• About the Explorer Bar
• Entering an Address
• Adding a page to your list of favorite pages
• Adding To Links
• Searching
• Revisiting recently viewed Web Pages
• Browsing Web Pages Offline
• How to Change Your Homepage

About the Explorer Bar

The Explorer bar is a way to browse through a list of links, such as your History or channels, while displaying the pages those links open in the right side of the browser window. For example, if you click the Search button on the toolbar, the Explorer bar opens and you can use it to search for the Web site you want.

You can display your Favorites list, History list, channels, or Search by clicking the toolbar. In addition, you can gain access to these items by clicking the View menu, and then pointing to Explorer bar.

Back to the Menu

Entering an Address

In the Address bar, start typing the address you want to go to.

If you've visited the Web site before, the new AutoComplete feature suggests a match as you type. The suggested match is highlighted in the Address bar.

After you finish typing the Web address, or when AutoComplete finds a match, press ENTER.

To view other matches, press the DOWN ARROW key.

Notes:

• If you installed the new desktop, AutoComplete also suggests matches for folder and program names you type in the Address bar.
• If you type a partial address and then press CTRL+ENTER, Internet Explorer attempts to go to the exact URL that you typed, filling in only the protocol, such as http:, and the extension, if needed. For example, if you type mi and then press CTRL+ENTER, Internet Explorer attempts to open a Web site named http://www.mi.com/.
• You can turn off the AutoComplete feature.

Back to the Menu

Adding a page to your list of favorite pages

• Go to the page you want to add to your Favorites list.
• On the Favorites menu, click Add to Favorites.
• Type a new name for the page if you want to.

Tips:

1. To open one of your favorite pages, click the Favorites menu, and then click the page you want to open.
2. As your list of favorite pages grows, you can organize them into folders.

Back to the Menu

Adding to Links

To add a page to your Links bar:

1. Drag the icon for the page from your Address bar to your Links bar.
2. Drag a link from a Web page to your Links bar.
3. Drag a link to the Links folder in your Favorites list: You can either drag it directly to the Favorites menu and then into the Links folder or you can drag it to the Links folder when displaying your Favorites in the Explorer bar.

Tip: You can also can organize your links by dragging them to a different location on the Links bar.

Back to the Menu

Searching

You can find information on the Web in a variety of ways. When you click the Search button on the toolbar, the Explorer bar appears at the left of the window. It provides access to a number of search services that offer different kinds of searching capabilities. Try out the different search services to see what kinds of information they provide.

If you want to find information extra quickly, you can use the AutoSearch feature by typing go, find, or ? followed by a word or phrase, right in the Address bar. Internet Explorer immediately starts a search using its predetermined search service.

Then, after you go to a Web page, you can search for specific text on that page.

Back to the Menu

Revisiting recently viewed Web Pages

1. On the toolbar, click the History button. A list of folders appears, containing links for Web sites visited in previous days and weeks.
      
2. Click a folder or page to display the Web page.

Tips:

1. You can change the number of days that pages are saved in the History list. The more days you specify, the more disk space is used on your computer to save that information.
2. You can hide the Explorer bar by clicking the History button again.

Back to the Menu

Browsing Web Pages Offline

With "offline browsing," you can view Web pages without being connected to the Internet. This is handy if you don't always have access to the Web when you want to browse Web pages. You might be using your laptop computer at a location that does not provide any network or modem access. Or you might be at home and not want to tie up your only phone line.

Make the most of offline browsing by using channels and subscriptions to get the latest content downloaded to your computer when you are connected and online. Then view the Web pages offline when you want, where you want.

To browse the Web offline

• In the File menu, click Work Offline.

Notes

• When you choose to work offline, Internet Explorer will always start in Offline mode until you click Work Offline again to clear the check mark.
• In addition to viewing subscribed Web sites offline, you can also view any Web pages stored in your History folder or your Temporary Internet Files folder.

Back to the Menu

To change your home page:

1. Go to the page you want to appear when you first start Internet Explorer.
2. On the View menu, click Internet Options.
3. Click the General tab.
4. In the Home page area, click Use Current.

Tip: To restore your original home page, click Use Default.

Back to the Menu