 1 Internet Myths
 2 Internet speeds up emergency medicine
 3 Customize The Navigator Desktop
 4 Setup checklist for Internet Explorer
 5 Uninstalling IE 5.0
 6 Free Internet Access Let The Buyer Beware
 7 How to Access Internet Services by E-mail
 8 Privacy Analysis of your Internet Connection
 9 search engines
 10 People Search
 11 search tips

\1 Internet Myths

E-Myth #1: Developing an e-commerce Web site is cheap and easy "This is wrong, and it will be more and more wrong," says Thierry Sommer, who is in charge of strategic planning for multimedia activities for France Telecom in Paris. "Yes, it is easy to set up a Web site, but to set up an effective one is hard. If you really want to be serious, and have all the tools for payment, and if you want to be seen, it will cost you more and more money."

Martha Bennett, vp and senior e-commerce analyst for the Giga Information Group in Windsor, England, agrees: "The trouble really is that it is so frighteningly easy to set up a Web site -- and that deludes people into thinking that e-commerce is cheap and easy. It's not."  The true costs include online and offline "dot.com" advertising and Web-site designers, who understand how to make it easy for people to part with their credit-card numbers.

"Great Web designers are like great dancers -- they make it look easy," says Hilary Billings, president and CEO of RedEnvelope Gifts On-line. "To make it easy for the customer on the site means you have best-of-class technology, and that is not cheap or easy to build."

How expensive is it? In 1999, French Internet sites took in revenues from online advertising of less than $60 million -- but spent $226 million in advertising to attract Web surfers to their sites. "Anyone can put up a Web site, but if you want to sell things and have a shopping experience that is even comparable in any way to the other offerings out there, you are talking $3 to $10 million to get a site launched," says e-comm consultant Scott Galloway, founder, chairman and CEO of Brand Farm, a NY-based e-commerce incubator.

"You can easily be misled because of the ease of getting a site up -- but many businesses will learn quickly that getting a site up is one thing, but satisfying customers, attracting repeat business and building a brand is entirely another," adds Amazon.com's Frazier.

E-Myth #2: Build an e-commerce site, and the customers will come "Nonsense," says Brand Farm's Galloway. "Setting up an underfinanced Web site is like building a store on Mars. You are in the middle of nowhere unless people know about you, and unless you start spending money on brand building or advertising deals with other Web sites, which are exceptionally expensive, you'll never be noticed.

"To put up a fully functioning e-commerce site that has point-and-click ordering where the product gets there the next day costs millions of dollars -- if you can find the talent. Right now, a lot of people have that kind of money but still can't find the right people who know the technology."

E-Myth #3: E-commerce eliminates the middleman "The great promise of the Internet was eliminating the middleman -- and selling directly to the customer,'" says Roberto Pellegrini, executive vice president of Telecom Italia Mobile's (TIM) business division. "Yes, you can bypass traditional salesmen or sales channels, but to do so, you add logistics issues. You can click -- but someone still has to bring home the goods to the customer."

In other words, some intermediaries are avoided, but just as many new ones appear -- Internet consultants such as Brand Farm, for example. "Our business as a Web consultancy doubled last year, and this is a business that didn't exist three years ago," says Brand Farm's Galloway.

"There are services that do nothing but try to maximize online advertising, or analyze your e-mail patterns. Maybe you don't have a contract for laying bricks and mortar to build your store, but now you have to deal with someone who is selling you a site license for a database. The faces have changed, but they are still there."  What the customer sees on the screen is really just the tip of the iceberg, adds Amazon.com's Frazier. "And it is not a trivial tip. Below the customer faade, you have to deliver on the promise you have made to customers. Then you have to drive people to the site and deliver. That all costs a lot of money."  

E-Myth #4: E-commerce levels the playing field Even in cyberspace, brand names rule. In the end, brand identity is just as important on the Internet as off -- perhaps more. Virtual buyers can't see or feel the merchandise -- so they have to trust the Web site. Reputation is everything. "Long term, it is as difficult to build a brand on the Internet as it is using any other form of media," says Grant Broster, general manager of Internet-for-Business at BT in London.

"On the surface, there is really no difference between a company with a lot of money and a start-up," says TIM's Pellegrini. "Initially, they look the same. But e-commerce puts in place another type of playing field -- this one more related to creativity and marketing. The ability to come up with a creative and distinctive Web site is the way companies compete."

So far, the winners in the e-commerce marketing battle have been the businesses that are able to market their services most effectively. "If you look at the winners and losers in each retail category -- whether it is books or gifts -- one leader emerges, and they garner 50 to 60 percent of the total market capitalization for the entire industry," says Galloway. "And the rest fight over the remainder." 

True, the Internet can level the playing field for savvy entrepreneurial companies big and small, says BT's Broster, but it is a double-edged sword. "Big companies can expand their presence by putting up an e-commerce Web site -- and avoid having to set up a shop in every town in the nation. But at the same time, smaller companies can find new customers on the Web -- at home and abroad -- if they can attract people to their site."

E-Myth #5: E-commerce is global. It eliminates national borders While the Internet is the world's first 24-hour global medium, e-commerce is a far different story. International shipping of retail products, in particular, remains a costly and cumbersome undertaking.  While it may open new markets for small businesses, e-commerce does not automatically provide a global audience.

New buyers may be able to find your site - but they may not be able to buy anything from it if they are based in another country. "First you have to work on being found - and that can be costly," explains Giga Group's Bennett. "Once they have found you, you have to make sure that you are able to fulfill expectations and deliver the goods when you say you are - and that can be very difficult to do, especially when shipping intl. Some companies have to run mainframe computers just to handle the demand and process orders - and that can be hugely expensive."

Consistent global sales are a profitable reality only for global companies with national subsidiaries that can avoid heavy shipping costs across national borders. "The main growth in e-commerce in Europe at the moment is national sites -- not global ones," observes Bennett. "They know their markets, they know their national language. What upsets many Europeans is when they search for something, they often get as many U.S. stores back as they do stores from their own country.

This is hugely frustrating because even if the U.S. company will ship to Europe, which isn't often the case, there are usually significant duties and customs fees to pay on top of the shipping costs."  Even though the Internet won't provide any easy answers for e-tailers, it is certainly here to stay, and companies will find a way to use it to sell. 

The Internet is perhaps the first true global medium -- but e-commerce is not. Not yet, anyway. Will it replace the shopping mall? Doubtful. "But in five years, there will be no e-commerce -- it will all be just commerce," predicts BT's Broster. "Face to face or virtual, it won't make any difference. It will be a reality for everyone." 


\2 Internet speeds up emergency medicine Sept. 18, 2000   To make a point about the difficulty in keeping on top of emergency medicine, Craig Feied pulls a binder out of his office closet and flips through its 279 pages. Each page lists dozens of the medical problems Feied and his colleagues could encounter. This year, he says, U.S. emergency departments are likely to treat patients with 18,000 different diagnoses. From sprained ankles to ankylosing spondylitis (a type of arthritis), emergency departments see it all. Given their time constraints, emergency doctors must know by heart how to deal with the most common ills. As Peter Valco of Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, N.J., says, "Our cerebral hard drive is geared to what we see on a regular basis." Now, increasingly, their computer hard drives are geared to the Internet. Emergency doctors are beginning to catch up with their patients and recognize that the Web can provide invaluable information quickly. Like the best antibiotic for a lung infection. Or whether it's always necessary to culture sore throats. 

Surveys suggest that the number of U.S. emergency rooms with Internet access has doubled since 1998. And the number is expected to double again over the next year. ER doctors can't memorize all 18,000 diagnoses that could cross their paths, let alone how to treat them. They usually don't have the luxury of time to run to the medical library or read through a voluminous medical chart. "I'm looking at a shelf right now with about 30 books," says Jerald Ward, speaking from the emergency department at Gifford Medical Center in Randolph, Vt. "I never really know which one to use. It's like having too many cookbooks." 

Thanks to Feied and colleague Mark Smith, Washington Hospital Center's emergency department is probably the most sophisticated in the world for Internet use. Before the hospital recruited Feied and Smith from George Washington University in 1995, its emergency department ranked last in the area in patient surveys.

 A major component of patient satisfaction with emergency care is waiting time. And a major component of a patient's wait is the time it takes for doctors to locate lab results or X-rays. "We're in a hunter-gatherer mode as physicians," Feied says. "The effort we have to go through to get one little bit of information about patients is very large. We wanted to build something that would allow us to become the information farmers." Feied and Smith developed a computer network to speed doctors' access to data. Twenty-one-inch computer monitors dot the emergency department. Via an internal network and the Internet at the hospital and via the Net from home or office, doctors and nurses can access information they might need about a patient -- including lab results, X-rays and electrocardiograms  almost instantly. 

For security , the system uses fingerprint recognition technology for access outside the hospital. By 1998, Feied says, Washington Hospital Center's emergency department had risen to the top in patient surveys. Even more remarkable, Feied says, the department treated 57,000 people in 1999, up from 37,000 in 1995, without expanding staff or space. 

Applications multiply While Washington Hospital Center's ER is more plugged-in than most, nearly one-third of U.S. emergency departments have Internet access, according to a survey by Milwaukee emergency doctor Ed Barthell of Infinity HealthCare. "It is most often utilized as a reference tool, but more specific applications directed toward the specialty are beginning to evolve," Barthell says. "For example, we have a network of hospitals now collecting stroke research data on an Internet-based system that is much more efficient than previous data collection methods." "There's so much new stuff coming out," says Philip Rice Jr., an emergency doctor at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "To try to keep up with that in a compact format is difficult to do. You know the stuff is published in different journals, but you don't always get different journals. The Internet is accessible anywhere." 

Medline delivers world Emergency physician Jonathan Handler needs no convincing. "Medline alone is a reason for every emergency department in the country to have Web access," says Handler, director of informatics and information services for Northwestern University's division of emergency medicine in Chicago. Free since 1997, Medline is the National Library of Medicine's database of thousands of medical journals from around the world. Although he has never been clueless about a patient, Handler says, Medline has brought him up to speed on some unusual cases. 


"There was a patient, and one side of her lip suddenly went numb," Handler recalls. He checked with the neurologist on call, who diagnosed the woman as having "numb chin syndrome." Handler logged on to Medline, typed in "numb chin syndrome," and retrieved a list of studies on the subject. He clicked on the titles to call up abstracts, or summaries, of the papers. By the time the neurologist arrived in the ER, Handler says, "I was as much an expert as he was." Although its name suggests nothing more serious than tennis elbow, numb chin syndrome tipped doctors off to the patient's undiagnosed multiple sclerosis.

 Patients race online Emergency physicians need Internet access if only to keep up with their patients, Handler says. "I've had a number of patients tell me, 'I looked this up on the Internet,'" he says. "Often, they are very worried about something they read that they shouldn't be worried about at all. "And a lot of times, they're right on the money." While there's always the risk that Net-savvy patients will misdiagnose themselves, Handler says, it's not as if they can write their own prescriptions, so they still usually seek a doctor's opinion. 

 Handler speaks frequently to medical groups throughout the country about the value of the Internet. He's also the lead author of a study on Internet use in emergency departments, published in December in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine. "Lives have been saved by rapid access to resources available online," wrote Handler and his co-authors, including Feied. But two years ago, only one in six Illinois ERs had Internet access, the researchers found. In other words, Handler says, you were more likely to be able to go online in a typical Illinois home than in a typical Illinois ER. 

Some slow to get surfing Handler speculates that some emergency doctors still are unaware of the resources available online. "It's not cheap if you get a fast connection. I think recognizing the value of the tools out there is still an issue." And, he says, some emergency departments' administrators, like bosses everywhere, worry that access to eBay or stock quotes would affect workers' productivity. "I think there's a real fear that if you put a computer with a Web browser there, people will use it to waste time," Handler says. Barthell, who works for a company that staffs a dozen hospitals in Wisconsin and Illinois, has helped develop a Net-based system that has spurred many emergency departments to go online.

EMSystem links hospitals throughout the metropolitan areas of a dozen cities. By logging on to the local EMSystem (EMS stands for emergency medical service), emergency rooms and ambulance dispatchers can see at a glance who can't handle any more emergency patients or whsse intensive care unit is full. And health departments can quickly alert emergency personnel to disease outbreaks.

In August 1999, Phoenix became the first city after Milwaukee to launch Barthell's system. All 29 Phoenix hospitals with emergency departments are connected , says Sheri Jorden, the self-described "EMS and trauma queen" of the Phoenix Hospital Association. Thanks to EMSystem, Jorden says, "you don't have two, three ambulances sitting out in a parking lot with critically ill patients." 


