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          to your questions!

Q: What is the minimum system requirement to connect to islanderis.net
A: For Windows 3.11
You will need at least a 386 PC or better, running windows 3.11 or win95, (you can hookup in Dos, but you'll just get e-mail and Unix systems). You should have at least 4 megabytes of ram (8 megabytes is better) and a VGA monitor (256 color is better but not needed). You should have at least 50 megabytes of hard disk space (more if you want to download and run programs from the net) and last, but most important a modem.  A 33.6 or 56K modem is recommended. You can also run off of a 28.8 or 14.4 modem, but your download time will be painfully slow.
A: For Windows 95/98/NT
You will need at least a 386 PC or better.  You should have at least 16 megabytes of ram (32 megabytes is better) and a VGA monitor (256 color is better but not needed). You should have at least 50 megabytes of hard disk space (more if you want to download and run programs from the net) and last, but most important a modem.  A 33.6 or a 56K modem is recommended. You can also run off of a 28.8 or 14.4 modem, but your download time will be painfully slow.
A: For Mac OS (Version 7.1 and higher)   INFORMATION ON THIS SYSTEM COMING SOON!
A: For Mac OS (Version 7.6 and higher)
You should have at least 8 megabytes of ram and Virtual Memory set to at least 8 megabytes (32 megabytes is better) and a VGA monitor (256 color is better but not needed). You should have at least 50 megabytes of hard disk space (more if you want to download and run programs from the net) and last, but most important a modem.  A 33.6 or a 56K modem is recommended. You can also run off of a 28.8 or 14.4 modem, but your download time will be painfully slow.
A: For Mac OS (Version 8.1 and higher)
You should have at least 12 megabytes of ram and Virtual Memory set to at least 20 megabytes (32 megabytes is better) and a VGA monitor (256 color is better but not needed). You should have at least 50 megabytes of hard disk space (more if you want to download and run programs from the net) and last, but most important a modem.  A 33.6 or a 56K modem is recommended. You can also run off of a 28.8 or 14.4 modem, but your download time will be painfully slow.

Q: What is my E-Mail address?
A: Your E-mail address is your login name at islanderis.net. Example: if your login name is jdoe then your E-mail address is  jdoe@islanderis.net

Q: What's a browser?
A: A browser is a program that allows you to use your computer system and a modem to explore (surf) the net, via an Internet Service Provider (Islander). A few examples of the more popular browsers are Netscape, MS-Internet Explorer, and Mosaic. Once on the net you will be able to view and search for pages and information from all over the world.

Q: How do I set my browser to go to a different start page?
A: MS Internet Explorer
First enter the address of the page you want to use as a start page, into the address box, such as http://www.islanderis.net. Then go to "view" then "options" then "start and Search page" or "Start page", in the box that says "Change Address" click on the button that says " Use Current" this will change your start page to Islander's home page.
A: Netscape
First go to "Options" then "General Preferences" then "Appearance", set "Start With" to "Home Page Location" then type "http://www.islanderis.net" in the box for the startup location.

Q: How do I get Win95 to save my password in the connect box?
A: First a little explanation about why Win95 won't hold your login password. Win95 was designed to be multi-user and in order to keep someone else from logging into your account, you must enter your login password every time.
Now to get Win95 to hold your password, you must password protect your machine. Simple job. First you go to the start button, then to settings, then to control panel, then to passwords.
Click the tab that says "User Profiles".
Click the dot to "Users can customize their preferences and desktop settings". Windows switches to your personal settings whenever you login."
After you set this to "User can customize, click "okay", if your system asks if you want to reboot ,click "yes" or "okay", if not then x out of control panel & setting. Reboot the computer yourself and as it boots up it will give you a box asking for "User Name" and "Password". Put in any name you want (I use my first initial and last name) and a simple password. Hit the enter button and Win95 will come up normally. Now try connecting to the Internet. Either through your shortcut to islanderis.net, or your Internet dialer. When the screen prompts you, type in your password, click "save password" and it will always save it from here on out. Now every time you boot up your system, it will show your user name and ask for your password. Just enter it, click "enter", and you should never have to enter your dialer password again.

Q: Why are my download times so slow?
A: Download times are controlled by several factors; your system ( cpu speed,HDD read & write speed, modem speed), Islander's system ( we have 33.6 and 56k modems), the T-1 line connection through AT&T to the Internet, and the speed of our system (pentium cpus) which is controlled by the amount of load (the number of customers online at once) on the system. Then there's the load on the Internet, the more load the slower the speed. Finally there's the load on the system you are trying to download from. Let's look at Netscape for example:  if you are trying to download the program from their FTP site it may take a couple of hours just to get login. Then once you get in you have to take your turn as their system doles out the files to each person online.

