I bought my first Classic Web TV in November of 1997 and started building my first web site at Geocities in January of 1998. I have learned a lot about the internet, Web TV, and building a web site since then, but I also know that I still have a lot to learn. Everyday that I turn on my Web TV, I learn something new. I know how confusing the internet can be and have listed some sites here and on other pages of my web site to help other Web TV users in getting as much enjoyment out of this "magic box" as I do. If you have any questions or need any help, feel free to contact me. I may not know the answer, but hopefully, I can point you in the right direction.

A special note to all Web TV users. Before you enjoy the rest of my page, it is important that your read this.

I finally got a computer in March of 2003. It was free, so the price was right. This means that I will not be updating this page as much.

TRANSLOADER	CUT AND PASTE	MIDI SEARCH ENGINES
THE INTERNET TOURBUS	TRICKS	THE CLIPART DIRECTORY
CLIPBOARD 05/9/04	FREE WEBSITE LIST	LINKS
HTML TAGS	HOME PAGE INSPECTION	FAXING
PRINTING INFORMATION	MYBOOKMARKS	COMING SOON
MSNTV HELP UTILITIES	ALT KEY TUTORIAL	WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER
CREATE A GRAPH	REMOTE MSN TV MAIL	COMING SOON

TRANSLOADER

• A great tool for builders of home pages. You can transfer midi, gif, jpg, and wav files to your web site. Gone are the days of linking to other sites for these files.
  • Domania Freeloader
    • Domania Freeloader contains 5 FTP uploaders, so if you have a problem with one, click on one of the others.
  • Cap ~ n ~ File Collection
    • Has 3 transloaders.

CUT AND PASTE

• With our classic upgrade of July 1998, we received this very useful tool. With cut and paste, you can copy text from any site on the web and use it on your own web site or in emails and NGs. You can also use it to edit your text files. Another great use is for copying URLs. Just think, no more errors in writing down and transferring those funny little addresses.
  • Cut, Copy, Paste
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THE INTERNET TOURBUS

• A free newsletter that you received twice a week via email. The newsletter sends you information about the internet and sites on the internet. Some of the information sent is uter related, but I have found some interesting sites through this newsletter. Click on the image below for more information.
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TRICKS

