Mozilla Firefox, the second most popular Internet browser, is free to download and compatible to Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. Firefox was one of the first browsers to have tabbed browsing, which has become standard for most browsers.

Firefox at first glance looks similar to Internet Explorer and is very easy to use. It features tabbed browsing, private browsing, history, and many options you would find on Internet Explorer. The following features are used on some other browsers but are worth mentioning. You will not find these features on Internet Explorer.

* Bookmarks, known on IE as “Favorites”, can be created with just one click on the star icon in the address bar.

* Tabs can be dragged into a separate window with your mouse.

* “Password Manager” offers to remember (or never remember) password information that you are entering on a website (also, instead of an intrusive pop-up like on other browsers, this feature displays briefly under the toolbars, in that way being more of a helpful option than an intrusive one).

* Links to downloads open the “Download manager” that displays your downloads' names and progress, and saves them for later reference. You can pause and restart downloads, and, when it is complete, simply double-click it from the list to run the installation.

Firefox is probably best known for having more than 6,000 customization options! Some of these features (known as add-ons) would be unavailable or automatically integrated on your Internet Explorer browser. The only problem with that is, if you don't want the features, they're download on the browser anyway. This is why Firefox is much faster to download—you can pick the options you want later!

These 6000 add-ons can be viewed from the Firefox homepage, or by using the Add-ons Manager in your Firefox browser. Sometimes Firefox will notify you when an add-ons is necessary to load certain parts of webpages. Most of the add-ons, however, are just fun or techy features that will change the look of your browser or add a cool accessory that could come in handy while surfing online. Here is a brief snippet of the wide variety of add-ons available for the Firefox browser:

• “Personas” are different “skins” for your Firefox browser. You can find thousands of themes celebrating your favorite music, movie, cause, etc! Change your skin everyday if you want!

• “Read it Later” is a great way to save a website, but not get it mixed in with your long-term bookmarks. You can access them offline, and check them off when you've read them.

• “WOT”--a.k.a. Websites Of Trust—this feature will help keep you safe from harmful websites.

• “Yoono” sidebar is a quick way to stay constantly updated on your social networking outlets, like Facebook, Twitter, and instant messaging.

Firefox is continually improving and increasing it's add-ons, as well as speed and security technology. Firefox 3.5.3, is faster and safer than before and is now available to download for free. You can read all about security and speed features and improvements, browse add-ons library, and download Firefox on your computer at firefox.com.

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Written by Hannah Miller, Online Marketing Representative and Customer Service, Copper.net.

Copper.net is a nationwide Internet services provider that is all-American owned and operated. Call today, 1-800-336-3318 or sign up online at www.copper.net! Check out my blog for more articles! 

Internet Explorer is known for having the majority of the market share for Internet browsers, and it's role as a part of the Windows operating system. Microsoft says their new browser is better than ever and worth the upgrade! Here are a few ways IE8 has improved from IE7, and why you might be interested—even if you haven't liked IE in the past.

Accelerators are a new addition to Internet Explorer. These tools save you browsing time by turning common searches into a simple right-click function. For example, highlight an address, right click on it, and choose a mapping feature to veiw a small map of the location and a link to get to directions. This saves time you would have spent opening a new window, looking up a map website, and copy/pasting the address on a mapping website, performing the search, then clicking the directions option.

You can see search results on multiple engines like Google, Dictionary.com, and Wikipedia. Simply highlight any length of text on the web site, like “Empire State Building” for example, and right click. Accelerators will either show entries directly from the menu, or open the page of your choice in a new tab. You can jump to “Empire State Building” search results on Google, the dictionary or Wikipedia entry, or even look for books or related products on Amazon or Ebay instead of pulling up the sites individually and performing the search. There are dozens of accelerators, including shortcuts to Urban Dictionary, YouTube, and Facebook.

Another new IE8 feature is the Web Slice. It's a miniature window that is available for participating websites (indicated by the green web slice icon at the top of the page) that can be added to your favorites toolbar. For example, you bid on an Ebay item, then add a slice for that particular item, which appears in your favorites toolbar. When the slice has new information (and you can edit how often it checks), the slice title become bold so you know when someone bid on your item no matter what site you are on at the time. You can then click the slice to see a miniature page showing your item, increase the bid, or click a link to go to that page. There are also web slices for news, stocks, weather, sports, and email sites.

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Written by Hannah Miller, Online Marketing Representative and Customer Service, Copper.net.

