Your computer can connect to the Internet in a number of different ways:
Dial-Up Modem:

• Computer configures your Modulator/Demodulator (Modem).
• Modem dials into our Remote Access Server (RAS) which is simply a computer which contains a bunch of modems. You generally hear your modem as it synchronizes with our RAS.
• Modem and RAS coordinate Point To Point Protocol (PPP).
• RAS begins Password Authentication Protocol (PAP). Our RAS requests that your machine transmit your user name and password which is encrypted and sent to a computer which is called a Radius Server.
• Radius Server then authenticates your user name and password against our data base and returns a response to either allow or deny access
• RAS then gives your system its Internet Protocol (IP) Address, the IP Address of the Domain Name System (DNS) Server and routing information (Gateway) via Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP).
• Dial-Up Connection is now established.

ADSL Broadband

• Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) Modem powers up and configures itself.
• ADSL Modem coordinates PPP with remote RAS.
• RAS authenticates user via PAP/Radius.
• RAS assigns IP, DNS and Gateway to ADSL Modem via DHCP.
• Note similarity of DSL to Dial-up. The only difference between the two is the method of data transmission. ADSL uses a Private Virtual Circuit (PVC) which is always active and at a different frequency than the Dial-Up modem uses. This is why you can make a normal phone call on the same line and at the same time that your Internet is active.
• Your computer powers up and immediately starts looking for a DHCP server to configure it's IP, DNS and Gateway.
• ADSL Modem acts as DHCP Server and configures your computer via DHCP.
• Broadband DSL is now established.

Wireless Broadband

• Computer powers up. IP, DNS and Gateway are pre-programmed into the system so these things are set immediately.
• Computer provides Service Set Identifier (SSID) to the wireless radio (Client Adapter or Customer Premise Equipment) (CPE).
• CPE searches the wireless frequency band (2.41 - 2.47 GHz) for an Access Point (AP) with a matching SSID.
• AP verifies that the CPE is authorized to attach to the network via it's Media Access Control (MAC) address which is unique to every network device in the world.
• AP and CPE establish an 802.11b specification wireless connection.
• Broadband Wireless is now established.

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At this point your Browser (Internet Explorer or Netscape generally) attempts to download the web site you have designated as your Start Page. When it attempts to make this request it will find that it doesn't know the IP Address of the Web Server which contains the page you want so it makes a request of the DNS Server to provide the IP Address of the site. The DNS Server looks up the address, sends it to your browser and your browser requests the page based on that address. The page is sent to your Browser using your IP Address which is contained in the original request. The browser and web server then communicate using HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and all the text and pictures required to form the page are sent to your Browser. Your Browser then arranges the text and pics in the format that you see using a language called HyperText Markup Language (HTML). You can view this "source code" with your browser generally from a menu selection.

E-Mail
When you check your mail, your Mail Client (MS Outlook Express or Navigator or Messaging generally) must be configured with the name of the Mail Server, your e-mail address, your account name and your password. It will perform a DNS lookup for the Mail Server then perform a login on that server using your account name and password to verify your authenticity. If you have mail waiting it is transmitted to you using Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3). When you send mail out, you again log onto a Mail Server, authenticated for spam control and upload your mail using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).

Other Protocols
All data transferred across the Internet is done so using Transport Control Protocol over Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). IP does the transfer and TCP does the error control. All other client/server connections for upload and download are performed in much the same manner. Each different type of server uses special protocols such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) and Network Time Protocol (NTP) which simply makes each data transfer as efficient as possible. FTP sites provide file access through simple directory listings and text (txt) files with some information. ftp.hamsfork.net is our local FTP server. Because of the efficiency of FTP most long downloads are done using FTP. Our World Wide Web (WWW) site is www.hamsfork.net which we use to provide this customer information to you. This document is a file called "support.html" on our Web Server which is called "www.hamsfork.net". The whole thing is rather complex but armed with this information you should be able to muddle your way through it all and surf like a pro in no time.

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The Internet is a lot more useful when you access it at High Speed, but what's the deal with all these access methods? In our service area there are three basic access methods, Dialup, ADSL and Wireless.

