Using the Internet
The Internet—pretty easy stuff, right? Get an Internet account… get your Web browser going, and you’re ready to start surfing the Web. That’s all you need isn’t it? Right—that is just about all you will need for “surfing.” But if you ever decide that you actually want to do something useful on the Internet, you will need to spend a little time learning a few basics… such as:
What kind of stuff is available on the Net?
On the Internet you can find an awful lot of useless information, but you can also access newspapers and government information sources, find a job, visit a library, check out movie reviews, shop for CD’s or take a course in French. The ICYouSee Guide provides some simple lessons on using the Web. The guide will explain basic terms, tell you about things you can actually DO on the Web and point you in the direction of some useful resources. When you need to know more, you can check out Internet 101 or go to our collection of links to beginner’s guides and tutorials.
How do you search for information on the Net?
A good starting point for learning how to search is to take an on-line tutorial. The University of South Carolina Bare Bones 101 tutorial on will get you started. You will find another Short and Easy Search Engine Tutorial and a helpful list of practical Pandia’s Search Tips. Or, if you’d like to stay right here on the QLN web site, check out Doing Internet Searches, a quick guide to search engines, complete with a list of tips and tricks to help make your searches successful.
Meta-search engines can search a number of different search engines at the same time, but may not offer the same level of precision as a regular search engine. Check-out this tutorial to find out about the advantages and disadvantages of using a meta-search engine: Meta-Search Engines.
What’s the best search engine?
The answer is… it all depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking a general purpose search engine that invariably gives complete and accurate results, try Google. If you want to locate image or audio files or get quick access to news stories, AltaVista is a good choice. If you are serious researcher and need to locate comprehensive information about a topic you will probably want to include full-text journals, books, magazines, and newswire reports in your search. You may need to pay to download articles, but Northern Light is a good place to search for Web sites as well as printed information sources. You can also search for news and magazine articles at FindArticles.com. Some people prefer to use a meta-search engine. Two good choices are ixquick and Surfwax. When you want get at very specific information…such as the population of Newfoundland or the name of an inexpensive hotel in Calgary… try Ask Jeeves. Finally, there are many specialized search engines and directories (sometimes called portal sites) that focus on categories of information such as health information, education or business. You can check out Beaucoup to find out about many different specialty search engines.
How can I find the best sites for topics that are of interest to me …like travel, or genealogy or gardening?
When you want to browse for good sites about a general topic, you need to use a directory, rather than a search engine. A directory categorizes subjects into topics and sub-topics. Using a directory you might, for example, start by browsing through a listing of outdoor sports topics to find information sites about backpacking. A directory is particularly good to use if you are looking for broad general topics, like nutrition. Typing the word “nutrition” into a search engine would probably give you thousands of listings. Yahoo is one of the best known directories, but there are a number of other very good directories. Try Looksmart or Librarians Index to the Internet or the Open Directory. The Open Directory is a database of more than two million sites, hand-picked by experts, so that the best movie sites have been selected by movie buffs. When you search this site, you are searching the directory, rather than the whole Internet.
About.com combines a directory of useful sources on popular topics (such as automobiles, photography or cooking) with informative articles about the topics (e.g. Top Five Grocery-Hauling Cars.) Yahoo.ca is a directory of Canadian Web sites.
Whenever you are having trouble finding what you are looking for using a search engine, try a directory—better yet, try more than one. You can find out about other specialized directories at the Argus Clearinghouse.
Where can I find useful stuff like dictionaries or telephone directories?
“Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.” (Who said it?)
Refdesk.com is an excellent place to find factual information. It provides links to dictionaries like the Merriam-Webster Online, and almanacs (e.g. The Old Farmer’s Almanac), as well as encyclopedias, telephone directories, currency converters, grammar guides, a perpetual calendar and world-wide census data. Here you can also link to MapQuest where you can look up maps and driving directions for many places you may want to go to, and a few you may wish to avoid.
Try National Library of Canada’s web site when you’re looking for Canadian government information on-line.
Where can I find software on the Net?
The Internet is a great place to find useful software programs. Tucows. is one of the most popular sites on the Internet for finding lots of freeware, shareware and demo software for Windows and Macintosh computers. Tucows features software you might want to use on the Internet (such as the popular instant messaging program called ICQ which lets you send text messages to friends) as well as games software, and business software. Find out about more free education software from About.com’s freeware and shareware guide. Our other favourite sources for downloadable software are Jumbo and Zdnet
These are reputable sites that carefully screen programs for viruses before posting them for downloading—…but you should definitely have an anti-virus program on your computer to avoid picking up a virus from other sources. About.com has a Computer Virus Tutorial with links to some virus detection and removal software. ZDNet has posted a five-step Easy Download Guide where you can learn more about downloading software programs.