

==============================================
Configuring Windows 95 to Access the Internet
==============================================

Right now, the way you presently connect to your Worldgroup server,
you have some access to the Internet.  Through E-mail, you can
exchange messages not just with fellow users on your local system,
but also with every other person on every other online service
who has access to Internet mail.  Through Forums, you can read
Usenet newsgroup messages from millions of users and reply to them.
Through IRC, you can chat live with people around the world.

There are several other Internet programs located on the Worldgroup
server which you can run remotely in terminal mode.  These include
an FTP client, a program which lets you download files from FTP
servers all over the Internet.  Picture thousands of computers'
File Libraries made public and accessible to you.  That's FTP.

However, accessing the Internet through these terminal-mode modules
is a little like listening to a ball game on radio.  To really see
what's out there on the Internet, you need programs which will display
graphics.  These programs need to run on your PC, as manipulating tons
of graphics through a modem connection is too time-consuming.

-------------------------------
Making Sure TCP/IP is Installed
-------------------------------

The first thing you'll need on your PC is TCP/IP network support.
TCP/IP is the set of protocols (standard ways of handling data)
on which the Internet is built.

Click Start, click Settings, then click Control Panel.  Within the
Control Panel window, double-click the Network icon.  On the Network
window, click the Configuration tab and examine the list box of
network components already installed.

If TCP/IP is NOT on the list, click Add to create a new network
component.  On the Select Network Component Type window, double-click
Protocol.  On the Select Network Protocol window, look in the
Manufacturers list and single-click Microsoft.  Then, in the Network
Protocols list, double-click TCP/IP.  This will add a new network
component named TCP/IP to the Network window's Configuration tab.

If you were setting up a LAN cable connection between your Windows 95
PC and a Worldgroup server, you would edit this network component's
properties from this window.  Because you plan to set up a modem
connection, however, you'll leave the component's properties
untouched and set the relevant addresses in the Dial-up Networking
section.  Close the Network window, then close Control Panel.

-------------------------------------------
Making Sure Dial-Up Networking is Installed
-------------------------------------------

Double-click the My Computer icon in the upper lefthand corner of
your Windows 95 desktop.  This opens the My Computer window, which
displays icons for each of your PC's drives, a folder for Control
Panel, another for Printers, etc.  There needs to be a folder for
Dial-Up Networking.  If there IS one, skip to "Adding a Worldgroup
server icon to Dial-Up Networking."

If there is NOT such a folder, double-click the Control Panel folder,
then double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon inside Control Panel.
Click the Windows Setup tab, single-click the Communications entry
in the list of installable things, then click the Details button.
Within Communications are several components, one of which is
Dial-Up Networking.  Check the box next to it, then click OK.
Windows 95 will now ask for the original installation CD or floppy
which contains this program.  When you've supplied that and it's
copied the appropriate files, go back into My Computer.

-----------------------------------------------------
Adding a Worldgroup server icon to Dial-Up Networking
-----------------------------------------------------

Go to the My Computer window and double-click Dial-Up Networking.
In most cases, this will take you to a window titled Welcome to
Dial-Up Networking.  This is a wizard which will walk you through
making a new connection icon.  If instead a window simply titled
Dial-Up Networking appears, one of its icons should be labeled
Make New Connection.  Double-clicking this icon will then bring up
the Welcome window and start the wizard.

Once the Welcome window is displayed, click Next.  The wizard will
first want to identify the modem.  You can either let it detect the
modem (recommended), or you can manually tell the wizard what modem
you are using and what COM port it will be attached to (handy if you
haven't installed the modem yet).  As you complete each screen's set
of questions, click the Next button to proceed.

The wizard next wants to know where you live: your country, area
code, and any access prefix (9, for example) that must be dialed in
order to get out of your office's switchboard into the public
telephone system.  The modem-related values you enter here can be
edited later by going into Control Panel and double-clicking the Modem
icon.  Keep clicking Next until Finish appears, then click Finish.

Now that the modem settings are settled, the Make New Connection
window asks you to type a name for the computer you will be dialing
with this connection.  Type in the name of your Worldgroup server,
or the company which runs it, then click Next.

