Avoiding ISP SnoopWare...

DIALING ISP's THROUGH WINDOWS

Last Minute "afterthought": To avoid your details going out wholesale, consider disabling the so-called smart-browsing "feature" of Netscape. It is much more malicious than that; it actually sends all the URLs you type in the Location bar of this browser and the PTBs can quietly build a profile on your browsing habits. Let me know if you are interested and I will post instructions on disabling the:

As you have already read in the first article, the Windows registry is THE place where the user's information is stored. To more and more people's chagrin it appears that an exorbitant and unnecessary amount of personal information is stored here.

The first major collector of this info is Windows itself, programmed as it is by Microsoft to collect every scrap of information the (uninformed) user is willing to part with. Ordinarily speaking this is of no consequence unless the user intends to take a drive on the Information Super Highway, fly in CyberSpace, or Surf the Internet. These three are one and the same thing. Cliches.

That's the second major collector; The Internet provider. The information you provide in the multitude of "dialog" boxes in response to setup questions is relayed directly to the ISP without you ever knowing HOW MUCH of it is sent. Well, stunning as it may be, ALL of it is sent. It is the first step in a long series of steps to make you "part of the global commerce family". A fancy but faulty description of what you really are: a slave.

To avoid being set up as a potential victim, cash cow and "them" profiling you with their fancy Story Servers, made by Vignette, among others, I am going to show you how to set up your account directly with the same provider minus their ability to leech off your computer.

I already know you like using the latest Internet Toys judging from your using Netscape Communicator 4.7 and Win98. Good

As you probably already know, Windows has something called Dialup Networking or DUN for short. This is what you will be using to connect to Earthlink, and you can connect to 254 other sites with that same DUN. You can even run concurrent sessions from other computers whilst you are logged in with this one. With Total Acess (TA) you can only get to Earthlink, and only once. Using Their TA precludes you from having more than one concurrent session.

Dun is an integral part of the operating system, whereas TA eats up a healthy 30 Megabytes or more these days. And included among the little gems it puts on your hard drive is that little "Big Brother" bit of software that messes with the registry. Even after you PROPERLY delete TA, it's stinger is still sitting in the registry and COULD transmit sensitive personal data about you and your computer to Earthlink and its DoD contacts as soon as you log on to the Internet. So... don't install it!
 

Step 1: Making sure that DUN is installed.

Make sure that DUN is installed. How do you know that it is?

CLICK Then:
 
followed by:
 
there you select:
 

When the applet has launched, select the tab "Windows Setup" and see that "communications" has a checkmark. If the checkmark is black inside an all-white box, you can exit and close the add-remove window; you already have it on your system. If the box is grey, you only have some, not all, communication facilities installed. Click the "Details" button. If Dialup Networking at the top does not have a check mark inside then put one there and click Ok. Now you will need your Windows9.x CD. If you don't have one but Windows9.x came on the PC when you bought it, go back to the store that sold it to you and make a big stink. They MUST provide OEM software with the machine, it is part of their license agreement with Microshaft ... er... Microsoft. Follow the screen's instructions and reboot when prompted.
 

Step 2: Setting up DUN

Clear the desktop by simultaneously pressing the "windows" and "D'' keys. If ypu don't have the windows key click on the button on your taskbar at the bottom of the screen. (Windows98 and NT with Service pack 5). The last alternative to minimize all windows is to right click in an open space in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen and you will get this popup:

 
Click the blue option. Finally.

Now, double click My Computer, on the desktop:
A window opens and amongst icons for drives, and printer you should see this one: Double-Click it...

A new window opens and the (only) icon in there is this one:   

Now for the serious stuff. When you double-click the "Make New Connection" icon you get this window:

At the top you fill in the name of your ISP e.g. Earthlink or if you are from St. Olaf, KlassenFlunken-InternetSkunken or whatever :)

A modem should already be filled in at the next line. If not, trouble. It is outside the scope of this tutorial to install modems. If it is not there, the tutorial ends right here... :(

But if you do have a modem listed...cool!

Click on the configure button and set the volume of the speaker off or to the lowest position before off. Modems are really noisy creatures and they drive me batty. Maximum speed should be 115200. Click OK.

Now click NEXT. -->

Fill in your area code and the number of your ISP. If outside the US the country code as well.

Now click NEXT. The text here is pretty darn self-explanatory, don't you agree?.

So click Finish, and we are almost ready.

A new icon appears in the Dial-Up Networking window with the name you just gave it.

In the case of some Providers, this is all you need to do. They have some newfangled technology that provides IP addresses to you auto-matically.

If they sent you a document with complicated numbers like the ones below:
 
DNS1: 207.217.126.41
DNS2: 207.217.77.42

and IP adress: 127.0.0.1 (IP addresses are not often given anymore) don't panic. We can fix that too. These are simply the Internet addresses for the computers that you are connecting to when dialing the ISP.

So, in that case, right-click on the icon that looks like this: and a popup appears. Select properties and a window like the one on the right pops up.

The phone number you entered earlier should show up. Click on the Server Types Tab.

See the image below

Set your advanced options and allowed Network Protocols like you see here.

Then Click on the button TCP/IP Settings.

You now see this "scary number" page, but there is nothing scary here. This window does not change unless the ISP gave you a set of numbers that you must input.

If you do need to input, use the image below; it is the same as this one but now it is "active."

You now type in the numbers given to ypu by the ISP.Leave the checkboxes checked. Then Click OK. And again. You are all set now...

Double-click the icon you created earlier and the dial-up window below appears.

Click Connect and you are in business.

If you get error messages like "The computer you are dialing into... blahblah, " check your settings and make sure they match that in the documentation you received from your Internet Service Provider.

Good Luck!