- Browser Tips 'n Tricks Pg. 2 -

Windows includes disk-caching technology called vcache; this uses memory to store the most recently accessed information on your hard drive. Although vcache can grow and shrink dynamically, its size can increase to more than half of the memory on your system very quickly. However vcache shrinks its buffer size much more slowly. While all this speeds disk access, the memory that vcache uses is at least temporarily unavailable to Windows or its applications.

What happens is when vcache steals more memory then necessary it will cause Windows to swap out more to the swap file. The end result is more hard-drive activity and reduced performance. In Netscape, this disk-cache can be adjusted and cleared by going to Edit, Preferences, Advanced, Cache, and then setting and clearing the appropriate cache.

A domain name has at least three levels and, oddly enough, they're listed in reverse order in the URL. For example, in the domain name http://www.goecities.com, The top-level domain name is .com. The second-level domain name is geocities. The third-level domain name is www. Here are some new ones on the market:

BIZ - for businesses
INFO - for any Web site
PRO - for professionals (doctors, lawyers, accountants)
AERO - for airlines
COOP - for non-profit cooperatives
MUSEUM - for museums
NAME - for personal Web sites

These are the first new Internet domain suffixes (also known as top-level domains, or TLD's) to be added since the 1980's, and the intention was to open up the "domain space" to people who missed the opportunity to register a .com, .net or .org domain, and provide a better framework for categorizing Web sites according to content.

Most people consider e-mail to be the Internet's most valuable aspect. That's why changing e-mail programs can be as frightening as taking the SATs.

Here's how to import your addresses:

1. Click the program's Inbox icon.

2. On the main menu, click File.

3. Click Import, Address Book.

4. When a list of competing e-mail programs pops up in a window, select the name of your old program from the list and click Import. Your addresses copy themselves into their new mailbox.

5. Click the Close button to finish.

The following are all autoresponder addresses that you can use to test if your email is working. You send a blank message to the address shown and in a few minutes an autoresponse is received.

echo@seattlelab.com
echo@telcomplus.net
echo@tu-berlin.de
Internet@gurus.com
ping@stamper.itconsult.co.uk
test@alphanet.ch
test@mega.bw
test@netsydney.com

If you forget, you can always just send yourself mail … that's easy enough.

Netscape Messenger gives you the option of either sending your e-mails immediately after you click Send, or queuing them up to send later in a batch. If you decide to queue them, you can send them at your leisure by clicking File, Send Unsent Message

CC denotes a Carbon Copy and indicates that recipients receive a copy of the original and also see which others received a copy. BCC denotes a Blind Carbon Copy and indicates that the recipients receive a copy of the original but do not know which others received a copy..

If you want each person to know who received a copy and their email address, then use the CC field. If you DON'T want each person to know who received a copy and their email address, then us the BCC field.

EXAMPLE: Send email to person A with a CC to persons B and C. Persons B and C see that email was addressed to A with a CC to B and C. All 3 people see names and addresses.

Send email to Person A with a BCC to persons B and C. Only A knows that B and C received a copy. B and C only know that A was sent the email and that each received a copy. However, neither B nor C know that each other received a copy nor do they know the address of the other.

The BCC field is normally used to send mass mailing with a long list of names addresses but NOT using To: or CC: name and address fields.

EXAMPLE: If I wanted to send a personal mailing to 100 people on my Chanukah list (or Christmas list, whatever your persuasion) which btw I never bother with; lazy I guess ... and if the email program I used supported 100 addresses, then I would address the email To: myself and BCC 100 separate names. All 100 people would receive the message from me but not one of them would know that 100 other people received the same message. Neat, huh? Some call it sneaky.

If you want to send an email while surfing, you don't need to open your email program. Just type in "mailto:" without the quotes in the browser location box, where a Web site URL normally goes. Follow it, without spacing, with the email address of your intended recipient. Touch Enter and an email composition window will open with the email already addressed for you.

A quick way to get to a Web site if you know the URL and don't want to wait for the home page of your Internet browser to load first, is to click on Start and then Run. Type the URL in the Run dialogue box and press the enter key. Your default browser will automatically start, and take you directly to that web page.