Type in the area code and phone number which this connection should
dial in order to reach one of the modems at the Worldgroup server.
If it's a local call from your PC, still include the area code here.
Windows 95 will compare this value with the area code you entered
a few windows back and realize that it's a local number.  Click Next.

The last window displayed by the wizard shows you the name of this
new connection, highlighted as if you can change the name.  Why it
does this is unclear, because no attempt to type into that field is
acknowledged.  Click Finish and the wizard ends, creating a new icon
in the Dial-Up Networking window.

Right-click the new icon (or single-click it, then pull down the
File menu) and select Properties.  A window comes up which contains
one tab titled General.  Most of the window lists those items you
just entered - telephone number, modem brand/speed - but it also
has a Configure button and a Server Type button.

Click Configure.  This brings up a Properties window for your modem
brand/speed containing three tabs: General, Connection, and Options.
Browse the settings in the first two if you wish, but then go to the
Options tab and be sure that both checkboxes in the Connection control
area are NOT checked.  Because you're about to use a login script
instead of manually logging in to your Worldgroup server, you won't
need to bring up a terminal window either before or after dialing.
Then click OK.

Clicking OK closed the Properties window.  Now click Server Type.
The first field, Type of Dial-Up Server, should be an entry which
includes the letters PPP.  If it isn't, make it so.  Uncheck all
boxes on this window except TCP/IP:

     [ ] Log on to network
     [ ] Enable software compression
     [ ] Require encrypted password

     [ ] NetBEUI
     [ ] IPX/SPX Compatible
     [X] TCP/IP

To the right of the TCP/IP checkbox is the TCP/IP Settings button.
Click it.  The TCP/IP Settings window is where you set IP addresses
both for your own PC and for the computer out on the Internet which
will translate textual domain names into numeric IP addresses.

For your own PC, let the Worldgroup server give you an IP address:

     [X] Server assigned IP address
     [ ] Specify an IP address

For the Domain Name System (DNS) server computer, you do need to
specify its IP address:

     [ ] Server assigned name server addresses
     [X] Specify name server addresses

When you click Specify name server addresses, the field below
it becomes undimmed.

     Primary DNS:     !!!! Ask your Sysop for the IP Address !!!!
                      !!!!   recorded in CNF option IPNSVR   !!!!
     Secondary DNS:   0.0.0.0
     Primary WINS:    0.0.0.0
     Secondary WINS:  0.0.0.0

Finally, check both boxes at the bottom of the window:

     [X] Use IP header compression
     [X] Use default gateway on remote network

Click OK three times to save your changes and back all the way out
to the Dial-Up Networking window.  Minimize it.

Now you need to install the login script, the file WIN95LOG.SCP which
came to you along with the file you're reading now.  A login script
is a little like a BAT file: it automates repetitive typing.  Every
time you log in to a Worldgroup server in terminal mode, you have to
manually type in your language preference, your User-ID, and your
password.  Since those three items change only rarely, typing in the
same thing every time is not very efficient.  A login script types
repetitive things for you.

First, copy WIN95LOG.SCP into your Program Files\Accessories folder.
Then click Start, Programs, Accessories, and finally Dial-Up Scripting
Tool.  If more than one item appears in the Connections list,highlight
the one which you're configuring to dial your Worldgroup server.  Then
in the Script section, either click Browse and identify WIN95LOG.SCP
that way, or type in its path and filename in the File name field.

Notice that there are two checkboxes on this window: While you're
installing and testing this script, begin with both NOT checked:

[ ] Step through script
[ ] Start terminal screen minimized

This will let the script do its job without pausing, yet let you see
what it's doing.  Click Apply to link the WIN95LOG.SCP script file
to the connection you'll use to dial your Worldgroup server.  Then
minimize the Dial-Up Scripting Tool window.

A few minutes ago, you minimized the Dial-Up Networking window.
Restore it now, and double-click the icon which you've configured to
dial up your Worldgroup server. This brings up the Connect to window.

In the User name field, type in your Worldgroup server User-ID, and in
the Password field, type in your password.  Put a check in the Save
password checkbox.

The Phone number field should display what you entered back when you
created this dial-up connection.  If it isn't, click Dial Properties
to fix it permanently.  Changes made in the Phone number field here
will last only for this dialing attempt.