\3 Customize The Navigator Desktop

If you never go to the same Web address twice, customizable toolbar buttons may not make a difference in your online life. If, however, you have a favorite Web site (maybe a search engine or a stock quote location) the ability to add buttons for these features and to separate them from others can be a real time-saver. In addition, if you share your PC with another user, the ability to maintain separate bookmarks with separate buttons can eliminate a lot of frustration by eliminating the need to search through someone elses bookmarks to find the one you need. (A bookmark is a user-definable list that allows a user to easily access a certain page on the World Wide Web.) Moving Toolbars. Netscape Navigator 4.x has three basic toolbars: Navigation, Location, and Personal, as well as the usual menu bar on top. Navigators main toolbar, the Navigation Toolbar, runs across the top of the screen and contains common browser buttons for the most frequently used menu commands. The Location Toolbar contains address information, such as a Web pages universal resource locator, or URL, and the popular bookmarks feature. The Personal Toolbar, the most user-friendly of all three, not only contains buttons for specific Web resources, but also gives users the opportunity to add buttons of their own. Unlike earlier versions of Navigator, you can reposition the three toolbars on the screen by dragging and dropping them into place. Just click the tab on the left side of the toolbar to be moved, and drag it to where you want itinto the top, middle, or bottom toolbar position. The remaining toolbars will realign themselves accordingly. Regardless of which toolbar takes top position, however, the toolbar grouping remains at the top of the screen. You can hide the toolbars completely, or you can allow only the tabs to remain isible; either option opens up more space on your monitors screen. When only the tabs are visible, one narrow bar appears under the menu, and all three toolbars appear on that narrow bar as three blank tabs. To learn which is which, either click them or remember that the largest tab belongs to the Navigation Toolbar, the next tab belongs to the Location Toolbar, and the last tab belongs to the Personal Toolbar. A quick identification flag also appears when you run the cursor over them. To hide a toolbar and leave the tab visible, click the tab on the left side of the toolbar. To make it reappear, click the visible tab on the narrow bar under the menu. To completely hide the toolbar, open the View menu, and click your choice of Hide Navigation Toolbar, Hide Location Toolbar, or Hide Personal Toolbar. Once the toolbars are hidden, you can see them by clicking View and choosing Show Navigation Toolbar, Show Location Toolbar, or Show Personal Toolbar. The Navigation Toolbar. The buttons on the Navigation Toolbar are the largest and the most commonly used buttons on the screen. These buttons can substitute for menu commands. They are: Back, Forward, Reload, Home, Search, Guide, Print, Security, and Stop. These buttons are standard and may not be removed or rearranged, and no additional buttons can be added to this toolbar. If youre not familiar with the Internet, Back and Forward are the buttons that let you retrace your Web steps, one page at a time. The Reload button simply reloads the current Web page (the one on-screen) and reflects any changes made since it was originally downloaded. The Home button takes you to the Web page you designate as the start page; otherwise, the Netscape Web site is the de-fault Home location. (For more information about how to change your start page, see How To . . . Change Your Start Page, another article in this issue.) 	
 Adding folders to your Personal Toolbar will maximize the amount of information you can place in one button and is an efficient way to organize your Navigator desktop. 	 Next, the Search button displays a directory of popular search engines and services, including Yahoo! and Infoseek. The Guide button displays popular Web sites to help you find information on certain topics, including Dun & Bradstreet and Fortune for business, the ESPN SportsZone for sports, and People and E! Online for entertainment news. The Print button is used to print the content area of the Web page (as it appears on-screen). And, the Security button lets you use such security elements as encryption status, personal and site certificates, as well as passwords. The Location Toolbar. The Location Toolbar only has two items: the Bookmarks menu, which lets you add bookmarks and organize them into various categories; and the Location field (sometimes shown on-screen as Netsite:), which is where you type in destination addresses, or URLs, to access Web pages. If you look to the left of the Location field, however, you will notice another item, a small yellow icon that resembles a book with a teal-colored ribbon on it. When your cursor approaches this icon, the ribbon moves and a message flag appears stating, Drag this to create a link to this page. This icon, known as the Page Proxy icon, can be dragged and dropped to create links to Web pages. If, for example, your favorite search engine is Inference Find, simply type the address in the Location field (http://www.inference. com/ifind) to visit that Web page. When the page comes up, click the Page Proxy icon and drag it to the Personal Toolbar. If you have Windows 95, you also can create a shortcut to the Web page you are viewing by dragging and dropping the Page Proxy icon onto the Desktop. Before you try this feature, of course, you must minimize your browser window just a little so you can see your Desktop screen underneath your browser window. Also, you must be online to even use the Page Proxy feature. If you are offline, the icon cannot be dragged. The Bookmarks icon represents the Bookmarks drop-down menu, which lets you add, organize, and edit bookmarks. It is also the key to customizing the Personal Toolbar because it accesses the Personal Toolbar Folder, which holds the information for each button you create. If you decide to personalize the Personal Toolbar, you will become thoroughly familiar with this icon and menu set. Once a site has been visited, clicking it while offline in the Bookmarks menu or clicking its button on the Personal Toolbar will bring up that page from memory. If you are online, clicking the menu item or the button will take you to the actual Web page. The Personal Toolbar. The entire Personal Toolbar is merely an extension of the bookmarks feature that the Location Toolbar offers. The buttons already stationed on this bar when you download Navigator 4.x are: Internet, Lookup, and New&Cool. These three buttons represent links to several popular Web sites and are an added benefit to users. The number of buttons you decide to permanently keep on this toolbar as you use Navigator, however, is up to you. The best aspect about the Personal Toolbar is that you can create files and folders for your own favorite Web sites, discussion groups, and search engines by doing something as simple as dragging and dropping the Page Proxy icon onto the toolbar or accessing another window and following a few simple steps. In addition, you can add, remove, rename, and rearrange the files and folders to match your preferences. To rename the buttons, click the Bookmarks icon on the Location Toolbar. Next, click Edit Bookmarks and youll see a directory tree appear on-screen. The directory tree is made up of several files and folders with which you are probably already familiar. Highlight the one you want to rename and right-click it. In the drop-down menu that appears, click Bookmark Properties.  In the Bookmark Properties window, you can rename the file or folder and insert a description. This window also lists the last time you visited the Web site and the date it was added to your bookmarks list. Click OK when you are finished. To exit from this screen, click File from the menu above, and then click Close. The changes you make whenever you access the directory tree will immediately be reflected in the files and folders on the Personal Toolbar. For example, we changed the Inference Find! button that we created earlier to IFind! so that it took up less of our Personal Toolbar space (see Figure 1). There are also many other helpful features that the Personal Toolbar offers. If you have several Web sites that you visit regularly but are concerned about creating a button for each of them on your Personal Toolbar, there is an easy alternative. Click the Bookmarks icon on the Location Toolbar again and then click Edit Bookmarks so you can return to the directory tree. Highlight the Personal Toolbar Folder and click File in the above menu. When you click the New Folder option, a window will appear on-screen so you can name your new folder whatever you want. We named ours My Sites. After this step is completed, click OK, then click File and Close. When you see the Personal Toolbar again, the My Sites folder will appear first on the left side (see Figure 1). From now on, when you find a site you want to add to your My Sites folder, just drag the Page Proxy icon over to the My Sites folder icon. Then, the next time you want to visit that site, click the My Sites button, and all of the sites youve added so far will appear in a pop-up box. Click the site you want and youll be on your way (see Figure 2). Creating folders for your Personal Toolbar is also a good idea if you share your computer with someone. By following the same steps mentioned above, it would be easy to create a folder for Ks Sites and Js Sites. In addition, it would also be easy to create a folder for the various subjects that are important to you, such as: computing, fitness, art, music, etc. Another alternative may be to create subfolders instead. To do this, click Bookmarks once again and click Edit Bookmarks to get back to the directory tree window. Next, right-click the primary folder that you want the subfolder to go into. A drop-down menu will appear; click the New Folder option. This choice brings up the same window that allows you to type in a name for your new subfolder and a brief description (see Figure 3). Click OK to complete this step and exit out of this screen to return to the Navigator desktop. The new subfolder you just created is now available in the pop-up box that appears when you click on the primary folder you chose (on the Personal Toolbar). So, to make your computing life even easier, you can start bookmarking specific sites that fall under that subjects subfolder. If you want to take some of the bookmarks or bookmark folders already listed in your Bookmarks menu and add them to your Personal Toolbar, either as separate buttons or within your primary folders and subfolders, open Bookmarks and click Edit Bookmarks again. In the directory tree, drag the bookmark or the bookmark folder icon into the Personal Toolbar Folder (or into the primary folder or subfolder of your choice). Or, another option is to select a bookmark or a bookmark folder icon, then open the File menu option above, and choose the Add Selection To Toolbar command. Losing Buttons. When you are bored with certain files and folders on your Personal Toolbar and want to spice it up with something else, dont worry, individual buttons can be easily removed. To do this, open Bookmarks and then choose Edit Bookmarks. Within the directory tree, simply drag the boring files from the Personal Toolbar Folder and drop them where you want them. Remember, if you dont want them to appear on the Personal Toolbar at all, youll need to drop them into a file that is out of Personal Toolbar Folders directory area. To remove the icon entirely, stay in that same directory tree window, highlight the item you want to remove, click Edit on the menu bar above, and click Delete. Or, leave the item highlighted, right-click it to bring up a drop-down menu, and choose Delete Bookmark. Netscape Navigator 4.x offers some useful features that allow you to add toolbar buttons for files and folders that are important to you. The instructions generally are straightforward and are available in the Help section of the toolbar, however, the instructions still require a bit of patience and some trial and error to follow accurately.


\4  Setup checklist for Internet Explorer
 Essential Info for SU. Log on FTP

 ISP name   Dial into FTP
 Local access #  Run on START button
 User ID   Type in FTP
 PW    OPEN FTP.microsoft.com
 IP adrs   anonymous 
 DNS adrs   email adrs as PW
 email a/c name  cd PerOpSys/Win_News
 email PW   cd FreeSoftware
 Server adrs  Download msie20.exe
 Enable/disableDDNS

 If enable: Host name
 Domain
 DNS
 Server
 Domain suffice search orders.

Explorer Bar. MS's latest offering for surfing the WWW is Internet Explorer (IE) 5. It is avail at no cost from microsoft.com. IE has some nice features that may convince you that it's time to upgrade your existing browser. One such feature is the Explorer bar. The Explorer bar is a way to browse through a list of links, such as your History or channels, while displaying the pages whose links open on the right side of the browser window.

For example, if you click the Search button on the toolbar, the Explorer bar opens and you can use it to search for your Web site of choice. You can display your Favorites list, History list, channels, or Search by clicking the toolbar. You may also gain access to these items by clicking the View menu, and then pointing to Explorer bar. Regardless of the method used to select these items, you will find that using them can make surfing the Internet more enjoyable. Personal preference will dictate whether or not these tools make sense for you. Search, Favorites, History, Folders, and Tip Of The Day offer options that allow even the most discriminating user ample flexibility in customizing the browser environment. Let's take a closer look at each of these items. 

Search: Customizing your AutoSearch settings is easy. Check off and select from the options available. 	

Searching the Internet is a time consuming activity. It can also be a very rewarding one if the search is done well. One way to search effectively is to use the Search button on the Explorer Bar. Clicking the Search icon on the main toolbar enables this; you may also click the View menu, scroll down to Explorer Bar, and then click Search. 

Searching using this method is often superior to surfing without having the Explorer Bar's Search option enabled. This is because the search criteria and associated results are constantly displayed within the Explorer Bar on the left-hand portion of the screen, Meanwhile, the Web site links selected from this list are also displayed in the right-hand portion of the screen (see the image at the bottom of this page). This method makes it much easier to filter through the mass of search results found. 

To specify a search of your own, first make sure that the Explorer Bar's "search" option is enabled as was described above. In the Explorer bar that appears, type the word or phrase for which you are searching, and then click Search. In the list of search results, click a link to display the Web page in the right side of the browser window. For example, we enabled this option by clicking the Search button on the toolbar. We utilized this method instead of the View menu option, because it takes less mouse clicks.

We then typed computers as the search criteria into the empty field. Our results showed more than 12 million hits and were posted in the Explorer bar's Search window. We then clicked on the choice we preferred; in this case it was the Smart Computing home page at smartcomputing.com. 

Customizing the search settings within the Explorer Bar is not difficult to do. Click the Customize button at the upper right-hand side of the Explorer Bar. A dialogue box, or pop-up box, will then appear in the middle of your screen. 

There, you will find options for several categories including Find A Web Page, Find A Person's Address, E-mail Address, Find A Business, Find A Map, Look Up Word, Find A Picture, Find In Newsgroups, and Previous Searches. There is also a button on the lower left-hand side of the pop-up box labeled Autosearch Settings. Autosearch Setting lets you select a search provider to use, as well as what action(s) to take when searching. Favorites. 

When you set down a book that you have been reading, how can you easily turn to the page you were on when it's time to start reading again? Most readers will simply bookmark the page. Some people fold over the corner, others use a traditional bookmark, and others set down the book face down. So how do you mark your favorite Web sites? For the majority of us, it would be futile to try to memorize hundreds of interesting sites. 	

Click a link on the Search pane on the left side of your browser to avoid jumping back and forth between search pages. 	

Just like previous versions, of IE, V5.0 lets you bookmark your favorite sites so it'll be easy to revisit them. Furthermore, accessing Favorites from the Explorer Bar can make returning to Web sites easy. To enable the Favorites option on the Explorer bar, simply click the Favorites button on Internet Explorer's toolbar or click the View menu, then scroll down to the choice labeled Explorer bar. Click the entry labeled Favorites. 

Once enabled, viewing your list of Favorites is easy. Clicking the scroll bar allows you to move up and down through the list. If several Favorites have been grouped together into a folder, then clicking the folder once will show each of the individual listings within that group (see image at the top of this page). Click whatever Favorite you want, and the site will appear on the right-hand portion of the screen. Click the folder again to collapse the list. 

Adding a new site is a short, painless process. At the upper left-hand side of the favorites area of the Explorer Bar, there is a button labeled Add. Click it, and a pop-up box appears. In the Name field of the pop-up box, a default name will appear. This can be accepted or modified. Don't agonize over the decision, because the name can be easily changed later. Click the OKbbutton, and the Web site is added to your Favorites folder. 

At some point, it will become necessary to organize your favorites. Your favorite links need to be grouped into folders so that they can be found later without delay. At the upper right-hand side of the Favorites area of the Explorer Bar, there is a button labeled Organize. Click Organize and a pop-up box will appear. 

Here, your favorite links can be deleted, renamed, and organized into folders. Everyone will have his or her preferred method for organization. Some like to keep the names very short and others like long, descriptive names. Regardless of the naming convention used, it is prudent to group favorite Universal Resource Locators (URLs) into folders. If you don't org your favorite URLs, it will be akin to scattering papers in a room and then wandering around trying to find a specific sheet.

History: Clicking the folder once will display all the Favorites within that folder. Org Favorites has never been easier. If you are wondering where you have been while surfing the Web, your History button will show you a list. To enable the History option of the Explorer bar, simply click the History button on Internet Explorer's toolbar, or click the View menu, scroll down to the choice labeled Explorer Bar, and click History. 

History has the look and feel of Favorites, because the sites are grouped into folders. The difference is that these folders are labeled chronologically with names like Today, Wednesday, Tuesday, Monday, Last Week, 2 Weeks Ago, and 3 Weeks Ago. At the same time, a Web site of your selection is displayed in the right-hand portion of the screen. Just like the Favorites feature, clicking on a title of a folder in the History will expand the list, and display the sites that have been visited during the particular time period. A name and an Internet address will appear; click a particular entry and the Web site will be shown. 

If the history list is not displayed in the way you prefer, change it. At the upper left-hand side of the history area of the Explorer Bar, there is a button labeled View. Click View, and a list of choices will drop down. Your history can be displayed using four different sets of criteria: By Date, By Site, By Most Visited, or By Order Visited Today. When selecting one of these methods, the history list updates automatically to reflect the choice. 

You can do a keyword search if you are experiencing difficulty finding a certain site within the history list. Look to the upper right-hand side of the history area of the Explorer Bar. There you will find a button labeled Search. Click Search and a blank data field will appear and prompt you for a keyword or phrase. Enter the info you are seeking and the results are displayed instantly. We searched for the word "computer," and IE sorted through our recent Web surfing history, and immediately displayed the sites that matched the search criteria. Org your Favorites is the best way to stay in touch with important URLs. 	

Folders: The Folders button is a handy tool. It can be used to sort through Web sites as well as files that reside on disk. With some practice, you may find that it is no longer necessary to use Windows Explorer for file maintenance, since many of the same tasks, such as copying and deleting files, can be done right within IE. By default, there is no Folders button or icon on the IE toolbar. To enable the Folders option of the Explorer Bar, click the View menu, scroll down to Explorer Bar, and click Folders. Upon doing so, the Folders button will display on the Explorer bar along the left-hand side of the screen. It is identical to the Folders area of Windows Explorer.

Within this narrow rectangle various tips appear. You must view them one simple tip at a time, but don't underestimate theirs usefulness. 	

As you choose different listings in Folders, the right- hand portion of the screen updates. For example, after clicking a folder labeled Fun And Games, six listings appeared on the right side of the screen (one for each of the games installed on the computer). Each listing had a name, and an accompanying graphic. The format of the display can be changed easily. To see a straightforward Text Only listing, click on the View menu and then Details. The results formerly posted on the right-hand side of the screen will update to reflect this change.

