Use the Net Properly
A Guide to..

USING THE INTERNET

-- T H E R I G H T W A Y --

Created and Maintained by Mike Pegg





WELCOME!

Wanna learn how to make better use
of the internet? Within this webpage,
I have attempted to show means to
integrating the internet into your
everyday life. This includes ways to
make better use of email, your web
browsing, and getting the information
that is important to you. As well as
some fun stuff too. :)

The big question is... What
are you looking for?


If you know what you WANT from
the internet, than the job is easy..
just go out and find it. But, for most,
all of what the internet has to offer is
not evident with one or two hours of
surfing around. Its almost like, if
you were to land in a large exotic
island, and only walked around it for
a few minutes, you would never see the
splendor it really had to offer. The
internet can comfortably co-exist
alongside your telephone, postal
(snail) mail, and transportation means.
You just have to know how to engage it
so that it can. As we travel into the
future, this will become more easy, but
for now, here are some suggestions to
get started:

Getting Started

The first thing you need to do is
determine what information you want.
Currently, I find out information from
the internet in the following areas

  • Weather: Is it going to be sunny tomorrow?
  • News - reg./tech: Why wait for t.v. or radio?
  • Sports: Did my team win?
  • Transit: What time is the bus?
  • Cinema times/listings: As I plan a night out
  • Traffic: Before I go to work, before I come home.
  • Government info: Learn the vast amount of info
  • Music: Read about artists, download music
  • Product Information: company websites
  • Transportation: booking train, bus, plane tickets

  • Determine what kind of information you
    take in from traditional forms of media
    and seek it out on the web.

    Search tips

    Once you know what kinds of information
    you are looking for, actually homing in
    on it, can be rather difficult. Start by
    heading to your regional version of Yahoo!
    Since Yahoo! is a search directory, starting
    in a topic area and drilling down is
    extremely easy.
    Start, by example, by looking for your local
    newspaper. With the name in mind, start at
    News And Media, then newspapers, and continue to
    narrow down your target site by defining each
    category along the way, it belongs in. Do
    this for each of the items on your checklist.











    Essentials:

    Contained: Real Player, Windows Media Player
    NetMeeting, ICQ, WinAmp, GetRight, NeoPlanet



    REAL PLAYER

    Real Player is an essential
    internet app. It allows you to listen to
    radio, music, streaming media and voice and
    it also enables both television, video and
    'Macromedia Flash'. Most sites have the
    option of using either Real Player or
    Windows Media Player to view its content,
    but its best to have both.





    WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER

    Windows Media Player is much the same as
    Real Player, with capabilities matching
    almost identically. Since some sites do
    not support the other, its best to have
    both on hand.





    NETMEETING

    Netmeeting has it all. From free voice
    telephone calls to live video confereing.
    This application allows you to share
    a virtual chalboard, and it allows you to
    to do live voice or video with people
    in a chat room-like environment. It is
    suggested that you have at least a micro-
    phone, and a webcam allows you to take
    advantage of the video features. Shared
    desktop and file transferring is also
    available.





    ICQ
    ICQ is a revolutionary communications
    tool that allows you to keep track of
    when friends, family and contacts
    arrive online. By keeping a list of your
    "contacts", ICQ alerts you when people
    you know come online, and it allows
    you to talk to them. There is also
    the opportunity to talk to random people
    and send and receive files as well.





    WINAMP

    Winamp allows you to play various musical
    file formats, but specifically MP3. This
    application is a must to take advantage
    of all of the free .mp3 format music that
    is on the internet.





    NAPSTER















    ADOBE ACROBAT
    NEOPLANET
    WinZip
    Quicktime
    GETRIGHT

    Others:
    WS_Ftp
    UltraEdit

    Site Choices

    The following are some of the best
    the web has to offer.

    EMAIL:

  • VSTREAM: Voice beeper service.
  • MYTALK: Talking email and voice
    mail service.
  • NEWSINDEX DELIVERED: Daily,
    delivered news based on chosen
    keyword(s).
  • INFOBEAT: Customizable delivered news/info.
  • WHALEMAIL: Use this instead
    of attaching massive attachments to email.
  • HUSHMAIL: Free email using encryption

  • TOOLS:

  • BABELFISH: Translate text, or webpages
  • CURRENCY CONVERTER: Convert worldwide money
  • MAPBLAST: Canadian/N.American maps
  • MAPQUEST: Canadian/N. American maps

  • Tools for the Canadians!:

  • Canadian Postal Code Lookup: Canadian specific.
  • Canada411: Lookup phone numbers
  • Canada Toll Free: Lookup toll free numbers
  • Reverse Lookup: Finds address/phone number
  • CANADA YELLOWPAGES: The Yellowpages
  • DIRECTORY SERVICES: Federal Government
  • NATIONAL ATLAS: Canada
  • CANADA STOCKWATCH: Quotes, news, stats

  • Way Cool:

  • Soda Constructor: A really cool java builder
  • IKEA's Ivar ConstructorBuild shelf units
  • Plumbdesign's Visual Thesaurus: an exploration
    of sense relationships within the English language.
  • HampsterDance!: Watch them hampsters GET DOWN!
  • Build with Lego!: Yes, I'm serious.

  • Guides and Resources:

  • LEARN2: Learn the ways to do various things!
  • EHOW: Ways to do things
  • HOW STUFF WORKS: Discover the ways
    that things work!
  • WHATIS: Learn computing, internet and
    telecom terminology.
  • PCWEBOPEDIA: Online dictionary of computing
    and internet terms.
  • ACRONYM FINDER:122,500 acronyms & their
    meanings
  • :
  • The Best Flash Sites:

    Goto these sites, and if you don't have
    Flash, it will prompt you to download it.
    Download it.. trust me. :)

  • Shockwave.com: A Flash playground of games, cards and music
  • Eye4U: An extremely sophisticated web design house that uses Flash
  • SNOWBALL FIGHT!!: Knock out the bullies!
  • Web-based Game Sites:

  • SONYSTATION: A great gaming realm
  • Yahoo! Games: Board and card games
  • Lego Games!: Everyone loves Lego!!
  • Online Gaming Library: A comprehensive listing of online web-games.
    Remember, playing games from work is BAD! :)
  • :