File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a long-standing Internet standard for downloading files. In fact, the Internet has numerous servers that allow users to download files. These FTP sites all work in roughly the same way. Many allow you to log on as an anonymous user for the express purpose of downloading files. To log onto an anonymous FTP server, you start by entering the site address--ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/, for example--in Navigator's Location text box and pressing [Enter]. When the logon prompt appears, you usually specify "anonymous" as your user name and your E-mail address as your password.

For a list of FTP sites, check out the following FTP indexes on the Web:

http://www.mpg-ana.uni-potsdam.de/local/archies.html

http://www.shareware.com

http://www.filez.com/main.html

Paul N. Lee

Many Web sites contain information that is not password protected, but which is also not indexed by most search engines. These sites use the Standard for Robot Exclusion-a file that ask Web robots not to index particular parts of a Web site. You can take a look at this file by entering:

http://www.somewhere.com/robots.txt

in your Navigator's address line-substitute somewhere with the name of the site your searching. The site will display a file. the list the files and folders that aren't indexed in the search engines. Type their filenames in the Address line to bring them up.

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

Netscape Communicator can take up a lot of your system resources' memory--a bad thing that can result in system crashes or "freeze-ups." Windows 95 users should try using their Resource Meters in an attempt to see whether Communicator is using too much memory. To launch the Resource Meter, click the Start button and choose Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and then Resource Meter. When you do, the Resource Meter will appear on the right end of your Taskbar. It's normally green, but if it starts to turn yellow, close Communicator before it freezes the system, then restart it. If you don't see Resource Meter (or System Tools) on the Start menu, you can find out whether the Resource Meter is installed on your system by using your Find program from the Start menu. If the resource meter program file appears in the Results window, simply double-click the file to launch the Resource Meter.

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

If you've every clicked your browser's back button only to have the page reload, you may have run into a Web site "redirect" function. This function is generally used when a Web site changes location, and the Web master "redirects" traffic from the original site to the new site. However, some unscrupulous Webmasters have been know to use the redirect function to keep you stuck on their Web site. To get back to the previous page, just open the Go menu and select the previous page from the menu list.

ZD Journals' Inside Netscape Navigator journal

You've probably heard it many times before: Back up your hard drive! It's essential. But considering the increasing sizes of hard drives, it may be even more important than you think. If you download lots of software from the Internet, chances are you don't have a backup. If your hard drive crashes, you'll have to take the time to download again. Below are a few tips for establishing a backup system.

Develop a backup plan-At a minimum, plan to back up daily using removable media. Rotate backup sets offsite weekly.

Automate your backups-Get a backup device that holds about twice as much as your hard disk so you can schedule backups for times when you're not there.

Back up every hard disk-Every hard disk contains critical data, so don't just back up servers. And make sure you include portable computers.

Back up more than just documents-Don't limit backups to just certain files-you'll inevitably need one that wasn't backed up. Good backup software backs up only those files that are new or modified.

Make several copies-Make at least three different sets of your data. Even an old copy is better than no copy at all.

Keep a backup set offsite-You never know when a fire, flood, theft, or earthquake makes your offsite copy your only copy. One idea: Create a backup set weekly and send the previous week's backup to a secure offsite location.

Verify your backup-You need confidence in your backups. Make sure your backup software has full read-back verification. And try restoring a few files yourself, just in case.

Implement a network backup strategy-If you're on a network, network backup software lets you share a storage device and ensures that every Macintosh is backed up.

Don't procrastinate-Far too many new customers of backup software are people who recently lost data. Develop your backup plan before a crash!

ZD Journal's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

Searching the Internet with a comprehensive search engine like AltaVista or HotBot is rather like going to a giant flea market But if your looking for something specific, then a flea market can be a time consuming nightmare. If you're short on time, its much easier to find a hammer at your local hardware store than a flea market hammer. That's where the Beaucoup! Web site comes in. It's an excellent source for tracking down subject specific search engines. This site makes access to more than 1,000 search engines available with a series of link pages that categorize the engines by subject. The search engine categories provided include, but are not limited to:

General Search Engines
Multiple Engine Searches
Reviewed Sites/What's new?
Reference/language/literature
Educational resources/schools
Arts/graphics
Science/nature/technology
Email/domains/phone numbers
Social/environmental/political
Computers & Programming
Politics/government
Health/foods and diet

Beaucoup! is simple and easy to use. Just choose the subject category you're interested in, click on it, and Beaucoup! takes to a page full of subject specific search engines. The Beaucoup! Web site is located at

http://www.beaucoup.com

ZD Journals' Inside Netscape Navigator journal

If you download lots of Zip files you know that you're always taking a chance--a zip file is often like a grab-bag prize--it can include a well documented piece of software, a complete set of files that you're interested in, or nothing but useless information. Browse and Zip is a Navigator plug-in that lets you preview the contents of any zip file before you download it. When you click on a link to a zip file, Browse And Zip steps in and provides a complete list of its contents. You can also resume aborted or interrupted downloads from within your browser. Browse and Zip is a clever program that's easy to use, performs well, and integrates seamlessly with your browser. This plug-in can prove a significant time-saver depending on the servers you frequent and the type of files you download. It is, however, important for us to point out that some servers don't offer the type of support needed for Browse and Zip functionality. Also, the latest trend in zipped program files is to contain only a single, self-extracting install program. In this instance, the contents of the zip file will reveal only the self-extracting install program. Browse and Zip is available for Windows 95 and NT based systems. You can download a copy of this plug-in at:

http://www.canyonsw.com/

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

One of the best things about the Internet is that it often attracts people who do extraordinary things for unselfish reasons. Jim Martindale, a professional in science, technology, and digital information, is one of those people. He has put together an exceptional resource site that's probably of value to every Internet user--The Calculators On-Line Center.

