Online Tools

This month
Regular Items

Bug Patrol
BookMark Managers

RIPterm version 1.54
RIPterm will display RIP (remote imaging protocol) VGA graphics with mouse support for bulletin boards that have RIP screens, and it will display standard ANSI graphics, as well. You can download this freeware from ftp://ftp.telegrafix.com/pub/telegrfx/riptm154.exe or from the files area of most BBSs that have RIP screens. RIPterm v1.54 is a DOS program that will run on an XT or better. Later versions of RIPterm are shareware, and require a 386 or better with at least 2Mb of RAM. Although these have more features, many users find them less stable than v1.54.

Telix for Windows v1.15d
Telix is a full featured Windows communications terminal program for Windows 3.1x (will also run on Windows 95 or NT). It supports RIP, ANSI and a number of other terminal emulations. You can register this shareware with My Computer Company at http://www.mcc.com.au or on their BBS on (02) 9565 1044 -- both also being download sources.

Regular items

The Australian ISP List

Internet Explorer 4.01 (with Service pack 1)
List price: free
From: Microsoft, http://www.microsoft.com/ie/
Value rating:

The latest version of Microsoft's leading Web Browser. If you want to find out more before you make the leap into IE 4.0 check out our Special
True Web Integration guide for Internet Explorer 4.0

By Rose Vines

Important Note: Many readers have reported various problems when installing Internet Explorer 4.01. Things such as their saved e-mails being deleted (if using Outlook Express), or their Windows desktop behaving erratically and not displaying things correctly, to their system simply not shutting down properly. This happens if you are 'upgrading' from an earlier version of IE - including v4.0.

If you want to try installing IE 4.01, and already have an earlier version of IE installed, we recommend you first backup any existing email messages and Favourite locations (you will find these in the favourites folder under your Windows folder; just copy this to a backup location on your hard drive). Then Uninstall Internet Explorer from your system before installing the latest version off our CD.

If you choose the full installation, including the desktop enhancements, and then find it misbehaving, open Control Panel/Add-Remove Programs and choose to Uninstall Internet Explorer 4. You will be asked what you want to remove. You can select here to remove only the desktop enhancements but keep the browser. We have found the browser alone work fine once installed.

Microsoft's Internet suite is even more impressive than Netscape's. Its new Subscribe feature, for example, allows you to schedule automatic delivery of pages for offline viewing.

Netscape Communicator 4.05
List price: $108 for business users
From: Netscape 1800 650 199, http://www.netscape.com.au
Value rating:

Communicator 4 isn't just a browser -- it's a complete Internet suite. It gives us the latest version of Navigator (the browser itself), teamed with Messenger (e-mail), Collabra (newsgroup reader), Conference (collaboration), Composer (Web page authoring), Media Player (live broadcasting and streaming multimedia support) and Netcaster (Webcasting, the Web's equivalent of TV channels with information broadcast directly to your desktop).

It's an excellent suite of tools, certainly good enough for dedicated Navigator users to stick with Netscape.

However, bear in mind that for business users Communicator is free to try only for 90 days. Navigator 4 can be downloaded separately and is free to everyone. However, while it includes the browser and Netcaster, it's lacking all the other components including e-mail. As an alternative, Netscape is offering server-based e-mail -- users will have to connect remotely to a Netscape server if they want to use the browser to pick up their mail.

The good news is that Navigator 4 can get by with 8Mb (if you're patient). However, a better low-memory option for those who want e-mail but don't want all the new technologies such as Webcasting, is to stick to Navigator 3, which will still give you a rich Internet experience.

Rose Vines

Communicator 4 brings a complete suite of state-of-the-art Internet tools for all Windows users. One of its many new features is the SmartResume feature, which will automatically resume interrupted file downloads.

Eudora Lite 3.05
URL: www.eudora.com

The latest version of this popular Email program

Acrobat Reader
URL: http://www.adobe.com/

You'll find many documents on the Net in Adobe Acrobat's PDF format, making this reader an essential part of your toolkit.