Internet Update

Rounds, Miller and Associates

6318 Ridgepath Court, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275

[310] 544-9502 FAX [310] 544-3017

Mike Rounds’ Internet Update

Latest Changes Made On 03/13/08

This material is offered to anyone who is interested in

using the Internet and is provided by:

Mike Rounds

"Translating Technology Into Human Terms, So That No One Gets Left Behind"

TEL: [310] 544-9502

FAX: [310] 544-3017

www.RoundsMiller.com

Mike@RoundsMiller.com

To support of your continued learning, we’ve researched some of the most useful

reference sites and material about the Internet and its associated topics.

We’ve divided it into categories to make it easy to find and use the most valuable

reference points. Most of the software is FREE but some of the utilities cost a few dollars.

At the time we posted this information, ALL of the sites were alive and active.

However, we have NO CONTROL over them and if you find that they’ve gone away,

please notify us so we can drop them from the list.

If you find this information useful and helpful, please feel free to pass the URL

along to friends, colleagues, or other listing services.

To Search for a particular topic,

use Ctrl-F (Search Function).

First, here are some keyboard tips to help you Surf the Net easier.

While you’re "on-line", use these keyboard combinations to streamline your efforts:

1. Keyboard tips and tricks to make your Internet Surfin’ experience more enjoyable

CTRL - A Blocks all the information on a web page for copying

CTRL - B Brings up your bookmarks for maintenance and additions (Explorer & Navigator)

CTRL – C Copies the blocked content to the clipboard

CTRL - F Brings up a search engine to search the content of ANY web page (Explorer & Navigator & AOL)

CTRL - H Brings up the history of where you’ve been for past several weeks (Explorer & Navigator)

CTRL - I Brings up the "favorites" list (Bookmarks) (Explorer & Navigator)

CTRL - L Opens a web folder or URL

CTRL - O Opens a web folder or URL

CTRL – P prints the content of the current web page

CTRL – V Pastes the copy stored on the clipboard

F11 – Expands the view of your browser to full screen and back again (Explorer & Navigator)

ALT + TAB Brings up a panel of active programs so you can switch from one to another

1.A Windows Help Keys

Most of the recent keyboards come with a Windows® key. Here are the special commands that this magic key invokes:

Feature	Keystrokes
Display the start menu	<Windows>
Open the run dialog box	<Windows> - R
Minimize all	<Windows> - M
Undo minimize all, tile horizontally, tile vertically, or cascade	<Shift> - <Windows> - M
Open help	<Windows> -F1
Open Windows® Explorer	<Windows> - E
Open Find/Search Files or Folders	<Windows> - F
Minimize all and undo minimize all	<Windows> - D
Open Find/Search Computer	<Windows> - F
Cycle through the taskbar buttons	<Windows>
Open System properties Sheet	<Windows> - <Break>
Display the shortcut menu for the selected item	<Application>

1B - Error codes explained - If you've ever wondered what those "error codes" mean, here's what they're all

about and what you should do:

If your screen says “401 Unauthorized”

IT MEANS you need a password to get into the site. YOU SHOULD try retyping your password if you are supposed

to have access to the site. If you don’t, stop trying and go somewhere else.

If your screen says “404 Error: Page is no longer available”

IT MEANS the part of the page you’re looking for is no longer there or that part of the URL is wrong.

YOU SHOULD not give up. First check the URL. If it’s right, it’s possible that the content moved to another part of the

site and the site managers didn’t define a redirect. Try deleting the end part of the URL to see if that gets you to a

workable page. Or see if the site has an internal search engine you can use to find the content.

If your screen says “503: Service unavailable”

IT MEANS you have just a temporary problem on your hands, like the server of the site you’re trying to access is down. YOU SHOULD cheer up. Try again in a few minutes.

1c- Filtering SPAM

To control the amount of spam (Unsolicited Junk Mail) you receive, use e-mail filters. Most e-mail programs contain ways to filter and route your e-mail into folders and setting up the filters and fine-tuning them takes a small amount of time, compared to the time you will save.

