*** ANSWERMAN INTERNET EXTRA *** For the week of April 21, 1997 This is the free weekly newsletter for the community of Internet users on America Online. =*=*= IN THIS ISSUE =*=*= AnswerMan's Update -- Getting help online Upcoming Weekly Focus -- What's coming up The End -- How to contact us or unsubscribe =*=*= WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK WITH ANSWERMAN =*=*= Go to keyword: For: ANSWERMAN Daily tips and Internet message boards AM FOCUS Oodles of Internet information NET HELP Get quick help for your Internet questions NET TUTORIAL A journey of 1,000 miles begins with this keyword AM GLOSSARY Decrypt that Internet jargon Here are direct links for AOL 3.0 users: Go to keyword ANSWERMAN Go to keyword AM FOCUS NET TUTORIAL =*=*= ANSWERMAN'S UPDATE =*=*= Howdy folks. This week's newsletter is going to be short -- I'm back from Vegas but still recovering from the fun and frolic that I had there. The e-mail that I got while away could stun an ox. But I'm catching up, and next week's newsletter will be back to full speed, with the long-awaited topic of games on the Internet. For now, I'll touch briefly on getting computer help online. Some people use e-mail as their first line of attack when trying to approach a computer problem -- be it with AOL, the Internet, Windows graphics drivers, or whatever. I can see the allure of e-mailing someone for help: you hope to get a personal answer to your problem, and it's downright easy to fire off a mail message to someone like AnswerMan or a tech support person. But that's not always the best way. I can't say that it's never the best way, but e-mailing for help has its drawbacks. First, it's relatively slow -- why wait for hours or days to get an answer if you can find it yourself in minutes? The fact is that the answers to many questions -- about the Internet and computer stuff in general -- are already out there. Although it may seem that you're the only person who has suffered the indignity of a crashing web browser, or who has wondered about the best way to make a web page, you aren't alone. Many souls before you have asked those questions -- and the people with the answers have put them online for future generations. My ultimate point is this: if you ask a person for a solution to a problem, you'll get it -- but when your next question comes up, you'll be back to square one. If you know how to search for answers yourself, you're all set for all-you-can-eat info at the salad bar of life. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime. Here are a few keywords and web sites that you can use to get the answers to your pressing questions. Keyword: AM FOCUS....Internet info by topic: web pages, chat, MUDS... Keyword: BILLING....for AOL billing questions Keyword: DISCOVER AOL....ask a question in a chat room & more Keyword: DOWNLOAD 101.....detailed file transfer tutorial Keyword: GAMES....for games information Keyword: KEYWORD....complete list of AOL keywords Keyword: MAC HELP....for Mac help of all kinds Keyword: MEMBER SERVICES....help with MANY AOL-specific problems Keyword: MHM....Members Helping Members; answers to top questions Keyword: MODEM....for modem and connection problems Keyword: NET HELP....Answers to gazillions of Internet questions Keyword: NET TUTORIAL.....Learn basics of the Internet Keyword: NEWS PROFILES....info about AOL's News Profiles tool Keyword: PC HELP....for PC help of all kinds Keyword: REFERENCE....for reference material questions Keyword: SCREEN NAME....add or delete AOL screen names Keyword: SUGGESTION....AOL suggestion boxes Keyword: TOP TIPS....Wonderful AOL tips Keyword: TOS....Rules of the road; report a violation If those fail you... Keyword: FIND....If it's on AOL, this will find it! Keyword: DEJANEWS...See if your problem's being discussed on Usenet To go to a keyword, just pick KEYWORD from your GO TO menu. Type the keyword then press Go. =*=*= UPCOMING WEEKLY FOCUS =*=*= Every week, AnswerMan focuses on a particular facet of using the Internet. Here are the Weekly Focus topics we'll be covering in the near future: April 28 - May 4: Playing games on the Internet also coming up: genealogy sites, and AnswerMan plays with x2 =*=*= THE END =*=*= That's all for this week. Got comments about this newsletter? We want to hear them! Send 'em to AnswerMan. The e-mail address is AnswerMan@aol.com. We would hate to see you go, but if you must leave, there are two easy ways to unsubscribe yourself from this newsletter. You can use either. #1: Send an e-mail message -- To: LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Subject: UNSUBSCRIBE Body: UNSUBSCRIBE ANSWERMAN #2: For AOL 3.0 users only: Click here then press "Unsubscribe". I can see by your outfit, you're a cowboy. Copyright 1997 by America Online, Inc. All rights reserved.