The Internet For Dummies^®, 10th Edition

by John R. Levine (Trumansburg, NY, author); Margaret Levine Young (Cornwall, VT, author); Carol Baroudi (Arlignton, MA, Author)

• ISBN13: 9780764589966
• ISBN10: 0764589962
• Edition: 10th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-09-01
• Publisher: For Dummies

Summary

Over the past fifteen years, the Internet has had an enormous impact on communication and commerce all over the world. With a growing and diverse population of internet users out there, the world has definitely become a smaller place. Over 450 million people use the Internet for email correspondence, ecommerce, social networking, research, local and worldwide news reports, and much more. Whether you are just starting out in your online travels or even if you have been online for awhile, The Internet For Dummies, shows you how to do everything better and faster. You'll surf the Web, do research, conduct business transactions, and much more-like a seasoned pro! The Internet For Dummies will walk you through the fundamentals of the Internet, as well as provide more advanced techniques and features to explore once you get your feet on the ground. This resourceful guide will help you: Connect to the Internet and understand the different ways to connect, including wireless, DSL, and cable Set up an e-mail account and communicate through e-mail Explore other communication tools such as Instant Messaging and message boards Use search engines like Yahoo! and Google to browse and research Shop and sell online Investigate online Web communities like blogs and social sites Create your own Web page and handle general Internet housekeeping In this fully updated edition, The Internet for Dummies will help you get the most out of your Internet experience. Written by renowned authors, this book is sure to be valuable to both new users and experienced ones alike.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(1)
About This Book	1	(1)
How to Use This Book	2	(1)
Who Are You?	3	(1)
How This Book Is Organized	3	(1)
Icons Used in This Book	4	(1)
What Now?	5	(1)
Feedback, Please	5	(2)
Part I: Welcome to the Internet	7	(44)
What Is the Internet, and Why Do You Care?	9	(12)
Okay, So What Is the Internet?	10	(1)
So What's All the Hoopla?	11	(1)
A Few Real-Life Stories	12	(2)
Why Is This Medium Different from Any Other Medium?	14	(4)
Anybody can access it	14	(1)
It's politically, socially, and religiously correct	15	(1)
The Net advantage	15	(3)
Some Thoughts about Safety and Privacy	18	(3)
Safety first	19	(1)
Protect your privacy	19	(2)
Is the Internet Safe? Viruses, Spyware, Spam, and Other Yucky Stuff	21	(14)
What People Can Learn about You	22	(5)
Phishing for inphormation	22	(3)
Web beacons and bugs that track where you browse	25	(1)
Cookies aren't so bad	26	(1)
How People Can Take Over Your PC	27	(4)
Viruses arrive via e-mail	27	(1)
Worms come right over the Net	28	(1)
Spyware arrives via Web sites	29	(1)
Popup browser windows	30	(1)
Spam, Bacon, Spam, Eggs, and Spam	31	(2)
Why call it spam?	32	(1)
Why is it so bad?	32	(1)
What can you do about it?	33	(1)
What's the Secret Word, Mr. Potter?	33	(1)
Keeping Yourself and Your Family Safe	34	(1)
Kids and the Net	35	(16)
Can We Talk?	35	(12)
What's in it for you?	36	(4)
The Internet and little kids	40	(1)
Your grandparents and the Net	41	(1)
Surf safe	41	(1)
College and the Net	42	(1)
Going back to school	43	(1)
Sell, sell, sell!	44	(1)
Who's online?	45	(1)
Consumer's choice	46	(1)
Software sentries	46	(1)
Internet Resources for Kids	47	(2)
Mailing lists for parents and kids	47	(1)
Web sites for kids	48	(1)
Help for parents of kids with problems	48	(1)
The Internet in Schools	49	(2)
Contractually speaking	49	(1)
Real education	49	(2)
Part II: Internet, Here I Come!	51	(42)
Climbing onto the Net: What Do You Need to Go Online?	53	(26)
What Kind of Computer Do You Need?	54	(3)
Hey, I don't even have a computer!	54	(1)
Yup, I got this old beige box in the closet	55	(1)
