America Online for Dummies: Quick Reference

by Kaufeld, Jennifer; Kaufeld, John; Kaufeld, Jenny

• ISBN13: 9780764505034
• ISBN10: 0764505033
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-02-01
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc

Summary

This handy lay-flat reference provides users with the information they need to get connected and explore all the great information and resources America Online has to offer. The book includes step-by-step instructions on cruising the Internet, as well as how to download files, chat with others, join a newsgroup, find the latest news, and more.

Table of Contents

How to Use This Book	p. 1
Organization Is a State of Mind	p. 2
Deciphering the Scrawls	p. 4
The Cast of Icons	p. 5
3, 2, 1 -- Off You Go!	p. 6
Getting to Know America Online	p. 7
Browser Bar	p. 8
Exiting the Program	p. 8
How AOL Works	p. 9
Menus	p. 10
Signing Off	p. 10
Signing On	p. 11
Starting the Software	p. 12
Toolbar Buttons	p. 13
Personalizing Your Corner of the World	p. 15
Bringing the News to Your Mailbox	p. 16
Changing Your Member Profile	p. 16
Changing Your Password	p. 16
Changing Your Preferences	p. 17
Auto AOL	p. 18
Chat	p. 19
Download	p. 19
Font	p. 19
General	p. 19
Graphics	p. 19
Language	p. 20
Mail	p. 20
Marketing	p. 21
Passwords	p. 21
Personal Filing Cabinet	p. 21
Spelling	p. 22
Time Zone	p. 22
Toolbar	p. 22
World Wide Web	p. 22
Creating a Screen Name	p. 24
Deleting a Screen Name	p. 25
Limiting Your Child's Online Access	p. 26
Making Your Member Profile	p. 26
My AOL	p. 28
News Profiles	p. 29
Parental Controls	p. 29
Kids Only (ages 12 and under)	p. 31
Young Teen (tailored limits for older kids)	p. 31
Mature Teen (restricted access for the near adult)	p. 32
Custom Controls	p. 32
Restoring a Screen Name	p. 34
Navigating Here, There, and Everywhere	p. 35
Adding Something to Your Favorite Places List	p. 36
Browsing through the Channels	p. 36
Building Your Own Shortcut Keys List	p. 38
Changing Something in the Favorite Places List	p. 39
Deleting Items from the Favorite Places List	p. 39
Favorite Places	p. 40
Finding Almost Anything on America Online	p. 41
Flipping between Windows	p. 41
Getting a List of Keywords	p. 41
Going to a Favorite Place	p. 42
Locating Keywords	p. 43
Remembering Your Favorite Online Spots	p. 43
Using a Keyword	p. 44
Locating, IM-ing, and Chatting with Everyone	p. 45
Blocking Instant Messages	p. 46
Changing a Buddy List Group	p. 46
Chatting on AOL	p. 46
Chat room fonts and formatting	p. 47
Chat room Notify AQL button	p. 47
Right-clicking in chat rooms	p. 47
Role-playing chat rooms	p. 47
Chats run by AOL Protocol	p. 48
General chat room do's and don'ts	p. 49
Creating a Buddy Chat Room	p. 49
Creating a Buddy List Group	p. 51
Creating a Members Chat Room	p. 51
Creating a Private Chat Room	p. 52
Creating a Profile	p. 53
Deleting a Buddy List Group	p. 53
Expressing Yourself in a Chat Room	p. 53
Finding a Chat Room	p. 54
Using AOL Live	p. 54
Finding member-created chat rooms	p. 55
Getting Help in a Chat Room	p. 55
Going to a Friend's Chat Room	p. 55
Ignoring Someone in a Chat Room	p. 56
Instant Message Notes (IM)	p. 57
Formatting Instant Message Notes	p. 57
Adding links to Instant Message Notes	p. 57
Locating Someone on America Online	p. 58
People Connecting	p. 58
Playing Sounds in a Chat Room	p. 59
Reading Someone's Profile	p. 59
Receiving Instant Message Notes	p. 60
Reporting Problems in a Chat Room	p. 60
Reporting Problems in an Instant Message Note	p. 61
Someone's asking for your password or credit card	p. 61
Someone's being generally obnoxious and annoying	p. 63
Rolling Dice in a Chat Room	p. 63
Searching the Member Directory	p. 63
Taking a Road Trip	p. 64
Using a Profile	p. 66
Expressing Yourself with E-Mail and Discussion Boards	p. 67
Addressing E-Mail with the Address Book	p. 68
Adding an entry	p. 68
Changing or deleting an entry	p. 69
Writing e-mail with the Address Book	p. 70
What's your e-mail address?	p. 70
Attaching a File to an E-Mail Message	p. 70
Automating Your AOL Sessions	p. 72
Setting up Automatic AOL	p. 72
Using Automatic AOL	p. 74
Checking E-Mail Status	p. 74
Checking for New Discussion Board Messages	p. 75
Copying Others with CC/BCC	p. 76
Dealing with Undeliverable E-Mail	p. 77
Deleting an E-Mail Message	p. 77
Expressing Yourself in E-Mail	p. 78
Emoticons {*},;)	p. 78
Keyboard shorthand	p. 79
