6. Safely and Efficiently Accessing the Internet

Chapter at a Glance

In this chapter, you will learn to:
	Connect to the Internet.
	Display Web sites in Internet Explorer 7.
	Block pop-up windows.
	Change your home page.
	Change the appearance of Web content.
	Find, save, and return to Web sites.
	Print Web pages.
	Send Web pages and links to other people.
	Discover and subscribe to RSS feeds.
	Restrict objectionable content.

The Internet is a worldwide network consisting of millions of smaller networks that exchange information. Originally constructed and used by governments and large organizations for the exchange of text-based data, the Internet evolved almost overnight with the implementation in 1990 of a prototype for the World Wide Web, known simply as the Web, by Tim Berners-Lee. While combining the existing concept of hypertext with the Internet, Berners-Lee developed the system of hyperlinks and Uniform Resource Identifiers, also known as Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) that paved the way for the global exchange of information we take for granted today.

Browsing the Internet (also known as surfing the Web) has become an entertainment medium in itself, as well as a simple and powerful research solution that puts a world of information at your fingertips, literally. Students, scholars, business people, shoppers, gamers, and others can now find almost any information or entertainment they want on the Web. Many television programs are now available for viewing on the Internet, because their producers recognize that people are looking for entertainment on their computers rather than turning on the television.

Moreover, the Web is no longer a one-way information highway for individual computer users. The advent of personal Web spaces called Web logs, or blogs, means that anyone can post anything on the Web for family, friends, and complete strangers to view and respond to. Blogs range from personal diaries and ways for communities to keep in touch to sources of information on a specific topic that are replacing traditional media in importance. They can provide on-the-spot news about current events, and because they are not constrained by printing and production processes, they can "scoop" other media with late-breaking news. They are also uncensored and largely unregulated, meaning that viewers need to bear in mind that their information is not necessarily unbiased or correct.

Windows Vista includes Windows Internet Explorer 7, a Web browser with which you can easily find, view, search, print, and save Web pages while shielding your computer and the people who use it from exposure to malicious or objectionable content. Internet Explorer provides a framework in which you can view Web pages, and an engine with which you can perform basic tasks.

In this chapter, you learn how to configure Internet Explorer 7 to best fit your needs and how to use some of the great features not available in previous versions of Internet Explorer. You will personalize the Internet Explorer browser window and content display, and specify the amount of objectionable language, nudity, sex, and violence users of your computer are able to see.