Fig 1.0 Double click on the NETWORK AND SHARING CENTER icon to continue
Fig 1.1 The Network And Sharing Center window - Click on the SET UP A CONNECTION OR NETWORK link to continue.
| CREATE A DIAL-UP INTERNET CONNECTION |
Years ago when you ordered a Pay-As-You-Go (P.A.Y.G) or Anytime internet account from your ISP (Internet Service Provider)
they gave you the option of downloading their Dial-Up software. Once installed you simply entered your User Name and
Password, once, and then connected to the internet using the software's DIAL button. As the years have passed many ISPs
have changed their Dial-Up packages/schemes, to the point where they no longer support their older (original) P.A.Y.G and
Anytime Dial-Up software - They cannot be downloaded anymore. This kind of scenario has happened because of the push
towards Broadband, even though many ISPs give you Dial-Up software with your Broadband "Just in case your Broadband fails".
If you no longer have your original dial-up software installed and cannot download it again, because of the above reasons
for example, you can still manually setup a Dial-Up (P.A.Y.G or Anytime) connection using Internet Options (from within
Internet Explorer) or the Network And Sharing Center control panel. Internet Options can be opened using either the Control
Panel (Start Menu button >> Control Panel >> Internet Options) or from within Internet Explorer
(Internet Explorer >> Tools menu >> Internet Options).
In this example I will show you how to create a Dial-Up internet connection, for a P.A.Y.G or Anytime account, using the
Network And Sharing Center control panel which does the same as going through Internet Options. There is a slight
difference only in that Internet Options detects previous connections and asks you if you want to overwrite an original
connection or create a new one, whereas the Network And Sharing Center does not allow you to overwrite an original
connection. Saying this, you could always delete the original connection before re-creating it. So why show you the
Network And Sharing Center method? Answer. To get you used to the Network And Sharing Center control panel as it is where
you can manage your internet connections, your network and so on. Internet Options is only for creating an internet
connection but not for managing it or connecting to it.
To use the Network And Sharing Center control panel go to the Control Panel
and double click on the NETWORK AND SHARING CENTER icon. This will bring up the Network And Sharing Center window (Fig 1.1).
When the Network And Sharing Center window appears click on the SET UP A CONNECTION OR NETWORK link, in the upper-left-side of the window. The Set Up A Connection Or Network window will then appear.
When the Set Up A Connection Or Network window appears it will have the option CONNECT TO THE INTERNET selected by default (normal behaviour), but to create a Dial-Up internet connection you need to select the option SET UP A DIAL-UP CONNECTION. The option CONNECT TO THE INTERNET is geared towards setting up a Broadband internet connection and so on. After selecting SET UP A DIAL-UP CONNECTION click on the NEXT button to continue.
After clicking on the NEXT button (Fig 1.2 above) you are presented with the above window which asks you for your ISP
(Internet Service Provider) details.
The first required detail is the Dial-Up Phone Number of your ISP Internet Plan. Pay-As-You-Go or Anytime for example.
In my case I am on a pay-monthly Daytime internet plan with my ISP OneTel. This plan has a dial-up telephone number of
0808 991 6275, which is a general dial-up telephone number used by everyone on this plan.
The second required detail is your User Name. The name you gave to your ISP as a membership name for your Internet
Plan. In my case I chose the User Name yoingco.
The third required detail is your Password. The password you gave to your ISP as a membership password for your
Internet Plan. If you want to see the characters you type into the PASSWORD Edit Box, or the characters you have typed so
far, put a tick next to the SHOW CHARACTERS option. And if you want Windows Vista to remember your password, so that you
do not have to type it each time you want to make an internet connection, put a tick next to the REMEMBER THIS PASSWORD
option.
Normally when dealing with a password I advise not to use the REMEMBER THIS PASSWORD option as it stores a password file on
your computer. When you connect to an Internet Connection, Internet Account (i.e a Forum) or Messenger for example it is the
password file stored on your computer that is downloaded/used to verify your account/membership. Whereas when you do not use
the REMEMBER THIS PASSWORD option no password file is created, which means you must type in your password each time you want
to connect/log-in to your account/membership. The password is sent straight down the telephone line. With the dial-up
connection though it does not matter if you use the REMEMBER THIS PASSWORD option because even if someone found out your
password, by being able to download/decrypt your password file, the worst they could do is make a dial-up internet connection
the same as yours.
