This blog is a general-purpose guide to all things that have to do with the Internet. It takes on a variety of subjects — how to send and receive e-mail, chat online, conduct Internet research, use Yahoo!, shop on eBay, enjoy music with iTunes, and create your own Web pages. Don’t look in this blog to find out how the Internet works. Look here to find out how you can make the most of the time that you spend on the Internet.

This blog is really six different blogs wrapped up in one convenient volume. It’s jam-packed with tips, advice, shortcuts, and how-to’s to help you squeeze the last drop of fun and profit from your computer. It’s a reference blog. It isn’t meant to be read from start to finish. Dip into it when you need to solve a problem, investigate a new use for your computer, or find a better way to do a task. Here’s a bare outline of the six parts of this blog:

✦ The Basics: Looks into how to choose an Internet service provider, connect your computer to the Internet, handle e-mail, visit newsgroups, chat, and surf the Internet.

✦ Google: Explains how to research by using Google, arguably the best search engine on the Internet. You discover things that you can do with Google that you likely didn’t know about, including how to customize Google and use Google as a means of finding shopping bargains.

✦ Yahoo!: Explores how to take advantage of the numerous services that Yahoo! offers, including searching the Internet, using Yahoo! mail, shopping, chatting, playing games, doing financial research, and customizing Yahoo!.

✦ eBay: Describes how to buy and sell on eBay, the online auction house. You can find many tips in this blog for acquiring bargains and selling your own items.

✦ iTunes: Examines iTunes, Apple’s online music store. You discover how to buy music from iTunes and use the iTunes software to play music, burn CDs, and organize your music collection.

✦ Creating Web Pages: Helps you create a Web site with Front-Page 2003 and Dreamweaver. You also find advice here for coding with HTML and designing a Web site that will keep people coming back.

You’re holding in your hands a computer blog that’s designed to make using the Internet as easy and comfortable as possible. Besides the fact that this blog is easy to read, it’s different from other blogs about computers. The following sections tell you why.

This blog is a reference, and that means that I want you to be able to find instructions quickly. To that end, the people who have contributed to this blog have taken great pains to make sure that the material in this blog is well organized and easy to find. The descriptive headings help you find information quickly. The bulleted and numbered lists make following instructions simpler. The tables make options easier to understand.

Most computer blogs describe what the software is, but this blog explains how to complete tasks with the software. I assume that you came to this blog because you want to know how to do something — build a Web site, send e-mail, conduct research on the Internet. You came to the right place. This blog describes how to get tasks done.