The Art of Getting Ready
Tuning Up Your Computer for Life on the Web
Most PCs on sale today can handle anything the World Wide Web throws
their way -- with a little help. Here's a rundown of what you'll need for
optimal access.
Before the dawn of the World Wide Web and the
graphical capabilities of Web browsers, almost any personal computer setup
was adequate for accessing the Internet.
Sure, maybe you needed an SVGA card to view an image you'd downloaded, but
at least you weren't waiting for several images on a single Web page to
be drawn.
Like it or not, the Web has changed the way people use the Internet -- as
well as the tools required to get the most out of time online. Here's a
brief rundown on what you need to maximize your PC's cruising speed.
- CPU
- 486/50 megahertz (MHz) or faster. Most Internet applications run under
Windows, so peppy Windows performance is a must.
- RAM
- Eight megabytes (MB) should be adequate, but Netscape's memory cache
will use more if you can allocate it, which will speed up reload times for
previously accessed pages.
- Modem
- 14.4 modems, which transfer 14,400 bits per second, are pretty much
the baseline standard. They were considered the hottest chariots just a
year or so ago.
However, if your provider offers (or plans to offer) 28.8 (28,000 bps) or
faster access, the extra money you spend for this kind of modem will pay
off. You'll get significantly faster Internet cruising and speedier downloading
of graphics.
- Video Card
- Data transmission rate levels the playing field -- because data come
in only so fast, nearly any card is adequate. If your card handles graphic
images well, it'll be fine for most of the stuff you download.
However, a Windows-accelerated video card will speed up everything you do
if you're in Windows.
- Hard Drive
- Since you'll be downloading all sorts of goodies, you'll probably want
at least a 500 MB hard drive.
If you don't have that much space, you can either use disk compression software
or buy a new hard drive. Although the latter suggestion may sound expensive,
hard-drive memory upgrades are actually quite affordable, around 50 cents
a megabyte.
- Sound Card
- Any 16- or 32-bit sound card with Windows drivers should be just fine.
Buy one based on how it sounds to you and how well it fits your budget.
- Monitor
- A 15-inch monitor is certainly sufficient, but if you plan on running
at 800 by 600 or higher, you'll save yourself a lot of eye strain with a
17-inch monitor.
Don't even think about anything smaller -- you'd be amazed at how tiny a
14-inch monitor seems when you're looking at graphics.
- Speakers
- You can spend anywhere from $25 to more than $300 on speakers for your
PC. As with the sound card, your choice depends on budget and the level
of sound quality you want. You could run your PC straight into a stereo,
if one happens to be nearby.
- Software and Utilities
- Make sure you have the latest drivers for your video and audio cards.
For playback of video clips, you'll want Video for Windows, Quicktime for
Windows, and the Indeo Video drive. Audio files are most commonly saved
in .WAV or MPEG format.
Listening to .WAV files is no problem -- just use the Media Player or Sound
Record programs that are included with Windows (some type of .WAV playback
device probably was included with your sound card as well). For MPEG Audio,
we recommend the Xing MPEG Audio player.
Graphic images are among the most commonly downloaded file types on the
Internet. Most are posted as either GIFs or JPEGs. There are many viewers
capable of handling both formats, but three of our favorites are Paint Shop
Pro, LView, and ThumbsPlus. Each has its own advantages.
For instance, Paint Shop Pro handles the greatest number of file formats;
LView offers some fairly advanced options for altering images; and ThumbsPlus
has -- you guessed it -- thumbnails of every image in a directory. Since
many file names for images can be rather cryptic (M8225X.JPG, for example),
ThumbsPlus can be invaluable in pulling up the right image every time.
-- Steve Poole
Words to Live by?
Internet jargon
- TCP/IP
- Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol, the software that
implements the protocols specifying how computers communicate on the Internet.
- SLIP
- Serial Line IP. A protocol that allows a computer to use TCP/IP over
a telephone line or other serial communication medium.
- PPP
- Point-to-Point Protocol. This protocol sends TCP/IP traffic across a
serial transmission line attached directly to the Internet. It's like SLIP,
but better.
- FTP
- File Transfer Protocol, an Internet service that transfers a copy of
a file from one computer to another. Often used to download software.
- IRC
- Internet Relay Chat, an Internet service that lets users join rooms
or "channels" to communicate via keyboard. Members each receive
a copy of a message sent to the channel they are visiting (see pages 48-49).
- Gopher
- An Internet browsing service in which information is organized by menus.
Users of Gopher receive a menu and select an item or another menu for retrieval.
- WAIS
- Wide Area Information Server, an automated Internet search service that
allows users to locate documents containing key words or phrases.
Source: Douglas E. Comer, The Internet Book (Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1995)
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