Online Tools - December '97

    Net.Medic Internet Explorer 4.0 Netscape Communicator/Navigator Eudora Light Shockwave RealPlayer Acrobat Reader

Net.Medic is a browser companion that identifies, isolates, reports and corrects internet performance problems.Now you can identify the source of your network bottleneck -- whether it si your PC, modem, your Internet Service Provider (ISP), the Internet backbone, or remote Web site server. Net.Medic identifies problems in split seconds, offers you recommendations for solving them, and in many cases, automatically fixes them for you.

This full working demo contains basic feature (network activity, Throughput, Retreival Time and Connect Time) for unlimited use and more advanced features that can be used for 30 days.

The final release of Internet Explorer 4 is finally here, but it's been worth the wait. IE 4.0 goes toe to toe with Netscape with this lineup: Explorer (the browser with integrated Webcasting), Outlook Express (integrated e-mail and newsgroups), NetMeeting (conferencing and collaboration), FrontPage Express (Web page authoring), and NetShow (broadcasting and streaming multimedia).

But IE 4 is more than a great suite of Internet tools. Through its Web Integrated Desktop, IE 4 offers a revolutionary development in the integration of the operating system (Windows 95) and the Internet: browsing your hard disk and browsing the Web become essentially the same experience.

On the whole, we feel that Internet Explorer 4.0 pips Communicator as an Internet suite, and, because it's free to everyone, it's even better value. Throw in desktop integration and you have a compelling case for all Windows 95 users, except perhaps Netscape devotees.

And now, just as we go to press, Microsoft has released a beta version of IE 4.0 for Windows 3.1, which appears to have all the major new Internet features of IE 4.0 for Win 95.

Naturally, there's a hardware hit with IE 4.0. Those of you who don't have at least a fast 486 for 16Mb of RAM can always use IE 3, which will provide many of the features of version 4, except of course the very latest and best.

By Rose Vines

Warning: Internet Explorer 4.0 for Windows 3.1 is a beta product. While it is available for public use, be aware that it is unfinished, it could cause damage to your system and Microsoft does not support it.

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

Value rating:

The e-mail components of the major browsers have caught up with or surpassed Eudora Light, but it's still a very popular e-mail program -- and for good reason. Unlike Outlook Express, Eudora Light can run on Windows 3.x and Macs, as well as 95 and NT.

It's easy to use, but with enough features to enable most users to access, send and manage e-mail easily. It supports MAPI, for sending messages from within applications such as Word. You can limit the size of messages they want automatically downloaded, and double-click on a URL in the message to automatically open the Web page in your web browser.

More demanding users can upgrade to Eudora Pro 3.0. Some of the key features not included in Eudora Light are: the customisable toolbar; access to multiple e-mail accounts; more extensive set of filtering features, including auto-reply and forwarding; spell checking; composing formatted text; more powerful address book, and `stationery' templates.

The original Shockwave plug-in, which can add incredible animation, sound and interactivity to Web pages, are created using Macromedia Director. The new ShockWave Flash plug-in plays the fast, small vector-based animations, graphics and buttons created by Macromedia Flash.

The plug-in provided here includes players for both Director and Flash Shockwave.

The latest version of the RealAudio and RealVideo Web plug-in that gives you live streaming Audio and video over the Net with your browser.

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