***Note: If your current program doesn’t have this ability, get one that does. Outlook Express and Netscape Communicator are both very good e-mail programs with filtering capabilities, and they are free.

Create folders for the different aspects and types of e-mail you receive; these could include folders for orders, support, people’s names, newsletters and spam
Now set the filters to send the e-mail into to these folders as they arrive. With Outlook you can also have the filter automatically forward the e-mail to someone else. If your orders or support e-mail need to be seen by several people, have the program send it out as it sorts.
When setting your spam filter, DON’T send the e-mail directly to be deleted. You need to review the e-mail sent to this folder before deleting it, otherwise you might inadvertently delete something of value. Instead, create a spam folder and send the e-mail there for later review.

Depending on the type of business you're in, some words or phrases I would filter, you might not. For me “Mortgage” is a spam word and e-mail that contains this word is sent to my spam folder. However, if you are in the mortgage business, this word is legitimate when received in the subject of what is probably an important e-mail.

Here are some sample words you might consider for the your spam filter:

Debit - Bulk - Homeworkers – Homeowner - Free - Offshore - Viagra – Weight – Downline – Waistline – Smoking -Sex

When is all is said and done, probably the BEST thing to do is get a paid anti-Spam system that has already gone through the trouble of setting up filtering systems.

The BEST we've found is www.spamarrest.com. They have a "verify" system with the ability to pre-qualify people. The process keeps the automatic computers that generate and send Spam from getting into your mailbox.

1d- How Search Engines are currently getting their listings

Who works with who in the US search engine market? (Courtesy of Attach USA www.attachusa.com)

Search engines and directories interrelate with other search engines; for instance, they share their database contents to cover more web pages. In addition, the search engines partner with pay per click search engines to supplement their revenue.

It's essential to know which search engines and directories work together. If you want to plan an effective search engine optimization strategy, you must know which search engines cooperate and who gets results from whom.

AllTheWeb - Gets search results from FAST Search and paid results from Overture.
AltaVista - Has its own database but gets directory results from the Open Directory Project and paid results from Overture.
AOL Search - Gets normal search results and paid results from Google, as well as directory results from the Open Directory Project.
Ask Jeeves - Has its own database but gets additional results from Teoma and paid results from Google.
Google - Has its own database but gets directory results from the Open Directory Project.
HotBot - Gets search results from Inktomi, directory results from the Open Directory Project and paid results from Google. HotBot can also display unfiltered search results from Ask Jeeves, Google and Lycos.
Inktomi - Has its own database.
IWon - Gets search results Google, directory results from the Open Directory Project and paid results from Google.
LookSmart - Has its own database but gets additional results from Inktomi.
Lycos - Gets search results from FAST Search, directory results from the Open Directory Project and paid results from Google.
MSN Search - Gets search results from Inktomi and LookSmart. MSN Search is currently working on its own database.
Netscape Search - Gets search results from Google, directory results from the Open Directory project and paid results from Google.
Overture - Has its own database but gets additional results from Inktomi.
Teoma - Has its own database but gets directory results from the Open Directory Project.
Yahoo - Has its own human-compiled database but gets addition results from Google and paid results from Overture. Yahoo owns AllTheWeb, AltaVista and Inktomi so it will probably switch in the near future from Google to the results of its own companies.

1e - The long and short of getting listed with the search engines

Search engines are the Dewey decimal system of the Internet and more importantly, the Web.

Current estimates put the number of pages on the Web at over 120 billion and rising at the rate of over 15 thousand per day.

The fight over being ranked at or near the top of the engines when someone looks for a specific topic has become such an economic battle that the engines all changed their policies about free listings when the dot com era ended.

Here's the current status regarding getting listed.

1. All but two (2) of the major search engines offer the choice of being listed for free or fee (http://dmoz.org and www.google.com - they are FREE all the time)

2. The free listing occurs automatically when you add the Meta tags to your site. Within 6 months all the major engines will spider (index) you for free.