• Here are some of the tricks that I have found. You may find that all of the tricks below may not work for you. This is because there is more than one type of box, Original Classic, New Classic, Plus, etc. Also, everyone is not running the same upgrade, 2.5, 2.6, 2.6.1, 2.7 etc.
  • WebTV has reinstated an old trick to see the amount emails that you have sent or received. Go to your mail inbox and place your cursor over the most recent e-mail. Hold down the "Ctrl" and "Cmd" keys at the same time and you will see the amount of e-mails in the status bar at the bottom of the screen.
  • You have been surfing for a while and want to know if any of your secondary users have received any emails. You can switch users to see, then select your primary user again and wait for the page to load or try this trick.
    • This trick only works when you are logged on as primary user. Go to settings, click extra users, and then click on remove user. You will see a list of your secondary users and how many emails they have. You can also put the extra users page in your favorites and assign it a short cut key.(NOTE:Click on "Remote MSN TV mail" in the index for a way to read secondary users email while still logged in as primary user.)
  • There are several ways to determine which upgrade version you are running.
    • The first way is to power off your unit, click the "Option" key twice and then type 411. When you power on your unit, a screen with the version you are running will appear.
    • The second way is to click on "E-mail" from your home page, click on settings, click on "Word List", choose "add word", type in "&vers;", click on "add word" and then click on "Done". In the future, to see what version you are running, click on "Word List". You can also find out what phone number was dialed to connect to Web TV by typing in "☎" and to check your connection rate, type "&rate;". When you add any of these words, don't use the quotation marks, but make sure you type in the semi colon.
  • Highlight a text or image link and then press the "Ctrl" and "Cmd" keys at the same time and you will see the URL of the link.
  • After the update of November 1999, the trick for viewing the source code of emails didn't work anymore. Here is the latest version of the trick. Forward the email that you want to view the code of to yourself. But, before you hit send, delete everything on the subject line and hit enter 3 times. Press the "Alt" and "Z" keys down, this will give you the symbol �. Cut and paste the symbol by pressing the "Cmd" and "A" keys, then the "Cmd" and "X" keys. Go back to the subject line and press the "Cmd" and "V" keys. Now press the send key. You will receive a new email message containing the code. If you have any problems with these instructions, drop me a line and I will help you to get it to work.
  • Do you own a Web TV Plus or New Classic unit? Did you know that your 56K modem may not be enabled by Web TV. To find out, call Web TV at 1-800-469-3288 and ask them to check it out for you. If you find that it isn't, ask them to enable it. Once this is done, unplug your unit for 5 minutes and then plug in your unit again. When you turn on your unit you will be asked if the unit has been moved, click on the moved button, this will update your box with the new information. I did this to my New Classic unit and increased my connection speed from 32,000 kbps to 52,000 kbps.
  • Are you tired of deleting one letter at a time? Put the cursor behind the line you want to delete and press cmd and the delete button and the line is deleted.
  • Are you tired of moving your cursor one letter at a time to get to the beginning or end of a line? Press cmd and the appropriate left or right arrow.
  • Here is a useful trick for people editing their web pages. To move to the top of your edit page, press the "Options" key, then click on the "find" button, type in <<>html and press enter.
  • Have you ever run across a drop box with a long list to choose from, like the countries of the world or all the states? After you bring up the list, type in the first letter of what you want. This will take you to that part of the list.
  • To quickly scroll up or down a web page, hold the command key and Scroll Up or Scroll Down key at the same time.
  • When using the find option on the options screen, push the command key and "G", at the same time, to move to the next occurrence on the word you are looking for.
  • Do you want to press just one address and have all your friends addresses show up in the email address area? Go to your mail address book, copy all the addresses using cut & paste, click on add, put in a name, such as "List", paste the addresses, delete the addresses that you don't want, and put a comma and a space after each address. If it doesn't accept them all you can separate them into more than one list.
  • TABLE of CONTENTS
    • Thirteen pages of codes and tips.
  • More to come.
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THE CLIPART DIRECTORY

• A great collection of links to web sites that contain icons, backgrounds, buttons, animated gifs and much more for you to add to your home page.
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CLIPBOARD Ty_Tools

• Have you ever had to search for a piece of paper to write down a URL of a site that you have found, only to lose it later? Now you have a place to store URLs and notes for later reference. The Clipboard can store text for six months. I suggest that you add it to your "F" keys to keep it handy.
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Free Website List

• This site contains over 70 links to sites that will host your web site. If you are looking for a site to host your new web page or are thinking of mirroring your site, check it out. Not all of the sites will work with Web TV, but I am sure that you will find one that will work for you.
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SEARCHING THE INTERNET FOR A CERTAIN MIDI FILE

• This site contains 8 search engines for midi files and also has 8 links to other sites to help you find that midi that you are looking for.
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FAXING

• You can receive faxes for free. When you receive a fax it comes as an email attachment, which you click on to see the fax. The quality is not the best, but if you print out the fax, it is easier to read.
  • Efax.com
    • For receiving free faxes.
    
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HTML ELEMENTS

• The following sites give descriptions, examples and which browser versions support each HTML element and attribute. A great reference if you are building a web page.
  • HTML Tag List
  • htmlcompendium.org
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PRINTING INFORMATION

• The sites listed below have various things that you can print using your Webtv and printer.
  • Ming's Neat Things to Print
    • Has two pages of links to print sites, one page for kids' print sites, various printer information, and a link to a site to balance your checkbook.
  • BUCK BABIES PRINTABLES
    • A great collection of sites that have printable pages for you to print out. A small sample of items that you can print are cards, labels, paper dolls, coloring books, games & puzzles, legal documents, note pads, graph paper, monopoly money, business cards, and calendars.
  • Hadoe's Print Shop
    • Print holiday cards, labels, business cards, charts and more.
  • Printables
    • Great list of links.
  • Printers
    • Here is a site to find out what printers are compatible with your WebTV unit. Click on the link on the right and then select your unit and a list of currently available printers will be shown. Also, printers that are no longer made, but that you might be able to find on Ebay and other places, are shown.
    • Printing with WebTV
      • Great site for printing information, including instructions on how to print addresses on #10 envelopes.
      