Tip Of The Day. It is all too easy to use only a small part of a computer program. According to the 20/80 rule, 20% of your effort will yield 80% of your results. When it comes to computer software, we might safely be able to say that we use 20% of the commands 80% of the time. 	
 Use the History pane to backtrack through Web sites that you have visited in recent days, weeks, or months. 	 How do we learn more about a program's features? IE has something called the Tip Of The Day. This feature can help you learn about the program. Furthermore, Tip Of The Day can be displayed at the same time as the Explorer bar selections (see the second image above). However, if you find that this eats up too much screen area, you can opt to display the Tip Of The Day in lieu of the other Explorer Bar options. This will likely be the case for those of you using a 14- or 15-inch monitor. There is no Tip Of The Day button on the toolbar by default. You may enable it by clicking the View menu, scrolling down to Explorer Bar, and clicking Tip Of The Day. The Tip Of The Day box will appear at the bottom of your screen. Like all of the other areas of your screen within Internet Explorer, the Tip Of The Day box can be resized to fit your personal preference. Within this narrow rectangle various tips are displayed one at a time. For example, one tip reads "did you knowto stop downloading a page, press ESC." To see another tip, click on the Next Tip. Upon doing this, the following tip was displayed: "did you knowto go to the next page, press ALT+RIGHT ARROW." 
 Customization. 	
 You can have Tip OfTheDay displayed simultaneously with the Internet Explorer bar's selections (see lower portion of screen). 	 There is a quick way to change the IE toolbar. Right-click the toolbar, then click Customize. A pop-up box with eeveral options will appear. Available toolbar buttons will be listed on the left, while the current toolbar buttons are listed on the right. Between them are two buttons; one labeled Add and the other labeled Remove. By first selecting an entry in either column, that choice can be either added or removed by selecting the appropriate Add or Remove button. For instance, we discussed earlier the Folders option of the Explorer bar. By default there is no button for this on the toolbar. However, by going to the customization pop-up, this choice can be easily added to the toolbar. On the customization pop-up box you can also switch between large or small icons, and set the text options to any one of three different settings: Show Text Labels, Selective Text On Right, or No Text Labels. by Dale M. 

Exploring Win 95's Explorer

If youre using Windows 95, one of the most important things you need to know is how to use Windows Explorer. This feature, along with My Computer (see Get To Know My Computer in the June 1997 issue), replaces Windows 3.xs File Manager as the application that keeps your files organized, one of the most important tasks your operating system performs. But Explorer has a different look than File Manager and lets you choose how to display information in a number of ways. Open Explorer by left-clicking Start, highlighting Programs, and choosing Windows Explorer. (Or you can right-click Start and then choose Explore.) If you plan to use Explorer many times during a computing session, you can minimize it on the Taskbar at the bottom of the screen by left-clicking the dash button on the right side of the title bar. When youre ready to use Explorer again, you just left-click its name in the Taskbar, and the Exploring dialog box pops right up. (NOTE: This feature isnt specific to Explorer; it works with any window.) Finding Your Way Around. The Explorer screen is split into two parts, with the folders (known as directories in Windows 3.x) on the left side and the contents of the highlighted folder on the right. Desktop will always be the first item in the list. Highlight it by left-clicking it. On the Contents side, you should see items such as My Computer, Recycle Bin, and whatever else you might have on your Desktop. 	
 You can browse through all your files and folders using Windows 95's Explorer. 	 These items should appear on the left side of the screen as well. They are connected by a dotted line, which shows how the folders branch out into subfolders and files. You may see a small plus (+) or minus (-) sign in a box next to some of the folders. A plus sign means there are subdirectories in that particular folder. You can see whats there by left-clicking the plus sign, which expands the folder one level. Left-clicking the minus sign collapses the folder, returning it to the way it was before you expanded it. You can see what files are in the folder by left-clicking it. Its files will appear on the Contents side. If you dont like how the Contents screen looks, you can change it. Open the View menu and left-click Large Icons. The icons now should be much larger and more evenly spaced. If you want to see more of the folders and files all at once, though, you should choose Small Icons. Selecting List will list the files vertically instead of horizontally, and selecting Details will show information such as the size of the file or folder and the date it was last modified. You can open a folder or file by right-clicking it and selecting Open. If you open a folder in this way, the folders contents will appear in a dialog box overlapping the Explorer window. If you open a file such as a document or spreadsheet that is associated with a program, the program in which that file was created (Microsoft Word, for example) will open, with that file ready to go. You also can choose to delete, print, or rename a file, among other things, by using this method. You even can create a new folder in which to save future files. Highlight the folder or drive where you want to save the new folder (C:, PROGRAMS, etc.). Open the File menu, left-click New, and select Folder. Youll see the new folder on the Contents side, waiting for you to give it a name. Once that is done, your new folder is ready to accept and store files. If you find there is a particular document you keep going back to, you can create a shortcut to it by dragging it from Explorer to an empty space on your Desktop. (For more on creating shortcuts, see Find Your Win95 Favorites Faster in the April 1997 issue.) Once the shortcut is made, double left-click it to open the document. Old Habits Are Hard To Break. Despite the best efforts of Microsoft, there are some people who simply wont like Explorer as much as the old File Manager. If you are one of these people, type winfile in the Run dialog box (which you can access by left-clicking Start and Run), and the trusty File Manager will return, just like you remembered it. Even if you do prefer the Windows 3.x version of File Manager, its worth giving Explorer a shot.

\5 Uninstalling IE 5.0
Integration With Win Makes MS Browser Difficult To Remove

Although Internet Explorer 5.0 makes Windows a more Internet-aware operating system, it also burrows so far into Windows components that uninstalling the browser can cause you some real headaches.  Before starting any of these instructions, be sure to save your open work and close any programs you may have open.  

Win95 Systems.  Removing IE5 and returning to your original Windows configuration is not difficult if you run Win95 and never deleted the IE5 uninstall files.  To begin, click the Start button, point at Settings, and then click the Control Panel. When the Control Panel opens, double-click the Add/Remove Programs applet. Next, scroll the program list until you find the Internet Explorer 5.0 line, click it, and then click the Add/Remove button. In the box that appears, choose Restore The Previous Windows Configuration and click the OK button. The IE setup program will search for installed components, and you may have to click OK in a message box or two to confirm your IE5-deleting intentions. After the files are deleted, your system will ask you to restart the machine.  If youve already removed the IE5 uninstall files, or the Add/Remove process doesnt work for some other reason, you can try uninstalling the browser in Safe Mode. Safe Mode is a way you can start Windows to identify problems; no other programs besides the operating system and drivers for your keyboard, mouse, and display are loaded. Restart your computer and press F8 when you see the Starting Windows 95 message. Choose Safe Mode and follow the above steps. If that doesnt work, you will need to re-install Win95 and the browser of your choice in a new folder and delete the previous Windows and IE5 folders.  Once youre finally rid of IE5, you may still have to contend with IE4. The brush with IE5 means the only way to eliminate IE4 is to do a manual uninstall. Look for directions regarding this laborious procedure at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q175/6/ 10.ASP.  

 Win98 Systems.  If you started out with the first edition of Win98 or upgraded your Win95 machine to Win98, you probably began with Internet Explorer 4.01 and upgraded to IE5. If thats the case, removing IE5 and reverting back to IE4 is relatively simple; just follow the instructions given above for opening Add/Remove Programs and restoring the previous configuration. The catch is that you wont be able to uninstall IE4 the same way, or even manually, on a Win98 machine. According to Microsoft, IE4 is part of Win98, like it or not. If you run Win98 (first edition) Setup after installing IE5, you may not be able to uninstall IE5 in any easy way either. Win98 Setup integrates the IE5 browser files into the operating system itself, and Microsoft made getting rid of the browser tough by design. Follow these next steps only if youre comfortable editing the Registry and re-installing Windows. 

 Start by finding the Iemigrat.dll file in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory and renaming it Iemigrat.old. Next, open the Registry Editor by clicking the Start button, choosing Run, typing REGEDIT, and clicking OK. Using the hierarchical folders, find the HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\SETUP\M IGRATION\100 key. Back up the key by highlighting it and choosing Export Registry File from the Registry menu, then delete the key. Quit the Registry Editor and re-install Windows 98.

If you installed W98 2nd Edition at any time, your PC auto configured itself for IE5, and you cant remove the browser by any conventional means. IE5 is an integral part of W98 2nd Edit just as IE4 is part of the orig W98.

However, there is an alternative available, thanks to some enterprising third-party SW developers who are unafraid of delving into Win98 with their software. Obviously, MS wont support these programs. Subsequent Windows updates may not function properly, and the MS tech support staff will turn a deaf ear to any problems you have while running such SW. 

If you want to give IE-eliminating utilities a go anyway, the best place to start is http://www.98lite.net. The Standard Edition of 98lite is free and promises to boost performance and clear up disk space by deleting every part of IE that isnt absolutely essential to the o/s.

If a simple uninstall is not an option, and none of these alternate procedures sounds appealing, you can at least turn off some IE5-integration features by choosing Folder Options from the View menu of any folder. And remember, you can always run other browsers, such as Netscape Navigator, without uninstalling IE5


\6 Free Internet Access Let The Buyer Beware

When most shoppers hear the word free associated with a product, the skeptic inside them rises to the surface. If a product was actually useful, it would cost something. Nothing actually is free; theres always a catch. Finally, they issue that famous warning: Caveat Emptor!  Where free Internet access is concerned, the buyer should beware. In exchange for free Internet access, youll have to give up something other than money, whether its some personal information, space on your monitor for advertisements, or the reliability of your connection.  Industry experts are split on whether free Internet access represents the future in the United States, and stock investors seem to be skeptical about the longevity of publicly traded companies offering free Internet access. Millions of people have registered with companies offering free Internet access, though, and millions more are expected to sign up in the next few years. Free Internet access may be a free product that actually defies skeptical logic. 

 How They Work Free Internet access is typically offered by an ISP (Internet service provider), and you can usually find two types of free Internet access.  Partnerships. Most free ISPs align themselves with an already existing, well-known brand name, such as a Web portal, an e-commerce company, or a department store, among others. Customers of those businesses find out about the free ISP through the partnership.Its common for well-known businesses to contract with a third-party, behind-the-scenes company to provide free Internet access, marketing it through their already-known brand name. For instance, Kmart offers free Internet access to customers by sponsoring BlueLight.com, which is operated by Spinway. BlueLight .com customers have a chance, through the sites home page, to make online purchases through Kmart. See the Something For Nothing sidebar for URLs (universal resource locators) for the ISPs we mention in this article. 

 On its own. Some free ISPs forego aligning themselves, instead trying to develop their own brand-name fame. NetZero and Juno are free ISPs that have built solid subscriber bases without relying on major partnerships.  Although each free ISP has its own business model, most create revenue using targeted advertising. Answers you give when you sign up help determine the on-screen advertisements you see while surfing or ads youll receive in e-mail. When you log on, a popup ad usually appears on top of all other windows on your computer screen, and it remains visible until you sign off the service. Many free ISPs track your movements through the Internet and share this information with potential advertisers, allowing them to generate additional targeted advertising. Read any agreements you see as you sign up for the service very carefully. If you attempt to close the advertising window, youll likely lose your Internet connection. Each advertiser-based, free ISP offers different ad placement and different ad sizes; youll have to test various free ISPs to see whether any of the ad placements are acceptable to you. 

What They Offer If youre expecting features similar to AOLs (America Online) with a free ISP, you might as well stop reading.Free ISPs usually offer calendars, portfolio tracking, e-mail services, and a customizable home page that displays personalized news. Finding a free ISP that offers services beyond those basics, which are also available through dozens of Web portals, is almost impossible.A fee-based ISP typically offers a few more unique services for your monthly access fee, usually by contracting with established Web sites. For example, Prodigy Internet (http://www.prodigy.com) has a search engine through LookSmart, a shopping service through Amazon.com and uBid, and a job-search service through HotJobs.com. Prodigy also offers chat, instant messaging, junk e-mail blocking services, free Web-hosting space, and child-protection software. Again, though, many of these services are available free elsewhere on the Web.  Most free ISPs require that you download the services software. Some will send the software on CD-ROM, but it could take a few weeks to receive it in the mail. With a fee-based ISP, especially one with a national presence, you will probably receive the services software (unsolicited) in the mail or in a magazine. You can also go to the services Web site and download the software, assuming you have alternate means of connecting.  Sometimes, fee-based ISPs offer their subscribers high-speed, broadband access for a higher monthly fee. Most local ISPs offer some form of broadband access, and sometimes they will help you set up the connection in person. Your ability to get broadband access through a national ISP usually depends on the city in which you live. Free ISPs almost never offer broadband access, instead focusing on slower, dial-up access. Some industry experts think fee-based access will eventually migrate completely to broadband access, leaving dial-up access for the free ISPs. Another difference between free ISPs and fee-based ISPs lies in the technical support options you have available. Technical support with most national fee-based ISPs is far more readily available, both by telephone and e-mail, than the support youll find with most free ISPs. However, each free ISPs level of technical support service is different. If you choose a local, fee-based ISP, you might have the option of receiving face-to-face technical support, or a technician from the local ISP might set up the Internet connection for you. The most visible difference between fee-based and free ISPs is still the advertisements. However, all of you who are cynical about fee-based ISPs will probably point out that although the banner and pop-up ads arent constantly on the screen, users sometimes are greeted with ads when they sign on to the service and as they move through various areas of the service, all while paying $19.95 to $21.95 per month for access. Among fee-based ISPs, however, local providers are less likely to bombard you with ads than are national ISPs.

 As you can see, advertisement placement and size differs depending on the free ISP. Freeinternet.com anchors its ad across the of the screen by default, and you can move it later; you can easily move AltaVista's Free Access ad, but you can't resize it. 

If youre looking for even more features, you could try AOL, which is an online service that also provides Internet access. AOL gives users volumes of unique content, in addition to chat rooms, instant messaging, and interactive games, as well as access to the Internet. AOL also offers several personalized features that let you customize the service to meet your exact needs. AOLs software is extremely easy to set up and is readily available on CDs that seem to be everywhere. AOL costs $21.95 per month for unlimited access, but AOL also uses several popup ads as you sign on to the service and move through various areas.

 Reliability Issues Free ISPs have two major issues when it comes to reliability: Can they give you access to the Internet when you need it? Will they be around two or three years from now? Most free ISPs have good report cards as far as dial-up availability is concerned. As with most fee-based ISPs, youll usually get sporadic connections and slow access speeds if you dial in to a free ISP at high usage times (usually evenings). At non-peak usage times, the connections we made through the free ISPs were extremely reliable. The overall reliability of the free ISPs we tried was solid for the most part. However, we were a bit frustrated when we tried to get technical support to fix a problem immediately; however, each free ISPs response time is a little different. As far as the second question is concerned, industry analysts are split on the future profitability, and, of course, survivability, of ISPs that offer free Internet access. According to the Strategis Group, an industry-analysis firm, about 12 million people currently use free Internet services. The Strategis Group projects the number will triple to 37 million users by 2005. Jupiter Communications estimates more than 10 million Internet users will log on consistently through a free ISP by 2003, up from 2.5 million in 1999. Those subscriber numbers may not accurately reflect the realistic use of free ISPs, though. Many people who sign up for free Internet access only want to try out the service and dont actually use it on a regular basis, if at all. Free ISP users also are highly likely to bounce from company to company with little or no consequence. 

