The most-used program on your computer is your Web browser, but there's a good chance you don't know much about it besides how to visit your favorite sites. There are a lot of myths about browsers,
some of which I've dispelled in the past, but today I want to help you get the most out of your browser with a few simple tricks you really need to know.
1. Choose your home page
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. Firefox has its own start page.
But if you always head to the same site first, why not just start there?
In Chrome, click the icon on the right with the three horizontal bars and choose Settings. On the left column, choose Settings and then 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 then click OK. The page – or pages – will load when Chrome starts.
In Firefox, click the icon on the right with the three horizontal bars and choose Options. On the General tab, set "When Firefox starts" to "Show my homepage." Then under that, type in the address you want for your home page. Then click OK.
In Internet Explorer, click the gear icon on the right and select Internet Options. Go to the General tab and under "Home page" enter the Web address you want to see on startup.
In Safari on Apple, go to Safari>>Preferences. On the General tab, go to "Homepage" and type in an address. Done!
2. Pin tabs
This is for Chrome and Firefox users who have favorite sites they leave open all day. Load up the site, right-click on the browser tab and choose "Pin Tab."
The page will appear as a smaller tab on the left side of the tab bar. No matter how many tabs you have open, it will still be sitting there. It will even reappear when you restart the browser. To unpin a tab you don't want anymore, just right-click 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?
4. Zoom text
Have you ever visited a page with text that was too small? If you've ever leaned in close to a computer monitor to read, you need to know this.
You can also hold down the CTRL key and spin your mouse's scroll wheel. That will zoom in and out quickly.
5. Browse privately
Don't want your significant other knowing what his or her birthday present is? Want to make it hard for snoops to know where you're going online? Just fire up your browser's privacy mode.
6. See if your browser needs updating
See your online accounts and passwords
Do you remember every online account you’ve ever made? I know I sure don’t.
Your browser does, though. That's great when you want to review your old accounts and passwords. It's not so great when a snoop gets on your computer.
