Advanced Operations

Before we take our first cruise on the Web, let's examine a few advanced operations in Internet Explorer that can make your online life a lot easier.

Saving Your Favorite Pages

When you find a web page you like, you can add it to a list of Favorites within Internet Explorer. This way you can easily access any of your favorite sites just by selecting them from the list.

To add a page to your Favorites list,

1.	Go to the web page you want to add to your Favorites list.
2.	Pull down the Favorites menu, and select Add to Favorites.
3.	When the Add Favorite dialog box appears, confirm the page's Name and then click the Create In button to extend the dialog box.
4.	Select the folder where you want to place this link, and then click OK.

To view a page in your Favorites list,

1.	Click the Favorites button. The browser window will automatically split into two panes, with your favorites displayed in the left pane (see Figure 20.2). Figure 20.2. Click the Favorites button to display the Favorites pane.
2.	Click any folder in the Favorites pane to display the contents of that folder.
3.	Click a favorite page, and that page is displayed in the right pane.
4.	Click the Favorites button again to hide the Favorites pane.

Revisiting History

Internet Explorer has two ways of keeping track of web pages you've visited, so you can easily revisit them without having to re-enter the web page address.

To revisit one of the last half-dozen or so pages viewed in your current session, click the down-arrow on the Back button. This drops down a menu containing the last nine pages you've visited. Highlight any page on this menu to jump directly to that page.

To revisit pages you've viewed in the past several days, you use IE's History pane. Just follow these steps:

1.	Click the History button. The browser window automatically splits into two panes, with your history for the past several days displayed in the left pane.
2.	Your history is organized into folders for each of the past several days. Click any folder in the History pane to display the sites you visited that day. tip To sort the sites in the History pane by site, by most visited, or by most visited today, pull down the View menu within the pane and make a new selection.
3.	Each site you visited on a particular day has its own subfolder. Click a subfolder to display the pages you visited within that particular site.
4.	Click a specific page to display that page in the right pane.
5.	Click the History button again to hide the History pane.

Printing

Printing a web page is easyjust click the Print button. If you want to see a preview of the page before it prints, pull down the File menu and select Print Preview.

Blocking Pop-up Ads

If you've surfed the Web for any time at all, you've noticed those annoying pop-up windows that appear when you visit some websites. If your PC is running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 installed, there is now a way to get rid of those pesky pop-upsvia IE's Pop-up Blocker.

With the Pop-up Blocker turned on, most pop-up ads are automatically blocked. To activate this feature, pull down the Tools menu and select Internet Options. When the Internet Options dialog box appears, click the Privacy tab, then check the Block Pop-ups option. Click OK, and you'll never see another pop-up window again!