Set up Netscape Communicator

1. To change your Communicator configuration, select the 'Edit' item from the menu bar at the top of the Navigator window. A drop-down menu will appear. Select Preferences.
   
   
2. After choosing Edit/Preferences from the menu you will see the Preferences dialog box. To see the subcategories under a major category click the plus sign next to it.
   
   Select 'Navigator' from the list of categories on the left hand side of the dialog box. To change Communicator's start up page from Netscape's home page to the Hyperconnections home page type http://www.hypercon.net/ in the location blank and click 'OK'.
   
   
3. Fill in your name and email address in this screen and click OK. The items left blank in this example are useful but not essential. For information on using them see the help menu in Communicator.
   
   
4. In the 'Preferences' dialog box fill in your Hypercon user name and type mail.hypercon.net for the incoming mail server and smtp.hypercon.net for the outgoing mail servers.
   
   Click on the 'More Options' button towards the lower right corner of the dialog box to access the additional configuration options shown below.
   
   If you want Communicator to check for mail automatically, click the checkbox next to 'check for mail.'
   
   If you want to disable automatic mail checking, clear the check box.
   
   
5. If you check the 'remember mail password' checkbox, you will only have to supply your mail password once; thereafter Communicator will remember it for you. The disadvantage of doing this is that anyone with access to you computer can access your mailbox.

   Click 'OK' to continue.
   
   

6. Type news.hypercon.net for the name of the Hypercon news server and click OK. "Profile Name" in the discusson group news folder field toward the bottom of the screen will reflect the name of the User Profile of the current users. You do not need to change any of the other options in this dialog box.
   
   

7. As you browse the Internet, Communicator stores the pages and images you've accessed either in memory or on your hard drive. Both text and graphics are held in the 'cache' directory until the contents of the directory reach the limits set in this configuration. Communicator will first check this cache for a called item before downloading it from the server. -- items cached in memory will reload very quickly if you return to a page during a given session. Items held in the disk cache will also reload more quickly when revisited than if they were downloaded again on a subsequent visits.
   
   From this screen you can adjust the size of the memory cache and the disk cache. By clicking the Choose Folder button you can change the default directory and or drive for the cache to another directory or drive. It is generally best to stick with the default settings.
   
   
   
8. The options in the Colors screen set the background, text and link colors for the browser. Default is black text on gray background with blue and purple link colors. Ergonomic studies have shown this set up to be less than optimal, and you should consider resetting the colors to something more pleasing and easy on the eye.
   
   
9. To do this, check the 'Custom' box next to the item you wish to configure, and then click on the 'Choose color' box. Select a color from the pop-up palette.
   
   You can pick a custom color by selecting the 'Define custom colors' button on the bottom of the palette. Click 'OK' to enter your selections.
   
   
   
10. Web pages may contain code that tells the browser to look for a specific font on your machine and display the document in that font. They may also contain references to dynamic fonts which are fonts that are downloaded automatically with the document. Although they give the web designer enhanced options for manipulating the appearance of the document, they may slow the rate at which the page is downloaded. If this seems to be a problem, you can disable them by choosing the second option in the dialog box: "Use document-specified fonts, but disable dynamic fonts."
    
    
11. To view security settings for a page choose Communicator, then Security Info from the menu.
    
    
12. You will see a screen like below which will show security information for the current page as well as let you change security settings. Navigator will, if properly configured, send warning messages when entering and/or leaving secure or insecure transactions.

    A detailed discussion of security preferences and certificates is beyond the scope of this document.
    
    

13. The first time you start Communicator you will see a dialog box like this.
    
    

14. "Online" is the default. Under Windows 95 dial up users who start Communicator with the default "Online" settings will be prompted to connect to Hypercon by Dial Up Networking.

    If you choose "Set as default" you won't see the dialog box again; however you can still change the online/offline settings by choosing Edit/Preferences and left clicking "Offline", and choosing the desired radio button.