Here I'll post some tips for you Internet Users.

-- Cheryl Kirk (ckirk@alaska.net), October 27, 1997

Answers

Navigator Tips

Keyboard Shortcuts & Navigation

Don't want to lift your hand off that keyboard? Getting carpal-tunnel mouse syndrome? There are plenty of keyboard shortcuts for navigating through web pages, web sites and dialog windows and boxes that can save you plenty of time. Here's a list of some of the best ones that will make your navigating easier:

Control - Tab lets you cycle through all the open Communicator Windows Control - A selects everything on a page Control - B will open up the bookmark window Control - C copies the items or text selected Control - D adds a bookmark Control -F opens the Find Dialog Window Control - H displays the history window where you can point and click on URLs you've recently visited Control - I displays the Document Information Window Control - M Opens the New Message Composition window Control - N Opens a new window displaying the page set as your home page in Communicator's Preferences Control -O Displays the Open Page dialog window Control - P Displays the Print Dialog window Control - R reloads the current page Control - U displays the page source. Control - W closes the current opened window Control - X exits Communicator Control - 1 Displays/Opens the Navigator window Control - 2 Displays/Opens the Messenger window Control -3 Displays/Opens the Collabra Discussion window Control - 4 Displays/Opens the Page Composer window Control - 5 Displays/Opens the Conference window

Hitting Tab cycles through the links on a web page. Hitting Esc cancels the current loading page. Holding down the Shift key while clicking a link to save that page or file directly to your computer. Page Up and Page Down scrolls you up and down through the currently opened window.

F1 brings up the Communicator Help window. F6 cycles through all the opened windows in Communicator. F10 activates the menu bar.

Alt - Right arrow moves forward Alt - Left arrow moves backwards Auto-Filtering Email Messages

Make money now! How many times have you seen an email message like that float into your email box? Wouldn't you like an easy way to filter out the bad stuff, notify you when the good stuff comes in, and automatically file away those Jokes of the Day for later reading? With Communicator's email filter option you can have your email automatically sorted, stored, or prioritized based upon the rules you set up.

For example, you might want all messages coming from the big boss to be tagged as "Highest Priority", while messages from your Mom you might want to move to a special folder, and messages coming from spammers@annoying.com you'd want Communicator to automatically delete. You can set up Messenger to move, delete, mark as read, ignore messages or even or watch message threads. And you can set up filters to act on messages based upon who the sender is, what the subject of the message is, what the body of the message is, the date of the message, the priority, the status, or who is included on the cc list.

To auto-filter your messages follow these steps:

1. Select Mail Filters from the Edit menu. 2. Click the New button 3. Enter a name for the filter you're creating in the "Filter name:" field. Every filter must have a name. 4. Select the field for the filter to use in the "If the" field. 5. Select the operand in the "of the message" field, then supply the variable for the filter to look for. For example if you wanted to check each message's subject field for the words "Navigator" you would type navigator in the variable field. 6. Select the type of action you want to perform on the message by selecting the action from the "then" drop-down field. If you are specifying the filter work on the priority of a message, then select the message priority level from the second drop-down field. 7. Enter a description for your filter. Be ask descriptive as you can so a month from now you'll remember exactly what the filter did, and exactly what kinds of messages the filter will work on. 8. Activate the filter by clicking the "On" radio button. 9. Click OK to save the settings and activate the filter.

Once created, the filter acts on any message that drops in your email inbox. The best way to see how filters work is to experiment with each option. BookMarking a Message

It's true. Bookmarks aren't just for web pages anymore, what with Communicator's enhanced bookmarking feature. How many times have you combed through that ton of email in your Inbox looking for that all important message from your boss or client? And how many times have you spent scrolled through newsgroup postings looking for a posting. Now instead of scrolling through long lists of messages, you can bookmark not just web pages but also your email messages and even newsgroup postings and jump directly to them with a click of button.

Regardless of the whether it's a message, page or posting, all bookmarks end up in the Navigator bookmark file, and can even be included in your Personal Toolbar. To bookmark an email message, simply open the message you want to bookmark. Then from the Communicator menu select Bookmarks/Add Bookmark. Do the same for any newsgroup posting you're viewing. It's that easy.

Caution: Any email bookmarks you create will only work on your computer. That means you can't email your bookmarks file to someone else and expect them to be able to pull up those email messages you've bookmarked. However newsgroup postings you bookmark can be distributed to anyone with access to the same newsgroup and discussion servers you have.

-- (ckirk@alaska.net), October 27, 1997.

Explorer Tips

Turning off the Active Desktop - Please!

Microsoft Explorer has the ability to turn everything on your Windows 95 desktop into a clickable link, add HTML pages to your desktop plus add scrolling stock tickers and other interactive Explorer options. But for many who are used to the familiar Windows 95 desktop, Explorer's Active Desktop can be confusing, befuddling and just a huge waster of processing power.