Copper.net is a nationwide Internet services provider that is all-American owned and operated. Call today, 1-800-336-3318 or sign up online at www.copper.net! Check out my blog for more articles! 

Bing.com is Microsoft's new “decision” search engine. Bing's homepage is brilliantly colored with a new background picture with interesting facts from all over the world. But what truly stands out about Bing.com is it's design for the purpose of aiding decision making.

The “Tour Bing” link in the top left corner of the home page is a great place to start for first time users and those who want to find out all the features and shortcuts Bing offers. Since many features are specifically for Microsoft account users, those who do not have a Live account may find it useful to create one. Other first time options are available in the preferences, located in the top right corner. Users can make adjustments to their location, security settings, and result listings.

Bing offers categorized search options on the home page from the left column. When clicked, these categories, such as “Shopping” or “News, expand to more subcategories to further narrow the search.

Any search performed on the main search bar at the top will include related searches, sponsored links, and search history on the left column. Some searches produce related subcategories at the top of the column. Here are a few examples:

• Subcategories for “computer” include: Images, Shopping, and Local

• Subcategories for “Myrtle Beach” include: Weather, Hotel, and Map

• Subcategories for “Nike” include: Coupons, Catalog, and Jobs

Bing offers more than just search results. Many popular searches, most of which are related to buying decisions, have detailed information that will help users make the right choice and save money without spending hours on every website comparing prices and other features. This is a valuable feature for anyone who has dial-up Internet or simply wishes to avoid extended online time. A search for “laptop”, for example, will display a “Shop for laptop” link at the top of the search results. Users can limit the results by brands or prices, view buying guides, and compare laptops on ratings like speed and ease of use. The search results show the image, price, and description of the laptops that match the requirements chosen.

Users can also research and compare businesses, like hotels, restaurants, and stores. The keywords “restaurant cincinnati”, for example, will display “Listings for restaurants near Cincinnati, OH” above the search results. A map of Cincinnati on the left shows the location of each restaurant with a corresponding number to the list of restaurants to the right. Each restaurant lists their phone number and links for the restaurant's website and directions. The name of each restaurant links to a short description including reviews, prices, amenities, and more contact information, etc.

Bing.com offers a variety of shortcuts accessed by typing certain keywords into the main search bar. “Traffic” and “weather” will show local information as the first result. Flights and packages can be tracked by typing flight or shipping number. A sequence of several ticker symbols followed by the word “quote” will list stock information for each symbol in a small table. Basic math questions and conversions, like “how many liters in a gallon” will display the answer at the top of the search results.

Bing has several interactive features that are convenient to users. The websites listed in search results have a hover icon along the right side of the entry which brings up a summary and related links. Images will display their size, name, and a “related images” link when users hover on them, and videos listed in Bing results will begin playing when hovered.

Some users will find Bing.com and its features more helpful than others. Bing's many features will only display for popular searches, and basic information, and it becomes just another search engine when more obscure, unique or research-related searches are performed. Like any other search engine, Bing.com shows search results of related websites, so it is still useful when features aren't shown. As it's nickname, “the decision engine” suggests, Bing.com is most useful for shopping, traveling, and other decision-related searches.

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Written by Hannah Miller, Online Marketing Representative and Customer Service, Copper.net.

Copper.net is a nationwide Internet services provider that is all-American owned and operated. Call today, 1-800-336-3318 or sign up online at www.copper.net! Check out my blog for more articles! 

Most search queries are relatively simple on a search engine like Google. Usually in the first try, a few keywords will answer basic, popular questions. Obscure and past topics, or advanced and genre-specific searches are sometimes hard to find. The additional features on Google are ideal for this type of extensive research.

Google.com has categories to refine searches at the top of the page, such as Images, Maps, and Shopping. The “more” option, has additional queries that may be of interest , such as Finance or Blogs. The “even more>>” link directs users to a page of all the categories and other special features, including alerts that can be sent to your email for specific topics, links to popular resources, like YouTube, and Google tools and downloads, like the google mail and browser. Each item has a short description of how it can be used.

Many research topics have subtopics, categories, and fields that can be explored on Google. A “Show options...” link is available at the top of the search results of every query. When a user clicks here, a sidebar displays to the left of the search results with additional search tools.

The first section is videos, forums or reviews of the keyword(s) queried. The next section has the option to specify the age of article or website. The third section changes the layout of the search results to include pictures or more text.

The fourth section has four options:

• Standard view-the normal view showing the search results of the keywords queried.

