Customizing Your Browser

• Customize Your Web Browsing Layout

• Change Your Home Page

• How and Why to Clear Your Cache

• Change Text Size:
1. Click on TEXT SIZE from the VIEW menu in your browser.
2. Choose from LARGEST to SMALLEST size setting.

• Change Encoding to Display Correct Language:
1. Click on ENCODING from the VIEW menu on your browser.
2. Choose language from the list provided (Western European is the default)

• Adding Favorites:
1. Click on ADD TO FAVORITES from the FAVORITES menu.

• Choosing Internet Programs:
1. Under the INTERNET OPTIONS menu, click on PROGRAMS
2. Select which program to use for each category (i.e. html editor, email etc.)

• Add Your Own Background Image to Internet Explorer Toolbar

• Change What Internet Explorer Calls Itself in the Title Bar

• Change the Explorer Toolbar Background
 
Security and Privacy

• Internet Explorer 6 Security and Privacy Essentials

• Browse the Web with Content Advisor

• Prevent Pop-up Windows when Browsing with Internet Explorer

In addition to these suggestions, there are various free programs that can be downloaded and installed to alleviate problems with pop-ups. (e.g. Spybot, Ad-aware® and Google™ Toolbar)

Credit Card Safety - Pay It Safe!

Use a Secure Browser - Use software that encrypts or scrambles the purchase information you send over the Internet. This will help guard the security of your information as it is transmitted to a website. Be sure your browser has the most up-to-date encryption capabilities by using the latest version available from the manufacturer.

When submitting your purchase information, look for the "lock" icon on the browser's status bar, and the phrase "https" in the URL address for a website, to be sure your information is secure during transmission.

Check the Site's Privacy Policy - Before you provide any personal financial information to a website, check the site's statements about the security. Some websites' disclosures are easier to find than others - look at the bottom of the home page, on order forms or in the "About" or "FAQs" section of a site. If you're not comfortable with the policy, consider doing business elsewhere.

Read and understand the refund and shipping policies of a website you visit, before you make your purchase. Look closely at disclosures about the website's refund and shipping policies. Again, search through the website for these disclosures.

Keep Your Personal Information Private - Don't disclose your personal information such as your address, telephone number, Social Security number, bank account number or e-mail address - unless you know who's collecting the information, why they're collecting it, and how they'll use it.

Give Payment Information Only to Businesses You Know and Trust - Only give out information when and where it is appropriate - like an order form. Never give your password to anyone online, even your Internet service provider.

DO NOT Download Files Sent to You by Strangers or Click on Hyperlinks from People You do not Know. Opening a file could expose your system to a computer virus or a program that could hijack your computer.

Keep Records of Your Online Transactions - Check your e-mail for contacts by merchants with whom you're doing business. Merchants may send you important information about your purchases.

Review Your Monthly Credit Card and Bank Statements - Check for any errors or unauthorized purchases promptly and thoroughly. Notify your credit or debit card issuer immediately if your credit, debit card or checkbook is lost or stolen - or if you suspect someone is using your accounts without your permission.

NOTE: The above information was obtained from the website below (click on the link for more information.)

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/online/payments.htm

Common Browser Errors

401 - Unauthorized
Problem: You can't access a website because you're not on the guest list, your password is invalid or you have entered your password incorrectly.
Solution: If you think you have authorization, try typing your password again. Remember that passwords are case sensitive.

403 - Forbidden
Problem: Essentially the same as a 401.
Solution: Try entering your password again or move on to another site.

404 - Not Found
Problem: Either the web page no longer exists on the server or it is nowhere to be found.
Solution: Check the address carefully and try entering it again. You might also see if the site has a search engine. If so, use it to hunt for the document. (It's not uncommon for pages to change their addresses when a website is redesigned.) To get to the home page of the site, delete everything after the domain name and hit the Enter or Return key. For example, if the address is:
http://www.learnthenet.com/english/html/email.htm remove "English/html/email.htm from the URL.

503 - Service Unavailable
Problem: Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or your Internet connection may be down.
Solution: Take a stretch, wait a few minutes and try again. If you still have no luck, phone your ISP or system administrator.

Bad File Request
Problem: Your web browser may not be able to decipher the online form you want to access. There may also be a technical error in the form.
Solution: Consider sending a message to the site's webmaster, providing any technical information you can, such as the browser and version you are using.

Connection Refused by Host
Problem: You don't have permission to access the page or your password is incorrect.
Solution: Try retyping your password if you think you should have access.

Failed DNS Lookup
Problem: DNS stands for the Domain Name System, which is the system that looks up the name of a website, finds a corresponding number (similar to a phone number), then directs your request to the appropriate web server on the Internet. When the lookup fails, the host server can't be located.
Solution: Try clicking on the "Reload" or "Refresh" button on your browser toolbar. If this doesn't work, check the address and enter it again. If all else fails, try again later.

File Contains No Data
Problem: The site has no web pages on it.
Solution: Check the address and enter it again. If you get the same error message, try again later.

