ACCESSING THE INTERNET FROM THE KEYBOARD
BY
JOHN WILSON
Volume 1
Copyright 2006
********
TABLE OF CONTENTS
(To find a particular section or heading, use your word-
processor's or editor's search facility, e.g. type ">section 6"
to find that section. Include the greater than sign (>(
immediately prior to the words Section 6, so that you will only
stop on that main heading instead of any earlier reference to
that section. The > sign is found on the capitalised full stop.
Type the string "internet service provider details" or type the
specific paragraph number of "12.3." to find that subheading.
Additionally, all main sections are separated by a centred row
of eight asterisks.)
Foreword and Restrictions
Available Manual Formats
Target Group
Conventions
Suggested Approaches for Effective Reading of this Tutorial
Section 1: Introduction
1.1. What is the Internet and How do Visually Impaired People
Access it?
1.2. General and Specific Talking Screenreaders for Web Browsing
1.2.1. JAWS for Browsing the Internet
1.2.2. Window-Eyes for Browsing the Internet
1.2.3. HAL for Browsing the Internet
1.2.4. PWwebspeak for Browsing the Internet
1.2.5. Wemedia for Browsing the Internet
1.2.6. Home Page Reader for Browsing the Internet
1.2.7. Webbie for Browsing the Internet
1.3. JAWS, HAL, Supernova and Window-Eyes Special Web Page
Navigation Hot Keys
1.3.1. JAWS 4.0, 4.5, 5 and 6
1.3.2. HAL 5, 6 and 6.5
1.3.3. Window-Eyes 4.2, 4.5 and 5
1.3.4. Windows Operating System Shortcuts
1.4. More Advanced Surfing
1.5. Free Virus-Checkers, Firewalls, Spyware and Spam removers
1.5.1. AVG Free Edition Versions 6 and 7
1.5.2. Sygate, Zone Alarm and Windows XP Free Firewalls
1.5.3. Ad-Aware Free Spyware Remover Version 6
1.5.4. Mail Washer Free Spam Remover
1.5.5. Spybot Search&Destroy
Section 2: Helpful Tips and Customisation for Visually Impaired
Users
2.1. Eighteen Configuration, Customisation and other Helpful Tips
Section 3: Using the Internet via an Internet Service Provider
(ISP)
3.1. Types of ISPs
3.2. What you need to Get connected with a Standard or BroadBand
MODEM
3.3. Getting Your Windows PC Set Up for a PPP Connection
3.4. Connecting to Your ISP
3.5. Making Changes to or creating a new Internet Connection
3.6. Solid Step-by-Step Example of Subscribing to a Pay-As-You-Go
ISP Service and Creating a Desktop Shortcut to it--The UK2 ISP
Service
3.7. List of UK Dial-Up Services (non-broadband)
3.8. List of UK Broadband Providers
3.9. Broadband Over the Mains Provider
3.10. Changing Your Broadband Provider
Section 4: Internet Explorer Versions 5.0, 5.5 and 6.0
4.1. Internet Protocols, Server Names and File Paths
4.2. Launching Internet Explorer
4.2.1. Launching Internet Explorer from its Executable File on
Your Hard Disk
4.2.2. Creating a Shortcut and Launching Internet Explorer from
It
4.2.3. Other Methods of Launching Internet Explorer
4.2.4. Starting Internet Explorer with a Blank Page or Starting
it with a Specific Home Page Automatically Loading
4.3. Internet Explorer Temp File Cache Size
4.4. What are Web Pages and How are They Read
4.5. Reading Web Pages Offline
4.6. E-Mail Links on a Web Page
4.7. The Internet Explorer Favourites Folder
4.7.1. Using the Favourites Folder and Adding More Favourites to
It
4.7.2. Viewing the Contents of Your Favourites Folder
4.7.3. Creating Folders and Sub-Folders within Favourites
4.7.4. Organising, Deleting, renaming, Printing Out and making
other Modifications to favourites
4.7.5. Saving and Exporting a copy of Your Favourites Folder and
of Your Cookies for Safe Keeping or for Use on Another Computer
4.8. Saving a Page or Opened file in Internet Explorer
4.9. Downloading a File from the Net or Opening it Online
4.10. Doing Two Things at Once in Internet Explorer
4.11. Sending a Copy of a Web Page or Link to Someone Else
4.12. Setting Privacy Levels and Obtaining a Report of a
Website's Privacy Policy
4.12.1. Setting Privacy Levels
4.12.2. Obtaining a Privacy Report of the Current Site
4.13. Manually Completing Forms
4.14. Roboform Automatic Forms Completion Software
4.15. Quick and Easy Web Access with Microsoft Powertoys
4.16. VIPS Accessability Gateway
4.17. Testing the Accessability of a Website
4.18. Quick Commands Context Menu for a Link
4.19. Turning On or Off Automatic Disconnection to Your ISP
4.20. Ensuring that Your Online Transaction Details are Not
Automatically Saved to Disk
4.21. Viewing the History List of Already Visited Web Pages and
their Contents
4.22. The Internet Explorer Help System
Section 5: Taster Sites to Find Files and Programs
5.1. Website Walk-Through Example
Section 6: Web Search Engines
6.1. Starting a Search Engine
6.2. Standard search Engines
6.2.1. Yahoo!
6.2.2. Altavista
6.2.3. Raging
6.2.4. Ask Jeeves
6.2.5. MSN Search
6.2.6. CD Wizard
6.2.7. UK-Based Specific Search Facilities
6.2.8. Accessible Result Specialist Search Engine
6.2.9. UK Traders and Shops Search Engine
6.3. Meta-Search Engines
6.3.1. Google and its Family of Utilities
6.3.1.1. Using Google with a Screenreader and Availability of
Scripts
6.3.1.2. Narrowing Searches Down in Google
6.3.1.3. Using the Google Advanced Search facility
6.3.1.4. The Google Image Search Feature
6.3.1.5. Google's Goods Catalogue Searching Feature
6.3.1.6. Google's International News Search feature
6.3.1.7. Google's Print Book Search Facility
6.3.1.8. Google's E-Mail and Website Service
6.3.1.9. Google Desktop Search
6.3.1.10. Google Scholar Scientific and Academic Specialist
Research Searching Feature
6.3.2. Alltheweb
6.3.3. Seti-Search
6.3.4. Dogpile
6.3.5. Astalavista
6.3.6. YouSearched
6.3.7. Vivisimo
6.4. Finding Companies
6.5. Finding People
6.6. Finding News and Public Records
6.7. The Outlook Express Quick People Search Facility
Section 7: E-Mailing Overview
7.1. E-Mail Address Components
7.2. Web-Based E-Mail Providers
7.3. 1-Step--Voice E-Mail
Section 8: E-Mailing with Microsoft Outlook Express Versions 5.0,
5.5 and 6.0
8.1. Pen-Picture of the Outlook Express Screen
8.2. Outlook Express E-Mailing Options and Customisation for
Visually Impaired People
8.3. Composing and Sending E-Mail
8.4. Sending or Forwarding Multiple E-Mails Simultaneously
8.5. Undelivered E-Mail
8.6. Receiving and Reading E-Mail
8.7. Finding an E-Mail Message
8.8. Deleting E-Mail Messages
8.8.1. Deleting Single Messages or Whole Folders of Messages
8.8.2. Deleting Groups of Messages by Conversation/Subject
8.9. Viewing Only Specific Mail and News Messages
8.10. Replying to E-Mail
8.10.1. Replying to the E-mail Sender Only
8.10.2. Replying to all Recipients of an E-Mail
8.11. Forwarding E-Mail to Other People
8.12. The Outlook Express Address Book
8.12.1. What is the Address Book and what can you do with it?
8.12.2. Quickly Inserting a Contact's E-Mail Address into the
"To" Header if you Cannot Remember It
8.12.3. Manually Adding Someone to your Address Book/Contacts
List
8.12.4. Moving to the Address Book and Finding an Entry
8.12.5. Using the Address Book Find People Feature
8.13. E-Mail Address Groups (Distribution Lists)
8.14. Saving and Moving E-Mail
8.15. Importing and Exporting
8.15.1. Importing Messages, Address Books and Account Settings
8.15.2. Exporting Messages, Address Book Details, Account
Settings and Other Files
8.15.3. Where Outlook Express Keeps its Data Files and How to
Save them and Move them Elsewhere
8.16. Dealing with File Attachments
8.16.1. Attaching a File
8.16.2. Opening and Saving an Attachment
8.17. Inserting Text into an E-Mail Message
8.18. Jump to Links in E-mail
8.18.1. Jumping from E-Mail to a Website
8.18.2. Inserting Jump to Links into your E-Mail
8.19. Sender's E-Mail Address Identification
8.20. Obtaining a Received Message Verification Receipt
8.21. Blocking and Unblocking Specific E-Mail Messages
8.22. Using Message Rules to Sort and Reply to Messages
8.22.1. Step-by-Step Example 1: Filtering Specific Messages into
a Newly Created E-mail Folder
8.22.2. Step-by-Step Example 2: Automatically Replying to E-mail
Messages when Away From Home or the Office
8.23. Obtaining Website Content by E-Mail
8.24. Using shorthand Emoticons in Your E-mails
8.25. Shortcut Menus
8.26. Sending Coloured Business-Type HTML Formatted E-Mails with
Pictures or Sounds
8.27. Accessing your E-mail Whilst Away from Home
8.27.1. Accessing E-Mail whilst Abroad
8.27.2. Accessing E-Mail whilst elsewhere in Your Own Country
8.28. Breaking Large Messages into Smaller blocks for E-Mailing
8.29. Setting up an Hotmail or other Account
8.30. Using Imap to Manipulate Your E-Mail
Section 9: Joining Mail Lists and News Lists
9.1. The Listserv Server
Section 10: Usenet Newsgroups
10.1. What are Usenet Newsgroups?
10.2. component Parts of Newsgroup Names and What They Mean
Section 11: Reading Newsgroups with Outlook Express Versions 5.0,
5.5 and 6.0
11.1. Launching Outlook Express as a News Reader
11.2. Subscribing to Newsgroups
11.3. Deleting a Newsgroup
11.4. Pen-picture of the Outlook express Screen
11.5. Basic Online News Reading
11.6. Filtering News Messages
11.7. Deleting Messages and Headers
11.8. Responding to an Article with Outlook Express
11.9. Introducing a New Topic
Section 12: Reading Newsgroups with Forte Agent and Free Agent
Versions 1.92
12.1. Downloading Agent and Free Agent
12.2. Installing Agent or Free Agent and downloading Newsgroups
12.3. Internet Service Provider Details
12.4. Launching Agent and Free Agent
12.5.Pen-Picture of the Free Agent Screen
12.6. Online versus Offline News Reading
12.7. Subscribing to Newsgroups
12.8. Navigation in Free Agent
12.9. Changing Preferences
12.10. Keeping News Messages
12.11. Deleting News Messages
12.12. Responding to an Article with Free Agent
12.13. Sorting News Messages
12.14. Getting More Help
12.15. Some More Free Agent Keyboard Shortcuts
Section 13: Downloading Files and Programs from the Net
13.1. FTP File Downloads
13.2. HTTP File Downloads
13.3. File Download Steps
13.4. X:Drive Free Web Disk Space
13.5. FTP by E-Mail
Section 14: How to Find People and Places on the Internet
14.1. Search Engines
14.2. Contacting the Domain Postmaster
14.3. Searching through Usenet Newsgroups
14.4. Searching Online Directories
Section 15: Different Ways of Connecting to Accounts
15.1. PPP/SLIP Programs
15.2. E-Mail Programs
15.3. Newsgroup Readers
15.4. FTP Up- and Download Programs
15.4.1. General Overview
15.4.2. Step by Step Example of how to use FTP Explorer
15.4.2.1. General
15.4.2.2. Set-Up and Protocols
15.4.2.3. Uploading and Downloading Files
15.4.2.4. Configuration Tips
15.5. Chat Programs
Appendix 1: Where to Find More Internet Information
16.1. From the Internet Itself
16.2. In Braille
16.3. On Cassette
16.4. By E-Mail
Appendix 2: List of E-Mail Lists Dealing with Particular Topics
of Visual Impairment
17.1. List of VI-Related Lists and Examples of How to Subscribe
to Them
Appendix 3: List of Hundreds of General Websites of Interest
18.1. Recommended Sites to Visit
18.2. Website Resources Accessible by E-Mail
Appendix 4: Keyboard Shortcuts in Internet Explorer, Outlook
Express and Free Agent
19.1. Internet Explorer 5, 5.5 and 6
19.2. Outlook express 5, 5.5 and 6
19.3. Free Agent 1.92
Appendix 5: Glossary of Terms
20.1. Glossary
Appendix 6: Other Tutorials Available from this Author.
21.1. List of and Brief Description of Other Tutorials
Complimentary Close
********
Foreword and Restrictions
I have written this manual and tutorial for the use of blind and
otherwise visually impaired computer users and/or their trainers.
It is free of charge and only available from its author's Website
and from no other distributer.
No individual or organisation is permitted to sell copies of this
tutorial either as a stand-alone tutorial or as an integral part
of any other literary, software or training package.
********
AVAILABLE MANUAL FORMATS
The manual is only available in ASCII text format, as a free
download from the author's Website at:
http://web.onetel.com/~fromthekeyboard
This tutorial and guide has been created with a minimum of
formatting, in plain text, so that any word-processor or text
editor can read it. In this format it should also be suitable for
any one to run it through an embosser but, with some embossing
software, you may still wish to make some line spacing and
heading format changes to suit yourself and your software. A
simple construction such as this should also make reading by
arrowing up and down in your word-processor less labour intensive
than would be the case with columns, shorter lines, and the like.
Colloquialisms, such as don't, haven't, doesn't, etc, have been
avoided in this guide in order to make it easier to follow and
understand via a speech package. Hopefully, any loss of
conversationality and warmth will be compensated for by increased
clarity.
