Computer Info – March 8, 2000

This Week’s Program

        This week’s program will be E-Mail – Netscape 4.7 and Outlook Express. John Watkins will be here for the next two weeks (the 15th and the 22nd).
E-Mail – Netscape 4.7 and Outlook Express
Starting a New E-mail Message
        Netscape 4.7 – Click on NEW MSG. This will open up the composition window.
        Outlook Express – Click on NEW MAIL. This will open up the composition window.
Addressing your E-mail
        Netscape 4.7 – Type the first few characters of the name or email address and then press the
            ENTER key. If it locates more than one name or address that starts with the characters
            that you typed, then you will be presented with a list to choose from.
                                                                OR
            -- Click on the ADDRESS button to open the address book.. Now type the first few letters
            of the name – when you see the one you are looking for; then highlight it and click on the
            TO: button. When you have completed your choices – then click on the OK button.
    Outlook Express – Click on the picture of an address book to the left of the word TO:
            While the address book is open – type the first few letters of the person’s name until
            you see the name you want – then highlight it and click on the TO: button.
                                                                  OR
            While you are in the message composition screen and your cursor is flashing in the TO:
            field, type the first few characters of the person’s email address and watch for it to
            autocomplete. It works with the name also.
Attachments
        Netscape 4.7 & Outlook Express
            Both of these programs have an ATTACHMENTS button to click on. They both take you to
            your computer to look for the file that you want to attach. When you have found it, then you
            click on OPEN in Netscape 4.7 and you click on ATTACH in Outlook Express. They will both
            then show you the name of the attachments (Outlook Express also shows you the size of the
            attachment).
Spelling
        Netscape 4.7 & Outlook Express
            Both of these programs have a spell checker and they can be set up to AUTOMATICALLY
            check your spelling every time that you send a message.
Adding Sender to your address book
        Netscape 4.7 -- Right click on the message listing or on the message itself and choose ADD SENDER TO ADDRESS BOOK. This will open up your address book and show you the new card it is creating with the fields filled in and you can make any adjustment that you would like to the name – remember, the email address is going to be correct.
        Outlook Express – Right click on the message listing and the listing will be added to the address book. If it already exists, then it will let you know. To make any adjustments to the listing – you will have to go to TOOLS – ADDRESS BOOK – find the record that you just added – highlight it – and then click on PROPERTIES.
Copying your email to WordPad
        Netscape 4.7 – Highlight the message by dragging your mouse (while holding down the left mouse button) over the entire message (or just the portion that you wish to copy) – then right click on the highlighted area and choose COPY from the menu. Open WordPad – right click and choose PASTE from the menu.
        Outlook Express – From the top menu, choose EDIT – COPY. Open WordPad – right click and choose PASTE from the menu. Your entire message will appear and you may then edit it or save it.
        Both Programs – If you click on the message text and then choose SELECT ALL from the EDIT menu – you can then choose COPY from the EDIT menu. Open WordPad – right click and choose PASTE from the menu.
Emptying the trash or deleted items folders
        Netscape 4.7 – From the FILE menu, choose EMPTY TRASH ON LOCAL MAIL. This will also compact the folder.
        Outlook Express – From the EDIT menu, choose EMPTY ‘DELETED ITEMS’ FOLDER. To compress the folders, from the FILE menu, choose FOLDER – then COMPACT ALL FOLDERS.
Filtering Messages
        Netscape 4.7 – from the EDIT menu – choose MESSAGE FILTERS.
        Outlook Express – from the TOOL menu – choose MESSAGE RULES.
Settings for Program
        Netscape 4.7 – from the EDIT menu – choose PREFERENCES.
        Outlook Express – from the TOOLS menu – choose OPTIONS.
Journey of an E-Mail
by John Dyson – Reader’s Digest – March, 2000
        I sat down at my computer (I am in London) and sent an email. I typed in an address – composed a short message – attached a photograph that I had scanned – and then clicked the SEND button. The message vanished from my screen and headed to a farmhouse in Ohio.
        The first stop was at my Internet provider (ISP) – the company that connects my computer to the Internet by telephone lines. My message was fed into a "mail server" that read my e-mail’s destination and checked a gigantic phone directory that contains every Internet address in the world. When the company was located, then something bizarre happened. My message was chops into little bits (or about 120 packets) and every one was stamped with the address that it was being sent to and my address, so the jigsaw puzzle could be reassembled at the other end.
        But they didn’t go all at once. Instead, a single packet was sent off like a scout car. The first stop was a gateway router, which would help the scout car find the way. Picture the Internet as 65,000 interstate highways crisscrossing the globe and connected to smaller roads and streets. The router learns the fastest way to get an e-mail to its destination. It knows all the routes and discovers where the delays are – say, heavy telephone traffic or a cut cable.
        Take a hair-thin fiber of glass, wrap it in a protective jacket, then incorporate it with others in a rubbery protective tube. This is fiber-optic cable, known in the trade as pipe. A flashing laser at one end fires digital on/off signals along the fiber. At about 120,000 miles a second – more than half the speed of light – they zip to the other end. It’s the high-tech equivalent of two kids signaling each other with flashlights.
        My message jostled for elbowroom with a torrent of transatlantic electronic traffic – equivalent to 400,000 simultaneous phone calls. At present six parallel lanes of traffic hurtle along every glass fiber. Newly laid cables will soon have 128 lanes, preparing for the explosion of Internet traffic when every movie ever made could be available online.
        The message then arrives at the recipient’s Internet provider and the mail server sends an acknowledgement back to London. Next the two computers negotiated the connection and the rest of the packets started arriving and was reassembled and awaited the recipient’s request for GET MAIL.
FamilySearch.Org
        FamilySearch.org (the LDS web site) now has their Pedigree Research File up and running. This contains information that has been submitted to the LDS through the internet. (http://www.familysearch.org)