The Investors Take Even though the customer base for free ISPs is projected to grow, investors are skeptical. The stock prices in publicly traded, free ISP companies, including Juno Online Services (stock symbol: JWEB) and NetZero (NZRO), have plunged more than 90% from recent high levels. Juno plunged from a high of $87 per share on Dec. 12, 1999 to $4.50 on Aug. 15, 2000. NetZeros range spans from $40 per share on Dec. 21, 1999 to its $3.00 per share trading price at press time. They arent alone. Stock prices are also dropping for fee-based ISPs and online services, such as Prodigy Communications (PRGY), AOL (AOL), and Excite@Home (ATHM). AOL dropped from $95.81 to $40.25, Prodigy plunged from $35.44 to $6.38, and Excite@Home from $59.75 to $12.88 in nine months from late 1999 to mid-2000.If you consider cash on hand a key ingredient for the long-term success of free ISPs, NetZero may fit your model. According to a recent NetZero press release, the company has $248 million in cash and short-term investments. NetZero continues to attempt to promote itself through several means, such as through sponsoring the halftime shows during the NBA on NBC. Juno, meanwhile, has an estimated $75 million to $100 million in cash, according to the documents it filed with the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission). If youre expecting free ISPs stock prices to make a comeback, you may want to take a closer look at their business models. Industry analysts who project a large increase in the number of free ISP customers over the next few years are banking on greater numbers of lower-income groups using the services. However, investors dont seem overly encouraged by this idea. Low-income users still need a computer to use free ISPs, and advertisers may not be eager to target low-income customers with the ads free ISPs need to survive. Some industry analysts say the costs of attracting new customers to free ISPs are too high to generate consistent profits. Others say customers who get tired of the ads are willing to use a fee-based ISP to avoid the ads. However, some analysts say once a free ISP reaches 2 million active subscribers, its cost-per-customer decreases significantly, giving it a better chance at profitability and survival. Both Juno and NetZero claim to have more than 2 million active subscribers.

 It Isnt For Everyone If you need the Internet for your job, using a free ISP as your only Internet access probably isnt a good idea. Many people currently use free ISPs to back up their Internet subscription package. If your fee-based ISP is inoperable, use the free ISP account to access the Internet. Users who pay for a locally based ISP may want to sign up for a free ISP account to use when traveling outside of the local ISPs service area. If youre determined to save the approximately $250 per year youd spend for a fee-based ISP, you should probably sign up for accounts with several free ISPs. Try the services for several days before canceling your fee-based ISP account; you need to make sure your retinas can handle staring at those brightly colored, never-ending popup ads.by Kyle Schurman 

Something For Nothing Heres a list of some of the best-known free ISPs operating in the United States at press time. Keep in mind, though, that this list may change as free ISPs merge with other companies, change their names, or go out of business. Before signing up, make sure the free ISP offers toll-free access through a local telephone number in your area. 1stUp.com http://www.1stup.com Address.com http://www.address.com AltaVistas Free Access http://www.microav.com BlueLight.com http://www.bluelight.com/freeinternet Freeinternet.com http://www.freeinternet.com FreeLane http://freelane.excite.com iFreedom http://www.ifreedom.com iwin.com http://www.iwin.com Juno http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web Lycos http://free.lycos.com Nettaxi.com http://www.nettaxi.com NetZero http://www.netzero.com Spinway http://www.spinway.com The Simpsons http://cobrand.1stup.com/simpsons/start.html Winfire http://www.winfire.comOut Of Business. ISPs, free or for a fee, come and go. Here are some well-known free ISPs that have recently gone out of business. FreeNSafe http://www.freensafe.com Freewwweb http://www.freewwweb.com WorldSpy http://www.worldspy.com/freeisp/isp.html 
  -------------------- June 1999 Vol.10 Issue 6
 Free Access To The Internet Despite The Hype, Quality Options Are Scarce 

Anyone who has experienced the World Wide Web has to be amazed at the number of free services and amount of free information available. Some of the thousands of resources available for free include E-mail accounts, Web site hosting, financial services, and newspapers. And now, for the especially frugal and savvy user, even the price of admission can be free. Free Internet service providers (ISPs) are not a new idea, but until now they have not been viable, at least not in the United States. It costs a bundle to provide nationwide Internet access, especially when technical support is factored in, but several companies are attempting to find a business model that will make free Internet access a reality. A few are succeeding, but as with any free service there are pitfalls, drawbacks, and outright scams that users should be aware of.

 Ads Drive The DealOne of the first free ISPs we looked at turned out to be the most valuable, and also the most straightforward. The service, NetZero from NetZero Inc., launched in October 1998 and now has more than 200,000 subscribers throughout the United States. It has more than 600 local dial-up access points nationwide, including a presence in every state and coverage of nearly every major metropolitan area.NetZero uses targeted advertising to fund the service, a practice that works both for and against its customers. The company currently has no limit on the number of customers it will accept, and those wanting to sign up for the service can get everything they need at the NetZero Web site (http://www.netzero.com). 

Heres how it works. Whenever NetZero is used to access the Internet, a small window pops up that displays a continually changing series of advertisements, much like the banner ads that appear at the top of most Web pages. The difference between typical banner ads and the AdVantage Window (as NetZero calls it) is the latter remains onscreen at all times, positioned on top of all other windows that might be open. It can be moved anywhere on the screen, but it will always obscure what is underneath it, meaning users lose some monitor real estate when using NetZero. Users without large (say 17-inch and above) monitors and powerful video cards capable of high resolution will dislike the ever-present advertisement window. Of more concern, however, is the way NetZero determines which ads it displays in the window. 

To accurately target advertisements, NetZero keeps track of all user activity during Internet sessions. The company catalogs the sites you visit and the files you access, sorts the information by category, and uses it to create a user profile. NetZero also requires users to fill out a demographic and preference survey when they sign up, and conducts further surveys throughout the year. The initial survey includes questions about education level, average annual income, occupation, and home ownership status. Individually, the questions arent too prying, but when aggregated and refined they provide a fairly accurate profile of a customers life. 

 NetZeros privacy statement and all its marketing materials assure users it keeps their profile information separate from their name, E-mail address, and other contact information, and will never be shared with any company or even employees at NetZero. It also states all demographic and profile information is shown only to advertisers on an aggregate basis, further separating individuals identity from their personal profile.

We found some policies in the NetZero license that users should be aware of. NetZero reserves the right to not only monitor all usage, but also to in its sole discretion, report actual or perceived violations of law to law enforcement or other appropriate authorities. We have seen fee-based ISPs that have similar policies but none that monitor usage as thoroughly as NetZero. Users who attempt to get rid of the AdVantage window and get caught are in for a nasty surprise: a fee of $59.95 per month for as long as they keep the service. We know of programs that can remove the ad window, but at those prices users would be better off buying a larger monitor, getting used to the smaller available screen area, or hooking up with a fee-based ISP.

This type of tracking isnt acceptable to most users, but we found that those who can live with it will be rewarded with an ISP that rivals and sometimes exceeds the performance of fee-based ISPs. NetZero also has applied for a TRUSTe license. TRUSTe (http://www.truste.org) is an independent non-profit organization that acts as a watchdog, making sure member sites comply with their privacy statements and fully disclose all aspects of their privacy policies to customers. 

 NetZero requires information from users for advertising purposes. 

 Quality ConnectionsWe worked with NetZero for more than a month to see if it could keep up with a full-price ISP, in this case the Microsoft Network (MSN). The results were surprising. NetZero offered more local access numbers than MSN, meaning we were able to connect to the Internet during peak usage hours more easily with the free service. Anyone who has tried to access the Web from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Central Standard Time knows that busy signals are the norm. We rarely experienced busy signals with NetZero, and when we did it was easy to switch to one of the five available backup numbers. The amount of local access numbers, of course, varies from city to city.More surprising was the quality of the connections we established. NetZero invariably gave us faster connection rates than MSN could, sometimes letting us browse and download 30% faster than the pay service. On average our connections were 10% faster with NetZero and we rarely lost connections while we browsed. 

Your connection speeds may vary, but our experience shows NetZero is a solid, fast way to use the Web. Despite the good performance, there are aspects of NetZero that many users will resent. If you let 30 minutes pass without clicking on an ad in the AdVantage window, a dialog box pops up reporting that a period of inactivity has occurred and asking if you want to maintain a connection. Continuing requires only a single click, but there were times when the service dropped our connection in the middle of a file download when we were away from the PC. For NetZero, clicking on an ad counts as an activity, but normal browsing or downloading does not. At least NetZero lets users respond to a simple dialog box instead of forcing them to click on advertisements for products that may be of no interest to them. 

When Free IsntOur experience with NetZero gave us a favorable early impression of free ISPs, but further research proved the word free is being abused by nearly every entry in this field. Other than NetZero, we could find no extant nationwide ISPs without startup costs or hidden fees. 

One of the most misleading yet potentially valuable business models we encountered was from ISPs that claimed to offer free Internet access, but that actually charged an initial fee for software or a one-time account setup charge. Freewwweb, from Smart World Technologies LLC, was the most successful example we found. The company charges users $119.90 for software and setup fees and provides unlimited lifetime Internet access and technical support in return. The ads for this service are misleading, but as long as the company stays in business, the potential savings are substantial; $119.90 would equal about six months worth of access from a standard fee-based ISP. 

We found a few free ISPs that arent going to save anybody money, at least not outside the ISPs local calling area. An example is FreePPP.com, a service that is absolutely free but has only one dial-up number. This means users outside the local calling area will have to fork over a long-distance charge that under good circumstances will amount to $6 per hour. This might be a good option for users in rural areas, but better deals exist for most urbanites. 

 Other companies promise free Internet access to get users to visit their Web sites, but those users soon discover they must work for their free accounts by becoming sales representatives. The typical offer we found in this category promised free unlimited access as long as you provided three paying customers per month to the company in the form of referrals. Imagine attempting to convince your friends and family members they should pay for something so you can get it for free and its apparent why these companies are rarely around for long.  Perhaps the worst free Internet access scam we ran across was put forward by a number of sites offering information kits (for $10 to $50) that tell users how to get free access. None of the sites actually claimed to provide the access, just the facts on where to get it. Most of these sites had a few sample phone numbers to provide a veneer of legitimacy, but the majority of those were NetZero access numbers. This type of scam is an evergreen for those trying to get something for nothing. Always be skeptical of having to pay to get information about a free service (excepting this article, of course!). 

 Freewwweb has a one-time charge, then provides unlimited access. 

 The Disappearing Act The business model for most free ISPs is sound in theory, but few have passed the practical test of flourishing in the real world. While researching this article we found dozens of free ISPs that have discontinued service, and every customer they abandoned is a customer who will think twice about trusting a free ISP in the future. In fact, the main reason we put so much emphasis on NetZero in this article is it is the only successful, nationwide, and truly free service available at this time. One of NetZeros primary competitors, the Tritium Network Inc., suspended service due to lack of funds. The company says it has plans to reopen, and it is still registering new accounts at its Web site, but theres no telling how things will pan out.
 Neither our research nor information from NetZero cast light on the companys ability to raise such a large user base in such a short period. NetZero has 10 times the number of subscribers of most free services and has only been around a few months, compared to other companies that have struggled for years to gain a smaller customer base. A free services viability depends to a high degree on the size of its subscriber base. The more subscribers a service has, the easier it is to get advertisers, and therefore the longer it can afford to stay in business. So its important to find out how many subscribers a free service has before committing to it.  Regardless of which service you decide to try, its inadvisable to use a free ISP-based E-mail service as your primary point of contact. When a free ISP collapses, E-mail services usually go with it, and you will have to scramble to get a new address and let everyone know what it is. Instead, use one of the established free E-mail services, such as MSN Hotmail (http://www.hotmail.com) or Yahoo! mail (http://mail.yahoo.com), which are likely to be around for a long time.

 Low-Cost Alternatives Free ISPs often have unwieldy restrictions and low-quality connections that make them unsuitable for those who place high demands on their connections.Users who access the Internet constantly or rely on it for their jobs would be better off signing on with a respected full-service ISP and using the free service as back-up. Ad windows and other features of the free ISPs are also prohibitive intrusions for those who play games online.

Users who only access the Web for occasional research or recreation have more options open to them. Most ISPs that charge a fee have a range of services to cater to a variety of browsing habits. The standard $19.99 per month that most ISPs charge covers unlimited access; if you spend a limited amount of time online, you can save money. Check with the ISPs in your area to see what they offer. A typical plan lets you spend $10 or less per month for about 10 hours of access. Rates tend to increase sharply if you exceed the pre-paid limit, however, so make sure you know how much time you are likely to be online.

If you need free service and live in a large city, you should look for a free-net. Free-nets offer Internet and other services to members of a community at a substantially reduced ratesometimes even for free. A list of free-nets in the United States can be found at http://www.y4i.com/accessusa.html, or by going to Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com) and searching for free-net.  Many America Online users are reluctant to switch providers because they dont want to miss out on all of AOLs proprietary content, but there is a way to access this while saving money. The Bring Your Own Access option gives AOL users all the proprietary AOL content for $9.95 per month. Full details are available on AOLs Web site (http://www.aol.com) and NetZeros Web site at (http://www.netzero.com/support/index.html). It may be awhile before the United States has a stable ISP company that doesnt charge for access, and many feel the model is fundamentally flawed and will never work,. However, services such as NetZero are promising enough that we can recommend users at least give them a shot.by Tracy Baker 


\7 How to Access Internet Services by E-mail

If you don't have direct access to the Inet through your BBS or online service, you're not alone. Many of the world's countries with Internet connex have only e-mail access to this world-wide network of networks.

But if you think that sounds limiting, read on. You can access almost any Inet resource using e-mail. Maybe you've heard of FTP, Gopher, Archie, Veronica, Finger, Usenet, Whois, Netfind, WAIS, and the World-Wide Web but thought they were out of your reach because you don't have a direct connx.

Not so! You can use simple e-mail commands to do all of this and much more. And even if you do have full Inet access, using e-mail services can save you time and money. If you can send a note to an Inet adrs, you're in.

I encourage you to read this entire doc first and then go back and try out the techniques that are covered. This way, you will gain a broader perspective of the resources that are avail, an intro to the tools you can work with, and the best methods for finding the info you want.

Recent Changes To This Document - 7.2 Whew! mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu back in action. 7.1 web-mail@ebay.com unplugged; Zippo unzipped; new server addresses; UPS tracking; mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu not responding 7.0 Address updates, web search update, new usenet posting info, goodies. 6.9 Several new/deleted server addresses 6.8 Homepage by e-mail for German users only; LEO translation service;

Reminders by e-mail; updated mail-to-usenet info; Mercury Mail by e-mail discontinued; WAISmail section removed

This doc is now avail from several auto mail servers. To get the latest edit, send e-mail to an adrs below.

To: mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu (US) Enter only this line in the BODY of the note: send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email

Or on the Web in HTML format at: http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/ internet- services/access-via-email/faq.html

Related Resource DR. BOB'S PAINLESS GUIDE to the Internet (And Amazing Things You Can Do With E-Mail) is different than any other Internet book. It's cheap--only $12.95, and it's blissfully short--just 145 pages. For online ordering, visit Dr. Bob's web page at

http://biz.mhv.net/drbob or send e-mail to BobRankin@MHV.net with Subject: SEND BOOKINFO to get complete details.

Before You Write... Pls make sure you have the latest ver of this guide before writing to the author with questions and updates. Don't give up too quickly on the busy e-mail servers, and if you get an error msg, try your rqst again on a diff day or time. If you'd like to keep up with the latest updates and announce of new ver, send the command: SUBSCRIBE ACCMAIL Firstname Lastname in the BODY of a msg to the adrs "LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM". In fact, the ACCMAIL list is a great place to ask any questions you have about this guide. You're likely to get a quicker response from one of the list subscribers, because the author gets several hundred msgs a day!

Other Translations of This Doc. Several readers have graciously volunteered to translate this text into lang other than English. Contact the author if you would like to translate this doc into another lang. 

NB: Yr "send accmail.xx" rqst MUST be in SUBJECT line!

A Short Aside... "What is the Internet?" - Many intro texts on the Internet go into excruciating detail on the hist, composition and protocol of the Internet. If you were looking for that you won't find it here, because this is a "how to" lesson, not a hist book.

When you buy a new car, they don't make you read "The Life and Times of Henry Ford" before you can turn the top down and squeal off the lot. And when you get a new computer, nobody forces you to read a text on logic design before you fire up Leisure Suit Larry or WordPerfect.