********
TARGET GROUP
Visually impaired computer users are the target group for this
manual. Keyboard access methods and descriptions, using
screenreaders and no mouse or monitor, are the basis of this
work. The manual is more likely to be useful to the Internet
starter who already knows something about Windows keystroke
methods and is already connected to the Internet, rather than the
complete novice. It should take the user from little or no
knowledge about the Internet to a position well into intermediate
stage usage, but it is not envisaged that it will be of much use
to the seasoned Net user who already comfortably uses up-to-date
Microsoft Internet Windows software, other than as a reference
resource. Nor does it attempt to teach
basic Windows operating system competencies.
********
CONVENTIONS
In the writing of this manual, terms have the following meanings:
ALT F, A Means hold down the left ALT key and whilst still
holding it down press the letter f, then release both and press
the letter A.
CONTROL S Means hold down the control key and whilst keeping
it held down press the letter S and then release both.
SHIFT END Means hold down the SHIFT key and whilst keeping
it held down press the END key.
ALT E, C, and press ENTER Means hold down the left ALT key
and whilst keeping it held down press the letter E key, then
release both and then press the letter C key followed by the
enter key.
When a key combination such as ALT T (for Tools), O (for Options)
is suggested to go into the "Tools" menu and run the "Options"
menu option, the user may follow this method of operation or may
prefer to ARROW up and down a menu and press ENTER. In this
latter case, the keystrokes would be: press the ALT key, right
ARROW to the "Tools" menu heading, then ARROW down (or up) until
the "Options" line is spoken, then press ENTER.
All individual and conbinations of keys you actually have to
press during a procedure which have been referred to have been
put in capital letters so that they stand out to anyone reading
this tutorial visually, e.g. to bring up the Open dialogue box
press CONTROL O.
********
Suggested Approaches for Effective Reading of this Tutorial
It is, of course, entirely up to the individual as to how they
glean information and work through this tutorial, but a few
suggestions might assist the learner who is relatively new to
computers. I would propose that you read through the whole of a
section before attempting to practise it to obtain an overview
of what is being done.
There are a number of approaches which might be taken to make
reading the tutorial as a text file and simultaneously carrying
out the instructions more fluid and easier to follow. Try one of
the below methods.
Ideally, if you have two computers, you can load the tutorial
into your text editor or word-processor on one PC and have the
software program running on the other. You can then listen to the
directions on one computer whilst practising them on the other.
Alternatively, as is likely to be the case, if you only have the
one computer, you could launch your word-processor and load the
tutorial into it for reading. You could then launch the program
you wish to learn how to use in order to practise the lessons.
You would have to keep cycling between each running program by
pressing ALT TAB in this case.
Yet another approach might be to take a tape recorder or
dictaphone and get your screenreader to read the contents of a
given section or sub-section onto the tape. You could then play
the tape back and follow the instructions through on your PC
without having to keep moving from one running program to
another.
Other options would be for you to print out a copy of the
tutorial in large print if you can use this and work from this
hard copy, or you could get your local library or resource centre
to produce a Braille version for you to work from if you have one
in your area and you are a Braillist.
********
>Section 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. What is the Internet and how do Visually Impaired People
Access it?
The Internet is a worldwide, interconnected network of computers.
It is also known as the "Information Superhighway" and "surfing
the Web" is the process of jumping from one Web page to another
anywhere in the world. The World Wide Web is not another name for
the Internet. The World Wide Web lives on the Internet and is a
system of interlinked information pages on the Net.
I have written this manual chiefly in respect of Internet
Explorer 5.0, 5.5 and 6.0 and other Microsoft programs running
on IBM-clone computers. Where other programs are described in
detail, it is because they are accessible and may do the job
better than their Microsoft equivalent from a screenreader and
keyboard point of view. Additionally, screenreaders are more
likely to have set files or script files written for well-known
programs than for more obscure ones, so they should be easier to
use.
Internet Explorer Version 4.0 was not very user-friendly to
visually impaired "Web Surfers" but the advent of Version 5 with
its accompanying utilities and the work of screenreader makers
has overcome most of these problems.
Some Websites are more user-friendly to screenreader and keyboard
users than others. The problem is the extensive use of images and
graphics (pictures) on Web pages, some of which do not have text
titles attached to them.
It is essential that the visually impaired surfer gets to know
his/her own screenreader Internet commands and special shortcut
keys thoroughly to minimise time loss and frustration when on the
Net. Studying the screenreader's own manual to master any of its
special Internet commands prior to connecting will more than pay
dividends and could make the difference between using the
Internet being viewed as a tedious thing and feeling that it is,
in fact, a valuable and enjoyable tool for blind people.
This publication does not instruct the user in how to
use any particular screenreader (although some screenreader
special shortcuts are occasionally exemplified in the step by
step instructions) but instead concentrates on the general
keystrokes provided by MS Windows to get things done. In this way
the visually impaired computer user should be able to reasonably
function on the Net irrespective of the screenreader which is on
the computer they are currently using--something which would not
be possible if you only learned the special keystrokes which come
with a given screenreader package to achieve your goals. The most
common screenreader specific keyboard shortcuts, however, are
given in a sub-section below for JAWS, Window-Eyes and HAL to
refresh your memory.
One thing you must keep in mind is that the Internet is
continually in flux, growing and changing. Some Internet sites
and pages you accessed and viewed last week will no longer exist
this week, others will have come into existence within the last
few hours and yet others will still be there but will have been
altered in their construction and general appearance. Therefore,
whilst at the time of writing the keystrokes given herein were
the ones to use to acheive a given end result, This tutorial aims
not so much to get you to follow precise keystrokes on particular
sites only but rather to give you a general grasp of what the
changing Internet is like and the confidence to use it even if
some sites and web pages have changed since both I and you last
frequented them.
The reader may wish to work through this manual section by
section or jump to a particular section which interests them
first. Whichever way you approach this, I would recommend that
you quickly read through it to get an overview of its contents
and decide which approach is best for you in respect of how the
manual is written and layed out. Some readers will find, after
reading Sections 1 and 2, that they might like to jump to
Sections 7 and 8 about e-mailing to get a quick flavour of what
going on line is like and to do something positive on the Net
sooner rather than later. E-mailing, once your PC is set up for
this, is one of the most useful and easier things to do on the
Internet.
1.2. General and Specific Talking Screenreaders for Web Browsing
Some general screenreaders which deal well with Windows and the
Internet plus a number of specific talking Web browsers are
mentioned below.
1.2.1. JAWS for Browsing the Internet
You can obtain a demo or purchase a copy of the general
screenreader JAWS for Windows from Freedom Scientific at:
www.freedomscientific.com
and they also sell a cheaper, cut-down version for specific use
on the Net. JAWS automatically renders Web pages into a word-
processor-style document type of layout to make navigating them
easier and more familiar. Tips on how to use this screenreader
will be regularly demonstrated in forthcoming sections and the
next section features a list of JAWS most useful hot keys for use
on the Net.
1.2.2. Window-Eyes for Browsing the Internet
You can buy or get a demo of the general Window-Eyes screenreader
by GW Micro at:
www.gwmicro.com
Window-Eyes automatically renders Web pages into a word-
processor-style document type of layout to make navigating them
easier and more familiar. Tips on how to use this screenreader
will be regularly demonstrated in forthcoming sections and the
next section features a list of Window-Eyes most useful hot keys
for use on the Net.
1.2.3. HAL for Browsing the Internet
Dolphin's HAL general screenreader can navigate Web pages and a
copy can be purchased from or a demo downloaded from:
www.dolphinuk.co.uk
HAl is able to navigate Web pages as they appear natively and you
can use HALs "Links List" to render links and frames on Web pages
into easier to find and sift through lists. Tips on how to use
this screenreader will be regularly demonstrated in forthcoming
sections and the next section features a list of HALs most useful
hot keys for use on the Net.
1.2.4. PWwebspeak for Browsing the Internet
There is also a Windows 95 Internet specialist World Wide Web
browser available called PWWebspeak by the Productivity Works in
America at:
www.prodworks.com
This specialist browser comes with its own speech engine which
will work through a synthesiser or via a standard 16-bit sound
card and basic computer speakers. However, it cannot deal with
JAVA-based sites.
PWwebspeak was withdrawn from sale in 2002 but has now been made
avalable as a free download. It may be optainable from several
sites but one which has the 6.3 Mb program for download is:
www.soundlinks.com/pwgen.htm
1.2.5. Wemedia for Browsing the Internet
Another specialist Web browser, which came out in the first
quarter of 2001, is from WeMedia and can be downloaded as
freeware directly from:
www.webtalkster.com/wemediatb.exe
This free browser is said to be operable with only six
keystrokes, after you have experience with it. It has its own
text-to-speech engine and interactive help system. In addition
to keyboard command operation, the browser can be operated with
spoken commands via a microphone. Users of this browser also have
easy access to a chat room which it provides and it will soon be
fitted with its own VI-friendly e-mail capability. This program
may be a little too verbose for experienced Web surfers but this
will probably be an advantage to learners. It works with all
current Microsoft operating systems from Windows 95 to Windows
2000 and ME.
1.2.6. Home Page Reader for Browsing the Internet
A further specialist Web browser, again with its own speech in-
built, which is the IBM Viavoice speech engine, is called Home
Page Reader. A demo copy for evaluation can be downloaded from:
www-3.ibm.com/able/hpr.html
>From Version 3.0 (but not with earlier versions) this browser is
able to deal with sites which adopt Java content.
1.2.7. Webbie for Browsing the Internet
More recently a freely downlodable Web page rendering program
called Webbie has become available, which you would use along
side a less advanced or older screenreader. It is available from:
www.webbie.org
or
www.screenreader.co.uk
The executable file which downloads will be called something like
"webbie263installer.exe" and you should find and press ENTER on
this to perform a Windows-type standard, straightforward program
installation. It will have downloaded to your Desktop by default
or anywhere else you have specified such downloads from the Net
to go.
After installing Webbie, you load it to use it before going onto
the Internet from:
Press Windows key, then P (for Programs) and then W several times
(for Webbie) and press ENTER once or twice on the "Webbie" option
to launch it.
Alternatively, place a shortcut on your Desktop from which to
quickly launch Webbie.
Webbie is only around 3 Mb in size and works by presenting Web
pages just like word-processors present information. You can then
easily navigate such as forms and bring up links lists to work
on. for Webbie to work optimally, you will have to have Internet
Explorer 6 installed on your PC. Whilst users of more advanced,
up-to-date screenreaders such as JAWS 4.5, HAL 6 and Window-Eyes
4.21 would not require such an add-on Web page converter, users
of such as HAL 4X and earlier and Lookout screenreaders could
benefit greatly from such a specialist Web page browsing add-on.
Webbie has four main areas on screen: a Menu Bar, a Toolbar, an
Address Bar and the main screen where the Web pages display,
which is the display area. You move from the display area to the
Address Bar by pressing ALT D and from the Address Bar back to
the display area by pressing ALT T. It also has a standard
Windows-type menu structure which you get into by pressing the
ALT key as usual.
1.3. JAWS, HAL, Supernova and Window-Eyes Special Web Page
Navigation Hot Keys
Here I list, as a memory jogger, the main JAWS, HAL, Supernova
and Window-Eyes Web page hot keys when using Internet Explorer
5 and later as of March 2005.
1.3.1. JAWS 4.0, 4.5, 5 and 6
Most of the below JAWS hot keys work with versions of JAWS from
4.0 onwards but a few will only work if you have upgraded to
later versions which have included extra hot keys. If you press
one of these single hot keys and nothing happens, it is likely
that this hot key does not exist in your copy of JAWS, otherwise
you would get some kind of feedback as JAWS would at least
report, for example, "no more divisions found" if you press Z and
your version of JAWS does not feature this particular recent
addition to its range of single hot keys.
Please note that the large INSERT key at the bottom left-hand
side of the number pad is also frequently referred to as the JAWS
key. I will only call it the INSERT key throughout this tutorial,
as this is its most common name when the number pad is turned
off. It is often used in conjunction with other number pad and
main keyboard keys to invoke special combined hot key actions and
so is used in a similar way to the SHIFT key when capitalising
letters.
Press A: To jump to the next anchor on a page.
Press B: To move to the next button on a page.
Press C: To get the current column read out in a table on a Web
page. From JAWS 6 this key's function changes and moves you
between comboboxes.
Press D: to skip to the next different element on a page, e.g.
from a link to an editfield and then, perhaps, to another link
or combobox.
Press E: to skip past the next element on a Web page. This
changes to skipping to the next editfield on a page from JAWS 6.
Press F: to skip to the next form (editfield) control on a Web
page.
Press G: To jump to the next graphic on a page.
Press H: to jump to the next heading on a Web page.
Press I: To skip to the next list item in a list on a Web page.
Press J: To jump to any line in the JAWS virtual buffer after
entering the line's number. You use SHIFT J to return to the
starting point before the jump.
Press K: To jump to the next place marker on a Web page if you
have previously inserted markers on that page.
Press L: to go directly to the next list on a Web page.
Press M: to move to the next frame on a Web page.
Press N: To skip past links on a Web page.
Press O: To go to the next object tag on a page.
Press P: To move to the next paragraph on a page.
Press Q: To move to the next block quote on a page.
Press R: To get the current row read out in a table on a Web
page. From JAWS 6 this key's function changes and moves you
between radio buttons.
Press S: to jump to the next same element on a Web page, e.g.
from edit field to editfield.
Press T: To jump to the next Table on a page.
Press U: To go to the next unvisited link on a Web page.
Press V: To go to the next already visited link on a Web page.
Press X: To go to the next checkbox on a page.
Press Z: To jump to the next division on a page.
Press >: To step past the next element on a Web page.
Press <: To step to the element before the prior element on a
page.