• Related searches-common topics related to the query

• Wonder wheel-related topics are displayed on spokes with the keyword(s) in the center. For example, for the keyword “dial-up”, the wonder wheel shows “dial-up isp” and “dial-up speed” as related searches. A sub category (when clicked) becomes the main category and shows more subheadings. “dial-up speed” brings up “dial-up compression” and “56K dial-up”.

• Timeline-shows the graph of search results for the queried keywords over time. Underneath the graph is a listing of results in chronological order. Each decade, year, month, etc., on the timeline graph can be clicked to expand the results over that time period. The earliest search results will query books written on the topic.

There are other search options available on Google.com. The advanced search link on the home page leads to a detailed page that helps a user make specific choices about what type of results should be displayed. The “Topic-specific search engines from Google” section at the bottom of this page shows multiple genres that may be of interest to advanced searchers.

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Written by Hannah Miller, Online Marketing Representative and Customer Service, Copper.net.

Copper.net is a nationwide Internet services provider that is all-American owned and operated. Call today, 1-800-336-3318 or sign up online at www.copper.net! Check out my blog for more articles! 

Trying to describe the connection speed of dial-up is difficult. You're using 56K modems, but it's not really 56 kilobits per second. Here's an in-depth explanation of dial-up speeds and what they can accomplish.

Basic Web Surfing. Most webpages will load with dial-up. How long it will take depends on almost a dozen factors. For example, in the last ten years, many more websites are using multimedia technology (videos, music, animations) that are difficult to load on even the best dial-up connection. However, compression technology and other techniques in graphic and web design are improving, making webpages easier to load than before. Some websites have a simple layout view that you can choose if you are on a dial-up connection. Many website will load the prominent features first, then all the pictures and backgrounds. If you see the link or form you were looking for, you don't have to wait for the entire page to load to click or type on it.

Many Internet services, software programs, and browsers that offer tools to help you load webpages faster. You can probably use a combination of these three that will work best for you. These will not change your actual connection speed (measured in kilobits per second, or kbps), but compress webpages or use different loading techniques.

Most dial-up connection speeds are about 28-50 kbps. If your connection is less than 28, you may need to check with your ISP, phone company, and local computer technician for ways to improve your connection, if possible. Assuming you have a typical connection, here are likely loading times for three websites, without acceleration:

• Google.com-On a dial up connection, this page should load in about 5-7 seconds.

• Yahoo.com-This page is much busier, so it would take 35-45 seconds on dial-up. Keep in mind, however, you can begin searches and click on links as soon as they appear, so you rarely need to wait for the entire page to load.

• CNN.com-This site is heavy with text, headings, and images. Using a dial up connection, the home page should load in about 3 minutes.

Downloads. The difference in connection speeds are most visible for downloads. Accelerators can't change download speeds and, on dial-up, every kilobit counts. Smaller downloads (about 1-10 MB) are usually not a problem. If you download a 3 MB song, for example, on a 50 kbps dial-up connection, it take about 8-10 minutes, or 15-20 minutes on a 28 kbps connection.

Firefox 3.5 is the latest version of Mozilla's free browser. It is 7.6 MB, which would take just over 20 minutes on a faster dial-up connection, or about 45 minutes on a slower. If you get disconnected occasionally because of line noise, etc., you may need to make several attempts to download programs that are longer than 2 hours.

Large downloads, like an anti-virus program or major software upgrades are sometimes not possible with dial-up because most dial-up providers have automatic disconnect at 4 hours. The free version of AVG 8.5, for instance, is 63.1 MB. On a good dial-up connection, that would take over 3 hours; on a 28 kbps connection, nearly 6 hours. A download larger than 40 MB would probably not ever download on a 28 kbps connection. You can often download large programs like these to another computer (like the library or your laptop on a public wireless connection) and transfer the installation file to your computer later. Read more about ways to improve your downloads on dial-up or how to calculate download times.

Video/Audio Streaming. Live streaming, like a radio station's website, YouTube, and many interactive multimedia sites are not going to work on dial-up. In some cases, you can play a short video or audio clip if you wait an hour or more to load it. If you need to attend live web seminars or classes, or want to play online games, movies, or music in real time, dial-up will simply not be satisfactory. However, if you need an Internet connection to surf the web, check your email, play small flash games, and pay bills, dial-up will be fine. The money you'll save might make waiting a little easier.

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Written by Hannah Miller, Online Marketing Representative and Customer Service, Copper.net.

Copper.net is a nationwide Internet services provider that is all-American owned and operated. Call today, 1-800-336-3318 or sign up online at www.copper.net! Check out my blog for more articles!