Yup, I got a brand new Thunderstick 2006	56	(1)
Yup, I got this little Blackberry, Palm, or phone	56	(1)
Types of Internet Connections	57	(17)
Dialing --- the old-fashioned way	57	(10)
Getting faster connections: DSL and cable Internet	67	(7)
AOL isn't exactly the Internet, but close enough	74	(1)
Essential Software to Keep Your System Safe	74	(4)
Fire at the wall!	75	(1)
No viruses need apply	75	(2)
Detecting spyware	77	(1)
Our Favorite Internet Setup	78	(1)
You're Connected --- Now What?	78	(1)
Running lots of Internet programs	78	(1)
Getting off the Internet	78	(1)
Sharing Your Internet Connection	79	(14)
Don't Limit Your Internet Access to One Computer	79	(2)
First, Make a LAN	81	(5)
The box in the middle --- a hub or router	81	(1)
Setting up a router	81	(3)
Wiring up your computers into a LAN	84	(2)
Forget the Wires! Go WiFi	86	(3)
Set a password, for Pete's sake!	87	(1)
Making the WiFi connection	88	(1)
Using Your Laptop at Home and Away	89	(4)
Home and office setup	89	(1)
Getting WiFi with your latte	90	(2)
Airports, hotels, and beyond	92	(1)
The mail problem	92	(1)
Part III: Web Mania	93	(106)
Welcome to the Wild, Wonderful, Wacky Web	95	(10)
What Is the Web?	95	(3)
Linking Web pages up	96	(1)
Name that page	97	(1)
Browsing Off for Points Unknown	98	(1)
Surfing with Your Browser	99	(5)
Getting around	102	(1)
Backward, ho!	102	(1)
Going places	102	(1)
Where's the best place to start browsing?	103	(1)
This page looks funny	104	(1)
Get me outta here	104	(1)
Getting and Installing a Browser	104	(1)
Getting the program	104	(1)
Running a new browser for the first time	104	(1)
Taking Your Browser for a Spin	105	(24)
Saving Stuff from the Web	105	(2)
Saving a Web page	106	(1)
Saving an image	106	(1)
Printing Pages from the Web	107	(1)
Filling in Forms	107	(2)
Using Secure Web Pages	109	(1)
Letting Your Browser Keep Track of Your Passwords	109	(2)
Viewing Lots of Web Pages at the Same Time	111	(3)
Wild window mania	113	(1)
Tab dancing	113	(1)
A Few of Your Favorite Things	114	(4)
Bookmarking with Firefox	114	(2)
One-click bookmarks in Firefox	116	(1)
Storing favorites with IE	116	(2)
One-click bookmarks in Internet Explorer	118	(1)
Customizing Your Browser	118	(5)
Where do we start?	118	(3)
Customizing your toolbar	121	(1)
Erasing history	122	(1)
Controlling Cookies	123	(3)
Controlling cookies in Firefox	123	(1)
Controlling cookies in IE	124	(2)
Blocking Popup Windows	126	(1)
No popups in Firefox	126	(1)
Blocking popups in IE	127	(1)
Getting Plugged In with Plug-Ins	127	(2)
A parade of plug-ins	128	(1)
How to use plug-ins	128	(1)
Needles and Haystacks: Finding Almost Anything on the Net	129	(20)
Your Basic Search Strategy	130	(2)
Doing a Search-a-Roo	132	(9)
Google-oogle, our favorite search engine	132	(3)
Even more Google options	135	(1)
Yahoo, ancient king of the directories	136	(5)
ODP: It's open, it's big, and it's freeeeee	141	(1)
For real facts, try Wikipedia first	142	(1)
The Usual Suspects: Other Useful Search Engines	143	(2)
Amazon's A9.com	144	(1)
About.com	144	(1)
Bytedog	144	(1)
Microsoft search	144	(1)
Other Web guides	145	(1)
Yellow pages	145	(1)
Finding People	145	(2)
In real life	145	(1)
On the Net	146	(1)
Googling for people	146	(1)
Yahoo People Search (Four-eleven)	146	(1)
WhoWhere	146	(1)
Canada 411	147	(1)
Mail, one more time	147	(1)
We're from Your Browser, and We're Here to Help You	147	(2)
The Firefox and Safari search box	148	(1)
Microsoft's Autosearch	148	(1)
More search magic	149	(1)
Music and Video on the Web	149	(12)
Five Ways to Get Media and One Way Not To	150	(3)
Getting it as a gift	150	(1)
Borrowing it	150	(1)
Renting it	151	(1)
Buying it	151	(1)
Sharing it	151	(1)
Stealing it --- um, no	152	(1)
What Are You Listening With?	153	(3)
RealPlayer	153	(1)
Windows Media Player	154	(1)
Apple QuickTime	155	(1)
Okay, How About Some Real Music?	156	(3)
Organizing your music with iTunes	156	(2)
Playing music after you've got it	158	(1)
Getting music onto your player or CDs	158	(1)
Internet Radio	159	(1)
Peering at Peer-to-Peer	159	(1)
