Browsers Part II

1. CHOOSE YOUR HOME PAGE (MINE IS GOOGLE)

What's the first thing you see when your browser starts up? If you're using Internet Explorer, it's

probably MSN's website. Chrome loads up a modified Google page and Firefox and Microsoft

Edge have their own start pages.

Chrome

In Chrome, click the icon in the upper right with the three horizontal bars and choose "Settings."

In the left column, choose "Settings" and then to the right look under "On Startup."

Set it to "Open a specific page or set of pages" and then click the "Set pages" link.  Type in one

or more web addresses and click OK. The page or pages will load up when Chrome starts.

Microsoft Edge

In Microsoft Edge, click the icon in the upper-right corner with the three horizontal dots and

select "Settings." Under "Open with," select "A specific page or pages" and then select

"Custom."

Type in a web address and click the plus sign to the right. You can do this multiple times to add

multiple pages or click "X" next to a page to remove it. When you're done, click the icon with the

three horizontal dots again to close the settings area.

Firefox

In Firefox, click the icon in the upper right with the three horizontal bars and choose

"Options." On the General page, set "When Firefox starts" to "Show my homepage." Then under

that, type in the address you want for your home page. Click OK.

If you want to load multiple pages on startup, load them up in tabs first and then click the "Use

Current Page" button. Or you can click "Use Bookmark..." and select a folder of bookmarks.

Internet Explorer

In Internet Explorer, click the gear icon in the upper-right corner and select "Internet Options."

Go to the General tab and under "Home page" enter the web address or addresses you want to

see on startup.

Safari

In Safari on Apple, go to Safari >> Preferences. On the General tab, go to "Homepage" and

type in an address or addresses.

2. PIN TABS

This one is for Chrome, Firefox and Safari 9 users who have favorite sites they leave open all

day. Load up the site, then right-click on the browser tab and choose "Pin Tab." Your tab will

move to a smaller tab on the left side of the tab bar.

No matter how many tabs you have open, pinned tabs will always be visible on the left. They'll

also open automatically when your browser starts. To unpin a tab, just right-click on it and

choose "Unpin Tab."

3. MIDDLE-CLICK TO OPEN TABS

If you're using a mouse that was made after the mid-2000s, then it probably has a scroll wheel.

Did you know that if you press down on the scroll wheel it acts as a middle mouse button?  OK,

so what does the middle mouse button do? It can do many things, but the most exciting is

that clicking on a link with the middle mouse button opens that link in a new browser tab.

Go ahead and give it a try. It will change your life - or at least your browsing. There's no need to

right-click a link and select "Open in new tab," or whatever you were doing until now.

For laptop users, sometimes pressing both trackpad buttons at once works as a middle click. Or

you can left-click a link while holding the CTRL key

4. ZOOM TEXT

Have you ever visited a page with text that was too small to read comfortably? If you've ever

found yourself leaning too close to a computer monitor, you need to know this.

To zoom text - and images - in any browser, just hold CTRL and press the plus key to zoom in.

Hit plus a few times to zoom in even farther. Too far? Hold CTRL and press the minus key to

zoom back out. CTRL and the zero key resets the zoom level.

Hint: Use the plus, minus and zero keys over on the far right of the keyboard. The ones near the

Backspace key work for most browsers, but not for all of them.

If you don't want to take your hand off the mouse, you can hold down the CTRL key and spin

your mouse scroll wheel. That will zoom text and images in and out as well.

5. BROWSE PRIVATELY

Don't want your significant other knowing what his or her birthday present is? Want to keep sites

from storing cookies on your computer? Just fire up your browser's privacy mode and nothing

you do will be recorded. 

One simple way to keep your browsing history secret

Sitting at home alone, surfing the internet, it's easy to forget how many organizations are

watching what you do. Your internet service provider is recording every site you visit, Google is

tracking your search history, advertising companies are tracking your browsing history, the

government is tracking who knows what.

It isn't just companies. If you have a family or live with a roommate, they might be watching what

you do, too. It isn't hard to pull up someone's browsing history.

And if you leave your computer unattended, a snoop can even grab your account passwords

stored in your browser. Learn how to manage and lock down your stored browser passwords.

If the last three paragraphs weren't enough to make you think about giving up on the internet for

good, then go back and read them again a bit more slowly. It is genuinely scary stuff.