Your browser will start faster if it doesn't have to load a default page from the Internet. One way to take advantage of that fact is to make the default home page something from your hard drive -- which will almost always fill faster than anything that must be pulled from the Internet. An even better way is to opt for no default home page at all. In Internet Explorer you Open Tools, Internet Options, click the General tab, and click Use Blank for the home page. In Netscape you open Edit, Preferences, Navigator and choose the Netscape starts with Blank Page button.

Netscape is amply equipped with Find powers. While you're in a Web page you can press Ctrl+F to open a Find dialog box (my fingers automatically go pinky on Ctrl and pointer on F). You choose what to find, whether to look up or down from the cursor position, and whether to Match the case of the text you're seeking. Better yet, you can keep looking again and again for this same stuff by pressing F3 or Ctrl+G.

The Internet Explorer browser saves a history of sites you've visited. That speeds your return to those sites. It also lets others know where you've been. To eliminate that vulnerability, you can give up some ease by erasing the history.

1. Open Tools, Internet Options.
   
2. Click Navigator.
   
3. In the History area of the page, click the Clear History button.
   
4. Click OK. If you want the history gone entirely, not restocking itself, then set the expiration days to 0.

The Netscape Navigator browser saves a history of sites you've visited. It tells you where the browser has been. Press Ctrl+H and you'll see a window full of Web pages -- with their titles, URLs, and other details. Press Ctrl+F while in this window and you'll see the Search History List dialog box, where you can get pretty darn specific. This history speeds your return to those sites.

Using the search commands you can precisely identify the saved site you seek -- from what is in its title to when you first or last visited it. Click the More button if you want to fine-tune your search by insisting on several attributes the item must match.

To eliminate that vulnerability of "others" seeing your surfing history, you can erase this history.

1. Open Edit, Preferences.
   
2. General Tab.
   
3. In the History area of the page, click the Clear History button.
   
4. Click OK. If you want the history gone entirely, not restocking itself, then set the expiration days to 0.

W hen you're surfing the Web and you go to a page that has frames, you often find yourself stuck with those frames when you go on to another page. The frame stays with you no matter where you go. Getting rid of frames is pretty easy.

In Netscape Navigator:

1. Right-click within the frame.
2. From the popup menu, select Open Frame in New Window.
3. When the page opens up in a new window, close down the first version.

In Internet Explorer:

1. Hit your Back button to return to the page you came from.
2. Right-click the ink you followed.
3. From the popup menu, select Open in New Window.
4. When the page opens up in a new window, close down the first version.

Right-clicking in your browser is a powerful thing. One thing it can do is give you a chance to directly save a graphic image from the Web page to your own hard drive. Right-click the image and then choose Save. In Navigator, this appears in the "context" menu as Save Image As. In Internet Explorer it is Save Picture As. Then you get to choose both the folder where you want the image and the filename it should have.

Open the Message Center (click the green arrow pointing up next to the NS logo). Do you have any folders as sub folders of "Trash"? If so, remove them. Close Communicator, go to C:\Program Files, Netscape, Users (name), Mail, and delete inbox.snm and trash.snm. They will be rebuilt automatically. DO NOT delete files without the .snm extension as these are your actual message files and mail will be lost. Now restart Netscape and again go to Files, Compress and it will rebuild the index files (.snm).

There are a few ways to keep it going, even during periods of no activity. One way is to click on the Start Button, select the 'Run' option, then type: "command" (without the quotes). Once on the command line, type: "PING www.whatever.com -t" (without the quotes). Then, minimize the window (do not close it). If you're in full-screen mode, hit Alt+Enter to switch to window mode, then minimize it. When you're ready to stop this 'background' process, flip back to it and hit Ctrl+C. Now, I'm not suggesting you do this all the time, but it may come in handy when you need a constant (untouched) connection.

Web pages can include some "active" elements -- such as JavaScript and ActiveX instructions -- that will make them run little programs on your computer. If just hearing about those gives you the heebie-jeebies, with nightmares of someone else at the wheel of your processor and hard drive -- then go to code red. Turn up your security status.