Movies on the Net	160	(1)
Getting movies	160	(1)
Watching real movies	160	(1)
More Shopping, Less Dropping	161	(14)
Shopping Online: Pros and Cons	161	(1)
The Credit Card Question	162	(2)
Paying at the Store	164	(3)
Simple cart-less shopping	164	(2)
Fancy shopping	166	(1)
Up, Up, and Away	167	(3)
Understanding the theory of airline tickets	168	(1)
More about online airlines	169	(1)
Even More Places to Shop	170	(4)
Books, music, and more	170	(1)
Clothes	171	(2)
Computers	173	(1)
Auctions and used stuff	173	(1)
Food	174	(1)
The Shopping Update	174	(1)
Banking, Bill-Paying, and Investing Online	175	(12)
Going to the Bank without Ever Leaving Home	176	(6)
Transferring money between bank accounts	178	(1)
Paying bills online	179	(1)
Other online bank services	180	(1)
A few recommended banks	180	(2)
Dealing with Credit Cards	182	(1)
Paying Your Pals with PayPal	183	(2)
Investing Your Money Online	185	(2)
Mutual funds	185	(1)
Stockbrokers	186	(1)
Tracking your portfolio	186	(1)
Swiping Files from the Net	187	(12)
What Is Downloading?	187	(1)
Downloading Pictures	188	(1)
Art ain't free	188	(1)
Sharing pictures	189	(1)
Downloading Programs	189	(7)
The plan: download, install, and run	190	(1)
Finding programs to download	190	(1)
Downloading a program	191	(1)
Uncompressing and unzipping	191	(3)
Scanning for viruses	194	(1)
Installing the program	195	(1)
Configuring the program	195	(1)
Downloading Other Types of Files	196	(1)
About Face! Uploading You Go!	197	(2)
Uploading with your Web-page editor	197	(1)
Uploading with your browser	197	(1)
Uploading with an FTP program	198	(1)
Part IV: E-mail, Chat, and Other Ways to Hang Out Online	199	(92)
It's in the Mail: Sending and Receiving E-Mail	201	(26)
What's My Address?	201	(5)
The username part	202	(1)
The domain part	202	(2)
Where is your mailbox?	204	(1)
Putting it all together	204	(2)
My Mail Is Where?	206	(1)
So Many E-Mail Programs to Choose From	207	(2)
E-mail programs of the world	207	(1)
You can use your browser for e-mail	208	(1)
Setting Up Your E-Mail Program	209	(6)
Thunderbird	210	(2)
Outlook Express	212	(1)
Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, and other Web mail	213	(2)
Sending Mail Is Easy	215	(4)
Sending e-mail with Thunderbird	215	(1)
Sending e-mail with Outlook Express	216	(2)
Sending e-mail with Web mail, like Yahoo Mail and Hotmail	218	(1)
Mail Coming Your Way	219	(2)
Reading mail with your e-mail program	219	(1)
Reading mail with Web mail	220	(1)
Deleting messages from the message list	221	(1)
A Few Words from the Etiquette Ladies	221	(2)
Flame off!	222	(1)
Smile!	222	(1)
How Private Is E-Mail?	223	(1)
To Whom Do I Write?	224	(3)
Safe Mail: Viruses, Spam, and Secure Mail over WiFi	227	(20)
I Think I've Got a Virus	227	(5)
Configuring your virus checker	228	(1)
Configuring Thunderbird not to run viruses	228	(2)
Configuring Outlook Express not to run viruses	230	(2)
Get This Spam Outta Here!	232	(12)
Filtering spam in Thunderbird	233	(3)
Filtering spam in Outlook Express	236	(7)
Getting a spam-filtering program	243	(1)
What else can I do?	244	(1)
Secure That Mail	244	(3)
Secure mail with Thunderbird	245	(1)
Secure mail with Outlook Express	245	(2)
Putting Your Mail in Its Place	247	(14)
Deleting Mail	247	(1)
Back to You, Sam: Replying to Mail	248	(1)
Keeping Track of Your Friends	249	(3)
The Thunderbird address book	250	(1)
The Outlook Express address book	251	(1)
Web mail address books	251	(1)
Hot Potatoes: Forwarding Mail	252	(2)
Cold Potatoes: Saving Mail	254	(3)
Filing with Thunderbird	255	(1)
Filing with Outlook Express	256	(1)
Filing with Web mail systems	256	(1)
Exotic Mail and Mail Attachments	257	(2)
Thunderbird attachments	258	(1)
Outlook Express attachments	258	(1)
Web mail attachments	259	(1)
Your Own Personal Mail Manager	259	(2)
Typing and Talking on the Net	261	(30)
The Next Best Thing to Being There	262	(5)
AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)	262	(4)
Windows Messenger, alias MSN Messenger	266	(1)
Yahoo Messenger	267	(1)
