Getting the Most from the Internet Keep Informed – Stay Involved

1. Getting the Most from the InternetKeep Informed – Stay Involved

2. The Internet and WWW • Email • MBMG Web Site • PDFs • Our Publications • Organizing Your Own Files

3. The Internet and the WWW are not the same thing

4. the Internet (Inter-connected networks) The Internet is a massive network of networks.It connects millions of computers together globally, forming a network in which any computer can communicate with any other computer as long as they are both connected to the Internet. Information that travels over the Internet does so via a variety of languages known as protocols. The Internet, not the Web, is used for email using SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol).

5. the Internet • The Web is just one of the ways that information can be disseminated over the Internet. • Other parts of the Internet are: • email • social networks (MySpace, Facebook) • chat rooms • newsgroups (Usenet) – essentially chat rooms devoted to one subject • ftp and gopher sites – for transferring data • communication sites – “instant messaging”

6. the WWW (World Wide Web or “The Web”) is a way of accessing information over the medium of the Internet. It uses HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol), one of the languages spoken over the Internet, to transmit data. The Web utilizes browsers to access web documents called web pages that are linked to each other via hyperlinks. Web documents can also contain graphics, sounds, text and video.

7. the Internet Each computer that is connected to the Internet is identified by an individual IP (Internet Protocol) address like “208.233.88.55.” This enables computers to locate each other. People have trouble remembering strings of numbers, so we use words like http://www.smartgardening.org Typing http://63.249.127.46 (our IP address) also opens the Smart Gardening web site. For lots of info about IPs and Domain names and DNS, read this article: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/dns.htm

8. some things you cannot change As you can see, the Internet, the WWW and all the software that runs on your computer operate on systems of rules. Those rules won’t change no matter how stupid you think they are or how loudly you yell at the monitor. Your best bet is to learn as many rules as you can. Practice, practice, practice. In time it will all become easier. Do some of the excellent tutorials online; search, for example, for “tutorial Word.”

9. the Internet • files • browsers • servers • URLs • security

10. files An email without images is one file. An image is one file. A Word document is one file. A song on your mp3 player is one file. A website is a collection of files, hopefully arranged in an orderly and pleasing way.

11. browsers A browser (aka a GUI or Graphical User Interface) is a program like Safari, Google, Netscape, AOL, Internet Explorer or Firefox that displays your web pages and allows you to interact with them. Browsers do not display web pages the same way, so one page can look surprisingly different on each browser – and on each computer monitor – and on Macs and PCs. Your browser is your friend. Try out different browsers to find one that is comfortable.

12. servers A server is a “big” computer (Cruzio, GoDaddy, AOL, Yahoo) that can house gazillions of web sites and files. Websites live on servers and your email account is handled by your Internet service provider’s (ISP) server. When you ask your browser to show you a web page (by typing the address in the address bar or by clicking a hyperlink), it locates it on the server and brings it to you.

13. finding a web page http://www.montereybaymastergardeners.org the name of the web site tells any browser that this is a web page: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol the domain: .org for organization; .com for commercial; etc. indicates the kind of server: www or ftp or news or nntp; many URLs do not use the www prefix

14. finding a web page http://www.montereybaymastergardeners.org Notice there are no spaces – ever. The entire address is called a URL, Uniform Resource Locator

15. NOT finding a web page • The site may no longer exist • The link may be corrupt • The server might be “down” • You might have typed the URL incorrectly (misspelled words or added spaces) • Try again later as a very popular site might be accessible during less busy hours (“Server Too Busy”)

16. security Internet Explorer (Microsoft) is used by nearly 70% of users, making it a good target for the bad guys who create things like viruses. Other browsers like Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Camino and Safari are less interesting to bad guys and suffer fewer attacks.

17. security – kinds of intruders Trojan horses are programs which pretend to do one thing, but in reality snoop out your personal data or damage it. They are usually quite hard to detect. Worms are programs which are able to replicate themselves over a computer network and in turn perform malicious actions. As a result they have the ability to affect other programs on your computer. Spyware is software that is installed surreptitiously on a personal computer to collect information about a user and his/her computer or browsing habits without the user's informed consent.

18. security – kinds of intruders Viruses are programs which are able to log into the personal files on a computer and can actually remove or alter them. Malware can be classified as trojans and are not detected by all anti-virus software. They may require the use of other software designed to detect them. Adware automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertisements. Some types of adware are also spyware and can be classified as privacy-invasive software.

19. security – don’t worry Sounds pretty ominous, but you will be safe with • a good anti-virus software, updated regularly • solid passwords • never opening an email from someone you don’t know • backing-up regularly • and tossing salt over your left shoulder with your eyes closed while standing on your right foot in Birkenstocks on a full moon at midnight on the second Tuesday of every other month. Just kidding.

20. security – cookies A cookie is a piece of text that a web server can store on a user's hard disk. Cookies allow a web site to store information on a user's machine and later retrieve it. When you visit a web site it might place a unique ID (cookie) on your hard drive. The next time you visit, the site will remember you. Are cookies dangerous? No. A cookie is merely a piece of text, it is not a program, cannot be used as a virus, and cannot access your hard drive other than to be saved to it.

