Showing posts with label Mozilla-Foxfire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mozilla-Foxfire. Show all posts

Tuesday 26 July 2011

How-To Close a Browser Window

Today’s How-to Guide for the Computer Beginner is going to cover:  How-to Close a browser window

If you look at the top right hand side of your web browser?  You will see something similar to this: web browser buttons_thumb

One way to close a web browser window is clicking on the “x”.  Your browser windows should close.  click-x-to-close-browser

browser-file-exit-close


The second way is look to the top, and find the menu bar. You should see ‘file’ (click on it), and as I have pictured you can go all the way to the bottom to ‘exit’.  You would click again on EXIT this time.  This also would close your browser window.











Those two choices maybe the ones you use the most.  Now we will look at different circumstances you may run into as well.

Newer web browsers allow you to open more than one tab in your browser window.  In my picture below I have three tabs open.  I have one for Google, One for Yahoo, and the third is for Bing.

Now I have decided I’m finished with all these web pages, and wish to exit them.  I would click on the X like I did above on the browser window.    click-x-to-close-browser

In this circumstance I would be receiving a warning. 
close-3-browser-tabs
This message is from Mozilla Foxfire.  Its warning me that I’m not only closing the browser window that I’m viewing but closing all the tabs I had opened in this browser window. 

I have two choices.  I can click ‘close tabs’ or ‘cancel’. 

If I click ‘close tabs’ all three: Google, Yahoo, and Bing will close all at once. 
If that is what I want to do – GREAT!

What if I forgot that I had three tabs open, and I just wanted to close ‘google’ alone?  I would click the cancel option.  The browser window would look just like it was before I clicked the X menu option. 

Okay, so how to you close just the one tab for google?

close-one-tab
If you glance at each tab you have open in your browser window you will notice another X for close.  It may not be ‘red’ this time, but it will close the tab.  Notice that all the tabs have this X handy for you to use.


If you don’t like these reminders you can remove the X by clicking in the box next to message, “Warn me when I attempt to close multiple tabs’.

ie-close-all-tabs
This is a similar message that you would receive from Internet Explore (IE).

I can either close the current tab I’m viewing, or close them all.




select-bing-to-closeAs you can see in IE you also have the option of just closing one tab like we did in Firefox above.


Another circumstance you may run into is wanting to close browser windows that have been minimized, and are in your taskbar.  Closing these Browser windows in Windows 7 is a bit different, and we will show that to you last.

This is scenario I have Mozilla Firefox sites minimized, and I have them pictured below.

open-browser
When I hover (don’t click) like in our picture you will see that I have three browser windows minimized on my task bar.


foxfire-3-windows-mininizedIf you look closely at my foxfire logo in the task bar you will see a down arrow.  If you see this down arrow it means I have MORE than one browser window minimized .   If I had just ONE window minimized no arrow would be present.

open-web-browser
If we click once on our browser icon in the task bar you will see a preview titles to remind you of what web pages you choose to place there.

hover-over-browser-icon
Without clicking you can again hover over to get more information, and if you wish to bring the browser window back up on your desktop then you would click on it.  This at times is referred to as restore the window.

What if I wanted to get exit the window,  because I decided I won’t use it again?

close-mininized-window

While you are hovering over it – right click once.

You have a ‘restore’ choice which would open up the window on your desktop, or you have the close option.  In our case?  Click the CLOSE!





taskbar
Here is a picture of another task bar, and you can see the person has a number of different programs open at once.  Restoring those back to the desktop would be a matter of just clicking on one of the rectangles on this task bar.  If they wanted to close them?  Right click, and hit close just like we did above.