Host Unavailable
Problem: The web server is down.
Solution: Try clicking on the "Reload" or "Refresh" button. If this doesn't work, try again later.

Host Unknown
Problem: The web server is down, the site may have moved, or you've been disconnected from the Internet.
Solution: Try clicking on the "Reload" or "Refresh" button and check to see that you are still online. If this fails, try using a search engine to find the site. It may have a new address.

Network Connection Refused by the Server
Problem: The web server is busy.
Solution: Try again in a while.

Unable to Locate Host
Problem: The web server is down or you've been disconnected from the Internet.
Solution: Try clicking on the "Reload" or "Refresh" button and check to see that you are still online.

Unable to Locate Server
Problem: The web server is out-of-business or you may have entered the address incorrectly.
Solution: Check the address and try typing it again.

This message occurs when you're trying to upload a file to an FTP site. The message indicates that the site's administrator won't allow the upload, the site is too busy, or that you've used the wrong syntax in the URL. Look at the URL syntax first and type it again. If the error message reappears, you should try again later.

If the problem persists, you can try to email the site's webmaster for help.

Unable to Locate the Server
This error message indicates that the browser can't locate the server or that you incorrectly typed the URL. Look carefully at the server name in the URL and try retyping the URL.

You Can't Logon as an Anonymous User
This error message appears when you try to access certain FTP sites. It indicates that the site allows access only to registered members, or that the site allows access to only a limited number of non-members, in which case the site is simply busy. You can try to access the site again later, or if you're a registered member, try entering your user ID and password manually using an FTP software package.

OE and IE: This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down.

Outlook Express:
The most common cause of this error in OEXP (Outlook Express) is a corrupted *.dbx file or the *.dbx file has been set to “read-only”. A *.dbx file is a file that is automatically created in OEXP when each mail account is set up under an identity. There is a *.dbx file created for each folder under each identity in OEXP. (i.e. inbox.dbx, outbox.dbx, sent.dbx) These files store each email that you see in OEXP. Since the file is automatically created by OEXP, if the file has become corrupted, you may simply navigate to the particular .dbx file and delete it. Then the next time that OEXP is opened the file will automatically be recreated. The downside to this is that any emails that were previously stored in the folder (.dbx file) are also deleted. This means if you delete the inbox.dbx file for your account, all of the emails that were located in your inbox will also be deleted.

If for some reason your *.dbx file has been set to “read-only,” there is a simple solution to correct it. Simply navigate to the folder on the computer that the *.dbx file is located and change the “read-only” properties of the file. Below is a demonstration on how both of these solutions may be carried out. If you find that neither of these two techniques solves your problem, a list of other helpful links has been included to further be of assistance.

Navigating to the file manually may be complex, since the *.dbx files are stored in different locations on different operating systems (e.g. Windows ’98 is different than Windows XP). Using the "find" feature within Windows may be found to be an easier technique and is demonstrated below.

1. If your computer does not show file extensions, it is necessary to have it do so. Skip this step if your computer already displays file extensions. Navigate to Start/ Settings/Control Panel. Select “View” from the menu bar at the top and select “Folder Options” from the drop-down menu. Select the “View” tab and in the scroll box found here, scroll down to see “Hide File Extensions For Known File Types” and uncheck the box next to this option. Now click on “OK” and close “Control Panel” to finish.

2. Navigate to Start/Find/Files or Folders

3. Search for “*.dbx” (be sure to put the asterisk (*) before the period - this is a wildcard when running a search so that any file that contains the .dbx file extension will be searched for)

4. Once the search is complete, all the *.dbx files on the computer should be displayed. First determine if the files are set as “Read-only." Right-click on each file individually and choose “Properties." Under the “General” tab, locate the “attributes” section If the box next to “Read Only” is checked, uncheck this box. If any of these files are set to “Read-only” uncheck this box. Open Outlook Express and check to see if the problem has been resolved.

5. If none of these files are set to “Read-only”, delete these files (**CAUTION** If these files are deleted, any emails stored in these files will be deleted as well!).

6.Open Outlook Express and see if this has resolved the issue. (Notice that all e-mails that were currently stored in any folders are gone.) If this procedure does not work to correct your issue, below is a list of links with other possibilities to where the problem may reside:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=238656

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;174714

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;286294

Internet Explorer:
Internet Explorer may encounter a large amount of errors, therefore, this link has been provided that contains a large variety of information on specific errors that may be encountered:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx

Fixing Secure Sites with Correct Encryption

Type Regsvr32 wintrust.dll under START/RUN.
(Be sure to use a space between regsvr32 and wintrust.dll)

Internet Downloading

How to Download Files or Programs from the Internet
There are a few different ways to initiate a file download while on the Internet. One way would be by clicking on a File which contains a link that automatically starts the download process. The other way would be by simply doing a right-click on whatever it is you are trying to download and select "Save" or "Save Target As." Once you’ve gotten the download to start, you can then follow the proceeding steps:

A screen similar to the one below will come up asking what whether you want to save this file/program to a disk or run/open it. From its current location, choose "Save this program to disk."