Netscape Communicator Tips #5



*1.   COMPRESSED INTO SERVICE

Accumulated messages tend to take up space, and even deleting 
them won't always create room. That's because messages leave 
little bits and bytes behind even after they're deleted. To 
make room, you can compress your Messenger folders, which 
cleans up extra disk space. To do this, select File, 
Compact Folders.


*2.   A DIFFERENT OPENING

You don't have to see the browser each time you start 
Communicator. In fact, you might prefer to begin with your 
mailbox. If this is the case, open Communicator and select 
Edit, Preferences to open the Preferences dialog box. Click 
Appearance from the Category list, then select Messenger in 
the On Startup, Launch section. If you want to open with the 
browser, select Navigator. Click OK to close the box and save 
your settings, which take effect the next time you 
start Communicator.


*3.   TAKE OUT THE PAPERS AND THE TRASH

When you delete a message, it's not actually removed from 
Messenger--at least not right away. Instead, it's stored in the
Trash folder. This safety mechanism prevents you from 
accidentally deleting messages you really mean to keep. To get 
rid of a message once and for all, select it from the Trash 
folder, then delete it. To get rid of all the messages in the 
Trash folder at once, select File, Empty Trash On Local Mail.


*4.   START THEM ALL

The last tip told how to set Communicator to open with the 
Messenger mailbox rather than the Navigator browser. If you 
can't make up your mind about what to open with, you can select 
more than one or all of  the options. To do this, open 
Communicator and select Edit, Preferences to open the 
Preferences dialog box. Click Appearance from the Category list,
then select any or all of the options. Click OK to close the box
and save your settings, which take effect the next time you 
start Communicator.


*5.   SET THE TOOLBAR STYLE

The Communicator toolbars include both text and icons by 
default. However, you have the option to turn off one or the 
other, which gives you more room in the browser window. To set 
the toolbar style, select Edit, Preferences to open the 
Preferences box, then click Appearance. Select either Pictures 
Only or Text Only from the Show Toolbar As section. Click OK to 
close the box and save your settings, which go into 
effect immediately.


*6.   MAKE HISTORY

The History list keeps track of all the Web sites you visit when
you browse with Communicator. Because this list can get long in 
a hurry, Communicator periodically clears the History list. You 
have the ability to set the expiration date for the history 
clearance (which is set at nine days by default). If you are a 
particularly active surfer, for example, you might want to set 
this number much lower--say, one or two days. To set the 
History expiration date, select Edit, Preferences to open the 
Preferences box, then click Navigator. In the History section, 
enter a number of days for the "Pages in history expire after" 
option. Click OK to close the box and save your settings.


*7.   UNLISTED NUMBER

The Location (Go To) box has a drop-down list of the URLs you 
have recently visited. This makes it easy for you to go back to 
certain sites (if you forgot to bookmark one, for example). You 
may notice, however, that some sites don't appear on the list. 
This is because it only includes the URLs you actually entered 
in the Location box or opened with the File, Open Page command. 
If you open a page by clicking a link within another page, the 
URL doesn't make the list.


*8.   REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST

You found a really cool site, but forgot to bookmark it--and now
you can't remember the complete URL. No problem--Communicator 
has a good memory. Go to the Location box and enter www, then 
begin to enter the letters of the URL. At the first letter, 
Communicator automatically fills in the address of a previously 
visited site beginning with that letter. Enter more letters if 
the first try didn't come up with the site you want. Unlike the 
list in the Location box, this does include all visited sites.


*9.   LOCAL HERO

Sure, Communicator allows you to browse the Internet, but you 
can also access files or documents stored locally on your 
computer (or linked to an internal network). To do this, select 
File, Open Page (or press Ctrl-O), bringing up the Open Page 
dialog box. Enter the path and name of the file if you know it, 
then click Open. If you're not sure of the file name or folder, 
click Choose File and select the file from the browser box. You 
can open any kind of file--HTML, spreadsheets, graphics, text, 
and so on--but you may need a specific plug-in to view some 
file types.


*10.   NO GOING BACK

If you want to go back to previously browsed sites, you just 
click the Back icon, correct? Correct, but you may have noticed 
that sometimes the Back button doesn't seem to work. In fact, 
it's grayed out and inaccessible. How can you get back when 
there's no Back? Don't worry--it's not your browser. Sometimes 
Web links open up sites in a new browser window, meaning this 
is the first site you've visited in that window. To check, look 
at the status bar at the bottom of the screen, which tells you 
what Communicator browser windows you have open (and shows you 
any other open files or programs, for that matter). Simply 
close the current browser window to get "back."
