Do you take advantage of the fact that you may use another browser than what is installed with your operating system? The first step to enjoying the World Wide Web is to know your options and be familiar with the advantages in using other browsers.
Of course, many people use Internet Explorer, which comes with Windows. I actually have both browsers available on my computer, in case there are features in Internet Explorer that I want to use. However, you can download Mozilla’s Firefox for free at Mozilla.com The most recent version is 2.0.0.5.
One of the coolest features is the spell checking that the browser provides. I am a pretty good “speller,” but I still find myself making mistakes when I am in a hurry to make a blog post or send an email. The built in spelling checker will underline any misspellings. However, you may want to make sure you have chosen the correct word for your sentence. For example, quite or quiet. Don’t laugh, I actually made this mistake, and the browser didn’t know I meant to use quiet instead of quite. Both are correctly spelled words, so you still have to be careful, but the spell checker definitely helps!
The session restore feature in Firefox is also one I have found to be helpful. This is the way it works. If the browser closes, it gives you the option to restore back to the page you left off last when you click to bring it back up. This doesn’t sound like a feature you may use, but I have found this to be helpful on a couple occasions, and it prompts you automatically.
If you are an avid “ebayer,” you will like the next feature I am going to introduce you to. You can actually keep an eye on your auction status from your browser window. This feature is called Live Titles. As the information on your auction status gets updated, so does the Live Title.
Firefox also automatically checks to see if you are running the most updated version when new updates have been made to the browser. You don’t have to think about it, it updates and then notifies you and asks if you would like to go ahead and restart the browser.
Note that the bookmark feature is the same as the Favorites feature in Internet Explorer, so you can save your favorite web pages and just click a button to get back to them later. Also, you can clear your history, cookies, and other Web browsing data with just one click of a button. You go to Tools and click on “Clear Private Data.” This is something you should always make a habit of doing when using another computer at school or the library. If you didn’t someone else can sit down at these public computers after you and pull up your MySpace, Ebay, or Yahoo passwords because they may still be in memory.
I hope you decide to give this browser a try and you will learn about even more features and benefits that the browser provides. You can personalize your browser by adding Add-ons. But I will leave that up to you to play with after you download Firefox. You can learn more before you download by going to www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox.