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The Internet is a busy place particularly in the evening. Unless you
have RoadRunner, Broadband, or some other high speed connection, you may
often get frustrated with the “Host isn't responding" or some similar message
that seemingly keeps you from getting online. This situation happens when
a large number of people are using your ISP
(Internet
Service
Provider)
at the same time of day. Don't be surprised if you get these messages at
peak times of the day especially at noon and in the evenings. When these
statements appear on-screen, the first thing to do is try again. If you
still have problems sign off and sign on an hour or two later.
Find Someone
This tip may help you find a lost family member or friend. The first
step is to make sure you have as many of the following primary facts as
possible pertaining to that person: his/her full name, date of birth or
approximate age, state of birth or state where individual applied for a
SSN
(Social
Security
Number),
and last known address even if it’s more than 10 years old. Such a search
for example can be helpful in finding a person who changed her name upon
marriage. Second, find and follow the paper trail to locate someone. School,
college, military, and real estate records are great sources of information
as are professional licenses, voter registrations, gun permits, criminal
records, lawsuits, parking tickets, clubs, and political organizations.
In like manner, licenses for doctors, dentists, taxi drivers, nurses, and
beauticians are all in public records and can be used by you to get pertinent
data. Third, to access the aforementioned records, use the Internet. Here
are a few of the many sites that can lead you to that friend or relative.
Background Checks
Before you hire someone to work for you as a nanny or in some other
personal capacity, perform a background check on that individual. Your
local Better Business
Bureau or www.bbb.org
is a good source for any contractor. Many states have data online on felony
and sometimes misdemeanor convictions. Others list everyone who has served
time in a state prison. You can look these up yourself, although some are
difficult to find, or you can try Rapsheets.com,
a nationwide database with lists of convictions. However, some states are
not included on this site. You can do a global search on Rapsheets.com
for $29.95. The company claims it has 50 million records in its database.
You can also do searches of individual states for $5.95. These searches
are conducted from public records. Criminal searches are available at CriminalSuperSearch.
In addition to criminal searches, eFindOutTheTruth
checks property records and licensing agencies, along with marriage and
divorce records. USSearch
records living locations, but its criminal search is limited to the last
county of residence. Another area to research is university records. Many
people claim degrees they don't have from accredited colleges or universities.
Most university phone numbers and contacts are on the Internet. But the
degree information probably isn't posted there. Individuals can block access
to their school data under federal law. Basic military records are available
but not online. The forms needed to access military information are at
the National Archives and
Records Administration. You can also search county court records.
Consider hiring a private investigator. For approximately $250, he/she
can provide you with a detailed report. Look for a PI at Members of the
National Association
of Legal Investigators. In addition, many defense attorneys use investigators
and may be willing to recommend one to you. An experienced police officer
is also likely to know some of them.
Class Reunion
Several sites specialize in helping you find your former classmates.
At one time, some of these sites offered their services for free, but the
move toward membership fees seems to be universal. Keep in mind that you
can usually add your contact information to the list at no charge. Even
if you're feeling too frugal to pay the fee, there's always the possibility
that one of your friends is already a member and will be able to contact
you. If you do decide to become a full member, take some time first to
see which site lists the most familiar names from your school. Here's a
brief introduction to a few of the key players: Classmates.com
has a $36/year membership fee in order to retrieve your friends' e-mail
addresses. HighSchoolAlumni.com
operates much like its cousin Classmates.com, specializing in high school
alumni. Adding your contact information to your graduating class roster
is free, but accessing your pals' e-mail addresses requires you to pay
a membership fee of $14.95/year. PlanetAlumni
is another variation on the same theme. In addition to the high school
and college listings also check out their companion sites GreekAlumni.com
and MilitaryConnections.com
to help you find even more friends. Membership fees are $14.95/year with
daily and monthly options as well. If you've been holding out for a way
to get around all these membership fees, don't overlook the option of going
straight to the source. Your high school or college may have its own home
page online with an alumni directory service, and you can use it at no
cost.
Bots
A bot, short for robot, is a piece of software that digs for information.
