• Check the site at specified intervals and notify you if its contents have changed.
• (Optionally) download copies of pages from the site, store them on your local hard disk, and let you browse them when you're not connected to the Internet.

You can choose when IE 4 performs its checks and downloads, decide how you are notified of changes, and control how much of a site's content is downloaded. You can also choose 'how much' of a site to subscribe to. If you subscribe to its opening (or 'home') page then IE4 can monitor the whole site. If you subscribe to an individual page, or the header page for a section of the site, IE4 will monitor just the part you're interested in.

One big advantage of IE4's subscriptions is that they're fully integrated into the browser - creating a subscription simply means browsing your way to a site and clicking 'subscribe', while downloaded pages are stored along with the contents of the History list, for browsing in IE 4's Work Offline mode.

 Alternatively, if you've already created a Favorite for the site, then you you can right-click on its entry in the Explorer Favorites Bar, and choose Subscribe from the pop-up menu (click here for more details on Favorites).

• How IE4 notifies you when a subscribed site's contents have changed.Default value - a modified ('gleam') icon in the subscriptions folder (see below).
• Whether or not IE4 automatically downloads pages from the site for off-line browsing, and if so, how much of the site's content is downloaded. Default value - None.
• How often (and at what time of day) IE4 'crawls' the site looking for new and updated pages. Default value - AutoSchedule (note, this value may not be suitable if you use a dial-up connection to the Internet).

IE4 also lets you register a username and password if the site requires one. This will let IE4 crawl the site automatically even if you're not there. To register a username/password, press the Login button.

The Subscriptions Wizard is a multi-page dialog which lets you change the default control values for your new subscription.

You can use the Next/Back buttons to step backwards and forwards through the pages, or the Cancel button to abandon the changes you've made.

The Wizard's pages cover two main areas:

• How you're notified of changes, and how much (if any) of the subscribed site's contents are downloaded for off-line browsing. Click here for more details.
• How often, and at what time of day, IE4 checks the site for changes and possible content downloads. Click here for more details.

Don't worry if you're not sure about some of the options, as you can change them at any time by right-clicking on the site's entry in the Subscriptions (or Favorites) folder and choosing Properties from the pop-up menu (click here for more details).

When you've completed all the pages of the Wizard, press Finish. This will take you back to the New Subscription dialog. Press OK, and the details of your subscription will be stored in the Subscriptions Folder (see below).

IE4 maintains a single cache (storage area) on your local hard disk, in which it stores the pages you've accessed on an ad hoc basis (the History List) plus pages downloaded automatically from subscribed sites. That means that you can browse downloaded subscription site content in the same 'seamless' way as you can History pages, by checking the Work Offline option on IE4's File menu. However that still leaves the question of how you tell IE4 to open a particular site's pages.

If you've created a Favorites entry for a subscribed site, then you can open the Explorer Favorites Bar, click on the site, and browse its pages.

However, the best way to control and view subscribed sites is via the Subscriptions Folder (below)

To open the folder, choose Favorites...Subscriptions...Manage Subscriptions from IE4's menu bar.

The Subscriptions Folder contains an entry for each site you've subscribed to (it also contains entries for all the Channels you've subscribed to, as Channels are a special form of site subscription). Each folder entry contains details of when the subscribed site was last updated and what update schedule it's set for. You can change the schedule and download settings for a site from this folder window.

Tip - the Subscriptions Folder is a normal disk folder, typically C:\Windows\Subscriptions, so you can also open it in a desktop browse window or Windows Explorer. You can also put a shortcut to it on your desktop, like any other folder.

The site names in the left-hand column work like standard IE shortcuts - click on one, and the page is opened in the IE4 browser, either from your local disk cache or via your Internet connection, depending on whether it's been downloaded or not.

If you right-click on a subscription name, a menu (right) pops up. Choosing Update Now performs a site update (check for new content plus optional download) for this site only. If you use a dial-up Internet connection and you're not on-line, IE4 will dial-up for you.

If you open the File menu of the Subscriptions Folder (in a desktop browse window or Windows Explorer) you'll see some special options. Open and Update Now refer to the currently selected item, and are the same as the corresponding options on the item's right-click pop-up menu (note - Open means 'display in browser'). Update All forces an update of all subscriptions (and Channels) scheduled for manual update - it's the same as the Update All option on IE4's Favorites..Subscriptions menu.