Windows 7 (Seven) changed up the task bar even more, and how to handle the web browser windows.

window-7-taskbar

When you hover over the IE (internet explorer) icon as pictured?  You can actually see the page title and a screenshot of the different browser windows you have minimized.  Move your mouse over a thumbnail image (again no clicking) to preview the window full screen, and click it to go open the window.

ie
Notice the browser window icon this time.  There is no arrow like in the past, but it reminds me separate sheets of paper.  If you look real close you will see three sheets, and these represent the three choices.

close-window
What if you decide you wish to close the window in the task bar? 

We will again hover over (remember that means no clicking yet) the IE (Internet Explorer) icon pictured.  Then you need to right click on your mouse.  Notice the picture.  You have the option to click on ‘close window’.  You would click on that choice to close the web browser.
close-bing

Remember the tabs above?
When you hoover all your windows will show as we mentioned.  We want to get rid of bing this time.  Move your mouse over the bing window, and a red X will appear.  Click that read X, and it will close.

If you haven’t noticed closing programs works much the same way.

If something is not clear on our How-To Guide for the Computer Beginner on How to close the browser?  Please feel free to leave a comment or question in the spot supplied for you.

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Monday 25 July 2011

What is a web browser? Browser window?

what-is-a-browser When I speak to my friends about computers I sometime forget they may not know the basic terms, since  they are a computer beginner after all.

I get these confused looks and questions like:

What a browser?
What is a web browser?

What is a browser window?

I think to myself, “Oh boy!  I guess that would help huh?”  Dahhhhh to me!

Today’s How-to Guide for the Computer Beginner is, “What is a browser or Web Browser?”  We will also touch on Browser windows.

What is a Browser?  What is a web browser?


Browser is a short name for web browser.   YEP!  They are the same thing.

A web browser is basically a software application (or program) that allows you to get onto the internet, and view web pages.

I have chosen three popular web browsers, and have shown pictures of their icons.

Internet-Explorer
  You may have seen this on your desktop, and this is a web browser called Internet Explorer.  It is also called, IE for short.


Mozilla-Firefox
This is another popular web Brower.  Its called Mozilla Foxfire.  It also has a nickname, “FoxFire” for short.


google-chrome
Lastly, this is called Google Chrome, or just Chrome for short.


At this point and time these three seem to be the most talked about.  There are others.    If you wish to open a browser?  You would click on one of icons, and normally you would have one similar to ones I have picture above. 

You had to click one of these (IE, Foxfire, Chrome) icons to get to our How-To Guide for the Computer beginner page that you are viewing now.

Normally, the next question I’m asked is which one is better.  Honestly?  You will get as many opinions as there are web browsers.  I think it is more personal preference.  Internet Explorer (IE) was my first browser, and now I tend to use Mozilla Foxfire.   I actually have them both on my desktop now. 

For whatever reason there are certain websites I can view better in one browser better than the other. 

When you hear people speak about browser compatibility?  That is one of the aspects they are talking about.  There will be some website you come to, and they will tell you right away to view this in IE, Foxfire, or Chrome.  They are telling you their website is compatible with that web browser.

Another example, would be say you pick IE and it has a heck of time loading in order to see the words and pictures – or just outright refuses to show anything.  I would turn around and open this page in Firefox, and it loads right away. 

Keep in mind:  When you have never been to a website before?  Its normal for the page to take while to load so you can see it.


Other times certain parts of the webpage will never be seen in one web browser, but you can see everything on another.  Lets look at an example of what I’m talking about.

what-is-a-web-browser
what-is-a-browser

These two pictures are an example of two different web browsers viewing the same web page. 

As you can tell browser number one is more compatible to view this web page than the second one.  The second browser is missing huge chucks of information.

What is a browser window?


browser-windowWhen you click one of the icons above?  You are launched into a browser window.    Matter of fact you are viewing our blog in a browser window.

In beginner terms? A browser window is a tool used to view websites on the internet. It acts as a "window" to the world wide web. (otherwise known as the internet).

So when you open your browser by clicking on one of the icons I mentioned?  You will be viewing the internet through a browser window.


Make sense?

I hope you understood my How-To Guide For the Computer beginner today on Web Browser, and Browser windows.