3. To get listed, simply select and insert your meta tags into your home page. These are the words, phrases, and combinations that you think someone else will type into the search engine to find you.

4. To add the tags to your site, go to www.tucows.com and look up/download Metabuilder Lite (it's free!). It'll help you create the meta tag strings that the search engines index and then all you have to do is cut and paste them into your site.

5. The down side to the free (and automatic) listing is that it takes a long time and the engines llist you the way they want you listed - you have no say in the matter.

6. The fee listings are by engine ($200 per listing or change of listing per engine and Yahoo get $300). The advantage is that you get listed right now and you get to set the parameters of the indexing.

As you can tell, I'm not a real big proponent of the paid listings for most people and businesses. I'd rather spend the money on some other form of advertising and drive the client directly to my site.

2. Statistics - According to The Industry Standard, in 1999 20 million people bought gifts on the Web and in 2000, 35 million people did the same thing. These statistics came from www.thestandard.com/metrics.

The best statistics about the Internet are located at:

www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/user_surveys

www.survey.net

www.openmarket.com/intindex

www.mids.org

www.ameristat.org/

3. General reference sites

Acronym Finder www.acronymfinder.com

Webster's Hypertext Dictionary and thesaurus http://m-w.com/netdict.htm

Barlett's familiar quotations www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/bartlett/

Roget's online Thesaurus www.thesaurus.com

Dictionary.COM www2.dictionary.com/dictionary/

Onelook - 79 dictionaries, etc www.onelook.com

Electric Library www.elibrary.com/

Internet Public Library www.ipl.com

Master Library Index at http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Libweb

Pathfinders Research Guides www.ipl.org/ref/QUE/PF/

The quotations page at www.starlingtech.com/quotes.index.html

Online quotes at www.lexmark.com/data/quote.html

Chambers of Commerce http://chambers-of-commerce.com

Toll Free Directory www.tollfree.att.net

Zip code lookup and address information www.usps.gov/ncsc

Area Code Lookup www.555-1212.com/ACLOOKUP.html or

www.555-1212.com/geo.jsp

Calendar dates and holidays www.juneau.com/home/janice/calendarland

Who's Who - 15,000 people worth knowing www.biography.com

Learn how to?? www.refdesk.com

Finding Articles www.findarticles.com/cf_0/PI/subject.jhtml

Fact Checker www.bartleby.com/reference

Almanac Information www.infoplease.com/almanacs.html

Accurate time www.timeticker.com

Currency Converter: www.xe.com/lucc

Colleges and Universities www.google.com/options/universities.html

4. E-Mail support sites

a) FREE Web Based E-Mail

b) FREE e-mail and text translation software

www.altavista.com

www.freetranslation.com

http://babelfish.altavista.com

c) FREE e-mail phonebooks and lookup directories

www.switchboard.com

www.whowhere.com

http://people.yahoo.com/

www.nedsite.nl/search/people.htm

www.theultimates.com/

www.freeality.com/finde.htm

www.bigyellow.com

www.411locate.com/

www.refdesk.com/instant.html

www.bigfoot.com/

www.worldpages.com/global/

www.iaf.net/

www.phonenumbers.net/

www.startingpage.com/html/lookup.html

www.inter800.com

d) E-mail graphic & speech enhancement tools

www.bonzi.com

www.zaplet.com

www.togglethis.com

www.4developers.com/talkmail/

www.talkingcallerid.com/default.htm

www.sonicmail.com/

e) Anti-SPAM & Junk mail

www.exit109.com/~jeremy/news/antispam.html

www.ham-bone.com/spamslam.html

www.spamkiller.com

http://www.e-mailanywhere.com

http://www.mail2web.com

http://www.thatweb.com

www.computerlinkmag.com/articles/mar2000/spam.htm

www.bomis.com/rings/spam

http://tippers98.com/aolquery/index.html

www.webmasterfree.com/eater.html

¤¤¤DMA "Get off 4500 e-mail lists" www.e-mps.org/en

Surf anonymously www.safeweb.com

www.spamhaus.org/rokso/index.lasso

www.combat.uxn.com

Stop those annoying "Pop up" boxes with FREE software from Panicware at www.Panicware.com

If you use Outlook or Outlook Express, the BEST anti-Spam software anywhere is "I Hate Spam".