Note 1: Hold down the SHIFT key with any of the above single
letter hot keys to obtain the reverse action, i.e. jump backwards
through lists, tables, editfields, etc.
Note 2: From JAWS 6 you can hold down the CONTROL key and the
INSERT key together and then press any of the above single letter
keys to obtain a list of that particular element, e.g. CONTROL
INSERT Z will bring up a list of the divisions on the current Web
page.
Press ENTER: to turn MSAA mode off when on a form editing field
to be able to type text in. Pressing Numpad + (the PC cursor)
turns MSAA mode back on.
INSERT F1: Obtains screen sensitive help.
INSERT F1 twice: Obtains JAWS help for a specific application.
INSERT A: Reads the contents of the Address Bar.
INSERT W: Provides tips on general Windows shortcut keystrokes.
CONTROL UP or DOWN ARROW: Moves you from one text paragraph to
another on a Web page.
INSERT F6: Places the headings on a Web page into a structured
hierarchical order to quickly ARROW through and press ENTER on
any one to jump there (but only if the page has been written
using HTML structured heading tags, e.g. H1, H2, etc). Before
JAWS 4.01 this command simply took you to the Desktop minimised.
CONTROL INSERT HOME: Takes you to the first form field on a page,
if JAWS has not automatically placed you there already. You will
have to press ENTER to turn MSAA mode off and forms mode on
before you can complete editfields on a Web page or in a form.
CONTROL INSERT TAB: Moves you to the next form field.
CONTROL INSERT SHIFT TAB: Moves you to the previous form field.
CONTROL INSERT END: Takes you to the last form field on a page.
INSERT ENTER: Jumps you to the next instance of text with no
associated link to read that text.
INSERT F7: Invokes a links list so that you can ARROW up or down
the links on a page or jump straight to a link by pressing the
first letter of its name. You can also select between A-Z or Z-A
order, have them in the original page TAB order, have only
unvisited links displayed, only visited links displayed, etc.
Pressing ENTER on one of these links will activate it.
INSERT F9: Provides you with a frames list of the same type as
the above links list.
INSERT F5: From Version 5 onwards, displays a listbox with all
of the controls and forms on the current Web page similar to the
above two list features.
INSERT Z: Toggles the virtual PC cursor on and off.
CONTROL INSERT F: goes into the JAWS Find dialogue to type text
in to jump to this.
CONTROL INSERT TAB: Moves you from the current form field to the
next form field.
CONTROL INSERT SHIFT TAB: Same as the above but backwards through
form fields.
Press INSERT DELETE: To route the virtual cursor to the location
of the PC cursor.
Press SPACEBAR: To toggle checkboxes, select radio buttons and
activate buttons without entering forms mode from Version 4.51
onwards.
Press ALT DELETE: To obtain information about how much of an
online document you have already read as a percentage of the
whole text.
ALT CONTROL NumPad 5: Reads the cell in a table which has focus.
ALT CONTROL left or right ARROW: Moves you left or right through
table columns and cells on a Web page.
ALT CONTROL up or down ARROW: Moves you up or down a cell in a
table.
ALT CONTROL HOME OR END: Moves you to the first or last cell in
a table respectively.
WINDOWS KEY down ARROW: Moves to the next row in a table.
WINDOWS KEY up ARROW: Moves to the previous row in a table.
WINDOWS KEY .: Reads the current collum in a table.
WINDOWS KEY ,: Reads the current row in a table.
CONTROL J: Is the jump to cell in a table hot key.
Pressing the main keyboard numbers 1 to 6: Jumps you from one
heading to another heading on a Web page, e.g. pressing 1
repeatedly keeps moving you through heading 1 level headings,
pressing 2 repeatedly keeps moving you through level 2 headings,
etc. In this way you can quickly move between headings at the
same level and between different levels of headings.
A new concept introduced from JAWS 5.0 is the place marker
insertion, jump to and list dialogue box. You can insert up to
10 place markers on any Web page and give them individual names.
You can cycle through these place markers by pressing the K key
and you can open up the place marker dialogue and view the list
of your markers, add new markers, name them, move them in the
list, remove them and jump to any one you like. You can do this
whilst on a Web page online on the Net or on a Web page held on
your hard disk without being online. There are only three
essential hot key commands involved, as listed below.
Press CONTROL SHIFT K: To open the place marker dialogue box when
on a Web page to insert a permanent marker or make a temporary
marker permanent.
Press K: to jump forward through markers.
Press SHIFT K: to jump backwards through markers.
In practice, what you do with place markers is:
1. Whilst on a Web page with your cursor at the desired place you
want a marker to be inserted, press CONTROL SHIFT K to open the
place markers dialogue box to permanently add, name, move,
remove, change the name of or jump to any place marker.
2. Now TAB to "Add" and press ENTER.
3. Next type a meaning full name into the editfield you are in
such as "phone number for Webmaster" and press ENTER, and you
have now finished inserting and naming your marker.
4. You can now jump to these markers with the above-mentioned K
and SHIFT K commands or you can again press CONTROL SHIFT K to
open the place markers' dialogue and then ARROW to any marker by
its meaningful name and press ENTER on it to jump to it.
The place marker feature has a few other non-essential hot keys
which you may also wish to try, as follows:
Press CONTROL k: to insert a single temporary marker at the
cursor position on a page.
Press CONTROL SHIFT 1 through 0: To get the name of any of the
10 markers on a page spoken to you (this hot key failed to work
for me but perhaps it will work for you).
Press CONTROL SHIFT 1 to 0 quickly twice: To move straight to the
marker associated with that marker number, e.g. CONTROL SHIFT 5
twice to jump to marker number 5.
1.3.2. HAL 5, 6 and 6.5
Please note that, with HAL 6 onwards, the CAPSLOCK key at the
left-hand side of the keyboard is also frequently referred to as
the Dolphin key. I will only call it the CAPSLOCK key throughout
this tutorial, as this is its most common name. It is often used
in conjunction with other keys to invoke special combined hot key
actions and so is used in a similar way to the SHIFT key when
capitalising letters.
Please also note that, when either the CONTROL or SHIFT keys are
mentioned in the below list of hot keys, it is the left key which
should be pressed. Pressing the right CONTROL or SHIFT key may
not work or may achieve a different result.
The following hot keys are available in HAL:
F1: Provides context-sensitive help for the control or other
element which focus is currently on.
F3: Activates HALs find feature to jump to a given word or words
on a Web page. You type the word(s) in and press ENTER to get the
first occurrence of the word found.
F4: This is the find next occurrence of a word hot key, after
firstly invoking the find with F3 as above.
F2: Is the find previous occurrence of a word key, after firstly
invoking the find with F3 as above.
SPACEBAR: Activates (left clicks on) a link, rather than pressing
ENTER as with earlier versions of HAL.
ENTER (return or carriage return key): Puts you into forms mode
whilst on an editfield on a Web page. You can then type
information into an editfield. You may have to press ENTER each
time you encounter such an editfield to type text in. From HAL
Version 6.03 you enter forms mode by pressing CAPSLOCK ENTER and
HAL should then automatically change from forms editing mode to
reading mode and back again without you having to do anything
more.
NumPad +: Starts and stops continuous document read.
INSERT: Is the left click simulation key. To left click and
change to live focus press the A key and to left double click
press the U key.
DELETE: Is the right click simulation key. To right click and
change to live focus press the D key and to right double click
press the E key.
Left CONTROL PAGE UP or DOWN: Moves you upwards or downwards
through any elements of a page which are not links, e.g. buttons,
checkboxes, editfields, etc.
Left CONTROL SHIFT PAGE DOWN or PAGE UP: Moves you from frame to
frame on a page.
Left CONTROL SHIFT HOME: Jumps you to the first form editfield
on a page.
Left CONTROL shift right ARROW: Moves you to the next occurrence
of text which is not associated with a link.
Left CONTROL SHIFT right ARROW: Opposite of above.
Left CONTROL SHIFT DOWN ARROW: Skips you downwards through links
on a page.
Left CONTROL SHIFT UP ARROW: Opposite of above.
Left SHIFT Numpad 0: Gives you the URL of a link which is not
entitled or which has a meaningless title, such as "Click Here".
ALT T (for Tools) then ARROW down to "Dolphin Links Navigator"
and press ENTER: Loads the Links Navigator to format the links
on a page in a row to ARROW through in A-Z, Z-A or Tab order or
jump straight to a link by pressing the first letter of its name.
Pressing ENTER will activate the link. With the introduction of
HAL 5.20 and later versions, the Links Navigator is replaced by
what is known as the Dolphin List Utility, to do the same links
listing and selecting job but more efficiently and it also lists
frames and HTML headings. You can use it for complex Web pages
and for finding your way around HTML help files. With HAL 6, you
also have hot keys of CAPSLOCK 1 to list links on a Web page,
CAPSLOCK 2 to list headings, CAPSLOCK 3 to list frames and
capslock 4 to list what is in the System Tray.
CAPSLOCK ENTER: From HAL 6.03 only, invokes HALs new forms mode
to make such as online shopping sites easier to work on. After
pressing CAPSLOCK ENTER, As you move through a Web page, HAL
intuitively automatically switches out of auto-virtual focus mode
into live mode every time it comes across an editfield or other
similar control to which live mode is appropriate. It will also
automatically return to auto-virtual focus mode when required to
do so in order to allow you to continue reading the Web page to
be able to do things such as activate links.
CAPSLOCK Numpad 7: In HAL 6.03 onwards, speaks the name of a form
label to the left of an editfield if this is not automatically
spoken by HAL in its forms mode because it is out of HAL's normal
zone of detection.
CAPSLOCK Numpad 8: In HAL 6.03 only, speaks the name of a form
label above an editfield if this is not automatically spoken by
HAL in its forms mode because it is out of HAL's normal zone of
detection.
Note: With HAL 5X the general Windows commands of ALT left and
right ARROWS to take you to your last visited Web page backwards
or forwards respectively do not work.
1.3.3. Window-Eyes 4.2, 4.5 and 5
Most of the below hot keys apply to all versions of Window-Eyes
from Version 4.0 on Web pages but the hot keys for using Window-
Eyes in MSAA mode to navigate Web pages immediately below apply
before version 4.5. for those which apply from Version 4.5, see
the new list beneath this first one.
CONTROL SHIFT F1: Brings up WE help but this is not context
sensitive.
CONTROL SHIFT F: Enables the WE find feature. Pressing INSERT F
will continue the search in the same direction.
ALT U: Reads the URL for the current page.
CONTROL INSERT S: Reads the status line, which may have useful
Web page download details.
CONTROL SHIFT A: Toggles MSAA mode on and off whilst MSAA mode
is in automatic loading mode.
INSERT A: Toggles automatic loading of MSAA mode on or off.
CONTROL SHIFT R: Will read a Web page from the cursor to its end.
CONTROL SHIFT S: Provides information about how many lines are
in the current page and what line the cursor is presently on,
plus advice about whether the page has frames.
ALT SHIFT DOWN ARROW: Moves you through links only on a page,
missing out any other elements or controls, such as editfields,
buttons, checkboxes, etc.
ALT SHIFT UP ARROW: Opposite of the above.
ALT DOWN ARROW: Moves you to the next element on a page, e.g. a
link, an editfield, a button, etc, but it takes you to another
type of control which is not the same as the one you left, e.g.
if you were in a textbox you would not go to another textbox but
to something else such as a button, a link, etc.
ALT UP ARROW: Opposite of above.
INSERT ALT DOWN ARROW: Moves you to the next text-only block
skipping all other controls.
ALT CONTROL SHIFT DOWN ARROW: Takes you to a previously visited
link on a page skipping all other elements and unvisited links.
ALT CONTROL DOWN ARROW: Moves you straight to the first control
on a page which is not a link or text line, typically a form
field such as a search box, but you must do this from the top
of the page. Another press takes you to the next control on the
page. You will have to press ENTER to turn MSAA mode off before
you can complete editfields on a Web page or in a form.
ALT CONTROL UP ARROW: Jumps you to the last control on a page
from the bottom of the page.
ALT CONTROL HOME: Takes you to your last position on a page or
to the place you were before you moved to a subsequent page if
moving back to the first page does not land you there
automatically.
INSERT TAB: Invokes the Window-Eyes vertical controls list from
where you can choose to view and ARROW through lists of frames,
tables or links in A-Z, Z-A or to view links in their original
Web page TAB order, etc. Pressing ENTER on a link will activate
it.
F6: Takes you to the attachments list in an e-mail.
ALT CONTROL TAB: Takes you to the first table on a page, when you
then use CONTROL + to enter table mode. CONTROL - leaves table
mode. Pressing ALT CONTROL TAB again will take you to the next
instance of a table on the Web page if there is one.
ALT CONTROL SHIFT TAB: Moves you backwards through tables on a
page.
CONTROL SHIFT H: Lets you cycle through several ways WE will give
you table information, e.g. announce top headings as well as cell
co-ordinates and contents, side headings as well as cell co-
ordinates, etc.
INSERT right, left, up and down ARROWS: Move you one cell at a
time through a table on a Web page right, left, up and down
respectively.
CONTROL INSERT right or left ARROW: Moves you to the end or start
of a row in a table.
CONTROL INSERT up or down ARROW: Moves you to the top or bottom
of a column in a table.
With the advent of Window-Eyes 4.5 and later versions, the hot
keys for working with Web pages in MSAA mode have changed to
those shown below but, of course, many of the above hot keys of
general use on Web pages still work:
Press A: to skip to the next anchor on a Web page.
Press C: To jump to the next control on a Web page.
Press E: to jump to the next fieldset.
Press F: To skip to the next form on a page.
Press H: to move to the next heading on a page.
Press I: to jump to the next list item in a list on a Web page.
Press L: To jump to the next link on a Web page.
Press P: To jump to the next paragraph on a page.
