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Computing

From...

Channel surfing with Windows 98

Control Internet Explorer's wandering ways: a guide to less intrusive channeling.

October 12, 1998
Web posted at: 4:30 PM EDT

by Judy Heim

(IDG) -- If not properly controlled, Internet Explorer's Active Channels can take over your desktop, your system resources ... and your life. Here's how to add and remove them from your desktop and control their various intrusive properties.

Note that to use Active Channels smoothly you must configure Internet Explorer as your default browser. You can access Active Channels with Netscape Navigator (after all, they're just Web pages), but you may get Java errors.

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Get the Channel Bar on Screen: If you don't have a channel bar on your desktop and for some strange reason would like to have it, click Start, Settings, Active Desktop, Customize My Desktop. Under the Web tab, check both View My Active Desktop as a Web Page and Internet Explorer Channel Bar. Click OK. Remember, you can also view the channel bar within IE, where it's less intrusive and can be hidden more easily. To activate it inside the browser, just click the Channels button (the one that looks like a satellite dish) on the toolbar. To close it, click it again.

Kill the Channel Bar: If you don't approve of letting that obnoxious channel bar hog valuable desktop acreage, vanquish it by clicking the X icon in the top-right corner of the bar (if the X isn't there, move your cursor to the top of the bar and it will appear). When Windows asks whether you want the bar to come back the next time you boot, tell it No.

Add and Remove Channels: To add a Web page you're viewing to the channel bar, click the Add Active Channel button featured on that Web page. But you probably don't want an endless stream of flashing headlines, so make sure you set limits. In particular, don't let the channel determine how frequently it will download updates. It may ask a question like "How should subscriptions be updated?" or it may offer a Customize Subscriptions button. Use whatever option it gives you for manually updating the channel.

To remove channels from the bar, right-click the channel's icon and select Delete.

Suggestion: Want easy access to a Web site from your desktop rather than from the channel bar? While you're viewing a Web page, right-click a blank spot on the page and select Create Shortcut.

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