404
Not found Don't you hate it when you click on
something while you are surfing and you get the dreaded 404 message -
NOT FOUND. I have discovered a way which sometimes helps me find whatI
am looking for. Websites are made up of directories and sometimes,
subdirectories. For example: the url for this page will be http://www.quiltersbee.com/newbie_tips.htm
So, /newbie_tips.htm is a page on the Quiltersbee website.
Look at the top of your browser screen
and you will see a location or address bar which should contain the url
in the previous paragraph. Try erasing the last bit of the message so
that it reads http://www.quiltersbee.com/ . Now click on it
then press your enter key. There,
that should take you back to the Quiltersbee homepages.
Rightclicking (PC users)
Don't forget to rightclick to see what
menus pop up for various things. Right clicking means to click the right
button on the mouse. When I am on a page that has a lot of interesting
stuff on it and want to look at one
of their links but don't want to leave the page, I rightclick and select
open in new window.
It's not uncommon for me to have three or
four windows going at once.
Also if you find an image that you would
like to keep, right click on it and select save as. Abox containing your
file manager will pop up and you can select which file to put it in and
if you want, you can change the name of the file.
Remember that most images on the net are
copyrighted and belong to whoevers website you are taking it from so you
can't use it on your website or for anything else without their
permission. If you want a certain type of image to use for
something go search the free clipart sites. There are lots of them.
Use
multiple browser windows
As I said in the last section, I
usually have two or three pages open at once. I am fairly impatient when
waiting for a particularly large page to download so I usually have a
couple of other sites open.
To do this in Netscape go to the FILE
menu and click on NEW WEB BROWSER or
Control+N. In Internet Explorer go to the FILE menu and click on NEW
PAGE or Control+N
As long as you have enough RAM (and most
systems do these days) you should be able to have 2 or 3 Browser windows
running at once with no performance degredation. The Internet does not
usually transfer data to you PC at anywhere near the full speed of
modern modems, so you can often be downloading 2 or 3 web pages at once
without any reduction in transfer speed.
Ergonomics
Any of us who spend any time at the
keyboard are aware that after a while we start feeling strains and aches
in some areas of our bodies. Ergonomics seems to be the study of
musculoskeletal disorders and discomfort.
Here is a really good website which
discusses ways to deal with this problem
Office
Ergonomics - includes info on hand/wrist
basics; back pain basics; eyestrain
basics and lots more.
Ergonomic
Guidelines for arranging a Computer Workstation - 10 steps for users
Shortcut
Keys
Below are some shortcut keys for both
Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer:
Shortcut keys
Alt-Left Arrow: Goes back to the the
previous page
Alt-Right Arrow: Goes forward to next page
Ctrl-B: Opens the Organize Favurites or Bookmarks window
Ctrl-D: Instantly adds the current Web pages to your Favourites or
Bookmarks
Ctrl-H: Opens the History Folder
Ctrl-O: Lets you open a new Web page
Ctrl-N: Opens a New browser window
Alt+Tab to move between 2 or more windows)
Ctrl-R: Reloads the current page
Ctrl-W: Closes the active window
Home: Brings you to the top of the page
End: Brings you to the bottom of the page
F1 Help
F2 Rename
F3 Find
F4 Displays the combo box. (Explorer)
F5 Refresh
F6 Switches between panes in Explorer
F10 Goes to menu mode
Microsoft
Keyboard Shortcuts
Copy
and paste :
To quickly select the entire contents of
a Web document, press Ctrl-A. From there, you can press Ctrl-C to copy
it to the clipboard or Ctrl-X to cut a selection.. press Ctrl-V to
paste.
I don't generally copy a whole page as
there is usually a lot of stuff on the page that I don'twant....advertisements...graphics...etc.
But if you do want the whole page why not save it by clicking
File....Save As...and typing in a name which you will recognize and then
saving it in an appropriate folder in
your computer. This way you are saving the html file and so you will
have to look at it in your browser.
If you just want to copy a section of the
page, position your cursor at the beginning of the selection you wish to make, hold your
left mouse button down and drag it to the end of the selection you wish
to copy. Then right click it. Select copy. Then go to the program you
wish to paste it to. Position your cursor where you wish to paste it.
