Step one: Get a computer with a modem. (should be a 486 or better with a 14.4 modem, preferably a 28.8 modem) Buy used if you have to but buy something as soon as you can. A computer is a tool much like a calculator or a car phone. A modem is a hardware device that dials a telephone. To a point, the higher the baud rate of your modem, the faster data will be transmitted to and from your computer (you are limited to the modem speed of the server you are connected to.) Generally a 28.8 modem transmits twice as fast as a 14.4 modem.

Step two: Get an ISP (an Internet Service Provider). This will give you a gateway to the Internet. ISP's are servers we are clients. Our computer modem dials a server to connect us to the Internet. There are millions of servers(computers) on the Internet grid all are connected by phone lines. The world wide web is a graphical interface to what was a largely text based environment. The world wide web has only existed since 1992. Like a spider web, many interconnected strands make up the web's strength. The reason the Internet is FREE in large part is because our modem calls a local phone number which connects us to a local server which connects us to the next local server on the grid and so on and so on. Connections from site to site occur rapidly. For example we may be connected to the Australian Embassy in about ten seconds and pay nothing more than the cost of a local telephone call. If you have an Online America, Compuserve, Prodigy or Microsoft Network account, You already have an Internet gateway. The least expensive ISP I've found is the SunFlower Network, they charge $70./year for unlimited usage. Many ISP's charge by the hour. The Sunflower Network phone number for new users is 816-756-5767. I have heard that some users outside the KC Metro area use the service because the long distance charge is less than using a commercial service provider. Check you local library as many offer reasonable Internet access programs. AT&T users may receive first year access FREE. Whatever ISP you select, make sure it offers support to get you started.

Step three: Select a user name and password. A user name is whatever you decide it is. Your user name is visible in many cases and some thought should be given in its selection. Your email address will look like this userid@domain. My address looks like this tfarrell@tfarrell.com. Your password can be both alpha and numeric. As with any passwords they should be stored somewhere you can retrieve them. My problem is I forget where I've stored them.

Step four: Use your browser. A browser is a software device that allows you to "browse" or view Internet pages. Browsers ARE FREE and may be downloaded from the Internet or received by mail and are usually included with your Internet start up gateway package in the form of software. The two best browsers are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Explorer. In the days of the newsstand, customers browsed magazines and publications prior to purchasing. Today many of the larger bookstores encourage browsing by having coffee shops and comfortable seating so their customers linger. Browsing or surfing the Internet is done by pointing and clicking on hyperlinks. These hyperlinks, commonly referred to as hot links move the surfer (you and I) from place to place or from page to page on the Internet. Links are hot when they move the surfer directly to a new site and or page with a click of the mouse. Links are generally a different color text than the predominant text on the Internet page you are viewing.

Step five: Use your email account. Send email and ask someone to send you email. Email means electronic mail and is used instead of the telephone, the fax machine and or the US Postal Service to communicate. You DO NOT have to be on the Internet to utilize email. If you have Internet access, you can get FREE email by pointing your browser to http://www.hotmail.com on the Internet. Email messages or threads are analogous to spider web strands or filaments. Again, it is NOT necessary to have Internet access to send and receive email. Email is used in a variety of ways. It is cost effective and its delivery is virtually immediate. Email today may contain not only text but multimedia elements. Multimedia elements are text, sound, graphics and video. When used in a forum setting email is interactive in real time. Newsgroups, chat rooms and forums are special interest or affinity groups that get together online to discuss mutual interests. Re/Max has a forum on Compuserve that is an invaluable resource. An individual opens a topic (a thread) and the responses from the newsgroup, chatroom or forum create other threads.

Step six: Create an Email signature for yourself. A signature is information you want the reader of your email to know about you. I do not use my email signature when communicating with friends and family. Your signature is anything you want to say about yourself and is used for promotion. My signature is shown below. Write your signature in any word processor, name it and save it. Then whenever you send email just copy and paste your signature at the bottom of your message instead of retyping it every time.

Step seven: Lurk in a newsgroup, chat room or forum. Lurking is reading responses of a thread before entering the discussion. It is important to lurk before leaping into a discussion because there is a certain Internet protocol expected when participating in online discussions. Online protocol is sometimes known as netiquette or online etiquette. An example of bad netiquette is typing in all capital letters. It is considered shouting and is discouraged. It is difficult to convey emotions or subtle messages in email. There are also several commonly used abbreviations used in email. Here are a few examples: IMHO in my humble opinion, FWIW for what its worth, ROFL rolling on the floor laughing and AFAIK as far as I know. Never assume that your email is private. Don't send anything that you'd be ashamed to to see in print somewhere. If you are concerned about privacy, look into some form of encryption. PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) is a widely used FREE encryption program. Information about the program may be found at www.iworld.com. Click on search our site, then under Newsstand, select Internet World, enter PGP encryption under describe what you are looking for and select key word search. Click on the Let's Search button and several articles will be returned to your screen. One is called Getting Cryptic.

Step eight: Get on the Internet and surf. Surfing the Internet means to move from page to page or site to site. Consider the Internet a huge resource library filled with books on every subject imaginable. To find a book you want at the library you go to the card catalog or in many libraries the card catalog is on a computer. On the Internet you point your browser to a search engine and enter a key word or words which identify what you are looking for. A homepage is like the cover of a book. RE/MAX International's homepage "address" is http://www.remax.com. Our office homepage is www.remax-best-kc.com & my homepage address is www.tfarrell.com A home page address is analogous to a phone number with area code or a home address with city, state and zip plus four. Http means hyper-text-transmission-protocol. For all intents and purposes it means nothing other than most Internet addresses must contain http plus a colon(:) plus two forward slashes(//) otherwise the page you are trying to find will not be found. WWW (generally lower case) means world wide web. RE/MAX is the domain name and com means commercial. Before the world wide web the Internet was strictly a text (letters and number) environment. The difference between the early Internet and the present environment is similar to the difference between Dos and Windows or Apple/Macintosh computers Some addresses end with edu(education), gov(govenment), org(organization). When you find an Internet address you want to surf write it down very carefully and completely. Many Internet addresses are case sensitive and there are generally no spaces between elements in an Internet address.

Step nine: Understand how to search. Search engines are utilities of the Internet that allow you to search the Internet much as you'd search an index of a book. Some of the most powerful and user friendly search engines are Yahoo, Lycos, Webcrawler and Alta Vista. All are FREE. Search engines work like most tutorials or help menus. You just type a word and click on search and a list of possible matches is returned to your screen. Each match is hyperlinked to the page it refers to. Once a site is found you intend to revisit you should bookmark the location. A bookmark is just like a physical marker you'd place in a book or magazine. I often turn down the corners of books or periodicals to emphasize a page that I need to reread. The beauty of book marking Internet locations is you do not have to type the address again. All browsers have a feature for saved bookmarks often called favorites.

Step ten: Don't worry, be happy. The Internet is still in its infancy. By some accounts there are 20 to 50 million users.

Whether you’re thinking about buying or selling or merely seeking information, rely on me to provide accurate up to date information about the marketplace today.