Dialup
Dialup is the most common access method. Using a 56K modem and your basic phone line you can connect to The Internet at a maximum speed of 53,000 bit per second or 53K. Why not 56K as the modems advertise? The FCC limits it to 53K so the phone lines and telco equipment can handle the speed without being damaged, basically it's a telco limitation.

SlipStream
SlipStream is not a connection method, it is a data compression method which makes all images up to 5X smaller than the original picture thus making your connection faster by having to transmit less data. With SlipStream installed, your web surfing is up to 5X faster over dialup, ADSL or Wireless although the speed increase is much more noticeable when using Dial-Up. Dial-Up connections run at approximately the same speed as ADSL. You should note that SlipStream does degrade the quality of images but you can turn it off totally or choose to view any picture in it's original quality with a simple click.

ADSL
ADSL is a wire line service similar to Dial-Up but much faster, about 5X faster. DSL can operate at any speed from 64K to 1.5M depending on what you can afford, the slowest DSL speed offered is 256Kbps (256,000 Bits per Second). CS&T ADSL costs $33 a month (plus Telco taxes).

Wireless
CS&T installed an 802.11b Wireless Network in our service area which can provide you with 1.544Mbps (1,544,000 bps), what we call T1 speed for $45 a month. Wireless is exactly that, wireless, we use radios to transmit and receive data instead of telco phone lines (wires).

Comparing Dialup to Wireless speed is like comparing a turtle to a race car, Wireless is 50X faster that dialup, 6X faster that DSL, what takes 30 seconds to happen on dialup takes less than a second on Wireless. So if you spend a lot of time on The Internet or download many large files, wireless is the way to go, it's actually cheaper to go wireless than to have a second phone line dedicated to your computer.

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There are a number of potential security problems which can arise during your adventures on The Net. Adware, Spyware, Viruses, Eavesdropping, Attacks, Scams and Fraud are fairly common. Most security problems are easily prevented with a few simple security measures you should have in place.

Adware and Spyware Protection
Probably the most troublesome of all possible problems, Adware and Spyware are also the most difficult to detect and eliminate. The best Scanner for this job is the Free Spybot Search & Destroy. You can download it from their home site www.kolla.de. Spy Sweeper ($) and Ad-Aware ($) are also popular anti spyware programs.

Symptoms of Adware/Spyware activity

• Your computer acts very slow.
• Slow Internet access or Internet doesn't work at all.
• Your Home Page Changes by itself, usually to an unknown search site.
• Advertising Pop Ups all the time, even when not connected to The Internet.
• Computer wants to dial up for no reason, by itself.
• E-mail comes back to you with bad address errors (Mail Bounces).
• E-Mail doesn't work right or at all.
• Computer gives many errors all the time.
• Some web sites won't come up or wrong web sites come up.
• Computer stops working entirely.

Virus Protection
Virus Scanners will prevent virus attacks by detecting a virus in downloads and e-mail. Update your Virus Detection software regularly. Symantec, makers of Norton Anti Virus does a good job of this and is easy to keep updated. McAfee V-Shield/ActiveShield is also another popular Virus Scanner.

Direct Attacks
Hacking of your system are unlikely but possible, especially if you have been compromised by a virus. BlackICE Defender ($) and ZoneAlarm (free) will monitor Internet activity and secure your Windows 95/98/ME/2000 system against most direct attacks and should be used on any system with full time Internet Connectivity. Windows XP with Service Pack 2 installed has an excellent Firewall as well as Security Center which will alarm in the event of compromise or protection problems. Businesses with full time connectivity should install a Dedicated Firewall between their network and the Internet.
While our Core Firewall can prevent most attacks against our domain and logs any Intruder-like activity, it must be fairly open to allow you the access you need. Don't rely on it alone to protect your computer and your privacy. Take these few inexpensive steps and maintain your security. You are responsible for your own security, it's not a matter of "if" you will be attacked but "when". The average time to infect a brand new Windows XP system with no protection installed is 12 seconds.

