Web use tips |
Networked machines can share a connection to the InternetYes it's possible and will save on buying modems, phone line splitters and expensive routers. You need one machine with the new features of Windows 98 Special Edition Update (Released 7/99) and a modem. The rest can be Windows 95. On the Internet connected machine, go to add/remove programs / Windows setup tab, and install Internet Connection Sharing. When it installs a wizard will ask you to click on the name of the Dial Up Adapter and the Network Card. Ask it to show a system tray icon. It will ask for a disk you run on each machine to configure its browser to connect through the main machine. The tray icon is handy should you need to disable the access. Networking your machinesNetworking is great - provided you're in charge of it so if your science dept has a few machines that are kept side by side but are not networked do consider doing this. You need a network card for each machine (price £25 / $30 each) and a couple of hours to fiddle. This will enable you to share printers and files - very good as long as nothing is moved. Works well on Windows 95 or better (meaning Apple's and Windows 98, 2000). Internet meetingsMeet on the Internet - is about Microsoft's Netmeeting (updated 7/99) a fun piece of software for a network or the Internet. Now there's a way to share a remote computer's screen - handy in a training scenario. Linking to websitesLinking to pages within a site can be unreliable - a page of such links is a liability to maintain because people like to change their sites. At this site we may be lazy/busy but the rule here is never to delete a page, or rename it or move it into another folder - even though the content may be updated. It's a very easy rule to keep and ensures that no link fails. Menus on websitesWorking from top to bottom, the menus show a web site's heirachy - the lowest, or side menu shows the deepest layer. The site map lets you under the bonnet to go straight to a particular page. Downloading filesWhen you see a likeable picture or say, a link to an Acrobat document file, you can click the right mouse button. This opens a submenu with the option to save the file. It might say "Save Target as...", choose this and a file dialogue opens offering a place to save the file. Click OK and the download should begin. You might find that the Desktop is a handy place to save things. If you left click a picture or say, a link to an Acrobat document file what happens is variable: with most pictures nothing happens; with an Acrobat file the Acrobat reader opens - sometimes it displays the file, sometimes not. Links barThe Internet Explorer links bar is brilliant. It's here you can drag any links that you want to follow up in the near future. My links bar has folders named (so you get the idea) 'Useful', 'My things' 'Estate agents', 'Chemistry'. In these folders are links to Hotmail, Bank, Estate agents and useful sites. TipsIf a page has a graphic you want to keep, right click on it and choose save. Save it on your desktop, to keep it handy and unforgotten. For Internet Explorer when you find a page you want to keep, click File / Save to save the page. IE then creates both a page and a folder with the graphics in. (Keep these together, just as they are or the links will fail). When you find a page you might return to you can, of course, add it to your 'favourites' but note the options you have. For example, you can subscribe to the page (IE4) or you can 'make it available offline' (IE5). Both add up to the same thing - the page (and its linked pages if you wish) will be kept in the hard disc cache. If the page is a news page you can schedule that the page is updated or 'syncronised' whenever you choose to let it be. Experiment with the links you see and drag them to other parts of the screen. For example, in IE 4 you can drag a link from a page or mail message and keep it handy. Store it on the Windows START menu, the IE 4 Quick launch bar, the desktop, a folder, the links bar or the favourites button. A 'mail to' link on the desktop is recommended if you regularly write to one person. Right click on a document, a file, or a link and choose Send to 'Mail recipient' (read that as 'someone'). This opens the mail package ready to send them the object as an attachment. On the IE5 File menu is a neat 'Send' item which lets you mail a whole page, rather than just a link to another. It's much more useful to receive this than a 'link' because they can see what you are on about. If they click on the page they receive it works like you'd expect. A lot depends on people having mail systems that can handle HTML (or 'web') content. Frames - here and anywhereAlthough there's only one framed page here, if a page has a frame at the side and you want to use the full width of a screen, you can: Click on the link, hold the button down and drag it into the address bar. OR Right click on the link, and look for a menu item that says 'Open in a new window'. OR Right click on the link, choose copy and move to the address bar. Right click again, choose paste to drop the text in the bar. Press enter or go to get the page. When you print a page with frames, look in the print dialogue details to choose which frame to print. A USA fax numberCheck out www.efax.com for a FREE USA phone number which will be your personal fax number. When anybody faxes to it you will receive the fax as an attachment in an e-mail within 3 minutes. It's a great service for people on the go - I've found firms and hotels in the US much keener to fax you maps and things with a US number. (Thanks to John W) |