This Web site is a link station of more than 5,310 calculators available online. It's organized into five parts: mathematical calculators, science calculators, engineering calculators, and two sections listing other calculators alphabetically. The Calculators On-Line Center links to calculators on almost every subject you can imagine, including finance, automotive, home repair, cartography, medicine, cooking, bar codes, textiles, construction, navigation, and lots more. You'll find the calculator you need at:

http://www-sci.lib.uci.edu/HSG/RefCalculators.html

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

As Netscape Navigator is loading a Web site, you can quickly check the status of your network sockets by pressing [Ctrl][Alt]T. When you do, Navigator will continue to load the site as it displays a message box containing the following information:

* number of URLs waiting for an open socket
* number of URLs waiting for fewer active URLs
* number of open connections
* number of active URLs

Stuart A Martin

If your Navigator browser is slow, one simple solution is to clear its cache. Each time you open a Web page, your browser creates a cache file (a temporary copy) of the page's text and graphics. When you open the page again, for example, when you click on the toolbar Back button, your browser checks the Web site server for changes to the page. If the page has changed, your browser retrieves a new version over the network. If the page hasn't changed, your browser uses the cache files from your RAM or hard drive to display the page. Netscape Navigator caches Web pages to both memory (RAM) and disk (hard drive) until the respective cache is full; Navigator then rotates out pages based on age. Netscape designed this system to help load Web pages quicker. However, if you've viewed lots of Web pages, you may have an overloaded hard disk cache, which Navigator will require time to check before it loads a new page. You can check your cache by typing ABOUT:CACHE in the Location box and pressing Enter. Navigator will display a breakdown of cache statistics and a file-by-file listing.

To clear your cache in Navigator 3.x, go to the Options menu and select Network Preferences.... Then select the Cache tab and click both the Clear Memory Cache Now and Clear Disk Cache Now buttons. To clear your cache in Navigator 4.x, go to the Edit mane and select Preferences..., then go to the Advanced category, select Cache, and click both the Clear Memory Cache and Clear Disk Cache buttons. Clearing your cache will not adversely effect your browser in any way. This should help increase your page-download time and (if your low on hard disk space) your computer's general performance.

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

As you browse the Internet you are very likely to come across various file types. In most cases your Navigator will associate applications to open such files, but with some file types either you won't have the appropriate application, or your browser can't open the file directly. To configure Navigator's helper applications, go to the Edit menu, select Preferences. In the resulting Preferences dialog box select Navigator/Applications from the Categories. Navigator will display an Applications dialog box. In the Description list box, you'll find various file types. These File types represent different file formats that you might encounter while searching the Internet and Navigator can't work with a file type unless it is properly configured.

When you highlight one of these descriptions in the Applications dialog box, the File type details area displays the file extension, MIME type and the application Navigator will use to open the file. These file types are named with the standard known as Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME), which identifies file types by use of the file extensions - for example Hyper Text Markup Language files end with the file extension html or htm. The Handled by indicator tells Navigator which application to open in order to read specific MIME files types. Some files types, such as HTML files, are atomically sent to the Navigator Browser (for example HTML, GIF, and JPEG files).

To designate a specific application for a file type, scroll down the Descriptions list box until you find the file type, highlight it and click the Edit button. Navigator will display an Edit Type dialog box where you can quickly determine how a file type is to be handles. To select a particular application click the Application: radio button and then type in the directory path to the application execution file (.exe), or click on the Browse... button and Navigator will display an Open dialog box which you can use to select the application on your hard drive. When you've chosen the application just click OK in the Edit Type dialog box. Navigator will display the new application's icon in the Handled by indicator. You can also use the Save to Disk radio button in the Edit Type dialog box to instruct Navigator to save a particular file type directly to your hard disk, or to prompt you about the file. This will effectively turn off any helper application for that file type.

ZD Journal's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

If you do a lot of reading on the Internet you may already know about Navigator's View menu options for controlling the Web browser's text fonts. You can increase or decrease text fonts in the browser by going to the View menu and selecting Increase Font(Ctrl +] ) or Decrease Font (Ctrl + [ ) until you get the text just the size you want. But you can also control Navigator's font type and colors to make reading easier on your eyes.

To work with Navigator's fonts, go to the Edit menu and select Preferences.... In the resulting Preferences dialog box, select Appearance in the Category: list box, and expand the category by clicking on the plus sign just to the left of the word Appearance. The Category: list box will display two additional categories for fonts and color. Click on the word Fonts and Navigator will display a set of options for controlling several aspects of the browser's text fonts. You can adjust the type of text font you want the browser to display with the Variable Width Font dropdown box. You can also use the radio buttons below the dropdown boxes to instruct Navigator to ignore special fonts, such as Dynamic Fonts, and default on to your fonts.

To work with text font colors, go back to the Category list box and select Colors under the Appearances category. In the resulting panel you can configure text and background colors to fit your needs.

Inside Netscape Navigator

Cookies are bits of code that Webmasters use to store data about a user so they can retrieve it later, either within the same session or during a later one. With a cookie a Webmaster can determine information about your computer or browser, or they can keep some information about you (such as a user id and password, or preferences for sites like My Yahoo!).

Cookies can save time and help present Web pages more effectively, but some people find them intrusive, so Navigator provides several options that let you control cookies on your browser. To access Navigator's cookie options, go to the Edit menu and select Preferences.... In the Preferences dialog box, click on the word Advanced in the Category: list box. Navigator will display an Advanced panel with a section called cookies on the bottom half. You can use the three radio buttons to: Accept all cookies or Disable cookies. You can also choose to Accept only cookies that get sent back to the originating server (that is, cookies that are meant to enhance your browser's ability to display the Web page or help you login to a site that you're revisiting).

In this Advanced section on cookies you can also use a check box to "Warn me before accepting a cookie." Although this may sound like a comforting option, you will probably soon find that the number of warnings you receive will make this option quite irritating. If nothing else, choosing this option for a limited period of time may educate you on the shier number of cookies used on the Web.

ZD Journal

Sometimes speeding up a search is as simple as opening up a second browser window. Netscape Navigator lets you run multiple browser windows at the same time. With a second browser window you can read a page in one browser window while a another page or search is loading in the second window. A second browser window is also a handy was to view active search results in one window while navigating to sites in the second. There are several methods for working with a second window. First, you can open a second window by pressing Ctrl+N (Command+L on a Macintosh) or by going to the file menu and selecting New/Window. You can also open a second window by right clicking on a hypertext link and selecting Open in New Window from the resulting pop-up menu. And You can quickly load a page into a second browser window by dragging a link form one window to the other.

ZD Journal's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

Error messages can cause you frustration, but they're not impossible to overcome. In fact, you can avoid most error messages by using a few simple techniques. Here a some of the most common Internet error messages and practical solutions for dealing with them.

400 - Bad request
This error message indicates that the server can't figure out the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) you requested. The problem often occurs because of incorrect URL syntax. If you typed the URL, check it for incorrect uppercase or lowercase letters, colons, and slashes. Try to type the URL again. If you still get an error, try to backtrack the URL to the directory the document resides in. If the error message persists, the problem might be with the document. Your only recourse is to contact the site's administrator.

401 - Unauthorized
This error usually occurs when an Internet site is protected and the server didn't receive the correct encryption ID or password for entry. If you're registered with the site, you can try your password again if you have the opportunity. As with URLs, passwords are often case-sensitive, so type the password carefully. You can also get this error from servers that deny access from certain domain types, for example, domain names ending in edu.

