Finding the information you want on the Internet

You can find information on the Web in a variety of ways:

Click the Search button on the toolbar to gain access to a number of search providers. Type a word or phrase in the Search box.
Type go, find, or ? followed by a word or phrase in the Address bar. Internet Explorer starts a search using its predetermined search provider.
After you go to a Web page, you can search for specific text on that page by clicking the Edit menu, and then clicking Find (on this page).
Note: If a Web address doesn't work, Internet Explorer asks if you want to search for similar Web addresses. You can change this setting so that Internet Explorer searches automatically without prompting. For more information, click Related Topics.



Listing your favorite pages for quick viewing

When you find Web sites or pages that you like, you can keep track of them, so it's easy to open them in the future.

Add a Web page to your list of favorite pages. Any time you want to open that page, just click the Favorites button on the toolbar, and then click the shortcut in the Favorites list.
Add a page to your list of favorite pages

If you have a handful of sites or pages that you visit often, add them to your Links bar.
Add a page to your Links bar

If there is one page you visit most, you can make it your home page so that it appears every time you start Internet Explorer or click the Home button on the toolbar.
Change your home page

Note: If you forget to add Web pages to your Favorites or Links bar, click the History button on the toolbar. The History list shows where you've been—today, yesterday, or a few weeks ago. Click a name from the list to display the page.


To change your home page

Your home page is the page that appears every time you open Internet Explorer. Choose a page that you want to view frequently, or one that you can customize to get quick access to all the information you want, such as the msn.com home page.

Go to the page you want to appear when you start Internet Explorer.
On the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
Click the General tab.
Under Home page, click Use Current.


To change the appearance of the Windows toolbar

You can add or remove standard toolbar buttons, use smaller toolbar buttons like the ones used in Microsoft Office, and change the order they are displayed on the toolbar. Just right-click the toolbar, and then click Customize.
You can move or resize the Address bar and Links bar by dragging them up, down, left, or right. You can even move them into the menu bar!
You can hide the Address bar or Links bar by right-clicking the toolbar, and then clearing the check mark for each item you want to hide.
You can add items to the Links bar by dragging the icon from the Address bar or dragging a link from a Web page.
You can rearrange items on the Links bar by dragging them to a new location on the bar