You can disable the Active Desktop by simply right-click anywhere on the Windows desktop, then unchecking the Active Desktop menu item.

Offline and scheduled browsing

Tired of sitting in front of a computer screen waiting for web pages to load? Then you need to schedule your web browsing more wisely. With Internet Explorer you can not only view web pages off-line but also schedule times for Explorer to seek out your favorite web pages and download them to your computer so you don't have to wait for them to load.

Internet Explorer can go out, get web pages, and store them in the cache folder on your hard drive. This makes viewing web pages painless, quick and without all the wait. To schedule Subscriptions open the Global Subscription Properties dialog box by selecting from the Favorites menu Subscriptions | Options or click the Subscriptions icon in the System Tray on the Taskbar. Next click the Dial Up tab, then check the "Yes, connect to the Internet automatically" tab.

Select the service you want to use to dial into the Internet, adding your login name and password. Finally select the Daily Schedule or Weekly Schedule tab and enter the day(s) and time(s) when you want Explorer to update your Subscriptions. The default is to check daily between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m. You computer must be turned on in order for this option to work.

Once your subscriptions have been updated you can work offline by selecting "Work Offline" from the File menu. Smart Favorites - Automatic checking of sites

Internet Explorer 4.0 can automatically check your favorite pages for changes without you lifting a finger to click. Say you want to keep track of the latest news, or maybe each week you want to check the Runner's World website for the latest training tips. All you have to do is setup a few parameters, and let Explorer do the rest, seeking out your favorite sites, find those sites that have changed, and alerting you to those changes by placing a Favorite site on your list.

To turn on Smart Favorites, go to the Favorites menu, then choose Options from the Subscriptions menu, or click the Subscriptions icon in the System Tray. Next select Global Subscription Properties, and check the dialog box, "Monitor changes to my favorite Web sites" listed under the General Tab.

Next time you're connected to the Internet, Explorer will seek out your sites, updating your list with those that have changed since your last visit.

-- (ckirk@alaska.net), October 27, 1997.

Response to Explorer Tips

Decker:

So, are you telling me you know something the rest of the world doesn't?

There are plenty of honest IT folks that feel the same way. Just not many in high places with weighty stock plans to protect.

Are you, Hamasaki and Yourdon the "brain trust" of the IT world? Are you guys more "wired in" than Fortune 500 CIOs, or IT CEOs, or the columnists and prognosticators of the IT press (to name a few)?

CIOs are management Decker. They don't tend to be realistic when confronted with bad news. And the IT press is not fond of calling the IT industry "bumbling fools"

Oh, and are you more qualified than Yardeni and other economists to discuss the economic impacts of Y2K? We are not talking about delusions of grandeur, "a." These are delusions of omniscience.

Where do I claim to be omniscient? I am throwing out valid arguments and you are accusing me of being inferior to my counterparts. Why not try addressing my points?

If CIOs are wetting their pants over Y2K, why hasn't anyone picked up on it? Why aren't the high-powered Y2K remediation firms having their phone ring off the hook? Why are they laying off workers and seeing stock prices ebb?

Because the work is not getting done!

Do Fortune 500 executives want to go belly up in 2000? Are they just tired of great jobs with perks and stock options? Do they long for a return to the "kinder, gentler" 12th century?

Irrelevant.

I know a fair number of IT pros, some who work for major financial institutions. A few are personal friends. Most have never heard of Hamasaki... and their opinion of Yourdon is not exactly glowing.

Gee, who are these masters Decker? Have they written any books on IT? Articles on y2k? Appeared before Congress? Paid as lecturers? Are their names synonymous with any programming methodologies?

They are far less gentle than I have been on this forum. Y2K is a pain, but they are not ready to find a cave... not by any stretch of the imagination.

It has been reported in the media that programmers form a larger percentage of "doomers" than the general public. Does this reveal anything to you?

Oh, if you post your real name... I can ask and see if anyone has heard of you?

Did I say I was great? No. I said I was experienced. And I said that you are incorrectly assuming that the "IT Pros" are great. They're not. They're human. Humans tend to screw up. As your buddy Yardeni said, "Never in history have so many humans trusted that so few wouldn't screw up." You are naive to trust the IT industry and IT press. Would you trust Bill Gates in a business deal, without a good lawyer on your side?

And the reason I can speak as candidly as I do is precisely because I do not post my real name. Sorry bout that.

Now, your turn:

- How is it that the same industry that brought us y2k, then made it a major crisis by procrastinating, is now "on top of things"?

- How have CIO's managed to beat the conventional IT metrics?

- Why are Koskinen, FAA, etc, etc claiming that they are 99% done when it is OBVIOUS that they are not?

- Why are reports still coming in at this late date that show companies and governments are refusing to spend money on y2k repairs?

I agree with Robert. And I think you are ignorant about IT.

-- a (a@a.a), August 05, 1999.