How to change your Internet Browser Homepage

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When you start up your browser to look at stuff on the Internet, the first page that comes up is... well whatever it is, your Internet starting page, that's your Home Page. But you're not stuck with it - you can change it to any page you like. There are currently (2009/07) about 9,000 million to choose from.

It would be nice if your homepage was http://www.zyra.org.uk , the front page of my site! But that's a matter of choice, and it's for You to decide whether you'd like to have that as your front page, or some other page, according to your choice!

Often, homepages on browsers are set to be the "default" which your ISP has put in, which is very nice for them. You also see links such as "Make us your homepage" on some sites.

Anyway, regardless of who you're going to have as your homepage, the page you have when you start up your browser should be Your Choice, and I will now explain how you can make the changes to have what you want:

If you have Internet Explorer:

Click on "Tools" on the bar of options at the top of the screen
Select "Internet Options"
You see a section which says "Home page" with a cute picture of a house, and a box which says "You can change which page to use for your home page... Address:"
In the box, you type in the Internet address (URL) of the page you want to have coming up when you start Internet Explorer. If it's a "www." address, make sure you put "http://www." and then the rest of it. Incidentally, it doesn't have to be an online address, but can be a local html page on your own machine.
Click on "OK" at the bottom.
Next time you start up Internet Explorer or press "Home" you will get the page you specified.

If you have Netscape Navigator:

Click on "Edit" on the bar of options at the top of the screen
Select "Preferences"
You see a section which says "Home page... Clicking the Home button will take you to this page. Location:
In the box you type in the Internet address (URL) of the page you want to have coming up when you start Netscape Navigator. If it's a "www." address, make sure you put "http://www." and then the rest of it. Incidentally, it doesn't have to be an online address, but can be a local html page on your own machine.
Make sure the dot in the middle of "Navigator starts with... o Home page" is set.
Click on "OK" at the bottom.
Next time you start up Netscape Navigator or press "Home" you will get the page you specified.

If you have Mozilla:

Click on "Tools" on the bar of options at the top of the screen
Select "Options"
Click on the tab at the top that says "MAIN"
You see a box which says "Home page... "
Click on the box and type in the Internet address (URL) of the page you want to have coming up when you start Mozilla. If it's a "www." address, make sure you put "http://www." and then the rest of it. Incidentally, it doesn't have to be an online address, but can be a local html page on your own machine.
Click on "OK" at the bottom.
Next time you start up Mozilla or press "Home" you will get the page you specified.

If you have Opera:

Click on "Tools" on the bar of options at the top of the screen
Select "Preferences"
Select the "General" tab.
Where it says "startup", select "Start with home page"
Click on the box and type in the Internet address (URL) of the page you want to have coming up when you start Mozilla. If it's a "www." address, make sure you put "http://www." and then the rest of it. Incidentally, it doesn't have to be an online address, but can be a local html page on your own machine.
Click "OK" at the bottom.
Next time you start up Opera or press "Home" you will get the page you specified.

Other browsers: YES! There are other browsers! Opera, Lynx, etc. I am very pro-diversity in a market, however I have not got any instructions for how to change your homepage for other browsers yet! Any helpful info on this will be added to this page. e-mail

In the meantime, it's worth considering that the homepage-changing instructions are likely to be a variant of the procedures mentioned here, so it may be worth having a try.

Also, if you DO decide to make the front page of this site your homepage, it's worth considering some of the advantages of doing this, as seen in Using This Site as Your Bookmark

Also see How to get a Full Set of Browser Controls and Toolbars

On Internet Explorer there is a snazzy feature: Make Zyra.org.uk your homepage! (don't forget to bookmark this page so as to be able to change it back later).

What if you change your homepage, and it doesn't stay changed?! It might be you have a spyware problem, or it might be something much more innocent; the shortcut icon has a preset destination. Here are some helpful comments on how to change your homepage and have it stay changed

On Microsoft computers, What To Do if you have the Taskbar and Start moved

I hope this is helpful! More about the helpfulness at this site here... [response]