403 - Forbidden or Connection refused by host
This error is similar to the 401 error. It usually occurs when a server denies access because of your domain, because of security restrictions, or because you don't have a password. This error also occurs when you haven't signed up with a site that requires registration. You can try to register with the site or try your password again. You can also attempt to contact the site's administrator for a password.

404 - Not Found or File Not Found
This error often appears as Not Found or File Not Found. This error is common and occurs when the host server can't find the specific HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) document you requested. A 404 error usually stems from a document name change or a document deletion. It can also occur when you've made a syntax error in the document name. Your best bet is to assume you made a mistake when you typed the URL. Backtrack by deleting the portion of the URL that follows the last slash. Then re-access the URL and look for it in the parent directory.

502 - Service Temporarily Overloaded
This error indicates that the server is experiencing high-traffic load and can't process the request. You can often access the site by trying to reload it. If the error persists, you may want to try again later.

503 - Service Unavailable
This error occurs when your access provider, gateway, or system is down or busy. Your only alternative is to wait a minute or two and try again.

Bad file request and Too many users
These error messages indicate a problem with HTML coding at the site. The problem may be that your browser doesn't support the form you're trying to access. You can try to bypass this problem by E-mailing the Web site administrator for help.

Cannot add form submission result to bookmark list
This error message appears when you try to save the results of a form-based search engine (such as WebCrawler) as a bookmark. The problem is that the URL of the query results is invalid-even though it may not appear to be. You can bypass this problem by printing the search results, or you can try to save them as an HTML document on your hard disk.

Failed DNS lookup
This error indicates that the Domain Name System (DNS) can't translate the URL into a valid Internet address. This DNS error message occurs in several situations. The server that you're trying to connect to may be overloaded with traffic or temporarily down. If the server is just busy, you can sometimes get through by trying to access the site again. If the server is temporarily down or offline, there's nothing you can do except try later. Unfortunately, there's no way for you to tell whether a server is down or just busy. You might have also incorrectly typed the URL. If you're accessing the Internet via a modem and you get a DNS error for each Web site you try to access, chances are something is wrong with your connection. Try re-launching your browser and your required communication software. If the problem persists, contact your Internet service provider (ISP).

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

Error messages can cause you frustration, but they're not impossible to overcome. In fact, you can avoid most error messages by using a few simple techniques. Here a some of the most common Internet error messages and practical solutions for dealing with them.

File contains no data
When you get this error, it means that you've accessed the right Web site, but the file you requested is empty. There's a possibility that the site administrator is updating the site, in which case you can try to access the document again later. You can also try to bypass this problem by retyping the URL with :80 before the last slash.

Helper application not found and Viewer not found
These errors occur when your browser doesn't recognize a file. This usually happens when you download a file that needs a specialized viewer, for example, a RealAudio sound file or a compressed ZIP file. If you don't have the helper application, your best bet is to save the file to a disk and then try to get the application that will let your browser read the file. You'll find links to most of the helper applications you'll need on The Browser Watch Web site at http://www.browserwatch.com

Host unavailable
This error usually occurs when the host server is down. You can try to access the site again by clicking the Reload button on your browser's toolbar.

Host unknown and Unable to locate host
These errors often occur for one of three reasons: the host server is down, you've lost your Internet connection, or you incorrectly typed the URL. Try clicking the Reload button first. If this method doesn't work, check the URL. If you still get the error message, check your Internet connection.

Network connection was refused by the server and Too many connections - try again later
These errors most often indicate that the server is too busy to handle more traffic. You can try the site again by clicking the Reload button or wait until a later time.

NNTP server error
An NNTP server error appears when you try to log on to a USENET newsgroup and can't gain access. This error signals several possible problems. As is often the case, the host server may be down, or you may have incorrectly typed the URL. It's also possible that the newsgroup you chose isn't available through your Internet service provider (ISP), in which case you can't access the newsgroup unless you contact your ISP and get it to add the newsgroup. Another possible problem is that you may have incorrectly entered your browser's newsgroup preferences.

Permission denied
This message occurs when you're trying to upload a file to an FTP site. The message indicates that the site's administrator won't allow the upload, the site is too busy, or you've used the wrong syntax in the URL. Look at the URL syntax first and type it again. If the error message reappears, you should try again later. If the problem persists, you can try to E-mail the site's Webmaster for help.

Unable to locate the server
This error message indicates that your browser can't locate the server or that you incorrectly typed the URL. Look carefully at the server name in the URL and try retyping the URL.

You can't log on as an anonymous user
This error message appears when you try to access certain FTP sites. It indicates that the site allows access only to registered members, or that the site allows access to only a limited number of non-members, in which case the site is simply busy. You can try to access the site again later, or if you're a registered member, try entering your user ID and password manually using an FTP software package.

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

Sometimes a Web page you're trying to load gets bogged down. This can occur because it is graphics heavy. It can also happen when a series of data packets get lost during transmission -- remember, the average Internet transmission travels through ten computers before it reaches its destination. If the a Web page bogs down, try clicking the Stop button. If the page is graphics heavy, the text may already have loaded, and your browser will display it. If the page turns up blank, you may get a faster response by clicking the reload button once or twice.

If the page is important, but continues to load slowly, it may mean that the server is experiencing heavy traffic. Let the page keep loading and open a second browser (go to the file menu and select New/Window). You can continue to surf other Web sites while the first Web page opens. This works for file downloads too. The page or file may take longer to load, but your multi-tasking will be more efficient.

Sometimes when you load a Web page, it will come up blank. This can happen as a result of a Webmaster's mistake (when the HTML is improper), but it can also mean that the page simply loaded incorrectly. Try clicking the reload button - more often than not the page will reload correctly with all its contents.

ZD Journals' Inside Netscape Navigator journal

When you use Navigator to view an HTML document, you can easily open Composer and use it to edit your own version of the document. To do so, simply choose Edit Page from the File menu. Composer will open the HTML document and let you edit it. When you're finished editing it, you'll have to save your edited version to your hard drive or an accessible network drive--you won't be able to save it to the WWW server it resides on.

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator

Email is, almost undoubtedly, the Internet's most important contribution to modern business communications. Keeping track of your email messages can mean the difference between effective communications and non- communications. Netscape Messenger includes a filing option that can help tremendously. To access this option, just go to Messenger's Inbox and right click on an email message subject, then select File Message from the resulting pop-up menu. The File Message menu lets you move email messages around to different folders in the Message center. You can move a message to trash, or to the Draft folder (for messages that you want to work with later). Note: to save an original draft, start a message, then go to the File menu and select Save Draft.

