Computer Basics · The Internet & Email · Lesson 1 of 5

Browser, Internet & Google

The internet, a browser and a search engine, and how they fit together.

The internet and your browser

The internet is a huge network that links computers all over the world. It lets them send words, pictures and videos to each other.

You reach the internet through an app. A web browser is the app you use to visit websites. Common browsers are:

• Microsoft Edge, which comes with Windows
• Google Chrome
• Safari, which comes with a Mac or iPhone
• Firefox

They all do the same job. If you know one, you can learn the others quickly.

A search engine is a website that helps you find other websites. You type a few words, and it shows a list of pages that match. The best known are Google and Bing.

People often mix these up. Here is an easy way to keep them apart:

• The internet is the road.
• The browser is your car.
• The search engine is a map that helps you find where to go.

On Windows, Edge is usually on the taskbar, the strip along the bottom of the screen. Its icon is a blue and green swirl. On a Mac, Safari has a compass icon in the Dock.

You can't break the computer by clicking around in a browser. Take your time.

Websites and addresses

A website is a set of pages that a company, group or person puts on the internet. Your library, your bank and your favorite store may each have one.

Every website has a web address. This is its exact name on the internet, like a street address for a house. Another name for it is a URL.

A web address often looks like www.example.com. Here is what the parts mean:

• www is short for World Wide Web. Many addresses leave it out.
• example is the site's name.
• .com is the ending. You'll also see endings like .org, .gov and .edu.

Spelling matters. One wrong letter can take you to a different site, or to no site at all.

Web addresses don't have spaces. They use dots, and sometimes slashes (/), instead.

In Edge, you'll see a small padlock next to the address on most sites. Some browsers show a different small icon there instead.

The padlock means what you send to that site gets scrambled. Others can't read it on the way. It does not prove the site is honest. So always check the site's name too.