Press Q: To move to the next block quote on a page.
Press S: to skip to the next list on a Web page.
Press T: To jump to the next table on a page.
Press V: To jump to the next already visited link.
Press X: to jump to the next instance of a text field on a Web
page.
Press left BRACKET F: To go to the beginning of the current form.
Press right BRACKET F: To go to the end of the current form.
Note 1: Hold down the SHIFT key with most of the above single
letter hot keys to obtain the reverse action, i.e. jump backwards
through lists, tables, editfields, etc.
Note 2: Your screenreader may have fewer, more or even none of
the above single key shortcuts, depending on its version.
However, slightly earlier versions than those mentioned here
should have most of them and slightly later versions should have
them plus a few more. You should consult the hot keys section of
the online help which comes with your screenreader version.
Press INSERT V: To bring up the MSAA verbosity settings list,
where you can control how much information WE provides you with
on Web pages in respect of listboxes, forms, tables, lists and
other Web page elements.
Press CONTROL Numpad +: To enter table mode.
Press CONTROL Numpad -: to leave table mode.
1.3.4. Windows Operating System Shortcuts.
To view these, see Section 4 below, "What are Web Pages and How
are They Read".
1.4. More Advanced Surfing
This tutorial (Volume 1 of Accessing the Internet from the
Keyboard the Windows Way) takes the
Internet learner through the more commonly used programs and
features pertaining to the Internet. Once you have mastered
these, you may wish to venture into more advanced surfing waters
by freely downloading Volume 2 of this Internet tutorial from my
Webssite. Volume 2 contains sections including:
* The "Helpful Tips and Customisation" section.
* "Internet Shopping".
* "Online Auctions".
* "REALAUDIO RADIO, NEWS AND VIDEO".
* "DOWNLOAD MANAGERS, ADVERTISEMENT BANNER REMOVERS
AND COOKIE CRUNCHERS".
* "INTERNET BANKING".
* "INTERNET CHAT ROOMS".
* All seven of the appendices which you also get in Volume 1.
1.5. Free Virus-Checkers, Firewalls and Spyware Removers
These days, especially if you are on the Internet, you must
deploy at least a good virus-checker and a good spyware remover.
You will probably also want to regularly run a good firewall,
particularly if you are on an online all of the time broadband
connection to the Net.
1.5.1. AVG Free Edition Versions 6 and 7
It is advisable to obtain a virus-checker as soon as practicably
possible to ensure that you do not contract any viruses from the
Internet in general or as downloads with your e-mail. A virus is
simply a malicious piece of computer code written by someone to
do anything from be annoying on your PC or play a joke on you to
being outright destructive and rendering your computer unusable.
A virus-checker should detect such viruses before they can do any
damage and get rid of them for you. There are many commercially
available virus-checkers, such as Dr Solomon's, Mcafee, Fprot,
Norton Antivirus, etc, and prices can vary considerably. However,
there are also some free ones which are quite good and you can
obtain such a freeware virus-checker if you live in the US or UK
from:
www.grisoft.com
but you will have to navigate through several pages and many
links until you get to a "Download AVG Free Edition" button.
Basically, the links you are looking for to press ENTER on in
order are: "Go to Free Download Page", "Download AVG Free
Edition", "Download AVG Free Edition" button, "Yes, I Agree" (at
the bottom of the licence agreement page, then complete the
registration form and press ENTER on the "Continue" button. The
last two steps are where you have to press ENTER on "Please click
Here to Start the Download Process" followed by pressing ENTER
on the "Start Download" button. You will be left on a "Cancel"
button whilst the download is taking place and if you decide to
stop the download, just press ENTER.
Alternatively, for as long as nothing changes, you may find it
easier to download AVG from:
http://free.grisoft.com
This is Version six of AVG which can scan CD-ROM and floppy
disks, your hard disks, your incoming e-mail and will
automatically take you online and download and install updates
to your virus database every week or whenever you like. It is not
free for the rest of Europe! You will, of course, want to go
further into this manual and learn more about the Internet and
downloading and installing programs before you tackle this
particular download and installation but this software is very
usable with a screenreader. I only mention virus-checkers at this
early stage because the sooner you can get one working on your
system the better.
>From September 2003, AVG 7 became available but you will have to
pay for this. It is more advanced than the free version 6 and
probably worth the money for the extra features and esspecially
the extra automation and ease of use. You can obtain a 30-day
trial copy from the first-mentioned above Grisoft site.
It is important that you also download updates to what is known
as the "data" or
"signature" files for your virus-checker. These keep its ability
to detect new viruses up to date so that it does not become
obsolete. You can download these via the "Service" menu of AVG
and these are updated around every three days.
Note: from 31 December 2004 AVG 6 free edition is no longer
available or updatable with data files but by then AVG 7 free
edition will be downloadable from the above Websites. In fact,
AVG 7 free edition became available from November 2004.
1.5.2. Sygate, Zone Alarm and Windows XP Free Firewalls
In addition to a virus-checker, if you are to invest in a
broadband Internet connection instead of using a standard 56K
MODEM, you will need to deploy a good "firewall". You may even
wish to use a firewall with a 56K modem connection as well if you
use the Net frequently. A firewall is an additional piece of
software which is running all of the time you are connected to
the Internet--which will be all of the time you have your Pc
switched on with a broadband connection. Whereas a virus-checker
detects and repairs or disables software or intercepts e-mails
with viruses, a firewall monitors what is coming into your
computer from the Net whilst you are connected to it and will
alert you if any unauthorised person, such as a hacker, tries to
gain access to your computer, plus a number of other safeguards.
Some firewalls are more screenreader-friendly than others and one
which has been found to be usable and is free for download is
called Sygate Personal Firewall from:
www.sygate.com
or
www.whitestick.co.uk/download.html
Another free firewall which you may wish to try is called Zone
Alarm from:
www.zonealarms.com
Windows XP also has its own in-built firewall but this is limited
in how it works, because it only monitors what comes into your
PC from the Internet, not what may be able to get onto your hard
disk via such as a dodgy CD. In other words, it only does half
of a job, because if some undesirable small program is
transferred to your computer from a CD which can then send
messages from your PC whilst you are online to unauthorised
people, Windows XP will not stop this or warn you about it. I
would therefore recommend that you use one of the above two
firewalls instead of the Windows XP offering.
If you want a really top class and very screenreader-friendly
firewall and do not mind paying for it, try Look'N'Stop from:
www.looknstop.com/en/faq.htm
1.5.3. Ad-Aware Free Spyware Remover Version 6
Spyware is software which some Internet sites and disks you may
access puts onto your computer hard disk without your knowledge
so that it can then do such as track and record your movements
on the Net and possibly even record your every keystroke on your
PC and relay this information back to a Website or e-mail address
maintained by unscrupulous persons. This could lead to others
finding out your purchasing preferences and targeting you with
e-mail ads or, much worse, finding out the passwords and credit
card numbers which you use when paying for goods on the net.
You can download the Ad-Aware spyware remover from:
www.lavasoftusa.com
Again, as previously advised, find out more about downloading and
using this type of software in the forthcoming sections before
you tackle this download and configuration.
Note that many people use at least two different spyware removal
programs side by side on their PCs because they are not all
capable of detecting all spyware files and what one misses the
other should deal with, e.g. a combination of use of Ad-Aware and
Spybot Search & Destroy is a common pair of programs to use.
If you have the appropriate sub-version of Ad-Aware 6 and JAWS,
you can download some Ad-Aware Jaws scripts from:
www.jfwlite.com
and, after installing them as usual into the jaws\settings\enu
folder, you can automate the running of Ad-Aware with the
following Jaws hot keys:
1. Start Ad-Aware.
2. Press CONTROL S to initialise the "Scan Now" button.
3. Now press CONTROL N to activate the "Next" button.
4. Wait for the scan to finish and, if you hear the system noise
which alerts you to the fact that you have some spyware on your
PC, press CONTROL M to mark all of the spyware detected.
5. Press CONTROL N for "Next" and you will be asked whether or
not you wish to delete the files. Press ENTER on the "OK" button
to finish and delete them.
>From the summer of 2005 another sub-version of Ad-Aware became
available, which is Ad-Aware 6.06. You can obtain this from the
above Lavasoft Website or you can download it and also obtain
some updated JAWS 4.51 to JAWS 6 script files for it from:
www.accessibleprograms.com
These scripts have their own help file with usage instructions
(press CONTROL H) to hear these and work basically the same as
with the above earlier version as far as the steps and hot keys
are concerned. The basic steps and hot keys are:
1. Start Ad-Aware.
2. Press CONTROL S to initialise the "Scan Now" button.
3. ARROW down to the scan mode you want, e.g. smart scan or
complete scan.
4. Now press CONTROL N to activate the "Next" button.
5. Wait for the scan to finish and, if you hear the system noise
which alerts you to the fact that you have some spyware on your
PC, press CONTROL N to move to the next screen and then ARROW
right on to the "Critical Objects" tab.
6. Now press CONTROL M to mark all of the found objects in the
critical objects list for deletion.
7. Lastly, press CONTROL N for "Next" and you will be asked
whether or not you wish to delete the files. Press ENTER on the
"OK" button to finish and delete them.
Alternatively, if you do not have the correct version of Ad-Aware
6 installed or are using a screenreader other than Jaws, you can
achieve all of the above using your screenreader's mouse
simulation hot keys to navigate and effect left and right clicks,
as follows:
1. Launch Ad-Aware.
2. Using JAWS/mouse/navigation mode all of the time, come up from
the bottom of the screen to the "Start" button and left click on
it.
3. Again, in mouse mode, now locate the "Next" button and left
click on it if you are not already on it, which you should be.
4. Wait for the scan to finish and, if you hear the system noise
which alerts you to the fact that you have some spyware on your
PC, locate another "Next" button, which you should already be on,
and left click it.
5. You now, again using mouse mode, on the "Results" page you
will currently be on, ARROW to and locate the virtical list of
objects (such as unwanted registry entries and/or tracker cookie
files) found and right click on any of them to open up a Context
menu. In this menu you should ARROW down to the "Select All"
command and press ENTER.
6. Again you have to locate and left click on another "Next"
button followed by finding the "OK" button to left click on to
complete the whole procedure.
Warning: Whilst Ad-Aware is a good spyware remover from the
perspective of its ability to find and destroy unwanted spyware,
it is not particularly friendly from a screenreader point of
view. Having said this, nor are most of the other spyware
removers. What you must remember is that, at step 5 above, when
your spyware files have been detected and are in the vertical
list ready for selecting and removal, you must take this first
opportunity to remove them. If you allow this list of spyware
files to close or do not delete them immediately but go back
later and try to do this, then it is unlikely that the vertical
list of unwanted files will become available again for selection,
so you will not be able to get rid of them. You will only be able
to remove them in future if you later contract other new spyware
files to add to the list of unwanted files, when it will then
display again for you to select all unwanted files and get rid
of both the new and old spyware together.
Tip: You can find instructions for manually removing many of the
more common spyware programs at:
www.pchell.com/support/spyware.shtml
and you can read reviews of several anti-spyware programs at:
www.firewallguide.com/spyware.htm
1.5.4. Mail Washer Free Spam Remover
As will be apparent, spam filters remove or highlight spam e-
mails for you, so that you can automatically or individually
remove them. With the free version of Mail Washer you can also
view the contents of your mailbox on your ISP's server and delete
any suspicious messages so that they never get onto your computer
if you like. You can download Mail Washer from:
www.mailwasher.com
1.5.5. Spybot Search&Destroy
Spybot Search&Destroy can find and remove tracker cookies,
trojans and other kinds of malicious spyware code. It is
downloadable from:
www.safer-networking.org
or
www.spybot.com
and is around a 5 Mb download.
********
>SECTION 2
HELPFUL TIPS AND CUSTOMISATION FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED USERS
You may wish to make some of these refinements to your programs
immediately or wait until later when you are more familiar with
the programs mentioned in this guide. Whichever way you approach
this, it is nonetheless a good idea to glance through this
section before you move on.
2.1. Eighteen Configuration, Customisation and other Helpful Tips
1. You may, if your phone line provider is BT and provided that
they do not start to deny people the option of doing this, wish
to opt for the BT Friends and Relatives service in order to
register your Internet Service Provider's phone number as your
best friend number to obtain a 20 per cent discount; otherwise,
register it for a 10 per cent discount.
2. World Wide Web addresses have the suffix "http://" but you do
not need to type this in, as Web browsers fill this part of the
address in for you automatically. Thus, this suffix has not been
given when any website addresses have been indicated in this
manual unless it is needed.
3. To print a Web page, with the page on screen, press CONTROL
P. Pressing CONTROL S will save the page to disk.
4. A "link" on a Web page is a place where you can press the
ENTER key to jump from one part of the page to another to obtain
more information, or from one page to another on the same site
or from one computer site on the Web to another computer anywhere
else in the world. Web page links should be announced by your
screenreader saying something like "link" but if this does not
happen with your screenreader you should turn attributes (such
as colour change and/or style change) on so that these changes
will be announced to alert you to their whereabouts. Links are
normally underlined and in blue text. Some of these links may be
embedded in the middle of other text and form an integral part
of the textual information. You have to navigate to links with
the TAB key, the ARROW keys or your screenreader's special links
list facility and then press ENTER. For example, to invoke the
special links list feature, use INSERT F7 with JAWS, INSERT TAB
with Window-Eyes or ALT T (for Tools) and then ARROW down to
"Dolphin Links Navigator" and press ENTER with HAL 5.
5. You can copy links from a Web page to the Clipboard and then
paste them into the address field in Internet Explorer rather
than retyping them but be aware that this will not work if the
link has been split onto more than one line.
6. If a Web page comes down scrambled, you can press CONTROL R
to reload it or F5 to refresh the screen.
