Computer Times
For the Beginner
Using the Internet for fun begins with finding the things on the Internet that interest you. A quick way to do this is to use a few of the search engines on the Internet. Below are the World Wide Web addresses of many of the popular search engines:
When you use these search engines, be aware that some of them support Boolean logic, which can be used to get better results with your search. Don't let that 10 cent word Boolean intimidate you; it simply means we can use terms like AND, OR, and NOT when we tell the search engine what to find for us. [Boolean, pronounced boo' le an, was an English mathematician from the middle 1800's.]
For example, if you wanted to search for a place that sells antique watches and you simply type in the words ANTIQUE and WATCHES as your search criteria, you will get a list of every site that has anything to do with antiques or watches. This is because the Boolean logic search engines assume an OR between all of your search words. So, your search criteria ANTIQUE WATCHES is actually read as ANTIQUE OR WATCHES. To get around this, all you do is use the Boolean operator AND in your search criteria, e.g., ANTIQUE AND WATCHES. If the search engine supports Boolean logic, you will only get a list of sites that have both ANTIQUE and WATCHES in the keyword descriptions.
Another useful Boolean operator is NOT. If you are looking for sites that deal exclusively with dogs, you do not want sites that include both dogs and cats. In this case, your search criteria would be DOGS NOT CATS. With a little practice, you will be finding just those sites you desire.
Once you get a list of sites, occasionally the hot link (clicking on the highlighted word) does not work, and all you get is an error message. Try to strip off the information to the right of each slash in the Web address and try to connect again. For example, if you are trying to connect to a site at www.sweets.com/puddings/chocolate/low-cal.html and you get an error, ignore everything to the right of the last slash and try to connect again. Type www.sweets.com/puddings/chocolate and try to connect. If that doesn't work, strip off the next bit to the right of the last slash, and try to connect by typing www.sweets.com/puddings. Finally, if that still doesn't work, try the basic site at www.sweets.com. Usually, stripping off the site addresses will get you a good connection; once you are on the site you can select options to find what you were looking for in the first place. With site maintenance sometimes file names are changed, making one of the lengthy addresses invalid.
If you want to see if one of your old friends or classmates have an e-mail address, you may want to try one of these search engines:
Be aware that search engines will not find everything on the Internet; they only search through the items in their database. If you don't find what you're looking for when you do a search, keep searching at other search engine sites. If you still don't find it, it may still be on the Internet but just not included in any of the search engine databases.
A few good game sites are:
A few family oriented sites are:
A great place to win some super software for your child is through the Computer Times Web site contest.
As you will soon find out, there are countless things you can do on the Internet to have fun. Simply do a search for anything to do with your business, hobby or pastime. Beware, though, it can become addicting and turn you into a cyber geek. J
Till next month . . .
Happy Computing! J
To find great prices on hardware and software we recommend you start with
Office Depot. Just click on the Office Depot ad below and you will be connected directly with Office Depot on the Internet.
Till next month . . . Happy Computing! J