If you have comments or question please feel free to leave a comment in our section provided.

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Wednesday 14 May 2008

How-To Change The Font Size On Your Computer Monitor


Ever wanted to change the font size so it was bigger (or smaller) than what is being displayed on your monitor? NO PROBLEM!

Click here if you looking for the article to change your font size in your web browser!

Learning How-To Change your font size on your computer will be a pretty easy thing to do for even a computer beginner. 

Its nice to know you can make the fonts bigger or even make the fonts smaller  We basically will change the DPI or Dots per inch!


We will start with some older operating systems, and then move on to the newer ones.

Changing your desktop font size in Windows 98


Find an empty place on your desktop, and click on it.
Right click in an empty place and select Properties

1)  Select the Appearance tab.
Under Appearance you have a Scheme selection and an Item selection.

2) You can change your icons under Item Select Icon if you wish by using the drop down box. 

3)  As you can see for number 3 in the picture the font name is Tahoma, and the Font size is 10.  This is basically the font property section.
Windows 98 Display Properties Box
   
To increase your font size you would pick a number GREATER than 10, or in your case GREATER than the number that your Display properties is showing. 

If you wish to decrease the font size or make the font smaller you would use a number LOWER than 10.


If you find that you prefer a different font you can change that at this time as well.  If you are looking for readability you may wish to play with the font sizes and types to choose one that works best for you.





Changing Your Desktop Font Size in Windows XP

Right-click an open area of the Windows Desktop and then click "Properties" to open the "Display Properties" window.

Click the "Appearance" tab.

In the drop down list labeled "Font Size", select the desired size.

Click "OK" to save the change and exit the "Display Properties" window.




There are three font sizes to choose from, these being, "Normal", "Large Fonts" and "Extra Large Fonts". As the name implies, "Normal" is the Windows XP default size. To return to the default font size, follow the procedure outlined above and choose "Normal" in the "Font Size" list.

The change will alter the font display in Windows title bars, dialogs and menus. It will not normally alter the font in documents such as word processor files or web pages.

To increase font size on Vista computer:

Unless you are signed in as the administrator on the computer Vista may not allow you to do this. You will need to disable the UAC or User Access Control First.

First we go the the Vista Control Panel.















Start Button to Control Panel brings you to the above screen


Click: Appearance and Personalization
Then Click: Personalization





LOOK to the left and you should see a section called 'adjust font size'.  It is circled in red for you.








You can click the larger DPI option at this point! Then look to the bottom, and click apply!

Most of the time you must click OKAY as well .

You will have to restart your machine to make sure it takes!

Notice at bottom there is a grey button for ‘CUSTOM DPI’ that you can use for other choices.


Custom DPI Setting for changing FONT size on your computer



Keep in mind that 100% is your normal screen size, and you go up from there!

ALSO you will need to click that yellow highlighted area to avoid the screen being blurry due larger screen size. The text and other items on the screen might appear blurry in some programs that are not designed for high–DPI display in Windows Vista. That section will help you in that!

The change can be applied only after a system restart. Close all the running applications, save your open documents and then press on Restart Now. After a reboot, the font size will be changed.

Learning How-To Change the Font Size on Your Computer Monitor does for the eyes! (giggles)  I hope My How-To lesson was easy to understand.  If something is not clear?  Feel free to leave a comment!

Want to Increase Font Size in your browser now?


How-To Change Web Browser Font Size

Change Web Browser Font SizeEver wish you could increase the font size on a screen, because its TO SMALL to comfortably read?

You may even wish to change your web browser font size smaller.

Today we are going to go over some easy tips on how-to change your font in your browser.   Don’t worry this will be a very easy lesson for the Computer Beginner!

If you are looking for How-To Change your Font Size on your Computer Screen we have an article for that as well.