In other words, you give a bot instructions, and it goes out and finds
information. Internet.com maintains the BotSpot
a Web site all about bots. At this site you can find categories of different
kinds of bots; a comprehensive list and description of all the bots in
each category, including shopping
to help you in your shopping search; and a bot forum, newsletter, and
the latest news. The next time you can't seem to locate what you're looking
for, run down the list of bots at the BotSpot and let a bot do the work
for you.
Clip Art Freebies
With a one-time-only registration, you can tap 16
Original Free Clipart categories of images and all free for the asking.
The site lays out a lineup of links to other art sites and illustration
libraries, plus resources for animated graphics. Further, you can venture
into a virtual flea market of online bric-a-brac by clicking one of the
"Free Stuff" links.
Copy/Paste on Non-Edit Fields
Many times in Web browsing or editing, you may encounter a number or
phrase to copy, but the field cannot be edited so you cannot click the
copy button. So, you should try highlighting the field by left-clicking
the mouse, and dragging it over the amendable data. Release the mouse and
the data should be highlighted. Then, while holding the Control (Ctrl)
button, press the Insert button. Now go to the document or Web page onto
which you want to paste data. Place your mouse over where you want to paste
the image and single click so that Windows places the cursor there. Lastly,
while holding down the Shift button, press the Insert button.
Copy Web Information
To copy information from a newsletter on a Web site, open the newsletter
so it is on your screen. Left-click once at the beginning of the portion
you want to print. Press and hold down the Shift key and then left-click
at the end of the portion. This will highlight the portion to be printed.
Click File and Print. Under Page Range, click Selection and click OK. By
the way, this trick also works when you only want to print part of a Web
page.
Double-Click Elimination
Anyone who uses Windows is used to the convention of single-clicking
an item to select and double-clicking to open it. Those who use the World
Wide Web are used to the convention of pointing at an object to select
and clicking once to open it.
Download Accelerator
By downloading Accelerator
you can speed up your downloads by as much as 300 percent, depending upon
your connection. It works on dial-up and broadband connections alike. The
program works with multi-server connections to find the fastest path for
your downloading data. It features an “Always Resume” capability that enables
you to restart interrupted downloads at a later time.
Downloading Files
Many Web pages allow you to download files simply by clicking on a
link. Sometimes, however, Web pages attempt to launch the application
and run the viewer, or application to view the file, without actually downloading
the desired file. Instead, right click on the link, and select “Save Target
As.” Next select a location and file name. Now the file will be downloaded
to your system where you can view it at your leisure. Remember to
scan the file to make sure it is virus-free.
E-College
People previously locked out of educational opportunities by physical
handicap, economic need, or geography find the worldwide net an empowering,
life-altering experience. MIT
(Massachusetts
Institute of
Technology)
recently launched an initiative to make nearly all its courseware available
to the public. Beyond the informal education that's already available,
organizations are actively working to establish formal online colleges.
The Globe wide Network
Academy may have been the first completely virtual incorporated educational
institution. It serves as a clearinghouse for online courses available
throughout the world. Companies like eWebuniversity
team with established universities like San Jose State to create e-learning
courses for working professionals.
Emoticons
Emoticons are the smileys or sideways happy faces that pop up in e-mail
messages to make them just a little friendlier. People have found ways
to represent sideways faces displaying every emotion from giggles to anger.
A little imagination can turn symbols and letters into a rose, duck, Marge
Simpson, or a walrus. Check them out at NetLingo.com
.
Erasing History
Both Netscape and Internet Explorer have a useful feature called History.
Next to the box where you can type a URL
(Universal
Resource
Locator),
there's a little arrow that when clicked shows you a list of recently visited
URLs. If you want to remove all evidence of having visited a Web site and
you have Netscape 4.5 and higher, select Edit, Preferences. Then select
the Navigator category and click the big "Clear Location Bar" button. For
Internet Explorer 4.0 and higher, select View, Internet Options or Tools
and Internet Options. Next click the General tab, the Clear History button,
and then Yes.
Finally, this tip is a simple shortcut to save you some typing, and
the best thing is that it works for just about everyone regardless which
browser or operating system you have on your machine. Most of the time,
your Web browsing probably takes you to Web addresses that look something
like this: <http://www.something.com>. Next time you
want to visit, say, <www.google.com>, go to your Address
box at the top of your browser, type google, hold down the Ctrl
key and press Enter. The word google magically transforms into www.google.com
and your browser takes you to your destination.
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