STARTING AN INTERNET SESSION

LAPTOP VERSION

Revised 1.23.07

GENERAL

The terms level 1, level 2 or level 3 below refer to the level of complexity. Level 1 being the easiest.

 

LOGGING IN FROM HOME OR OTHER PLACES.

You can get into the Internet from any computer that has access to the Internet, any place in the world, including your computer at home, and laptops on a wireless hotspot.

 

LOGGING IN TO YOUR ISP FROM HOME

DIAL UP LINES

Logging in to your ISP using a dial up line is usually a two-step process. First you must connect to your Internet Service Provider (ISP). To do this you use your modem software to dial into your ISP. You will hear the dialing sounds, and then some hisses and finally you will be connected to your ISP computer. Second you will then have to open (start) your browser software. The browser software can be any of the following: Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, or AOL’s browser. Sometimes your ISP software opens the browser software automatically. Once your browser is started you are connected to your ISP’s home page, and you should see it on your computer’s screen.

 

BROAD BAND LINES

If you have DSL (digital subscriber line), or cable access the process is different.

For these services, as soon as you start your browser software, usually Internet Explorer, you are on the Internet.

 

SHELL POINT BROADBAND

In this workshop we will be using Shell Points broadband but it will be thru a wireless connection. Two pieces of equipment have been temporarily installed in this room to support the wireless connection, a cable modem and a wireless router.

 

STARTING YOUR COMPUTER (level 1)

It is assumed in this workshop you already know how to start a computer system. However for the purpose of review what follows are refresher instructions

1. Turn on the laptop (the computer) by firmly but briefly pressing the power button on the top of the keyboard Wait while the computer starts up, it may take a few seconds. You might have to click on another icon that contains your user name. When it has finished, you will see the DESKTOP screen.

 

USING THE SHELL POINT WIRELESS HOTSPOT

 

First you must determine that you have a wireless connection to the Shell Point wireless hotspot. It will be identified as either SP1 or SP2 if you are using the mobile hotspot equipment or nnnnnnnnn if you are using one of Shell Point’s permanent hotspots. If you have been using anther hotspot, you probably have to change your laptop to one of these connections. On my laptop I right click on the icon that represents the wireless network connection on the system tray. It looks like two little computer monitors. (The system tray is on the right end of your Task bar) Then I click on View Available Wireless Networks. That will give me a frame and will usually let me see what hotspots are available. Then I select the one I want by clicking on it. That should highlight it. Now I have to put a check mark in a line that says Allow Me to Connect -Finally I have to click on Connect. Yours should be similar but maybe not the same unless you have a D-Link wireless adaptor installed in you Laptop.

 

USING OTHER HOTSPOTS

If you have been using anther hotspot, you may have to change your laptop to one of the local hotspot connection. On my laptop I right click on the icon that represents the wireless network connection on the system tray. It looks like two little computer monitors. (The system tray is on the right end of your Task bar) Then I click on View Available Wireless Networks. That will give me a frame and will usually let me see what hotspots are available. Then I select the one I want by clicking on it. That should highlight it. Now I have to put a check mark in a line that says Allow Me to Connect -Finally I have to click on Connect. Yours should be similar but maybe not the same unless you have a D-Link wireless adaptor installed in you Laptop.

 

 

STARTING AN INTERNET SESSION

USING THE TOUCH PAD

 

 

CLICKING

NOTE: IN THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW, WHEN IT SAYS CLICK IT MEANS TO CLICK THE LEFT TOUCH PAD BUTTON. It is important to know that a click is made up of three actions as follows: pointing the arrow of the touch pad at an icon or word, and then quickly pushing down on the left touch pad button and then quickly letting up

 

Starting the Internet browser software called Internet Explorer. (level 1)

NOTE: The Internet Explorer Icon on the desktop looks like a lower case e. There may also be one on the Quick Launch . The Quick Launch is next to the Start button.

 

FROM THE INTERNET EXPLORER ICON ON THE DESKTOP

1. On the Windows Desktop, first locate the Internet Explorer icon with the lower case e. Now using your touch pad, point at it and click once. That will highlight the icon. This is called “Selecting”

2. Now just peck the Enter key. That should start the Internet Explorer software.

 

STARTING FROM THE QUICK LAUNCH

Now we will open the Internet Explorer that is on the Quick Launch. The quick launch is on the Task bar next to the Start button.

On the Quick Launch, it is only necessary to click on the Internet Explorer icon once to start it. Some computers do not have the quick launch showing.

 

 

MORE ABOUT THE WINDOWS TASK BAR AND QUICK LAUNCH

 

When you turn on your monitor and console, the first screen that is presented is the Windows Desktop. On the bottom of the Desktop screen in the left corner is the master Start button. The bar where the Start button is located is called the Task Bar. Next to the Start button is an area on the Task Bar called the Quick Launch. Not all computers have the Quick Launch area activated. If you need to activate the quick launch see below.