You can also move messages, with the File Message function, into new folders you've created for organizing your messages. To create a new folder in the Message Center just right click on the Local Mail icon and select New Folder.... Messenger will display a dialog box where you can name the folder and determine where you want it to be located. With new folders you can categorize your email by subjects that make it easier to track filed messages.

ZD Journal

As you probably know if you've ever visited an FTP site, locating and accessing the site are only half the battle. Often, the contents of FTP sites are not readily apparent. That's because FTP sites are directories of files, similar to the directories on your own computer. The FTP protocol doesn't have any provision for identifying or describing the files beyond a few details, like the size and the date and time last edited.

However, FTP sites commonly use one of two methods for revealing their contents. Many large, well-established FTP sites use a Web front end-a Web page describing the site and its contents, which you can use to access the FTP site. Other sites include a text file containing information about the available files. These informational files are commonly named ReadMe.txt, Index.txt, or Welcome.txt. If you find such a file on an FTP site, download and open it to help determine which of the other files you might want to download.

Paul N. Lee

Choosing colors for a Web site is never very easy. Finding just the right combination of background, text, and link colors can mean multiple trips to the Page Properties and Color dialog boxes. Unless, that is, you know about the ColorCenter Web site, which is located at:

http://www.hidaho.com/colorcenter

The ColorCenter provides a sample page with a basic color scheme. Choose which color you want to change (text, for example), then select a new value from the palette. The page automatically updates to reflect the new value and shows you the values to stick in your page's <body> tag. You can also find out a color's value in hexadecimal (where white equals #FFFFFF), RGB (where white equals R:255, G:255, B:255), and percentages (where white equals R:100%, G:100%, B:100%).

Another handy Web color resource can be found at the Project Cool Web site at:

http://www.projectcool.com/developer

Just click the References hyperlink to access a list of named colors. The list includes not just red, white, and blue, but also colors like salmon, linen, and turquoise. In addition to seeing what the colors look like, you can find hexadecimal values.

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) is now included in Netscape Communicator and Navigator 4.x, but not everyone wants it. To actually remove AIM from your computer you have to edit your registry--you don't want to do that, it can cause trouble with Windows 95 if you don't do it right, but if you must Netscape provides procedures at:

http://help.netscape.com/kb/client/971116-8.html

There is a simpler, safer option, you can simply turn AIM off. Just go to Setup on the AOL Messaging sign-on screen, select Misc, and uncheck "Start AIM when Windows starts."

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

This Web site is a "cut & paste" resource for hundreds of free JavaScripts. You'll find JavaScripts for buttons, calculators, cookies, foldertrees, forms, messages, site navigation, and much more. Scripts are categorized, so their easy to find, and each script is shown with a working demonstration. The site also sends out a JavaScript email newsletter twice each month that informs you of new scripts. The JavaScript Source Web site is located at:

http://www.javascriptsource.com

ZD Journals' Inside Netscape Navigator journal

Accessing email addresses with Communicator's Search Directory LDAP is an Internet protocol designed specifically for accessing email directories over the Internet. If you access lots of email addresses, especially from a particular organization, you'll want to consider working with an LDAP client. Netscape Communicator includes a built-in LDAP client called the Search Directory, which provides quick access to the Four11, Bigfoot, Infospace, Switchboard, and WhoWhere? LDAP directories. To access Netscape's LDAP client go to Communicator's Edit menu and select Search Directory. You can search the LDAP client by a combination of name, email, phone number, organization, city, or street. You can also add additional LDAP servers to the search directory.

To add an LDAP server to Communicator, go to the Edit menu and select Preferences.... In the resulting dialog box, select Mail & Groups/Directory. The dialog box will display a screen listing all the current LDAP directories. Click on the New... button, and supply the Internet address for the LDAP server you want to access in the format

ldap:servername.com

There's only one problem with LDAP servers: Finding a proper server address can be difficult. You can search for LDAP servers on AltaVista by using the host: syntax command in this format:

host:ldat.* +subject/company

But finding the server you want may prove difficult. In addition, some servers require additional configuration information before you can properly access them from your LDAP client. In this case, you should probably contact the server's systems administrator for the required details.

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

If you used the default installation to set up Netscape Communicator 4, it doesn't load the Java Virtual Machine (VM) during Navigator startup. Instead, Navigator waits until you load a Java-enabled page before calling this VM. This results in the wait message "Starting Java..." and a delay of about 30 seconds.

You can avoid this delay by automatically loading the Java VM as you launch Communicator. Doing so will also prevent Communicator from restarting the Java VM each time you browse pages that contain Java applets or audio files played for the LiveAudio plugin. The end result is that Java-enabled pages load faster.

The command you'd use to load the Java VM as you launch Communicator is

C:\Program Files\Netscape\Communicator\Program\netscape.exe -start_java

You can enter this command when you click the Start button and choose the Run... command to load Communicator. If you usually double-click a desktop shortcut to load Communicator, you can right-click the shortcut, choose Properties, click the Shortcut tab, and replace the entry in the Target field with a slightly modified version of this command:

"C:\Program Files\Netscape\Communicator\Program\netscape.exe" -start_java

Note that the -start_java parameter falls outside the double quotes. If you normally load Communicator from the Start menu, you can implement this change in the way Communicator loads by clicking the Start button, choosing Settings, and then clicking the Taskbar... option. When the Taskbar Properties dialog box opens, click the Start Menu Programs tab and then click the Advanced... button to explore the Start Menu. In the folder tree on the left, click the folder containing the Communicator shortcut. Then, right-click the Communicator shortcut and proceed as directed for modifying the desktop shortcut.

Baden Hughes

Sick and tired of frames? Paul Haeberli has written a script that changes Netscape so it will ignore the "<frames>" tag. It's available for free download at:

http://reality.sgi.com/grafica/framefree/index.html

This patch/fix is available in C, Perl, and Linux.

Happy surfing!

ZD Journal

A modem initialization string is a series of commands that instruct a modem to perform certain tasks, for example dial or hang up. Initialization strings help configure modems for optimum performance. Here is an example of a Hayes compatible modem string.

AT&F&D2&C1&K3\N3%C0B0

If your modem's initialization string is incorrect or incompatible with the modem you are calling, you may experience problems like dropped connections or even an inability to connect. To check your modem's initialization string, you'll need to determine your modem type. To do this, go to the Start menu on your desktop, select Settings|Control Panel, and then double-click the modems icon. Windows should display a Modems Properties dialog box with your modem listed. If the modem doesn't appear in this dialog box, your computer doesn't recognize it yet. You'll need to go back to the Control Panel, double-click on the Add New Hardware icon, and go through the Add New Hardware Wizard.

