Internet For Beginners – Welcome To The Web

The Internet has grown into a vastly powerful tool that can be used for a huge variety of different activities. From researching a family tree, to watching funny video clips, there’s always something to do, but when faced with the vastness of the Internet it can be a little overwhelming, so here are a few ideas on how to get started.

Google
Google’s search engine is a great place to start when you first fire up the Internet. Here you can search for anything that is of interest to you and Google will, in seconds, give you a list of websites that most fit with the words you chose to search for. Depending on the popularity of the search topic, there can be a lot of websites found, sometimes in the millions, but Google is an intuitive tool that will go with the most popular websites first and therefore the ones that will usually fit best with the search.

It’s not just websites that Google can search for. At the top of the Google search engine page there are options to search for images, video and even maps, so there’s no real limit to what can be found with the right words and a little time.

Email address
It’s not a must, but it’s a very good idea to create an email address when first starting to use the Internet. There are a host of activities that require an email address and a lot of beneficial information can be sent via email such as, newsletters about favourite authors or information regarding concert tickets.

Setting up an email address is relatively simple to do. There are a few different places that provide email services for free and there shouldn’t be any need to pay for an email service when first starting to use the Internet, but there is payment options available if someone wanted to create a website with an email address connected to it.

Once at an email provider website there should be a link to sign up for an email address. There will be a short and simple form to fill out, that shouldn’t take more than a few minutes, and then an email address will be created from your details and can be used immediately.

YouTube
YouTube is a huge database of video clips that have been uploaded to the Internet by people from anywhere in the world. This freedom is evident in the vast variety of categories that can be searched through and the sheer number of clips available. There are some restrictions to what can and cannot be uploaded, which is to be expected, but a quick read of the requirements and anyone can upload their own YouTube video.

An email address is needed to sign up for YouTube and to allow people to upload their own clips, but you don’t need anything to just be able to watch most of the clips.

Anti-virus and firewall
While the Internet provides a great resource of information, it also carries a few nasty surprises for anyone who isn’t prepared. These nasty surprises are called computer viruses and can come in many forms and can do untold damage to personal computers and even be used to steal private information. Thankfully, there are a few things that can be done to safeguard against any of the threats.

Setting up a firewall is a good first step to stopping any malicious software from getting to a personal computer and are usually already on and set up the first time you use a new computer. To check if the firewall is working properly you can look under the control panel and then on the security menu of your computer.

After the firewall is set up, it’s a really good idea to have anti-virus software installed and working. There are a huge amount of choices on which one to choose, but most new computers come with a free month of security and it’s advised to set that up before beginning to use the Internet. If you’re unsure on how to set up the anti-virus software and get it working, then there should be a manual for setting it up that comes with any new purchase of anti-virus software. If you’re still not confident then there are professional services that can set it up for a fee.

Once you are protected and once you take your first steps into the World Wide Web, you’ll find there are numerous ways that you can utilize it and make it work for you.

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