Insider Power Techniques for Microsoft Windows XP (Bpg-Other)

Overview

In this chapter, you’ll learn how to:

• Launch and navigate Web pages.

• Take full advantage of the Address bar.

• Customize the Links bar to allow one-click surfing.

• Change Internet Explorer’s default search engine.

• Work with Internet Explorer’s advanced options.

As we write this, Microsoft Internet Explorer is by far the most dominant Web browser—depending on which source you use—for anywhere from 85 percent to 95 percent of the worldwide market. And because most computer-savvy people have also been on the Internet for a number of years, it’s safe to say that Internet Explorer is probably one of the most familiar applications available today. Or perhaps we should say that the basics of Internet Explorer are familiar to most people. However, as with the Internet Explorer security and privacy issues that you saw in the previous chapter, there are hidden pockets of the browser that most people don’t know about. Significantly, many of these seldom seen areas are not as obscure as you might think. Lots of these features can be put to good use immediately to make your Web surfing easier, more efficient, and more productive. In this chapter, we take you on a tour of a few of our favorite Internet Explorer nooks and crannies and we show you how they can improve your Web experience.