However, you can protect yourself from some of this spying. There's actually a simple trick that

makes browsing much safer.

Every major web browser - Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari and Opera - has

private, or incognito, browsing. Turning this feature on means your browser will ignore cookies -

including ad-tracking cookies - and won't record your browsing history. It's almost like you

weren't online.

To fire up private browsing, just hit CTRL+SHIFT+P (CTRL+OPTION+P on Macs). This works in

every browser except Chrome. In Chrome, the shortcut is CTRL+SHIFT+N (OPTION+SHIFT+N

on Macs). You can also enable private browsing mode from your browser's main menu.

When your browser is in private browsing mode, it will show a special icon. If you don't see the

mask in Firefox, the spy in Chrome or the "InPrivate" in IE and Edge, then you aren't secure.

Private browsing will keep your browsing safe from casual snoopers. Someone who jumps on

your computer won't see where you've been.

A more dedicated snooper might be able to find out by looking at your browser cache. This can

still keep images and code from sites you visit. A program like CCleaner can wipe this

information for you.

Of course, your internet service provider still knows where you go, and the government can just

request that information. There are a few ways around this. The easiest is with a web-based

proxy like KProxy. Load any website in Kproxy's URL bar and the site routes your request

through another computer.

Your ISP won't see what site you're really visiting, and the site you're visiting won't see your real

IP address. The catch is that proxy sites can often load pages slowly.

Downloadable proxy servers can be a bit more reliable. Two popular ones are Tor andPrivoxy.

These not only re-route your traffic but encrypt it, too. TAILS is another helpful tool for browsing

privacy, but it can be a little tough to set up.

I should note that while these tools obscure your web travels, don't think you can get away with

any wrongdoing online. If you engage in illegal activity, rest assured that law enforcement can

and will find out about it.

6. CHANGE THE DEFAULT SEARCH SITE

At the top of your browser next to the address bar, you might have a search bar. It makes it

faster to search for things because you don't need to load a search site first, just start typing.

Don't have a search bar? In many browsers just typing a word or phrase in the address bar

automatically opens a search for that word or phrase. But how does your browser know what

search site to use?

Each browser has a default it uses. In Chrome, searches naturally open in Google, Firefox

opens in Yahoo search, and Internet Explorer and Edge open in Microsoft's Bing. Those are

fine, but maybe you would rather have your searches open in something else.

It's possible to set the default search site for your browser. Learn about three search sites that

are more private than the major ones you know.

Chrome

In the upper-right corner, click the icon with the three horizontal lines and choose "Settings."

Select the "Settings" area on the left, and to the right, scroll down to the "Search" heading.

Where it says "Google," click to select Yahoo, Bing, Ask or AOL. If you want to install, or

uninstall, another search site, click the "Manage Search Engines" button.

Microsoft Edge

In the upper-right corner, click the icon with the horizontal dots, and then click "Advanced

Settings." Scroll down to find "Search in the address bar with" and click where it says "Bing."

You can select DuckDuckGo or add a new option. Note that not every search site is compatible

with Edge.

Firefox

In the upper-right corner, click the icon with the three horizontal dots and choose "Options." In

the left column, click "Search" and on the right select the default search site. Firefox has a

number of them, including some options you might not have considered like Amazon, eBay and

Twitter.

To remove a search site from the options, select it from the list under "One-click search

engines" and then click the "Remove" button. You can add additional search sites with the "Add

more search engines" link.

Internet Explorer

In the upper-right corner, click the gear icon and select "Manage Add-ons." In the left column,

click "Search Providers." Select the search provider you want as default and click the "Set as

default" button in the lower-right corner.

What if you only see Bing as an option? To add more search sites, click the "Find more search

providers" link at the very bottom. Then select a search site you want to use, click the "Add to

Internet Explorer" button and you'll see it appear in the list.

Safari

In Safari on Apple, go to Safari >> Preferences. On the Search tab, click next to "Search

engine" and select from Google, Yahoo, Bing or DuckDuckGo (Safari 8 only). Then close the

preferences window.

7. SEE YOUR ONLINE ACCOUNTS AND PASSWORDS

Do you remember every online account you’ve ever made? Over the years you might have

created dozens or hundreds that you don't use anymore. That’s actually very dangerous. It

means your information is floating around on dozens or hundreds of websites that may or may

not be secure. Click here to make your browser show old accounts and passwords so you can

shut them down.

