Useful Tips

Tips on Using NetZero

Use the Help Center

The NetZero Help Center provides a wealth of troubleshooting information covering all aspects of using our service. At any time during your NetZero experience, you can easily get online help using our Help Center at http://www.netzero.net/support/

Our Help Center lets you search by topic and keywords, or you can take advantage of our Answer Detective, an easy-to-access menu system that covers our most commonly-viewed topics.

To access the Help Center:

NetZero v8.x users: Click the Help button on the ZeroPort or Platinum Companion.

When visiting any page within www.netzero.com, you can click the Help tab located at the top of the page.

Tips on Internet Browsing

Navigating around Web sites

While surfing to more complex Web sites that include a wide a variety of information, there will generally be one or more menus or tables of contents to help you navigate your way through them.

Most Web sites (such as the NetZero Help Center) have navigation menus on the left-hand side and/or the top of the page. When in doubt, try looking in these locations for navigation help.

How to Perform a Search

Click here for instructions on how to perform a search.

Using Favorites / Bookmarks

Click here for a walkthrough on using Favorites with Internet Explorer.

Click here for a walkthrough on using Bookmarks with Netscape.

Downloading Files

One of the most common problems when downloading a file, or program, is not knowing where the file was saved. Assuming that you have chosen to Save the file to your computer, the most convenient option is to save the file to your desktop.

To save a file to your desktop (using Internet Explorer), please follow these steps:

1. Click the Download button or link to begin downloading a file.
2. When the File Download window appears, select Save.
3. In the Save As window, click the Desktop icon located in the left pane of the window.
4. Click Save.

That's it. Your file is now saved to your desktop and can be launched by double-clicking it.

Once you have saved a file to your desktop, you can minimize desktop clutter by creating a folder and moving the file there. For example, you can create a folder called Downloads where you can store files for future use. Store all of your downloaded files to this folder and keep it in your My Documents folder. If you use this example, you will always know where your downloaded files are located.

System Maintenance

Run Scandisk (95/98/ME) or Check Disk (2000/XP)

Scandisk and Check Disk are utility programs in Windows that look for problems on your hard drive in order to fix them. It's a good idea to run these programs either monthly as a routine checkup, if your computer starts giving you error messages, or if your system just isn’t running right.

To run Scandisk in Windows 95/98/ME:

1. Double click the My Computer icon on your desktop.
2. Right click the disk drive you want to check and select Properties.
3. Click the Tools tab.
4. In the Error Checking section, click Check Now to open the Scandisk window.
5. Once Scandisk opens, choose the Thorough option and make you there is a checkmark next to Automatically Fix Errors.
6. Click Start to begin the process.

Scandisk will run through the selected hard drive checking for fixable disk errors. When Scandisk is finished, it will give you a summary by default. After reading the summary, click Close, then close Scandisk.

To run Check Disk in Windows 2000/XP:

1. Double click the My Computer icon on your desktop.
2. Right click the disk drive you want to check and select Properties.
3. Click the Tools tab.
4. In the Error Checking section, click Check Now to open the Check Disk window.
5. Once Check Disk opens, check both Automatically Fix File System Errors and Scan for and Attempt Recovery of Bad Sectors.
6. Click Start to begin the process.

Check Disk will run through the selected hard drive checking for fixable disk errors. When the process is finished, it will give you a summary by default. After reading the summary, click Close, then close Check Disk.

Run Disk Defragmenter

Disk fragmentation occurs on your hard drive naturally over the course of everyday use, and is the result of files being written, erased and rewritten to different parts of your hard drive. If left unchecked, defragmentation can slow down the performance of your hard drive and your computer system.

The Disk Defragmenter (called DEFRAG) is a utility that will fix disk fragmentation, but it can take a long time depending on the size and speed of your hard drive. It is often best to start the Disk Defragmenter and leave the PC defragmenting overnight.

Note: You should run Scandisk or Check Disk before running Disk Defragmenter. Click here for more information.

To run Disk Defragmenter in Windows 95/98/ME:

1. Double click the My Computer icon on your desktop.
2. Right click the disk drive you want to defragment and select Properties.
3. Click the Tools tab.
4. In the Defragmentation Status section, click Defragment Now to open the Disk Defragmenter window.

Disk Defragmenter will then run through and defragment your hard drive.

To run Disk Defragmenter in Windows 2000/XP:

1. Double click the My Computer icon on your desktop.
2. Right click the disk drive you want to defragment and select Properties.
3. Click the Tools tab.
4. In the Defragmentation section, click Defragment Now to open the Disk Defragmenter window.
5. Once Disk Defragmenter opens, select the drive you want to defragment, then click the Defragment button.

Disk Defragmenter will then run through and defragment your hard drive.

Other Useful Information

Glossary

Click here for a glossary of frequently-used Internet terms.