Tag: Browsers

Setting your Default Web Browser

Setting your Default Web Browser

By |

When you click on links from emails or documents, your default Web browser will open these URLs. For example, if you use Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer is usually set as the default Web browser, unless you change it. If you install another Web browser, such as Firefox, you will most likely be prompted to change your default browser during installation. You can easily change your default Web browser at any time by opening the browser you would like to set as the default and adjusting the settings.

Firefox 3: Open Firefox; from the Tools menu, select Options. Click on the Advanced tab. Then make sure the General tab is selected.  Click Check Now to see if Firefox is set as your default browser. If it is not set to default, you will be prompted to select Firefox.

Internet Explorer:  Open Internet Explorer,  under Tools, select Internet Options. Click on the Programs tab. Click on the Make Default button to set Internet Explorer as your default.

Safari:  Open Safari; from the Safari menu, select Preferences. From the Main tab, choose your default browser from the drop-down menu.


Save Web Forms as you Type with Lazarus

Save Web Forms as you Type with Lazarus

By |

If you’ve ever lost your work when typing in an online form, posting content to Blackboard or writing webmail, then you know how frustrating it can be!  Next time you can prevent this inconvenience by installing a very helpful Firefox add-on, Lazarus: Form Recovery. Lazarus automatically saves the text you have entered in a form, blog response or even an email and allows you to easily recover your work.  

After installing Lazarus, all you have to do to recover text in a Web document is return to the Web page and right-click on the field where you lost the data. You will have the option to recover text or to recover a form depending on what you need. After you select an option, the text is automatically re-entered.  You can also keep your data secure by setting Lazarus to require a password to restore your forms.

Private Web Browsing

Private Web Browsing

By |

When you surf the Internet, your Web browser stores various information from the websites you visit on your local hard drive. While the storage of Web browsing information may be convenient on your personal computer, if you use a shared computer you may not want to leave a trail of all of the websites you visit. An individual that uses a shared computer after you do may view your browsing history and if you didn’t securely log out of your email, online banking, or a shopping website, a malicious user could potentially access one of your accounts.

If you are using one of the computer labs at Loyola, the browsing history is automatically cleared each time you log out. However, if you are using a shared computer elsewhere on campus or other public locations it is a good idea to get in the habit of clearing your browsing history, especially when you access secure data.  The caveat of relying on clearing your browsing history is that you have to remember to do it.

If you use Firefox (3.5 and later), you have the option to activate a Private Browsing feature before you start surfing the Web.  Private Browsing prevents Firefox from retaining information about the sites you have visited on the computer you are using.  To use Private Browsing in Firefox, click on Start Private Browsing from the Tools menu.  Visit Firefox’s Private Browsing page to learn more.  Safari and Internet Explorer 8 also have similar private browsing options.