Internet Hints

Setting up an Internet Connection   Configuring an Internet Connection   Avoiding Staying On-line   Bookmarks & Favourites   General Internet Hints   Firewall Protection   Domain Registration   Saving Web Pages to read Off-line   Selecting Web Page text to Copy, Paste or Print   

Setting up an Internet Connection
Get your Dial-up/ LAN/ ISDN connection sorted out first - this should be able to at least connect even without your browser.
In Windows 95+, make sure Dial-up Networking (DUN) is installed. (See Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs-Windows Setup-System Tools). If it is, then a folder will exist in My Computer.

Open this folder. If you already have any accounts set up, they will be represented here. Otherwise there is a 'New Connection' icon which you can double-click to start the wizard. The information you need is:

  • Telephone number to dial
  • User (Account) Name
  • Password
If you ever install and register to an ISP from a CDROM or on-line, then this information is usually entered automatically into DUN.

It's useful to make a note separately of these settings, which allow your eMail client and Internet Browser to make a connection to the web.

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Configuring an Internet Connection
You can configure your browser and eMail client to use a specific dial-up account to connect. This may be through the Tools Menu in IE browsers/ clients or through Edit-Preferences in Netscape. Some caveats apply:
  • Many ISPs set their own web page as a 'Home' page in your browser, meaning that every time you open your browser it will try to connect to get the latest version of that page. Set your Home page to 'blank' or a page/file on your computer/ on-site network that may be more useful.
  • You can usually set a 'default' connection account that is always used if need be. You can also set up multiple eMail account collections simply by adding relevant account details if you have the following information:
    • eMail User name & password
    • address of incoming mailbox (eg pop3.myco.isp.com)
    • address of outgoing mailbox if wanting to send mail (eg smtp.myco.isp.com)
    • your eMail address and name
  • Configure your browser/ eMail cient for your preferences. In Netscape 4+ and IE5, there are extensive user choices available (View and Tools Menus). Spend some time checking these out, but don't change anything you don't understand.

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Avoiding Staying On-line
Set your connection device(s) (Modem/ Terminal Adapter) to 'time out' after periods of non-use. usually you change this in whatever dialogue sets up your device. Start-Settings-Control Panel-Modems is normal, although some devices have their own configuration programs accessible via the Programs menu.

A 2 minute period of inactivity through the device can be set to cut the connection. However, if you do want to keep your phone bills lower, training your staff to use the Internet intelligently is still the best option.

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Bookmarks & Favourites
Use Bookmarks/ Favourites to store sites you want to visit again. You can arrange these into folders/categories. You can also set a set of pages to download together immediately or on a regular synchronisation through configuring "make available off-ine" in IE5 (More details here)

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General Internet Hints
  • Turn off loading of pictures/ backgrounds to speed up your information retrieval. Check your Tools-Options.
  • Internet speeds are governed by the number of connections and the line's capacity at its slowest point (bandwidth). You will get different rates of download at different times of the day.
  • Use an ISP who you can rely on. A paid service can still be better for some in the long run.
  • Use reliable webspace as a central point to post files for consultation. Simply upload a copy to the space and email those you want to see it with the URL. This means that if you modify the document, everyone can 'collect' it again rather than you having to send it out.
  • Even a computer not connected to the Internet or Network can view web pages stored on its own disk. Just enter the file address (e.g. c://My Documents/Intranet/index.htm) in the Address box.
  • The protocol of Internet & Intranet technologies is TCP/IP. A basic understanding of this is useful for anyone wanting to manage such things.
  • Try putting Hyperlinks (Insert-Hyperlink) to other documents and locally stored web pages in your wordprocessing documents (e.g in Word/ WordPro). This way, you can mimic the way web pages can link to others without touching any fancy tools.

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Domain Registration
The advantages of having your own domain should be clear. One principal merit is that all your employees can have an eMail address @yourcompany.com. It adds prestige and ease of use. Most large companies can be assumed now to have their web address as a .com or .co.uk presence.

