Introduction to the Internet

General Disclaimer - Happy Online would like to remind all visitors that they are responsible for their own computer settings - some suggestions may not work on some computers and may result in errors - you should only make changes to your computer if you are comfortable with any consequences that may arise.

The Internet is a network of computers connected to each other, in this country the computers are mainly connected by phone lines - although other methods do exists.

The network allows data to be transported from one computer to another computer.

Some computers are dedicated to just storing this data, while home user computers can retrieve this this data and display, access or download the data onto the home users system.

The most common use for the internet is to view material on the World Wide Web (www), this material is displayed in a web browser, for example you are currently on the World Wide Web reading information in a web browser.

However the Internet allows the transportion of lots of different formats of data, not just words and pictures in a web browser. A common use for the Internet at the moment is to access music files from other peoples computer systems and use the Internet connection to copy the data onto the home users system.

Another common use for the internet is to send emails to each other.

So put simply the Internet is the a network of computer that allows data to be transported between computer systems.

This Internet Tutorial mainly looks at information on the World Wide Web and how you can access this information.

To the right of this Introduction is a menu of the different areas looked at in this tutorial you will have your chance to ask a question and the answers to the most recent questions will appear below. If you move your mouse pointer over a menu item you will notice the point changes to a hand. If you then left click your mouse while it is a hand you will be taken to the relevant page in the Internet Tutorial.

Recently asked questions

How do I stop the Hacker ? 12th January

How do I get temporary internet folder icon ...placed on desk top ? 12th January

I was downloading a game demo and that came down fine, but other software was downloaded in the background and installed without my consent...... 22nd December

What is the text that will display on the web page if the picture is not visible for some reason ? 22nd December

Hi I need to retrieve some emails I recently deleted from outlook...where can I go to find them....I looked on internet & they all want money for recovery software....Is it possible to do this for free? I accidentally deleted some very important emails in the last two weeks 19th December

Thank you for all allowing me to ask a question. I was speaking with someone today about whether or not I had visted their website , I wasn't sure, they said I did, because they had a URL tracking system on their website,. Is it possible for them to know that I visited there this way ?.... I though that was just for website addresses, not screen names...... 18th December

How do i activate the google tool bar ? 17th December

When I try to find something on a search site, I receive thousands of sites that have no relevance to what I'm looking for. Would you know if there are any online services where I can describe what I'm looking for and have them do the search for me and report back with the sites that have the product or info I need ? 17th December

When I type in an address, another address comes up in front of mine. I have auto complete off. For example, if I type in:
www.yahoo.com, it turns to:
http://www.something.com/www.yahoo.com
How do I change this? 11th December

How do you get rid of an auto homepage site. I have done everything I can think of. Put the site in my restrictive zone.. changed homepage address back to the one i want... deleted cookies and temporary files. Yet the dang thing keeps coming back 11th December

I cant find internet options, which is supposed to be under the "tools" menu, in the "My Aol" section. I really need to change my AOL cookie settings, and I can't change them without going to the "Tools" menu. Can you help? 6th December

I recently had Windows 98 re-installed along with Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. When clicking on Explore then Temporay Internet Files the only file shows up is Content EI5 and desktop ini. How do I set my computer to show all my Temporay Internet Files like they did prior having the re-installs ? 6th December

What does html stand for and mean also http 5th December

What are the top 3 portals ? 5th December

Well as a matter of fact since you ask I do have a question that you might help me with , I can't seem to understand how to run my games that I have on cd's. 5th December

Why do you nead to up grade your modem ? 1st December

How can you tell where an email is coming from ? If you are getting nasty emails, how do you know where or who they are coming from ? 28th November

After I click the start icon and go to favorites I see a link that says "all the sites you've ever visited are stored on your computer" but every time I click this i get a strange website that has nothing to do with this topic. How do I access this link? 26th November

What is a hyperlink ? 25th November

What does .com mean ? 25th November

I have lost address bar, I have been to tools , address bar tick off. also start bar is up the top i want it down the bottom of the screen 24th November

What will the Internet be like in the future ? 24th November

Any idea what the Internet Abbreviation FDGDGER means ? 23rd November

Where do my deleted files go from outlook express ? 22nd November

If I download something it downloads and then tells me it has been put in tempory internet files.When i go to internet options then to settings then to view files i get a load of icons . Which is the one for my download? 22nd November

What is a web directory and what is a search engine and what are there functions ? 22nd November

What are the benefits given by the internet to the student? to the teachers? and to other users? 22nd November

Various Chat Questions 21st November

I have my address bar, but the part where to print web sites is missing, I have tried to move it to no avail 20th November