Test Your System!
To test your systems' security we recommend you have one of the common "scanners" visit you and scan your system. It sounds nasty but it's the only way to see what is going on. Security sites such as Symantec Antivirus Research Center (SARC) will scan your system for common security holes.

Scams and Fraud
Scams and Fraud are harder to protect yourself against. Use common sense here, don't send checks, cash or money orders in the mail to someone you don't know. Credit card theft is highly unlikely on The Net and is the best bet when buying products since the seller can be easily tracked down and prosecuted. Make sure your browser is in "Secure Mode" before sending any Credit Card number. Eavesdropping on your activity is fairly common and virtually impossible to detect. If you don't want people seeing what you do then either don't do it or encrypt it. PGP provides encryption and security software both as Freeware and for purchase.

I'm being ATTACKED! I have a VIRUS! I've been FRAUDED! Now What?
What if you are attacked? What should you do? It depends on the nature of the attack. Viruses are easily dealt with by protection software which can kill or quarantine the infected file. Sometimes this must be done manually. Direct Attacks on your system are best dealt with by disconnecting, they are however extremely difficult to detect. If you are not too worried about what a thief may find or do to your system then gather evidence, BlackICE Defender will do this for you and we can also trace the criminal if we can monitor the attack so give us a call as soon as you can. If you become the victim of a scam or fraud, criminal authorities (Police or FBI) are your best bet though we may be able to help you track down the scammer.

Symptoms of Virus Activity

• Your virus scanner finds it and informs you (this is good).
• Slow Internet Access or Internet doesn't work at all
• Computer seems to dial up for no reason, by itself.
• E-mail comes back to you with bad address errors (Mail Bounces).
• E-Mail doesn't work right or at all.
• Computer gives many errors all the time.
• Strange windows pop up with rude, obnoxious or strange messages.
• Virus Scanner is disabled.
• Virus Scanner can not do on-line update or scan.
• Some web sites won't come up, especially anti virus sites.
• Someone reliable e-mails you informing you of your virus.
• Computer stops working entirely.
• Computer explodes like a nuclear device leveling all land within 50 miles and rendering Western Wyoming uninhabitable for the next 300 years. Well, OK maybe not this one, but you never know :^)

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Several things can happen to affect your connection with us.

Dial-Up Connections

• The phone rings and rings without a modem answering: This is an uncommon problem we have seen and can be caused by three things, you are dialing the wrong number, the entire system is off line due to power loss or our RAS has failed. We ask that you call us if this happens.
• Can not establish TCP/IP Connection This is usually the result of a configuration problem in your system and is commonly caused by a misspelled login name or password or less often tinkering with your Networking or Connection parameters. Remember, your Userid (login name) can not contain any capital letters while your password is case sensitive and may contain capital letters. Both require EXACT spelling, the most common error we see is a username like this "user@yourdomain.net" THIS IS WRONG, do not include the @yourdomain.net part. When your connection fails to establish properly the first thing to try is to re-enter your userid and password and try to reconnect, that failing, shutdown and reboot your machine.
• Loosing Connection or Slow Connection Having your modem hang up on you during a session or having a very slow connection is almost always caused by poor phone line quality (provided your modem is configured to connect at its highest speed). If you can hear ANY noise on your phone line when you are using it for normal voice conversation then you have a problem with noise and we can guarantee your modem will have a problem with it. Noise will cause errors in your data transmissions, slow your connection by having to retransmit data and if enough errors occur your modem will fall back to a slower speed to try to reduce the errors and given enough noise will hang-up. We notice more complaints about this problem during periods of wet weather as the rain affects line quality and we see more instances of it in the older parts of town and in homes along the river. You can contact QWest and complain that noise is causing trouble with your data connections and they can install filters to eliminate this problem. One typical problem we see is those of you who live near the radio station being able to hear the radio transmissions over your phone.