How to erase everything you ever searched for on Google

Not your average web browser! Opera's new "Neon" is something you have to try

OPERA YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Opera may not have the most popular web browser in the world, holding a mere 4.0 percent

market share, but this is not stopping the company from innovating. You can even say that

maybe because of their humble position in the web browser race, the company needs to

innovate.

If you can recall, the Norwegian browser company was acquired last year by a group of Chinese

tech companies. Making somewhat of a splash with fresh and inventive ideas could win back a

bit of the goodwill it may have lost during the move.

So in this current world of play-safe browsers from the big guns like Chrome and Firefox, who

are more concerned about function and security, comes Opera's new experimental "concept"

browser dubbed Opera Neon.

Opening up Neon for the first time is admittedly a jarring and confusing experience. Why?

Instead of the usual search engine or browser home page, Neon's home page is a duplicate of

your desktop wallpaper.

Yes, like a clever doppelgänger, it mimics your desktop background, replacing your files and

shortcuts with bookmarks shaped like bubbles, side icons, and a transparent omnibox search

bar. If you're not paying attention, it may even look like Neon has taken over your computer.

After the initial shock, you'll notice that Neon's home page is actually relatively clean. On the left

side, you have five navigation icons - a "+" add tab, a pop-out video button, a screenshot icon, a

gallery and a download manager icon.

As with Opera's regular browser, the pop-out video button is a convenient way to view a video

on a smaller window while browsing other tabs. The built-in screenshot feature lets you save a

portion or all of the webpage and view it via Neon's gallery. These are two of the Neon features

I will probably use the most.

The right side icons simply show circular navigons of the tabs you have opened while the

common browser tools like zoom level, new window, incognito mode, history and settings are

hidden by three vertical stripes on the lower left side of Neon. Navigation wise, Neon's top bar is

merely graced with the back, forward, refresh buttons and the URL.

Another useful feature in Neon that power users will surely like is its split screen mode. This

feature lets you drag an open tab bubble to the existing browser window and split it between two

tabs. Coupled with the pop-out video, this puts multi-tasking in a single browser on an entirely

new level.

With all its great experimental features, Neon still lacks some of the main features that the

regular Opera browser has. It doesn't have built-in VPN, extension support nor ad-blocking but

for a "concept" product, it certainly has a ton of refreshing ideas amidst the crowd of cookie-

cutter browsers we have today.

Update your browser now for 4 critical security fixes – download new version

How to disable web browser tracking

It’s no secret everything we do online is tracked, mined and used to advertise to us. What is a

secret is how to stop the tracking in its … ahem … tracks. Where you go to shut it down

depends on your browser.

If you’re using Microsoft Edge, open your advanced settings and turn on “Send Do Not

Track requests.”

In Google Chrome, choose “Privacy” in your advanced settings menu and check the box

next to “Do Not Track.”

For people using Mozilla Firefox, open “Preferences” and then select “Privacy.” Then

click “manage your Do Not Track Settings” and turn on “Use Do Not Track.”

Don’t let your browser give you away; stop its tracking and keep your privacy.

Check out one of the best browser add-ons I've ever seen

Google Chrome is the most popular Internet browser out there today, but it does have a small

problem. It can use up a lot of memory and bog down your system when you leave a lot of tabs

open. Luckily, there's a cool new browser extension that can fix that problem.

And the most trustworthy browser is ...

We're always telling you how to stay safe online, while sharing the pros and cons of Web

browsers like Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and others. These days, there's

another big player in Web browsing.

If you haven't used it yet, Microsoft's new Edge browser is meant to replace Internet Explorer,

which over the years has gotten sluggish from security patches, add-ons and such. In fact,

we've been pretty impressed with Microsoft Edge for its clean look, ease of use and high level of

security.

Internet Explorer had security problems thanks to old code, such as ActiveX, or third-party plug-

ins that weren't automatically updated, such as Adobe Flash or Java, and it was too easy to

install sketchy toolbars. Edge does away with the old bug-ridden code, integrates plug-ins like

Flash so they're always up to date, and it ignores most third-party toolbars.

These days, Edge and Google Chrome may just be the most secure Web browsers available.

Yet, neither is the browser that people perceive as being the most secure.

There's another secure browser called Tor that we've told you about. It essentially makes you

anonymous when you're online.

Yet Firefox regularly ranks as the most secure Web browser, when Internet users are polled.