Many of the e-mails I send are blank what am I doing wrong ? 20th November

What is the future of portals ? 19th November

How can the internet help a business to meet its aims and objectives? 19th November

What are the advantages of advertising on the internet ? 19th November

What does url stand for ? 18th November

Should I delete my temp files, is there any thing in there that I need to keep my computer running normally ? 18th November

I am having many navigational error pages coming up when trying for web pages (not necessarily every time and on no particular page. also yahoo games wont load even though I hit the java applet button. It tells me the page is 'done' and presents just a blank page. Some ecard, mainly yahoo will not open. I have closed obvious programmes I have which might prevent this and I have done tool/security levels etc etc ...Ideas please? I get the feeling something is blocking these things from opening but my knowledge is limited.. 16th November

How were websites created ? 16th November

If I have spyware that I cant remove is there a way to use my internet without any one geting my info ? 15th November

I was wondering if you know why with certian sites you must enter www in front or it will say the site doesn't exist. 15th November

Where is my history button ? 15th November

How much does it cost to subscribe to a newsgroup ? 14th November

How do I delete the Google tool bar from my computer ? 14th November

What would I do to shorten my address bar ? 13th November

I followed instructions and restored my general tab to internet options. However, after setting my home page to msn.com another page keeps coming up and I can't get it to default to msn 13th November

What is advantages of internet in the youth ? 13th November

How can I delete just 1 website from my addres bar instead of all of them ? 13th November

On my laptop, there is many sites on the address bar auto fill. I deleted the history manually as well as the temp and temperary internet files, but it still shows up. My connection is a network to another home computer so I tried clearing the history on that machine as well, but no result. Also, this is the school's laptop and I don't have priviledges to access Internet Options or control panel. Even after I deleted the files, connected to the schools network, and synchronized it, and even cleared the history at school, it still remains in the auto fill drop down menu. Is there a way to get rid of this? If not, how long will it last? Forever? I really hope not. 13th November

What does EOM mean ? 13th November

I am unable hear on line music from a website called raaga.com. Earlier When I go to this website and click on a particular song link......... 12th November

What hardware/software is required to use a modem ? 12th November

In HTML how do I place a line on a Web Page ? 12th November

What is the best way to delete an address from address bar ? 11th November

What is closed source ? 11th November

What are the disadvantages of the Internet for Businesses ? 11th November

How do I find out the recent web activity of my children and guests ? 11th November

www stands for world wide web, but what does it mean, and what is it ? 11th November

I didnt get the difference between web portal and website given in this site, because both are offering same services...as you mentioned, please explain? 10th November

The items, "view, favorites, and tools" are not on my menu bar. How do i get them back? I have file, edit, mail, community, services, window, keyword, sign off, and help.. 9th November

What is a Corporate Portal ? 8th November

Please list the Web Browsers. 8th November

I still have no pictures on the internet just crosses in boxes even after following your instructions please help. 6th November

I recently found a virus that said my computer was "bugged"- I have since deleted all my temporary internet files-is there anything else I should do? Also I recently sent in personal information to a secure website--is that information accessable to whoever "bugged" my computer? 6th November

Are pages sent through a secure website stored in temporary internet files? 6th November

What is a Gateway ? 6th November

What are the commonly used web portals by people ? 6th November

I was told if I don`t delete all the sites I have visited in the past year, that my computer will not function properly. I was told it makes memory low and causes it to freeze up. I am very lost and would appreciate any help 5th November

I would like to change my IP address number for discretional purposes, can I do this? I am on Windows 2000 and using a home computer. 5th November

I want to replace the bar that has AltaVista, Ask Jeeves, AlltheWeb, LookSmart and More...
I want to replace it with my address bar, I need my address bar back. I don't use this previous bar that i want replaced 5th November

I want to delete address from the Google Search Bar ! 5th November

Internet Explorer does not appear in Add/Remove list and I need it to make repairs to Internet Explorer. How can I get it to appear there? It was there before but its gone now. 4th November

When we look at sites, or get e-mails about services, there are frequently links (usually in blue and underlined) to lead us to the pages we need. Clicking these links does not work so we have to copy the link details and enter them on the address bar to make the connection. Our active scripting is enabled. Why do these links not work? Is there something we have to instal or download? 4th November

I have recently found some images saved on my computer and I am not the one who did this. I was wondering if someone could get into my computer without my knowledge. Or how to find out who & when this was downloaded onto my computer? 2nd November

Why do some pages in internet explorer not open when some do ? I looked at security level and it is ok ! 1st November

How do I get Internet Explorer to auto fill the address line with the most recent address typed (as I'm typing a recently visted URL) instead of showing a drop-down list of recent addresses to choose from? 1st November

Archived Questions