| Home » ABCs » Time |
Saving Time Using AT&T Worldnet Service
As soon as we got the WURD that AT&T Worldnet Service was going to put a limit on your monthly online time, we decided to start gathering tips and tricks that would help you to make the most of your time online. We categorized them as follows:
Note: Be sure to read the disclaimer at the bottom of this page. Use of any of the suggestions on this page is at your own risk!
If you have any additional questions, try out FAQs. If you're new to newsgroups, please read our Newsgroups tutorial for a brief introduction to newsgroups and instructions on how to participate in them.
Using Newsgroups
One of the best ways to cut down on your online time is to read newsgroup posts offline. There are specialized news programs that are very good at this (Agent and Free Agent), and the newer Internet suites from Netscape and Microsoft allow you to do this also. Check out our instructions on Saving Time by Reading News Offline for details. You can find information on newsreaders at the WURD on News Readers and AT&T Worldnet Service.
Surfing the Internet
Internet Agents automate many routine and often time-consuming tasks, giving you more time to have fun surfing the 'net. A sampling of Agent tools include filtering and downloading Web sites, automatically downloading product updates and bug fixes, and alerting you when Web sites have been updated. While 'net agents may not be the perfect panacea for keeping up with the constant evolution of your favorite products and Web sites, they do go a long way towards helping you stay as up to date as possible with the latest information that the 'net has to offer.
Includes:
NetAttaché - offers Web site archival capabilities, personal spiders that automatically download Web-related information for you, and routine comparison checks for notifying you when your favorite Web sites have been updated. The initial innovation that distances NetAttaché from the competition is its filtering agent, which will automatically scan Web sites and download only the information important to you. For example, NetAttaché will, at scheduled intervals, check a Web site for revised information. Any new information that meets your needs is then downloaded and presented to you in the form of a news brief when you run the client. The key feature here is NetAttaché's ability to identify differences on Web pages and then filter through to you only the information that you deem critical. Another of NetAttaché's innovations is its implementation of these functions using advanced desktop-server technology which in turn provides higher levels of performance.
Another major feature of NetAttaché, and perhaps its most useful, is the ability to scan sites and identify the occurrence of specific information. Using its Smart Search function, NetAttaché scans a Web page (and several levels below if you wish) and notes the occurrence of specific text patterns. Think of this as your own personal search engine for each of your favorite Web sites. Just enter the information you wish to find and allow NetAttaché to easily detect the presence of the data you are interested in. This results in the generation of a Site Map whereby the entries containing the matches are identified. Additionally, the matches are consolidated in a separate listing from which you can quickly jump to the Web pages with the matching text. And since the Web site has been retrieved and stored on your hard disk, you are able to receive the Web page or pages immediately.
Linkbot - To save time in maintaining a Web site by ensuring that your existing information remains accurate. Linkbot will scan entire Web sites for you and produce reports that detail broken links, missing images, pages with stale content, orphaned (unused) files, pages with slow download times, and much more. The client can also be set up to run on an automatic basis in order to ensure your Web site's reliability on a consistent basis.
BackWeb - have news, multimedia, even software updates sent directly to your computer and it all gets delivered in the background.
Other offline Web Browsers
Internet Utilities
Includes:
AutoWinNet95 - will check your favorite FTP and Web sites for the latest apps and updates available, and it will keep on checking these sites until it's able to get through (no more pressing the reload button a thousand times to get through to Netscape's server). It will download your favorite Web sites (minus the graphics) for your later perusal. AutoWinNet will also download the latest articles from your favorite newsgroups, letting you view them off-line later. There's even built-in support for two of the most popular newsreaders, Forte's Agent and Microplanet's Gravity.
Internet Control Center - ICC easily automates the very routine and often boring task of waiting for a connection to the 'net and then having to manually launch several apps, with the advantageous result of having more time to spend actually cruising the 'net.