Your next step is to look up your modem's initialization string. We've listed two good sources for finding initialization strings below.

http://www.accessone.com/support/modems/modem_init.html

http://www.indyguide.com/tech/modem_init.html

Once you have the initialization string, go to the My Computer icon on your desktop and double-click to open the directory. Open the Dial-Up Networking directory, right click on your dial-up connection or ISP icon, and choose properties--Windows will display a dialog box for that connection. Click the Configure button and you'll get the properties dialog box for your modem. Finally click the Connection tab and then the Advanced button. In the Advanced Connection Settings dialog box you can enter the modem initialization string in the Extra Settings dialog box. Don't forget to click the OK button to record your changes.

ZD Journal

The technological Achilles heel for any Internet connection is a modem. No matter how good the Navigator Web browser is, if you can't get your modem to work, you're dead in the water. Here are two sites that can help with your modem questions.

ModemHelp The ModemHelp Web site if a great place to find answers to your modem questions. The site provides information about 56K x2, flex and v.90 modems, cable modems, ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), and wireless modems. You'll also find information about ISPs (Internet Service Providers), Internet telephony, modem companies, software, modem tutorials, and dial up networking. The ModemHelp Web site is located at

http://www.modemhelp.com/

MODEM Speed-Test Page This Web site provides a series of five test that calculate the actual online speed (DCE) of your modem link to the Internet. The site lets you test measure download time of: a compressible text, a typical web page containing 80% graphics and 20% text, average data throughput, and large graphics (470K plus bytes). The site also includes information about X2 Line compatibility and modem initialization strings? You'll find the MODEM Speed-Test Page at

http://members.aol.com/inventorr/modem/modem.html

ZD Journal's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

Navigator 4.0 includes three main toolbars, the Command, Location, and Custom toolbars. You can collapse the Command, Location and Custom toolbars, by clicking on the small arrows that you'll find to the far left of each bar. Collapsing toolbars allows you to view more of a Web page in the browser window. Just place your cursor on the left of the toolbar until you see a hand icon replace the mouse pointer, then click. Navigator will collapse the toolbar. Navigator also lets you choose which of these toolbars you want to display and where. To show or hide the Command, Location and Custom toolbars, go to the View menu and select Toolbars, then choose the toolbar you want to hide or show. You can also stack the toolbars in a different order, by clicking on a non-functioning part of the toolbar and dragging it down or up.

Navigator also gives you options for determining weather it will display toolbar information visually or with text. To change the way toolbars are displayed, go to the Edit menu and select Preferences.... In the Preferences dialog box, select Appearance in the Category: list box. At the bottom of the Appearance panel, you'll find three radio buttons under the section "Show toolbar as." With these radio buttons you can have Navigator display its toolbars using only pictures or only text, or a combination of both (the default setting).

ZD Journal

Dial tones differ from country to country. By default most modems only recognize U.S. and Canadian dial tones. This often creates a problem when traveling abroad. Your modem dials to a local ISP, the dial tone is different or there is no dial tone, and your modem won't connect because its waiting for a specific type of dial tone. You can alleviate this problem in Windows 95 by changing your modem's configuration string which instructs it not to wait for a dial tone's - a very simple process. To reconfigure Windows 95 to make a dial up connection without waiting for a dial tone you'll need to insert the characters X1 into the modem configuration string. To make this configuration for a new connection, go to the Windows 95 desktop and double click on My Computer. Open the Dial-Up Networking folder, and finally double click on the Make New Connection icon. Windows 95 will display a Make New Connection dialog box. You should see the name of your modem in the Select a modem: dropdown box. Click on the Configure... button and Windows 95 will display a properties dialog box. Go to the Call preferences section and turn off the Wait for dial tone before dialing check box. Then click the OK button and continue to configure your new connection. To change the setting for an existing connection, right click on the connection icon and select Properties from the pop-up menu. Click the Configure... button, the Connection tab, and then the Advanced... button. Windows 95 will display an Advanced Connection Settings dialog box. In the Extra settings text box type "X1."

ZD Journal's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

Normally, when you delete an E-mail message from your Messenger Inbox, Messenger moves it to your Trash folder in case you need to recover it at a later point. To avoid wasting disk space with messages you want to permanently delete, simply hold down the [Shift] key as you press [Delete].

Brian Dao

If you regularly download files over the Internet, receive lots of attached documents in your E-mail messages, often trade diskettes, or depend on your Local Area Network or Intranet for files, then you're at high risk for viruses. Here are some practical tips that you can use to avoid a computer virus:

* Use an anti-virus program to check all new or suspicious software. This includes traded disk and new commercial software packages (some commercial software has been shipped containing viruses). Every time you download an executable file or purchase new software on disk, you should check it before you open it.

* Use your anti-virus program to run regular virus checks. This will give a loose virus less time to spread, in case you forgot to scan an infected file or in case or someone used your computer without permission and inadvertently infected it.

* Use an automatic virus-detection program. If you're a high-risk user, employ an anti-virus program like Disinfectant for the Macintosh, which automatically checks for viruses and notifies you when a virus tries to infect your hard disk.

* Use more than one anti-virus program. Even a good anti-virus program can miss a virus, so redundant protection can drastically cut the odds of missing a virus.

* Update your anti-virus programs regularly. New viruses are released every day, and the Internet is the fastest media for them to spread on. The best anti-virus programs now provide free updates of their virus databases online. You'll stand a much better chance of avoiding infection if you update your anti-virus program regularly.

* Don't boot from a floppy disk. Booting from a floppy is a high-risk practice. Don't leave a floppy in the drive when your turn off your computer - your computer will try to boot with the floppy.

* Don't work form an original master disk. If the disk becomes infected, you won't have a clean program to work with. Use a copy of the original program. Then write-protect master floppy disk by snapping the lock tab on the disk - a virus can't infect a write-protected disk.

* Make periodic backups of your computer files. Use a staggered generation system with at least two sets back up set. For example, backup with set A the first week, set B the second week, then set A again the third week. Use a tape backup system, if possible, to back up your files and your operating system.

If your computer gets a virus, don't panic. If your anti-virus scanner can detect the virus, chances are good that they can deal with the virus. If you're unsure of the steps you should take to destroy the virus, contact your company's system office, or your ISP for help.

