Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Sub-Topics:
The World Wide Web, or just The Web, includes all the sites you visit and services you use on the internet.
Blurry images: why do images on some web pages start out blurry and then clear up?
Sometimes blurry images are simply an artifact of how images are encoded and downloaded. If blurry images clear up after a second or two, that's almost certain.
Can I get rid of the "This page contains both secure and nonsecure items" warning?
"Secure and nonsecure" items is most often the result of bad web page design. As a user it's difficult to avoid without lowering your guard.
Can I remove a link from Google using robots.txt?
While robots.txt won't remove links from Google, it is a powerful tool for webmasters to use to control what Google sees.
Can I track what links people are clicking on, even if they go off my site?
It's often very desirable to see what links people are clicking on. Redirection services can often provide that information.
Can I trust https certificates in my browser?
Https is a fundamental security technology used on the internet. I'll look at how it's used to confirm you're connecting to the site you think you are.
Google Alerts are a great way to keep up on new occurrences of topics you care about on the web.
Googlejacking? What's "Googlejacking"?
Googlejacking is a valid technique that programmers may use on their web pages, but unfortunately there are more devious ways of using it as well.
How do I clear my search history in Firefox?
Sometimes you just want to clear the things you've searched for from automatically appearing in the browser. These steps clear that information in Firefox.
How do I copy an entire web page?
Copying a web page to archive or read later is not terribly difficult, but getting everything to copy as you see it can be a challenge.
How do I direct my web traffic to a single domain?
How do I find out when a web page was written?
It's surprisingly difficult to tell with certainty when a web page was written. There are some clues we can gather that might help - a little.
How do I fix "Error on page" when visiting a website? And what does "Error on page" mean?
"Error on page" simply indicates that the HTML or other code on a web page is incorrect. Unfortunately, there are several possible causes.
The Bing toolbar is apparently showing up unexpectedly for some people. I'll look at important terminology and how to get rid of the Bing toolbar.
How do I get the old msn.com homepage back?
It appears that the look and feel of msn.com is changing. To many that have msn.com as their home page, this change may or may not be welcome.
How do I remove myself from the search engines?
The web has a very long memory. Removal is nearly impossible. Avoid posting sensitive information in any way that can be seen publicly.
We take links for granted, but they're an important part of the web and email. We'll look at what they mean and how they're written.
How should I set up my Linux Web Server?
I visited an online store and someone else's information appeared; should I be worried?
Online shopping is generally very safe, but online stores do need to make sure to keep each customer's information safe from the eyes of others.
I've fired my sysadmin, is changing passwords enough?
Is it ".html" or ".htm", and when do I need a trailing '/' when typing a URL into my browser?
Designers and implementers make a lot of choices when setting up a web site. Names and domains and even the need for slashes are among them.
Is leaving a website open on my computer dangerous?
It's not uncommon to leave a website open on your computer for long periods of time. That's not typically a problem, but you should still take care.
My webmaster left, what do I do?
Parental Monitoring Software: My child figured out how to turn it off - what can I do?
Parental Monitoring Software is a way to keep an eye on what your child is doing on-line. Until they learn to disable Parental Monitoring Software, that is.
What can a website I visit tell about me?
Websites can collect a fair amount of information about you. In this first step we look at what every website sees no mater what it does.
What is Silverlight, and do I need it?
Silverlight is Microsoft's new collection of software to support rich web-based applications. You may not need it yet, but eventually you might.
Windows Live is the umbrella brand for several online services and desktop applications from Microsoft. I'll examine the confusion surrounding the name.
What's a "fraudulent certificate" and should I be concerned?
Fraudulent web site certificates were apparently issued to individuals that should not have been able to get them. The result is a vulnerability in https.
We're often enticed or directed to websites we've never been to before. We'll look at a couple of tools to help identify safe web sites.
Why are those "retype the word" tests so twisted, faded and blurred?
"Retype the word" or more properly CAPTCHA tests are designed to prove you're not a computer - and that difficult to read text is part of the test.
Why do my ".cfm" files work in some browsers and not others?
Why does a web page show for a second, and then suddenly change to "Not Found"?
'Not Found' errors can occasionally result on web pages that are otherwise OK if some advertising referenced by the page is 'Not Found'