ByteCatcherPro - will detect Internet disconnections and automatically re-connect and resume downloading of FTP and HTTP sessions without the loss of any data and without any user intervention.
Online News Clients - running in the background, they deliver a variety of news-related services, including up-to-date information on stocks, sports, business, entertainment, technology, weather, and more.
Reading and Sending E-Mail
One of the easiest things you do to help maximize your time online is to simply log off after your e-mail is retrieved and read it offline. Then you can compose your messages and replies and then log back in to send them.
Chatting
Some chat programs, such as mIRC, have timers that will keep track of your chat time. Set a length of time that you want to chat, and use a timer to keep you from using more time than you should. You can find more information on chat clients at the WURD on Chat and AT&T Worldnet Service.
Maintaining Your Personal Web Page
You can save a great deal of online time by creating and maintaining your Web site offline using your favorite tools, and use an FTP Tool to upload the whole thing in one shot. For additional information on HTML Editors and FTP Tools, get the WURD on Personal Web Pages@att.net. Some HTML Editors, like Microsoft's Front Page, might try to connect to the Internet when you try to preview your Web pages. You can get information on how to fix this at the following url:
Downloading Software
We all want to have the latest and greatest software... right? Well, to cut down on your download time, try doing your downloads when most people are asleep! I know, I know... if everyone has the same idea, downloads will be the slowest in the middle of the night! LOL! Seriously though, no matter how fast your modem is, your download will only go as fast as the server that contains the material that you want to download. The more people that are trying to access it, the slower it is. There are programs available that you can use to start the download, and that will disconnect when the download is completed. Check the following sites for these types of programs:
If you have a problem connecting at one of these sites, go to your favorite Tucows site, and select Network Tools, then FTP Applications. If you don't have a favorite Tucows site, go to http://www.tucows.com and select one close to you.
There is also another option... don't download software at all. Contact the software company and request that the software be sent to you on a cd. Some software companies will do this for a nominal charge, and then you will have the cd if you need to reinstall later.
Upgrading Your Modem
To get the most bits and bytes for your online session it helps to have a fast modem. Today modems come as fast as 56Kbs. So if you're still using 14.4 or 28.8 it wouldn't hurt to upgrade and see the improvement. If you're thinking about getting a 56K modem, be sure to check out WURD's 56K FAQ.
Monitoring Your Usage
By keeping track of your online usage, you can better ration the time you have available and develop a schedule based on your usage patterns. You have several options:
- You may monitor your time by selecting Member Services in the AT&T Worldnet Help section of the att.net home page. Select the Review your Usage and Monthly Statements option. You will be redirected to the billing page after authenticating. You can save a couple of steps if you add the following page to your favorites or bookmarks.
https://memberservices.att.net/msws/AcctSummary
Please remember that the data is always 24-48 hours old. The first time you access that page, all start times shown are in Eastern time. You can change it to your local time zone if you prefer. - Use a third party timer to monitor your online usage. Links to download sites for some online timers are below:
If you have a problem connecting at one of these sites, go to your favorite Tucows site, and select Internet Tools, then Online Timers. If you don't have a favorite Tucows site, go to http://www.tucows.com and select one close to you.
Modem Sharing (Internet on a LAN)
For those of you with two or more computers on a Local Area Network at home there is the option of modem sharing (Internet on a LAN). This allows two (or more) people to use the Internet at the same time connected by the same modem.
This is much cheaper than another phone line + another account. Since you are only using one connection it does not violate your Terms of Service with AT&T Worldnet Service like using one AT&T Worldnet Service account via two phone lines does.
Naturally this would mean that your response time will be slower when two people are trying to download something at the same instant, but often this potential contention will not be a big factor.
For more information, also see the following sites:
Microsoft has a program called Proxy Server, code named Catapult that will do this. Discussion on that product can be found in:
Lantastic has a feature that allows this as I am sure most other powerful networking programs will.
Also, you may want to check Google Groups to see what others have said about these programs: