Understanding the Internet Explorer Screen

Opening Internet Explorer

Before using Internet Explorer, your connection to the Internet must be open. If you are connecting using a modem, dial in to your Internet Service Provider using the instructions you have been given. If you are on a network, you are generally connected all the time, as long as your computer is on.

To open Internet Explorer double-click the Internet Explorer icon on your desktop or choose Start > Programs > Internet Explorer.

Understanding the Internet Explorer Screen

When you open Internet Explorer, you see the default Web page displayed in the Internet Explorer screen.

For most of your browsing on the Web, you can use the buttons across the top of the screen and the address bar.

 Address bar: Click in the white bar and type the URL you want to go to. (Note: you must type the address perfectly.)

Back: Click to go to the last page you viewed in the current session with Internet Explorer.

Forward: Click to view the page you viewed before clicking the Back button.

Stop: Stops accessing the URL you requested. Use this is the page is taking too long to appear or if you made a mistake in the URL.

Refresh: Reloads the Web page. Use this when you think the Web page may have changed since you went to it or if you have trouble accessing a page.

Home: Takes you to your default page. To set your default page, choose Tools > Options from the menu. On the General tab, type the URL you want in the Address text box of the Home Page section of the dialog box.

Search: Lets you search for topics on the World Wide Web, using Internet Explorer's default search engine. You can use your own search engines. Click here for more information.

Favorites: Lets you create a list of favorite sites so you can get to them easily whenever you want. To add the displayed Web page, click Favorites, then click Add in the panel that appears. To go to a favorite, click Favorites and then click the site you want from the list.

History: Click here to access a list of sites you visited recently. You can find sites you visited today, yesterday, last week, and so on.

Mail: Connects you to your default e-mail program. To set which program you want to open when you click this button, choose Tools > Internet Options from the menu and click the Programs tab. From the E-mail drop-down list, choose the e-mail program you want to use. Click OK.

Print: Prints the current Web page. A web page can be quite long and make require several sheets of paper when printing. To see how the page will look when printed and how many sheets are needed, choose File > Print Preview from the menu.

Edit: Opens a Web page editing program (you can choose which one from the drop-down list). Use this when you are editing your own Web page.

At the bottom of the screen is a status bar that provides information on your progress on the Internet. You may see Transferring data or Document Done appear in the status bar.