Every day I make my appointed computer help rounds, someone marvels at my use of browser tabs. Tabbed browsing started almost 9 years ago with the Opera browser and continues today with the excellent implementation in Firefox. Internet Explorer finally got on board a couple of years ago and tabs work ok with it too.
If you are not using tabs in your Internet browsing, then you really aren’t browsing, your floundering around the Internets. Learn to use tabs, you can do it. Use my video tutorial (click here) to learn this helpful and time saving technique that will change the way you look and use the web.
This is a reintroduction and retitling of a previous video/tip because of a copyright infringement complaint from Franklin Covey. Hopefully, the new title and verbiage will satisfy their legal staff.
All week long I help computer users of all ages and experience levels. Too often, I see that many computer users (beginners and experienced alike) do not utilize or know about some basic web browsing skills that will speed their work and give them less problems when using the Internet.
In this week’s tip, I will highlight the inefficient habits computer users use and replace them with tips that will make YOU a quicker and more profecient web user.
1. Using an old browser
No matter how old your computer is or what operating system you are using, DO NOT USE INTERNET EXPLORER 6 (IE 6). IE 6 is late 20th century technology and is not compatible with much of the web today and it also poses the greatest security risks.
Instead, use Mozilla Firefox, Opera, or if you must use Internet Explorer, use version 7.
2. Using a search engine instead of the address bar
3. Closing the web browser or clicking the Home icon before going to another web site.
When changing channels on a television, you don’t always go back to channel 1, then go to the channel you wanted do you? Likewise, with the web, you can simply click a bookmark or type web address in the address bar to move on to a new web site. You don’t need to close the window or click Home first.
4. Keeping the default browser home page
Your Internet provider often installs their web site as your “home page” (the first page you see when you launch your browser). However, if you never use that page, change it to something you will use.
With older browsers (see Habit 1 above), we had little choice but to click on links, then the back button to reach our previous page. True, some people learned to use multiple browser windows, but even that is a dated technique now.
Modern browsers give us the efficiency and elegance of opening multiple pages in what are known as tabs. Tabbed browsing will drastically cut your use of the back button and change your web browsing life forever…for the better.
6. Wasting paper, time, and money by printing more information than necessary
The Internet definitely gave paper companies a new lease on life because we print more today than ever before. However, too often, Internet users want a certain amount of information from a web site and end up getting 6-8 or more extra pages of information they don’t need.
Instead, take advantage of this easy to follow tip that lets YOU select exactly what you want to print and print only that.
7. Search from a search engine site
Searching the Internet is by the greatest, in my opinion, function available for our computers. However, with modern browsers, again see Habit 1, there is no need to visit the search engine site to start your searches. Instead, use the built-in search bar in your browser. You can find it in the upper right corner of IE 7, Firefox, Safari, and Opera.
Watch the short video below to see all these tips in action and also use the links in this article for more details. Master all of these tips and you will be a web surfer with 7 highly effective habits!
I have downloaded and tried out the new Google Chrome browser and look for a video and more comment about it coming up soon.
Windows XP users will all have to deal the upgrade to Internet Explorer 7. ..eventually. Microsoft released the upgrade three weeks ago and has started to roll it out as an automatic Windows Update. Since this is the first new release of Internet Explorer in more than five years, a lot has changed. Microsoft promises that it is safer, easier to use, and more flexible than ever. We will see about the first claim in weeks to come, but with a little help, it will be easier to use and more flexible. Overall, we still highly recommend using the Mozilla Firefox browser which also released a new version last month, but if you want to stick with Internet Explorer, moving to version 7 is worth the work.
One of the biggest additions to the new Internet Explorer is ‘tabbed browsing’. An unbelievable feature that you will wonder how you did without once you start using it. Tabbed browsing was first introduced by the lesser known Opera browser, and brought fully to life with Firefox. Tabbed browsing allows you to open multiple Internet windows without cluttering your taskbar and makes them easy to find with easy to read tabs in your window.
I’ve posted some tips already demonstrating some of the power of Firefox 3.0. In today’s tip, I demonstrate how Mozilla has improved Firefox’s tabbed browsing, improved the ability to find and manage 3rd party add-ons, customize your address and search bar box lengths and more.
Take a look at the video and learn why Firefox 3.0 remains at the top of the Internet browsing mountain.
Not long ago, a commenter on the web site suggested we put up some links to our some of our best and most visited tips. I thought it was a great idea, and here are seven that I came up with. If you have your own favorite or most helpful HelpMeRick.com tips, please share them with everyone by leaving a comment below.
Cut, Copy, and Paste - I believe that this invaluable skill should be a computer prerequisite
Every time I show a computer user how to use the tab feature of their browser (found in Internet Explorer 7, Firefox, Opera, and Safari), their eyes light up and they can’t believe what I showed them is real. Today was another such day. I helped an extremely knowledgeable young lady with her computer, and somehow the conversation drifted into searching the Internet. She nearly fell off her exercise ball when I showed her the trick.
If you aren’t using tabbed browsing when you search or even browse the Internet, you are missing out on a HUGE time saver / productivity enhancer. I wrote about this feature way back in 2006. Perhaps you missed it or are just discovering the great information here at HelpMeRick.com. Conveniently, we archive all of our tips and this tip on tabbed browsing is one of our famous Video Tips. Click here to learn all about tabbed browsing and how it will change your life.