 

ACTIVATING THE QUICK LAUNCH

To activate the Quick Launch area, right click in the open space to the right of the Start button. You will get a menu. Slide your mouse arrow up to Toolbars, wait a second DON’T CLICK. another menu will pop out. Now left click on Quick Launch. That will open the Quick Launch area with a few icons in it. It may be necessary to enlarge the Quick Launch area. This can be done by locating the fence on the right end of the Quick Launch area and putting your mouse arrow on top of it and drag the fence to the right. That will frequency cause more icons to appear in the Quick Launch area and in addition provide more space for you to drag and drop other icons from your desktop into the Quick Launch space. But sometimes the quick launch is locked.

 

 

 

 

UNLOCKING THE QUICK LAUNCH

To unlock it, right click on an open area of the Task Bar, then left click on Properties. You will get the Task Bar and Start Menu Properties dialog frame. Now take the check mark out of Lock Task bar. Note on this menu you can do other changes to your task bar

 

THE SYSTEM

The System is on the right end of the Task bar. It shows the icons that are related to your system. One of the icons that that it shows is the Wireless Connection Icon. It looks like two small computer monitors. As you were instructed above this icon is used to select the network hotspot you want your computer to use. It also shows your clock.

 

THE SHOW DESKTOP ICON

One of the most useful icons in the quick launch that will appear in the Quick Launch area is the Show Desktop icon. It is used to quickly get back the desktop when you have programs open and you want to get to the desktop quickly. The other advantage of having icons in the Quick Launch area is that only one left click is necessary to open a program. You can discover what each of the icons on the quick launch are, by putting your mouse arrow on top of them and wait a second. A banner will appear telling you what they are. This is also true for the System .

 

 

WEB SITE ADDRESS

Notice the address in the long box in the upper part of the screen. It says: http://www.xxxxx.com-- the xxxxx stands for the web address of the web site and .net tells you it is a network site. In some cases the suffix is .com for commercial, .org for organization, .gov for government, or .edu for educational institutions. There are other suffixes as well.

 

A web site address is called the Universal Resource Locator (URL) for the web site. Every web site has a unique URL.

 

SCROLLING THE WEB SITE SCREEN UP AND DOWN (level

Notice the little up arrow on the upper right side of the screen, and the little down arrow on the lower right side of the screen. Click three times on the down arrow

What happens?

Now click three times on the up arrow.

 

USING THE SCROLL BAR

Notice the scroll bar on the right side of the screen

Point at it with you mouse, and holding the left button down, drag the scroll bar down and then up. What happens?

 

 

USING THE PAD WHEEL ON THE TOUCH PAD

Some laptops have a pad wheel on the side of the touch pad. You can use the PAD WHEEL to scroll up and down. Slowly drag you index finder on the pad wheel. That should make the screen go up and down.

 

THE UP AND DOWN ARROW KEYS ON THE KEYBOARD

You can also use your up and down arrow keys to scroll once you have clicked on the screen. This is handy for some people.

 

INTERNET LINKS (level 1)

Using you mouse, notice when you run the touch pad arrow over some of the printed material on the screen, the arrow turns into a POINTING HAND. That is called a LINK. Run the arrow over one of the lines until you get a pointing hand, and click. See how it links you to another web page.

BROWSER BUTTONS AND BANNERS

Notice the boxes at the top of the screen that say:

 

BACK-FORWARD-STOP-REFRESH-HOME-SEARCH-FAVORITES-MEDIA-HISTORY-MAIL-PRINT-ETC

 

These are buttons that make Internet Explorer do its work for you on the Internet. We will use a few of them today.

BACK takes you to the previous web page, after you have linked at least one time.

FORWARD takes you forward if you have used the Back button.

PRINT will print the web page that is currently on your screen.

STOP will stop an operation if it seems to be taking a long time.

We will explain the others as we go along.

 

ENLARGE THE SCREEN TEXT (level 1)

On a few web sites it is possible to enlarge the text size. One of the web sites where this will work is the www.shellpoint.net web site. It is done rather easily as follows:

1. When on a web site, click on View on the Menu bar

2. Slide down to Text Size. Do not click

3. Slide over to the next menu and click on Largest

That will make the text much larger and easier to read

JUMPING TO ANOTHER WEB SITE (level 2)

The Internet would be quit boring if you were limited to just one web site. So now we will learn how to jump to other web sites. To jump to another web site, you have to know its address. There is an attachment to this instruction listing a few of the web site addresses.

 

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE SURE FIRE WAY TO JUMP TO A NEW WEB SITE – GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

1. You must know the web address of the site you want to jump to

 

2. Click the “File” button on the left side of the Menu bar.

 

3.     Click “Open” in the File menu. That brings up a dialog box.

 

4. In the space provided, type in the web site address (URL) for the web site you want to go to. (Notice you do not have to type in the http://, but it is wise to type the www)

 

5. Left Click the OK button, or peck the Enter Key.

That will transfer you to the new web site.

