Our Internet Frustration Buster™

Cindy Harris, our Internet Frustration Buster™, joined the show to fill in for David today. While David was on-location at Geneva College in Beaver, PA, Cindy stepped up to the mic to field phone calls from listeners Tim, Bill, Peg, Rusty, Gerald and Claire.

Setting Your Start Page

Listener Terry, after installing AOL 5.0, opens Internet Explorer but is no longer sent to the starting page he was using before the AOL installation. Here's how Terry and all of you can set your starting page to the site of your choice:

1. After opening Internet Explorer 5.0, go to the [Tools] menu and choose [Internet Options].
2. Select the [General] tab.
3. At the top of this window, you should see a field labelled "Home Page." In this field, you simply need to type the address of the page at which you would like to start when your browser opens. This will also be the web page you are taken to when you click the "Home" button.
4. If you click on the [Current] button, the page you are currently viewing will automatically be set as the starting page.

1. In Netscape Navigator, go to the [Edit] menu and choose [Preferences].
2. On the left side of that window, click on [Navigator].
3. In the "Home Page" Location field, type the address of the page at which you would like to start. As in IE, you can also use the [Use Current Page] button.

Online Pizza

Listener Ann mentioned ordering pizza online. One place at which you can order pizza online is at Papa John's, by choosing the location nearest you and registering for an online ordering account (similar to giving your address and phone number when calling to place an order for deliver).

Also...

Don't forget to visit our National Radio Show Highlights page for information about transferring bookmarks between Netscape and IE, as well as some info on signing up for free, easily accessible email services.

And don't forget to look for our latest Q/A column in the Post-Gazette where David gives some email advice, or visit our online archive of David's articles.

April 22, 2000 show

Special thanks to listeners John, Jimmy, Bob, Marilyn, Greg, Tom, Anne, Albert and John for calling into the show this week, and thanks to all of our other listeners.

Removing Programs

We suggested to listener Marilyn that she try uninstalling her AOL and then reinstalling it. We also suggested to listener Anne that she try uninstalling Adobe Acrobat Reader and then reinstalling it. Whenever an application needs to be removed from a system, it is important to not simply delete it. Programs should be removed using the following process:

1. go to the [Start] menu, point at [Settings] and then choose [Control Panel].
2. Double click on [Add/Remove Programs].
3. In the list that appears, choose the program that should be uninstalled and click on the [Add/Remove] button.
4. Follow the prompts to complete the uninstallation.

Anne, you can find the Adobe Acrobat Reader download here.

Content Advisor

We also promised listener John that we would post how to control the Content Advisor in Internet Explorer. Here's how to do it in IE 5.0:

1. Open IE, go to the [Tools] menu and choose [Internet Options].
2. Choose on the "Content" tab; you should be able to click on the [Disable] button to turn the Content Advisor off, or click on the [Settings] button to adjust the Content Advisor's security levels. You'll need to know the password in order to turn it on or off.
3. Click on [Apply].

Next Saturday (April 29, 2000), you can meet David Radin in person. David will be broadcasting live from the Geneva College Department of Leadership Studies Saturday Seminar, "eBusiness and the Virtual Organization". David will be at Geneva College's main campus in Beaver Falls (Northwood Hall) from 9 AM until Noon. For more information call 724-847-2715 or email msol@geneva.edu.

Also...

Be sure to visit our National Radio Show Highlights for more Internet Insider.

April 15, 2000 show

Once again, we'd like to thank our "Tinsel Town Titan" Gordon Meyer for visiting us on today's show and sharing some great info about a new and up-and-coming means of accessing the Internet.

Gauging Your Dial-Up Speed

Last week, Listener Jeff was looking for a number which would enable him to check his dial-up access speed with his 56K modem. FYI, 56K modem technology is not guaranteed to connect at 56K -- or any other speed for that matter. 56K technology basically takes advantage of the fact that part of your connection between your home or office phone and your ISP happens digitally.

If your modem settings are set faster than the speed that you're getting, you probably have a local problem that won't be fixed by changing ISPs. A good first check would be to find out whether your ISP has another 56K local number into which you can dial. Then change your dial up. This may tell you if there's a problem with the ISP's incoming line.

To find out whether the problem is on your end, call 3Com's line speed check up number. As we told you on an earlier show, the company offers a test number that will allow you to figure out how good your telephone lines are (and whether they'll support a 56K modem). The number is 1-847-262-6000.

1. Start up a simple dialer application (such as HyperTerminal).
2. Create a connection that can dial the telephone test number.
   1. Select [File] from the drop down menu.
   2. Choose [New Connection].
   3. On the next dialog box, make sure that you have selected a valid modem, and type the 3Com test number in the [Phone Number] field.
   At this point everything should be pretty much set up so you can run the test.
3. Connect to the test number by clicking on the [Connect] icon.
4. When it asks you for your first name, type "line".
5. When it asks you for your last name, type "test".
6. Read the answer to find out the state of your line.

Listener Art had some questions about how to make a startup or "boot" disk. A boot disk is simply a set of special files on a floppy disk that enables a user to boot the PC from that floppy instead of from the hard disk. Here's how to make a boot disk:

1. Make sure you have a fresh floppy disk handy. Then, go to the [Start] menu, point at [Settings] and select [Control Panel].
   
   
   
   
2. In the Control Panel Window, double-click on [Add/Remove Programs].
   
   
   
   
3. Choose the "Startup Disk" tab, and then click on the "Create Disk" button.
   
   
   
   
4. Windows will then place most of the necessary files on the floppy disk.

Finally, David Karp also recommends saving a copy of your CD-ROM drivers on the floppy as well. You can refer to your CD-ROM drive's documentation for more information.

Multiple OS Management

Listener Bob is having trouble trying to maintain both Linux and Windows on one PC. Bob, the best thing you can do to manage multiple OS's on the same machine is to seek out a software application, such as System Commander from V Communications, that assists both in hard disk partitioning and management of multiple Operating Systems.

Also. . .

We'd like to thank all of our listeners for tuning in, especially Listeners Keith, Steve, Bill, Frank, Jeff and John, who all called to have David answer their questions.

You can find more great Internet and Computing tips at our National Radio Show Highlights page, including info about shortcut keys, buying printers and scanners, and choosing processors.

And don't forget to look for our latest Q/A column in the Post-Gazette where David gives some email advice, or visit our online archive of David's articles.

April 8, 2000 show

This week, David broadcast the show live from KRLA in Los Angeles, where he is attending the Spring Internet World Conference. David was joined by special guest Doug Wolford, the General Manager of Network Solutions, "The Dot Com People." We hope you enjoyed Doug's informative tips about registering domain names. To hear parts of the interview that didn't air, visit Internet Insider InDepth, where you can hear more about domain names via streaming audio.

And don't forget to look for our latest Q/A column in the Post-Gazette where David gives some email advice, or visit our online archive of David's articles.

April 1, 2000 show

Pirates Baseball pre-empted KDKA's Internet Insider this weekend, but as we like to say, "there's always more Internet Insider at InsiderRadio.com". So check out our Radio Show Highlights section of our website for this week's WOW, our Stellar hand-picked list for everything you'll need to enjoy this baseball season, and this week's Insider Tip.

We'll be back on the air next Saturday, April 8 - so tune in to KDKA 1020 AM at Noon (ET).

Revisit the highlights of our previous shows:

December 2000
November 2000
October 2000
September 2000
August 2000
July 2000
June 2000
May 2000
April 2000
March 2000
February 2000
January 2000
1999

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