Setting up Netscape Communicator for use with PRIS

This page contains information for setting up Netscape's Communicator for use with PRIS. The information will step through the procedures for setting up the web browser, e-mail and newsgroups settings. It is beyond the scope of our support staff to aid members in learning the advance features of this software. However, there is a wealth of information available to users by choosing Help from the Communicator menu. More help is available at Netscape's web site.

Before setting up Communicator, make sure you have enough RAM and hard disk storage space. Please see the requirements page.

1. Double-click the Netscape Communicator icon or shortcut.

2. The first time you open Communicator you will need to set up a new user profile. Enter your full name in to the name box and your e-mail address in to the e-mail box. Your e-mail address takes the form of your_userid@pris.bc.ca.

   

3. If you have an older version of Netscape on your computer, you will be asked if you would like to copy or move the existing user files, or start Communicator as a new user. Copying the files will enable you to keep your bookmarks and other preferences. Make your selection, and click Finish. Communicator finishes the profile set up and starts up.

   

4. The next step is to check or edit your settings. If you chose to copy or move your existing files, most of these settings will be correct already. Choose Edit from the file menu, then Preferences. The preferences box appears on your screen. Various icons are within the Category "box". Click each "+" sign to expand the directory/category listing.

   

   Click the "+ signs

5. Click Appearance. Under the "On startup, launch" heading, "Navigator" should be checkmarked. "Show toolbar" as "pictures and text" is recommended.

   

   Above - After clicking the "+" signs and clicking "Appearance"

6. Click the Navigator category. Under the Navigator starts with heading, "Home Page" should be chosen. For Location, you can enter "http://www.pris.bc.ca" for the PRIS home page.

   

7. Click Identity under the Mail & Groups category. If necessary,enter your real name and e-mail address in the appropriate text entry boxes. These should already be carried over from your profile set up.

   

   Identity

8. Click the Mail Server category. Enter your PRIS userid into the Mail server user name box, and enter mail.pris.bc.ca in both the "Outgoing (SMTP) server" and "Incoming mail server" boxes.
   

   The Mail Server Type should be "POP3", and "Leave messages on server after retrieval" should not be check marked.

   

   Mail settings

   * If you would like Communicator to save your password so you don't have to type it in each time, click on the Options button, then tick the "save password" box.

9. Click the Groups Server category. The Discussion groups (news) server will be news.pris.bc.ca or news.cyberstore.ca

   

   news settings

10. Click the Offline category. Online Work Mode should be chosen under the Startup Communicator in heading.

    

11. Click on Download. You can choose whether or not to download only unread news messages.

    

    Download

12. You can click the Advanced category to configure the advanced settings. Memory Cache is usually defaulted to 512 KB. If you have a lot of RAM available, you can increase this number. Disk Cache can be adjusted to reflect the size of your hard disk. It is recommended that you leave the other settings at their default values.

    

    Cache settings

13. Finally, click Okay to save your settings. Your can now open a connection to PRIS and use the Netscape Communicator.

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