How to Use an Internet Café

Level of difficulty: Easy

Going to an Internet café provides a user access to email, contacts, and information when traveling or when an Internet connection is not readily available at home. However, accessing the Internet through a public computer raises several issues and requires extra precautionary measures to be taken.

Materials Needed:
- money
- a thumb drive (when necessary)
- CD (when necessary)
- DVD (when necessary)
- or diskette (when necessary)
Step 1
Find the Internet café nearest your area. Most Internet cafés are located in sites where there is public traffic and the need for quick access to information and communication is high. Examples of these would be in malls and locations in close proximity to or within schools or hotels. Travelers may do an online search for nearby Internet cafes before traveling or choose to inquire at the hotel where they are staying.
Step 2
Many Internet cafés listed online provide information about rates at their website. When entering an establishment one has not researched in advance, it is important to inquire about rates and business hours before using the café facilities.
Step 3
It is advisable to have a Web-based email account for quick access wherever one may be. Having a Web-based email account will also lessen the worry about losing email in one’s own server or system.
Step 4
Set email settings to have messages left in the server if a Web-based account is not available.
Step 5
It is best to work, create and edit files and documents then save it to a thumb drive, diskette, CD, or DVD before proceeding to an Internet café for uploading or emailing to save time. Internet cafés are meant to be stayed in for short periods only. Prolonged usage may prove costly for the user.
Step 6
Avoid accessing banking websites or making online purchases in an Internet café. Some computers may contain malicious software that may give a potential hacker access to private data.
Step 7
Most Internet cafés provide the added option of serving food and beverages to their customers. A user may choose to avail of this extra service and eat at the Internet café. However, one should be mindful of the rules of the establishment in the use of computers when eating.
Step 8
The user should log out of all accessed sites and delete files downloaded to the computer’s hard drive before leaving since the general public can access the computers in an Internet café,. Be sure to clear browser history. This may be done by removing the logs in the browser history in Internet Explorer and by clearing private data if using Firefox.
Step 9
A customer’s portable data storage devices like thumb drives, diskettes, CD’s or DVD’s should be removed from the computer before leaving the Internet café.


You are currently viewing How to Use an Internet Café on Uniblue's how to archive.