ToolBox Priorities

Hi again all! During my latest trip to the land of the cyber stores I was downloading all kinds of new and/or updated utilities and proggies, when the thought occurred to me, "There may be some people that are new to the net that could use a hand picking and choosing some necessities for their trek into cyberspace!" Forthwith, I have compiled a list of Net goodies that I use and that I would recommend to anyone who is just getting started "on line". I will assume y'all have all the required software and dial up goodies installed and are making good connections with your ISP, so I will leave out WinSock software etc. Net software can be a personal choice. What works for me may not work for you, so I'll let you know up front, these are my selections and reflect my taste. They may not suit you. Anyway, here we go...

Browsers    (WWW Page viewers)

Netscape and Internet Explorer are a must for obvious reasons. Everything in the world wide web is made for one, or both, of these browsers. If hard disk space is a consideration, it would be prudent to only have one of these browsers. Each browser suite has its own pros and cons, and the decision of which browser to use, in the end, is usually reached by personal preference.

Netscape:                 http://home.netscape.com
Internet Explorer:     http://www.microsoft.com

Mail Readers:    (e-mail programs)

If you are planning to do any type of electronic mail correspondence, you must have at least one mail client. Netscape and Internet Explorer both have an excellent mail clients included in them. If you try one or both of these and find you need something a little more able, Eudora Pro or Pegasus may be more to your liking.

Netscape:                    http://home.netscape.com
Internet Explorer:        http://www.microsoft.com
Eudora:                        http://www.eudora.com
Pegusus:                     http://www.pegasus.usa.com

News Readers    (Newsgroups programs)

Anyone who has read this far deserves an apology from me. You see, news groups have never interested me. I have never even posted anything (as far as I can recall), so I have zero expertise here. However, there are millions out there who have, and I assume that newsgroups are alive and thriving. I have dabbled a bit with Netscape news and I.E. news, however, the user interface in the 'Free Agent' client listed below would most certainly be my choice if I were a news groupie. Good luck!

Free Agent:                http://www.forteinc.com

Internet Relay Chat Clients    (Chat room software)

I am going to stand alone here and say that although I have tried all the other clients (lol), I am still the worlds biggest mIRC fan. Pirch has come a long way in the last year or so which leaves me wondering if I am just stuck on an old habit. See list below.

mIRC             http://www.mirc.co.uk
Pirch              http://www.bcpl.lib.md.us/~frappa/pirch.html
Orbit IRC       http://www.entex-bus.com/orbitirc/index.htm
MS Chat        http://www.microsoft.com/ie/comichat/
WS IRC        http://www.clark.net/pub/csamsi/

Audio/Video

A year or two ago getting quality sounding audio in real time from the net was, well, iffy. Now-a-days we're blessed with committed developers and technicians that are working very diligently to bring us quality audio and video feeds in real time. Although the selections are limited (well, downright thin), the heart is there. There are some things that we can and can't live without. In my book, the ones listed below are the ones you can't.

Real Player                               http://www.real.com
Netscape Communicator         http://home.netscape.com
Cu-SeeMe                                 http://www.wpine.com     (chat video software, video cam required for video)
Quick Time                                http://www.apple.com     (Quick Time viewer for Quick time based video)
ActiveMovie                             http://www.microsoft.com/downloads

Network Utilities

Most of you wont need these, but for those who like to play around with everything you touch (easy now), these little apps will tickle your fancy. For those of you who need to know about your connections, these will be of great assistance.

Ping Plus                                   http://www.sharat.co.il/tsarfin
Net Toolbox                               http://www.jriver.com
CyberKit                                     http://www.ping.be/user/Luc.Neijens/

File Transfer Utilities

If you will ever need to send files to your server (if you are going to publish your own WWW page), or if you think you will need to get files directly from an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server, you will need at least one FTP Client. I like CuteFTP.

CuteFTP                                    http://www.cuteftp.com
WS-FTP                                    http://www.ipswitch.com

All of the above are links to necessities for a well-rounded Network suite. Some of you will not like my selections, but as I said before, these are my personal favorites. I think I have given you enough to get started though. You will have noticed that in most cases I have not explained the programs in great detail. I also have not given the direct download URL. I have done this so that you will go to the company's page and read what they have to say about their products as well as read their download, installation, and setup instructions. I have a few more links that I consider basic and necessary as well. You may want to include them in your bookmarks file.

http://home.netscape.com
http://www.microsoft.com
http://www.cnet.com            <--(an absolute must)
http://www.tucows.com
http://cws.internet.com/        <--(another must)
http://www.webcrawler.com
http://www.real.com
 

Good luck and happy surfing!

-Track

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