Are you a newcomer to the World Wide Web? A lot of the visitors to my Web site are only just starting to explore the Internet, so to help them I have compiled the following list of helpful hints for using Internet Explorer and Outlook Express - hopefully they will make your Internet access a bit easier and more fun.

1. The Address box in the tool bar shows you the URL of where you are - using the drop down menu facility will display the most recent URL's you have typed.

2. Using the Full Screen button in the tool bar or F11 key will expand your browser Window to its full size available.

3. To speed up your browsing you can turn off certain options e.g. pictures, audio, video and animations. When you visit a page you like you can reset the options, refresh the page and everything is visible again.

4. If you would prefer to use a page that you like as your Start page when you log-on, rather than say your ISP Home Page, then you can choose which page to always connect to on start-up.

5. You can use Content Advisor to control the levels of sex 'n violence that your system can view over the Net - this is particularly useful if you have kids using the system.

6. IE stores images of Web pages you have visited in a folder on your PC called Temporary Internet Files - when you revisit a page, it checks here first to see if it holds an up to date copy of the page and if so, it will load it from there rather than the Internet. You can control how much of your disc space is allocated to this folder and thus speed up surfing if you regularly revisit sites.

7. There are several ways to move around addresses, once you have visited a site during an Internet session:

• Back and Forward buttons, will move you through pages you have visited during a session.
• Go To menu option, lists the most recent pages you have visited during the session.
• Address drop down list, contains URL's that you have typed in and is saved between sessions.

8. Save money on your phone bills by accessing pages you have already visited off-line. this can be done:

if the pages are stored in Temporary Internet Files (see 6.) - simply type in the URL and opt to Work Offline;

or, if you have previously saved the page to your hard disc - simply type in the filename you gave it when you saved it.

9. Search Engines: Don't just stick with the first search engine you come across or the one that your ISP promotes. Learn how to locate the information you want speedily and you'll spend less time on-line.

• Try to find new and improved search engines e.g. Google http://www.google.com
• Meta search tools are great, enabling you to interrogate several search engines at once with a single query. Try Inference Find at http:www.infind.com to use their search engine -this site also has some good general advice on using search engines.
• Learn the tricks of the search engines you use. If there's a Help link, follow it, if there's an Advanced page try it out - you could save yourself hours later.

10. Use Favorites to store the title and URL of pages you will want to visit again in the future. Also use the Organise feature to keep your Favorites data up to date and manageable.

11. Don't be afraid to install more than one ISP connection - then if your normal connection is slow or unavailable you can always try an alternative. It is generally better to instal new ISP's on-line rather from a CD, is you have more control of settings.

12. Ensure you have up to date anti-virus software before you download anything from the Net or give your e-mail address to someone you don't know.

13. If you want to save Embedded Images from a Web page onto your PC then normally you need to, right click on the image to be saved, select Save Picture As, select a location and click Save.

14. Just type in what you are searching for into the Address box and your request is sent to a randomly chosen search engine.

15. Avoid busy times - the Net is a lot slower when it's busy - particularly after 6p.m. and on weekends. Also the US goes on-line just before midday GMT, so try to use the Net in the morning or late at night.

16. Start learning the shortcuts in IE. Some of the most useful are:

17. Get rid of advertising banners by downloading a program such as WebWasher from www.siemans.com

18. You may from time to time gat an error page headed - Error 404 - Page not Found - this normally means the browser can't find a Web page at the address you have typed in or clicked on. Check your spelling, if this appears ok, then the page is probably no longer available.

The above information is designed for users of Microsoft's Internet Explorer - this is the most commonly used browser and many sites are optimised for IE use. Different browsers can behave quite differently, so it is worth loading at least two browsers, e,g, IE and Netscape Communicator. Browsers can be downloaded off the Net for free, but this may take sometime - so look out for the free CD's that are available everywhere.

1. Always disable the Preview pane to reduce the likelihood of receiving or spreading viruses.

2. Be wary about opening unsolicited e-mails with attachments - they may contain viruses.

3. If you have a lot of messages that you keep for future reference, then use File -> Folder -> Compact, on a regular basis. Messages are still accessible but stored more efficiently.

4. Try to avoid using Signature files on your e-mails - these are a favourite device of hackers to spread viruses - unknown to the person actually sending the message.

5. It is well worth cleaning out your Inbox from time to time and this is made easier if you automatically organise your messages into different folders. This isn't difficult using the mail filters:

6. Compose your e-mails off-line. 

7. Don't overload e-mails with too many attachments, particularly images. It is more efficient to send a number of separate e-mails.

The above list of tips is by no means comprehensive, but there are loads of useful magazines available and local libraries tend to have plenty of introductory books on the Internet and many provide access.

If you have any useful tips that might want to share with new surfers, then e-mail me and I'll add them to this list, with an acknowledgement/link.