Inside Netscape Navigator

Upgrading to the next version of Netscape Navigator can either be a hassle or a breeze. Lots of FTP and shareware sites make Navigator available for download, but they often have outdated versions and require you to surf around until you find the version you need. For a quick upgrade, simply go to Netscape's Automatic Software Upgrade page. This page will identify your present version of Navigator, the platform your computer is running on, and your preferred language. It will also give you information on the newest version of Navigator, provide you with options concerning your upgrade, and give you quick access to download options. All you have to do is click the Download button. Netscape's Automatic Software Upgrade page is located at:

http://cgi.netscape.com/cgi-bin/upgrade.cgi

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator

Maneuvering through Web pages in Netscape Navigator or any browser with your mouse can be repetitive. For example, clicking the Back and Forward buttons to view Web pages and using the scroll bar to move down a Web page can be time-consuming. Navigator provides several key combinations for navigation functions:

[Alt]<- (left arrow)      Back
[Alt]-> (right arrow)     Forward
[Esc]                     Stop
Space bar                 scroll down
[Page Up]                 scroll up
[Page Down]               scroll down

In Navigator 2.x, 3.x, and 4.x, you can access Back and Forward functions with a pop-up menu. Just right-click anywhere on the browser window and select Back or Forward in the resulting pop-up menu. Navigator 4.x adds the Stop and Reload functions to this pop-up menu.

All versions of Navigator include a Go menu for quick jumps to previously viewed Web pages. After you've viewed a series of Web pages, you don't have to click the Back button several times to revisit a page that's several pages back. Just open the Go menu where you'll see a list of approximately the last 15 sites you visited. To jump to a site, select the page you want from the menu list. You can also use the Go menu to jump forward to one of the last pages in the list. Navigator 4.x also makes the Go list accessible via the Back and Forward buttons on the main toolbar. For example, to jump back a few pages, click the Back button and hold down the mouse button until the Go pop-up menu appears. Then just select the site you want to jump to.

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

If you connect to the Internet through an ISP (Internet service provider), you may get a message stating that "one of your mail folders is wasting space" and requesting that you compress the folder--there's a good reason for this request. Your E-mail messages are often stored on the ISP's server and not your hard drive, and most ISPs don't like you to have large numbers of E-mail messages eating up server disk space resources. If you have E-mail messages that you want to save for long periods of time there are several steps you can take.

To save a text E-mail message in either Netscape Navigator 3.x or 4.x, open the message, go to the File menu, and then select Save As.... Navigator will display a Save Message As dialog box and name the message untitled. Navigator 4.x will automatically try to save the file as a TXT file, and all you need to do is rename the file and save it to your hard drive. But Navigator 3.x will try to save the message as an HTML file. To save the message as text in Navigator 3.x, go to the Save As Type dropdown box and select Plain Text (*.txt) for the file type. Then rename the message and save it to your hard drive. Both Navigator 3.x and 4.x will include the full message header of the E-mail you save and you'll find the text of the message below. You can open and view the message in either Navigator or a text editor like Simple Text or WordPad.

To save an HTML E-mail message in Navigator 4.x , go to the Netscape Message Center, open the Inbox folder, and open the message you want to save. At this point, go to the File menu, select Save As..., and then save the message as an HTML file. The resulting file will include message header information that you might not want in your archived message. To save the file without the message header information, highlight the message name in the inbox's list of messages and then right-click. Messenger will display a pop-up menu.. From the pop-up menu, select File Message/Drafts. Messenger will move the message from your Sent folder to your Drafts folder. Now, go to Messenger's Drafts folder, open the message, go to the File menu, and select Edit Message. Finally, select Save As... from the File menu. Navigator will display a Save Messages As dialog box. Select the directory in which you want to save the message and name the file. Again, Messenger will, by default, try to save the message as a plain text (TXT) file Use the Save As Type dropdown box to change the file type to HTML and then click Save.

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

If you don't have a mouse that provides you with the ability to scroll Web pages, you don't have to feel left out. You can scroll Web pages by using keyboard commands. To scroll up or down, just press the up or down arrow key; to go back and forth between pages, simply hold down the [Alt] key while pressing the left or right arrow key.

Mark WiseCarver

One to the quickest ways to speed up searches on any Internet connection is to turn off graphic image loading. Graphic images can sometimes be in excess of 100 KB--which takes 31 seconds to load with a 28.8 modem. For Netscape Navigator 4.x, go to the Edit menu and select Preferences.... In the preferences dialog box choose Advanced form the Category box, then click off the Automatically load images check box. If you want to view an image just go to the View menu and select Show Images.

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

There are millions of files available for download over the Internet via FTP sites: shareware and freeware programs, games, graphic files, utilities, applications, program updates, and program fixes. FTP files aren't indexed in large search engines like AltaVista, and many aren't even available via the Web. To access FTP files, you need to find an FTP server. Here are three FTP indexes and an FTP search utility that can help.

Archie is a query system that was created at McGill University in Canada and was originally designed to regularly scan files on various anonymous FTP sites around the world. Archie queries more than 1,500 anonymous FTP sites containing over 5.7 million files. Archie doesn't index WWW sites. You can find a list of Archie servers at:

http://www.mpg-ana.uni-potsdam.de/local/archies.html

SHAREWARE.COM is a repository and shareware index of more than 190,000 of the most-popular FTP files on the Internet. SHAREWARE.COM includes freeware, shareware, demos, fixes, patches, and upgrades from various software archives and computer vendor sites. The site features the Virtual Software Library (VSL) search engine, which maintains a database of more than 160,000 software programs. SHAREWARE.COM is located at:

http://www.shareware.com

The Filez FTP index scans more than 5,000 FTP servers and indexes an incredible 75 million files, but it's capable of conducting most searches in less than a second. Filez scans thousands of FTP sites each week and includes corporate sites like Apple and Microsoft. You can find the Filez Web site at:

http://www.filez.com/main.html

File Ferret is a special search utility for Windows 95/NT systems that helps you locate and download FTP files on the Internet. This search utility simultaneously queries multiple search engines and Archie servers that specialize in indexing anonymous FTP sites. You can download a demonstration copy of File Ferret at the FerretSoft Web site, which is located at:

http://www.ferretsoft.com

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

When a Web search tool takes you to a large Web document you're often faced with the time-consuming task of a second search to find few words of information in a document of hundreds of words. You can accelerate document research by using your Navigator's Find function to search for words or phrases in the text of a document. To search for a word or phrase, press Ctrl-F. You're browser will display a Find dialog box. Just enter the keywords or phrase you want to locate in the Find What text box. Use the Find Next button to initiate the search and to continue the search throughout the document. You can also use the Direction radio buttons to search Up or Down the document. And the Match Case check box lets you specify uppercase or lowercase text in your search. For example, if you searched for the word Net, you might find Netscape, but the Find function wouldn't give you net or Internet because these words don't contain an uppercase N.