That's true in a new Naked Security's trustworthy browser poll.

(Note: Naked Security's poll isn't scientific. It just reflects the opinion of people who responded.)

Of those who responded to Naked Security's poll, 41% said Firefox is the most trustworthy

browser, followed by Google Chrome (21%), Opera (16%), Apple's Safari (9%), and IE (3%).

Neither Edge nor Tor made the cut. (Tor was chosen by 6% of poll voters, but grouped by

Naked Security under "Other.)

One secret about online accounts every computer user needs to know

Do you remember every online account you've ever made? Most people create dozens of

accounts that they have only used once. Just think of how many times you've created a

username and password just to read an article, play a game or download something.

That's actually very dangerous. It means your information is floating around on dozens or

hundreds of websites that may or may not be secure.

Even worse, if you used the same username and password for every site, then every account

you have is in danger. A hacker who gets your account from one site can get access to your

other accounts.

That's why I hunt down and close any accounts I'm not using, and you should, too. How can you

possibly find them all? Well, there's a simple browser trick you can use.

You may know that when you create a new online account or log in to an old one, your browser

stores the username and password you used. This makes it easy to log back in later.

It also means you can go back and see what accounts you've created in the past. Of course, so

can anyone else who gets access to your computer. I'll talk about how to deal with that at the

end of the article.

First, though, I'll walk you through finding the saved accounts and passwords on your favorite

browser.

Before you can start, you need to know what browser you're using. This helpful site will tell you

if you aren't sure. It might also tell you that your browser is out of date - be sure to upgrade if

that's the case.

FIREFOX

To see your login information in Firefox, go to the Firefox menu - it's the icon on the right with

three horizontal lines - and click Preferences.

Then click the "Show Passwords" button and click "Yes."

CHROME

In Chrome, click the icon with three horizontal lines in the upper-right corner and choose

"Settings."

Choose "Settings" on the left, and then click the "Show advanced settings" link at the bottom of

the screen.

Scroll down to "Passwords and forms" and click the "Manage passwords" link.

If you want to log back into your old account, but don't remember the password, then you can

click on a password and click the Show button next to it. To see the password, you will have to

enter your machine administrator or Windows account password, which does make it harder for

casual snoops to get in. Click here to set up a safer Windows account.

INTERNET EXPLORER AND MICROSOFT EDGE

Internet Explorer does save usernames and passwords, but you can't view them directly in IE.

To view them, you'll need third-party software like Nirsoft's IE PassView.

For Microsoft Edge, click on Menu (three dots at the top right corner) then click on Settings.

On the Settings page, scroll down and click on "View advanced settings" button.

Scroll down and select "Manage my saved passwords."

 

SAFARI

In Safari, go to Safari >> Preferences >> Auto-fill. Click the Edit button to view the saved

passwords.

NEXT STEPS

Now that you know how, you - and others - can find your passwords, you have to decide what to

do about it.

With your list of accounts, you can do some housecleaning. See what sites you no longer visit

and go close down your accounts on those sites.

Some sites might make it easier than others. This site gives instructions for closing accounts on

dozens of popular sites.

Bonus tip: If you notice your passwords are all the same, or you have a lot of duplicates, that's a

warning flag that you need to make them more unique. Otherwise, a data breach at one site will

give hackers access to every account. Click here to learn how to create strong unique

passwords. 

To keep other people from snooping on your accounts and passwords, you'll want to

keep casual snoops - like relatives and friends - off your computer.

The extension is called The Great Suspender and it works by putting the tabs you're not using

to sleep. Inactive tabs will appear blue in your browser window. When you want to use an

inactive tab again, just click on the page to reload.

The Great Suspender is customizable to fit your needs. You get to set your own time limit that

tells the extension how long tabs to be inactive before they go to sleep. You can select 20

seconds to 3 days. You can also add sites to an exempt "whitelist." For example, you can add

Facebook to the list, so your Facebook tab will never be inactive.

To add The Great Suspender extension, to your Google Chrome browser, just visit the

download page in the Chrome Web Store. Then, click the blue "+ Add to Chrome" button.

When the installation pop up appears, click Add. In just a few seconds, the extension will show

up in the upper right corner of your browser window. It looks like a brown square with eyes and

a mouth.

To customize your setting, click the icon and select Settings. You can also manually suspend

and activate tabs using the icon.