Active Channels (also known simply as channels) are Web sites that use a technology called Webcasting. This technology makes it possible for Internet Explorer to automatically download updated content from the Active Channel’s Web site to your computer’s cache (temporary storage area) on a regular schedule. This enables you to browse the new content even when you’re not connected to the Internet (known as offline viewing). Many channels offer a more condensed experience of their online information, known as Active Desktop Items. Active Desktop Items are World Wide Web components that appear directly on your Windows desktop and give you immediate access to the information that you want to see without having to browse through Web page after Web page. Active Desktop Items often give you instant access to highlights or headlines of the Web site, which you can click to open into full-screen Web pages.

Adding Active Channels or Active Desktop Items

After initially installing Internet Explorer, you have access to only one Active Desktop Item the Internet Explorer Channel bar. The Internet Explorer Channel bar provides an easy way to access the Active Channels that you add to your computer as well as to sign up for new channels. To display this built-in Active Desktop Item, you need to right-click the desktop and choose Active Desktop -> Show Web Content from the shortcut menu. Of course, if you decide that you want more Active Desktop goodies adorning your desktop, you have to go and get them. To add additional Active Desktop Items and channels, you need to go online and install them from the Windows Active Desktop Gallery Web page. To connect to this page, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the desktop. A shortcut menu appears.

2. Choose Active Desktop -> Customize My Desktop. The Display Properties dialog box appears with the Web tab selected.

3. Click the New button to open the New Active Desktop Item dialog box. If the New button is not available (grayed out), select the Show Web Content on My Active Desktop check box, and then click the New button.

4. Click Visit Gallery in the New Active Desktop Item dialog box to close both the New Active Desktop Item and the Display Properties dialog boxes. This launches Internet Explorer and opens the Windows Active Desktop Gallery Web page.

5. Find the specific Active Desktop Item or channel that you want to add, and then click the Add to Active Desktop button.

6. Click Yes in the Internet Explorer dialog box to confirm that you want to add the selected Active Desktop Item to your desktop. The Add Item to Active Desktop dialog box appears, listing the name of the item you selected in Step 5.

7. Click OK to confirm the selected channel. After you click OK, a Downloading dialog box appears, keeping you apprised of the download progress of the Active Channel or Desktop Item that you selected. If you download a new Active Desktop Item, you need to return to the desktop to check out your new toy. Click the Close box in the title bar of the Internet Explorer window to return to the desktop. If you don’t see your new Active Desktop Item right away, right-click the desktop to display the shortcut menu and choose the Refresh command.

Viewing channels with the Channels folder

You can easily display the content of the channels that you add by opening the Favorites Explorer bar in the browser (by clicking the Favorites button on the Standard Buttons toolbar) and clicking the Channels folder icon. The default channels in the Channels folder are arranged into the following categories (you may see additional channels, depending on your setup):  -  Microsoft Channel Guide  -  News and Technology  -  Sports  -  Business  -  Entertainment  -  Lifestyle and Travel If you add a channel to a particular category, click its name in the Favorites Explorer bar. When you see the name of the channel whose contents you want to view, click its hyperlink in the Favorites Explorer bar. The channel’s opening page then appears in the right frame of Internet Explorer, and hyperlinks to linked channel pages appear in the Favorites Explorer bar (the frame on the left side of Internet Explorer). To update the contents of the channel that you want to view, right-click the channel’s hyperlink and click the Refresh command on the shortcut menu.

Removing an Active Channel or Active Desktop Item

If you decide that you want to remove a channel and its contents from your computer, you can do so via the Favorites Explorer bar. To delete an Active Desktop Item, follow these steps:

1. Right-click your desktop and choose Active Desktop -> Customize My Desktop from the shortcut menu. The Display Properties dialog box appears.

2. Click the Web tab, if it isn’t already selected.

3. Click the item that you want to delete in the View My Active Desktop as a Web page list box and click the Delete button. The Active Desktop Item dialog box appears.

4. Click Yes to confirm that you want to delete this item.

5. Click OK to close the Display Properties dialog box.

Changing the History Settings

When you come across a wonderful Web page, you can save the page to your Favorites list or create a shortcut to the page to make returning there easy. However, if you forgot to save a Web page to your Favorites list at the time it was displayed in the Internet Explorer browsing window, you can still get back to it by finding its link in the History folder. By default, the Internet Explorer History folder retains links to the pages that you visited during the last 20 days. But you may want to change the length of time that links remain in your History folder. For example, you can increase the time so that you have access to Web pages visited in the more distant past, or you can decrease the time if you’re short on hard drive space. You can also purge the links in the History folder to free up space on your hard drive and restore all hyperlinks to pages that you’ve visited to their unvisited state (and colors). To change the History settings, follow these steps:

1. Choose Tools -> Internet Options. The Internet Options dialog box appears. Click the General tab if it isn’t already selected.

2. In the History section, type a new value in the Days to Keep Pages in History text box or click the up or down arrows to select the desired value.

3. Click OK. To purge the links in the History folder, follow these steps:

1. Choose Tools -> Internet Options. The Internet Options dialog box appears. Click the General tab if it isn’t already selected.

2. Click the Clear History button.

3. Click OK in the Internet Options alert box that appears, which asks if you want to delete all items from your History folder.

4. Click OK to close the Internet Options dialog box.

Specifying Mail, News, and Internet Call Programs

Internet Explorer can work with other programs to add to its functionality and capabilities. Microsoft has created certain programs that it intends to work so closely with Internet Explorer that it refers to them as members of the Internet Explorer Suite. The auxiliary programs that are included with Internet Explorer as part of the suite depend upon which type of installation you perform:

-  Custom: This installation lets you select which auxiliary programs are installed along with the browser and Outlook Express.