21. security – cookies Most web browsers allow the user to accept or reject cookies, but rejection makes some websites unusable. For example, you can't make online purchases using a “shopping cart” if cookies are rejected (or not “enabled”). Here is a site that shows how to enable cookies for versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Netscape: http://www.google.com/cookies.html

22. general internet tips • To save a website link quickly: Click on the tiny icon to the left of the URL in the address bar of your browser; then drag it to, and drop it on, your desktop; clicking the new desktop icon will open the site (Some browsers do not allow this) • Keep it neat: Create a desktop folder, name it ‘Cool Sites’ and drag the links there • Very helpful tip: First make sure your browser window is not maximized so that some little bit of the desktop is visible

23. general internet tips To save the link to the MBMG site, click on this icon and drag it to your desktop (some browsers like Opera do not allow this). Most browsers also allow you to save links to a Favorites or Bookmarks folder.

24. Email

25. Our new group email mbmg@mbmgs.org Contact: Liz Burns group.admin@mbmgs.org

26. changing your MBMG email address • Contact Liz and Robin if you change your email address: • On home page click Contents (menu) • Scroll to Email or House Address Change • Click and enter the new info into the blank email that opens • It will Send to the right people • Contact Robin if your home address changes. • Liz: group.admin@mbmgs.org • Robin: robinsanders@redshift.com

27. general email tips – sending mail Send a message to everyone at mbmg@mbmgs.org or to individual recipients whose names you enter in the To box Reply (or Replyto Sender) sends your reply only to the one person in the From list. • Reply All (or Reply toEveryone) sends your reply to everyone listed in the From and To lists. Check the names – are you sure you want to send your email to EVERYONE listed….?

28. email – courtesy If you wish to send an off topic email, join offtopic@mbmgs.org Please do not ‘spam’ the group email with non-gardening related emails.  Thank you.

29. email – making room for more It is possible to fill up your mailbox. Any new emails that arrive when your mailbox is full will “bounce” back to the sender. That means you won’t receive them. It is therefore essential to delete emails that are no longer relevant, or save relevant emails in folders.

30. email – sorting Group your emails to read, save or delete:Click on a heading Name (or From) alphabetizesDate lists newest to oldest Click again and the order is reversed To remind yourself to revisit an email that requires attention, mark it as Unread. To delete a large number of emails easily, click Name or From to sort by sender, then you can delete all the emails from a particular sender.

31. email – sorting This email Inbox is sorted by date (and time), most recent first, by default.

32. email – sorting Clicking From sorts alphabetically by name; click it again and it reverses the order Z to A.

33. email – finding an email You can also sort by subject or, in some email programs like Yahoo, even by the size (number of bytes) of the email If you remember what the email was about, but not who sent it (or when, or the subject line) some email programs (Yahoo, Gmail) let you search by a word or phrase contained in the email These features make it much easier to search for the email you just HAVE to find (so you can delete it – hint hint)

34. email – maintaining sanity • Try not to hang on to unimportant or outdated emails – it slows everything down and makes you C RA Z Y • Delete: Keep an email in your Inbox only until you have dealt with it; then delete it or move it to a folder. • Save: Create folders with descriptive names (i.e., “MyFlowers,” “MBMG,” “Family”) and save (Move to Folder) your emails there – after you’ve answered them.

35. email – organizing • As an alternate to creating several different folders for one email address, you can have a unique email address for each of your categories: • Work: ckriedtwork@gmail.com • MBMG: ckriedtmbmg@gmail.com • Friends and Family: ckriedtfandf@gmail.com • Shopping: ckriedtspendalot@gmail.com • That way if you don’t want to read anything from Aunt Mathilda, you don’t have to check the family email account.

36. email – sending photos Essentially, all email software allows you to Attach an image or photograph to your email. Some (Outlook Express, Gmail, Comcast, AOL) allow you to embed your photo right into the body of the message.

37. email – sending photos To Copy and Paste an image from a source on the Internet (a web page) into the body of your email message • Open both the web page and email windows • Find the image online • Right-click or Select it and choose Copy • Paste it into the body of the message you are composing • OR you can select the image on the website and drag it directly to your email window

38. email – sending photos If you upload your photos to an online photo site (Shutterfly, Photobucket, ImageShack, etc.), you can Copy and Paste those photos into your email messages. Follow the directions to join (they’re free) and upload images from your computer Open any page that displays your photos (in Shutterfly, you view them as a Slideshow) Right-click or Select the photo you want to use, select Copy; Paste it into an email message that you’re composing (or drag and drop)

39. our Master Gardener photo site www.mbmgs.shutterfly.com

40. www.montereybaymastergardeners.org Yeah, it’s a long name…

42. navigation The menu will take you to any page on the site. On the homepage, the menu is to the left of the logo.

43. navigation On all the other pages, the menu is at the top just under the title.

44. navigation These ‘buttons’ at the bottom of the page will open sites that might be of interest.

45. find ATinformation or the latest publications “What’s Happening” and “GOTE”

46. advanced training table

47. also on this page: • Events • Classes • Organizations • Community Gardens & Other Volunteer Opps • Reporting, Hours & Badges • University of CA Gardening and Agriculture Videos & Podcasts Scroll down or click on the menu item.

48. contents Start here to see what has been added or updated.

49. gardening on the Central Coast for non-MGs

50. newsletter