You now have a fully configured Dial-Up Networking icon which knows
how to connect to your Worldgroup server and establish a Point-to-
Point protocol Internet connection over your modem.

------------------------------------------
Running the New Icon in Dial-Up Networking
------------------------------------------

Click on the Connect button to start dialing.  You'll hear the modem
dial the number, then one or more rings, hear the Worldgroup server's
modem answer, then your modem's speaker will fall silent.  Because
for the moment you've told the Dial-Up Scripting Tool not to minimize
the terminal window, you'll now see a text window appear.  As the
Worldgroup server sends "Auto-sensing..." and so forth, you'll watch
the WIN95LOG.SCP script file identify prompts coming from the server
and respond automatically to those prompts.  Assuming the Worldgroup
server sends the expected prompt text, the script file will within a
few seconds provide your User-ID/PPP followed by your password.  If
for whatever reason the two computers fail to understand each other,
skip to the next section of this file for guidance.

When a Worldgroup server sees someone sign up as User-ID/PPP, it
realizes that the user wants to establish a Point-to-Point Protocol
connection over that modem line.  The last legible text you should
see from the Worldgroup server will be a comment about entering
PPP mode, followed by }_}}-type characters.  The terminal window will
automatically close and, after 10-30 seconds of silent contemplation,
Windows 95 will realize that it can exchange Internet IP packets with
the Worldgroup server.

From this point until you disconnect, your Windows 95 PC is on the
Internet.  Now you can run Internet applications such as Worldgroup
Manager, Netscape Navigator, and the Microsoft Internet Explorer.
When you ask these programs to provide information which they
themselves do not have on your PC, they will reach through this PPP
Internet connection you've just established and fetch the information
from some server computer out on the Internet.

Note: if you are paying for Internet access, your Worldgroup server
may be charging you by the minute from the time you establish an
Internet connection (Entering PPP) to the time you hang up your modem
and disconnect.  Alternatively, you may be charged a monthly rate
and not be charged by the minute.  Even so, if you're online but not
doing anything, consider hanging up to let others access the server.

Once you've got the script file working correctly, go to the
Dial-Up Scripting Tool window and set the checkboxes like this:

[ ] Step through script
[X] Start terminal screen minimized

Now the script will run without pausing, plus the terminal screen
will run minimized so as not to get in your way.  You can close the
Dial-Up Scripting Tool program.  You can also make a SHORTCUT for
your new connection icon which will appear on your desktop as an icon
below My Computer, the wastebasket, and friends.

--------------------------
Diagnosing Script Problems
--------------------------

If the Worldgroup server fails for whatever reason to provide the
prompt text expected by the WIN95LOG.SCP script file, you may be able
to identify where things went wrong in the terminal screen.  To slow
down the script so you can more clearly see what it's failing to do,
go back to the Dial-Up Scripting Tool window and check the first box:

[X] Step through script
[ ] Start terminal screen minimized

Then go to the Connect To window, click Connect again, and carefully
examine what the script does.  Once you find the problem, go to the
Dial-Up Scripting Tool window and click Edit to change the script
file to account for the different Worldgroup server prompt text.

----------------------------------------------------
Configuring Worldgroup Manager to Telnet over TCP/IP
----------------------------------------------------

Up to now, you've been running WGM as a modem dial-up program.
When used this way, WGM can contact any Worldgroup server which has
modems you're permitted to contact.  Unfortunately, many of these
systems are at the other end of a long distance telephone call.
Now you have the ability to get at many of them through a local call.

You've just configured an Internet connection between your Windows 95
PC and your Worldgroup server, most likely via a local telephone call.
Once connected, though, you can reach through your local Worldgroup
server and log onto any of thousands of other computers which make
their resources available to Internet users.  A rapidly growing number
of these are Worldgroup systems like yours.

Run Worldgroup Manager but don't run the icon which dials up your
Worldgroup server.  Single-click that icon instead, highlighting it.
Then press F8 to copy it.