Assuming someone did this and connected to the internet using your dial-up internet connection details, the ISP would either
not authorize the clone (especially if your internet account is an Anytime or Broadband account) or they would treat the
connection as P.A.Y.G. Meaning. They would charge the telephone line using the cloned details and not your telephone line.
For example. Years ago (and still Today with some ISPs) you can set-up/use a P.A.Y.G account from someone else's house,
whereas an Anytime or Broadband account must be set-up/used within your house only. Check with your ISP if you are unsure.
Either way, do not use the same password for your dial-up internet connnection and your other accounts - Have each account
use its own unique password. Once someone knows that your account passwords are all the same they will probably burgle your
house, never mind your computer, because they will assume your burglar alarm has the same password too. One good reason for
not ticking (not using) the REMEMBER THIS PASSWORD option is if you share a property with people you do not trust, who could
abuse your internet connection as well as your computer.
The Connection Name is the name of this Dial-Up Internet Connection - The one you are creating now. Windows Vista
gives your first dial-up internet connection a default name of Dial-up Connection, which you can change. In this example
I have given my dial-up internet connection the name OneTel Daytime Plan to remind me I must not use the connection in the
evenings, apart from weekend, otherwise I will pay-per-minute out of my daytime hours!
Unless you have others User Accounts that will need to use this dial-up internet connection you should not put a
tick next to the option ALLOW OTHER PEOPLE TO USE THIS CONNECTION. It is just as easy to set up a seperate dial-up internet
connection for them whilst logged into their user account. That way they could use your dial-up internet connection, after
supplying your password to UAC (User Account Control), or use their own dial-up internet connection.
When you have filled in the required details, and perhaps given your dial-up internet connection a new name, click on the
CONNECT button to Test Your Internet Connection.
After clicking on the CONNECT button (Fig 1.3 above) the set up process continues by passing your ISP details (phone number,
user name and password) to the dial-up modem inside your computer. It then dials your ISP'S computer (server) to make the
Main Internet Connection between your computer and your ISP's computer. When the main internet connection has been created
you will receive the "Connected" message (Fig 1.10). From there, either click on the BROWSE THE INTERNET NOW button to
automatically start Internet Explorer, so that you can browse the internet now, or simply click on the CLOSE button
(Fig 1.11 above) because you do not want to browse the internet now or because you want to use other internet services
that do not require Internet Explorer to be open (i.e Windows Live Messenger). In both scenarios the set up window is
automatically closed for you.
If the dial-up internet connection could not be set up, because your modem and/or modem cable is unplugged for example, the
following options will appear. Click on the SET UP THE CONNECTION ANYWAY button if you are 100% sure that the ISP details
you have supplied are correct and that it could just be a case of your modem and/or modem cable being unplugged or broken.
From there, click on the CLOSE button (Fig 1.13 below). If you are unsure about your ISP details and/or your modem you should
click on DIAGNOSE THE PROBLEM instead before giving up and clicking on the CANCEL button.
Depending on your computer's network settings, and whether or not you have set up an internet connection before that has since been deleted, you may be asked what kind of Network Location you require for this newly created dial-up internet connection - HOME, WORK or PUBLIC LOCATION. In this example you should click on the HOME option. You can always change this setting using the Network And Sharing Center control panel (not shown here) or by clicking on the CUSTOMIZE THE NAME, LOCATION TYPE AND ICON FOR THE NETWORK link at the bottom of this Set Network Location window.
| CREATE A SHORTCUT ICON |
After making your dial-up internet connection you will probably want to create a Shortcut Icon for it, so that you can
double click on it in order to re-connect to the internet, once you have disconnected from the internet, as opposed to
using the CONNECT TO link on the Start Menu. Although the CONNECT TO link opens the Dial-Up Requester, just the same as the
shortcut icon, CONNECT TO opens its own window first making the whole connection process seems tedious and longer.
To create a Shortcut Icon, on your desktop, for the dial-up internet connection first go to the Network And Sharing Center
control panel and then click on the MANAGE NETWORK CONNECTIONS link. This will take you to the Network Connections window.
From there you will see the dial-up internet connection you have just created, in this example the dial-up internet
connection called OneTel Daytime Plan. It should now be the default connection, represented by a Green Circle/White Tick.
Right click on the connection to bring up its Options menu and then select (left-click on) the CREATE SHORTCUT menu-item
(Fig 2.1 below).
After selecting the CREATE SHORTCUT menu-item a message will appear informing you that a Shortcut Icon cannot be placed inside the Network Connections window but a shortcut icon can be placed on the desktop. Click on the YES button to create the desktop shortcut icon.
