Lesson 7: Handling Common Problems
Surfing the Web is not without some
snafus. Here are a few of the aggravations and what to do about
them.
Pop Up Ads
Many of the irritations and aggravations are caused by
aggressive marketers who want to get your eyes on their
information. One popular way to invade your screen is through
pop ups. Pop ups are ads that appear without your request
usually on top of the information that you want to view.
You can get rid of them by simply clicking on the X in the upper
right hand corner of the box containing the ad. Another kind of
ad has become increasing popular: the pop under ad. While you
are surfing the Web, these ads open under your browser window.
You may not see them until after you close your browser, at
which time you may wonder where the ad came from. Again, simply
close the window and ignore it.
Pop up and pop under ads are extremely aggravating. Remember, if
you respond to a pop up or pop under ad, you are letting the
marketers know that they have gotten your attention. If no one
ever clicked on these ads, marketers would consider them a
failure, and they would quickly disappear.
Page Not Found
You are already becoming familiar with the two major
characteristics of the Internet — it is mammoth and dynamic.
Often the dynamic quality of the Web can be frustrating. You may
have a particular site that you need to find or return to. You
carefully type in the URL and click Go. There is a message that
appears, "Page Not Found." The most common reason for a Page Not
Found error is a typo, so first check the address that you have
typed to make sure that it is a valid address with no spaces or
mistakes.
Occasionally, you will get a Page Not Found error simply because
of a glitch in the system. Retry the address again. If you still
get an error, try again later. If, after several tries, Page Not
Found still appears, the page may have been removed from the
Internet or moved to a new location making it inaccessible.
Web Traffic
Sometimes a Web page becomes inaccessible simply because there
are too many people trying to visit it at the same time. This
happened with several news sites after the September 11th
terrorist attacks. If this is the case, you may get a "Page Not
Found" or other error.
Also remember that during certain times of the day, there is
more traffic on the Internet, making Web sites appears more
slowly. You may want to avoid surfing during the very busy early
evening hours.
Stuck in a Page
One of the goals of every Web site is to get visitors to come to
their site. Sometimes Web creators use somewhat devious tricks
to keep you looking at their Web sites. You will notice that
occasionally when you click on a hyperlink, instead of being
transported to a new page, you see the new page appear in the
framework of the old page. No matter how many links you click
on, you cannot escape from the first page. Dealing with this
dilemma is easy. Just right-click on a hyperlink and choose Open
in New Window, and you will have broken free.
Conclusion
Congratulations! You have completed the Internet Basics Bee
Lessons. We hope you'll visit us again in the near future as we
add new and expanded topics. |