I Should Be Rich

The internet is a vast and endless sea of information and resources. There are entire businesses based on the internet, tools that can only be accessed online, and networks connecting people from different countries who would otherwise never have met.

The web is a wild beast with no hope of being tamed. How can you reign in its power to work for you?

Starting out with the internet

The internet baby (a beginner level internet user) thinks that Internet Explorer IS the internet. That little blue “e” on your desktop is NOT the internet! It is a browser that connects you to the internet.

If you don’t know how the internet works, I suggest you read up on the basic history:

• The history of the internet according to Wikipedia
• The history of the internet according to the Internet Society
• SHORTER VERSION: The internet: A Simple History by Vicky Vickers

Note: The validity of the information in these links are not verified, but are simply to help you get some basic information on the web.

Why do these things matter? Understanding how the internet works will help save you frustrating hours on the phone with tech support, troubleshooting issues from home, and help you make educated internet safety decisions while using the web for making purchases or transferring private information.

Browser Options:

Check out some alternative browsers instead of IE:

• Firefox - Mac/PC
  
• Opera - Mac/PC
  
• Safari - Mac
• UPDATE: Chrome - PC (can’t believe I left this off the list!)

If you like IE, please make sure you are using the most updated version! This is for your benefit, as using an outdated version leaves you susceptible to internet scammers, spammers, and viruses.

Tools available online

Email

One of the first and most popular web apps was “email“. You can get Gmail, Yahoo!Mail, Hotmail, and hundreds of other free email accounts. My personal recommendation is Gmail, it is free, flexible and has more options and more space than any other free email account available that I am aware of.

If you don’t have an email, you should consider getting one. It’s free, useful, saves paper, is faster than snail mail, and almost anyone doing business or communicating to anyone in the outside world has one. Just make sure you choose a verified provider, and not an underground scam artist trying to steal your information. Any of the above listed email accounts should be safe.

Search Engines

There are lots of search engines, and I’m sure most people have heard of Google. What is a search engine? They send little bots out into the web and scan to see what information is out there, try to find decent content, and so when you search for a word it will return relevant results.

UPDATE: Your homework is to use a search engine to look up more information on the following tools (or to help you research which email provider you want to use!)

Calendars, To-Do lists, Reminders

There are many, many ways to track your events, to-do lists, and send yourself reminders via email or text message to your cell phone! I like to use Google’s Calendar (in sync with my Gmail account), which is also synced up with my cell phone to text me reminders of my events however far in advance I choose!

There are other applications such as “Remember the milk” which is a to-do list that can also send you reminders to your email, phone, or via an instant messenger service.

Instant Messaging

IMing (instant messaging) is like a phone conversation, except online, and in text format - like email except for shorter, and in conversation form. There are again, hundreds of free IM services such as AIM, ICQ, Google Talk, MSN, Skype, and Yahoo Messenger (to name some of the more popular services). All you do is sign up from their website, download their chat software, get your friends’ usernames and start chatting!

Online Networks

These days, almost anyone who uses the internet has a social networking profile of some sort. Whether it is a professional profile on LinkedIn, a fun profile on Facebook, or a dating profile on eHarmony, they are bound to have an account somewhere.

The benefits of using an online network is that it helps you connect with old friends, find new ones, and join groups that you may not have been able to find so easily. You’ll need an email address to join, so make sure you have a grip on that first!

Tools that you use

How do you make the internet work for you? Are these all beginner tools to you, or does it make your head swim?

Once you can get these basic web tools down, you’ll find yourself quickly perusing the internet, constantly finding and discovering new things and maybe even creating your own ideas!

If you find this post useful and have an Internet Baby friend, maybe you should pass this post along (although you may need to help them get to it!).