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About This Guide
If you're a new member, this Quick Reference Guide will help you get started using AOL. If you're already a member of the service, this Guide will show you what's new and hot in Version 3.0i.
Note: To print a copy of this Guide, click the "Print" button below. If you do nothing else with this Guide, please print and use the first two pages, which list helpful keywords for your future reference. (Keywords are shortcuts that help you move around the service quickly. To use a keyword, just click the"Keyword" button on the toolbar and enter the keyword for the area you wish to visit.)
Online Areas You'll Want to Visit
Discover AOL (Keywords: DISCOVER, DISCOVER AOL) An introduction to AOL. Includes a tour and step-by-step lessons (Keyword: TOUR).
Member Services (Keywords: MEMBER SERVICES, HELP) An unlimited use area that contains technical support for AOL. To get there, click the big question mark on the toolbar. You'll know when you cross to/from the unlimited use area, because you'll see a window asking you to confirm your actions. Please note: any telephone surcharges will continue to apply when you are in this area.
Important Keywords
We recommend that you visit each of these areas and become familiar with them.
1. Keyword: KEYWORD Go here to find out everything about keywords, including the Keyword of the Day.
2. Keyword: BILLING Keep track of the status of your trial offer, your monthly bill, your children's use of the service, and new pricing offers from AOL.
3. Keyword: ACCESS Contains up-to-date information about high-speed access numbers across the country and abroad. This is also where you can go to report any problems with your local access number.
4. Keyword: PARENTAL CONTROLS Customise what your children see and do online.
5. Keyword: MEMBER DIRECTORY Search for others who share your interests and create your Member Profile. You must create at least a basic profile for others to find you online.
6. Keyword: MY AOL customise and personalise AOL to meet your needs.
7. Keyword: JONATHAN Jonathan Bulkeley, MD of AOL UK, writes regular updates on whats new on the service - you can even receive his updates by email. The lowdown straight from the horse's mouth!
8. Keyword: RANDOM Think of it as a sort of Keyword Roulette -- for when you're looking for something totally different.
9. Keyword: MAIL CONTROLS Cut down on unwanted e-mail and set other e-mail preferences.
10. Keyword: GUIDEPAGER Used to summon assistance when you witness vulgarity or harassment in a chat room.
System Requirements for Optimum Performance
To ensure the best online experience possible, please check your system to make sure it meets the necessary system requirements. If it does not, you may still be able to run AOL, but you will experience slower performance. For details, check the AOL Help Menu, under "Search for Help on"
Macintosh 68030 CPU (68040 or better recommended) 256 color monitor, 640x480 resolution System 7.1.0 (System 7.5.3 Revision 2 or later recommended) 8MB Physical RAM 15 MB Free Space on your Hard Drive 9600 bps modem (14.4 or 28.8 kbps recommended for optimal performance) A phone line (Direct TCP/IP is supported)
Note: If you turn on Virtual Memory, check the free space on your Hard Drive toensure that you still have 15 MB of free space on your Hard Drive.
Installing Version 3.0i
New Members To begin, simply follow the instructions printed on the disk package (or available on the AOL home page). Once you've installed AOL, you're ready to begin registration.
Existing Members If you're an existing member upgrading your software, AOL can transfer your screen names, local access numbers, and preferences from your previous version, automatically.
Note: Any files contained in your AOL Download directory will NOT be transferred at this time. For instructions on copying these files, check your Macintosh documentation.
Connecting to AOL
First you should select a local access number (the number your modem dials to connect to AOL's computers). You will be given a list of area codes (STDs) to pick from. They basically break down into "Numbers that are a local call to the London node" and "All Others". If your area code is not listed don't worry - you should pick one of the National Local Call Access Numbers. These are 0845 numbers that are charged at BT Local Rates from anywhere in the UK. This means that wherever you live in the UK you can access AOL at speeds of up to 33.6kbps for the cost of a local telephone call.
Registration
After selecting your access numbers, you will begin the registration process. Please follow the instructions on your screen. Once you have completed registration, you will be online. If you have questions or experience problems connecting, or at any time during registration, please call Member Services on 0800 279 7444.
The Basics
Your Screen Name and Password During registration, you will be asked to choose a screen name and password. When you're online, you'll be known by your screen name, so give some serious thought to the one you choose. Your screen name is unique to you and only you online. If the name you choose is already in use by another account, you will be prompted to select another name.
Your password is the key to your AOL account, so never give out your password to anyone. Guard it as carefully as you do the PIN for your cash machine card. You should change your password at least once a month; anyone who knows your password has full access to your account, including your e-mail. Also note that AOL employees will NEVER ask you for your password online.
The Menu Bar and the Toolbar Throughout this Guide you will see references to the Menu Bar and the Toolbar. The Menu Bar is the text at the very top of your screen. Clicking on a word will cause a menu of related options to drop down. The Toolbar is the row of icons below the menu bar. These icons provide shortcuts to important areas and features online.
