Locate where your browser preferences are set:

• Netscape v2 & 3 - Select the preferences category from the Options menu
• Netscape v4 - Select Preferences from the Edit menu
• Internet Explorer v2 (Mac) - Select Options from the Edit menu
• Internet Explorer v3 (Mac) - Select Preferences from the Edit menu
• Internet Explorer v2, 3 & 4 (Win) - Select Options from the View menu

Bookmarks/Favorites
Bookmarks or Favorites are shortcuts within your Web browser to your favorite Web pages.
Note: Any bookmarks you create are only accessible on the computer you created them.

Setting up mail in your browser
In your browser’s Mail Preferences you can configure the E-mail settings, as well as enter information about your server and your real and user names.

The mail and SMTP server name to use at SFSU is sfsu.edu

Appearance
It is possible to change the default background and text colors, text size, and font in most browsers.

Installing helper apps and plug-ins
Helper apps are separate stand-alone programs that allow you to open files that your browser cannot interpret like sounds & multimedia files. Plug-ins extend the capabilities of your browser from within, allowing it to read certain kinds of files that create effects embedded in Web pages. Follow the plug-in instructions given for your computer type – plug-in’s are usually designed for specific platform(s).

Security and encryption
Encryption is the way your computer keeps things you want to keep private (like your credit card number) away from prying eyes. You should not need to change these settings.

Cache size and other settings
Your Disk Cache is where your Web browser stores pages that you've accessed recently. This setting is usually found under the Network or Advanced preferences. The Verify documents setting should be set to ‘Every Time’ if you are developing web pages to ensure you always see the latest version. If you have a slow modem connection set it to ‘Once per Session’

Setting your default home page
When you first run your browser program it will automatically open to a certain address called your default home page. If you want to open pages off-line you should set this setting to None.

Return to top

There is no single online search tool that has an index to the entire contents of the Internet. Each search engine uses different search techniques and software tools (called spiders) to build indexes of the Internet. Each search engine has a different "view" of the Web and the Internet as a whole. Search engines don’t always contain links to the latest information because they can only add/update so many pages to their indexes each day.

So first and foremost, after connecting to each search tool for the first time, always read the tool's description, search options, and rules and restrictions before trying to perform a search.

Some search tools contain indexes to nearly everything online -- so it pays to make precise queries. Often, though, you can be too precise, so finding what you want may take a couple of queries. Here are some suggestions to help you cut through the clutter!

Finding Information
Finding information in a timely manner requires that you think about your task beforehand and that you understand how you should make your query.

Adopting a strategy based on what you are looking for:

Do you know what general topic the information is related to?
You can use one of the list-based tools (like Yahoo) and follow the topic links on each page to the place you feel the information reference should be, then scan the entries and canned search results for that page.

Do you know a specific name or title?
Use one of the spiders-based tools (like Alta Vista) that uses keyword or title keys.

Do you know one or more qualities or characteristics?
This strategy often requires several cycles of searching, browsing, and evaluation. Associated information such as author, geographical location, related organizations, history, etc, can be used to find a specific reference.

Use differentiating search keywords
Commonly used words make poor search keywords. Extremely common words such as articles and prepositions may be ignored completely or produce too many results. Strive for words that highlight the differences between information sources. Common words, when combined with Boolean qualifiers, can be effective -- such as soviet and union or union and NEA not soviet. Remember the more distinctive a word, the more useful it will be to fine tune your search.

Understand the search results
The kind of data an index contains can have dramatic effects on the search process. A particular keyword phrase may work wonderfully on one index, and poorly on another. Try to understand how the keywords you specify relate to the results. This will help you understand the process and the data.

Use more than one search engine
As mentioned above, because of its nature, various search engines use different search techniques and have different "views" of the Web. For best results, try each query with more than one search engine or use an all-in-one search engine.

Return to top

Your search produces no results
Make sure you read the tool's description, options, and rules. Not all search tools are created equal.

• Make sure your spelling is right. If you're not sure, use substrings (if allowed).
• If you use logical operators (Boolean operators), check your syntax.
• Try to be less specific in your query.
• Try synonyms and variations on words.
• Try another search engine.

• Identify common words that are important to your search.
• Try to think of words that uniquely identify what you're looking for. Some words are of little value, because they identify lots of documents. The more distinctive a word, the more useful it will be for sharpening your search.
• Try to use as many relevant keywords as possible; it will help to uniquely identify what you're looking for.

No answer, Timed out, Too busy
These are the most common types of problems you will get. The server you are trying to access may be too busy or temporarily down. If this happens to you:

• Try again after a couple of minutes.
• Try at a less busy time of the day. Avoid prime time hours is between 10-4PM PST
• Try a mirror site (if any). Knowledge of world geography and time zones comes in handy when jumping to other sites elsewhere in the world.
• Check the server's location. If the server is far away from your location, the response time may be slow compared to more "local" servers. Be patient.
• Check the server's time zone. Some servers are not available during certain periods of the day.

• Double check your URL, make sure it's entered correctly.
• Check the lower/upper case of each character. URLs are partially case sensitive. The first part (i.e. protocol://host.domain) is NOT case sensitive, but everything that follows IS (i.e. /path.../filename).
• If your URL has more than one directory level, try to move up the tree (i.e. remove the last level and try again). Do so until you are at the top level.

Permission denied
It may be that the site is denying public access or is configured so only restricted access is allowed.

• Try again later. Sometimes the restricted access is only for certain period of the day.
• Try to contact the site authors. In most cases, there's not much you can do about it.