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Windows 95

Double-click on the "My Computer" icon on your desktop. In the window which opens, you should see "Dial-Up Networking". Double-click on it, find an icon labeled "Make new connection", and double-click on that. This should give you a box like the one at the right.

In the box labeled "Type a name for the computer you are dialing", type whatever name you like for your new connection (I'll call it PPPrairienet, but you can use any name). In the box that says "Select a device", you should see the name of your modem.

Click the "next" box at the bottom of the window. Now you'll be asked for the
phone number of the computer you're dialing. Enter 217, then 239-1001 for the Champaign-Urbana area. The "Country code" should say "United States Of America". Click the "Next" box.

Now you'll see a congratulatory anouncement which says "You have successfully created a new Dial-Up Networking connection called PPPrairienet" (or whatever you called it). Click the box that says "Finish", and you're half done.

You should still see the box titled "Dial-Up Networking" on your screen. In this box, you'll now see a new icon called PPPrairienet, which is the connection you just created. Position your mouse cursor over it, and press the right mouse button. From the menu that appears, select "Properties" and click on it.

Now you have a dialog box with a whole bunch of scary-looking options. You can ignore a lot of them, but some are important, so here's what you do: at the top of the box, you'll see a row of "tabs", which are boxes with labels. One of them says "Server types" -- click on that one. The box now looks something like the one at the left. You'll see that there is a list of options, some of which will have check marks beside them. Your job is to make sure there are ONLY two check marks: the options "Enable software compression" and "TCP/IP" should be checked. If there are any other options selected, click on the check marks to clear them.

Now click in the box which says "TCP/IP settings...". The result looks like this, except that all the numbers will be zeros at first. Make sure there is a dot in the box beside "Server assigned IP address". Now click the box beside "Specify name server addresses". (This will cause the four rows of boxes in that section to light up.) Double-click on the first zero in the first box. (It should now be highlighted.) Now type the following, including the periods: 192.17.3.3

Now click "OK" at the bottom, then click "OK" again, and you're done!

Your computer is now ready to connect to the internet. In the Dial-Up Networking window (which should still be open), double-click on PPPrairienet. You'll be asked for your username and password -- make sure these are both correct. Click ok, and the computer will dial the number.

Finally, if you have any further questions that aren't covered here, don't hesitate to call Prairienet Member Services at 244-1962 or email
ms@prairienet.org

Written by David Talkington, with additions by Andrea Ingram.