It's $20 from www.sunbeltsoftware.com/

f) Objectionable site blocking software

www.cyberpatrol.com

http://www.netnanny.com

http://www.surfwatch.com

www.owt.com/software/blockers.html

www.tispa.org/kinnaman/filtering.htm

www.browsesafe.com/

g) Free Auto responders

www.thebusinessguide.org/

www.myreply.com

www.ismy.net/autoresponders.html

www.sendfree.com/tips.htm

(How to use auto responders) www.onlinesuccesstips.com/articles/autoresponders

h) Free e-mail list and group software

www.listbot.com/

www.zaplet.com

www.egroups.com

i) Setup and participate in list serve systems

www.egroups.com

http://netpals.lsoft.com/

http://www.lsoft.com/

www.coolfreebies.com/email.html

www.servintfree.net/

j) Buddy Chat Software

www.aol.com/aim/quickbuddy.html

www.ichat.com/

www.onlinecall.com/

www.freesitetools.com/utilities/chat.html

www.talkcity.com

k) Security for your system

http://antivirus.cai.com Free Anti-Virus program-

www.sygate.com/products/shield_ov.htm

www.zonealamr.com

www.pcflank.com Security testing Softare

5. Search tools and directories:

a) Slave Driver (multi-engine) engines (Note –single search engines only search their own internal card catalogs. Mete-search engines search the catalogs of dozens, even hundreds of the major search engine catalogs simultaneously and compile a comprehensive list for you)

www.cs.colostate.edu

www.search.com

http://www.gocee.com/eureka

www.cyber411.com

www.mamma.com

http://www.onekey.com

www.rashminsanghvi.com/turbo

www.allnetresearch.com

www.google.com

www.ixquick.com

www.vivisimo.com

b) The Best and most comprehensive directories for finding people and businesses:

http://www.niyp.com

http://www.bigbook.com

http://www.w3.org/pub/DataSources/BySubject/overview.htm

http://www.yellownet.com

www.bizstats.com

c) Comprehensive special interest search tools and directories

Business - www.nln.com or www.corporateinformation.com

City Guides/Shopping www.smartpages.com/

Medical - www.citizen1.com

General www.searchability.com/

General www.addsheet.com/search/ospecial.html

General www.lairgauche.com/engines.htm

General www.virtualfreesites.com/search.html

General www.cyward.com/speciali.htm

Business and Corporate Information www.ecompany.com/

d) Topic Specific Search Engine Indices

www.Refdesk.com

www.leidenuniv.nl/ub/biv/specials.htm

www.searchit.net

www.search.com

www.siftings.com/wsearch.html

http://www.searchtopics.com/

http://denig.com/workbook/miscengines.html

www.askme.com

http://luna.moonstar.com/~marion/searchsites.html

www.howstuffworks.com/

e) Miscellaneous tools

View Directory Structure www.netvampire.com/download.htm

Surfsaver – save complete web sites www.surfsaver.com/

Miscellaneous tools www.absolutelyfreebies.com/utilities.html

Display saved search sites www.snippets.com

6. Travel maps and weather sites:

a) Weather

http://usatoday.com/weather/wfront.htm

b) Travel

7. FREE Internet related services

a) Free ISP services BE CAREFUL! These keep going out of business!