ADSL Connections

• Reboot your ADSL Modem by powering it down. Wait 5 minutes and then power it back up.
• Internet or WAN light is off or blinking check phone line connection and reboot ADSL modem.
• Check your ADSL configuration, save and reboot.
• LAN light is not "on" check local Ethernet cable and that computer Ethernet card is not disabled.
• Check Computer network configuration is to "Obtain IP and DNS Automatically".
• Phone line problems require testing from QWest.

Wireless Connections

• Inspect all connections and cable to the antenna. Even slight damage can degrade performance.
• Check antenna

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When you can not connect to a web site and receive a DNS or other error stating the site was not found or that a connection could not be established there are many possible problems. 90% of all Internet related problems are caused by Spyware/Adware, so the first thing to do is scan for and remove any of that stuff. Have a look at the Security help above. After that, try again, then try to connect to your local domain www.hamsfork.net or www.blacksfork.net. If you can connect to this or any of our pages then you know that at least we are up. We recommend that you set your Start or Home Page to your local domain for this reason. Remember that your Browser will cache any pages you have visited and if you suspect that we are off line you should Refresh the page to force your Browser to access the site across the net rather than from your hard disk. Then check our Network Status to see what is going on. It is unlikely that we will go offline while you are connected, if you try to dial in while we are off line you will not be able to establish a connection. However, if we do go off-line while you are connected (for re-boot or server crashes), this results in your browser not being able to resolve an address from a site name, this is a service provided by our server called DNS. In your connection you can stipulate a secondary name server to prevent this from happening, so that if your Primary DNS goes down for some reason you can get DNS from another DNS server. You can use 199.2.252.10 for your secondary DNS. Do not set this as your primary DNS, it will just generate extra traffic on the net and slow down your process of jumping from site to site. Our DNS Server caches any address lookups it makes so that next time your Browser asks for an address it already knows and doesn't have to go look it up from another DNS Server.

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Most systems have diagnostic software built-in to help you troubleshoot Internet problems. Ping.exe is used to send an ICMP Echo Request (ping) packet to another computer to test if it is alive, The other computer will respond to the ping with an ICMP Echo Reply if it is alive and if not the software will time out after a minute or so and give you an error. Trace Route (tracert) is used to see all of the computers and routers involved in a connection from you to your destination computer (for instance there are 14-16 computers between us and microsoft.com). Win 95/98 has these two utilities built in to it for network trouble-shooting. You can run these from the Start Run command line or create shortcuts to them on your Desktop or in a Desktop Folder. They are on most systems in C:\Windows\ping.exe and C:\Windows\tracert.exe.

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• Unable to establish a connection with your mail server
  This error is quite common and like login problems is usually caused by misspelled userid or password. Less common, though possible, it may be caused by congestion and you can simply try it again, usually with good results. When the server is very busy it will refuse new connections until the load goes down and this almost always occurs within a few seconds. If your configuration succumbs to a case of tinkering just check that you have your mail server (both SMTP and POP3) set up correctly and that your login name and password are not missing or misspelled. The mail server will validate your user name and password every time you check your mail. This way you could check your mail with someone elses computer if you wanted to (you should never do this for your own security and if you do we recommend using webmail), for instance if you were out of town at a friends home with Internet access, or on the road with your laptop.
• Your mail does not seem to do anything for a long time
  This is usually caused by having someone send you a huge file. Remember it will take approximately 10 minutes to download 1MB at 33.6 Kbps and about 3 seconds with a broadband wireless connection. Check that your connection is active by watching your connection Icon or Connection Statistics while the mail is downloading. The connection should show active almost continuously. If your connection is active then it is downloading something. You should not interrupt a mail download as this can cause problems with the server. In extreme cases it can cause the server to crash. If you suspect that there is a huge mail file in your mailbox that you don't want to spend the time downloading, just give us a call and we can delete it for you (be prepared to prove to us who you are, we are not easily convinced to delete files by anyone over the phone). Another cause of this is "Mail Bombing" and in extreme cases "Spamming". If you continue to be the victim of someone sending you huge files "Mail Bombs" or a lot of unsolicited E-Mail "Spam" we want you to contact us immediately as this is against the law and action can be taken to stop the bombing and prosecute the criminal if you desire. If your mail seems clogged up and your e-mail client can not download the mail you can use Hamsfork Webmail or Blacksfork Webmail to check and selectively delete your mail without downloading it.
• Mail Tampering
  Since the Internet is basically unsecured there is the probability that some unauthorized individual can tamper with your mail. This is a federal offense and if you suspect that your mail is being tampered with you should notify us and the FBI if you wish. We make every effort to maintain the security of the server but a dedicated cracker can crack any system or snoop any Internet transmission and tamper with it. For this reason if your Internet transmissions are of a sensitive nature you should consider using some type of cryptographic software such as PGP to encode your data prior to transmission. You are responsible for your own security. There have been and will continue to be security features such as real time encryption added to E-Mail software, You should watch for these upgrades and install them as they come along.
• Error 553 or 501 "Relaying denied"
  This error is primarily seen when roaming and by ADSL clients. It is caused by the hamsfork.net mail server denying access to SMTP, basically it is an anti Spam security measure. Roaming clients should set up a MSN/Hotmail or Yahoo! account or use Hamsfork Webmail or Blacksfork Webmail with their browser when on the road as we will not allow bypassing anti-relay security. ADSL clients require their SMTP server to be set to smtp.vcn.com and SMTP authorization by username and password provided at the time of ADSL Setup. See the ADSL setup help for further instructions.