-  Minimal: This installation gives you the Microsoft Internet Connection Wizard along with Internet Explorer.

-  Typical: This installation includes the browser plus Outlook Express, Windows Media Player, and a few multimedia enhancements. One of the most practical of these many auxiliary programs is Microsoft Outlook Express, which adds e-mail and news-reading capabilities to Internet Explorer. If you do the typical installation and your computer is equipped with sound and video hardware, such as a microphone and video camera, you can use NetMeeting to make Internet calls or set up video conferencing. Even if you don’t have such hardware, you can use Chat (originally known as Comic Chat) as part of NetMeeting to participate in online chat sessions. To see which programs are configured to run from Internet Explorer (such as the Mail, News, and Internet call programs) and, if necessary, change them, follow these steps:

1. Choose Tools -> Internet Options; then click the Programs tab.

2. To change the program listed in the HTML Editor, E-Mail, Newsgroups, Internet Call, Calendar, or Contact List text boxes, select a new program by using the drop-down list boxes.

3. After you finish checking over the programs and making any changes to them, click OK. If you have installed another Web browser, such as Netscape Navigator, after installing Internet Explorer, you can click the Reset Web Settings button in this dialog box to restore your original Internet Explorer default settings for search pages and your home page. Clicking this button also restores the prompt to ask you whether you want to make Internet Explorer your default browser each time you launch Microsoft’s browser.

Speeding Up the Display of Web Pages

You can speed up the display of Web pages on your computer, but unless you do it by getting a faster connection (with a modem upgrade, a DSL or ISDN line, or a cable modem), the increase in speed comes at the expense of hard drive space or viewing content. You can also dramatically speed up the display of Web pages by turning off the display of most pictures, animations, videos, and sounds. To make this kind of change to Internet Explorer, follow these steps:

1. Choose Tools -> Internet Options; then click the Advanced tab.

2. In the Multimedia section of the Settings list box, deselect the check boxes of as many of the items as you want to disable to get a sufficient speed boost. These items include Play Videos, Play Sounds, Smart Image Dithering, Show Pictures, and Play Animations.

3. Click OK to add the new settings and close the Internet Options dialog box. Now when you open new Web pages, weird (but fast) generic icons replace the multimedia contents that you’ve disabled. If you still see graphics on the Web pages that you visit, click the Refresh button on the Internet Explorer toolbar to remove their display. After disabling the Show Pictures and Play Videos settings, you can still choose to display a particular graphic or play a particular video. Just rightclick the icon placeholder and choose Show Picture from its shortcut menu. Internet Explorer then downloads and displays the particular graphic or video that you selected. To restore the multimedia items that you disabled, click the Advanced tab of the Internet Options dialog box again and click the check boxes to select the desired Multimedia items. Then click OK to save your changes and close the Internet Options dialog box. Remember that you have to use the Refresh button on the Internet Explorer toolbar to see and hear multimedia items on pages that were downloaded to the cache when these items were disabled.

Synchronizing Offline Web Pages

To make sure that you have the most current data from an Active Channel or a Favorites Web site that you’ve made available for browsing offline, you may want to update the contents of your cache a process known as synchronization. To synchronize individual Active Channels or favorite Web sites, follow these steps:

1. Choose Tools -> Synchronize. The Items to Synchronize dialog box appears.

2. In the Select the Check Box for Any Items You Want to Synchronize list box, make sure that the check box for each offline Web page you want updated is selected. Deselect the check box of any offline Web page you don’t want updated.

3. Click the Synchronize button. Internet Explorer then connects you to the Internet and begins the process of checking each selected offline Web page for updated content, which is then automatically downloaded into your computer’s cache. Synchronizing enables you to browse the updated contents (using the Favorites Explorer bar) when you’re not connected to the Internet. If you connect to the Internet over a LAN (local area network) or via a cable modem, DSL, or ISDN connection (you can therefore go online at anytime), you may want to specify when and under what conditions particular offline Web pages are synchronized. To do this, choose Tools -> Synchronize. Then with the Offline Web Pages folder selected, click the Setup button. When you click this button, Internet Explorer opens the Synchronization Settings dialog box. The Synchronization Settings dialog box contains three tabs: Logon, On Idle, and Scheduled:  

-  Logon tab: Use this tab to select the offline pages that you want synchronized whenever you log onto a networked computer. Select the check boxes for the offline pages to be synchronized when you log onto your computer; then select the When I Log On to My Computer check box.

 -  On Idle tab: Use this tab to select the offline pages that you want synchronized whenever your computer is idle for a particular period of time. Select the check boxes for the offline pages to be synchronized when your computer is idle for a particular period, and then select the Synchronize the Selected Items When My Computer Is Idle check box. To specify how long an idle period to use, click the Advanced button and change the settings in the Idle Settings dialog box.  

-  Scheduled tab: Use this tab to set up a custom schedule by which selected offline pages are routinely synchronized. To create a new schedule to be used, click the Add button and use the Scheduled Synchronization Wizard to take you through the steps of creating and naming a new custom schedule for certain offline Web pages. To edit the settings for a particular default schedule, click the name of the schedule (such as CNN Desktop Scores Recommended Schedule); then click the Edit button to open a dialog box in which you can modify the current settings (the name of the dialog box and its tabs and options vary depending on the particular synchronization schedule that you’re editing).