www.freedomlist.com

http://freelane.excite.com

http://free.lycos.com

www.seniorglobe.com

www.iwin.com

www.address.com

http://welcomews.juno.com/worldspy

www.callnetuk.com

b) Free e-commerce tools and sites

www.1pcn.com/free_web_site.htm

www.afreeonlineshoppingmal.com/

www.beseen.com/

www.website101.com/

www.justwebit.com/

www.freesitetools.com/

www.shopping-cart-software.com FREE shopping cart software

c) Free web sites

www.freewebsites.com/

http://sites.fishhoo.com/

http://www.onlineneighborhoods.com/

http://angelfire.lycos.com/

http://www.familyshoebox.com/

www.freewebspace.net/

www.freeyellow.com/index.gsp

http://www.forfree.at/

www.tripod.lycos.com/

http://home.nbci.com/

http://geocities.yahoo.com/home/

www.cybercities.com/

www.truepath.com/

www.wecaretoo.com/

d) Web Site Submission and position analysis tools

www.all4one.com/all4submit/

www.getsubmitted.com/

www.addme.com

www.submitcorner.com/Tools/

www.globalspider.net/contact.htm

http://submitplus.bc.ca/

http://register-it.netscape.com/addurl.cgi

www.angelfire.com/biz6/websitedomainnames/

http://autosubmit.com/promote.html

http://www.netmechanic.com/promote.htm

http://websitegarage.netscape.com/

http://1000websitetools.jmwebdesigns.com/

http://kresch.com/submit/search_engine_submission.html

www.add-me.com/

www.findabacker.com/

e) Free long distance phone services via the Internet

www.accessforfree.com/freelongdistance.htm

http://home.netscape.com/navigator/v3.0/cooltalk.html

www.deltathree.com

http://signup.mediaring.com/intro

www.zeroplus.com

www.okplayer.com/free_downloads.htm

www.crosswinds.net/~leonsboy/dailpad.htm

f) Free Fax Services

http://hvwww5.hotvoice.com

http://www.faxpc.com/

www.freecomms.com/

g) FREE web storage space

www.whalemail.com.

www.freeback.com

www.mymp3storage.com/

www.freewebspace.net/

www.attachmail.com/

www.eneva.com/free-web-storage-add.html

www.swapdrive.com/

www.100best-free-web-space.com/

www.driveway.com/

www.freediskspace.com/Index.asp

www.websiteforfree.com

h) FREE Web storage sites for video clips BE CAREFUL! These keep going out of business!

www.earthnoise.com

www.undergroundfilm.com

www.eveo.com

www.yourvideoontheweb.com

www.shortends.com

www.pop.com

www.clipshow.com

www.mywitnessnews.com

www.videomaker.com/streamingvideos/resource.htm

i ) Domain Name Registration

(Master Index – Start here) www.regselect.com/

www.enom.com/

www.domaindirect.com/

www.register.com/

www.names4ever.com/

www.whois.net/

www.itsyourdomain.com

8. Free Internet access and performance test sites

a) Internet Test Sites:

1) Download Speed Test (Lines and overall connection)

www.3com.com/56k/need4_56k/linetest.html

www.l1s.com/

http://computingcentral.msn.com/topics/bandwidth/speedtest500.asp

http://homepage.tinet.ie/~leslie/testpage.htm

www.kissco.com

www.l1s.com/Products-Internet-Speed-Test.asp

www.netmechanic.com/cobrands/zdnet/loadcheck/

www.modemwizard.com/

http://webservices.zdnet.com/zdnet/bandwidth/

www.pcpitstop.com Computer performance analysis system

www.webattack.com

www.bandwidthplace.com

2) High Speed access capability

www.telocity.com

www.getspeed.com

www.dslreports.com/r3/dsl/stest/

3) Log off prevention timers for AOL

www.stonefish.com/popup/

http://members.rotfl.com/aoltimer/

4) Anti-popup software for advertising banners

www.businesslisting.com/antipopup/index1.htm

http://cexx.org/diepop.htm

www.4degreez.com/popupsmustdie/

http://wwwwin.wplus.net/pp/fsc/

www.iconlabs.net/sip.html

www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/pow.htm

Ad Zapper www.guidescope.com

www.panicware.com

www.bysoft.se/sureshot/stopthepopup

5) Callwave™ Internet on hold for single phone line users

www.callwave.com

6) Useful tools

Currency Converter www.oanda.com/converter/classic

Days between dates Converter www.du.edu/~xinli/nofdays.html

Personal World Clock www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/personalapplet.html

