ZipLink Support

Index

1. Does Ziplink offer software for Windows 95?
2. Why am I having problems logging in with Win95?
3. How do I configure my e-mail program?
4. How do I send attached files?
5. How do I download files or pictures from News group postings?
6. How to I talk to others while I'm on line?
7. What IRC servers should I use?
8. Where do I find out more inforatmation about FTP, Usenet, and other topics?

1. Q. Does Ziplink offer software for Windows 95?

   A. Yes. Ziplink provides for free a licensed copy of Microsoft® Internet Explorer to new members who request it. The installation program will configure the Windows 95 Dial-up Networking features on your machine so that you can connect easily.

2. Q. Why am I having problems logging in with Win95?

   A. There are many factors that can contribute to connections problems. The simplest problem stem from a confusion of username (also known as host name) and e-mail name (also known as shell name). In almost all cases your username is the same as the e-mail name with the letter p added on to the begining. Your username is used to connect to the Internet. Also make sure that both the username and password are typed in lowercase (unless you specified otherwise)

3. Q. How can save my password so I don't have to type it in every time?

   A. You need to check the Save Password box below your Password to get it to asve your password from connection to connection. If the box is 'greyed out' and will not let you save you need to install Client for Microsoft Networks.
   To Install Client for Microsoft Networks open up the control panel. (avalable from the Start button or My Computer icon) Open the Network Icon. From the configuration tab, click the Add button. Select Client, and click Add. You should now be in the Select Network Client Window. Select Microsoft from the Manufacturers side and Client for Microsoft Networks from the Network Clients side. Click on OK. You should now see that Client for Microsoft Networks is instaled, Click on OK. (you will have to reboot the computer for this change to take effect) Now you should be able to click on the Save Password checkbox and save your password.

4. Q. How do I configure my e-mail program?

   A. Each mail program has its configuration in a different area, but all of them need the same basic information:
   Outgoing mail server (or SMTP Server) for ziplink is smtp.ziplink.net
   Incomming mail server (or POP3 Server) for ziplink is pop3.ziplink.net
   User name (or POP3 user name) is your e-mail name
   (In Eudora these two are combined as e-mail name@pop3.ziplink.net)
   E-mail password is the same as your login password (unless you have set it differently)

5. Q. How do I send attached files?

   A. Once again we won't know what e-mail software you are using, but most major ones allow you to send a file attached to your message. You will want to make sure that the e-mail program that you are using encodes the file into a 7-bit format before it is sent, or that you encode the message before you attach it to an e-mail message. The Internet e-mail system was set up to send and recieve 7-bit text messages, most computer files are in an 8-bit binary format. If an 8-bit file is attached to an e-mail message and sent over the Internet part of the data will not reach the other end and the file will be totaly unreadable. Most e-mail programs will encode files before sending them and will decode files that are sent to you. If your e-mail program will not encode and decode attached files, you will need a program to encode and decode the files for you. A good program to try is ESS-CODE it handles all the major encode/decodeing formats (UUE, MIME, SHUP, and BTOA) (Download encode programs)

6. Q. How do I read mail out of multiple POP mailboxes?

   A. If you are using netscape or microsoft Internet explorer for your e-mail, the only way to acess multiple POP mailboxes is to change the pop username in the settings each time you want read mail from a different account. Not only is this a pain, but all your mail gets downloaded to the same inbox, making keeping track of and sortting your e-mail quite a chore. It is much better to use a standalone e-mail program that can handle and seperate e-mail from multiple accounts. Two good programs to try are Eudora Pro and Pegasus for Windows 95.
   (Download E-mail programs)

7. Q. How do I download files or pictures from News group postings?

   A. If you are using Netscape's news reader you will see pictures right away, Microsoft's news reader will gives you the ability to open pictures once the entire picture has been recieved. Neither of these news readers are very good at dealing with multi part postings. (where the file spans more than one newsgroup posting) To retrieve files of this nature you will want to get a better, standalone newsreader such as FreeAgent, MicroPlanetGravity, or WinVN 32-bit.
   (Download News Reader programs)

8. Q. How to I talk to others while I'm on line?

   A. IRC (Internet Relay Chat) allows many users on different computers across the Internet to get into one "room" and "talk" to each other. To use the IRC system you will need an IRC program.
   (Download IRC Programs)

9. Q. What IRC servers should I use?

   A. Here are three servers to get you started.
   irc.cris.com
   us.undernet.org
   irc.dal.net

10. Where do I find out more inforatmation about FTP, Usenet, and other topics?

    A. You should go to Ziplinks's FAQ page.