Home page


A home page is the default Web page that is loaded when you start your Web browser. You can set this to any Web site you wish. The Library computers always load the Library's Web site.

The main page of a Web site is also called the home page. This page usually provides links to other pages within the Web site to facilitate the navigation of the site.

View the Library's Web site.

Search Examples

Try these different searches in different search engines.

  1. Oakwood
  2. Oakwood, OH
  3. Oakwood Ohio city (Which search gets Oakwood, Ohio closest to the top of the results list?)
  4. great American ball park
  5. "Great American Ball Park" (Is there a difference in results for 4 and 5? In every search engine?)
  6. recipes OR food morroc*
  7. travel Upper Pennisula (How can you make this more specific?)
  8. Internet tutorial
  9. grass snake
  10. snake grass (Which of 9 and 10 have more results on grass and which on snakes?)
  11. "snake in the grass"
  12. Make up your own.
When doing these searches, take a look at the results. What can you tell about the Web site from the information given? Look at a variety of the sites? Why would you be more comfortable using information from one site as opposed to another?

Basic steps to secure your computer

These are the first line of defense.

Be aware of risk.

  • You and your computer are at risk on the Internet.
  • Your computer may be targeted by Malware (MALicious softWARE), information you send over the Internet may be intercepted, and your computer can be hijacked for use by a third party.
  • You may be the target of attempts to obtain sensitive information by fraudulent means. Things are not always what they seem. Phishing is a type of this kind of activity.
  • Don't open emails or download files or put disks, CDs, flashdrives into your computer unless you know they are virus free.
  • If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If you don't know what it is, get rid of it.
Create strong passwords
  • Make it at least 8 or more characters long.
  • Use both numbers and letters.
  • Use upper and lower case.
  • Use symbols.
  • make it memorable.
  • Check the strength of your password here.
Keep your computer updated.
  • This means the Operating System. If you are connected to the Internet, enable automatic updates.
Security Software
Additional resources:

Plugins


View a definition from ComputerHope.com.

Here is a list of common plugins that help display different document types, run multimedia files, etc. There are many more plugins available.
Some of these will already be installed on your computer. Click here to find out what plugins you already have. Generally, if a plugin is required by a Web site and it is not available on your computer, the site will direct you to where you can download the plugin. If not, use a search engine to find the product you need.

World Wide Web? Internet?


Often these two terms are used interchangeably; however, they are technically two different things.

Internet? International network of telecommunications infrastructure and computers. It is the framework over which the World Wide Web is laid.

World Wide Web? The graphical interface of hyper linked documents (Web pages). The Web has evolved to include numerous applications hosted on Web pages that allow you to do much more than just view Web pages. Sometimes this is called Web 2.0.

The Web Browser



Web browser definition from Wikipedia.

Popular browsers include:
Additional information on the functions of a browser.

net.TUTOR tutorial from Ohio State Univeristy Libraries.

Wright Memorial Public Library