Right click and select paste. You can also use the Edit menu or the
above keyboard shortcuts instead of rightclicking.
Your
Start Page
When I first started on the net, I
had Yahoo as my start page. Your favorite
search engine is a good place to start. If you don't have a
preference,
choose The
Hunger Site so you can remember to click on their donate button every day.
Emoticons?
You may have noticed funny little icons in your
emails eg: :o) - a smiley face.
Check out our list
Viruses
Okay, here's how they work. Someone sends
you an email with an .exe attachment which contains a virus. (.exe files
are program files)
You open it and there is some cute
message. Meanwhile the virus gets into your system and depending on the
programming will cause all manner of problems.
The way many viruses get spread is that
they read your address book, and send a copy of themselves to everyone
in it; or everytime you send out an email, the virus will copy it and
attach a copy of itself. The point here to remember is that you can
receive a virus from your bestfriend, your sister, or your neighbour. I
can't tell you how many times I have read emails from people saying that
they would never open an .exe file from a strangerbut it's okay from
someone they know. Just yesterday I read somewhere how an entire family
had their hard drive crash due to a
virus except for one who refused to open the .exe file.
Here are your options.
1. You can decide never to open an .exe
file that arrives in your inbox.
2. You can write back to anyone who sends
you an .exe file and verify that they sent it to you and verify what it
is.
3. You can open the .exe file on a floppy
disk and scan it before you open it.
What do I do..... I never open .exe files
that are sent to me unless I have received word from the person sending
it that it is coming. I usually verify it with them first before opening
it. And then I think it over very carefully. I never open any .exe files
with cute names.
Viruses are a frightening internet
reality. My advice....get good anti virus software. From my travels on
the internet, the two most talked about are Norton
Anti Virus and
McAfee's Anti Virus
software.
If you don't have an anti virus program
running then go to Housecall,
an online virus scanner about once a week. This is a great tool and it's
free. Housecall is very up to date with the latest viruses and virus
fixes.
You can download a free antivirus
scanner at http://antivirus.cai.com/
Find a good Virus newsletter and
subscribe. McAfee has one. I read the names of all the new viruses
carefully everytime one of these arrives in my inbox. The next one will
have a lot of the same names but by trying to memorizethe names and
remembering them I have successfully stopped viruses from infecting my
machines.
Email
Email can be very
confusing when you are just starting out. It really isn't all that
difficult to catch on.
Outlook
Express home page
Netscape
Messenger homepage
Eudora
homepage
Links
This is a computer explanation for NEW BEES from the MIME DOCTOR and a reminder to the others.
You will all see this message even though you may not recognize my name and
email addy. It will be forwarded to you by the LIST-ROBOT ----one of the dumbest computers on the planet.
If you hit REPLY TO it will send out ALL of every message in the thread or the whole digest again. So please
EDIT OUT THE UNRELATED part of the post you are replying to. If you click FORWARD, it will send out all of every message in the thread or
the whole digest again AND add a bunch of machine codes. COPY AND PASTE the part you want to answer into a new email.
If you click on NEW MESSAGE, NO STATIONERY it will send a GOOD posting. If you send ANY STATIONERY or RICH TEXT and IMAGES it will send your not
only your message but also and LOADS of machine code called MIME. MIME WILL GET YOU UNSUBSCRIBED until you get it
fixed . [contact me at j.feit@nf.sympatico.ca
if you're not sure and I'll walk you through this.] It is in the DIGEST that we know for sure if you've
made a mistake.
On Outlook Express that came with these computers with Internet Explorer, even if you
have clicked "Plain Text" in your Options or Preferences, you may
still send
MIME to some of the addresses you use from your Address Book. To check or
fix this, go to your Address Book, then click on whatever you may call this addressee (or even others afterwards). Pick the tab for Name, then look at
the very Bottom, Left. There you have an opportunity to click something like "Send Email using Plain Text, only". Put your check mark in
the box.
[ Flames ] [ MIME ]