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

With modem speeds getting faster and hard drive capacities getting larger, it's no longer a mind-boggling idea to think of downloading multi-megabyte files from the Internet. But downloading isn't always the end of the story. There are many reasons why you might need to copy a file onto floppy disks. Maybe you want to install it on another computer. Maybe you just want a backup copy. Regardless of your needs, that 10.5 MB file isn't going to fit on a 1.44 MB floppy disk. But if you split it up, it'll fit on eight disks. And DFend Software's Axman is just the utility for the job. You can find Axman's home page:

http://www.wwnet.com/~dfend/axman.html

Axman runs under Windows 95, 98, and NT 4.0. You'll need a 486 or higher processor and 900 Kb of free hard drive space. The program requires 8 MB of RAM under Windows 95/98 and 12 MB under NT 4.0. Registration is just $10.

ZD Journals' Inside Netscape Navigator journal

A considerable percentage of the words in the large search engines like AltaVista are commonly used words, such as: the, of, or, university, and Internet. Common words create problems for search engines because they often produce results that you really aren't interested in. That's why database administrators invented stop words. Stop words are words that search engines ignore because they create false hits (irrelevant search results) when included in a search query. For example, when you search the word "Internet" in a large search index, the search engine software responds with no documents to match the query. That's because the word "Internet" appears so often that most index administrators instruct the index's search engine query program to ignore the word. Stop words are indexed, but you can't access information with them outright.

Common stop words include a, the, in, up, if, an, at, out, and to, which makes searches for quotes like "To be or not to be" rather difficult. In addition, search engine often ignore symbols such as @, #, $, %, >, and & and certain punctuation marks (!, ', and :). Other common stop words include the terms

business        program
copyright       research
data            services
information     software
Internet        support
name            system
number          university
people          www

Using stop words in your search text means that a search engine must constantly rank large queries, which slows down the search engine's response time and provide little information for you.

Inside Netscape Navigator

As we explained last week, stop words are words that a search engine ignores because they create false hits (irrelevant search results) when included in a search query. You can use several query methods to avoid false hits caused by stop words.

Avoid using articles
Try not to use stop words in your queries. Avoid using articles (such as a, an, and the) when possible, and simplify your keyword queries to include only the subjects you want to work with.

Use quotation marks when searching for phrases
When you're searching for a quote or phrase, use quotation marks around the query, which instructs a search engine to look for the phrase as a single word. For example, the quote "To be or not to be" includes only stop words and will result in zero results in most large search engines. However, if you put quotation marks around the phrase, you'll get much closer to the results you want.

Uppercase Boolean operators
Make sure you type Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT, NEAR) in uppercase letters so the search engine can recognize them. About five percent of searches submitted to large search engines include these Boolean operators in lowercase letters, which makes them stop words instead of operators -- so remember to type your Boolean operators in capital letters.

Use advanced search options
If you absolutely must use a stop word, make sure you read the search engine's advanced search. Most large indexes include search options for getting around stop words.

Inside Netscape Navigator

If many of the sites you frequently visit are password-protected, you can save yourself time by storing each site's password with its bookmark. Suppose, for example, you just joined the protected site http://www.petrockclub.com. If you haven't already bookmarked the site, log onto the site first. Next, click the Bookmarks button and issue the Add Bookmark command. Then, click the Bookmarks button again and issue the Edit Bookmarks... command. Now, right-click the bookmark you just created and choose the Bookmark Properties... command. Finally, edit the Location (URL) entry to include your site user name and password, and then click OK. For example, if the user name and password you use to log onto http://www.petrockclub.com site are YourName and YourPass, respectively, you'd change the entry in the Location (URL) field from

http://www.petrockclub.com to

http://YourName:YourPass@www.petrockclub.com

Now each time you use the bookmark to access the site, you won't be prompted to enter your user name and password.

Clyde Zellers

Full Screen is a Navigator plug that gives you the maximum screen display for the browser. This useful add-on places an extra button on Navigator's main toolbar that lets you enable or disable full-screen browsing mode. Only the status bars remain visible, while the toolbars go into auto-hide mode. Just left-click on the Wide button to toggle full-screen browsing. Move your mouse pointer to the top edge of the screen to display Navigator's toolbars. Right-click on the Wide button for options such as full-screen mode when Netscape starts up, leaving the status bar visible, and overriding the Windows taskbar on full-screen mode. You can download Full Screen from the ZD Software Library at:

http://hotfiles.zdnet.com/cgi-bin/texis/swlib/hotfiles/info.html?fcode=000P1R

Full Screen costs $10.

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

Parkinson's Law of Data states: "Data expands to fill the space available for storage." If you spend lots of time downloading software from the Internet, you know how quickly downloads consume your hard drive space. And if you have a pack-rat mentality, you're bound to reach a point when you must delete some programs from your computer or else run out of disk space. To keep Navigator (and your computer) up and running well, you need to manage your hard drive (and memory) space. The first step is to tracking your computers storage capacity.

On a Windows 95 system, you can check your hard drive space by opening the My Computer icon on your desktop, right-clicking on the C drive icon, and selecting Properties from the pop-up menu. Your computer will display a [C:] Properties dialog box. In the General tab section, look for the number of megabytes (MB) of free space available. If you have less than 100 MB, you'll need to start thinking about ways to conserve space on your disk drive.

Also, in Windows 95, you can check your RAM by going to the My Computer icon on your desktop, right-clicking, and selecting Properties from the pop-up menu. Your computer will display a System Properties dialog box. Click the Performance tab and then look for System Resources, which tells you how much free RAM you have. You can also keep track of your RAM with the Windows 95 Resource Meter, which displays a visual measurement of RAM in the Windows system tray. You can access the Resource Meter from the Windows Start menu in the Programs/Accessories/Systems Tool/Resource Meter directory. If you'd like the Resource Meter to appear in your system tray each time you start Windows, just drop a shortcut for this utility in the Windows/Start Menu/Programs/Startup folder.

