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<P>
Getting started with Opera is very simple. In fact, Opera has been set up in such a way that you can <U>start browsing immediately</U>, without any further ado.
<P>
If you would like to send emails, though, choose '<A HREF="prefmenu.htm#mail">Mail...</A>' from the 'Preferences' menu.
<BR>
Fill in the fields for name, mail address and mail server or fill in the name of your own mail program. If you don't know the name of your mail server, please ask your service provider.
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<B>Example:</B>
<BR>
<B>Name:</B> James A. Smith
<BR>
<B>Email Address:</B> ja.smith@home.com
<BR>
<B>Mail Server:</B> smtp-mail.home.com
<P>
Click on the '<B>OK</B>' button.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>
Opera can also retrieve newsgroup messages. All you have to do is choose '<A HREF="prefmenu.htm#news">News...</A>' from the 'Preferences' menu. Type in the name of a news server. If you don't know the name of your news server, please ask your service provider.
<P>
Click on the '<B>OK</B>' button.
<BR>
<BR>
That's all to get you started. We recommend, however, that you do the following <U>before</U> you start the real surf:
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<OL>
<LI> Have a look at the <A HREF="keys.htm">keyboard shortcuts</A>
<LI> Find out about the <A HREF="opera.htm#new">(new) features</A> of Opera
<LI> Check out the <A HREF="prefmenu.htm">Preferences menu</A> to tailor Opera, so that it does exactly what you want.
</OL>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
Yes, it's that easy. And if you have problems, this help guide will solve them within no time!
<P>
All we can say is:
<p>
<B>"Happy Surfing with Opera! We thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to present our product to you."</B>
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<P>
To have the full benefits of Opera, you must set up certain preferences after installation. Start up the program by clicking on the Opera icon in the Opera program group and follow the procedure below.
<P>
<B>Communications Module (winsock)</B>
<BR>
Opera needs a communications module to be able to contact the rest of the world. This communications module must support Windows Socket 1.1. If you have not bought a version of Opera that includes this module in the pack, or you wish to use a different module, it may be necessary to make changes under Advanced Preferences.
<P>
There are a large number of different communications modules on the market. Even if they theoretically implement the same standard, there are at times large differences between implementations, and occasionally also missing components. In order to achieve fast loading of documents and loading of multiple documents simultaneously, Opera needs a robust communications module. In order for Opera to work with non-standard modules there are a number of options under Advanced Preferences. Most people will not need to worry about these, but if there are communications problems, it can be worth investigating changing some of these parameters. Problems do not usually occur until several documents are loaded simultaneously.
<P>
<B>Some Known Problems:</B>
<BR>
PC-NFS 5.0 If you have an old version of PC-NFS 5.0, it needs upgrading. You can retrieve this over the net, or by contacting your PC-NFS supplier. Version 5.0 also has a tendency to error when a large network buffer is defined in Opera. If you have problems, try 1 kb
<P>
Microsoft TCP/IP Older versions of Microsoft TCP/IP need you to run Opera with a Synchronous Name Service (DNS).
<P>
To set the synchronous name service and size of the network buffer
<OL>
<LI> Choose 'Advanced...' from the 'Preferences' menu
<LI> Adjust the size of the network buffer (if necessary)
<LI> Set a cross by 'Synchronous DNS'
<LI> Click on the '<B>OK</B>' button .
</OL>
<B>Note:</B> If you have tried both Synchronous DNS and the size of the network buffer to no advantage, you can try setting the number of connections down , eg. to 1, both in total and to a single server. This means that Opera will run more slowly, but will interact better with the communications module.
<P>
<B>Proxy servers</B>
<BR>
A proxy server is a machine which retrieves documents on command. The advantage with a proxy server is that it normally caches documents and makes it considerably faster to retrieve documents from the proxy rather than directly from a machine eg.,overseas.
<P>
Opera has no direct support for the WAIS and Gopher protocols, but needs to use a proxy server to retrieve documents from those types of server.
<P>
Ask your system administrator or Internet supplier about their proxy servers.
<P>
<B>To set up proxy servers:</B>
<OL>
<LI> Choose '<A HREF="prefmenu.htm#proxy">Proxy-servers...</A>' from the 'Preferences' menu.
<LI> Fill in the fields for proxy servers and see that there is a cross to the left of the text field. It is possible to use the same proxy server in all fields.
<LI> Click on the 'OK' button.
</OL>
<BR>
<BR>
<A NAME="cmd_line"><FONT SIZE="5">Command Line Arguments</FONT></A>
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<P>
OPERA [inifile.ini] [document] [/nowin] [/e]
<P>
<BR>
<OL>
<LI><B>inifile.ini</B> Path to an alternative configuration file. If not specified, Opera defaults to OPERA.INI in your windows directory.<BR>
<LI><B>document</B> One ore more documents to load at startup, separated by space. This address must either be in Internet format (eg.http://opera.nta.no/opera) or the path to a local file.<BR>
<LI><B>/nowin</B> Do not open saved windows.<BR>
<LI><B>/e</B> Truncates the command line. All arguments passed to Opera after this option is ignored
</FONT>
</OL>
<BR>
<BR>
<A NAME="address"><FONT SIZE="5">Addresses as command line parameters</FONT></A>
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<P>
You can also provide several addresses as parameters to Opera. These documents will be loaded at start up.The addresses must either be in Internet format (eg.http://opera.nta.no/opera) or the full address for local files(eg.c:\opera\operatmp.htm). You can also write a start up file, which must be accessible (ini file).
<P>
<B>To set parameters for Opera:</B>
<OL>
<LI> Select the Opera icon.
<LI> Select 'Information' from the 'File' menu in Program Manager.
<LI> Type in the parameters for the command line.
<LI> Click on the 'OK' button.<BR>
</OL>
<BR>
By having multiple icons you can start up Opera with different set-ups and different documents, making it extemely handy for situations where many users access the same copy of Opera, or where you would need different non-interfering settings for your work with Opera.
<BR>
<BR>
<A NAME="start"><FONT SIZE="5">How to start Opera</FONT></A>
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<P>
There are a variety of ways to start up Opera :<BR>
<OL>
<LI> You can click on the Opera icon.
<LI> You can click on a local file with the extension '.htm'. Opera will start up and read the file.
<LI> You can drag a file to opera.exe in the Opera directory in File Manager. Opera will start up and read the file.
<LI> You can drag a file with the extension '.htm' from File Manager and into Program Manager so that the file gets its own icon. When you click on that icon, Opera will start up and read the file.
</OL>
<BR>
<BR>
<A NAME="startup_window"><FONT SIZE="5">Window Settings upon Opera Startup</FONT></A>
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<P>
Opera can also start with different window settings:
<P>
<OL>
<LI> With a homepage.
<LI> With multiple windows, each with a homepage.
<LI> With multiple windows, each with a saved history.
</OL>
<BR>
Options 2 and 3 need to have had a previous set-up saved in an earlier session. You can do that by choosing 'Save Window Set-up' from the 'Preferences' menu, or by saving the Window Set-up when exiting from Opera.(By putting a cross in the exit dialog box). Starting set-up is chosen in the 'General Preferences'.
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<P>
Network personnel have the option to control the user selections in Opera, and so control for example the size of the disk cache for all. You do this by:
<P>
<B>Typing the following in the opera.ini file:</B>
<BR>
[SYSTEM]
<BR>
INI = <super-ini-filename>
<BR>
Modify <super-ini-filname>. This file overrides whatever settings present in "Opera.INI".