7. To obtain more screen space and not cause your screenreader
to be distracted, in many Windows programs it is worth turning
off the Toolbar by pressing ALT V, T, and unchecking any of the
Toolbars which are checked but this is not essential, e.g. in
Internet Explorer and Word. So, in Internet Explorer, you may
wish to uncheck (by pressing ENTER on them) the "Standard
Buttons" and "Radio" options but ensure that "Links" is checked
on. However, if you are likely to want to use a toolbar to effect
a command, do not do this, or turn Toolbars on and off as
required. Ensure that "Status Bar" is also checked on in the View
Menu.
8. In Internet Explorer, to speed up page downloading (if you do
not use a monitor), press ALT T (for Tools) and then O (for
Options), CONTROL TAB to the "Advanced"
property sheet and in the "Accessibility" list ARROW
down this long list of options and uncheck (turn off by pressing
SPACEBAR when on them) "Play
Animations", "Play Videos", "Show Pictures" and "Smart Image
Dithering". Ensure that the
following are checked on: "Always Expand ALT Text for Images",
"Notify When Downloads Complete" and "Play Sounds". It might also
assist some screenreaders if you then CONTROL SHIFT TAB back to
the "General" sheet, TAB to "Accessibility" and press ENTER, then
ensure that "Ignore Colours Specified on Web Pages", "Ignore Font
Sizes Specified on Web Pages" and "Ignore Font Sizes Specified
on Web Pages" are all checked on; but "Format Documents Using My
style Sheet" should be checked off.
9. In order to facilitate faster initial page loading and avoid
the introductory advertisements which present themselves when you
first load Internet Explorer, you can have it load with a blank
page. To do this, with Internet Explorer running, press ALT T for
Tools, O for Options, and in the "general" property sheet TAB
forward to "Use Blank" and press ENTER. Then TAB on to OK and
press ENTER. In future, when you start Internet Explorer, it will
open with a blank page and your screenreader may announce the
word "About". You just continue as normal (see Section 4 for how
to launch Internet Explorer).
10. Some screenreaders may read what is on the screen better if
you surf in "full screen" mode. All you have to do to obtain full
screen mode is press the F11 key or press ALT V and arrow up to
"Full Screen"and press ENTER. Pressing F11 again returns you to
normal mode. Experiment to discover which view is best for you
but be aware that full screen mode makes a program completely
fill the screen, so title bars, menu bars, status lines, etc,
will disappear.
11. To speed up connection to your ISP and make site connections
and downloads quicker, go To "My Computer" on your Desktop and
press ENTER. Then ARROW down (or right) to "Dialup Networking"
and press ENTER. ARROW to and place the focus on your Internet
provider, e.g. Onetel, Freeserve, BT Internet, etc, and then open
up its context menu by pressing SHIFT F10. Now ARROW up to
"Properties", press ENTER followed by pressing CONTROL TAB to the
"Server Types" property sheet. Now TAB to "Advanced Options" and
in here ARROW DOWN AND ensure that all of the following are
unchecked: "Log Onto Network", "Enable Software Compression",
"Require Encrypted Password", "Require Data Encryption" and
"Record a Log File for this Connection". Then TAB
to OK" and press ENTER to finish.
12. With Outlook Express 5.01 and later, upload and download time
(especially with a slow PC/MODEM/ISP server) can be saved by
turning off "Request a Read Receipt for all Sent Messages" and
ensuring that "Never Send a Read Receipt" is selected in Tools,
Options, Receipts (see Section 8, sub-heading "Obtaining a
received Message Verification Receipt").
13. If your MODEM is inexplicably disconnected from the Internet
frequently it could be that your MODEM is too sensitive to signal
lapses. To increase the time that your MODEM stays connected
during lapses you may find that the following helps:
A. Press Windows Logo key and then S (for Settings), followed by
C (for Control Panel).
B. Press M until MODEMS has focus and then press ENTER.
C. TAB to "Properties" and press ENTER.
D. CONTROL TAB to "Connections" and then TAB to "Advanced" and
press ENTER.
E. TAB to "Extra Settings" and type the following string in:
s10=50
This is all you type if there is nothing else in this editfield.
If some other information is already in there, you just leave a
space at the end of the other details and type the s10=50 at the
end of it.
This will now mean that your signal can lapse for up to five
seconds without your MODEM cutting off.
F. To finish, now TAB to "OK", then to another "OK", followe by
TABBING to "Cancel" and press ENTER on each of those buttons.
G. Close the Control Panel by pressing ALT F4.
14. Whilst some screenreaders automatically make use of
Microsoft's Active Accessibility facility (MSAA), others can only
use it if it is specifically enabled. JFW and Window-Eyes
automatically use MSAA but some versions of HAL require that you
manually install MSAA. To enable MSAA for Windows 95 and 98, so
that ALT tags and other special screenreader friendly features
can be used with HAL:
A. Press the Windows Logo key followed by F to open the Find
facility, then press ENTER and type in the editfield which you
will fall in "msaardk.exe".
B. TAB to "Look In" and ensure that C: has focus--you may have
to ARROW up and down to achieve this--then press ENTER.
C. The msaa.exe file will be found, so just press CONTROL A to
highlight this file followed by pressing ENTRE.
D. You will then be told that MSAA will be installed, so press
ENTER on the "Yes" button. After about 30 seconds you will be
informed that installation is finished, so press ENTER on the
"OK" button.
E. When asked to restart the PC, TAB to "NO" and press ENTER. u
return to the Find dialogue box, so press ALT F4 to close this
down.
F. You now have to enable MSAA in Hal's control panel by pressing
CONTROL SPACEBAR, followed by CONTROL TAB to the "General
Settings" property sheet. Then press ENTER.
G. Now Press TAB until you reach "MSAA Detection" and select it
by pressing the SPACEBAR.
H. You finish by pressing ESC twice, when MSAA will be loaded and
usable by Hal. All you now have to do is reboot the computer
before going onto the Internet.
15. If, when using Outlook Express, you experience the system
intermittently trying to take you back on line when you do not
want this to happen, it may be that you are set up to check the
existence of new messages periodically. If you wish to stop this:
A. Press ALT T (for Tools), then O (for Options.
B. You drop into the "General" property sheet, so TAB down to
"Check for New Messages Every" and press SPACEBAR to unselect
this. Otherwise, if you still want periodically taking on line
to check for new messages but less frequently, just TAB once more
to the next line and alter the figure in their to a larger one,
e.g. type in 60 if you only want the system to check for new
messages every 60 minutes.
C. TAB to "OK" and press ENTER to finish.
16. When running Outlook Express, the program may from time to
time, without you requesting this, attempt to take you online.
If this is an annoyance to you, you can stop it by:
A. With Outlook Express running, press ALT T (for Tools), then
O (for options.
B. CONTROL TAB to "Connections" and then TAB down to "Change" and
press ENTER.
C. Next TAB six times to "Always Dial My Default Connection" and
ARROW down once to "Never Dial a Connection" and then TAB to "OK"
and press ENTER.
D. Now just TAB once more to another "OK" button and press ENTER
to finish.
17. If you can make use of a monitor with Internet Explorer
provided that the text on it is large enough, you can change the
"Medium" size text on screen, which is the default (standard) way
it is set up, by:
A. Press ALT V (for View).
B. Then press X (for Text).
C. ARROW to "Large" or "Largest" and press ENTER.
Conversely, if you do not use a monitor and this will not
adversely affect anyone else using the same PC, you could select
"Small " or "Smallest" to ensure that you get as much text onto
the screen as possible.
18. If you are using JAWS 5.0 or later and you are having
problems with Websites which employ Macromedia Flash, you can
tell JAWS to ignore this and therefore view pages without such
as unwanted frequent page refreshing, screenreader stammer, etc.
You have to do this in the JAWS Configuration Manager by:
A. Press INSERT F2 and then ENTER on "Configuration Manager".
B. Press ALT S (for Set Options".
C. ARROW down to "HTML Options" and press ENTER.
D. Now hold down the CONTROL key and press the TAB key until you
reach "Misc".
E. On the "Misc" property sheet TAB down to "Ignore Flash on Web
Pages" and press the SPACEBAR to check this off.
F. Now TAB to "OK" and press ENTRE.
G. Lastly, leave the Configuration Manager and save your new
settings by pressing CONTROL S and then ALT F4 if necessary.
********
>SECTION 3
USING THE INTERNET VIA AN INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER (ISP)
3.1. Types of ISPs
You can connect to the Net by either signing up with an online
service such as Compuserve, who charge a fee for their service;
or by signing up with a provider for an Internet "Account", in
which case you usually receive a PPP account, many of
which are free, except for the cost of the phone calls. The rest
of this section concentrates on PPP accounts.
PPP stands for Point-to-Point Protocol and allows your PC to link
up and fully integrate with the internet. All
PPP accounts are in fact versions of IP (Internet Protocol) which
is the underlying part of TCP/IP (Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol), which is the way that all computers
on the Net communicate with each other.
Note: One of the main alternatives to a PPP account is a DOS
"shell" connection but this is fast becoming obsolete and is less
flexible than a PPP account, e.g. it cannot access online audio
and it is unable to filter Web page content.
To use a PPP account you need two types of programs:
1. a TCP/IP Stack (also known as an Internet dialler program) to
get you connected to the account, e.g. DialUp Networking in
Windows 95 and later Microsoft operating systems.
2. Client programs,such as e-mail programs and Newsgroup readers.
Some well-known PPP/SLIP programs for Windows 95 and later
operating systems which work with the standard Windows
winsock.dll driver are:
Netscape Navigator/Communicator and Internet Explorer--Web
browsers.
Realaudio and Shockwave--for sounds via the Net.
Eudora, Pegasus and Outlook Express--for e-mail.
Free Agent and Outlook Express--to read newsgroups.
MIRC and Microsoft Chat--for Internet chatting.
N.B.: Winsocs are programs which interface between (act like
drivers) TCP/IP programs running in Windows and the Internet
itself.
3.2. What You Need to Get Connected with a standard or BroadBand
MODEM
What you require to get connected is:
1. A fast MODEM, preferably 33.6 KBPS or faster, to connect your
PC to the Internet via the phone socket. For slower computers
such as 486-based machines, you will be better off using an
external MODEM or internal "hardware" MODEM; whereas faster
Pentium-based machines will not only work with both of the
foregoing types of MODEMs but also with the more economical
"software" internal MODEMs. It is also recommended that you
obtain a V90 or higher standard MODEM to avoid compatibility
problems with some ISPs.
You can also rent a very much faster broadband permanent
connection to the Nett via a cable provider, such as Onetel, NTL
or Telewest in the UK. Other broadband options are provided via
ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber link), such as that provided
by BT, which uses the existing coper wire phone lines, but will
require a more expensive ADSL modem, although BT have recently
started to give these away if you sign up for their packages
online. More recent broadband connection methods are via wireless
and satellite, the former using microwaves received by an antenna
on your roof, whereas the latter uses TV channels to transmit
data like cable does but you still need a standard phone line to
communicate with the satellite via your ISP. These four broadband
options usually permit you a download speed of between 512 and
2048 KB per second, although some areas can achieve speeds of
upto around 8,000 Kb per second. If you wish to run more than one
computer via your phone line, you can employ a router instead of
an ADSL modem. In either case, you will also require a micro
filter for your phone wall sockets.
In the UK, since the second half of 2003, you can, in some areas,
even rent a fifth type of broadband connection. This is known as
"BroadBand over the mains" and is a Symmetric DSL connection
(SDSL), having both upload and download speeds currently at 1
megabit per second. Speeds of two or three times this are planned
for next year. You need a special MODEM to run this, which simply
plugs into your standard 3-pin mains socket.
To clarify, broadband is defined by the official UK regulator
(OFCOM) as an Internet connection which is always on and is at
a minimum speed of 128 kilobits per second.
2. A cable from your computer into a standard phone socket on the
wall. This usually comes with your MODEM.
Warning 1: It is not advisable to use standard quality reel-type
multi-strand phone extension wire to extend a MODEM cable to a
far-off phone socket. It may work OK but is likely to cause your
line to the Internet to be dropped more than would otherwise be
the case. The wiring inside this type of extension, whilst fine
for robust telephone communications, is not of good enough
quality to transfer the delicate signals of many MODEMS. You
should extend any cabling with single strand, copper cabling,
which can be purchased from BT shops.
Warning 2: What is known as the "gain" on a phone line is
basically the speed at which or sensitivity with which a phone
line carries messages. The standard gain on a BT phone line is
set to zero. This is fine for robust telephone voice
communications but often not good enough for sensitive MODEM
signal transfer, particularly if the line to your nearest phone
exchange is at a considerable distance. If you are experiencing
frequent failed connections to your ISP or regular line cut-offs,
you may be able to remedy or at least mitigate this problem by
ringing BT and asking them to increase the gain on the line. I
am advised by BT that the highest level that they can increase
the gain to is 4, as a gain above level 4 is likely to cause echo
on the line and thus result in the line getting worse rather than
better.
3. A computer fast enough to run Windows 95 or a higher operating
system. Fast computers will also permit you to multitask, e.g.
listen to realaudio music at the same time as waiting for a large
file to download from the Net.
4. A micro filter or splitter for each wall phone socket you
intend to use for connecting to the Internet. These micro filters
will allow you to use such a wall socket both for your Internet
connection and also as a voice phone line connection
simultaneously.
3.3. Getting your Windows PC set up for a PPP connection
You should:
1. Arrange for a PPP account from a provider who only charges for
calls at the local phone call rate.
2. Obtain a software disk from an ISP (Internet Service Provider)
which contains the TCP/IP software and possibly a full browser
such as Internet Explorer, e.g from NTL, Onetel, Dixon's/Pc
World's Freeserve (comes with Internet Explorer), Waterstone's
(comes with Internet Explorer), etc. All of these incur local
phone call charges. One package which has no charges, not even
for your online time, is Screaming Net run by the Tempo
electrical and electronics retailers, but you have to sign up to
have all of your regular phone calls routed via them at their
call rates. One of their London branches is on 020 79375166.