By Rick Castellini 2002. Revised by Adam Cochran 2007
Earlier this summer, my co-host, Adam, decided to do an 'on air' review of a product. The product he chose is Mozilla Firefox, an alternative web browser. Being on the radio and downloading, installing and reviewing software was a new experience for us, but the impression was instant and impressive for both of us.
Mozilla loads most web pages much faster than Internet Explorer and makes a dial-up connection seem snappier. Because Mozilla does not use any code from Internet Explorer, it is inherently less likely to be plagued by the various security holes that Internet Explorer fights against on a daily basis. The software is free and I've put together a list of features and tips that I like about this great little browser:
Free
Less likely to be prone to security woes of Internet Explorer
Faster rendering of most web pages
Built in Google search box
Smart Bookmarks – Firefox will import all of your existing bookmarks or favorites from Netscape or Internet Explorer. You can also have Firefox automatically check for updates to a specific site and then notify you of those changes.
Tabbed browsing. You may have heard us talk of another good alternative browser called Opera which first made use of tabbed browsing. Tabbed browsing allows you to open up multiple web pages in the same window. Very convenient and intuitive.
Smart Printing. By Default, Firefox allows you to print any web page on a standard piece of paper without cutting off the right side!
Built in pop-up blocker that you can customize.
Greater control over how pages display. You can easily override a pages font size to make it more readable for you.
Overall, the Mozilla Firefox browser is heads and tails above anything that I have preciously used. In fact, I now use it as my primary browser and rarely use Internet Explorer at all. If you want to try the full version of Mozilla which includes an email client, newsgroup reader and a HTML editor, use the same link at the beginning of this tip.
Are you tired of filling out forms using your keyboard and mouse?
To quickly move from field-to-field (box-to-box) while filling out a form, use the TAB key on your keyboard. For example; after you fill in your name, to move the cursor from the name field to the address field, simply push the TAB key on your keyboard.
Some of you may be aware of that keyboard trick, but this next one is a doozie!
OK, so you've tabbed from Name to Address to City and now you are in the State field that has one of those drop down lists to choose the proper answer. Normally, I would reach for the mouse, Click on the field, then scroll through the list and Click on the proper state. It works, but takes extra time.
Thanks to a friend, Ken, that I worked with many years ago, I (and now you) can fill out computer forms without touching the mouse.
Instead of choosing the state with the mouse, try pushing the first letter of the state you live in and magically the list returns the first state with that letter. So, for Colorado, when you push "C" on the keyboard, the list returns "California". Never fear, just push "C" again on the keyboard and "Colorado" pops up.
If you happen to live in Connecticut, just push "C" again. Boom! You're done with that field, push TAB on your keyboard again and carry on your merry, keyboard form filling way!
What about check boxes or radio buttons? Use the space bar on your keyboard to toggle them on or off.
Practice this tip, watch the video below and you too will be amazed!
Now that Internet Explorer has caught up (sort of) with modern browsers, I wanted to point out yet another function of tabbed browsing (click here for the popular and informative tabbed browsing tip ). If you like to check multiple sites every day or maybe use your browsing sessions for research, let your browser do some of the work for you by opening multiple pages at the same time.
Mozilla Firefox
Open the first page you would like to see every time you start Firefox
Click File –> New –> Tab (or Ctrl + T) to open a new tab
Open the next page you want to see every time you start Firefox
Repeat steps 1-3 for as many pages as you want to open automatically
Click Tools –> Options from the menus
Click the "Main" button at the top of the options screen
Click "Use Current Pages" button in the Startup section
Click the OK button at the bottom of the screen
Internet Explorer 7 (IE7)
Open the first page you would like to see every time you start IE7
Click File –> New –> Tab (or Ctrl + T) to open a new tab, or click the new tab button next to the current tab
Open the next page you want to see every time you start IE7
Repeat steps 1-3 for as many pages as you want to open automatically
Click Tools –> Internet Options from the menus
Click "Current" button in the Home page section
Click the OK button at the bottom of the screen
OR after opening the tabs you want to set as your home pages:
Click the little arrow next to the "Home" icon on the toolbar
Click Add or Change home page
Click use current tab set as your home page
Click OK
Now when you start your browser, instead of being limited to just one page opening, you can get many. Watch the video below for further instruction and demonstration.
With all previous versions of Windows, save Windows 2000, pushing Ctrl+Alt+Del on a keyboard would bring up the Close Program dialog box.
In Windows XP, pushing this combination of keys brings up the multi-tabbed Windows Task Manager. A much more ominous looking version of the former Close Program box. The only tab where you will want to occasionally end a program is the "Applications" tab. The programs listed here can be safely terminated using the End Task button.
The processes tab can be a little more touchy. The cryptic descriptions there are hard to decipher. My advice is leave it alone unless there is something obvious to you that you would like to delete.
The next tab is the performance tab. There isn’t enough room for me to completely explain this area here. In a nutshell, however, if you see your CPU usage staying above 30% and not dropping, you should close open programs and reboot your computer.
Under "Commit Charge", if the Total number is very close to the Limit number, you may need to increase RAM, virtual memory or both if rebooting doesn’t separate the numbers.
For more detailed information, click on Help in the Windows Task Manager and poke around in the Topics provided.
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HelpMeRick.com started as a monthly tip site for beginners in 1996, and now supports our popular call-in computer show, and hosts thousands of useful computer tips and links.