Edit the new icon's properties by pressing ALT+ENTER.  You might want
to rephrase the Name field to end "...via Telnet".  Telnet is a type
of Internet program which lets you log onto remote computers.  It's
a lot like a modem program, only it uses Internet domain names
instead of telephone numbers to contact remote computers.  Worldgroup
Manager can act as a Telnet program as easily as it can a modem
program.  In the "How to connect" box, select Telnet.  Notice that
the Phone# field goes away and a Host field replaces it.  Type here
the Internet domain name of your Worldgroup server, then click OK.

The new icon is now configured to use Telnet over an Internet
connection to log onto your Worldgroup server once you go My Computer
and run the Dial-Up Networking icon which establishes an Internet
connection to your Worldgroup server.  Does that sound redundant?

Yes, you are logging onto your Worldgroup server twice: once
through Dial-Up, then again through WGM via Telnet.  The Dial-Up
logon is the one that makes your computer a part of the Internet,
while the second logon is that of you running an Internet application
(Worldgroup Manager) which just happens to be logging onto the same
computer which is providing your link to the Internet.  You could as
easily tell your copy of Worldgroup Manager to telnet to any other
Worldgroup server... the one at host gcomm.com, for example.

When you log on through Dial-Up, then log onto the same Worldgroup
server via Telnet over that first logon, you are taking up two of the
server's channels.  It's possible your system may charge double-time
for this.  When instead you set Worldgroup Manager to dial the modem
and don't use Dial-Up, you take up only one channel.  Conversely,
when you log on through Dial-Up, then log onto some other Worldgroup
server out on the Internet, your local Worldgroup server will only
charge you for the one (Dial-Up) logon.  The remote Worldgroup server
may of course charge you for the one (WGM telnet) logon.

To use WGM to telnet to other Worldgroup servers out on the Internet,
make a new WGM icon, set it to Telnet, and give its Host: field the
domain name of any Internet-accessible Worldgroup server.  Run
Dial-Up Networking to establish an Internet connection with your
local Worldgroup server, then run the new Worldgroup Manager icon.

Another thing to watch for is Worldgroup Manager's ON DECK status.
WGM was written to let you do a lot of work while not online... tasks
such as writing e-mail and reading previously downloaded forums.
To set a WGM icon this way, highlight it, press ALT+ENTER to edit its
properties, and click Run offline until "Connect" button is pressed.

You can then run Worldgroup Manager and run that icon without first
running Dial-Up Networking.  When you click the Connect button, or
make a request of WGM that requires it to go online, it will find that
there is no Internet connection beneath it and will announce
!Cannot connect to online service via network.  You can run Dial-Up
Networking after running Worldgroup Manager.  Then you can connect.

----------------------------
Installing Internet Explorer
----------------------------

Internet Explorer, a World Wide Web browser, is one of the programs
contained in Microsoft Plus! Companion for Windows 95.  When you
install Plus!, it runs a wizard entitled Welcome to Internet Setup!

Its first question is whether you want to connect to the Internet
via the Microsoft Network or through an existing account with an
Internet service provider.  Choose the existing account option: you
have just configured Windows 95 to use your local Worldgroup server
as your Internet service provider.

It next asks whether you want to use Microsoft Exchange to send and
receive Internet mail.  Since you have Worldgroup Manager's E-mail
program, you don't really need Microsoft Exchange as well, but it
takes up relatively little disk space and may be useful in future.

The wizard then begins installing files.  It will probably ask for
the Windows 95 installation CD.

Next, the wizard begins asking for service provider information.
Where it wants the name of your current Internet service provider,
click the dropdown list (down arrow button) and click the name of
the Dial-Up Networking icon you created a few minutes ago.

It then displays the phone number recorded in that icon and asks
you to confirm it and the Bring up terminal window AFTER dialing
option (should remain checked).

When it asks for the User name and Password you use to log onto
your Internet service provider, go ahead and type in your User-ID.
Whether you type in your password is up to you.

Your local Worldgroup server automatically assigns an IP address
to you, so you don't need to provide a specific address here.

You do, however, need to provide a specific DNS Server IP address.
The wizard should have found this IP address within the Dial-Up
Networking icon but, if not, it is the same IP address listed
earlier in this document as the Primary DNS.  The Alternate DNS
Server field here should suggest the same IP address listed earlier
in this document as the Secondary DNS, also picked up from the
Dial-Up Networking icon.