So if you're the type that wants to cut the preliminaries and just dig in, you've come to the right place. I'm not going to bore you with the gory details. Instead, I'll just offer up my Reader's Digest condensed definition of the Internet, and encourage you to find out more as you gain skill at using the tools described herein.

Internet (noun) - A sprawling collection of computer networks that spans the globe, connecting government, military, educational and commercial institutions, as well as private citizens to a wide range of computer services, resources, and information. A set of network conventions and common tools are employed to give the appearance of a single large network, even though the computers that are linked together use many different hardware and software platforms.

The Rules of The Game

This document is meant to be both tutorial and practical, so there are lots of actual commands and internet addresses listed herein. You'll notice that when these are included in the text they are indented by several spaces for clarity. Don't include the leading spaces when you try these commands on your own!

You'll also see things like "<file>" or "<name>" appearing in this document. Think of these as place holders or variables which must be replaced with an appropriate value. Do NOT include the quotes or brackets in your value unless specifically directed to do so.

Most e-mail servers understand only a small set of commands and are not very forgiving if you deviate from what they expect. So include ONLY the specified commands in the Subject or body of your note, leaving off any extraneous lines such as your signature, etc.

Unless otherwise specified, you can leave the Subject and/or body of the note empty. If your email SW insists on a Subject or body, just type "XYZZY" or something equally non-sensical.

You should also ensure that you have one blank line between the note headers and the body of your note. And do pay attention to upper/lower case in directory and file names when using e-mail servers. It's almost always important.

SPECIAL NOTE: The e-mail servers listed in this guide are kind-hearted volunteers at companies or universities. If you abuse (or over-use) the servers, there's a very good chance they will be shut down permanently. This actually happened to several of the servers recently, so treat them with respect.

If you have direct Internet access, let others who are less fortunate use the e-mail servers. Try to limit your data transfers to one megabyte per day. Don't swamp the servers with many requests at a time.

FTP BY E-MAIL. FTP stands for "file transfer protocol", and is a means of accessing files that are stored on remote computer systems (sites). Files at FTP sites are typically stored in a tree-like set of directories (or nested folders for Mac fans), each of which pertains to a different subject.

When visiting an FTP site using a "live" internet connection, one would specify the name of the site, login with a userid & password, navigate to the desired directory and select one or more files to be transferred back to their local system.

Using FTP by e-mail is very similar, except that the desired site is reached through a special "ftpmail server" which logs in to the remote site and returns the requested files to you in response to a set of commands in an e-mail message.

Using FTP by e-mail can be nice even for those with full Inet access, because some popular FTP sites are heavily loaded and interactive response can be very sluggish. So it makes sense not to waste time and connect charges in these cases.

To use FTP by e-mail, you need a list of FTP "sites" which are the adrs of the remote computer sys that allow you to retrieve files anonymously (without having a userid and PW on that sys).

There are some popular sites listed later, but you can get a list of 100s of anonymous FTP sites by sending an e-mail msg to the inet adrs: mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu and include these lines in the BODY of the note. send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part1... (19 lines omitted for brevity) ... send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part23

You will then receive (by e-mail) 23 files which comprise the "FTP Site List". Note that these files are each about 60K, so the whole lot will total over a megabyte! This could place a strain on your system, so first check around to see if the list is already available locally.

Another file you might want to get is "FTP Frequently Asked Questions" which contains lots more info on using FTP services, so add this line to your note as well: send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/faq After you receive the site list you'll see dozens of entries like this, which tell you the site name, location and the kind of files that are stored there.

 Site : oak.oakland.edu
 Country: USA
 Organ : Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan
 System : Unix
 Comment: Simtel Software Repository mirror
 Files : BBS lists; ham radio; TCP/IP; Mac; modem protocol info; MS-DOS; MS-Windows; PC Blue; PostScript; Simtel-20; Unix

If you find an interesting FTP site in the list, send e-mail to one of these ftpmail servers:

 bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu (United States)
 ftpmail@ftpmail.ramona.vix.com (United States)
 ftpmail@btoy1.rochester.ny.us (United States)

It doesn't really matter which one you choose, but a server that is geographically close may respond quicker. (Please DON'T use the first one in the list just because it's there!) In the body of the note, include these lines:
 open <site>  * use "connect <site>" for dec.com sites
 dir
 quit

This will return to you a list of the files stored in the root dir at that site. See the figure below for an example of the output when using "oak.oakland.edu" for the site name.

+-- +
 1 w8sdz OAK 1255 Nov 9 16:32 README
 drwxr-xr-x 3 w8sdz OAK 8192 Feb 25 05:17 SimTel
 d--x--x--x 3 root system 8192 Jan 19 20:26 bin
 d--x--x--x 5 root system 8192 Dec 30 05:15 etc
 drwxr-xr-x 3 w8sdz OAK 8192 Jan 30 17:37 pub

+-- In your next e-mail message you can navigate to other dir by inserting (for exam)

 chdir pub  (use "cd" if "chdir" doesn't work)

before the "dir" command. (The "chdir" means "change directory" and "pub" is a common directory name, usually a good place to start.) Once you determine the name of a file you want to retrieve, use: get <name of file> in the following note instead of the "dir" command. If the file you want to retrieve is plain text, this will suffice. If it's a binary file (an executable program, compressed file, etc.) you'll need to insert the command:
 binary in your note before the "get" command.

Tip: Many dir at FTP sites contain a file called 00-index.txt, README, or something similarly named which gives a description of the files found there. If you're just exploring and your "dir" reveals one of these filenames, do a "get" on the file and save yourself some time.

OK, let's grab the text of The Magna Carta. Here's the message you send to ftpmail@win.net (or another ftpmail server):
 open ftp.spies.com (The name of the FTP site)
 chdir Gov/World (The dir where the file lives)
 get magna.txt (Sign here please, John)
 quit  (Bring it on home)

Here are the commands you would send to to get a file from the Simtel Software Repository that was mentioned earlier.
 open oak.oakland.edu
 chdir SimTel/msdos/disasm
 binary (Because we're getting a ZIP file)
 get bubble.zip
 quit Some other FTP sites you may visit" are listed. (Use these site names on the "open" command and the suggested dir name on your "chdir" command, as in the previous examples.)

 rtfm.mit.edu Try: pub/usenet/news.answers for USENET info
 ftp.simtel.net Try: pub/simtelnet a huge DOS/WIN SW library
 gatekeeper.dec.com Try: pub/recipes for cook & recipe archive

Remember that you can't just send e-mail to ftpmail@<anysite>, rather you send the "open <site>" command to one of the known ftpmail servers.

Notes: - The ftpmail servers tend to be quite busy. Your reply may not arrive for several minutes, hours, or days. - Some large files may be split into smaller pieces and returned to you as multiple msgs. You can control this (and override the return e-mail adrs) using special ftpmail cmds. - The commands are not the same on every server - send the "help" command to find out how FTPMAIL works on the server you are using! - Often the ftpmail servers keep local archives. Open the local archives by not specifying a site on the "open" line. Using the local archives gives your request priority so it will be processed before all outside requests.

If the file that is returned to you ends up looking something like what you see below, (the word "begin" with a number and the filename on one line, followed by a bunch of 61-character lines) it most likely is a binary file that has been "uuencoded" by the sender. (This is required in order to reliably transmit binary files by e-mail.)

begin 666 answer2.zip M4$L#!`H`!@`.`/6H?18.$-Z$F@P```@?```,````5$5,25@S,34N5% A480I[ M!P8;!KL,2P,)!PL).PD'%@.(!@4.!P8%-@.6%PL*!@@*.P4.%00.%P4* . `4.

You'll need to scrounge up a version of the "uudecode" pgm for your o/s in order to reconstruct the file. Most likely you'll find a copy already at your site or in your service provider's download lib, but if not you can use the instructions in the next sect to find out how to search FTP sites for a copy.


\8 Privacy Analysis of your Internet Connection - How it works

Your IP address: This is your Internet 'identity' and is similar to a telephone number. Everyone must have an IP address to communicate on the Internet. It is possible to block IP's from accessing a site or provide custom content to specific IP's. Your IP could be the same each time you log on (static) or your provider or company may provide a different one (from a pool that they own) each time you log on (dynamic). 

Your Internet surfing may also go through a 'proxy' which is another computer that gets the web pages for you and then sends you the pages via an internal network. This could happen via a business network, cable modem, or you can use another computer on the Internet.

Third party proxies are computers that sit between you and the Internet web sites you want to visit. The third party computer gets your web page and delivers it to you. A web site can only trace the proxy computer. this is much like using a PO Box to get your mail. Anonymizer. AnonyMouse. Anonymyth. EarthProxy. I-SafetyNet I-Security Information Secrecy. IPriv.com MagusNet free proxy. ProxyMate Rewebber SiegeSoft - Consumer.net advertiser. SpacePROXY Surfola Ultimate Anonymity. 
 See a paper by Consumer.net: The IP Address: Your Internet Identity.

Your computer name (if it has one): If you computer is configured as part of network that uses a domain your computer will have a "host name." This is optional as using just an IP address will always work. The IP addresses are difficult to remember so domain names were invented to replace them.

The system attempted to place the following persistent cookies on your system. A cookie is a text file placed on your system. According to the spec, only the site that placed the cookie can retrieve it when visiting a web site (of course, it is avail to anyone who has access to your HD). 

A persistent cookies stays on the system until the expiration date. This system allowed the cookie to expire no later than 2038! These are used to track repeat visitors over a long period. A "session" cookie expires in a short time interval or "session" which is set by the web site. This type of cookie is used for shopping carts, searches, and other short-term uses.

You linked from here: This is the 'referrer' information. Most browsers send this information to the web site when a link is clicked. This is used by sites to see where visitors clicked from and what search terms are used to find the site.

Your Browser Type, Operating System: Again, most browsers send this information when a request is made. This information is used to provide different information to the user based on their browser type. For instance the screen resolution and viewable window are detected from the browser and is done in a slightly different way for different versions of Netscape and Internet Explorer. In older versions it won't work at all. 

One product "Browser Hawk" uses this information in combination with a database of browser capabilities that allows web site developers to take into account all kinds of browsers.

Trace Route (Traces your signal through the Internet to Consumer.net server): this is a program that documents each 'hop' your signal takes going through the Internet. Usually, this goes from the user to their Internet provider then to the users 'backbone' provider (a 'backbone' provider is a major provider that can transfer data with most of the other major providers). This 'backbone' provider transfers the signal to the Consumer.net 'backbone' provider and eventually the signal gets to the Consumer.net server. See the Network-Tools.com page for a trace route tool to trace any computer.

Who registered your domain?: This looks at the computer name, truncates the beginning, and looks at just the domain name (such as Consumer.net, AOL.com, etc.) A lookup is performed to the domain registration database (which is publicly available) and the results are displayed. 

How is your domain configured?: When a domain is configured on the Internet certain information is made available in the domain name server (DNS) configuration file. An 'nslookup' is performed on your domain name. This downloads the domain name configuration file for your domain.

Who owns your network?: This also uses the Internet registration database. A 'WHOIS' command is performed on the users IP address. there are three databases of IP addresses (Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe).

Q Often while connected to AOL, I have difficulty in signing off and AOL stays on the screen for several minutes. On checking my HD, I noticed that there are four copies of America Online: AOL 5.0, AOL 5.0a, AOL 5.0b and AOL 5.0c. Should I delete three of the copies, and which ones? TIA. Peter Sievering, Newark, N.J.

A Bad news and good news, Mr. S. Whatever is causing America Online's SW to linger on your screen when it should go beddy-bye is not related to your proliferation of AOL directories, which I will deal with in a second. First, let me tell you that you probably can nuke that lingering AOL just by pressing the Alt+F4 key combination. If not, try pressing Control+Alt+Delete and look to see if you get a message "America Online (not responding)." If so, click on that message and then click the End Task choice. You need to install another version of AOL on your hard drive. But first you want to get rid of each of those past versions.

To do this, you need to use the Add/Remove Programs control panel to remove AOL SW scattered about your hard drive. Click the My Computer icon and then Control Panel and then Add/Remove Programs. Select America Online and remove it. Now go back to the My Computer icon and select the icon for the C: drive. There you will find folders for AOL and AOLa, b and c. Nuke them all. Finally, insert your America Online CD in the CD-ROM drive and reinstall and set up the software all over. This should give you a clean version that won't hang up again. Q I recently downloaded an upgraded version of Microsoft Internet Explorer, the browser we use with Road Runner (high-speed Internet access). The upgraded version is 5.0. We immediately began having trouble with our desktop, so we called Gateway for help. Since we don't have their feature called GoBack, which was available just a few months after we purchased this machine in May 1999, they had us run "scanreg /restore." This resulted in the total loss of the desktop. We can still get the computer to boot up to a DOS prompt, but that is all. Using another machine, we warned every Road Runner user on our e-mail address list. One immediately responded that she had the same problem, fixed it with GoBack and will not be using the updated version. That same day, my husband was telling a friend about the experience at lunch, and a total stranger came over to their table and said he had also had this experience. Then I mentioned this to my broker. He said, "Oh, yeah, I think I have heard about this." My question to you is this: Have you heard of people having this problem? If so, why am I not reading about it? (This is at least a nuisance and, unless our local troubleshooter can restore the desktop, we'll have to reformat our entire hard disk. Sure, we have important files backed up, but I'm not too excited about re-entering 4 legal-pad pages of address entries into my AOL program again ... having lost them when I was suckered into an AOL upgrade ... a very common problem since backing them up on one version doesn't seem to allow for replacement on another.) I'd appreciate anything you can share on this problem. Jane Reed, Powell, Ohio A I'm flabbergasted that Gateway didn't tell you that you can restore your desktop (with all the software and data files--including AOL and that address book--intact) simply by running the System Recovery disk that Gateway included with its PCs long before it moved to the superb GoBack software that quickly restores computers to working order when they become corrupted. Go through the stuff that came with that Gateway and get cracking with that recovery, and your nightmare with Internet Explorer 5.0 will be brief. All I can say about what you and your broker have heard is that I have not heard any particular talk of 5.0 causing this sort of problem, and I do keep up with the various newsgroups and Web sites where such problems often get covered. Q In response to your reader (J.T. Madell) who was looking for a grade book program that would work with both a PC and an Apple computer: I agree with you that anyone who uses a computer should learn the merits of a good spreadsheet. However, making a complete, fully functional grade book program can become a major task. Instead I would suggest that the reader go to www.gradebusters.com and find an award-winning grade book program that will work on both the PC and the Mac. The program prints out a variety of reports and plots, makes seating charts (in which you can place pictures of the students), allows several different grading schemes and methods and can export the results to a large variety of other software, including Excel. Many school districts have purchased a group license for all of their teachers, or you can buy an individual lifetime version for around $100. Don Henley @ anl.gov A Since teachers can get a no-cost trial version of Grade Busters by visiting that Web site, I am tickled to pass along your excellent suggestion. Howsomeever, as we used to say back in that little red Wyoming schoolhouse where I got brung up, I still think teachers, of all people, should know their spreadsheetin' right along with their readin', 'ritin' and 'rithmetic. Q Usually, when you receive unsolicited e-mail from a mailing list, there is a message at the bottom saying something like, "To be taken off this list, respond to this message with `unsubscribe' in the subject line." However, lately I've been getting unsolicited mail with no such option. Also, there is no indication of who it is from--the "from" indicator contains what works out to an invalid address. "Block messages from this sender" won't work because the e-mail address it is sent from is not only invalid, but different each time. (It always ends the same, "@newsday," but Outlook doesn't have a wildcard option--I can't say "Block all *@newsday") My question is, what can I do to find out who is sending these and get them to stop? Also, are there any laws about this sort of thing? I know that the Internet is new and the law has been slow to catch up. Is there any bureau I can complain to? Jim Lehmann, Blue Island A Those blind spam messages are the bane of most of us with e-mail accounts and are best dealt with by simply deleting them unread when you recognize them. For a very comprehensive look at ways to complain about spam, check out the www.junkbusters.com Web site that shows how to seek out the Internet service provider being used by the spammers and how to pressure that ISP to shut down the spam mill in question. In your case, Mr. L., there is a command in Outlook Express that lets you automatically delete all messages with keywords in the text, such as that @newsday you mentioned. Just click on the New Message Rule option in the Message box, and you will be given a list of conditions including "Where the message body contains specific words." Check that and then chose Delete from the Action box and type in the keyword, and @newsday will sleep with the fishes along with Mr. B.'s ink jet printer (see first item). ---------- Contact Jim Coates via e-mail at jcoates@tribune.com or snail mail at the Chicago Tribune, Room 400, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611. If you think you've got a better answer to any of these questions, add your point of view at chicagotribune.com/go/askjim.