1. In Internet Explorer 5.0 or 5.5, open Tools, Internet Options.
2. Click the Security tab.
3. Click the Custom Level button.

Now you can turn off such threats as JavaScript and ActiveX, though you should keep in mind that the possible good work that these things might do -- calculating things for you and displaying useful information -- will now also be a dead issue.

Start Internet Explorer 5.0 or 5.5 and what do you see? The default home page, naturally. What if you don't want that particular page to be your home page? Just change it to one you'd like to see.

1.Browse to the page you'd like to have as a default.
2.Open Tools, Internet Options.
3.Click the General tab.
4.For the default page, choose Use Current.
5.Click OK.

Now your IE will display that page each time you start and "default can be your own." (Also keep in mind that this can be a page online, or a page on your hard drive.)

Internet Explorer provides a feature for easily selecting the display font size. Right click on a blank area of the toolbar and select Customize from the menu. From the list presented, click Size and Add, then close.

1. Run the Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE).
2. Open HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ InternetShortcut.
3. Double-click on the EditFlags value (in the right pane), and change it's contents to 00 00 00 00.
4. Next, open HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ InternetShortcut\ shellex, and delete the IconHandler key (in the left pane).
5. Close the Registry Editor when you're done.
6. Then, open Explorer, select Folder Options from the View menu, and choose the File Types tab.
7. Find and select Internet Shortcut on this list,
8. Click Edit, and then click Change Icon.
9. When you're done choosing an icon, click Ok in each open Window.

1. Basics of the Internet

   If you're new to the Internet, you may be confused at many of the terms that come with it, such as hyperlink or URL. Here's a brief glossary so you won't be lost reading about the Internet.

   The Internet is a system connecting millions of computers around the world. Its best known feature, the World Wide Web, presents rich content, including multimedia clips and even live radio and video. You view this content on Web pages by using a Web browser, such as Netscape or Internet Explorer. Typically the top-level page of a Web site is called the home page, from which other pages branch off.

2. Getting around on the Internet

   Each Web page has a specific address, sometimes known as a URL (uniform resource locator). You can type the address to go directly to the page. It indicates a number of things: for example, with http://geocities.datacellar.net/buddychai/ tells your browser to connect to my Web site, HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), tells your computer how to communicate with the world wide web, www. (Hypertext is a method of writing content for the Internet.) WWW indicates that the site is on the World Wide Web. The .com suffix indicates a commercial site (as .edu is used for educational institutions, or .org for other organizations).

   The commonest way to move around the Web is by clicking text or pictures called links, or hyperlinks, which have addresses coded into them. Your mouse pointer changes to a hand shape when it passes over a link. You can either browse (surf) the Web at random or search for a page of interest to you by using a search service, which can search the Internet for words you specify.

3. Using the Internet safely

   You may find pictures, sounds, or programs to download (install) to your computer from the Internet. Security settings help you download safely, to avoid unreliable software or viruses, and to make online shopping or e-mail communication more secure. Also, because some information on the Web may not be suitable for everyone, there are programs built into browser where you can control what sites are viewable from your computer.

4. Communicating on the Internet

   In addition to the well known e-mail, you can use chat rooms and newsgroups to connect with people around the world. In a chat room you conduct a real-time typed conversation with one or more people, and in newsgroups (sometimes aptly called bulletin boards) you read messages that have been posted, or post your own. You can even make Internet phone calls using your computer.

A word about newgroups: A quick scan of newsgroup headers can reveal a lot of information, not only about the subjects under discussion but also about the culture and customs of the group you're about to join. They can tell you other things about the group, too:

* Do you see an abundance of current postings? If so, the group is probably active and a good place to get current information on your topic.

* Do you see a lot of spam? If so, the group is probably no longer visited by people who actually care about the subject.

* Do you see lots of nonsense headers? The group may have outlived its usefulness as a research tool and deteriorated into a social hangout or a total waste of time.

