| REFERENCE LIBRARY |
| Installation and Setup Guide |
In most cases, installing Communicator and connecting to the Internet will go smoothly. If you do encounter difficulties, however, use the information in this appendix.
Problems With InstallationCommunicator requires 25-35 MB of free hard-disk space. If you want to install all the bonus software that comes with Communicator, you'll need a total of 70 MB of free hard-disk space.
To reclaim unused hard-disk space, follow these steps:
To start Account Setup, from the Start menu, choose Programs, then choose Netscape Communicator. From the submenu, choose Account Setup.
If you are having trouble using Account Setup to create a new Internet account, review the following points and try again. If Account Setup gives you a message that says Connection Error, read the explanation on the screen and refer to the appropriate troubleshooting topic in this section. Here are some general tips:
If Account Setup tells you that there is a problem with your modem, or if your modem won't dial, the problem is probably easy to correct. Here are some general tips:
Your phone line might have a service, such as call waiting, that is interrupting your phone call. Make sure you've turned off call waiting in Account Setup. (If you are not sure how to turn off call waiting, contact your local telephone company or operator.)
It is also possible that you were disconnected automatically because your computer was idle for a certain length of time. Try reconnecting from Account Setup. Another possibility is that your modem is trying to transfer data too fast. Make sure you specified the right type of modem in Account Setup and reconnect.
To change the modem or call waiting settings you entered in Account Setup, you must exit from Account Setup and start it again.
Frequently Asked QuestionsIf you don't find the answer you're looking for here, visit Netscape's Technical Support site at http://help.netscape.com/.
You currently cannot use Communicator's Messenger program to read email and newsgroups with AOL. AOL may change their software in the future to allow you to use Messenger for email and news. Visit AOL's website at http://www.aol.com for the latest information.
Communicator comes with Netscape AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). This application is automatically installed when you install Communicator. Netscape AOL Instant Messenger lets you see which of your friends are online so you can communicate instantly with them.
AIM is an Internet chat program that lets you see and communicate with all your friends, whether they are on America Online or signed on to AOL Instant Messenger.
To use AOL Instant Messenger:
Some later versions of Windows 95 include an Internet icon in the Control Panel. If your system doesn't include this feature, you might want to upgrade to the latest version of Windows 95.
If you're using Windows 98, you can automate a dial-up connection by creating a Dial-Up Networking script. See Windows 98 online help for information on automating a dial-up connection.
To automate a dial-up connection on Windows 95:
When you quit Netscape Communicator, the program is no longer open, but you are still connected to the Internet. You also need to end your Internet connection. To end the connection, click Disconnect in the Windows Dial-Up Networking window.
You can dial different ISPs by creating separate connection settings for each ISP. You do this by using the networking software that comes with your computer: Dial Up Networking (Windows 95 or 98) or Remote Access Service (Windows NT).
(Windows 95/98) To connect to the ISP, double-click My Computer, then double-click Dial-Up Networking. Finally, double-click a dial-up connection icon in the Dial-Up Networking folder.
Communicator allows you to work online and offline. It is possible that you are in Offline Work Mode. From the Edit menu, choose Preferences. In the Preferences dialog box, click Offline and make sure that Online Work Mode is selected.
The Macintosh and Windows platforms put different line breaks in the file bookmark.htm. To use your Macintosh bookmarks.htm file on Windows, open the bookmark.htm file in a text editor and fix the line breaks.
On Windows systems, each user's bookmark file is located in the /Program/Users directory, inside each user profile folder, and is called "bookmark.htm," for example: /Program/Users/robin/bookmark.htm.
On Macintosh systems, each user's bookmark file is located in the System Folder/Netscape Users/Preferences folder, inside each user's profile folder, and is called "bookmarks.html," for example: System Folder/Netscape Users/Preferences/robin/bookmarks.html.
To use your Macintosh address book file on Windows, follow these steps:
To import your Address Book after saving it:
Follow the above steps. The Navigator 3.x address file is named address.htm.
Communicator includes the Messenger Import Utility for Eudora so you can import your Eudora mailboxes, address books, and settings into Communicator. Your original Eudora mail and settings are not modified.
To use the Eudora import utility, follow these steps:
IE Mail and News files are in a proprietary format that is not compatible with Messenger. You can forward all of the messages you want to save to your email address. You can also convert IE Mail and News messages to Eudora format using a conversion tool such as the one available at http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/9276/msie2eu.html. Then, follow the steps for converting Eudora mail messages to use with Communicator, described above.
The IE Mail and News address book is in a proprietary format that is not compatible with Messenger's format. To convert an IE Mail and News address book to Messenger format, you can use a conversion tool, such as Interguru's E-mail Address Conversions, available at http://www.interguru.com/mailconv.htm.
You can find a converter tool to convert Favorites to Bookmarks at http://home.sprynet.com:80/sprynet/jae/ieconverter.htm.
Another tool for converting IE shortcuts to bookmarks is located at: http://mach5.ocs.drexel.edu/NAVEX.
You cannot use Messenger with CompuServe, however, you can use Navigator with CompuServe. For information about how to do this, see the Netscape Technical Support Note at http://help.netscape.com/kb/client/960813-1.html.
To use a different modem, do the following:
Be sure that the modem is properly connected to your computer and that it is turned on.
Windows automatically detects your new modem and adds it to the list of installed modems.
If you use a laptop computer to access your Internet account from more than one dialing location - from home, work, and while traveling - you can set up different dialing locations.
When you move from one location to another, do the following:
If you use a laptop computer and a modem to dial into your company's network when you're working offsite, and then use the same computer to connect directly to your company's network when you're working onsite, you can tell Communicator to bypass your connection settings when you're working onsite. You can also use this procedure to start Communicator without connecting to your Internet account to work offline, or when you want to use a connection you've already established to your account using another communications program.
Checking this box tells Communicator to ignore the dial-in settings specified in your user profile and use the current network settings (such as your current LAN connection). Communicator uses this setting only for the current Communicator session.
If you typically work offline or over a LAN, you can disable the dialer settings associated with your user profile. Communicator uses your user profile to connect to your company's network using the current network configuration instead of your dial-up connection settings.
Unchecking this box tells Communicator to ignore the dial-in settings in your user profile and use the current network settings (such as your current LAN connection). Communicator applies this setting across sessions, until you change it.
When you change your user profile to use a different Internet account, Communicator changes the phone number you use to connect, as well as the login name and password. Once Communicator is running, you must change your mail and group server preferences to complete the switch.
Windows Dial-Up Networking has not been installed on your computer. You have the option of installing Dial-Up Networking at this time. Please have your Windows 95 or NT installation disks ready to install Dial-Up Networking. After installing Dial-Up Networking, you must restart Account Setup.
RAS.DLL may be missing. Please have your Windows NT installation disks ready and install Remote Access Service (RAS).
If you received a screen with this message when you tried to connect to the Internet Account server or your Internet account, make sure that your computer meets the system requirements described in Chapter 1, "Getting Started."
You need at least 16 MB of RAM to complete Account Setup successfully. If you have this amount of RAM but can't complete Account Setup, here are some tips:
This message might appear if you use Dial-Up Networking to access servers on a LAN. Follow these steps to correct this problem:
When you enable DNS in this way, each dial-in connection can use its own setting.
If your version of Windows 95 is more than two years old, you may get this message when you're using Communicator. You may need to update this file. Contact Microsoft for update information.