\9 search engines

The term "search engine" is often used generically to describe both true search engines and DIRs. They are not the same. The difference is how listings are compiled.

Search Engines, such as HotBot, create their lists auto. They crawl around the web, then the people look at what they have found. If you change your web pages, search engines eventually find these changes, and that can affect how you are listed. Page titles, body copy and other elements all play a role.

Directories: A dir such as Yahoo depends on humans for its listings. You submit a short description to the dir for your entire site, or editors write one for sites they review. A srch looks for matches only in the descriptions submitted.

Changing your web pages has no effect on your listing. Things that are useful for improving a listing with a srch eng have nothing to do with improving a listing in a dir. The only exception is that a good site, with good content, might be more likely to get reviewed than a poor site.

Hybrid Search Engines: Some search engines maintain an associated dir. Being included in a search engine's directory is usually a combination of luck and quality. Sometimes you can "submit" your site for review, but there is no guarantee that it will be included. Reviewers often keep an eye on sites submitted to announcement places, then choose to add those that look appealing.
  Parts Of A Search Engine  Search engines have three major elements. First is the spider, also called the crawler. The spider visits a web page, reads it, and then follows links to other pgs within the site. This is what it means when someone refers to a site being "spidered" or "crawled." The spider returns to the site on a regular basis, such as every month or two, to look for changes.

Everything the spider finds goes into the second part of a search engine, the index. The index, sometimes called the catalog, is like a giant book containing a copy of every web page that the spider finds. If a web page changes, then this book is updated new info.

Sometimes it can take a while for new pages or changes that the spider finds to be added to the index. Thus, a web page may have been "spidered" but not yet "indexed." Until it is indexed - added to the index - it is not available to those searching with the search engine.

Srch eng SW is the third part of a srch eng. This is the pgm that sifts through the millions of pages recorded in the index to find matches to a search and rank them in order of what it believes is most relevant. You can learn more about how search engine software ranks web pages on the aptly-named How Srch Eng Rank Web Pages page.

Major Srch Engs: The Same, But Diff. All srch engs have the basic parts described above, but there are diff in how these parts are tuned. That is why the same search on diff srch eng often give diff results.

Some of the significant diff between the major search engines are described in two main areas of this guide: Srch Eng Feats Page: Info on this page has been drawn from the help pages of each search engine, along with knowledge gained from articles, reviews, books, independent research, tips from others and additional info received from directly from the various srch engs.

 Unusual Search Engines  Feb 2000 Vol.11 Issue 2. Find It Online Unusual Search Engines. ASE The Airport Search Engine http://www.uni-karlsruhe.de/~un9v/atm/ase.html The Airport Search Engine is perfect for flight enthusiasts, whether you fly a genuine aircraft or use Microsoft's latest flight simulator. Simply type in the three-letter airport code or the airport name, and the country in which it's located. A complete list of airport names and their matching codes are displayed. If you want more information, click the Include AirNav checkbox. 

This will place an AirNav link beside each airport name. Simply click the links to follow them to their Web pages. Tons of additional information is also available, such as runway and navigation details. 

Deja.com http://www.deja.com Deja.com lets you search an amazing number of discussion groups (mostly Usenet groups) for whatever you need. Anyone who has looked for groups in a Usenet client will appreciate the way this Web-based search engine allows you to search thousands of Usenet messages quickly and easily. If you're looking for information on potential purchases, you can also scout hundreds of user reviews before you buy. Additional features are available for registered members. (Registration is free.) 

The DLL Archive http://solo.abac.com/dllarchive Anyone who has used Windows for a significant amount of time has probably encountered a missing or corrupt dynamic-link library (DLL) file. A DLL file is a small program that's used to accomplish a specific task. They are usually "called" upon by other software, so if the DLL file is missing or corrupt, the software or the entire operating system may not function correctly. The DLL Archive provides a list of DLL files to help you replace bad DLL files. If you need a file not listed in the archive, you can always leave a request on the message board, along with your e-mail address. Remember to keep your karma high by helping others in dire DLL straights, as well. 

Dogpile http://www.dogpile.com Dogpile does a lot of what other search engines do, but it does it all from one site. Dogpile combines several different search engines to help you thoroughly search the Web, Usenet, and even File Transfer Protocol (FTP) sites. You can also check stock quotes, weather forecasts, and yellow page lists. Many of the search engines that Dogpile uses are stand alone search tools such as Deja.com and Alta Vista. 

Librarians' Index to the Internet http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/InternetIndex While most search engines can find good information on technology and the Internet, it's usually a little harder to find really good resources on academic topics. The Librarians Index of the Internet is a perfect place to start your next research project. While it can't completely replace a trip to the library, it has a wealth of links on sjts including Arts, History, Science, and Philosophy, so you can do all of your background research from home. 

LiveSky http://www.livesky.com LiveSky provides extensive information on the hobby and science of astronomy. By far the coolest feature is the search tool that allows you to search several astronomy-related Web sites such as NASA, Sky & Telescope, and StarDate Online. In addition, you can scour discussion and newsgroups using Deja News or search a handful of general Web sites such as Alta Vista and Yahoo!. This is a great starting point for astronomy buffs, no matter what you're looking for. 

The Open Directory Project http://dmoz.org Structurally, this site is similar to Yahoo! and other Web directory services; however, the Open Directory Project has one distinct difference: an army of unpaid volunteers performs the upkeep. Anyone can volunteer to become an editor in a field in which they feel qualified. In this way, the Open Directory Project can maintain a tight Web directory filled with useful sites. It may not have as many indexed pages as Yahoo! and other search tools, but the information it does have indexed is extremely useful because a volunteer has reviewed it. 

UFOSeek http://www.ufok.com Have you seen things flying in the desert sky above Nevada? Or, maybe you're just interested in the unknown. UFOSeek is a comprehensive, searchable database containing UFO and paranormal information. You can search through its categories or type in a search string. Either way, the truth is out there, and this engine will help you find it. 

Quick Fixes Most software can benefit from a few updates, patches, and add-ons downloaded from the Internet. This month, we focus on browser plug-ins that can enhance your Web surfing experience with both Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. Adobe Acrobat Reader Adobe Acrobat Reader allows users to read Portable Document Format (PDF) files, regardless of the operating system. This plug-in application allows you to view .PDF files offline, as well as within a Web browser. 

You can also use the plug-in to fill out online PDF forms. www.adobe.co.uk/products/acrobat/readermain.htmlBeatnik Player Beatnik makes sounds as interactive as hyperlinks. After installing the Beatnik player, you'll immediately be able to hear sounds on sites that use the Beatnik technology. 

Simply pass over a link or click an object to hear instant sounds. http://www.beatnik.com Macromedia Shockwave Player Surfers can use Macromedia's Shockwave Player to view Shockwave-enhanced Web sites. Site designers can use Shockwave to add animations and simple games to Web sites. http://www.macromedia.com/downloads 
Thats News To You Finding the appropriate Usenet discussion group to match your interests can be a monumental task. So each month, we scour the tens of thousands of newsgroups out there and highlight the newsgroups that delve into popular topics. If your Internet service provider (ISP) doesn't carry these groups, ask it to add the groups to its list. This month we selected music as our topic. alt.music.*. If you're a music fan, you can probably find the latest information about your favorite artist or group in this hierarchy. Whether its Air Supply or Lennon, fans can discuss the latest news and share opinions. alt.music-lover.audiophile.hardware. Whether you're looking for information on the latest audio components or just wondering if a green felt-tip pen can improve CD quality, you can probably find the answers here. And if you find the forum trustworthy, you can even buy and sell components. 

Share The Wares Some of the best apples in the online orchard are the free (or free to try) programs available for download. Each month we feature highlights from our pickings. Macro Magic Macro Magic gives you the power to automate anything. This simple-to-use interface is flexible and can be easily programmed to allow you to perform common repetitive tasks by just activating a few keyboard keys. We created a simple macro to check our Web-based e-mail by simply pressing CRTL-SHIFT-H. 
 Macro Magic has a flexible interface that allows you to create a macro for practically any computing task.
 
 Enter A Subject (key words or a phrase): Word Search Phrase Search Bottom of Form 1 Top of Form 2 Bottom of Form 2Use the powerful step-by-step macro wizard to fine-tune and de-bug your macros to suit your needs. We used it to direct Macro Magic to wait for sites to load before entering data in designated fields on-screen. You can even record mouse clicks and keyboard strokes so that Macro Magic performs these tasks for you. We quickly created a macro to launch Microsoft Outlook and check our e-mail in this manner. 

Users can download Macro Magic from http://www.iolo.com and evaluate it free for a 30-day period. Unlike many shareware copies, the trial version of Macro Magic comes with free technical support. The registered version costs $39.95.Security Officer 98 Security Officer 98 helps you monitor and control your system by letting you specify various restrictions for different users on your Windows 95/98 system. For instance, you can block your kids from accessing the Device Manager. Or, you can prevent a young child from deleting directories and files, while still allowing another family member to delete directories and files. You can even specify certain operating times, depending on the time of day. The interface is user-friendly, and an online help section is available. 

The program is free when you download it from http://www.mach5.com/wso/officer.html, but every time you log on to your system, a five-second window will delay access to your system. If you register the program for $29.95, you will not experience this delay. 

June 1999 Vol.10 Issue 6
 Find It Online Finding The Hard-To-Find

Bibliofind http://www.bibliofind.com Bibliofind is an online search service that helps readers find the books for which theyre looking. The sites catalog of more than 9 million books is searchable by authors name, book title, keywords, and price. Users can also refine a search so it only includes first editions or signed copies. Previously read books and rare editions are also available, and Bibliofind can process orders for all of them online.

 Book Archives http://www.bookarchives.com Book Archives specializes in what are perhaps the rarest out-of-print books: users manuals for old computers and software. This site contains thousands of titles and could prove especially valuable to computer professionals, educators, and anyone who needs to learn or teach someone to use Quicken 3.0, Word 5.1, a 386-based PC, or other products from the early days of computing. 

Discreet Research http://www.secret-subjects.com Need to find out if a job applicant has a criminal record? Want to learn the real title history of a car youre about to buy? Looking for the current phone number of an old friend? Discreet Research sells public record reports that will give you this hard-to-find information and more. Criminal record reports, driving record reports, and bankruptcy filing reports are just a few of the records that can be purchased here. Most reports cost between $6 and $59. 

TheGift.com http://www.thegift.com TheGift.com helps users shop for gifts by occasion, product or manufacturer name, and price range. It even lets you shop for specific china, crystal, and flatware patterns. The best feature, however, is the Gift-O-Matic. It lets users enter preferences of product type, brand name, and price range; then it searches for gifts that match the criteria.

 Interactive Collector http://www.icollector.com Serious collectors of art, antiques, and other high-end collectibles should bookmark The Interactive Collector and visit it often. The site serves as a gateway to more than 150 online auction houses, where collectors bid on items such as English lordships and Hollywood paraphernalia. The site also offers a regularly updated selection of original artwork and other collectibles, including coins, antiquities, and glass.

 International Compact Disc Connexion http://www.intlcd.com Many Web sites sell audio CDs, but only the International Compact Disc Connexion specializes in selling the hard-to-find variety. The site features a browsable catalog that has more than 6,000 titles, including rare and foreign releases, imports, and live albums. Users can transmit orders online or print the available order form and submit it via snail mail. Luxury Car Network http://www.luxcarnet.com The discriminating visitor will appreciate the fine selection of used automobiles listed for sale at the Luxury Car Network. The site groups vehicles into three categories: sports cars, luxury cars, and sport utility vehicles. The offerings range from the mundanea 1993 Mercedes Benz 190E listed for $14,500to the outrageousa 1993 Rolls Royce Corniche with an asking price of $190,000.

 Old-Houses.com http://www.old-houses.com Buying a house doesnt necessarily mean buying a new house. This site, which carries nationwide listings for homes that are more than 40 years old, proves that. Potential homebuyers can search this site for older homes and commercial properties, fixer-uppers, and certified historic properties. A particularly interesting feature is the sites Save Olde Souls program, which advertises older homes that are in danger of being destroyed and are being offered for free or at a very low price.

 The Rare Wine Cellar http://www.rarewine.co.uk With more than 2,700 individual listings and several gift packages, the Rare Wine Cellar will please any wine connoisseur. The wines available here range from affordable vintage wines to extremely rare and expensive selections, such as an 1859 Mouton Rothschild for $12,750 per bottle or a 1989 Louis Roederer Cristal Champagne for $2,295 per bottle. The site lists prices for all selections in American dollars, English pounds, Canadian dollars, French francs, Japanese Yen, and the Euro.

Share The Wares
 WindowBlinds makes Microsoft Word (and other applications) look like the Mac version. 
Thats News To YouFinding the appropriate Usenet discussion group to match your interests can be a monumental task. So each month we scour the tens of thousands of newsgroups out there and highlight the newsgroups that delve into popular topics. If your Internet service provider doesnt carry these groups, ask it to add the groups to its list. This month weve selected the field of architecture. Alt.architecture. This group is for general discussion of building design and construction as well as other related topics.Alt.architecture.alternative. This subset group branches out into non-standard design and building practices. Alt.architecture.int-design. This subgroup deals with the interior design side of architecture.
Quick FixesMost of todays software and hardware can benefit from a few updates, patches, and add-ons downloaded from the Internet. This month were focusing on the Windows NT family of operating systems, which are both on the client and server sides.Windows NT 4.0 Server, Enterprise Edition and others This site has all the downloads you might have missed if youre using the Enterprise Edition or Terminal Server edition of the NT 4.0 server. http://www.microsoft.com/NTServer/all/downloads.aspWindows NT 4.0 Server On the other hand, if youre running a NT 4.0 server, be sure to get the specific updates appropriate for the server side at this site. http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/nts/downloads/default. aspWindows NT 4.0 Workstation If youre a client user of Windows NT 4.0, this site will keep your operating system current. Be sure to download Service Pack 4, which includes all of the previous service pack updates. There are lots of other nifty add-ons to enhance the functionality of the operating system. One such program is the new Media Player with MP3 support. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/winntw.asp

Want more information about a topic you found of interest while reading this article? Type a word or phrase that identifies the topic and click "Search" to find relevant articles from within our editorial database. Top of Form 1 Enter A Subject (key words or a phrase): Word Search Phrase Search Bottom of Form 1 Top of Form 2 Bottom of Form 2Some of the best apples in the online orchard are the free (or free to try) programs available for download. Each month we feature highlights from our pickings.WindowBlinds Tired of the same old desktop in Windows 95 (Win95), Windows 98 (Win98), or NT? You can add new wallpaper or totally change the layout with Stardocks WindowBlinds. You can download this 1.2 megabyte (MB) freeware from http://www.stardock.com and then apply it to Windows.You can change the feel of the OS to Macintosh, BE, or even OS/2 Warp. Everything is malleable, from icons to buttons to the taskbar. You can download new skins, or personalities, from Stardocks site or create your own. The latest version lets you make your icon text transparent and also tweak the Taskbar buttons. 

