Why can't my browser find the website address I typed in?

Q  I wanted to follow the ‘Get free themes for Windows 7’ workshop published in Computeractive issue 358. However, I got stuck at the first step.

When I type www.snipca.com/X4499 into my browser I am told that no results are found. Probably my mistake, but why?
Ian Lindsay

A  We’ve checked the published link and it is working. A mistake commonly made by new or novice computer users is to execute web searches for website addresses, rather than typing them into the web browser’s address bar: this is all too easy to do because browsers often have multiple toolbars, some of which look just like the address bar.

Indeed, even Internet Explorer on a new Windows PC can suffer from this problem, because computer manufacturers often install additional software as part of strategic deals with software companies.

Anyway, all that’s required is to make sure you’re typing the address into the correct bar: in Internet Explorer, this is the long white bar at the very top and left-hand side of the browser.

To turn off some of those distracting toolbars, click Tools, point to Toolbars and then click to remove the ticks from alongside those you don’t want.