IS YOUR BROWSER UP TO DATE?
Issue 21, July 2001
By Tom Thomas
Director of Support Services

Few things in life are free. Thankfully, this rule does not necessarily apply to the Internet. Through your ARQ Internet access, you will be able to obtain a cornucopia of free programs and services. You can receive free extra e-mail accounts through such web-sites as Yahoo.com and Juno.com, free chat programs from sites such as Icq.com and most importantly for the purposes of this article, free, up-to-date Internet browsers, the programs with which we view the Internet, through such sites as Microsoft.com and Netscape.com.

The two main players in the browser industry are Microsoft and Netscape - Microsoft's browser is Internet Explorer (IE) and Netscape's browser is the self-titled, Netscape Navigator. Both Microsoft and Netscape offer their respective browser free of charge and both are constantly releasing new versions of their software trying to win the Battle of the Browser. Chances are that unless you have updated your browser in this year, your browser is not the latest and in order to get the most out of your Internet experience, you will want an up-to-date browser. (As a side note, the choice of your browser, Netscape or IE, is mostly a matter of personal preference and should be made after you try both. For more information about browser feature comparisons, check out either of these two sites: http://home.cnet.com/internet/0-3773.html or http://www.zdnet.com/products/browserwars/index.html .)

Internet Explorer
To update your Internet Explorer to IE5.5 SP1, go to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/download/ie55sp1.htm on the Internet and follow these directions:

1. First you will have the option to select the language, make sure the English is selected.
2. Click on the Download Now button.
3. A File Download dialog box will pop up, make sure that the Save this program to disk option is checked then click the OK button.
4. To make it easy to locate the upgrade program after we download it, we will save it to a folder on the Desktop. To do this, click on the down arrow next to the Save in: box and click on Desktop in the drop down list - this will place the Desktop location in the Save in: text box.
5. Now we need to create a folder on the Desktop by clicking the Create New Folder icon (it looks like a folder with a "star" in the upper right-hand corner.) After you click on that icon a new folder will appear in the window titled in blue highlights, "New Folder". Hit Enter twice then click on the Save button. This will create a folder named "New Folder" on your Desktop and save the upgrade program to that folder.
6. After the download is complete, open the "New Folder" folder on your Desktop. This will open a window showing the file that you just downloaded, ie5setup.exe. Double click on the ie5setup.exe file to open and follow the installation instructions. (You can delete the "New Folder" folder after you run the upgrade program.)

Netscape Communicator
To update your Netscape browser to the latest version, Netscape Communicator 4.77, go to http://home.netscape.com/download/ on the Internet and follow these directions:

1. Click on the Netscape Communicator link.
2. Click on the appropriate language link.
3. Click on the link of your Operating System - more than likely, Win 95/98/NT 4. Click on the 4.77 for the latest version.
5. Click on the Complete link to get the full version of Communicator with all the thrills.
6. After the next window loads, click on the Download button.
7. Follow steps 7 to 10 from above with the exception that the name of the file you are going to download is sd_cc32e477en.exe.

If you do not know what version you are currently running, go to the top of your browser's window and click on the Help drop-down menu then click on About… This will tell you what brwser version you have installed on your computer.

WARNING! When updating your browser, you will want to avoid using beta versions. Beta versions of software are programs that are not yet completed. While these beta versions may tout grand new features, they may also contain major bugs that might corrupt your system. It is much safer to stick with the proven full releases. Remember, when in doubt, check out the above recommended informative sites from c/net and zdnet.