Q: I keep getting disconnected! Why is this happening and how can I prevent it?
A: There are several common reasons for random disconnection from any online service. The good news is that you can prevent it, or at least improve the quality of your connections. To help you better understand , we have listed some of the most common causes of disconnection.. Some of these are normal, and some are results of errors in your connection.
User Request:  The most common reason is just a customer request to end their Internet session. This is not an error.
Idle time out: There can be a few different causes with this one, but we will only mention the most common reasons. You may have been online for too long of a period without interaction with your computer, this will sometimes, automatically, log out. You may be having problems with your connection that has caused your connection to hang without response, therefore you were logged out. If you are frequently experiencing this latter problem you should call the Technical Support department for help. Timeout Login: The login, password or host prompt is set to logout after five minutes with no input. (the time-out may vary). This can happen, when there has been an error in your configuration that causes your computer not to send your login information to our servers. You should check your Internet settings, if they look good then you should contact the Technical Support department for help if this is a persistent problem.
Port was reset by administrator: This is usually caused by a manual reset of your connection by the administrator for a few reasons such as, extremely long idle connections or misuse/abuse of a dial-up account that does not support multiple logins. If you are getting these messages you should call the Technical Support Department as soon as possible.
Disconnected or logged out from host:  This can mean either normal termination of a login session, or the remote host has crashed or become unreachable. This can be the result of numerous outside problems like crashed servers, line interference, abnormally long idle (or login) time outs, etc. If these problems persist you may want to call the Technical Support department for help

Q: What is "FTP" and how do I use it?
A: FTP stands for "File-Transfer-Protocol", this is a way to download files and programs from other sites to your system, or transfer files from your computer to a remote one.
Islander's FTP site consists of freeware and shareware programs that are available for you to download and install on your system such as  E-mail, Browser and Telnet software.
To use FTP to download a program onto your system, you first need to create a folder that you will download the new software into. I use a directory called "DOWNLOAD". If you name it "download" than other programs will use it to download to automatically.
After you have created a download directory or folder, you just click on the name of the file or program you want, and your browser (Explorer or Netscape) will open a warning box saying that "you have tried to open a file that it doesn't know what to do with". Click "Save to Disc" or "Save File" and then use the file manager box to find your download directory or folder. Once you get the directory or folder listed, you just click the "Save File" button and the file will start to transfer.
If the file has an ".exe" extension, and after the file completes downloading, you can double click on it and it will start to expand. After it is done expanding, look for the file named "setup.exe" (setup with an icon of a computer on win95), and then double click on the file. It will launch the installation process for the program. If the file has a ".zip" extension you will need another  program called WinZip (or StuffIt for the Mac owners) to unzip (or expand) that file. To download WinZip or StuffIt follow the link to the Software Solutions page in the support section of this site. Click on what type of system you have (Windows 95, Windows 3.1 or Mac)to view the proper links to all the different software packages available through our site.

Q: What is "Webmail" anyway?
A: Webmail is a new way for our customers to access and personalize their Islander e-mail accounts. Instead of being tied down to storing and retrieving e-mail one your local hard drive, the Webmail system allows you to log on to the Islander mail server from anywhere on the Internet! It doesn't matter whether you're at home, at your mother-in-law's house, or Papua New Guinea, all you need is web access and a web browser.

Q: Cool! How does it work?
A: Just go to http://mail.islanderis.net where you will be prompted for your full e-mail address (which would be "username@islanderis.net") and your password. Hit the "Logon" button and you're in. It's that simple. Once connected, you can read and write e-mail and do all sorts of things with your account.

Q:There sure are a lot of options. What do they all do?
A: At the top of the page should be a table with a summary of your mail account, including number of messages, size, etc. Clicking on the mailbox names will take you diretly to those folders. Below them are lists of other options with which you can remotely administer your account.
Compose: write and send e-mail using the Webmail system.
Read Mail: rather self-explanatory.
Mail Summary: view an entire mail folder and all the contents within.
Change Finger Information: view or edit your Finger information. Finger is a way of letting other people know personal information about you. Follow this link for more information about Finger.
Change Password: here you can change your Islander password. Remember that this password is for both logging on to the Internet and accessing your Webmail. Any changes will take effect the next time you connect.
Change Mail Forwarding Information: if you wish all the mail from your Islander account sent to a different address, enter that information here.
Change User Information: alter your name, street address, or other personal information here.
Change Vacation Message: for those who are away from their account for extended periods of time, you can set an automatic response to all your new mail.
Change Processing Rules: this option allows you to sort the mail in any folder based on your own personal specifications based on subject, content, or any number of other options
Address Book: keep track of all your friends' and family's e-mail addresses here.
Manage Mailboxes: use this option to work with any mail folders you create. These make it much easier to sort through all your correspondences.
Auto Response: automatically forwards your mail and sends back a personalized response.
Preferences: some more options to customize your webmail account even further.
Change Signature: add a customized ending to any mail you send out. Usually this includes name, e-mail address, and other helpfull information.

If you have any questions not listed here or questions you would like to see here, please email webmaster@islanderis.net