 

JUMPING TO THE CABLE NEWS NETWORK (cnn)WEB SITE USING THE SURE FIRE WAY.

1. Click the “File” button on the left side of the Menu bar.

2. Left Click “Open” in the File menu.

That brings up the Open Page dialog box.

3. In the space provided type: www.cnn.com.

4. Peck the Enter Key, or Left Click the OK button.

You have just started surfing the Internet.

 

Again you will have to use the scrolling arrows, the scroll bar, or the up and down arrow keys to make the screen go up and down.

And again when the touch pad HAND appears over a subject that tells you that that is a LINK

When you find one you are interested in, click on that line.

You will get a new screen of information.

You can use the Back and Forward buttons to go back and forth between screens

 

GETTING THE WEATHER (level1)

Scroll up to the top of the web site.

Put the pointing finger over WEATHER on the left side of the screen again notice the pointing finger. Now click

On the next screen, type in the zip code for Ft Myers to get our weather, and click on the Go button

If you like, you can now use the BACK button to get back to the previous screen.

 

ADVERTISING AND POP UPS

The Internet is mostly paid for by advertising, therefore, you will have to get used to it. Most of it cannot be eliminated, and so you have to learn to delete them by clicking in the X in the upper right corner of the adverting frame.

POP UPS

Pop ups on the other hand are unwanted advertisements that just occasionally pop up on your screen. They can appear at any time and are a nuisance. It is impossible to ignore them. To get rid of them, just click on the X in the upper right corner of the pop up screen. There is also software you can buy to control them

JUMPING TO THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART USING THE SURE FIRE WAY (level1)

To change to the National Gallery of Art web site,

1. Click on File,

2. Then click on Open.

3.     Now type in www.nga.gov (it is necessary to use the www here)

4.     Peck the Enter key.

 

PRINT A PICTURE FROM THE INTERNET. (level 2)

1. Put the touch pad hand in the middle of the picture you want to print.

2. Right click with the touch pad.

You will get a menu. (You will always get a menu when you right click)

3. On the menu, go to the line that says, “print picture”, and single left click

4. You will get a “Print” dialog box.

5. Peck the Enter key.

The picture will be printed.

 

In some cases in the “Print” dialog box you will be given a choice of printers. You will have to decide which one to use. The choice usually will be between a black and white printer and a color printer.

COPY A PICTURE FROM THE INTERNET. (level 3)

1. Put the touch pad hand in the middle of the picture you want to print.

 

2. Right click with the touch pad.

You will get a menu. (You will always get a menu when you right click)

 

3. On the menu, go to the line that says, “Save Picture As..”, and single left click

 

4. You will get a “Save Picture” dialog frame.

 

5.     On this frame it will say in the Save In box My Pictures. That is the folder that Windows always tries to save to and in this case that is ok

 

6.     On the Save Picture frame go down to where it says File Name and type a new file name in that space.

 

7.     Now just click on the Save button.

 

USING PAINT TO EDIT THE PICTURE

You can now open this picture with the Paint software that is in Windows and resize it, or crop it, or print it out.

The Paint program can be opened by clicking on the Start button then slide up to All Programs DON’T CLICK, wait for a new menu to pop out, slide up to Accessories AGAIN DON’T CLICK, a new menu will pop out. Go over and down to Paint and click.

To open a picture you have saved in My Pictures, click on File on the Menu bar, and then click on open. You will get a new frame and you should see and image of our picture. Click on that image and then click on Open. That should put the picture into the Paint software.

 

To resize a picture go up to Image on the menu bar and click. Now click on stretch and skew. You will get a dialog frame. Change the size in both the Horizontal and Vertical fields and click OK. Ignore the Skew portion of the frame.

 

COPY AND PASTE TEXT FROM THE INTERNET (LEVEL 2)

Copy and paste can be used to copy text from any document and paste it to any other document. But below we will cover in detail how to copy text from a document on the Internet to a word processing program on your computer.

 

COPY FIRST

There are times when it is desirable to copy just the text from a web site or email.

1.     This can easily be done by dragging across the text you want to copy to highlight it. It is not necessary to drag over the entire text if you only want part of it. But you can drag over all of it if you want.

2.     Now right click on any portion of the text that is highlight. That will give you a menu. (Remember whenever you right click you always get a menu).

3. On that menu there are several choices. The one you are interested at this time is copy. Left click on copy. That will put a copy of the text onto your clipboard ready for you to paste it to a word processing document.

 

NOW PASTE

Now open your word processing software. This can be MS Word, MS Works, or WordPad. You will always have one of them if you are running windows

1.     Once you have opened your word-processing software go up to the Menu bar and click on Edit. Then click on Paste. That will put the text you copied onto the word processing document. Now you can do any thing to that document that you would normally do to any document

 

 

SAVED IN LAPTOP FOLDER