E-mail etiquette	p. 79
Formatting E-Mail	p. 80
Posting a Reply to a Discussion Board	p. 82
Reply to the board	p. 82
Reply via e-mail	p. 84
Reading a Discussion Board Message	p. 85
Reading E-Mail Offline	p. 86
Reading E-Mail Online	p. 87
Receiving an Attached File in an E-Mail Message	p. 87
Replying to an E-Mail Message	p. 88
Sending E-Mail to an AOL Member	p. 89
Sending E-Mail to Several Addresses	p. 89
Sending E-Mail to Someone on the Internet	p. 89
Setting Your E-Mail Preferences	p. 90
Sharing Favorite Places in an E-Mail	p. 90
Unsending E-Mail	p. 90
Writing an E-Mail Message Offline	p. 91
Writing an E-Mail Message Online	p. 92
Logging, Saving, Printing, and Downloading	p. 93
Chat Logs	p. 94
Downloading Files from E-Mail Messages	p. 95
Downloading Files Later (The Download Manager)	p. 96
Downloading files in waiting	p. 96
Removing files from the download list	p. 97
Seeing which files you already downloaded	p. 97
Checking file descriptions	p. 97
Choosing where to store files to download	p. 97
Downloading Files Right Now	p. 98
Finding Files to Download	p. 100
Instant Message Logs	p. 100
Printing	p. 101
Saving Text from a Window	p. 101
Session Logs	p. 102
Uploading Files	p. 103
VBRUN Files (Visual Basic Runtime Modules)	p. 105
ZIP Files	p. 106
Exploring the Internet	p. 107
E-Mail	p. 108
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)	p. 108
Downloading from FTP sites	p. 109
Uploading to FTP sites	p. 110
Using a particular FTP site	p. 111
Gopher	p. 112
Going to a specific Gopher site	p. 113
Remembering a Gopher site with Favorite Places	p. 113
Searching Gopherspace	p. 114
Mailing Lists	p. 114
Newsgroups	p. 115
Posting messages to a newsgroup	p. 116
Reading newsgroups online	p. 117
Reading newsgroups offline	p. 117
Remembering a newsgroup with Favorite Places	p. 119
Replying to a newsgroup posting	p. 120
Subscribing to a newsgroup	p. 120
Searching for a particular topic	p. 121
Browsing through the lists	p. 122
Unsubscribing from a newsgroup	p. 122
Searching the Net	p. 123
Winsock Applications and AOL	p. 123
World Wide Web Adventures	p. 124
Building a home page	p. 125
Making your own Web page	p. 125
Going to a specific Web site	p. 126
Microsoft Internet Explorer and AOL	p. 127
Netscape Navigator and AOL	p. 127
Remembering a site through Favorite Places	p. 128
Visiting friends at Hometown AOL	p. 128
Taking AOL on the Road	p. 129
Connecting from a Hotel	p. 130
Finding a New Local Access Number	p. 130
Making Location Entries	p. 133
Creating a location	p. 133
Creating a location with Expert Add	p. 135
Deleting a location	p. 137
Changing a location	p. 137
Signing On through Someone Else's Computer	p. 138
Solving Problems and Finding Help	p. 139
Adding Your Own Two Cents Worth	p. 140
Billing Problems	p. 140
Calling America Online for Help	p. 141
Finding a Lost Window	p. 141
Free Help from Other Members	p. 142
Host Not Responding	p. 142
Lost Carrier	p. 143
Member Services Area	p. 144
Top Tips from the Insider	p. 145
World Wide Web Page Won't Load	p. 146
Places of Our Hearts	p. 147
AOL Channel Guide	p. 148
Ask a Teacher	p. 148
Auto Center	p. 149
Baby Name Finder	p. 149
Bed and Breakfast Guide	p. 149
Best AOL Tips	p. 150
Billing	p. 150
Blackberry Creek	p. 150
Bonjour Paris	p. 151
BoxerJam Game Shows	p. 151
Building Home Pages	p. 152
Business Week Online	p. 152
Collectable Cards Forum	p. 153
Conspiracies and UFOs	p. 153
Consumer Reports	p. 153
Demographics	p. 154
Funny Pages	p. 154
Games	p. 154
History	p. 155
Homeschooling	p. 155
Hometown AOL	p. 155
International	p. 156
Internet Connection	p. 156
Keywords	p. 157
Language Dictionaries	p. 157
New York Times on AOL	p. 157
Notify AOL	p. 158
Online Campus	p. 158
Puzzle Zone	p. 158
Random	p. 159
Road Trips	p. 159
Science	p. 159
Sports Cards	p. 160
Start-Up Businesses	p. 160
The Teacher's Lounge	p. 160
ThirdAge	p. 161
Trivia	p. 161
Westwood	p. 162
What's New	p. 162
Clicking through the Channels	p. 163
AOL Today	p. 164
Computing	p. 164
Entertainment	p. 166
Families	p. 168
Games	p. 169
Health	p. 171
Influence	p. 172
Interests	p. 174
International	p. 175
Kids Only	p. 177
Lifestyles	p. 178
Local	p. 179
News	p. 180
Personal Finance	p. 181
Research and Learn	p. 182
Shopping	p. 184
Sports	p. 186
Travel	p. 187
WorkPlace	p. 188
Techie Talk	p. 191
Index	p. 201
Book Registration Information
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