Many people who use the internet every day don’t pay too much attention to how they surf the web, just as long as everything works the way they need it to. A recent poll done by Google while advertising for their new browser aptly called, Google Chrome, asked random people on the street what a browser was. The answers varied from, “that little blue icon on their desktop”, or “the homepage”, to “the place where email comes from”! It is pretty clear that the average computer user knows little about the difference between a browser and a search engine. So, what is the difference?
To explain it simply, a browser is a piece of software that is installed on your computer that allows you to see all the data from the internet on your screen. There are five main broswers in use today. They are:
Google Chrome
Mozilla Firefox
Internet Explorer
Apple Safari
Opera
The decision to use the default web browser that ships with Microsoft Windows which is Internet Explorer (Don’t Do It!), or choose to use a more modern browser can make your experience on the web go from mediocre to excellent. I recommend Google Chrome since it is the fastest browser on the web (check out the video below) not to mention the most secure. Think of your browser as the vehicle that gets you on the information super highway.
So if that’s a browser, then what is a search engine? Well, with all the information on that super highway, you need someone to catalog it all so that when you open your browser and type “Computer Repair in West Palm Beach” you will be able to find my website Joshable Computer Support & Repair for example. The two main search engines in use today are Google.com, and Microsoft’s Bing.com. Without their efforts to catalog the web into findable websites/pages then the internet would become a mess of information nobody could find. So next time you open your browser, and type in Google.com be glad the two work together to make your time on the world wide web that much more enjoyable.
So what browser and search engine do you use? Let us know in the comments below.
If you haven’t heard of Lynda.com yet then you are in for a real treat. Lynda.com provides online training for nearly all popular software today. Included in that list is everything Adobe, Microsoft, Google, WordPress, Mac, Act, and AutoCad. It is so easy to use that anyone can use it and learn volumes in a short time. From Photoshop to Microsoft Word there are videos for everyone. There is even an iPhone app in the iTunes App Store that will let you stream the tutorials while on the go. The videos are high quality, well thought out, and easy to learn from. The interface is simple, and you can even receive a certification after completing the entire course of your choosing. They are constantly providing new updates, with training for the new Adobe Creative Suite 5 already being out as an example of how up to date the training is. With Lynda.com you are able to watch a screencast of the trainer stepping you through various workflows, and even use the exercise files to follow right along if you chose to pay extra for that part of the subscription. A one month subscription starts at $25.00, and can go up to $37.50 if you want access to the exercise files. There are also pay by year options if you prefer. The price at first may sound steep, but after using the site for a short time you will see the immense value of watching a professional use the program while you watch, and learning from their example. If you have used Lynda.com in the past let us know what your thoughts are on it in the comments.
Most of us are content clicking and dragging the mouse all over the place to get whatever tasks we have in mind accomplished on our computers. Very few of us realize the power and potential of using keyboard shortcuts. With a few strokes of the keyboard, one can weed out time consuming and wrist cramping mouse gestures. For example, some of the most commonly used keyboard shortcuts surround the often misunderstood, “copy & paste” actions that are so powerful. Try this: Click and drag your mouse over the following green text. Joshable Computer Support & Repair. Now that you have highlighted the text, instead of right clicking your mouse to select “Copy” or clicking on the Edit – Copy selection from the file menu use your keyboard to do the work. Hold down the Ctrl key and while continuing to hold it down press the C key (Ctrl + C) that Ctrl C = Copy. Now move your mouse into the address bar of your browser, and lets paste that text you selected into it by holding down the Ctrl key again and this time pressing the V key (Ctrl + V) that Ctrl V = Paste. You should see your text moved into the address bar. The information you had copied was placed in a magical place called the clipboard. Much like a physcial clipboard, it stores important pieces of data until you need them again. Keep in mind you can only store one set of copied text or other media at a time. Once you copy something else, what you had in the clipboard has been overwritten. To extend your clipboards functionality try Clipboard Magic So to review Ctrl + C = Copy, and Ctrl+V = Paste. Try it over the next few days and see if your workflow doesn’t improve. You might even impress a friend or two.
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