Their website is at:
www.screaming.net
but note that this company now seems to have been taken over by
another, so their services and terms may have changed.
3. During the installation of the software, type in any passwords
and other provider details that are requested. (This can be
confusing and difficult for the beginner, so you may need to
phone the newuser help line or, even better, recruit a friend
with knowledge of such things.)
You can get TCP/IP software by either buying it from a vendor,
or phoning an ISP such as Freeserve and asking for a free disk
or by persuading a friend already on the Internet to download a
program from the Net.
Note: Things move so fast in this industry that, since I wrote
the first version of this manual in April 2000, Cable and
Wireless has been bought out by NTL. To discuss NTLs offerings
in respect of the Internet, which currently include free internet
phone calls provided that you spend at least œ10 a month on
standard voice phone calls with them, ring their Customer
Services on 0800 0929001.
3.4. Connecting to Your ISP
Windows 95/98, Me and XP comes with all the software you require
to connect to a PPP account using "Dial-Up Networking". When you
finish you can place a shortcut to Dial-Up Networking on your
Start Menu or Desktop, or you can create a shortcut key
conbination to launch it. This can be useful to use if you want
to come offline from the Net at times when your client software
has failed to take you off. Otherwise, if you have an always
online broadband connection, you will already be online and will
not need to use a dial-up facility.
To call your account (using a dial-up connection rather than a
broadband connection) you run the Dial-Up Network program an
press ENTER on the "Connect" button. Do this by:
1. pressing ENTER on your Desktop shortcut (if you have one) or
by navigating to Dial-Up Networking by pressing your Windows LOGO
key (either side of the ALT keys), then pressing P for Program
Files, then pressing A until you get to accessories (press
ENTER), then C for Communications (press ENTER), followed by
one or two presses of D to get to "Dial-Up Networking" and press
ENTER.
2. Dial-Up Networking will run and you will be on the button to
"Make New Connection", so ARROW down or right to the name of your
current Internet service provider and press ENTER.
3. You will be presented with a list of editfields to complete,
which should already be completed, so TAB to "Connect" and press
ENTER. If you do not want to have to remember or input your
password every time you go online, check (press SPACEBAR on) the
"Save Password" option.
4. You will go online to your server within a few seconds (if it
is not too busy).
5. You can then run Internet browsing client programs such as
Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, PWWebspeak, Home Page
Reader or what ever you choose to browse the Web with. Of
course, if you elect to run these Net surfing programs first,
they will automatically connect you to your ISP by grabbing
Dial-Up Networking for you and connecting you. This, to some
extent, makes the above explanation unnecessary, except for that
it is worth knowing what is actually taking place when you go on
line and you may also have to go into Dial-Up Networking from
time to time to make configuration changes.
Note: It is possible to have more than one e-mail account. If you
set up more than one account, you can switch between accounts as
and when you like. Similarly, you can have several internet
service providers and use whichever you like at any time. You can
simultaneously download e-mail from several e-mail account
inboxes.
3.5. Making Changes to or creating a new Internet Connection
If you need to change some of your Dialup Networking details,
such as your password, username (log-in name), the phone number
used to ring your current ISP, etc, or if you want to set up a
completely new ISP connection, you should:
1. Go into Dial-Up Networking as described in 1 above.
2. You will land in a list of your current ISPs, on the "Make New
Connection" option. You would press ENTER on this if you wanted
to subscribe to a new ISP (see the next sub-section for a solid,
real-live, step-by-step new ISP sign up) . On the other hand, if
you wanted to make minor changes to your current ISP details, you
would ARROW up or down or right or left until the name of it has
focus, e.g. BT Internet, Onetel, etc, and then press ENTER.
3. You will now have several titles with editfields which you can
complete or change the details in after BACKSPACING out what
might already be in their first, e.g. Your ISPs phone number,
Username (this is your log-in name), your password (which will
be replaced with asterisks so no one can see it), etc.
4. If you press ENTER on "Dial Properties" you can view (and
change, if necessary) such things as the number Dialup Networking
rings to access your ISP, your own town's area code, the country
you are living in, select between "Tone Dialling" and "Pulse
Dialling", whichever your home phone uses, then TAB to "OK" and
press ENTER.
5. You will return to the first dialogue you were in, so either
TAB to "Connect" and press ENTER to go on line with your new ISP
or your old one but with the changed details, e.g. a new phone
number for them if they have changed it, or just press ALT F4 to
leave the Dialup Networking program altogether.
If at 4 above you had been trying to set up a new ISP connection,
rather than just adjusting the settings or phone number, etc, for
your current ISP, you would have had to type in a name for your
new ISP, go to the "Next" button, complete each set of
information editfields as they come up until all the information
is provided. There is also a "Configure" button if you need to
enter this multi-page set of property sheets to make adjustments
to your MODEM's internal speed, bit rate, etc, but this should
not normally be necessary.
3.6. Solid Step-by-Step Example of Subscribing to a Pay-As-You-Go
ISP Service and Creating a Desktop Shortcut to it--The UK2 ISP
Service
If you are a UK resident and f you currently have all the
components you need to get online via an ISP but are not yet
connected and only want a basic connection or you want to set up
a second ISP connection as an alternative to your current one,
try the following UK2 ISP service. Set it up simply as follows:
1. Go to Dial-Up Networking by pressing Windows key, then P (for
Programs), then press ENTER on "Accessories", followed by C (for
Communications) and ENTER and, lastly, press D (for Dial-Up
Networking).
2. You will fall on the "Make New Connection" button, so press
SPACEBAR and then ENTER on this to open up the new connection
dialogue.
3. In the editfield you come into, type over what is in their
with the name of the new ISP you wish to set up or any other name
you want to have this known by, e.g. since this is to be set up
with the UK2 provider, why not just type in here "UK2".
4. Then TAB to "Next" and press ENTER.
5. You now come into the "Area Code" editfield and, since the
whole phone number for the UK2 connection is 0845 6091370, you
just type the area code of 0845 in here.
6. Next TAB once to the "Telephone Number" field and type the
remaining main phone number of 6091370 in here.
7. TAB once again to the Country or Region Code" editfield and,
if it is not already on United Kingdom , press the first letter
of the country you want until it is highlighted, e.g. press U to
eventually get to United Kingdom.
8. Then again TAB to "Next" and press ENTER.
9. You should now be told that you have successfully created a
new dial up connection called UK2 (or whatever you called it) and
you should now TAB to the "Finish" button and press ENTER to
complete the procedure.
10. You can, of course, access this new ISP service the long way
round via Program Files, Accessories, etc, as mentioned above and
get onto the Internet in this way or you can create a Desktop
shortcut to it for quick and easy connection and disconnection
to the UK2 ISP. To create a Desktop shortcut what you would do
is:
A. If you have left the Dial-Up Networking dialogue box, Go back
to it by pressing Windows key, then P (for Programs), then
pressing ENTER on "Accessories", followed by C (for
Communications) and, lastly, press D (for Dial-Up Networking).
However, if you did not leave the Dial-Up Networking dialogue
after step 10 above, you will be able to simply continue as
below.
B. Move from the "Make New Connection" button you will now be on
to the name of the provider you gave above, such as UK2, by
ARROWING up, down, left or right to it.
C. Now open up a Context Menu by pressing SHIFT F10 and ARROW up
to the "Create Shortcut" option and press ENTER.
D. You will receive a message saying that you cannot create a
shortcut here but offering you to create one on the Desktop
instead, so just press Y (for yes) to achieve this.
E. Now press ALT F4 to close the Dial-Up Networking dialogue box.
F. Now press Windows key M or D to get to the Desktop and then
press S until the "shortcut to UK2 shortcut icon is reached. To
change this shortcut name to something a little more sensible,
just press the F2 key to open up the renaming editfield and then
type the name you want the shortcut to be known as in here and
press ENTER, e.g. "UK2 Dial-Up".
11. To go on line either:
A. In future, to go online to the Internet via this new UK2
Internet service provider, all you have to do is go to this UK2
Dial-Up shortcut on your Desktop and press ENTER on it, when the
UK2 0845 6091370 phone number will be dialled and you will be
taken online to surf the Net. However, before you get onto the
Internet, you will be in the connection dialogue box and will be
asked for a username and a password, which are both completed
with the word "UK2" before pressing ENTER to go online. Once
online, just open your Web browser, such as Internet Explorer,
as usual (see the next section for how to do this).
or
B. Alternatively, you can go onto the Net by launching Internet
Explorer first then type into the Address Bar the URL (Web
address) you want to go to and then press ENTER. You will be
taken to the dial-up dialogue box to select which ISP you want
to use to go online with, e.g. if your main ISP is Onetel, this
will be selected as the ISP to be used by default (as standard)
but if you want to use your newly created UK2 ISP connection,
just ARROW down the list of ISPs to "UK2" and then TAB on to
"Connect" and press ENTER.
12. To come offline and therefore disconnect from your Internet
service all you have to do is launch the dial-up ISP connection
again, whether it be UK2 or any other ISP, e.g. via your Desktop
shortcut, and then TAB once to the "Disconnect" button and press
ENTER. Note that with some ISPs going to the shortcut to Dial-UP
Networking on your Desktop is not necessary, as the ISP itself,
after you close down your browser, will offer you the options of
staying on line or closing your phone line connection. The latter
usually happens with the UK2 ISP.
Note 1: At the time I added the above sub-section (December
2004), the cost of using the UK2 ISP service was 4p per minute
during the day and 1p after 6 p.m. and at weekends, with a
minimum of 5p charged for the first 1 to 5 minutes of surfing,
which is the same as or very similar to usual 0845 numbers. If
you are wondering how you pay for this type of service, what
happens is that the cost of online surfing time is added to your
BT bill. The UK2 ISP company receives a cut of your online
spending for providing the ISP service and BT also receives a cut
of expenditure for providing the phone line and the means of
billing.
Note 2: As an alternative to getting to the Dial-Up Networking
utility via your Desktop shortcut or the Windows key and Program
Files path, you can also access it by pressing Windows key and
E to open Windows Explorer and then press TAB once to a list view
before ARROWING down a list of drives/icons/shortcuts to your
several drives and a number of useful utilities including Dial-UP
Networking, printers, Control Panel, etc. Just press ENTER on any
of them to access it.
3.7. List of UK Dial-Up Services (non-broadband)
The below Providers supply varying services such as a free ISP
with 1p a minute pay-as-you-go for online telephone time. Others
will charge the standard local charge for phone calls, the amount
you pay depending on whether you go online at peak or off-peak
times. Yet other suppliers will provide a package at a monthly
charge with either free call charges all of the time or perhaps
just after certain times of day and at weekends. Some provide
Website space of varying amounts and others may also give you e-
mail addresses to use. Technical support call charges can vary
greatly from being free (e.g. Global.Net) to up to œ1 per minute
(e.g. Virgin.net). Others charge for support at local or national
rates.
Beeb.net: Tel 0808 1004950.
Global.Net: Tel 0870 9098000.
BT Internet: Tel 0800 800001.
Clarinet: Tel 0845 355100.
Freeserve: Tel 0990 500049.
MSN Network: Tel 0870 6011000.
Onetel: Tel 0800 9570700.
Telewest: Tel 0800 9535383.
UK Online: Tel 0800 0534500.
Virgin.net: Tel 0500 558800.
3.8. List of UK Broadband Providers
The below are all either broadband or cable providers. Their
download speeds vary from 128 to 2048 Kbit/s (kilobits-per-
second) and some work even faster. The most common download speed
is 2048 Kbit/s. UPload speeds may vary from 128 to 3072 Kbit/s
(an eighth of a Gb to 3 Gb) but this will improve year on year.
Connection fees can range from nothing to over œ200. Some of them
provide no Website space for you to create your own Website in,
whilst others include up to 500 Mb of Web space. Some provide no
e-mail addresses and others provide several addresses.
BT Openworld: Tel 0800 800001.
Clarinet: Tel 0845 3551000.
Freeserve: Tel 0870 0102462.
Nildram: Tel 0800 0260950.
NTL: Tel 0800 831234.
Onetel: Tel 0845 2720052.
Pipex: Tel 0870 6004454.
Plusnet: Tel 0845 1400200.
Telewest: Tel 0800 9530454.
Tiscali: Tel 0800 5421717.
Zen Internet: Tel 0870 6000971.
Lixxus: Website www.lixxus.co.uk. This provider has both monthly
payment and pay-as-you go broadband offerings.
Note: If you want to make a preliminary check as to whether your
phone line/exchange are able to provide you with a broadband ADSL
connection, you can do this by phoning the BT check line service.
Just ring 17070 and then choose options 3, then 1 and lastly 2
and replace the receiver. In a few seconds you will be phoned
back to tell you if your line is or is not suitable.
3.9. Broadband Over the Mains Provider
Since the second half of 2003, you have been able, in some areas,
to obtain a broadband over the mains Internet connection which
works by plugging a special MODEM into your 3-pin mains electric
supply. This currently runs both uploads and downloads at 1
megabit per second (mbit/s) and is expected to increase to 2 or
3 mbit/s next year. For more information surf to:
www.southern-electric.co.uk
or
www.hydro.co.uk
3.10. Changing Your Broadband Provider
Should you be discontent with your current broadband provider,
you can change them to another provider. However, you would be
advised to check certain facts before doing this if these are
important to you, e.g. that the new broadband ISP is able to
support your current e-mail address and that they can take over
any Website you may have. For example, The procedure to change
an ADSL broadband ISP in the UK is to contact the ISP you wish
to move to and they will then contact the BT Wholesale section
to request that your current broadband service be migrated to
them from your old ISP. BT Wholesale will then inform your old
ISP that you wish to migrate and will allow 10 working days for
it to agree to the transfer. On agreement, your account will be
transferred and your new ISP will be charged œ35 by BT, which
your new ISP may absorb itself or pass onto you. If the old ISP
refuses to let you migrate your current account, you should phone
them to try to persuade them to do so and if they still refuse,
you can always simply close the old account without migration and
then start again by opening a new account with your new ISP (but
your e-mail address, Website details,etc, will, of course, become
invalid in this case).