How to Change Font Size in Internet Explorer (IE)
How To Change Font Size in FireFox

From what I have noticed with the recent versions for Internet Explorer and FireFox?

You can hold down the control key (CTRL)

While you are holding down the CTRL key, move your mouse wheel either direction to find a view that is comfortable for you.


How to Change Font Size in Internet Explorer

As you can see towards the top of your web browser in IE you have File, Edit, View, etc.

Click on View and go down to Text size to increase the font or decrease the font in IE.




How-To Change the Font Size in FireFox

Once again you basically do the same things as you did in IE.







There is a shortcut in FireFox for this as well. 
You would hold down the CRTL key again, and then hit your plus (+) or minus (-) sign on your keyboard.


I also found a video with similar tips, and it also discusses add-ons for your browser.





What if its your font Size on computer screen or computer monitor?

Increase Font Size on Computer Screen


That is today’s Lesson on How-To change your Font on your Internet Browser!  Don’t forget to subscribe to received future How-To lessons for the Computer Beginner delivered right to your mails box!

Questions?  Feel free to ask in comment section!

Sunday 11 May 2008

What is Cache? How do you clear Cache?

clear cache jokeToday's how-to guide for computer beginners is about computer CACHE!

Dealing with computer cache is a basic computer operation, and will be useful for you to know.




Here is are some list of questions I have been asked, and we will go over them one by one!

How you pronounce ‘cache’?  It is pronounced CASH

Today, we are going cover the following questions:

What is cache or Define computer cache? 

How-To clear your computer cache, or what some people call how do you delete your computer cache

Temporary Internet Files refers to a folder on your computer where the cache is stored.  When read about the two terms you will notice that some people refer to them as one in the same. 

In other words, How-to clear the temporary internet files could be asked instead of using the word ‘cache’.  Other times they could be referring to Disk Cleanup.

Definition of Computer Cache


I will try to explain what Cache is for the computer beginner, and here is a couple of cache definitions that google came up with!   There are different types of cache, and we will be talking about internet cache today.

Different types of Cache is also explained briefly at Free Computer Maintenance.

Cache as most people call it are basically the Temporary Internet Files folder on your computer!

It contains a kind of travel record of the items you have seen, heard, or downloaded from the Web, including images, sounds, Web pages, even cookies. Typically these items are stored in the Temporary Internet Files folder.

How Stuff Works has an article on Cache as well, and they use a different visual to describe it. 

Your Internet connection is the slowest link in your computer. So your browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera, etc.) uses the hard disk to store HTML pages, putting them into a special folder on your disk. The first time you ask for an HTML page, your browser renders it and a copy of it is also stored on your disk. The next time you request access to this page, your browser checks if the date­ of the file on the Internet is newer than the one cached. If the date is the same, your browser uses the one on your hard disk instead of downloading it from Internet. In this case, the smaller but faster memory system is your hard disk and the larger and slower one is the Internet.


Storing these files in your cache can make browsing the Web faster because it usually takes your computer less time to display a Web page (or what they call loading the page) when it can call up some of the page's elements or even the entire page from your local Temporary Internet Files folder.

So if you have NOT been to a website yet your temporary files do not have a record of any information on that website, and it will take longer to load.

Now next time you are surfing the web.....clear-cache-foxfire-ie
you will know why some pages LOAD faster than others!

Keep in mind at times you need to clear out that cache, because it does take up room on your computer! It will slow your performance down as well.

People ask me how often you need to clear cache, and it really depends on how often you use your computer and the internet in particular!

Believe or not you will know how often you should clear cache the more you use the computer, and the more your surf the internet! Keep in mind if you have never cleared cache before it may take a while to empty the cache, but it will NOT take as long afterwards (after you do it the first time).

Clearing the Cache or Deleting the Cache at times is more about personal preference.  Some people do this before they browse the internet, and others may do this once a week.  If you notice things are starting to slow down a bit – clear the cache to see if that helps.

