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A General Word About Updates

A General Word About Updates

In order to view many of the graphical and navigational aspects of the sites you visit, you will need a current browser capable of interpreting some of the recent Web enhancements, including JavaScript, cascading style sheets, dynamic page layouts and downloadable fonts. None of these aspects require a plug-in, only a browser upgrade.

Please consider downloading Netscape Navigator (available for most computer platforms) or Microsoft Internet Explorer (currently available for PCs, Macs and UNIX). Both of these Web browsers are free of charge. Opera Software also offers a Web browser which can interpret current Web capabilities. The smaller file size of the Opera browser makes it an attractive alternative for some users.

America Online Users

When you install earlier versions of America Online, the browser is usually set to compress all images that you see on the Internet. Compressed images are great only if you are not interested in seeing pictures. If you want to see good quality photos, then you can easily adjust your browser as follows:

Version 4.x and above:

1. Choose My AOL option at the top of the screen then select the Preferences option in the pull-down menu.
2. A new window will appear with a menu of options/icons on the left side. Scroll down until you find the WWW option/icon and click it.
3. A new window will appear on the right side. If the box "Use compressed images" has a "X" or "check mark" in it, click on the box to remove the "X" or "check mark", then click OK.

Version 3.x and below:

1. Choose Members option at the top of the screen then select the Preferences option in the pull-down menu.
2. A new window will appear with a menu of options on the left side. Scroll down until you find the Web option and click it.
3. The top of the right side screen is titled "Display" and has 6 option boxes below it. If the box "Use compressed images" has a X in it, click on the box to remove the X, then click OK.

NOTE: Uncompressed images may slow down your surfing. You can adjust your browser from compressed to uncompressed then back to compressed at any time.

Also, if your monitor and/or video card is not very high quality, then you may not see a difference between compressed and uncompressed images.

If you are using an older version of America Online (anything less than AOL 5.0), then you may have experienced JavaScript errors on some the websites that you have visited. This can be easily fixed very quickly by downloading the latest AOL browser.

Additionally, you can also download other browsers to your computer, such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer, and still use your AOL account. It's easy! Simply dial-in to your AOL account as you normally do, then click either the Netscape or Explorer icons on your desktop. These advanced browsers will pop open and display web pages just like your AOL browser. Many people have said they enjoy surfing the Internet on these advanced browsers better than their AOL browser because of some of the enhanced features.

Are you an AOL user interested in downloading either Netscape or IE? Then please read on.

Netscape Navigator

Netscape Communicator 6.1 is the most recent versions of the Netscape browser, which includes important security and other Web technology updates. Netscape Communicator Basic Edition is free of charge.

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Microsoft Internet Explorer, the most commonly used web browser today, is also free of charge. The latest version is MIE 6 for both the Mac and the PC.

Nifty Extras

Opera Software also offers an alternative browser for the Windows platform, as well as for other operating systems, as well.

Many web pages you visit may also contain multimedia files with audio, video, animation or all three. These pages will require additional plug-in browser software to view the special embedded media. The following three applications will allow you to access the majority of these special presentations. While not all these are free, they will certainly enhance your Internet experience.

RealPlayer from RealNetworks allows you to access streaming multimedia presentations. The current release is Version 8.

Macromedia's Shockwave and Flash player interprets special animated presentations and games. The Harrington website is presented to you with Flash technology.

Apple's QuickTime tool lets you download for later viewing or view online streaming video presentations. Current release is QuickTime 5.

You may also want to consider downloading Adobe's Acrobat reader: Acrobat uses a portable document format, or PDF, that keeps all page formatting intact across all platforms. Acrobat Reader includes a browser plug-in enabling you to view PDF files from the web inside your browser.