To configure Microsoft Exchange to handle e-mail for you, you need
to tell it your e-mail address.  This is generally your User-ID with
periods instead of spaces, followed by an @ (at-sign, SHIFT+2),
followed by the domain name of your Worldgroup server.  For example,
User-ID Tia Malone at Galacticomm's Demo System would have an e-mail
address of tia.malone@gcomm.com (our domain name is gcomm.com).

!!!! Ask your Sysop for the domain name of your Worldgroup server!!!!

Microsoft Exchange also needs to know where mail addressed to you
will accumulate, and where mail you write should be sent.  Every
Internet network which handles e-mail designates at least one
computer to be its mail server.  In most cases, this is the same
computer which runs the Worldgroup server, as that set of programs
is already processing Internet mail for Worldgroup's E-mail module.

!!!! Ask your Sysop for either the domain name or IP address !!!!
!!!! of the mail server on your Worldgroup server's network  !!!!

When the Next button turns into Finish, the wizard has completed
its installation of Internet programs.  Click Finish.

When the Plus! installation program finally ends, you'll find there
is an Internet icon on your Windows 95 desktop.

------------------------------------------
Running The Microsoft Explorer Web Browser
------------------------------------------

Now, just double-click on the Internet icon on your desktop.  The
Microsoft Explorer Web browser will come up, notice that there is
no Internet connection under it, and immediately run the Dial-Up
Networking icon for your Worldgroup server.  In the Connect To
window, click Connect.  When the terminal window comes up, type
in your User-ID/PPP, then your password, then press F7 (or click
the Continue button).  After a few seconds of verification, the
Dial-Up Networking program will move into the background and
the Microsoft Explorer Web browser will send a request out the
modem, through your Worldgroup server, to a Web server somewhere
at Microsoft.  That server will return a Web page which the
Microsoft Explorer will display on your screen.

Highlight the value in the Address field (just below the toolbar).
It should currently read http://www.home.msn.com/.  Type in your
Worldgroup server's home page URL and press ENTER.

!!!! Ask your Sysop for this URL !!!!

Your Worldgroup server's home page should now appear on screen.
Pull down the Internet Explorer's View menu and select Options.
Click the Start Page tab, then click Use Current.  Click OK,
then close the Internet Explorer.  The next time you click on
the Internet icon on your Windows 95 desktop, the first page
it displays will be the home page of your Worldgroup server.

Notice that the modem connection did not break when you exited
the Internet Explorer Web browser.  Remember, it's not a modem
program: it's an Internet network application.  The Dial-Up
Networking program is still running, still maintaining an
Internet PPP connection with your Worldgroup server.  You can
run Worldgroup Manager via Telnet now, or restart the Internet
Explorer, or run any other Internet network application.  To
hang up the modem, click the button on the Start toolbar which
is labeled with the name of your Worldgroup server.  This is
the Dial-Up Networking program in run-time.  Click Disconnect
and it will hang up the modem and close.

--------------
What is a URL?
--------------

The things you type in the Address field of a Web browser are URLs:
Uniform Resource Locators.  In one, consistent, uniform way, they
specify the location of most kinds of Internet resources (computers,
files on those computers, etc.).

The first part of a URL specifies the kind of resource being sought:

http://     Web server
ftp://      FTP server (file library site)
telnet://   online service in terminal mode
mailto://   write an e-mail message

and so forth.  The next part of a URL is the address of the server
you want to contact, either its numeric IP address or its textual
domain name.  For telnet, that's enough information to make contact
and ask to log on.  For FTP and Web servers, though, you can type
a slash followed by a path and filename.  This tells the Web browser
to get that Web page or FTP file from that server.

Web pages also have hot spots embedded in their text, colored words
or outlined graphics which, when clicked, automatically get other
Web pages, download files, telnet to online services, or open the
Microsoft Exchange mail program and let you write a letter to someone.
While you'll generally want to receive your mail through Worldgroup
Manager's E-mail program where you can file messages, the Exchange
is handy for quick notes you may be inspired to write while browsing
the Web.  When a Web page asks for comments, you can comment.


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There's a universe out there... have fun exploring it!