Keep in mind if you are like some people that just pop on for 10 minutes to check email, and read a bit then sign off you will have to clear cache less often!

Especially with older web browsers: If you empty the cache to often loading web pages will always take forever, and it will be very frustrating! Its just like seasoning your food!

You don't want to much or to little in the cache to make it work well for you! When you do clear the cache things will take longer to load next time you visit your favorite webpage at times! After a while believe me you will notice your performance difference! TRUST me on that!

Before Proceeding we need to find out what web browser you use.

What is a Browser, Web Browser?

Most of the time if you look at the top of your web browser you should see a ‘help’ section.  You can click that, and search for ‘cache’ for instructions similar to our lesson below.  As much as I try to keep up on changes to web browser update sometimes there is a delay from me.  So keep that ‘help’ section in MIND!

I will tell you I have more than one web browser on my computer, and that would NOT be unusual!  So, I clear the cache for each one separately.

 

Clear Cache on IE or Clear Cache on Internet Explorer 9:


We will start with deleting cache on Internet Explorer 9.0 version first.

 

This is the Internet Explorer or IE web browser Icon.


bring-up-options-menu

Look to your upper right hand corner of your web browser, and find the symbol I’m pointing to here.

This will bring up a menu with some options.



safety-then-delete-browsing-history

Look for Safety First
And you will next be offered the option of delete browsing history.


delete-browsing-history-menu

Internet Browser have come a long way, and now they give you the option of saving some cache that you use.  The top portion would be websites that you have placed in your ‘favorites’ section on your browser.

I would say most of the time people like the first four clicked.  They would be self explanatory.

 

For a better Explanation of all your options?  I wrote a How-To Article just on ‘delete browsing history’ menu.

You can delete files you downloaded, information you have typed into forms online, passwords that are filled in automatically by the browser (you would have an the option at the time to allow this). 

Once you have made your choices you would look to the bottom of this screen, and push your delete button. 

Once the process of clearing your cache or deleting your cache is done at the bottom of your browser you should get a message similar to the one I pictured below.

clearing-cache-complete

Clearing Cache on Internet Explorer 6
Clearing cache and cookies on Internet Explorer 7
Deleting Cache and cookies on Internet Explorer 8

Clear Cache In Mozilla FoxFire 5.0


This time in Mozilla FoxFire

 



FoxFire-Button

Some people have this orange foxfire Rectangle button that is pictured (top left hand side).  When you click on that


FoxFire-Options

you will be presented with a number of choices.





You want to click on the ‘options’, and then on the advanced.

Other versions of Foxfire:

Foxfire - Tools - Options

Click Tools, and then Options


foxfire-cache-options

As you can see pictured.  The advanced, then network, then clear now.

You would click ‘okay’ on the bottom for close this window.


With your history you would go into the ‘privacy’ section, and click the options you wish in much the same way we did here.


My Foxfire Browser I have option at the top of my browser to go directly to tools

foxfire-menu-options

clear-recent-history

I go down to the section called ‘clear recent history’







foxfire-clear-recent-history-menu


At the top you have an option of how much you wish to clear.  My option says ‘everything’.  You can pick timeframe you wish.

I also make sure I click the cache, cookies option as well. 

Then the CLEAR NOW button.

 

How-To Clear Cache in Google Chrome

This is your Google Chrome Icon, and you want to click on it to open a web browser window.

 

In the TOP right hand side of your browser window you will see a symbol that represents what the call, ‘Menu’

chrome menu

Click the Chrome menu on the browser toolbar.
Select Tools.
Select Clear browsing data.

Chrome Menu options


In the dialog that appears, select the checkboxes for the types of information that you want to remove.

clear cache chrom


Use the menu at the top to select the amount of data that you want to delete.

When you are finished with your choices.


Click Clear browsing data.




I hope my how-to lesson for the computer beginner on CACHE was understandable to you.  If you have any questions or comments please feel free to use the comment box.


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