********
>SECTION 4
INTERNET EXPLORER VERSIONS 5.0, 5.5 AND 6.0
Whether you use Internet Explorer 5.0, 5.5 or 6.0, there are few
differences in their contents or how they work. Of note is that
versions of IE later than Version 5.0 feature a "Receipts"
property sheet which can be found within Tools, Options.
Similarly, IE6 provides a feature not in earlier versions, called
"Privacy Report", which is on the View menu and has an
associated "Privacy" property sheet in Tools, Options. Both of
these additions will be covered in this section as well as the
other main features pertinent to all three versions of Internet
Explorer. However, note that IE6 requires at least Windows 98 to
run.
4.1. Internet Protocols, Server Names and File Paths
When you go onto the Internet with a browser such as Internet
Explorer, Netscape Communicator, etc, you will be using certain
protocols and server names, and you can also designate a
directory or folder or particular document path if you know this.
There are therefore three elements to such a URL. Firstly, the
protocol is the HTTP:, FTP:, USENET, GOFER, etc, element of an
Internet address (URL). Secondly, there is the server name, which
may comprise the server computer name or the domain name and
possibly some other identification details. Thirdly, the path
contains directory/folder names and eventually a filename
(document or program). For example:
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/wordtips.htm
where the protocol is the "HTTP:" part, the server name is
"www.microsoft.com" and the path is the "enable/wordtips.htm"
part. For more information on protocols and download procedures,
see "FTP File Downloads" in Section 13.
When you are on a particular Web page in Internet Explorer,
having activated one or more links since being on the home page,
you can observe (and make a note of if you wish) the path to that
particular page by moving to the line underneath the Menu bar and
observing the "Address Bar". You will probably have to do this
in your screenreader's mouse or navigation mode. For instance:
www.hj.com/tutorials/wordtutor.html
but you have to ensure that the "Address Bar" is turned on in the
"View" menu by pressing ALT V, T and then ARROWING to "Address
Bar" and pressing ENTER to check it on if it is not already
checked. In future, if you wish to go straight to that particular
wordtutor.html file or page, you could just type the path to it
straight into the Address Bar when you start Internet Explorer
(see the steps to follow below for more details).
Note: The different levels of directory leading to the program
or document you wish to reach are separated by forward slashes,
not back slashes.
4.2. Launching Internet Explorer
There are several ways you can start Internet Explorer running.
See which of the below methods you prefer.
4.2.1. Launching Internet Explorer from its Executable File on
Your Hard Disk
You can start Internet Explorer from its place of residence on
your hard dis by:
1. Press Windows key and release it.
2. Then press P (for Programs).
3. Either ARROW down the list of programs in here to "Internet
Explorer and then press ENTER or press I (for Internet Explorer)
to open it without having to ARROW to it.
4. Internet Explorer will loadin and start for you to either go
onto the Internet with to view Web pages or to view any Web pages
you may already have on your computer's hard disk.
5. If you want to go straight onto the World Wide Web, you can
do so by typing a site's address in by either:
A. Pressing ALT D to go to the address bar (if you have this
showing), or
B. Pressing CONTROL O to activate the Open dialogue,
Then type the site URL in, e.g.:
www.tesco.com
or
web.onetel.com/~fromthekeyboard
and press ENTER, when the required site's home page will then
load for you to browse through.
Or, alternatively and more conveniently, you can create a
shortcut on your Desktop or Start Menu from which to launch
Internet Explorer, as directed below.
4.2.2. Creating a Shortcut and Launching Internet Explorer from
It
I Would recommend that you put a shortcut on your Desktop or
Start Menu (if one is not already there) from which to quickly
launch Internet Explorer. You can then run it by simply pressing
Windows Logo key D, press I until "Internet Explorer" is
highlighted and then ENTER on the shortcut label. This will not
only be helpful to you but to any sighted members of your family.
Alternatively, you could create a unique shortcut key
combination, such as ALT CONTROL I to launch Internet Explorer
with but this would, of course, not be very helpful to others who
do not know your shortcut.
Internet Explorer will then launch and you can go onto the Web
by typing a site's address in by either:
A. Pressing ALT D to go to the address bar (if you have this
showing), or
B. Pressing CONTROL O to activate the Open dialogue,
Then type the site URL in, e.g.:
www.tesco.com
or
web.onetel.com/~fromthekeyboard
and press ENTER, when the required site's home page will then
load for you to browse through.
To create a Desktop shortcut for Internet Explorer, or any other
program or folder for that matter, you would:
1. With Windows 98 and some versions of Windows 95:
A. place focus on Internet Explorer by pressing Windows Logo key,
then P (for Program Files) and then ARROW down to Internet
Explorer.
B. Now press SHIFT F10 to bring up a Context Menu and ARROW to
"Send To" and press ENTER.
C. Lastly, ARROW down to "Desktop" and press ENTER.
2. If the above is not possible with your operating system, the
longer way to achieve this is:
A. Press Windows LOGO key followed by the letter S, then press
T.
B. Then press CONTROL TAB to the "Start Menu Programs
Property Sheet".
C. You will and on the "Add" button, so press ENTER. Then tab
to the "Browse" button and press ENTER.
D. You will be asked for the executable filename, so type in
"iexplore.exe" and then TAB to the list of folders on your c:
drive under the "Look In" line. Press right ARROW on C for your
c:\ hard disk drive and then Press TAB to a list of the folders
on the C drive. Then press P until "Program Files"
is spoken and then press ENTER.
E. Now press I until "Internet Explorer" is spoken and press
ENTER.
F. Press I until "Iexplore.exe" is highlighted and then press
ENTER.
G. Press the TAB key to the "Open" option and then press
ENTER.
H. Then TAB to the "Next" button and press ENTER. You are
asked where you want to place the shortcut, so ARROW up to
"Desktop" and then press TAB to "Next" and press ENTER. Note that
you pass "Start Menu" on your way to "Desktop", so you could stop
there if you wanted to put this shortcut on your Start Menu
instead of your Desktop (but remember that your Start Menu can
become full so that no more can fit onto it).
I. You are asked to select a name for the shortcut and given
"Iexplore.exe" as an option. If you want to change this, just
type over it, e.g. with "Internet Explorer", and then press TAB
to the "Finish" button and press ENTER.
J. Now press TAB to the "OK" button and press ENTER to
complete the procedure.
K. You can now, in the normal way, go to this shortcut on
your Desktop by pressing Windows Logo key M followed by I until
"Internet Explorer" is spoken and then press ENTER to load it.
Note: You can also create shortcuts in the above way for any
other file, folder or disk drive on your computer and to Web
pages.
4.2.3. Other Methods of Launching Internet Explorer
If you do not wish to place a shortcut on your Desktop or Start
Menu, Internet Explorer, by default (as standard), is
contained within the Program Files folder. You can therefore also
run it by navigating to it with My computer or Windows Explorer
or by using the "Run" option on your Start Menu. To do this via
the "Run" facility you would hold down the Windows key and
press the letter R, then type the full path to the executable
file in the editfield which comes up. This would be:
c:\progra~1\intern~1\iexplore.exe
or
"c:\program files\internet explorer\iexplore.exe"
(ensure that you include the double quotes in the above line)
and press ENTER.
You should come up onto the start screen for Internet Explorer,
but if you are taken to the "Connect" button immediately, press
ENTER to go online or just press the ESCAPE key to go to the
start screen without going online.
Alternatively (and even more conveniently and easily), you can
use the above same Run dialogue to type in the appropriate Web
page address, Website filename or Website audio file to either
open a given Web page, download a specific file or start the
playing of a particular audio file by streaming (playing it
directly) from the Net. For example, if you wanted to open the
Talking computers audio magazine for visually impaired people
main home Web page and hear the Talking Computer's Editor's
introductory audio file welcoming you to their site, you could
do the following:
1. Press Windows Key R.
2. Type into the editfield which you are now presented with the
address of this site, which is:
http://tc.pressakey.net
and press ENTER.
3. Internet Explorer (or whichever other Web browser is your
default (usual) browser will launch and (if you are not already
online) you will be taken online, the Talking Computers home Web
page will display and its introductory audio announcement will
be heard.
Note: You can do this even if, at the same time, you have another
program running such as MS Word, Excel, etc, and if you then wish
to return to that first running program, you can simply close
your Web browser or press ALT TAB to cycle to it without closing
the browser.
4.2.4. Starting Internet Explorer with a Blank Page or Starting
it with a Specific Home Page Automatically Loading
If you like, you can make Internet Explorer launch with a blank
page rather than waiting for a specified page on the Net to load
in every time you go online. Conversely, you can take the
opposite approach and have a given page you like to go to and
have regularly loaded in when you go online. Do this as follows:
To start with a blank page and therefore not have to wait for an
unwanted page to load before you can continue:
1. With Outlook Express running, press
ALT T (for Tools) and then O (for Options).
2. You will be in the "General" property sheet, so TAB to "Use
Blank" and press ENTER.
3. Now SHIFT TAB back to "OK" and press ENTRE to finish.
To specify a given home page to open each time you go online:
1. With Outlook Express running, press
ALT T (for Tools) and then O (for Options).
2. You will be in the "General" property sheet and should be on
the "Home Page Address" editfield, so just type in here the
Website home page address (URL) you want to have opened every
time you go online, e.g.:
web.onetel.com/~fromthekeyboard
for my own Website home page.
3. Now SHIFT TAB back to "OK" and press ENTRE to finish.
4.3. Internet Explorer Temp File Cache Size
Once you have opened a Web Page it is automatically saved to a
temporary folder in your \Windows folder. If you then want to go
back and look at this same page again, Internet Explorer will
access this on- disk page, rather than taking time to open it
again from the Net. This speeds the process up. You can speed
things up even further by increasing the size of your cache
(amount of disk space devoted to this), if you have plenty of
free hard disk space. To do this:
Press ALT T, O, and in the "General" property sheet TAB to the
"Temporary Internet Files Settings" button and press ENTER. Then
TAB to the "Amount of Disk Space to Use" box and left ARROW to
increase this or right ARROW to reduce it. Increasing from 1 or
2 per cent to 10 per cent should make a fair degree of
difference. Then press ENTER on OK twice.
In the two last dialogue boxes you can view the contents of your
temporary Internet folder and empty it if you wish to reclaim
some disk space.
If you know that you have recently been on a particular Web page
which is updated regularly, the quick reload method which
Internet Explorer uses to speed page loading up may not suit your
needs. In this case, after the on-disk page has been loaded, you
can press F5 to "refresh" the page, which means that the browser
will be told to go back to the Website and reload the most up-to-
date version of the page you want.
4.4. What are Web Pages and How are They Read
A Website is a collection of interlinked Web pages on a
particular computer on the Nett. The first page is the home or
index page. Web pages can contain text, pictures, animations and
audio and video clips. Pressing ENTER on a "link" on a Web page
may take you to another link on that same page, to another page
on the same Website or to a page on another computer altogether
anywhere else in the world.
When you have loaded a Web page of text and pictures and the text
on that screen has all been automatically read to you (24 lines
per screen), you press the PAGE DOWN key to hear the next screen
of information. Pressing PAGE UP takes you back a screen of
information and reads it. Pressing CONTROL PAGE down moves you
to the next page and CONTROL PAGE up takes you back a page. Up
and down ARROW keys should permit you to read the page a line at
a time, otherwise do this in your screenreader's navigation or
mouse mode.
Pressing the TAB key moves you forward to the next element on the
current page, e.g. link, button, editfield, etc, whereas pressing
SHIFT TAB takes you back an element.
If you want to go back to the link you were last at (previous
page, previous site, etc), you press ALT LEFT ARROW key. If you
want to go forward a link, you press ALT RIGHT ARROW key.
(Remember, these two latter commands do not work if you are using
HAL 5X.) To
return directly to where you first started out, i.e. your opening
page when first launching your browser, press ALT HOME.
Internet Explorer also has a Go to visited page history feature,
so that you can view and go back to any page you have already
been to in the current surfing session. You get to this history
by pressing ALT V (for View( and then O (for Goto) and ARROWING
up and down the already visited page names and pressing ENTER on
any of them.
You are likely to find that every time you open a new page within
a site, you are presented at the top of the page with the same
list of pictures, advertisements, logos, navigational bars with
image buttons on them, list of links to go to, etc. The relevant
section of the new page you have loaded may only appear halfway
down the new page. You will have to ARROW or TAB quickly past all
of this time and again to find what you want, which is tedious
but necessary, unless your screenreader has a special jump past
header links shortcut or links only
links list facility which allows you to go easily to a specific
link, put links in alphabetical order, display only unvisited
links, etc, such as is available with the JFW 3.7 INSERT F7 and
INSERT F9 commands, The Window-Eyes 4.0 INSERT TAB and CONTROL
TAB commands or by downloading MS Powertoys and using its SHIFT
F10 and "Links List" option. Another way to quickly get past
these repeated header links is to press PAGE down once or twice
until you jump past them or, if the page has frames, press
CONTROL TAB once or twice to jump past the header frames.
As you move around a Web page, in addition to encountering
readable text, you will come across icons and images (pictures)
which are meaningful to a sighted person but may be meaningless
to a screenreader. Your screen reader may only be able to
announce such as "image" or "bitmap" (or just say nothing) when
it falls on these pictures. However, if the Webmaster (the person
who wrote the Web page) has done his job thoroughly, he should
have placed text titles at the side of these icons which your
screanreader can read out to you to clarify what the picture is
or what will happen if you press ENTER on an iconised link. These
text titles are known as "ALT tags".
