Frequently asked questions about bbc.co.uk

How do I make bbc.co.uk my homepage?

All browsers are slightly different but, although the words they use vary, most work in broadly the same way. The following instructions should work in most current browsers.

Go to the page that you want to select as your homepage.

Open the main internet tools menu in your browser - this may be called Tools, Edit, Firefox, Opera or Safari (depending on your browser and operating system). Select the tab marked 'General', 'Preferences', 'Options' or 'Internet Options' (depending on your browser).

You may see a button marked 'Use current page' or 'Use current'. If so, click this button then click OK. The page you were visiting should be saved as your homepage and you won't need to do anything else.

If not, look for a box entitled 'Homepage', 'Homepage location' or similar, which will contain the URL (web address) of your current homepage. Type http://www.bbc.co.uk, or the address of the page that you want, into this box and click OK. Your new homepage will be set.

If you need further help setting your homepage, check your browser's Help menu.

What is a cookie?

Cookies are small files stored on the computer by a website to remember information for the next visit, for example user preferences or the contents of an electronic shopping cart.

See BBC WebWise for more information about cookies and how they work.

To find out how the BBC uses cookies, see the Privacy and Cookies policy.

Why don't my settings save?

Many BBC sites use cookies (see What is a cookie? ) to remember your settings or preferences.

If your settings are not saved, it may be that cookies are not enabled on your computer, or are deleted at regular intervals for added security.

See BBC WebWise for information about changing your cookie settings.

What is RSS?

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a way of getting a 'feed' of content from a website delivered, rather than having to visit the site itself.

Different RSS feeds can be automatically pulled together in a single place so that you can, for example, see headlines from all UK newspapers at a glance.

Find out more about RSS feeds.

See lists of all RSS feeds available from the BBC or just BBC news feeds.

Why is some content only available in Real format? I want to use Windows Media Player, Quick Time or something else.

When the BBC first launched audio and video on its website, streaming technology was fairly new and, at the time, RealPlayer was predominantly used. We entered into an agreement with Real to provide the software (free of charge) to users of the BBC site.

Since then, the number of streaming applications has increased. The BBC must add infrastructure for each type of software supported, so increasing the number of software applications means an increased cost to licence fee payers. We constantly try to strike a balance between what our viewers and listeners would like and spending the licence fee wisely.

Most of our news and sport clips are now available in both RealPlayer and Windows Media Player formats. Increasingly, we are also using Flash video in addition to, or instead of, these applications. For example, the BBC iPlayer uses Flash for streamed video.

I'm in the UK so why do I get error messages telling me I'm not?

Unfortunately the systems which tell us where in the world a user is located aren't foolproof which means that some UK-based users will receive this error message.

For example, some international companies that are based in the UK will route internet traffic through a central system in their home country. This means that our systems may identify these users as non-UK.

Similarly, some web accelerator software will send information via central Europe or the USA, with the same result.

Finally, if the IP address (the unique number associated with a computer) isn't recognised, you may see this message.

If you see this message from within the UK and Channel Islands, please log your details so that we can investigate.

I'm having problems registering or signing in to a bbc.co.uk website

Please contact the messageboard team to let them know about the problem.