We really wanted to give you an insight into just how simple our courses are to follow, especially if you've never used an online course before. So we've decided to give you free access to 2 lessons.

These lessons are taken from the “Windows 11 Made Simple” course and are all about searching the web using Microsoft Edge. Don't worry if it isn't the Windows 11 course you're interested in – all of our courses work in the same way.

Lesson 1 - Searching the web and using Bing

The fact that you can search for things on the internet is what makes it so useful. So in this lesson I'm going to show you how to search the web like a pro, and some tricks to help you along the way.

Now, I'm guessing you'll already have done some web searching before – but even if you're pretty confident at it, I'd still recommend working through this lesson. There might well be some bits you didn't know, and if you did know it all, at least you can feel a little bit smug!

Right, let's get stuck in with the first video – what search engines actually are and where to find them... Click or tap to watch.

The basics of searching the web

First, I'm going to show you what you get when you do a search in Edge, which uses the "Bing" search engine.

Most searches come up with thousands of results – so in this video I'll also show you how to look through as many as you like. Click or tap to watch it.

How to spot adverts in the results

Some search results are actually adverts – in other words, a company has paid the search engine to appear near the top of the list of search results when people search for whatever product or service they offer. But at first glance they just look like normal results.

Adverts in search results used to have the word “Ad” next to each one – it was a bit small and subtle but, once you knew where to look, it was easy to tell which results were adverts. But nowadays, you won’t always see anything like that next to individual search results.

Often adverts are listed together in sections on the results page. At the top of the list there’ll be a phrase like “Sponsored” or “Ads related to: [the thing you searched for]”. And sometimes there’ll be a horizontal grey line showing where the ads end and the normal results resume. But you won’t see any kind of indicator by each advert so it’s not always clear that all results within that section are adverts.

Likewise, if you’ve searched for a type of product (say, “Kettles”) you might get a row of ads stretching horizontally across the search results page, each linking you to a specific example of that product on the website for a particular shop. Again, there’ll be a word like “Ads” or “Sponsored” somewhere nearby.

It’s still not always obvious, and the tech companies that run these search engines (like Microsoft and Google) like to play around with how search results appear so it might keep changing.

Of course, just because something is an advert, that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with clicking on it. If it's what you're after, then that's absolutely fine. But there might be other results that are more the kind of thing you're after, so it's always worth looking at the other results on the page to see what’s most relevant to you, rather than clicking on the first one that catches your eye.

Getting better search results

Once you've got the hang of searching the internet, it's worth learning a few more tricks that can narrow down your results to exactly what you were looking for. This can save loads of time trawling through half-relevant websites to find what you're after.

In this video I'll cover:

• How to make your results more relevant
• How to just look for recent results

Click or tap to watch the video now, to see how to do these things.

Practice 1 – using more search terms: Back in Edge, search for Barrow. You'll see lots of results about Barrow in Furness, but also references to wheelbarrows mixed in alongside them. Now search for Barrow in Furness and you'll see that all your results are about the place Barrow in Furness, and its surrounding area.

Practice 2 – refining your results: In your search results about Barrow in Furness, go up to the top of the page, and click or tap on "Date" (you might have to click on "Tools" first, then "Date"), then choose "Past 24 hours". You should now see news articles and information about upcoming events in and around Barrow in Furness.

Searching for images and videos

There might be times when you just want to search for a particular picture or video – maybe a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge or the Mona Lisa for a child doing a project at school... or a video showing you how to fix a broken radiator or learn a new knitting stitch.

There's an easy tool for searching for images and videos, anyway – and I'll show you it in this next video. Click or tap to watch.

Practice: Open Edge and search for Knossos. You'll probably find information about the place, adverts for tours and package holidays to Crete and a few pictures. Now up at the top of the screen, click or tap on "Images" – and you should see a full page of pictures of the ruins at Knossos and maps of Crete. Click or tap on one of the pictures to see it in more detail. Then click on the cross in the top right corner of the black area to go back to the main list of pictures. Now click or tap on "Videos" at the top of the screen and you should see lots of videos about Knossos. Click or tap on one to watch it then click or tap on the cross in the top right corner to go back to the list of videos.

Changing the search engine from Bing to Google

Edge is set up to use Microsoft's own search engine, Bing – and that's what I've been showing you in this lesson so far. But you're not stuck with that one – if you'd prefer to use, say, the Google search engine instead, you can do. You need to go into the browser settings and change which search engine the address bar uses. But don't worry – that's not as tricky as it sounds!

Click or tap to watch this quick video now, and I'll show you how to do it...

Well, that's the basics of searching the internet covered. I hope you followed it all! And I hope it helps you get more out of your web searching. If you want to watch any of the videos again to check something, you can just go back and click or tap on them.

When you think you've understood it all, have a go at these questions.

When you're ready, click or tap on "Complete and continue" in the top right corner of your screen to go onto the next lesson.