Some Websites employ what are known as "frames". A good
screenreader should be able to allow you to negotiate frames but
some cannot cope with them very well. A frame is an area on a Web
page where similar types of information is stored but there are
likely to be several frames on screen at once and, depending upon
what you do in one frame, the layout and content of another frame
may change. this usually makes browsing such sites more
difficult, although not necessarily impossible. The more up-to-
date and better quality screenreaders can now deal quite well
with frames and have special keystrokes to do this. The standard
Windows keystroke to move from one frame on a page to another is
to press CONTROL TAB until you get to the frame you wish to look
at and then you can ARROW down the information in the frame you
are currently on. CONTROL SHIFT TAB moves you backwards through
frames.
4.5. Reading Web Pages Offline
Remember, provided that you have a reasonable sized cache on your
hard disk to hold already visited Web pages, you can always go
to these already visited pages again without being online and
incurring phone costs. You may wish to do this if a particular
page is very big, with hundreds of links and considerable amounts
of text. You achieve this in the normal way by pressing CONTROL
O, typing in the Web page address and pressing ENTER. Internet
Explorer will attempt to take you online but you just TAB to the
"Work Offline" option and press ENTER. The on-cache page
)providing it exists on your hard disk) will immediately be
loaded for viewing in the usual way. If you decide that you want
to visit a specific link on the page, just press ENTER on it,
when you will be taken to the "Connect" button to go online and
find it if it also is not already on your hard disk cache. If
this too is in your cache, then it will be opened immediately
without you being taken online.
You can, in fact, save much time by quickly going through all of
the links on a Website which interest you, starting with the home
page, opening them all one by one to get the related pages dumped
onto your hard disk. You can then, in the normal way, view the
pages and use the links on them to open other on-cache pages
without being on line. You can do this no matter how deep the
layers of sub-pages and sub-links go. However, you will not be
able to complete and then later submit things like order forms
with purchase basket details, credit card details, etc, without
first going online, normally via a Secure information server. If,
once you have come offline to examine the several pages you have
downloaded to cache, you press ENTER on a link which does not
have a corresponding page in your hard disk cache, you will be
taken online to that page.
One other thing you should keep in mind in respect of revisiting
Web pages on-cache is that, if the page has been in your cache
for a long time, it may be out of date, i.e. the site it came
from may have been updated since you originally visited it. In
this case, you will need to go back on line to obtain an up-to-
date cache copy of the relevant page or pages, which will
overwrite your original page or pages.
4.6. E-Mail Links on a Web Page
Many Web pages, particularly the home page, will contain an e-
mail link, so that you can press ENTER on this and then type in
a comment, request, etc. This link is often labelled "Send Mail".
What actually happens when you press ENTER on such a link is that
your default e-mail software will launch, e.g. Outlook Express,
and you can then complete the e-mail details in broadly the usual
way (see from step 4 in "Sending E-Mail" in Section 8 below for
step-by-step instructions). The "To:" line of the e-mail header
will have automatically been completed for you with the
recipient's e-mail address. After sending your e-mail message to
your e-mail Outbox, you will be returned to the Web page from
where you opened the e-mail client to continue surfing. Later you
will need to activate the send facility on your e-mail program
to finish the e-mail message sending process.
It is worth noting, however, that if you have a lengthy message
to send, you do not have to type it at the above online stage.
You can, instead, after pressing ENTER on the "Send Mail" link,
simply press ALT S to save the uncompleted message to your
Outbox, when only the e-mail "To:" address details will be saved.
Then, later, go into your Outlook Express Outbox, press ENTER on
the message and then complete the "Subject":" line and the whole
message body whilst offline. Finish by sending the message as
normal with ALT S followed by CONTROL M.
4.7. The Internet Explorer Favourites Folder
The favourites facility permits you to record and save the
whereabouts of given Websites, Web pages and links on pages you
visit and would like to quickly return to in future. The
favourites folder already has a number of already set-up
favourite places to be taken back to in it and you add others
yourself. The favourites folder is quite flexible, as
demonstrated below. You can export and send favourites elsewhere,
move them around, rename them, create sub-folders for them, print
them out, sort them by name within their current folder, view
their properties, and so forth.
4.7.1. Using the Favourites Folder and Adding More Favourites to
It
You can place your favourite URLs (Internet addresses) in the
Internet Explorer favourites folder and organise the subfolders
in this folder but you must remember that Windows 95 uses this
same favourites folder in which to save favourites from other
programs.
To bookmark or add the current page (on the Web site you are
presently at) to the favourites folder, press ALT a, and press
ENTER on "Add to Favourites". You will be offered a filename for
the page, so if this is acceptable just press ENTER. If not, type
a different
filename into the editfield you will be in and press ENTER.
To go to one of your favourite Web pages, as bookmarked above,
press ALT A (for Favourites) and ARROW
down through the favourites folders, press ENTER on the one you
want and ENTER on the page name that you want.
4.7.2. Viewing the Contents of Your Favourites Folder
To view the contents of your favourites folder, press ALT A and
ARROW down the list and press ENTER on any of the menu options
(but you may have to go into your screenreader's mouse navigation
mode to view the contents).
An alternative way of displaying the contents of your Favorites
folder is by using the Run dialogue of Windows, e.g. press ALT
R, type favorites (American spelling) into the editfield and
press ENTER.You can then ARROW up and down and left and right and
press ENTER on any of the favourites to be taken online or to be
taken into a sub-menu of favourites if one exists. To leave this
favourites list, press ALT F4 once or twice. Note that you enter
favourites in this way without having Internet Explorer running
at the time and that you must use the American way of spelling
favorites.
4.7.3. Creating Folders and Sub-Folders within Favourites
To create folders or subfolders within favourites, when on an
existing favourites folder or sub-folder, press ALT A, O, and
press ENTER on the "Create New Folders" button. You can also
delete favourites from this dialogue and move files from one
folder to another. When you create a new favourites folder, it
appears on the favourites menu.
For example, to delete a favourite, press ALT A, O, and then
ARROW up to the "Favourites" button and press ENTER. The
favourites list will open and you can ARROW down these to the one
you want to delete and press the DEL key followed by Y to confirm
the operation.
4.7.4. Organising, Deleting, renaming, Printing Out and making
other Modifications to favourites
To alphabetise the contents of your Favorites folder, in order
to be able to find given listings in a long list more easily,
press ALT A (for Favorites) and then ARROW down to any favourite
listing and press SHIFT F10. Now from this context menu ARROW to
"Sort by Name" and press ENTER, so that your Favorites list will
now be sorted by page title. If you have sub-folders of
favourites running off from your main list, you will have to open
each folder and use SHIFT F10 to be able to alphabetise each sub-
folder. Note that there are numerous other actions which you can
effect from the above Context menu, such as deleting a favourite,
renaming a favourite, etc.
Similarly, to get the favourite you are currently on in the
favourites folder/list, press SHIFT F10 and then ARROW down
through the list of possible actions you can carry out on that
favourite listing and press ENTER on it to achieve that action,
e.g. to print its details out, to rename it, to delete it, etc.
4.7.5. Saving and Exporting a copy of Your Favourites Folder and
of Your Cookies for Safe Keeping or for Use on Another Computer
For example, to export and save a copy of your favourites folder:
1. Press ALT A to open the folder.
2. Press ALT F (for File) and then I (for Import and Export) and
then press ENTER on "Next".
3. You will now be in a list containing four choices, namely to
import or export favourites or to import and export cookies.
ARROW to "Export Favourites" and press ENTER.
4. To highlight all favourites for exporting, press CONTROL A and
then ENTER on "Next".
5. You now export to a file by TABBING to a filename editfield
which, by default, is usually set to save to C:\My
documents\bookmarks.htm, so if this suits you, accept this path
and filename by TABBING to "Next" and pressing ENTER. If you
would like to save elsewhere, provide the path to this location
but ensure that you give the file an .htm extension, because it
is saved in HTML format, e.g.:
a:\bookmarks.htm
6. Lastly, press ENTER on "finish" and then on "OK".
7. You can now deal with this favourites file in two ways,
either:
A. On your current or another computer, go through the same
procedure as above but at step 3 select "Import Favourites" to
overwrite the favourites folder on that other machine with the
saved favourites folder.
B. Alternatively, if you do not wish to overwrite the favourites
folder on another computer, you could also carry this favourites
file around on your floppy disk or copy it to another computer
so that when you wish to go online to any of your favourite
Websites, you can just launch Internet Explorer, press CONTROL
O to open the Open dialogue and then type the favourite filename
in to open a list of your favourites links, e.g. type in
A:\bookmarks.htm. Now ARROW or TAB to the site link you want and
press ENTER on it to be taken online to that location.
Note 1: At step 3 above, if you had of chosen "Export Cookies",
you would have been able to save copies of your valuable cookies
for reinstallation if you ever lost them or for copying onto
another PC elsewhere, such as your laptop. By default, the
cookies text file saves to My documents and is called
"cookies.txt". This is covered in detail in Volume 2 of the
Internet tutorial.
Note 2: Saving your cookies and favourites bookmarks files can
be a worthwhile exercise to perform from time to time in its own
right as a means of backing up these valuable data files which
it may have taken you weeks or months to create and build up.
4.8. Saving a Page or Opened File in Internet Explorer
To save a Web page or such as an opened text file, with the page
or file on screen, press ALT F, A, type
in the path and filename to save to, such as a:\bbcpage or c:\my
documents\bbcpage, TAB to "Files of Type" and select the format
to save in,e.g. press T for a plain text format, TAB to the
"Save" button and press ENTER. You can also TAB to and ARROW
through other folders in the above "Save As" dialogue box to save
to if you prefer, in the standard Windows way.
If you want to read your Web page or text file in a given
program, such as a Web browser or Microsoft Notepad, make sure
that you save the page in the appropriate format and give the
file a suitable filename extension, e.g. nero.htm or nero.html
to save a Web page from the Nero Burning-ROM Website in HTML
format or tutorial.txt to save an opened text file on screen
respectively. Of course, if you wanted to have your file
automatically open in Microsoft Word, then you could save it as
a rich text (rtf) or text (txt) file but specify that it has a
.doc extension.
When, after saving the above page, you want to read it in such
as Microsoft Word or MS Wordpad, press CONTROL O and type:
c:\my documents\bbcpage.txt
or whatever you called it, in the editfield. Press ENTER and
Word or Wordpad (or most other editors and word-processors) will
open the file for you. You can, of course, also use Microsoft
Notepad to do this when Internet Explorer has been shut down by
using Notepad in the normal way via the Open option on the File
menu.
Note: By default, Internet Explorer automatically saves copies
of the Web pages you have already been on and the cookies you
have downloaded in the Windows folder at:
C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\
under a filename such as Index.HTM or Index.html or whatever
other name the HTML file originally had. So, if you want to look
through these and possibly open one of them for reading offline,
you should use CONTROL O and type the path in in Internet
Explorer; or use the Run dialogue (ALT R) to do this; or, if you
do not know the exact filename of the HTML file, navigate to it
using Windows Explorer as usual.
4.9. Downloading a File from the Net or Opening it Online
When you are on a link on a Website which permits the downloading
of a file and you activate this link by pressing ENTER or
SPACEBAR on it, for example, a file with such as a .zip
extension, you will normally be placed in a dialogue box which
you can TAB through and which offers you two options. The default
option is "Save this Program to Disk" for you to download the
file and save it to your hard disk. The second option, which you
would need to ARROW to, is "Run this Program from its Current
Location", which permits you to open the file and run it from its
Website location before deciding whether or not to download and
save it.
In the vast majority of cases, you should elect to save the file
to disk, so that you can then later run your virus-checker on it
to ensure that you have not downloaded a virus with the file,
particularly if the file is an executable file with such as a
.com, .exe or .dll extension, or a word-processor file. After
choosing to save the file to disk, you will be given the file's
current filename to save it to or you can type over this filename
with a filename of your own choice.
The second option, to open and run a file or document from its
current location, is not normally recommended. Having said this,
if the file you may wish to run from its current Website is not
an executable or word-processor file and you want to have a
glance at it before downloading it or you want to listen to a
sound file before downloading it, you can do so. This should be
safe to do with such as plain text (.txt) files and sound files
as these are not virus carrying executable or macro carrying
word-processor files. The file will open in its associated
program for you to view or listen to, e.g. Notepad with .txt
files or Windows Media Player with such as .wav files.
4.10. Doing Two Things at Once in Internet Explorer
You can continue to browse the Net whilst a file/program is
downloading. Whilst the download is going on, press ALT F, N, and
hit ENTER on "Window". You can now use the standard keystrokes
of CONTROL O (or ALT D), type in the page address and press
ENTER, to open
a new Web page.
Similarly, you can open to windows as above but this time to load
in two Web sites with similar information on them to compare
each. You just view what is on Website/page one and then press
ALT TAB to move to the second Website/page to view that and use
ALT TAB again to move back to the first page. You can close any
of the windows by pressing ALT F4 on them.
4.11. Sending a Copy of a Web Page or Link to Someone Else
When you have a Web page on screen and would like to send a copy
of it to someone else, you can do this by:
1. Press ALT F (for file), E (for send).
2. You will now have three choices which you can ARROW through:
send "Page by E-Mail", send "Link by E-Mail" or send "Shortcut
to Desktop". The first of these will ensure that your Web page
is appended to an e-mail message and sent where you want it to
go; the second will send a link (URL) by e-mail, so that the
recipient can press ENTER on this and be taken to the Web page
you have on screen right now; and the third option will place a
shortcut on your Desktop to the page you are currently on, so
that you can press ENTER on this in future to have Internet
Explorer loaded and take you straight there. For this example,
I will deal with the "Page by E-Mail" fea