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CS&T does not maintain the NNTP News Server, we lease access to the News Server from Newsguy.com, and all of our clients have access to it using your news client. NNTP is an extremely complicated and large network of servers all in constant communication with each other and with clients (you and me). It is common for the news servers to become isolated from each other and for them to crash due to overload or for other reasons. When you can not access our NNTP Server make sure you are configured to access the server for your domain noted above. In all cases when you can not access the news server the best we can do is inform you of the status of the outage after getting that status from newsguy.com. We don't monitor the news servers on Network Status due to the large number of alarms we receive due to their congestion and to reduce traffic to the already congested systems.

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CS&T does not maintain any IRC servers, these are provided for free access and usually maintained by college students or larger ISP's. IRC, like NNTP is a large network of Servers providing real time communication for clients connected to them. They are prone to outages, disconnections, and isolations. Server crashes are common as well as "net splits" which is what IRC users call it when the net servers become disconnected. The best you can do with IRC is cross your fingers and have fun. IRCHelp.org offers many helpful resources, links and tutorials to help get you started with Internet Relay Chat.

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How to download and install software is a common question. The Internet has a vast assortment of useful software and device drivers for hardware. Downloading software and drivers presents a potential security problem so make sure you trust the source. Usually the process involves one or two steps. The first is to download the software you want, the second is to install it. It can sometimes be difficult to determine just exactly what files you need to download to have everything necessary to complete the installation, usually there is a text document provided to explain what is required to complete the installation. Most software downloaded from FTP sites have a .txt file as well as the program files which are usually in .zip or .exe format. Files in the .exe format are generally self archived files and they can be unarchived by simply placing the .exe file in the desired directory (which you must create) then running it and allowing it to unzip itself. Files in the .zip format must be unzipped using a readily available utility such as Winzip. This utility will unzip those archived files in the directory you desire revealing the setup or installation files for the software or the documentation explaining the installation procedure. Pkunzip and pkzip are commonly used on the Internet to reduce file size and pack multiple files into one file for ease and speed of transmission. You then either run the setup or install file or perform the actions stipulated in the documentation. Many sites such as Microsoft will want to install software interactively while you are on their site. This is simple but can cause problems if you allow a site to install software with a virus. For this reason you should always use virus protection software on your Internet enabled system and never download executable software from an unknown site. It is becoming more common to see the self installing type of software in the MS Windows format. Like the self archived files, this type of software will install itself interactively prompting you for program location and other needed information. You need only download the file and run it.

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Searching the Internet for specific information can be a daunting task. With several million WWW and FTP sites to look through it can take a user several hours to find a specific piece of information. The various Search Engines provide a means for the user to query the Internet easily and quickly for the desired information with a high probability of finding your request.