When the shortcut icon is placed on the desktop it will have a name that is made up of the dial-up internet connection's
name plus - Shortcut (i.e OneTel Daytime Plan - Shortcut), in which case you may want to chop off the - Shortcut by renaming
the shortcut icon. Right click on the shortcut icon and then select the RENAME menu-item from the Options menu that appears
(above). From there, rename the shortcut icon in exactly the same way as you would a folder or file (see the
Rename A File section for more information.
When you disconnect from the internet (see below) and want to re-connect to it you now have two methods for re-connecting.
Either double click on the desktop Shortcut Icon (Fig 2.4 below) or click on the CONNECT TO link on the Start Menu
(Fig 2.5). Both methods will bring up the Dial-Up Requester (Fig 2.6) whereby you simply click on the DIAL button to
re-connect to the internet.
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| DISCONNECT |
When you want to completely disconnect from the internet go over to the notification area and right click on the icon with the Two Monitors and a World Globe on it. This will bring up the Network Options menu (Fig 3.0). From there, move the mouse pointer upwards towards the DISCONNECT FROM menu-item and then select (left-click on) the Dial-Up Internet Connection that becomes listed (Fig 3.1).
After selecting the Dial-Up Internet Connection to DISCONNECT FROM the icon with the Two Monitors and a World Globe on it (Fig 3.4) will change to an icon with Two Monitors and a X on it (Fig 3.2). Below shows the sequence of internet connection icons.
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The above dial-up internet connection makes the Main Internet Connection. This means that if you connect to the internet
using Internet Explorer, to view a webpage for example, Internet Explorer is then using an Extended Internet Connection.
And if you were to then connect to an Anti-Virus program's server (Definition Files computer) to check for updated files
it too would be using an Extended Internet Connection. So every program (i.e Anti-Virus program, Internet Explorer program
and so on) uses an Extended Internet Connection. These all sit on the foundation that is the Main Internet Connection - The
Main Internet Connection is the connection between your computer and your ISP's computer. Your ISP's computer is the computer
that fetches the webpages for Internet Explorer and fetches the update files for your Anti-Virus program. Therefore. If you
disconnect the dial-up internet connection, as above, you are disconnecting the Main Internet Connection. This in turn disconnects
all the Extended Internet Connections as they rely on the Main Internet Connection.
The same applies if a company's server is down (i.e "Hotmail is down/not working"). It means the Extended Internet Connection
from your ISP's server (computer) to the Hotmail server (computer) is not connecting. No e-mail data can be downloaded for
example. The fault could be with your ISP's server and/or with the Hotmail server, but regardless of this you still have the
Main Internet Connection alive which means your computer can still communicate with your ISP's server and therefore use
other Extended Internet Connections (to connect to your Anti-Virus program's server for example). When you close a webpage
(internet explorer window) you are disconnecting from a webpage only (from the webpage's server only) which means you are
only disconnecting that Extended Internet Connection. In other words. For each webpage you open an Extended Internet
Connection is used for it, so data can flow between its server and your ISP's server. Once that data has been fetched by
your ISP's server it then downloads that data onto your computer for Internet Explorer to view, as a webpage, for example.
And when you close a webpage your ISP's server knows to disconnect the Extended Internet Connection used for that
webpage, as it is no longer needed.
By understanding the above you should begin to realize that it could just be that a
company's server is not accepting the Extended Internet Connection made to it by your ISP's server, for whatever reason(s),
and therefore your dial-up internet connection is fine - It could be that a company's server is already using its maximum
number of connections (Extended Internet Connections) and cannot, at this time, accommodate your ISP's Extended Internet
Connection. In other words. A server could be too busy. Some people begin to think it is their dial-up internet connection
that is the problem and so disconnect it and then re-connect it time and time again. As a rule - If you are having difficulty
connecting to a webpage or two try updating your Anti-Virus program. Normally an Anti-Virus program connects to its Update
Files server directly, through the program, and not through Internet Explorer. If the Anti-Virus program updates itself
without any server errors it normally indicates a good internet connection and that the problem could be with Internet
Explorer and/or with Windows Vista for example.
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation. As stated here by the Microsoft Corporation.
All HTM files in the yoingco.com folder and its sub-folders are (c) John White, August 3rd 2005 - 2008. All Rights Reserved. FREE Vista Helpline: Contact John