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- Internet Site Blaster
-
- Frequently Asked Questions
-
- 1. What is the Internet Site Blaster program?
-
- The Internet Site Blaster is an innovative way to put the power
- of the Internet at your fingertips. Scientists say that we use
- only a small portion of our brain at any one time. The Internet
- is growing so large and diverse that any one user is using only a
- small part of the Internet at any one time. A large portion of
- the Internet goes unused because:
-
- (a) It is hard to locate sites that deal with special topics of
- interest.
-
- (b) It is difficult to keep track of all of your favorite sites,
- and be able to return to them quickly without searching for them.
-
- (c) Bookmarks help, but managing large numbers of bookmarks is
- difficult.
-
- Once a site becomes a favorite, it is usually saved to a bookmark.
- There is a practical limit to how many bookmarks you can really
- manage. After an Internet user collects 60-100 bookmarks, these
- bookmarks become less and less helpful. Interesting sites do not
- stand out among bookmarks even with 100 sites in the bookmark
- list. However there are MILLIONS of sites on the Internet.
-
- The Internet Site Blaster is a database that includes 30,000
- Internet Site Descriptions and Addresses already entered for you.
- This database is small, fast, and remarkably efficient in its use
- of disk space. Adding even 10,000 records results in an increase
- of only 400 - 500K. So the database size is only limited by the
- size of your hard drive.
-
- 2. How can an Internet user easily find specific Internet site
- information?
-
- The database is searchable by topics found in the Description
- area of a site, searchable by the site's Address, searchable by
- the site's Catgory, and by any Notes that have been entered
- specially for that site. There are functions in the program that
- will locate all of the Internet Sites that match a certain search
- term or phrase, and gather these sites into one group that can be
- browsed separately or even saved to disk with the Export feature
- of the Site Blaster program. The program will also allow
- searching for a specific term or phrase with an instant lookup
- feature that will locate one certain Internet site.
-
- 3. Why do you have so many Internet sites in the database?
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- The Internet Site Blaster's database represents only one slice
- out of the the huge Internet pie. The larger the slice, the
- better the idea a person has of what the whole pie is like. Since
- adding new sites causes no degradation in performance or excess
- consumption of disk space, there is no reason to not include as
- many sites as possible. There is a version of the program called
- the "Internet Site Blaster - Lite" that has only 15,000 sites and
- sells for a lower price than the full database. See below.
-
- 4. How do you collect these links? Are they just compilations of
- the different What's New and What's New Too lists?
-
- All of the sites in the database have been visited by me. Just
- like the Internet Robots, Worms, and Spiders, I visit a large
- number of sites every week, but I visit in person. It would be
- simple to just copy the information in the different What's New
- sites, but if you've looked at these lists, most of what is
- listed is not of interest to the average Internet user. (Nothing
- against these sites... I like them and they perform a valuable
- service in announcing new Web pages. It's just that for every
- one site like "Le Louvre", there are dozens of "Bob's Cool Pages"
- sites or commercial sites like "super.internet.access.com.") I
- personally visit about two thousand sites every week. About 50
- to 100 of those sites will have enough appeal to make it into the
- database.
-
- 5. How can you personally visit several thousand Internet sites
- each week?
-
- The first thing that helps is to pay for an unlimited access
- account on the Internet. The second tip is to use a non-
- graphical browser, viewing the content on each site in a fraction
- of the time it would take to load just one page with graphics on
- them. Do I miss out on Web pages that are worth the trip just to
- view the graphics? No, I won't be the first to discover a site
- like "The Spot", but I'll read about it on the Net and then check
- it out with Netscape. So the top graphics Internet sites (by
- reputation) are still included in the database.
-
- 6. Can users running Netscape (tm) or Mosaic (tm) use the Site
- Blaster information with their Web browsers?
-
- Yes, the information can be used by Netscape or Mosaic in several
- ways. One method is to use the Export command to send the
- desired Internet site information to a text file. This text file
- can be printed out and information can be entered by hand into
- the Web browsers.
-
- When users Register the program, they will receive a utility to
- convert the Internet Site Blaster information into "bookmarks"
- that can be imported into Netscape or into "hotlists" that can be
- used by Mosaic. Other browsers will be included in this list if
- there is sufficient interest.
-
- 7. What are the benefits of registration of Internet Site
- Blaster?
-
- Besides the 30,000 Internet sites, and the utility to convert
- Site Blaster information into Netscape bookmarks and Mosaic
- hotlists, registered users will receive "The Internet Primer".
- This is a Windows Help file that is full of information on
- numerous Internet topics including Searching the Internet,
- Internet Starting Points, Using HTML, Designing Web Pages,
- Accessing Free-Nets, Software Libraries, Internet Tutorials and
- Guides, Internet Access Providers, Helpful Computer Magazines on
- the Internet, What's New, What's Cool, What's Hot, and a Complete
- Listing of the Virtual Libraries available on the Internet.
-
- 8. What about the Internet Site Blaster - Lite?
-
- This version of the program is for individuals who do not want to
- make a large committment to surfing the Internet, but still want
- to do some exploring with a smaller database. The Internet Site
- Blaster - Lite includes all of the same program features and
- registration benefits as the full program. The only difference
- is that the database is limited to 15,000 sites and costs less
- than the full program.
-
- 9. How can I order?
-
- You can use a check, money order, VISA, or MasterCard to order.
- Please see the file "order.frm" for details and prices.
-
- 10. What hardware and software requirements are there for
- Internet Site Blaster?
-
- All that is needed are 4 megs of RAM, a VGA monitor, a 386 486 or
- 586 PC, running Windows 3.x. The program will be prepared for
- Windows 95 in several months.
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- 11. Do previous customers of SoloTech Software receive a
- discount on the Internet Site Blaster?
-
- Yes, previously registered users of any of SoloTech Software's
- products will entitle those individuals to a 30% discount off of
- the purchase price.
-
-
-
- William Hogg M.D. SoloTech Software
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- http://www.execpc.com/~wmhogg/share.html
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- wmhogg@execpc.com
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- 11/95
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