Internet Explorer 7 Tutorial

A browser is a program that allows you to interact and view the internet and contents of the Web. The Web Browser, Internet Explorer, or IE is developed by Microsoft and comes pre-installed when you buy a Windows computer. Internet Explorer is probably the most commonly used browser.

Open Internet Explorer by clicking the blue e Icon This tutorial will be done using IE 7. To check your version click the question mark in the blue circle.  Then click About Internet Explorer.

If the window that comes up does not say Internet Explorer 7 click here to download IE 7. Once you have Internet Explorer open we are going to start from left to right with the buttons.

Open Internet Explorer by clicking on the icon. When your browser window opens look to your far left you will see a star icon.

That Icon is your favorites. Favorites are web pages you visit often. You can bookmark or add web pages to your favorites so you can access them easily in the future.

Click on the Favorites icon to see what sites are currently in your list.

In the favorites drop down menu I want you to notice a few things. There are 4 icons at the top of the menu. The first being your favorites list, Next is what is called an RSS feed. A Feed is a blog or site that you want current news or updates from. When a site updates or has current news you will be notified by this RSS feed. The History button is a list of all of the websites you have visited in the past. This can be useful if you forgot to bookmark a webpage you want to go back to. The far right icon is a green arrow pointing left. If you click on this icon it will put your favorites menu in a column in the left margin of your browser. To undo this click the x that replaces the arrow.

Now you are probably wondering how to get web pages into your favorites. To add a page to your favorites click the next icon, the star with the plus sign.

When you have found a web page you like click the add to favorites icon then click Add to favorites. A window will appear for you to name the site.

Type the Name of the page you want to save. If you want to organize your favorites menu you can put pages into categories in folders. To create a New Folder click the New Folder button and name your folder. Once you have created the folder select the folder from the drop down menu the click Add.

If you have multiple tabs open you would like to open simultaneously Click the add tab group to favorites from the Add favorites drop down menu. This will bring up the same window for you to title the folder. A group of tabs will create its own folder. If you want to open all tab at the same time you click a blue arrow next to the folder in the favorites drop down menu.

There are 2 ways to organize your favorites menu. You can click and drag items in the list up or down to change the order, or you can select the Organize favorites option in the Add favorites drop down menu. If you select this option you will get a window like this.

You can either click and drag sites in the list or click on the site and click one of the 4 buttons at the bottom. Once you are finished click close and your changes will be saved.

The next button is home.  By clicking directly on the home button it will return you to return to your default webpage from anywhere on the web.

Now click on the down arrow on the home button. This will give you options to change the settings for your home button.

In Internet Explorer 7 you have tabs and can choose to open more than one home page in the tabs. The top options in the home button are to select which home page you want to return to if you have more than one set up. You can see in the example I have Google and a Login Page that I use often. If I click on the home button it will open both pages. If I click on the down arrow I can choose what page I want to return to on that tab.

Now select the Add or Change Home Page Option.

You will use this option once you have browsed to the web site you want to use as your default home page.

Once you have found the page you want to use as your home page click the Add or change Home page option from the drop down arrow then you have the option to select Use this webpage as your only home page or Add this webpage to your home page tabs. You would only select the bottom option if you want more than one tab to open when you open IE7 or when you click the home page. Once you have made your selection click Yes if you want to save your selection or No if you want to exit the window and continue.

If you ever want to remove one or all of the web pages you have selected as a home page click the drop down arrow and select remove. You will get an additional menu off to the right side with a list of your home pages and a remove all option. To remove only one click on the site you want to remove. If you want to change all of the home pages click remove all.

The next button is the RSS Feed.  This button will be grayed out unless the web site you are visiting has an RSS feed you can subscribe to. "RSS" means "Really Simple Syndication." What it means to you is that when you subscribe to a site that has an RSS feed, you can keep up-to-date without having to check the site every day or week.

If you are on a site that has an RSS Feed and you click on the RSS button you will be redirected to a site like this.

If you are not currently subscribed to the Feed you will see the yellow text box at the top to give you option to subscribe to the feed. If you wish to subscribe click the link at the bottom of the yellow text box. Once you are subscribed to the feed you can access it through your favorites button and clicking on the RSS feed button at the top of your favorites menu.

I just want to give a little tip on the print button. One of the print tools I use all of the time when printing information off of web sites is the print selection only option.

When you find a site you want to print some information off. Click and drag your mouse over the information you want printed. Then click the print button. When the print window comes up In the Page Range section click the Selection Button. Then click Print. This will only print the information you have highlighted. It helps with the formatting of the printed page.

The next button is Page.  The page button has a few useful options. The first option a beginner web user would benefit from is the Send page by E-mail and Send Link by E-mail. These 2 options are great if you find a site you think someone else might enjoy.

If you click the Send Page by E-mail link it will automatically open the software you use for sending and receiving email and put all of the webpage’s contents in the body of the email. All you would need to do is type in the person’s email address and click send.

The Send Link by E-mail option will still open your software you use to send and receive email but instead of all of the contents of the webpage it will provide a link to the website in the body of the email.

The last function under the Page button you will use is the Zoom.

When you click on the Zoom link it opens another menu. From this menu you can select the percentage you want to increase or decrease the size of the page. If you have poor vision this is a great way to view your favorite websites.

You may have to play with the settings to get it to the size you need.

The next button is Tools. When you click the down arrow on the tools button you will see a long list in the drop down menu. We will only cover a few of these topics I think you will use.

The first link is the Pop-up Blocker. A pop up is a new window that comes up when you are browsing the web. Usually they are advertisements, but sometimes sites have other web pages that you are interested in seeing that they use as a pop up. If your pop-up Blocker drop down menu says Turn Off Pop-up Blocker it is on and giving you the option to turn it off. If it says Turn On Pop-up Blocker I would recommend clicking the link to turn it on.

Next is the Pop-up Blocker Settings.

When the Pop-up Blocker Settings Window opens you are able to type the websites that you know require pop-ups and add them to a list. This will only allow pop-ups from these websites the rest of the annoying advertisements will be blocked. You can also set the filter level to High, Medium or Low.

Next is the Phishing filter. Click on tools then phishing filter.

Phishing is when a website impersonates another site to try to get your personal information. For example someone might send you an email saying your account information is out of date. When you visit the link you will think you are going to a site you have been to before but it is an impersonation. So when you fill out your account number the information goes to someone other than who you want to get your information. The IE Phishing Filter helps you catch those sites.

You have the option to check the site you are in by clicking on Check This Website before you fill out any personal information. You can also turn On Automatic Website checking.

If you think you have reached a web site that is Phishing click Phishing filter then click Report this Website. The information will be submitted to Microsoft.

Moving down the list of Tools to Toolbars. Toolbars are the lists of options or tools at the top and/or on the side of your browser. Toolbars make it easy for you to access the buttons and functions you use most.

When you click on the Toolbars link another drop down menu will come up. The first 3 will put your favorites, history, or feeds in the left column of your web browser.

The next section is a list of all of the toolbars you have available to you. If they have a check mark next to them they are currently at the top of your browser. If you would like one that is there to appear click it and it will place a check mark next to it and the tool bar will appear for you. You remove them by clicking on them.