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

Every URL (uniform resource locator) address includes one or two suffixes as part of the domain name. These suffixes provide quick information about the site the URL links to. Understanding these suffixes can help you recognize sites that you may or may not want to link through to. The suffix at the end of a URL represents the site's server type and can include a code that indicates the country of origin. For example, The Cobb Group's URL address (http://www.cobb.com) ends in ".com", which indicates that The Cobb Group Web site is a commercial business. The most common domain name suffixes on the Internet are:

.com - commercial business
.edu - educational institution
.gov - government agency
.mil - military
.net - miscellaneous
.org - non-profit organization

In addition to domain name suffixes, international Web sites often include a code suffix that follows the domain name and that indicates the country the site is based in. U.S. Internet sites rarely use country code suffixes; in fact, these suffixes are optional for other countries. For example, the country code suffix for Japan is .jp, but a Web site in Japan can choose not to include this code. Here are some country code suffixes of countries with heavy Internet traffic:

.au - Australia
.br - Brazil
.ca - Canada
.fr - France
.hk - Hong Kong
.il - Israel
.in - India
.it - Italy
.mx - Mexico
.tw - Taiwan
.uk - United Kingdom

You can find a good list of country code suffixes at

http://www.xwolf.com/info/ccodes.html

and a Java applet for looking up country code suffixes at

http://www.candw.to/codes.htm

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

Installing most software packages that you've downloaded from the Internet is simple--you just follow the installation procedures. But when you install software, your computer sometimes takes actions that can make deleting an application a glitch--filled nightmare. Each time you download and install a new application onto your computer, Windows looks through the application for new DLL (Dynamically Linked Library) files. When Windows finds a DLL file, it compares the file with DLL files already on your computer. If Windows determines the new DLL file is a duplicate of an existing file, the operating system doesn't install the new file. Instead, the operating system makes a file association to the existing DLL file and shares it with the new application. This saves disk space. The problem comes when you decide to delete an application. If you just throw the software in your recycle bin, or use the application's uninstall program, you often lose that shared DLL file. The result--you try to open another application (which used that shared DLL), and that program has a glitch or won't run at all.

One of your best options for removing software applications from your computer is an uninstall program, which will correctly remove programs without deleting important DLL files. These utility programs can also help you manage your hard drive space by identifying junk files. We've listed some of the best uninstall applications below.

Uninstaller (Win95 or NT 4.0)

http://www.cybermedia.com/products/uninstaller/uninstallerhome.html

Norton Uninstall Deluxe (Win95 or NT 4.0)

http://www.symantec.com/sabu/nud/index.html

Clean Sweep Deluxe (Win 95 or NT 4.0)

http://www.quarterdeck.com/qdeck/products/CleanSwpDix/

Dustman (Win95)

http://www.arcanadev.com/dustman/

wInformant (Win 3.x)

http://www6.zdnet.com/cgi-bin/texis/swlib/hotfiles/info.html?code=0000UK

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

Netscape Composer's one-button publishing makes it easy for anyone who has Web server space available to them to put a Web page on the Internet. All you need to know is the ftp address of the Web server you're publishing to as well as your assigned username, password, and directory. Once you have this information, you're ready to publish. Simply open your Web page in Composer and click the Publish button. When the Publish dialog box appears, enter this information in the required fields, be sure to select any additional files to include, such as graphics files, and then click OK to upload the files to the Web server.

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

One of the most annoying problems on the Web is broken links. Whether you're the Webmaster of a large Web site or you have just a few Web pages, you should regularly check all links from your pages to determine that they are viable. Obviously, if you have hundreds of links from your site, you'll need some help. The validation tools we've listed below are some of the best available.

Linkbot         http://www.tetranetsoftware.com/
Riada Linx      http://www.riada.com/Products/RiadaLinx/
LinkCop         http://www.linkcop.com/
CyberSpyder     http://www.cyberspyder.com/cslnkts1.html
InfoLink        http://www.biggbyte.com/

ZD Journal's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

If you forgot to bookmark a particularly cool Web site you found the other day while surfing with Netscape Navigator, chances are you can locate it quickly without using a search engine. Just look through your cache. Unless you've turned off caching, Navigator stores a copy of every Web page and image on your hard drive, emptying it according to preferences you've set.

To locate URL and cache file names, type about:cache in the Location box and press [return]. Navigator will display a list of Disk Cache Statistics for your recent visits. To display only the URLs of the cache files, enter about:global instead. Since this data relies on the amount of caching you've set up for your browser, the number of items and their ages will vary.

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

Last week we explained how improperly uninstalling software that you've downloaded from the Internet can create problems with DLL (Dynamically Linked Library) files, and how you can overcome such problems with uninstall utilities. But with some programs its just as easy to use the Windows Add/Remove procedure.

Microsoft includes Add/Remove in Windows for software packages that meet specific programming criteria. Microsoft developed a set of standards for application developers to follow when creating new software. If the developer adheres to most of the standards, his or her software receives the Designed For Windows 95 logo. One such standard is that the developer must register the application with the Add/Remove Programs utility so the application can be easily uninstalled. Not all developers bother with Microsoft's standards, so you can't use the Add/Remove procedure for all applications on your computer.

To uninstall a program with Add/Remove, go to the Start menu and select Settings/Control Panel. In the Control Panel window, double-click on Add/Remove Programs. Windows will display an Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box. On the Install/Uninstall tab, use the scroll box to find the application you want to uninstall (remember, only programs meeting Microsoft's standards are listed here). Then highlight the application you want to uninstall, and click the Add/Remove... button. In some cases, Windows will simply display a Confirm File Deletion message box. Just click Yes, and Windows will uninstall the program. In other cases, Windows will take you through a series of dialog boxes, the first of which asks you to select an uninstall method. In most cases, you'll want to choose the Automatic option. Next, Add/Remove will ask if you want to "perform rollback"--a procedure that returns your computer to the state before the last upgrade. You should choose Yes only if the application you're trying to uninstall was the last application you loaded. Finally, Windows will display a Perform Uninstall message box. Simply click OK to finish the procedure.

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal

Reading and sending E-mail can be a nuisance if you have to drag the horizontal scroll bar in Messenger to see your full text. Fortunately, Messenger makes it easy to eliminate the horizontal scroll bar by wrapping each line before it reaches the right edge of the screen. To enable this feature, simply choose Wrap Long Lines from the View menu.

Note, however, that enabling this feature doesn't affect how your outgoing mail appears in recipients' E-mail windows. To ensure that your E-mail recipients don't have trouble with your messages scrolling off the right side of the screen, you need to set the line length in the Preferences dialog box. To do so, choose Preferences from the Edit menu. In the left pane, expand Mail & Groups and then click Messages to display your message properties. Finally, enter a value in the Wrap Long Lines At x Characters field and click OK.

The Cobb Group's Inside Netscape Navigator journal