You can access your IP address and other information quickly and easily from the DOS prompt by selecting MS-DOS Prompt from the Programs category in the Start menu. Simply type "ipconfig /all" from the DOS prompt. All relevant information will display instantly.

You can disable Java entirely in your user preferences. Click Edit, Preferences, then select Advanced on the left side of the Preferences window. Uncheck the Enable Java option. Unfortunately, changing this setting means you can't take advantage of the bells and whistles afforded by Web sites that feature Java but many people feel uneasy (as I do) with Java pages.

Create a new profile to resolve the problem. To do so:

1. Shut down Communicator.

2. Go to the Start menu and choose Programs, Netscape Communicator, Utilities, User Profile Manager.

3. Create a new profile for yourself using all of the information from your old profile (i.e. Mail server settings) except make sure to name the profile something different so that it doesn't overwrite your old profile.

4. Check to make sure that the new profile is working. If it is you can shut down Netscaape.

5. Open up Explorer, go to your User directory (C:\Program Files\Netscape\Users\) and then the old profile name, and copy the Mail folder, the News folder, the bookmark.htm file, and the abook.nab file, and any .na2 files into the new profile directory.

6. Check to make sure that everything is working and then go back to the User Profile Manager to delete your old profile.

For a little more privacy in Netscape, make sure the Location Bar doesn't hold on to its list of the sites you've recently visited. That will prevent other users of your computer from seeing where you've been by clicking the location drop-down menu.

1. Open Edit, Preferences.

2. Choose Navigator.

3. Near the bottom of the Preferences dialog box, for the Location Bar History, click the Clear Location Bar button.

4. Click OK.

You want Netscape to give you sound notification that you have email? Go to Start menu/Programs/Netscape/Utilities … click "Netscape Mail Notification" (puts icon in your Tasktray, that little area on the right side of your taskbar). Then right-click the icon, click Options ... Frequency should be 9 minutes (an effort to fool your ISP in keeping you connected). Then click "Play the Sound File" and browse to your favorite wav file. Finally check "Show Animation to Indicate New Mail Waiting."

Sometimes it is necessary to give your modem specific instructions called command strings. Windows lets you enter these through the Control panel.

1. Choose Start, Settings, Control Panel.
2. Double-click the Modems icon.
3. Click the General tab.
4. Select your modem from the list.
5. Click Properties.
6.Click the Connection tab.

Now you can use the Extra Settings control for your commands. First, write down what's there so you can restore it if necessary. What should the new commands be? Look in your modem manual or call your ISP.

If you don't like the information printed at the top and bottom of pages printed from Netscape Communicator, click on File|Page Setup while in Netscape. Check only the information you want printed in the Header and Footer sections.

Take advantage of these handy shortcuts for Netscape to speed up your Web surfing:

Answer only the required questions on any online form. Don't volunteer information: Generally, the company is just trying to get free marketing research out of you. Watch for an asterisk or other symbol indicating which fields in a form must be filled. Ignore the rest. And whatever you do, don't give your social security number. There's no legitimate reason any shopping site should have your social security number. Illegitimate sites can use it to steal your identity online, with all sorts of nasty consequences for you.

When you're connected to the Internet, you're "online." Offline viewing enables you to browse the information on pages from your favorite Web sites even when you aren't connected to the Internet. For example, if you come across a great Web page but don't have time to read it at the moment, you can save it and then read it offline later.

To be able to view a Web page with the Internet Explorer 5 browser when you're not connected to the Internet, you mark the page as available for offline viewing when you add it to your favorites folder:

1. Choose one of the browsing windows (My Computer, Windows Explorer, or Internet Explorer 5) and select the folder, file, or Web page to which you want to create a link.

2. Choose Favorites, Add to Favorites. The Add Favorite dialog box appears. If you want a different description to appear on the favorites menu, edit the name that currently appears in the Name text box.

3. Click the box labeled Make Available Offline. A check mark appears in the box.

4. Click OK.

Offline viewing of Web pages is also useful when you're marking a Web page whose content changes frequently and you don't want to have to keep revisiting the page to see if anything new has been added.