 Free Agent 
 Free Agent isn't a glamorous newsreader, but it is easy to use and free.Since were introducing our new newsgroup segment this month, we felt it appropriate to include one of the most popular newsreaders on the Web. Forte Inc.s Free Agent is available in Windows 3.x, Win95, or Win98 formats and is free to use.Free Agent can be set up for both online and offline navigation, allowing you to download all the current messages in a group and then read them offline, saving Internet connection costs. Its also a multitasking reader that lets you download headers and messages in one group as you peruse messages in another. Both versions are about 1MB in size and are available for download from <a href='http://www.forte inc.com">http://www.forte inc.com.

Search Engine URLs http://www. All In Onealbany.net/allinone AltaVista (Index search) altavista.digital.com Answers (Pay $) answers.com Argus Clearinghouseclearinghouse.net Ask Jeeves (like FAQ) askjeeves.com Bigbookbigbook.com Big Bro (hunt tools) 2.dtc.net Cinet search.com Classmates Online classmates.com Cool Site cool. infi.net Crescendo liveupdat e.com Cusipubweb. nexor.co.uk DejaNews (Newsgrps)dejanews.com Email addresses bigfoot.com Email, home# & adrs. fourll.com, whowhere.com, 
 switchboard.com Email, home# & adrs. infospace.com, isleuth.com Excite (concept search) excite.com Eye on the Web eyeontheweb.com FAQ Finderps.superb.net/FAQ Federal agenciesfedworld.gov Find Out, Pro Researchfindout.com Fire Fly firefly.com FreeLoaderfreeloader.com 
 goto.com HotBot (Sgl intuitive)hotbot.com IL Prison DB idoc.state.il.us./inmates Infoseek infoseek.com Inet Explorationamdahl.com/internet/ Inet Pub Libraryipl.org Inference (Parallel sch) inference.com Investigate Jrnlismvir.com/

Job searchmobster.com, ajb.dni.us,
 careerpath.com 

KnowBot white pagessol.bucknell.edu185
 nri.weston.va.us185

Logo, send gift virtualpresents.com Lycos (people finder) lycos.com Magellan mckinley. com/ MetaCrawler metacrawler.cs. 
 washington.edu:8080 Mining Company miningco.com Movie ref (all) DB us.imdb.com Netscape netscape.com Newslink-AJR newslink.org Planet Allplanetall.com SavvySearch (best) cs.colostate.edu/ -drelling/
 smartform.html Select (People Find) selectlink.com Spider's Apprenticemonash.com/spid. html Starting Point (People) stpt.com/features/people Ultra (Infoseek)ultra.infoseek.com Virtual Library w3.org/pub/DataSources/ Web Crawler webcrawler.com/ Whowhere (People Find)whowhere.com Wire Source wiredsource.com WiseWire wisewire. com White Pgs (People Find) four11.com Wise Wire wisewire.com World Pgs (People Find) worldpages.com Yahoo (Subject search)yahoo.com


\10 People Search

Track Down Friends & Family Class reunion secretaries and other nosey people will have a field day upon discovering the Yahoo! People Search page (http://people.yahoo.com). This feature is great for reconnecting with people you have lost touch with. With Yahoo! People Search, busybodies everywhere can snoop out long lost friends, foes, and family. Finding out whether your high school sweetheart still lives with his mother has never been easier. Yoo-hoo! Where Are You? There dont appear to be any rules of thumb about who you will and wont find on Yahoo! People Search. If you are lucky, you might be able to find a persons telephone number, street address, and e-mail address. However, just because your friend has a telephone number listed in her name doesnt mean shell be listed at Yahoo!. And although your elderly aunt has been at the same address for 38 years, chances are you wont be able to find her listed on Yahoo! either. But thats part of the fun and challenge; searching for friends and family to see who is in there, who isnt, and how accurate the information is. Your Yahoo! Listing. Although you do not need to be a registered Yahoo! member to perform searches, you will need a Yahoo! ID in order to use some Yahoo! features. Another reason to consider registering is so you can create your own Yahoo! People Search listing so your friends and family will be able to locate you when they use Yahoo! People Search. Creating your own Yahoo! ID is pretty simple. From the People Search home page, click the Create My Listing link. If you are a new user, click the Sign Me Up! link. ( NOTE: If you are not a resident of the United States, youll need to click the link for the Non-U.S. sign up form.) Enter an ID, a password, and then re-enter the password for confirmation. Be sure to keep your Yahoo! password secret if you plan to use some of the financial services, such as Yahoo! Bill Pay and Yahoo! Wallet. Select and answer one of three identity confirmation questions: the city of your birth, your pets name, or your anniversary date. If you ever forget your password and need to request a new one, youll be glad Yahoo! has this security feature. When asking for a new password, youll need to supply the answer you provided upon registering your Yahoo! ID. Enter some personal information such as your name, ZIP code, gender, occupation, and industry. Finally, add some of your interests to your profile and click Submit This Form. Once you are registered in Yahoo!, click the link to continue to Yahoo! People Search and create your own personal listing. To register your listing, enter your name, location, e-mail addresses (two current and two former), and the Web address for your personal Web page, if you have one. You also can list any organizations, companies, or schools you are associated with and the dates of your association. Click Finished when your profile is complete. Once youve registered, you can edit your People Search listing by clicking Edit/Create My Listingfrom the People Search home page. 
 Busybodies everywhere can use Yahoo! People Search to snoop out long lost friends, foes, and family members. 
 Phone Numbers & Addresses. The first section of the Yahoo! People Search home page is devoted to telephone number searches. Enter information in any or all four available fields (First Name, Last Name, City/Town, and State). The Last Name field is the only required field. Click in a field where you want to enter search information and type what you want to search for. You dont have to worry about capitalization, but be sure to check your spelling in all fields, including the state abbreviation. In case you forget a state abbreviation, there is a link above the State field that takes you to a reference page with the two-letter abbreviation for each state. One minor inconvenience (and it is very minor) is this reference page really is just for reference. Once you arrive at the page with the state abbreviations, there is no way to select a state and automatically retrieve it into the state field on the search form. Just return to the main search page by clicking Back at the bottom of the page and manually type in the correct state abbreviation. For fields other than the state, use the asterisk wildcard character (*) if you are unsure of the spelling. (A wildcard character acts as a placeholder for one or more unknown letters in search criteria.) For example typing D* in the First Name field will return people whose first names begin with D. Dont just enter D without the * because youll find only people who have their phone listed by their first initial instead of their full first name. Once you set your criteria, click the Search button to start the search. Your results. If your search finds any records matching the criteria you entered, three columns of information will display: Name, Address, and Phone. The screen prompts you to click the persons name for details. Usually, you wont find any details other than the name, address, and telephone number already visible on the search results page. If you are a registered Yahoo! user, you can click the persons name to add her listing to your Yahoo! Address Book. Click the telephone number, and youll be taken to the Net2Phone Web site at http://www.net2phone.com. For a small fee, Net2Phone lets you use your computer like a telephone. If you find a listing for someone but want to search public records for additional information, there is a link to USSEARCH.com (http://www.1800ussearch.com). Often Yahoo! retrieves more records than can be displayed on one page. Navigate through the results by clicking the Next link to move to the next group of people and Previous to move back one page in the list. The First and Last links take you to the first and last records. The maximum number of records your search will return is 200. So if you see a message such as Showing 1-10 of 200 its likely there are actually many more records that meet the criteria you specified. Try to narrow your search. Revising Your Search. The Reset button (there isnt a Clear button) doesnt work exactly as you might expect. After you type in some criteria and before you perform the search, click Reset to remove the criteria and start a new search. However, after you have performed a search, if you return to the main search window to modify your search criteria (by clicking Search Again or your browsers Back button), the Reset button retrieves only the criteria you previously entered. If you do not find the person you are searching for and you want to return to a blank People Search page, click the Home link near the top of the window. Less is more. Finding people on the Web can be tricky. If your search results in no matches, you will receive a message to that effect along with some advice for getting better results next time. You might think you should enter as much information as you can. Instead, enter less information. If any of your criteria are not met (because you misspelled the name of the city where you think your friend lives, for example), you will limit your search too much. By reducing the number of criteria you enter, you broaden your search and return more records. 
 Once you find your friends phone number, use your computer and Net2Phone to call her using your PC.  For example, suppose you think your friend lives in Washington, D.C., but he actually lives in Alexandria, a Washington suburb in northern Virginia. If you search for him by entering Washington and D.C. as criteria, you would not find him. When you are unsure about any of the information you have, the safest bet is to leave it off. If your friend has an unusual last name, consider entering his last name while leaving both the City and State fields blank. However, you may be surprised at how common an uncommon name may actually be on a nationwide basis. More is less. Entering in too few criteria can lead to results every bit as frustrating as entering in too many. Although the only field that is required is the Last Name field, if it is a common last name, add additional criteria to limit your results. If you dont, youll get the maximum number of hits (200) and hundreds if not thousands of other possible matches will be out of your reach. Even when you limit your search with additional criteria, your search results could be several pages long with 10 people listed on each page. E-mail Addresses. The second section of the Yahoo! People Search page lets you search for e-mail addresses. Enter the persons first name, last name, or both. Then click the Search button. This feature performs a much broader search than the telephone search does. You can even enter just a single letter for the first or last name (no need to use an asterisk). This search will return the exact name you typed first, followed by other names that start with those letters. To perform a search using criteria beyond First and Last Name (City/Town, State/Province, Country, Domain, Old E-mail address, Organization Name, and Organization Type), click the Advanced link beside the simple e-mail search area or from the E-mail Basic Search Results area. To increase your odds of finding a Bob, who is also known as Robert, be sure to select the SmartNames option. Once youve entered all criteria, click Search.

Additional Services. Links from the People Search home page provide registered Yahoo! users with several free and convenient productivity resources, including Yellow Pages, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Calendar, Yahoo! Wallet, Yahoo! Bill Pay, and even a personalized address book. After you locate your old boyfriends number or e-mail address, be sure to click his hyperlinked name for details and then click the Add To Address Book link to add him to your personalized Yahoo! address book. After all, its often easier to keep your old friends than to find new ones. by April Hardison Boud 
Finding Folks Through The 'Net  Even if youve never used the Internet, it might be using you. Two forcesthe growing number of computers connecting to the Internet and the increasing amount of information about the average person being stored digitallyare combining to make the global computer network the new frontier for finding lost relatives, old friends, and even once-private facts about strangers. The fast access the Net offers to databases filled with names, numbers, addresses, and other tidbits makes it a source for discovering something about almost everyone. Consider a few examples culled from Switchboard, a large World Wide Web site that acts as a sort of nationwide phone book: A veteran who spent 27 years searching for an old Air Force friend found him in South Carolina with a single Web search. A shopper picked up a lost credit card in a mall and, after consulting with Switchboard, returned it to its owner. A Detroit lawyer trying to find a boyhood friend who moved south when the pair was 10 years old engaged a private detective to no avail. A single session on the Web located the missing buddy. The list of examples like these grows every day as greater numbers of people wade into the Web. Who You Are Susan Friel-Williams, the leader of America Onlines adoption forum, spends a lot of time performing similar searches from her home in Loveland, Colo. She estimates shes handled more than 14,000 requests to help adoptees and natural parents find each other. Nowadays, she does most of this searching through her computer. Sometimes it can be incredibly easy, she says. Usually its not, but sometimes it can be. If clients provide a full name for the person they seek, computers can make the search almost effortless, she says. Many times, the only steps involved are slipping in a commercially available CD-ROM phone directory of the United States and pulling up the desired information. Its that simple, she says. Most people just dont realize such CD-ROMs, compilations of the nations phone book listings, exist. 
 Switchboard can help users find anyone in the United States. Now what ever happened to Billy?  When nothing turns up on her own computer, Friel-Williams turns to commercial online services and the World Wide Web. On AOL, she likes to use the search engines at places such as the Military City Online area and her own adoption search forum. Sometimes the general AOL members list can provide valuable information. If Friel-Williams strikes out with her own service, friends who lead similar adoption forums on other online services might be able to help, she says. On the Internet, Friel-Williams phone book of choice is Switchboard, the aforementioned online directory listing addresses and phone numbers for more than 90 million people and 10 million businesses (for the Web address of this and other sites mentioned, see the table on the next page). Switchboard is perhaps the most comprehensive of a handful of online phone books combining white and yellow pages with easy-to-use search capabilities. The Switchboard interface is straightforward and fast. The page includes a short form for users to fill out with spaces for a last name and any other information available about a person, such as the first name, city, and state. A mouse-click on the search button sends the information to the Switchboard computer, and results are transmitted back through the Internet and displayed automatically on the client computer. Most listings include standard phone book information such as name, address, city, state, and phone number. Users who fill out the free Switchboard registration form can update their listings to include E-mail addresses, Web home page addresses, and affiliations with companies or other groups. Those who want to can remove their names from the database altogether. One of Switchboards most interesting features is called knock-knock, which allows users to be accessible through the Internet without making information about themselves publicly available. Persons using the knock-knock feature show up only as a name in Switchboard listings. Other users can send E-mail to them through Switchboard without knowing the actual E-mail address, allowing a certain amount of privacy. Similar to Switchboard is the whimsically named Bigfoot, a global E-mail directory that can be configured to display instructions in German, English, or Spanish. Four11 is another useful Internet white pages with 6.5 million listings focusing mainly on E-mail addresses rather than phone numbers. The listings are culled from half a million voluntary registrations, public sources such as Usenet newsgroups, and registrations from Internet service providers. Like Switchboard, both Four11 and Bigfoot include group connection features where users can note their alma mater, interests, services, and other information. One noteworthy feature at Four11 is the sites support of Versit Cards, a new, standardized format for personal information. After you locate someone in the Four11 directory, the information can be automatically downloaded into personal information manager programs that support the standard. 
 MetaCrawler queries multiple search engines for you, making it one of the 'Net's most powerful tools for finding addresses and phone numbers. An interesting directory called BigBook wont locate where people live, but it might help pinpoint where someone works. BigBook is designed to be a nationwide electronic yellow pages with 11 million U.S. business listings. Other databases include businesses, but BigBook has one giant advantage: maps. In addition to finding business phone numbers and addresses, you can see a map marking the location, anywhere in the country. We tested this feature with our own offices and found it was a few blocks off, but the concept is still remarkable. You can also turn it around and find, say, all bakeries within a certain neighborhood or city. What You Say The BigBook idea shows the intriguing potential for computerized phone books to combine different kinds of information in one spot, but they arent the Internets only tool for tracking down people. Aside from looking up facts about people, you can poke around the Nets many corners to find things they have actually said. Private E-mail conversations are, of course, inaccessible, but public conversations in the Internets Usenet newsgroups are there for all to see. Newsgroups are like huge bulletin boards where users read messages others have left and respond by tacking up a message of their own. Tens of thousands of newsgroups exist and are devoted to almost every topic imaginable. Not all newsgroups are available from all Internet service providers, but most people can count on being able to read the core 10,000 or 20,000.

