USING THE WEB
How do I bring up a Web Page?
To view a Web Page (say www.global.com.pg) you need to open your browser and simply enter it into the address line of the browser and hit enter. The page will then load into your browser. You can use your mouse to click on the ‘links’ to move to other internet sites or webpages. Web pages are generally intuitive and some are easier to navigate then others. Some websites are hosted on slow connection and some are fast. If a website is having problems you may see an error come up. The error is out of our control and if a website is not available (say www.anz.com) you need to contact them.
What is a Start Page and how do I set it?
A start page is a Web Page that automatically loads when you open your browser. You can set your Start Page to whatever you want it to be. Generally you click on your browser’s option menu and select start page. This is handy if you want to see the http://news.google.com/ page for instance when you start your browser.
How do I perform a search?
To perform a search on the internet you need to use a Search Engine. There are a number of different Search Engines. Global Internet recommends Google! which is one of the most popular search engines. To perform a search with Google here: http://www.google.com/
How many megabytes is an email, a Web page, a song or even a video?
The size of anything on the Web will vary enormously. There are ways to check the sizes of the files you download.
To check the size of an email: Open MS Outlook for example and before clicking on any individual emails the size of it is normally mentioned on the right. If it says 1MB or more it is considered large. If it is an attachment you typically see a paperclip on one of the columns to the right. You can read the email without opening the attachment. If on opening the email you see pictures and multimedia coming up it is also using data, but not normally much.
To check the size of a music or video or program file you just click on it and it will tell you how much it is going to download and ask you where to save it.
If you click listen to the audio or view the video it will consume a lot of data.
Why can’t I open any websites?
Try the following actions, and in check if the browser works in between each step.
- Right mouse click the connection icon on the task bar, the right bottom of your screen and select Diagnose/Repair
- Check the browser setting, In Internet Explorer, Click Tool -> Internet Option -> Security Tab -> Select Internet -> Click Default Level Button. Select Advanced Tab -> Click Restore Defaults
- Check the browser is not using a proxy, In Internet Explorer, Click Tool -> Internet Options -> Connections Tab, Select the dialup connection -> Click Settings. Under the heading Proxy Server check this option is not ticked
- Remove Temporary Internet Files and cookies, In Internet Explorer, Click Tool -> Internet Option -> Under the heading Temporary Internet Files ->Click Delete Cookies and Delete Files.
I can’t open a secure site, my online email, hotmail etc.
Check the browser setting, In Internet Explorer, Click Tool -> Internet Option -> Security Tab -> Select Internet -> Click Default Level Button. Select Advanced Tab -> Click Restore Defaults
“Browsing the web” - what is a browser?
A browser is program that interprets HTML documents and displays them to the user. This type of program is required to view Web Pages and comes standard with your Windows or Macintosh computer. There are lots of different browsers, the most popular of these being Internet Explorer and Google’s Chrome.
What is an IP Address?
An IP address is a unique address given to a computer when it is connected to the internet. Global Internet can provide either static or dynamic addresses depending on your own requirements. Normally a customer receives a dynamic address that can change each time you log on, but business customers with more complex networks require a static address that is always the same. Static addresses are available for a nominal monthly fee – call us on +675 321 4322 for more information.
How can I keep the contents of my computer safe and secure when using the Internet?
The best way to browse safely is to make sure you have a good, current anti virus solution, properly installed and updated along with a firewall. If you have concerns or would like some help setting these up, please call our Helpdesk we can arrange for one of our engineers to help you.
What is a domain name?
A Domain Name on the Internet is the equivalent of the street address of your business and can be personalised to include your company name. It's what people type into their browser to find you online. Your Domain Name is exclusively yours and is used by others to locate you on the Internet. It consists of your company's name followed by a suffix that shows where the company is based and what type of organisation it is, for example: global.com.pg and can contain letters, numbers, hyphens and must be in lowercase.
What do latency, packet loss and transfer rate mean?
Latency: Latency is the period of time taken to move information from one location to another - it is the delay in moving a packet of data. This is most commonly expressed by ADSL users as their 'ping time' - which is actually a measure of the latency in moving a packet from one location to another and back again - otherwise known as the Round Trip Time.
Packet Loss: Packet loss refers to the percentage of packets which, when transmitted in the network, fail to reach their destination. Packet loss, as indicated by tools such as 'ping', indicates the loss in either the outbound or the return direction, and does not indicate the location or direction in which that loss occurred. It is commonly referred to as a percentage, with 0% loss meaning that all packets were carried to their destination successfully.
Transfer Rate: (often called 'download speed' or 'throughput'): This is the rate at which data is transferred over a connection. It is often expressed as a speed in KiloBITS per second or in KiloBYTES per second.