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  HOME PAGE INSPECTION

  • After you have built your home page it is a good idea to check to see if everything is in proper working order. I try to run a check on my web site every couple of months, especially to see if there are any dead links. The site that I have listed below requires that you run each page of your web site through their test, to get complete results for your web site. I found that it is a good idea to run their tests late at night, when there is less traffic, to avoid the "site to busy" error message. Also, I have found that sometimes a link will be reported as bad, when it really is not. So, before you delete any links, try them yourself to make sure that there really is a problem.
    • Siteowner.com
      • This is a great free site to check your web site for html coding errors, dead links, spelling errors, load time, browser compatibility, search engine readiness and link popularity. You will be surprised to find how many errors that are found at your site the first time that you run your web site through this test, I sure was.
      
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  MYBOOKMARKS

  • Have you ever ran out of room in your favorite folders and had to delete items to make room for new ones? Here is the solution to that problem. This free site has unlimited storage for all of your favorites. You can keep your favorites private or share them by adding a link to your web site or email.
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  WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER

  • The following links will provide you information about the Windows Media Player as well as sites that you can use.
    • Movie Magick
    • Music Videos
    • Snabbo's Web World
    • Webtv Streaming Media
    • WindowsMedia.com Media Guide
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  MSNTV Help Utilities

  As of September 15, 2002, the following directions will get you to the MSN TV Help Utilities page. MSN TV may move this feature in the future.

  From your main page click on "help" then "latest news", then go to the Help Utilities page. The features on this page are:

  • The telephone number your receiver is dialing to access the MSN TV service.
  • Speed of your connection.
  • If you have the call waiting feature enabled.
  • Your client software version.
  • View or delete cookies.

  Once on the Help Utilities page, click on "more information" for an explanation of each feature, especially if you decide to reset your cookies. You will have to go to each of your user names to view or reset your cookies.
  

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  Alt Key Tutorial

  • Here is a site to learn how to make those ���婆� characters you see in emails and on web pages.
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  Help by Tex

  • A site that answers a lot of common questions about WebTV. Scroll down his page to "Read your MSN TV Email on a Computer" for an easy way to set this up. This not only works for reading your email from a computer, but for also reading your email from another WebTV unit or reading the email of your other users without having to switch users. (NOTE:Look at my tricks section to find out how you can see, from your primary user, if any of your secondary users have emails.)
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  The NCES Classroom

  • You can create four different types of graphs at this site. The four types are area, bar, line and pie graph.
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  LINKS

  • Here are some other interesting and helpful web sites that I have found.
    • Poor Boy's ~Web TV Help Site~
      • Good tutorials about Web TV and the scrapbook.
    • Cap ~ n ~ File Collection
      • This site has 3 transloaders, a view source tool, links to gifs and midi files and much more.
    • J.D.'s HANDY WEBTV TIPS
    • Phil's Web TV Links Page
      • Phil's site contains pages of links that will answer any question you might have about Web TV. There are links to sites with information on HTML, wavs and midis, games, free email, guest books, Web TV help, and much more.
    • Andresen Family Web TV Home Page
      • This site has been helping Web TV users since November of 1996. Two special features of this site are that it has directions for using your E-mail as a WORD PROCESSOR and they will scan your pictures for you to use on your home page.
    • ogeretla's Home Page
      • A good site, make sure to check out his "Simple HTML Home Page Building" page. A very helpful, easy to read page that explains the basics of home page building.
      
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  I hope that you enjoyed your visit. Please visit the other pages on my web site:

  Jokes
  Fun Sites
  Christmas
  Halloween
  Information
  Home Page
  Music Room
  Game Room
  Space Exploration