Each newsgroup post generally contains certain information about its author, including name and E-mail address. Some newsreader programs let users enter bogus names and addresses, which lets them post more or less anonymously. However, most people use at least their true E-mail addresses so that other newsgroup readers can respond to them directly rather than pinning up a public message. Actual names are more common in certain serious newsgroups where they lend credibility to opinions. Users are less likely to believe someone who wont even say who they are. For the would-be Internet detective, these posts can provide a valuable window into the lives of frequent Internet users. Several search engines troll the newsgroup waters for messages containing whatever keywords interest us; you might search for posts featuring a certain topic or by a certain author. Newsgroup posts can potentially give us a whole handful of factsnot only peoples E-mail addresses, but also what they talk about and where they talk about it. For instance, a search for Joe Smith might pull up several messages from the alt.tv.x-files newsgroup and a couple of others from the rec.pets.cats group. Now we have Smiths E-mail address along with the knowledge that he probably likes the television show X-Files and owns a cat. One of the best newsgroup searching pages is Deja News, a site devoted solely to finding such posts. The interface lets users target certain newsgroups or dates or set broad limits like recent messages or old messages. Another good place to check out is InfoSeek, a comprehensive Internet search engine that can be configured to look at newsgroups. If nothing pans out in newsgroups, InfoSeek also can page through Web sites themselves, the third major way of locating names on the Net. The Web is a vast and growing collection of electronic documents with somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 million pages of information. Searching this menagerie for a specific name could find a page authored by the person or pages mentioning the person. With more newspapers and other content providers going online, the Web can offer factual information about anyone in the public eye. 
 Be careful what you say; Deja News searches newsgroup postings to find keywords or names. The key to finding Web mentions is to use a search site that not only indexes page titles but the entire text of a page. The best of the bunch is probably Digitals Alta Vista search engine. Alta Vista allows complex search requests and returns speedy results from both the Web and newsgroups, although it can be difficult to narrow down a search to include only useful items. A new site worth taking a look at is MetaCrawler, which takes your query and runs it through nine search engines, deletes duplicate hits, and returns the results on one screen. Tools such as MetaCrawler, Deja News, and Switchboard undoubtedly make the Web a far more useful collection of information, but such easy access to all of this personal data may have a few unintended consequences. Some people dont want to be foundand for good reason. Where You Live An incident involving Yahoo!, a popular Web directory, illustrates one of the more unsavory implications of the Information Age. Yahoo! planned to launch an online phone book of its own this spring and nailed down an agreement with New Jersey marketing firm Database America to provide the listings. Database America cobbled together its 170 million names from scores of magazine subscription lists, product warranty cards, credit reports, and other lists acquired over time from other companies. This buying and selling of names is a profitable practice in which many mail-order and marketing firms engage to find new customers. However, Yahoo!s plans to make the listings available on the Internet drew fire when people began to realize the information went beyond what we see in the phone book. Judges, law enforcement officials, undercover police officers, FBI agents, and others with a critical interest in keeping addresses and phone numbers out of the public sphere suddenly found their personal information on display. Following inquiries from newspaper reporters, Yahoo! pulled the plug on the controversy after two weeks by agreeing to remove names not listed in existing white pages. Evan Hendricks, editor and publisher of the Washington, D.C., newsletter Privacy Times, says Yahoo! did the right thing in the end, but the fact that the company didnt delete the names without some prodding is troublesome. I was just astounded it didnt cross their minds beforehand, Hendricks says. The list included addresses for people such as U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, Hendricks says, and other officials he thinks most Americans would agree should be granted some degree of protection from nuts with computers. However, he says, no law specifically prevents similar public postings by other yahoos. Such sites might be subject to liability in the event of a related harassment or tragedy, Hendricks says, but it would take a tort case and a creative lawyer. Hendricks advocates the creation of federal law protecting names and addresses from being used for unrelated purposes. With such a law, people would have legal recourse if filling out a magazine subscription card or buying a product online led to odd junk mail or the discovery of ones phone number plastered across the Internet. Hendricks calls the idea a consistent purposes test. In the meantime, he says, Netizens can help protect themselves by remembering that the Internet is a public place. What you say in places like newsgroups or chat rooms can come back to haunt you. Just realize that everything you do is potentially recordable, storeable, and discloseable, Hendricks says. If you proceed from that basis, you can at least have an awareness. Generally, the average person has little to worry about at this stage. But, Hendricks asks, what if something goes wrong? What if someone has a vendetta against you? What if someone is competing against you for a job or political office? Then whatever you do or say on the Net is out there to exploit. In such a scenario, the main causes for concern are newsgroups and chats. The often heated exchanges are not simply private flame wars between two people in a small room; they are archived public brawls for the world to see. Potential readers include people such as future employers, who might be interested to read posts youve left on politically related newsgroups or about other controversial subjects.
 Those concerned with protecting their privacy should watch for any form on- or offline that asks for personal information such as names and addresses. Companies love to have as much info as possible about their potential customers, but that doesnt mean you have to give it to them. Even if a form seems benign, the information could be sold to other, less scrupulous companies. Once you get on one list, it is nearly impossible to weasel back into private life. Some organizations cant take people off lists even if they want to because of all the duplicates that inhabit todays marketing databases. That all leads to junk mail, phone solicitations, and potentially something like the Yahoo! debacle. Some regular Net users employ fake names and addresses when possible for getting through intrusive sites. Many Web pages today require some sort of registration, a process that gives you a necessary password in exchange for filling out a little online form. In order to receive your password, youll probably have to use your real E-mail address, but the name, address, and other information can be as fanciful as you like. Hard-core privacy enthusiasts might keep two E-mail addresses: one public and one private. This cloak-and-dagger secrecy isnt meant to cause paranoia. National phone directories and Web search engines perform a valuable service by making more information available to more people. Just remember that in a true Information Age, some of that data is bound to be about youneatly indexed by keyword.


\11 search tips

You can enter any word(s) in the search box, or you can use one or more preselected keywords by clicking on the input buttons listed above. If you enter more than one keyword, make sure that each word is separated by a space. Connected words or phrases (for example, "kanto earthquake") should be enclosed in double quotes. You can use either upper case or lower case letters. The system is not case-sensitive. Click [Search] or press Return to begin the search. Click [Clear] to clear the search box.
  * Search Results The system is preset to list 30 results at a time, in descending order of applicability. To change the number of results shown, click on the pop-up menu marked [30] and choose another number.
  * Inflected Forms If [Yes] is selected, the system will search for inflected forms of words entered in the search box. If you do not want inflected to be included, select [No].
  * Extra Search Criteria every word in the box If you choose this mode (AND search), the system will only search for documents which contain all the words in the box. at least one word If you choose this mode (OR search), the system will search for all documents containing at least one of the words listed. Multi-rule search If you choose this mode, the search will follow the conditions specified by placing the following symbols, without a space, in front of each word entered.
  SymbolMeaning"+"If a plus (+) symbol is placed before a keyword, the system will search for all documents that contain that word. (AND search)"-"If a minus (-) symbol is placed before a keyword, search results will not include documents that contain that word. (NOT search)noneIf there is no symbol before a keyword(s), the system will list documents that contain at least one such word. (OR search)
  In the following example, either the word "ryokan" or "hotel" must be included, both "onsen" and "tourism" must be included, and "minshuku" must not be included in the documents listed.

C A U T I O N ! 1.If you select either the [every word] or [at least one word] mode, the system include any "+" or "-" symbols used before keywords. 2.In the [multi-rule search] mode, do not insert a space between the "+" and "-" symbols and the keyword. Also, note that this mode is not a logic mode, and will not make an [A+B] search. Each keyword in the text box, including keywords preceded by a "+" or "-" symbol, must be separated by a space (A B +C). 3.When using the [Multi-rule search] mode, if you place a "+" symbol before each and every word in the text box, you will obtain the same results as if you used the [every word] mode Likewise, if you do not use any symbol before any of the words, you will obtain the same results as if you used the [at least one word] mode.
  * Search Results List The headings displayed in descending staircase fashion indicate the location of the document found (the last heading) within a specific web site. You can select and open the page represented by any of the headings.
  You can add keywords to your search by clicking any of the Related Keywords input buttons displayed at the bottom of the window. Press [Search] to begin a new search. Press [Clear] to delete everything in the text box.
  To return to the search page, click the browser window Return button,or click [Back to Search Page...] at the bottom of the RESULTS page or the Related Keywords windows.
   N O T I C E !  This Search System is designed to permit users to make keyword searches of the contents of web pages collected by network robots from home pages posted on the Web by local office authorities spread across Chiba Prefecture. Search results are ranked and displayed in descending order according to how closely related they appear to the keyword(s) used, together with a brief summary of the pages found. The system will also display additional keyword recommen-dations if you use a browser such as Netscape Navigator 2.0 (or later) or Internet Explorer 3.0 (or later).
  This system may be revised without notice. Pages collected by this system will be added to and/or revised on a regular basis. Comments and suggestions regarding the system are welcome and should be addressed to webmaster@pref.chiba.jp.

Swish to search - Search Engine Help NB: The search engine uses Swish and much of the foll text is adapted from their help pages. - Chris Caldwell

1. Search Strings This search performs a case-insensitive search. You may use the boolean operators and, or, or not. If you just list several words without these operators, the search engine will assume you are anding the words together. Evaluation takes place from left to right (but you can use parentheses to alter the order of evaluation). Wildcards (asterisks) can be used at the end of words only.  Examples  john and doe or jane  john and (doe or not jane)  not (john or jane) and doe  j* and doe  Explanation  This search evaluates the expression from left to right.  This search will also be evaluated from left to right, although the operation in parentheses will be evaluated as a whole first.  john or jane will be evaluated first, a not operation will be performed on that, then everything will be anded with doe.  This will search for all files that contain words starting with the letter j and that also contain doe. 

2. Common Words To reduce the size of the index file and increase the speed of searching two types of common words are removed. First, any word that occurs in more than 30% and more than 500 of the documents. Second, any word in the following list. Common words must not be used when searching, sorry.  a, about, above, according, across, actually, adj, after, afterwards, again, against, all, almost, alone, along, already, also, although, always, among, amongst, an, and, another, any, anyhow, anyone, anything, anywhere, are, aren, aren't, around, as, at, be, became, because, become, becomes, becoming, been, before, beforehand, begin, beginning, behind, being, below, beside, besides, between, beyond, billion, both, but, by, can, can't, cannot, caption, co, could, couldn, couldn't, did, didn, didn't, do, does, doesn, doesn't, don, don't, down, during, each, eg, eight, eighty, either, else, elsewhere, end, ending, enough, etc, even, ever, every, everyone, everything, everywhere, except, few, fifty, first, five, for, former, formerly, forty, found, four, from, further, had, has, hasn, hasn't, have, haven, haven't, he, hence, her, here, hereafter, hereby, herein, hereupon, hers, herself, him, himself, his, how, however, hundred, ie, i.e., if, in, inc, inc., indeed, instead, into, is, isn, isn't, it, its, itself, last, later, latter, latterly, least, less, let, like, likely, ll, ltd, made, make, makes, many, maybe, me, meantime, meanwhile, might, million, miss, more, moreover, most, mostly, mr, mrs, much, must, my, myself, namely, neither, never, nevertheless, next, nine, ninety, no, nobody, none, nonetheless, noone, nor, not, nothing, now, nowhere, of, off, often, on, once, one, only, onto, or, other, others, otherwise, our, ours, ourselves, out, over, overall, own, per, perhaps, rather, re, recent, recently, same, seem, seemed, seeming, seems, seven, seventy, several, she, should, shouldn, shouldn't, since, six, sixty, so, some, somehow, someone, something, sometime, sometimes, somewhere, still, stop, such, taking, ten, than, that, the, their, them, themselves, then, thence, there, thereafter, thereby, therefore, therein, thereupon, these, they, thirty, this, those, though, thousand, three, through, throughout, thru, thus, to, together, too, toward, towards, trillion, twenty, two, under, unless, unlike, unlikely, until, up, upon, us, used, using, ve, very, via, was, wasn, we, we, well, were, weren, weren't, what, whatever, when, whence, whenever, where, whereafter, whereas, whereby, wherein, whereupon, wherever, whether, which, while, whither, who, whoever, whole, whom, whomever, whose, why, will, with, within, without, won, would, wouldn, wouldn't, yes, yet, you, your, yours, yourself, yourselves 

3. More Matches This search program saves CPU time by only printing two line summaries of the first few files. Then, after the separator "More Matches," prints the rest of the links to files which match (without summaries).

Just as Archie provides a searchable index of FTP sites, Veronica provides this function for "gopherspace". It will ask you what you want to look for (your search words) and then display another menu listing all the gopher menu items that match your search. In typical gopher fashion, you can then select one of these items and "go-pher it"!

To try Veronica by e-mail, retrieve the main menu from a gophermail server using the method just described. Then try the choice labelled "Other Gopher and Information Servers". This menu will have an entry for Veronica.

You'll have to select one (or more) Veronica servers to handle your query, specifying the search words in the Subject of your reply. Here's another example of where using e-mail servers can save time and money. Often the Veronica servers are very busy and tell you to "try again later". So select 2 or 3 servers, and chances are one of them will be able to handle your request the first time around.

A Gophermail Shortcut: The path to some resources, files or DBs can be a bit tedious, req several e-mail msgs to the gophermail server. But here's the good news... If you've done it once, you can re-use any of the e-mail mgs sent before in, changing it to suit your current needs.  As an example, here's a clipping from the Veronica menu you would get by following the previous instructions.  You can send these lines to any gophermail server to run a Veronica search.

Split=64K bytes/message <- For text, bin, HQX messages  (0 = No split) Menu=100 items/message <- For menus and query responses (0 = No split)
 # Name=Search GopherSpace by Title word(s) (via NYSERNet)
 Type=7
 Port=2347
 Path=
 Host=empire.nysernet.org

Specify the search words in the Subject line and see what turns up! You can use boolean expressions in Veronica searches. For a guide to composing Veronica searches, send these lines to a gophermail server:

 Name=How to Compose Veronica Queries
 Path=0/veronica/how-to-query-veronica
 Host=veronica.scs.unr.edu

There's a lot of great stuff out on the Web, but how do you find it? Well, just like Archie and Veronica help you search FTP and gopher sites, there are several search engines that have been developed to search for info on the Web.  But until now, you had to have direct Internet access to use them.

It is possible to use several WWW search mechanisms by e-mail.  Here are some sample queries that you can use to search via Lycos and WebCrawler.  Any of these lines can be sent to an Agora server (see above) to perform a search. If you're not interested in frogs, then use your own keywords.

For Lycos, append a dot to your keywords to force an exact match, or you will get a substring search by default.  Separate words with a "+" sign.

http://www.lycos.com/cgi-bin/pursuit?query=frog.+ dissection.

For WebCrawler searches you must separate words with a "+" sign. All searches are exact, no trailing dot needed. http://webcrawler.com/cgi-bin/WebQuery? frog+dissection Another way to access search engines is to send a msg to getweb@unganisha.idrc.ca with a line like this in the message body: SEARCH <engine> <keywords>

Replace "engine" with YAHOO, ALTAVISTA, or INFOSEEK, and use your own search words. eg: SEARCH YAHOO widgets 
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