match based on Web
sites you visited previously.
To automatically complete Internet addresses
 | In the Address bar, start typing the address you want to go to. |
| If you’ve visited the site before, the AutoComplete feature suggests a match
as you type. |
| For example, if you type microso, Internet Explorer guesses that you want to open
the Microsoft Web site at http://www.microsoft.com. |
| After AutoComplete finds a match or you’ve finished typing the Web address,
press ENTER. |
| If you press CTRL+ENTER, Internet Explorer completes the exact address that you
typed. For example, if you typed microso it would try to open http://www.microso.com/. |
Note You can turn off the AutoComplete feature if you want. For
information, look up "Turning off AutoComplete" in the Internet Explorer Help
Index.
You can move back and forth through the pages you’ve just browsed. You can
usually move backward through all the pages you’ve visited in the current session.
After you move backward through one or more pages, you can move forward again to the pages
you passed.
To move back or forward through pages you’ve already visited
On the toolbar, click the Back or Forward button.
Tips
You can also move through recently viewed Web pages by pressing and
holding down the alt key and pressing the left or right arrow key.
To see a list of the last several pages you’ve typed into the
Address bar, click the down arrow on the Address bar.
The Back and Forward buttons also store a list of recent pages.
Click the small down arrow next to the button to see the list.
When you open a Web page for the first time, Internet Explorer temporarily saves
the pictures and text in a folder on your hard disk called Temporary Internet Files. When
you return to a page you’ve already visited, Internet Explorer can either show you
what’s in this folder or return to the page to see if anything has changed.
By doing this, Internet Explorer saves the time it takes to connect and
re-download the same Web page. But if you suspect something might have changed since your
last visit, you might want to refresh the page.
On the toolbar, click the Refresh button. Internet Explorer downloads the page
again.
Tip You can also refresh a page by pressing the F5 key.
You can save favorite Web pages (and other documents) and then select from an
organized list in Internet Explorer and go directly to them, a real convenience if you
expect to have lots of favorite pages or sites.
To save a shortcut in the Favorites list
- View the Web page or document you want to add to the list.
- On the Favorites menu, click Add to Favorites.
Tips You can also right-click (click using the right mouse button)
an empty space on the Web page and then click Add to Favorites.
To view your favorite items, just click the Favorites menu or the Favorites
button on the toolbar.
To help organize your favorites, you can add the link to a specific folder by
clicking Create In.
Using the Links bar
The Links bar, located near the Address bar, contains preselected links to a few
Microsoft Web pages. To open the Links bar, double-click the word Links or drag the left
edge of the bar. As you’re browsing, you can easily add links to your Links bar.
To add a link to the Links bar
- Drag the icon for the page from the Address bar to the Links bar.
- Drag a link from a Web page to the Links bar.
- Drag a link to the Links folder in your Favorites list: You can either drag it
directly to the Favorites menu and then into the Links folder or you can drag it to the
Links folder when displaying your Favorites list..
- Go to the Web page you want to add to your Links bar. Click the Favorites menu,
click Add to Favorites, click Create In, and then click Links.
Note You can delete a link from the Links bar by right-clicking it
and then clicking Delete.
Tip If the Links bar does not appear, click the View menu, point to Toolbar, and
then click Links.
It’s easy to place a shortcut to a page on your desktop. Then you can just
double-click the shortcut icon to start Internet Explorer and go to the page.
To place a shortcut on your desktop
- Go to the Web page you want to add as a desktop shortcut.
- On the File menu, click Create Shortcut.
- Or right-click in the Web page, and then click Create as Shortcut.
Tip If the Internet Explorer window is not maximized, you can crate
a shortcut by dragging a link from within a Web page to your desktop.
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