The Welcome Screen The first thing you see every time you sign on to AOL is the Welcome Screen. It's arranged to provide direct access to AOL's most popular areas. With one click, you can check your e-mail, see todays news headlines and see what's new on offer on the service.
The Helping Hand If you're looking at a screen and you're not sure where to "click," just move your mouse across the window and watch for the Helping Hand. When you place your cursor over a "clickable" area, the arrow will change to a hand. That's an indication that you can click and go directly to that area. Try it out with the AOL toolbar. When you run the cursor over each icon you'll see that not only do you get a hand, you get information on its function too.
The Main Menu Designed to help you find areas of interest, the Channels Screen is where you'll find all of AOL's content areas, organised into our 14 channels. Also on the Main Menu, "Find" allows you to search the content on the UK service directly, while "International" allows you to jump to the AOL services in America, Canada, Germany, France and now even Japan.
Using E-mail You can send messages to anyone who is a member of AOL, who has an account with another online service, or anyone who has access to the Internet. You have an e-mail address already. The screen name you created during registration is your e-mail address for other AOL members. For Internet mail, you address is your screen name followed by @aol.com. For example, if your screen name is "LimeyAOL", your Internet e-mail address is be limeyaol@aol.com.
To compose an e-mail to someone on AOL or the Internet, click "Email" on the menu bar and select "Compose Email." For step-by-step instructions on how to compose, send, read, store and attach files to AOL e-mail, go to Keyword: LEARN E-MAIL. (More on how to use keywords below.)
Setting Parental Controls AOL provides special controls which allow parents to decide where their children can and cannot go online. These are available at Keyword: PARENTAL CONTROLS. You can choose what parts of AOL and the internet your child's account can access and edit these preferences when appropriate. Only the Master Screen Name (the screen name you first created when you registered with AOL) can edit the preferences for the other screen names on your account.
Getting Around
Keywords Get You There Fast AOL provides a variety of navigational tools to help you get around online, but the first tool you'll want to learn to use is the Keyword. Keywords make it possible for you to jump around quickly on the service.
As you explore AOL, notice the keywords (usually found in the title bar of the window) associated with the places you find interesting. When you want to return to the area, click the "Keyword" button on the far right of the toolbar. When the Keyword window appears, type in the keyword and click "Go."
Save Your Favourite Places Favourite Places is a customised list of online areas or Web sites that you like to visit. To save a Favourite Place, simply click the heart in the top-right corner of that area's window and the area will be added to your "Favourite Places" list. To return to a Favourite Place, click the Favourite Places icon on your toolbar. It's the one that looks like a big orange heart (to the left of the big question mark). Once your Favourite Places list is open, double-click on one of the areas you have saved, and you'll be whisked right to that spot!
Finding Areas of Interest You can search an entire database of information about AOL's content areas and forums. To search this database, click the "Find" button on the toolbar. Type the subject of interest in the box where you see the blinking cursor, and click the "Search" button. A list will appear of areas on AOL that match the subject you entered, and you can double-click on the name of an area for a description. If it looks interesting, click the "Go There" button at the bottom of the description and you'll be taken there instantly.
You can also search the Internet by going to Keyword: WEB CRAWLER or EXCITE. These are two of AOL's tools for searching the Internet. Just enter your topic in the empty box, and click the Search button. For more information on finding online areas of interest, go to Keyword: LEARN FIND.
Accessing the Internet from AOL To begin exploring the Web, go to Keyword: WWW, or click the big "W" icon on the toolbar at the top of your screen. This will take you to a page where you can enter a web address or search some of the many internet search engines. AOL's web site is at http://www.uk.aol.com. Other related or interesting web sites are indicated by blue, underlined text. This is called a hyperlink. Just click on the hyperlink and you'll go to that site. You can always go back by clicking the "Back" button on the top of the web browser window.
To go to a specific Web site, you can use the Keyword window. Simply click the "Keyword" icon on the toolbar. When the Keyword dialog box opens, enter the web address (also known as an URL, it will start with http://) in the box, and click "Go". It will launch your Web browser and take you straight to the Web site.
For more Internet Resources, go to the Internet Channel (Keyword: INTERNET). Here, AOL gives you access to all the most important parts of the Internet: the World Wide Web, Gopher, FTP, and Newsgroups. Even more importantly, The Internet Channel is the place to ask questions, read up on the Net, and find out what's hot.
Look for friends in the Member Directory You can find out if someone you know is a member of AOL -- even if they're online right this instant -- by searching the Member Directory.
Just click "Members" on the menu bar and select "Member Directory." When the Member Directory opens, type the name and location of the person you want to find in the box at the bottom of the form, being as specific as possible. When the database finds members who match this description, it will list them for you -just double-click on each name to view their profile. The database can be searched by name, location, interests -- anything that's included in a profile.
Create Your Member Profile If you want other people to be able to find you, you will have to create at least a basic profile for yourself. To create or change your profile, go to Keyword: MEMBER PROFILE. Just click "My Profile", fill in the categories you like (you can leave any of them blank), and click "Update. "Other members can then view your profile by clicking "Members" on the menu bar and selecting "Get A Member's Profile."