The number of dots in an address determines the level and hence the cost for a two year reservation. UK-specific businesses, needing a UK IDare better off with a .uk suffix. Registered companies can have a .ltd.uk address.

Registering can be done for a two year period and can vary in cost depending on who you go with. All registering services must be Nominet registered and not all offer the same level of service. For example, a place to store your website (your webspace) or mailbox (email) services may not be included automatically.

Another common pitfall is that 'cheap' domain names remain the property of the registering company and/or that forwarding eMail and traffic from the address to your web space on another provider might involve a charge.

Always read the small print and ensure that you are happy with the deal. Get someone experienced you can trust to verify the paperwork. Beware that many companies insist on payment almost immediately due to the evel of false registrations that occur. There are plenty of parties you can register through and you needn't pay top dollar - but do your maths. Will you need to pay extra for webspace, email, technical help , etc?

Despite offers, a .co.uk address costs about £40 for 2 years. A .com is a top level domain and costs more (from £80).

Visit Betterwhois to see if a domain name is available then attempt to register it with your chosen company. This is the best comprehensive registered list available.

Nameboy is handy for finding what names around specific key words are available.

Search and see if domain names are available, or look up the contact information on a domain name: Search for a Domain!
Hosted By HostedScripts.com

nepc recommends that members take advice from ourselves or a trustworthy source before entering into any agreement.

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Saving Pages to Read Off-line
Most Internet Browsers allow you to save web pages so that you may read them without being connected to the Internet.

Normally, if you have already looked up a page on the Internet, then it will be stored on your computer in a folder called 'Temporary Internet Files' (Internet Explorer) or 'Cache' (Netscape). The thing to remember about web pages is that they are saved along with all their respective graphical elements. If a particular element is not present or available when you vew a page, then a default red 'x' usually appears instead.

In Netscape and Explorer (IE), functions are similar, but not identical. These instructions are for Internet Explorer 5, but most apply for other browsers. IE5 has a View-Internet Options menu. Most of Netscape's options can be changed in Edit-Preferences

In IE, to ensure your browser looks for pages already stored on your Hard Disk rather than te Internet, click on File and 'Work Off-line'. Repeat this later to 'Work On-line' again.

Now you can look in your 'History' Folder and scour the sites and their pages you visited recently. (NB: You can set the length of time pages are kept in your History folder from the View-Internet Options menu).

You may need to extend the size of your 'cache' folder so more pages can be stored. 3% or 50MB is reasonable.

If, whilst browsing off-line you point over a link to a page that is not immediately available, your mouse pointer should change to a 'No access' sign and when you click, you will be told that you need to connect to retrieve it.

This scenario is fine if you know what pages you want, and you go and collect them individually (remember you can right click over a page and save it) but sometimes you may want the whole site. For instance, you may wish to download the whole of the nepc site for off-line viewing.

Well, you can, by setting up a synchronisation through the 'Favourites-Add to Favourites' menu in IE5. (In earlier versions of IE this process was more complicated.) If, when adding the first page of a site to your Favourites you tick the box 'Make avaialble offline' and then 'Customize', you can then specify whether you add pages that are linked to that first page as well. So if you set it to 'Download pages 3 links deep from this page' then te synchronisation will call up all pages linked to the first page and all pages linked to them and so on.

This can usually be enough, certainly for the nepc site, which I've tried to limit to 3 clicks to get to what you want.

Once you have set up such a synchroisation, your browser will want to access the 'net to retrieve the latest versions of the pages. Then these pages are stored on your computer and can be viewed 'Off-line' through your Favourites.

It may be useful to know that if you choose the 'Tools-Synchronize' menu, then you can update your stored pages to the latest versions.

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Copying & printing selected text fom Web Pages
You can highlight text in web pages and copy it to your windows clipboard (Right-Click, Copy) and Paste it into your own documents.

So, if you fnd any part of this web site useful, rather than save the whole page, you can pilfer then text to put in your own instruction manual! In this case, you are granted permission by nepc. We would prefer however to be credited, but that is up to your conscience!
Once highlighted, you can also Print the selection if you wish.
IE 5.5 introduced a Print Preview option - which is nice!

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