Adding Voices and Faces	267	(2)
Say what? --- Hooking the sound up	267	(1)
I see you!	268	(1)
Around the Virtual Town Pump	269	(9)
Mailing lists: Are you sure that this isn't junk mail?	270	(6)
Posting to message boards	276	(2)
Look Who's Chatting	278	(2)
Who are those guys I'm talking to?	279	(1)
Who am I?	279	(1)
Ways to chat	280	(1)
Your First Chat Room	280	(4)
Online etiquette	281	(1)
Safety first	282	(1)
Chat abbreviations and smileys	283	(1)
Let's Chat	284	(4)
Chatting on AOL	284	(3)
Chatting on the Web	287	(1)
Chatting via IRC	287	(1)
Networking Communities	288	(1)
Internet Phones and Voice Chat	289	(2)
Signing up	289	(1)
Using your VoIP phone	290	(1)
Part V: Advanced Internet Activities	291	(38)
Setting Up a Web Site	293	(24)
Creating a Web Site: The Big Picture	293	(4)
Do you need a home page, or more?	294	(1)
Web pages on Web servers	294	(2)
Picking your Web editor	296	(1)
Getting Mozilla Composer	297	(2)
Installing and configuring Mozilla Composer	297	(1)
Opening up Composer for a look	298	(1)
Making Your First Web Page	299	(3)
Naming your page	299	(1)
Picking up your pen	300	(1)
Making your page	300	(2)
Pictures to Go: Adding Images to Your Web Page	302	(4)
Picture formats	302	(1)
Where do the pictures come from?	302	(1)
Adding a picture to your page	303	(3)
Linking to Other Pages	306	(1)
Good Page Design	306	(2)
Fonts and styles	307	(1)
Background images	307	(1)
Big images	307	(1)
Live and learn	308	(1)
Putting Your Page on the Web	308	(4)
Uploading from your Web editor	309	(2)
Uploading with an FTP program	311	(1)
So, where's my page?	311	(1)
Testing your page	312	(1)
Be Master of Your Domain	312	(1)
Blog City	313	(1)
Wonderful Wacky Wikis	313	(1)
Open a Store Online	314	(1)
Shout It Out: Getting Your Web Site Found	315	(2)
All the World's a Blog	317	(12)
What's in a Blog?	317	(2)
How to Read a Blog	319	(1)
How to Deal with All the Blogs	320	(5)
Blogs on the Web	320	(2)
Blogs on your desktop	322	(3)
Writing Your Own Blog	325	(2)
To blog or not to blog	326	(1)
Where to put your blog	326	(1)
Lights, Action, Weblog!	327	(2)
Part VI: The Part of Tens	329	(30)
Ten Problems and Ten Solutions	331	(10)
My Computer Takes Forever to Boot Up, Popup Ads Have Taken Over My Screen, and It's Really Slow	332	(2)
The nuclear option	332	(2)
The switcheroo	334	(1)
This Nice Free Program Won't Run If I Turn Off the Ads	334	(1)
I Can't Send Large E-Mail Attachments	334	(1)
I'm Worried about ID Theft	335	(1)
I Can't Remember All My Web Site Passwords	336	(1)
I Get Messages Telling Me E-Mail That I Never Sent Is Undeliverable	337	(1)
People Seem to Know a Lot about Me	337	(1)
Get rid of spyware that may be lurking on your machine	337	(1)
Don't be dumb	338	(1)
Don't order stuff from a public PC	338	(1)
I Can't Get My Kids, Spouse, or Significant Other Off the Computer	338	(1)
When I Click a Link, My Browser Says ``404 Page Not Found''	339	(1)
I Want to Include My E-Mail Address on My Web Page	339	(2)
Ten Kinds of Files and What to Do with Them	341	(10)
How Many Kinds of Files Are There?	341	(2)
Just Plain Text	343	(1)
Any Last Requests Before We Execute You?	343	(1)
Packing It In	344	(2)
ZIPping it up	344	(1)
Just StuffIt!	345	(1)
Other archivers	346	(1)
For the Artistically Inclined	346	(2)
I could GIF a	346	(1)
PNG-a-ding	347	(1)
JPEG's great for photos	347	(1)
Let a hundred formats blossom	347	(1)
Sound Off!	348	(1)
A Trip to the Movies	349	(1)
Animation in a Flash	349	(1)
None of the Above Files	349	(2)
Ten Fun Things You Can Do Online	351	(8)
Sharing Pictures with Your Friends and Family	351	(1)
Editing an Encyclopedia	352	(1)
Watching Short Movies and TV Ads	352	(1)
Listening to Current and Classic Radio Programs	353	(1)
Playing Checkers	353	(1)
Watching the World Go By	354	(1)
Journaling Online with Blogs	354	(1)
Visiting Art Museums around the World	355	(1)
Building Your Own World	355	(1)
Touring the Solar System	356	(1)
Searching for Extraterrestrial Life or Curing Cancer	356	(1)
Adopting a Kid	357	(2)
Glossary	359	(14)
Index	373