Options with dialup com vender?

[Dennis Moser IS]

Ellen,

On Thu, 24 Apr 1997, Ellen Chamberlain wrote:

> except for a few problems.  Is it possible to override a
> commercial vender's home page in favor of our own library
> home page?  My local computer support person is designated as
> the go-between, and he tells me we can't do that; when we
> connect, the vender's home page will come up and that is that!

Fire your local computer support person  and get one that can find 
Netscape's "Options" menu item!!! Yes, you CAN set your browser to open 
ANY page or NO PAGE at all ... ("Options", choose "General Preferences" 
and then look on the "Appearance" Tab:"Browser starts with ..." selection)

> Also, we can't customize colors, but must accept the vender's.

Wrong again! Same directions as above, but this time instead of 
"Appearance", choose "Colors" ...

> Finally, the machines automatically disconnect after 5 minutes
> of unuse; we have paid for 24 hour connectivity.  My computer
> guy says we just have to keep logging on, but in the afternoon
> and early evening, phone lines get busy.  Anything I can do
> besides learning to live with situation?  Please respond to me

Now this COULD actually be a real problem. Depends on what kind of 
service you have actually purchased form the ISP. A lot of ISPs advertise 
24-hour connectivity, which really just means that they have left the 
machine on 24 hours a day and tha you have the privilege to dial in 24 
hours a day. It does NOT mean that you can dial in and hang off their 
connection for hours on end. Many ISPs have a 2 or 3 hour limit as to how 
long you can be connected each dial-in session. It is posssible to 
actually have the capability to dial in and stay on for as long as you 
want ("dedicated line") but it is usually quite expensive.

Not sure why, with an *.edu email address, you are dependent upon a 
dial-up connection to run Netscape?

Dennis Moser