Announcements

Buildin' Your Own Computer

The response to the "How to build your own PC" CD ROM was incredible yesterday. In fact, it's already one of our biggest sellers of the summer.

Personally, I love putting a computer together. In fact, I've lost count of the number of PCs I've assembled for myself and friends. It's a lot of fun and the machine turns out to be exactly what you want.

Again, this program takes you step by step through the process using video and multimedia to make is easy to understand. Just click and watch, it couldn't be easier. This is also an excellent way to see how to do hardware upgrades - and that's something we all need to do at one time or another.

Sections include installing the motherboard, CPU, RAM, video card, sound card, modem, hard drive, CD / DVD drive, floppy drive, and more. Of course, it shows you how to put all of it together (you know, making sure the right wires are in the right place). It even shows you how to format your hard drive and install an operating system (like Windows).

In addition, it has a checklist of parts you'll need. There's a lot that goes into a computer, and with this you'll know exactly what you need - and what you don't.

If you're ready to take this next step in computing, this will be a tremendous help. Besides, think of how cool it will be to show your friends and family the "custom job" you put together!

Here's the link for more info:

http://www.worldstart.com/store/build-your-own-pc.htm

PS - Note that we are running a little low on this one, so if you want yours, get to the site ASAP.

Thanks!

Computers 101

Q:
I hate waiting for my homepage to load when I really need to go somewhere else anyway. Can I bypass this somehow?

A:
Sure, you can hit the Stop button or start typing the web address (usually to have it overwritten during said typing), but there has to be a better way, right?

Well, you could set your browser to start with a blank page, but then you kiss your regular homepage goodbye and that's no good.

A better way is to make a blank web page that sits on your desktop. When you click your blank page, your default browser will launch and load the page. Since the page has nothing on it, there is no waiting involved - it loads almost instantly. From your blank page, you can go to the site you *really* needed by selecting it from your Favorites menu or typing in the URL.

So, how do you set this up? Easy:

1. First, you need to make a blank page. The best way to do this is to open Windows Notepad (Start button, Programs, Accessories, Notepad).

OR -

You can download a blank page I made. Right-click the link below and select Save Target As from the resulting menu. When prompted, save the page to your Desktop. If you just click it with your left mouse button, you'll end up going to a blank page, but it won't get downloaded. If you decide to download this page, skip to step 3.

Download the blank page - Right-click here

2. Next, click the File menu, Save as. Navigate to your C:\Windows\Desktop and save the file as "blank.htm" (no quotes). To get to your Desktop folder quickly, click the little desktop icon on the Save As dialog box.

3. That's it. The file should now be on your desktop. Anytime you want to bypass your regular homepage and just get the browser running, click it. In fact, I've even dragged it to my quick-launch toolbar for easier access.

Oh, here's a bonus idea for our more advanced users who know how to program in HTML or have access to some kind of web page creation software. If that's you, try making a page similar to the one above, but with links to your most frequently accessed sites.

A page with 20 or so of your favorite links won't make this page load that much slower (we're talking 10ths of a second), but it will make getting to your favorite sites much easier.

-- Steve

Have a question for the newsletter? Submit it at the link below:
http://www.worldstart.com/submitquestion.htm

Tip of the Day

"I feel the need, the need for speed."

How to Detect Your Dial-up Speed on AOL

When you are logging on to AOL, it gives you numbered steps throughout the connection process. In the third step, AOL will show at what speed you have connected to the Internet. Sometimes though it flashes rather quickly and you miss seeing what the connection speed is.

It's good to know your connection speed so that in case your connection is slower than you want it to be (for example: 14,000 bps), you can sign off of AOL and then reconnect trying to get a higher connection speed. The higher the connection speed, the faster your computer will open web pages, load graphics and sounds, etc.

The process of finding out your connection speed after you have signed on is a simple two step process.

First, click the help tab at the top of the window and select About America Online.

Second, when the About AOL screen pops up, press Ctrl+Y. This button command brings up the Connection Status Information screen. Towards the bottom of this screen, you will see, "Current Connection Speed (bps): xxxxx." The x's will be your speed. In this example, my current connection speed is 44,000 bps.

Now that wasn't so bad, was it?

--Sam Baker

Have a tip for the newsletter? Submit it below:
http://www.worldstart.com/submitatip.htm

Amanda's Cool Site of the Day

Box Office Stats

Welcome to the site that has all the information you could ever want on box office hits. You can find out all kinds of stuff here from the cost of movie’s production to how much it sells at the box office. You can even research movies all the way back to 1939.

Also, read about your favorite movie stars and their total gross movie profit. (And it is pretty "gross" to see how much some of them make.)

Movie fans, you’ll enjoy this site.

http://www.the-numbers.com/

Do you have a cool, non-commercial site that you want to share?
Send it to Amanda at amanda@worldstart.com