Clearing the Noise: Understanding the Internet and Its Tools

Editor's Notes

1. There are several other browser options out there, but for the sake of time, we’ll stick with discussing the three most popular today – Chrome, Firefox, and IESafari is Apple’s default browser so Mac users are likely the most familiar with it. Opera is another common browser, but with a smaller user base than the others. Most browsers are similar in several of the most important ways – all of these browsers offer convenient features like tabbed browsing, bookmarks, search, customization options, password manager, and others. Your choice of browser largely comes down to personal preference, your own ease of use, and what kind of computer you use.
2. Chrome – Fast, intuitive, and supported by all operating systems. For some users, the main drawback is potential privacy issues – many of Chrome’s intuitive features are possible due to Google’s gathering of users’ personal data, which some people aren’t comfortable with. Internet Explorer – The browser K12 families use for day to day. Microsoft’s browser is still the most popular browser in the United States, although Chrome is gaining. IE has more support available than Chrome or Firefox, including telephone support. IE is not compatible with Mac OS. Internet Explorer’s default search engine is Bing, but you can change it to whatever you like. Firefox and Chrome both use Google automatically.  Firefox – This open-source and innovative browser is a project of the non-profit Mozilla Foundation. It’s supported by all operating systems and thanks to an active community of developers there are many plug-ins available for Firefox that allow users to personalize their experience.
3. As you browse the web, your browser saves content, like HTML pages, images, and other media in your computer’s memory. This allows certain content to be reused, allowing for faster viewing. For example, if you press the back or forward button, your browser might show you the cached version of a page, rather than sending another request to the web server. Your cache is different from your History, which is just a list of sites you’ve visited. Deleting your history isn’t the same as emptying your cache.
4. Cookies make it possible for websites to remember your username and password so you don’t have to login every time you visit. They can also remember pages you visited, buttons you clicked, or products you bought. If you visit the site again in the future, the cookie is retrieved. This is how websites you’ve visited can seem to “remember” you when you visit them again.
5. Cookies cannot carry malware or install viruses on your computer. The main problem with cookies is privacy, since some can track your browsing history. Third-party tracking cookies are of the most concern. These are cookies that aren’t associated with a website but with an advertising company who can then sell your web habits and preferences to another company. Also of concern are vulnerabilities that can also allow a cookie’s data to be read by a hacker who can use it to gain access to your data or to access (with your credentials) the website to which the cookie belongs. To prevent this, some people choose to disable cookies entirely, but this can significantly affect the functionality of many websites. The best option is to periodically delete your cookies. Clearing your cache and cookies periodically helps to protect you and your privacy, and it helps your browser to run more efficiently.Typically, no matter what browser you use, you can delete your cookies on the same menu as you empty your cache, and you can choose to clear them at the same time as you dump your web cache. Some browsers, like Firefox, can even be setup to automatically delete your cookies every time you close your browser. Or you can choose to delete them less frequently.
6. Your download history is a record of everything you have downloaded and saved to your computer. This list is especially handy if you can’t remember where you saved a piece of content, as clicking it in your download list will take you right to it.You can choose to delete your download history on the same menu as your browsing history, cache, and cookies. Remember that clearing your download history won’t erase the files themselves from your computer.
7. Bookmarks (orFavorites to IE users) are shortcuts saved to your computer of sites you like or want to remember. Every modern browser has a bookmarking tool, and they all offer tools for organizing and managing them, typically lists or folders, as well as options for sharing bookmarks between several different computer systems. Social bookmarking has become very popular as a way to store, categorize, and share links. We will discuss some of these options in a later session.
8. Searching for something specific online? You can save time by using this trick to find a keyword on a web page or article. This little trick can be a huge timesaver! Simply type CTRL F (or Command F on a Mac), then type your word in the search bar. Now every instance of the term is highlighted on the page. Hit CTRL/Command G (or use the arrows on the search bar) to jump down the page to each place your word appears. This trick works in all browsers. Text too small? Zoom in and out with CTRL/Command +-Don’t feel bad if you didn’t know this – one 2011 study of people’s search habits found that 90% of Internet users don’t know this trick!
9. You probably know about Google Images and Google Maps, maybe you even use Google News and Google Shopping. But did you know Google has built in categories for finding Blogs, Places, Flights, Recipes, Apps, and more? You can also sort by dictionary definitions, personal websites, results near by your location, even by reading level. Using these filters can make finding what you need a snap.
10. Google Image Search allows you to filter your image searches by size, a time period, type, and color. Here I’ve searched for line drawings of Washington – a regular search for the same term would find me many unrelated pictures, like maps and landmarks in DC and Washington state. A search for file type “face” would filter out everything that isn’t a photo of a person. Here I’ve used Line Drawing to find only sketches of George Washington. On the right, I’ve used filter by color to find photos of beaches that have a lot of orange. A regular search for beach images would turn up mostly blues and greens. This is a very useful tool for finding just the photo you’re looking for.
11. Search Google with an image instead of text. I use this one all the time! Do you ever come across cool photos online that don’t have a source? This trick can help you figure out where the picture originally came from. You can either paste a URL or upload an image saved on your computer. This was a very popular pin on our Pinterest page, but it was just a photo, without any source or information about it. I pasted the URL into Search by Image and immediately found a number of places where this photo appeared, including the original blog that explains how to build one!
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