Search Engines are always scouring the Internet looking for web pages, FTP files and other information which they then catalog in a database for retrieval. The user simply provides the "keywords" which she is looking for and the Search Engine looks for these "keywords" in its database. The web pages which contain these "keywords" are returned back to the user (called "hits") in the form of a list of links usually with some descriptive narrative. The user then simply reads through the list, examining the narrative until she finds a likely "hit" then jumps to that site and looks for her information. The "keywords" which you provide to the Search Engine are critical in determining the nature and number of "hits". You should try to provide as concise a list of "keywords" as possible to narrow down the search and return the fewest number of hits. Too broad of a list of "keywords" results in a list of too many links to examine. The more powerful Search Engines deliver your results alphabetically sorted or sorted by % accuracy (how many keywords were in the hit) or by a user defined arrangement.

Most Search Engines provide a means to further define your search using Boolean operators such as "AND", "OR" and "NOT" or Date ranging. This way you could construct a more effective search such as "dogs AND Doberman AND sale AND pedigree NOT cat NOT cats" which would likely remove such places as pet shops from your list of hits if you were looking for pedigree Dobermans for sale. You generally find the syntax of such "Power Search" capabilities for each Search Engine under "Power Search" or "Advanced Search", study your search engine and use these operators, they can really help you find your data quickly.

Metasearch Engines like Ask Jeeves allow one to submit a single query which is then sent to several different Search Engines with the results tabulated and returned. This way one can thoroughly scour the Web with a single search. Meta Engines are usually a bit slower than other search engines because of this.

The most popular Search Engine right now is Google, it is fast and provides relevant hits in an easy to understand manner. Many search engines like Yahoo! return information which attempts to direct the user onto that sites content prior to directing them to content on the Web. Advertisers pay these type Search Engine Sites to preferentially display their information first and many pay extra to have their link displayed as the first in the list rather than alphabetically. Users tend to utilize Yahoo! mainly due to the advertising of the brand name, Yahoo! is simply better known than HotBot and gets more usage because of this. Advertisers know this and are willing to spend the money to advertise with them. Many of the more popular search sites are evolving into what are known as "Portal Sites". They offer many services such as e-mail, Web Chat and copious amounts of content to draw users onto their site and keep them there, displaying advertising on virtually every page. Power users prefer to use the Search Engines which do not attempt to deliver information in this manner. Search Engines such as HotBot and Allthesites provide the experienced user with much faster and more concise search results and are consistently better rated than Engines like Yahoo! and Webcrawler.

This Link will take you to a page which has links to many types of popular Search Engines.

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There are two ways to create a web site of your own. You can have a web site with the name www.hamsfork.net/~sitename or you can have your own domain like www.sitename.com. Business users prefer to have their own domain name as this is easier for a customer to remember and shorter to advertise in print, personal and small local business can use the /~sitename type of name to reduce expense. To have your own domain name you must register your name with an Accredited Registrar such as Network Solutions Inc. for $70 for the first two years then $35 per year thereafter, they also have a discounted 10 year payment option. You must be familiar with programming in HTML and use either a regular text processor to create the code or one of the many available HTML applications that are available such as HotDog or MS Frontpage or the built in utilities in MS IE 4.0, Netscape Navigator, MS Office and many other word processors and Office Suites. We recommend that you start off using a text processor and doing it manually until you become familiar with the HTML specifications then switch to a HTML creation application if you prefer that later. This way you will not be confused with the actual code of HTML which you will need to be proficient at editing manually anyway. Classes are available through the Outreach and from CS&T to teach HTML basics. Local Webmasters have access to our Front Page Extensions and our pre-loaded cgi programs to provide various dynamic operations to their web pages. These include Random Banners with links, Date/Time functions, Guestbook, Hit Counters, Form Mail, web mail etc.

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If you have a question that you think others would like to know about please submit it to us and we will sure put it up here. We don't know what you don't know and as our name implies we are dedicated trainers.

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