Communicating With Others
Chat Chat rooms are AOL's meeting places. There you can talk, real-time, with people next door or around the world. To access chat, click the icon on the toolbar that looks like two speech bubbles. This will take you to the Chat Menu. Choose from the many UK Chat areas or see what our American cousins are up to in US chat!
Instant Messages Instant Messages give you the ability to have a one-on-one conversation with another member, in real-time. To send an Instant Message (or "IM" for short), click "Members" on the menu bar and select "Send an Instant Message." To see if the AOL member is online, type their screen name in the To: field and click the "Available?" button. A message will return stating whether the member is online. If they are, type your message and click the "Send" button. They will receive it immediately and be able to reply directly to you.
If you receive an Instant Message, you can answer by clicking on the "Respond" button, typing in the box that opens, and clicking the "Send" button.
Buddy Lists Buddy Lists let you know when your AOL friends and family members are online. When your buddies sign-on to AOL, their names appear in the Buddy List window to let you know they are online at the same time as you. You can use your Buddy List to send an Instant Message or send a Group Invitation asking several friends to meet you in a private chat room.
To create a Buddy List, go to Keyword: BUDDY or select "Buddy Lists" from the "Members" menu. Click the "Create" button, enter the screen names of your buddies, and then click "Save." To display your Buddy List, click the button labelled "View".
Please note: AOL gives you the ability to block your name from someone else's Buddy List, if you wish. Click the "Preferences" box at Keyword: BUDDY to indicate who, if anyone at all, can add you to their Buddy Lists. AOL also allows you to restrict your child"s access to Chat and Instant Messages by using Parental Controls.
Other Helpful Tools and Information
Your Personal Filing Cabinet AOL helps you organise your e-mail, downloaded files and Favourite Places with the Personal Filing Cabinet. You can even set AOL to automatically download and save your e-mail in your Personal Filing Cabinet so you can read it offline. To access your Personal Filing Cabinet, just click the file cabinet button on the toolbar. Its right next to the Favourite Places button. For more information on The Personal Filing Cabinet, go to Keyword: LEARN FILING CABINET.
Personalising/Customising AOL My AOL is a one-stop shop that allows you to customise and personalise your online experience to suit your tastes. You can do so by using My AOL to set preferences that control sounds, storage, and more; set up your member profile; create additional screen names for your account, set passwords, and everything else you need to make it your AOL.
Downloading Software Downloading is the process through which a file stored on AOL's computers is transferred to the disk in your computer. When you see an icon that looks like one or more computer disks, that means there are files available for download. Double-click the icon and you'll see a list of the files being offered for downloading. Double-click the name of any file, and you'll see a description of its contents.
To download the file, click the description window's "Download Now" button. You'll be asked where you want the file to be saved to begin the download. As your file downloads, you'll see a progress bar. You can stop and resume the download at any time. For more information on downloading and how to do it, go to Keyword: LEARN DOWNLOAD.
Version 3.0i Highlights
Styled Text and Hyperlinks in E-Mail and Instant Messages With new styled-text features, you can change the colour of text or its background; enlarge or reduce the size of text; use bold, italic, or underlining; and change text alignment. Drag and drop Favourite Places into e-mail and instant messages. When you send them to your friends, they can jump to the site with a single click.
AOL's SmartArt Let's You Explore Without Waiting No More Waiting for Art: AOL 3.0i displays images using a technique called progressive rendering, which lets you move quickly from one area to another even though a graphic hasn't finished being displayed (No more dreaded blue bar, "Please wait while we add new art to AOL"). And you can choose areas of interest and receive a collection of related art in one free download.
Automatically Updating Graphics: Set the maximum size of your art database to ensure that the AOL application doesn't take up too much space on your hard drive. When art reaches the maximum size, we automatically update art based on the date it was last used, replacing least-used art.
AOL Applets Automatic Updates of New Features: With 3.0i, AOL can update any portion of the service software, and add new features on the fly, through the modem connection. From now on, you'll rarely have to think about updating your AOL software
A Dramatically-Improved Internet Browsing Experience Faster Web Browsing: AOL 3.0i's Web browser and servers guarantee speedy performance -- on average, up to 35% faster than our previous browsers. What's more, with our graphics compression, images download quickly.
Support for HTML 3.2 and Netscape Extensions: See Web pages as they are meant to be seen with tables, frames, centering, backgrounds, alignment, text wrapping around images (paragraph attributes), font styles, and client-side image maps.
Security Features Ensure Privacy: Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol provides security, so confidential information, such as credit card numbers, can be safely transmitted over the Internet.
Use Popular Internet Applications The "AOL Link" feature is automatically added to your MacTCP or TCP/IP Communications Control Panel during installation. It provides a "tunnel" for other Internet applications to access the Internet, and no additional setup is required. To run Netscape or any other Internet application, simply log on to AOL, switch to the Finder, and launch the Internet application of your choice. As long as you are connected to AOL, you can continue to use the Internet application. Normal AOL billing rates will apply, but there is no additional charge for running the second application.
