The Internet represents a vast storehouse of information and software. Some people are simply overwhelmed by the amount of data (information) contained on the Internet.

If you only have one phone line in you home you know that anyone trying to call you will get a busy signal, so people may tend to be 'stressed' when surfing because they know the clock is ticking. Often, the best web sites are so large that sitting and reading all of the material is simply not possible in a single session.

This article will explore ways to lessen the impact of on-line surfing by showing how it's possible to save something for viewing at a later point in time.

Saving information

You've found a site that contains information that you find extremely useful, but do you have to return to the site every time you need to reference the information? No! A little known feature of most browsers is the ability to load and view web pages off-line. One thing to keep in mind, while you can view a web page off-line, unless you reconstruct the structure you won't see the images for the page. With that said, here are some the steps you can follow in order to save a web page and view it off-line in Navigator 2.0, or Explorer.

Click on File Menu.

Select the option "Save as..." (Explorer users! Use "Save as File..." option.

Save the file, but remember the file name!

This will allow you to save the file to your local hard drive. Normally the files are named using a four character extension (.html). In the case of both browsers, the program will know, and use the file name under which it was stored on your system.

Viewing a Document Off-line

Once you are disconnected from the Internet, activate your browser.

Navigator 2.0

Click on the "Open File..." menu option under the "File" menu and move to the appropriate directory where you saved the html file.

Select the file that you wish to view from the list supplied and it will appear in the main display window.

Explorer Ver 3.0

Click on the "Open..." menu option under the "File" menu.

Either type the filename, including the full path of where you saved it, or use the "Browse" feature in this dialog box to move around your hard-drive until you locate the file.

Select the file that you wish to view from the list supplied and it will appear in the main display window.

Viewing a file, which you have saved to your hard-drive, as opposed to viewing it on-line poses a few unique problems. While you may have saved all the pages in a website any links on your saved page that lead to a different website will not work unless you are online. Clicking on them in an off-line mode of operation will not harm your computer or damage any of the saved files in your computer.

Saving a Graphic

What if the page uses graphics to supply important information? Did you know you could save that image on your computer?

Save a graphic file is very easy.

Navigator

Position the cursor over the image and click on the right mouse button.

Select "Save image as..."

Enter an appropriate file name for the image.

Click on the "OK" Button.

Explorer

Position the cursor over the image and click on the right mouse button.

Select "Save picture as..."

Enter an appropriate file name for the image.

Click on the "OK" Button.

Make sure you use either a ".GIF" or ".JPG" as the file extension.

Downloading Programs

Downloading is used to describe the process of obtaining software from an external computer into your own local computer.

Downloading software can consume a significant portion of your on-line time. Many downloadable files are large and take a while to retrieve. Files that you download can be anything, from new software and upgrades, to multimedia audio and video files.

Before you begin create a directory or folder and call it "Download". This way you will always know where to put a file you get from the net and easily locate it when you need to.

Download Identification

Once you have downloaded a file, the next step is figuring out what to do with it. In many cases all you need to do is click on the file and it will begin the installation process. In some cases you won't be so lucky.

The important thing about the file is the extension. The extension is the part following the period ("."). For example, some files may have a ".zip" extension. This identifies the file as an archive file.

An archive is a single file in which one or more files have been stored. Not only can multiple files be grouped together but the files are usually compressed so that aver all you have a smaller file to download as compared to downloading each file separately. It is very possible to download an archive that is one megabyte in size, only to learn it contains as much as ten megabytes of compressed files.

You will need a special program that is capable of opening the archive.

Once you have completed the installation you will be able to delete the archive.

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