Form Filling Software www.roboform.com or www.gator.com

9. Website and e-commerce resources

a) Website development and authoring software

http://freeanimatedgifs.homestead.com/main.html

www.freesitetools.com/

www.insystem.com/evfree.htm

www.insystem.com/evfree.htm

http://desktoppublishing.com/webreference.html

www.freecode.com/

(FrontPage Express) www.irt.org/software/sw001/

(FrontPage Express Instructions) http://depts.washington.edu/catalyst/how-to/fpx/create.htm

(FrontPage Express Tutorial) www.lse.ac.uk/web/fp-express/default.htm

www.davecentral.com/program.html

www.absolutelyfreebies.com/utilities.html

www.browsermaster.com/browsersizer – See how web pages look on screen resolutions of 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 and Web TV.

Free On-Site Search Engine - www.atomz.com/

FREE net radio station (you get to broadcast your music and voice) - www.echo.com

b) Merchant account sites (let’s you accept credit cards)

http://www.elitemerchantservices.com

www.practicepaysolutions.com

www.plugnpay.com

www.iTransact.com

www.paypal.com

www.costco.com

c) Free clipart, graphics, and animated graphics (Anigifs)

www.clipsahoy.com/cgi-bin/AutoRank/rankem.cgi?action=in&id=freak

www.backgrounds4u.com/

http://artziggy.com/

www.lottes.dk/

www.kzgraphics.com/

www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/7255/

www.clipartland.com/

www.webclipz.com/

http://gifs123.tripod.com/

www.allfreeart.com/

www.altwebmasters.com/aag/

www.free-graphics.com

http://www.1001fonts.com (This is the BEST place for all the FREE fonts you can use)

www.fonts.com (NOTE***this is NOT free but it's the place to get the best clipart symbols and other itmes you need to dress up your publications and web sites)

d) Free sound and music clips

www.soundamerica.com/

www.militaryheritage.com/sound.htm

www.moviesounds.com/

/www.soundcentral.com/

www.webplaces.com/html/sounds.htm

www.free-n-cool.com/freecsnd.html

e) Free video clips

www.loadtv.com/show/800101.asp

www.kiwisoft.co.nz/

www.cnn.com/video_vault/

www.nbci.com/main/channel/0,2,-vd,00.html

www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com/

http://moviecentral.hypermart.net/

www.picsnflicks.com/

f) Shopping Cart Software (Some FREE some FEE)

www.1stopecommerce.com/cartfrontpage.htm

www.go-cart.com/

www.merchantusa.com/shopping-cart-software.htm

www.poorrichard.com/freeinfo/shop.htm

www.1stopecommerce.com/cartfrontpage.htm

www.justwebitt.com/Free-Shopping-Cart-Software-dqdp.htm

http://orc.dev.oclc.org:5103/geoweb/msg00276.html

www.workz.com/content/506.asp

www.workz.com/content/506.asp

www.pro3.com/cartfree.shtml

www.shoppingcarts.cc/

www.2checkout.com/cartfrontpage.htm

www.dkg.net/ecommerce-solutions/

www.isp-lists.isp-planet.com/isp-marketing/9903/msg00272.html

www.mail-archive.com/atom@onelist.com/msg01237.html

10. Useful Tools for Daily Life and Work FREE "Stuff" From the Net

a) Free Stuff Sites

www.2001freebies.com/

www.totallyfreestuff.com/

www.freeandfun.com/

b) FREE Software

1) Windows

www.download.com

www.tucows.com

www.completelyfreesoftware.com

www.freeware98.org/

www.zdnet.com/downloads/

www.topsoft.com

www.free-cdsoftware.com

2) Macintosh

www.zdnet.com/downloads/

www.topsoft.com

www.macosarchives.com/

www.freebizsites.com/Macintosh.htm

3) Palm

www.palmpilotware.com/

home.palmpilotarchives.com/headline_news.html

www.palm.com/resources/shareware.html

www.mobilegeneration.com/

www.palm.net