Using an Internet Cafe

There is no shortage of fairly cheap Internet Cafes dotted around on the Costa Blanca. If you do not know where your nearest cafe is then simply look in one of the freebie newspapers as most advertise there. In Spain they are usually found in places that provide Mail Box facilities.

Most Internet Cafes provide several computers and normally they do not require advance bookings to use them. You just go into the IC sit down at a computer, put a couple of euro coins in the slot and get on with whatever you wish to do. For those unaccustomed to using the Internet there will be somebody on hand to assist you. Charges obviously depend on the time you use the computer but generally 2 euros will last 30 minutes.

There are two distinct sides to the Internet, e-mail and the World Wide Web (www). These perform separate functions as can be deduced from the titles. E-mail deals with mail alone whereas the www deals with everything else and can include e-mail via what is known as webmail.

Arpo have a web site for those who cannot attend monthly meetings. To connect to a web site you simply need to know the address of that site. You simply enter the name www.arpo.org.uk into the program used for accessing the Internet Explorer. Then wait a few seconds and the 'Home Page' appears on screen. This is a fairly basic page but gives links to all the other pages on the site. The advantage of this is simply that if you are only interested in one aspect then you do not need to load all the information that the site has to offer. These links are always easy to spot and either say something meaningful to the site or is shown as a link, normally in blue text with underlining. As an example there is a page for you to download the latest Arpo Newsletter should you have missed a meeting. There is a page with future social events with contact details for the organiser.

To access e-mail you need an e-mail account with a provider. This requires 2 elements, a user name or e-mail address and a password in order to access your account. It is most common when using an Internet Cafe to access e-mail via webmail so here goes on how to establish an account.

Most e-mail accounts are free of charge. I suggest 2 alternatives Hotmail and Gonuts4free. Setting up an account is similar in each case. Click on www.hotmail.com or www.gonuts4free.com to access the Home Page. It is simply a question then of accessing the page for new e-mail accounts and filing in a questionnaire giving some personal details such as name, address and of course your desired e-mail address and password. E-mail addresses are usually letters and numbers in lower case characters. You cannot have an address that already exists so you could end up with something like glawson12389. The actual address consists of 2 parts - your name plus the service provider separated by the character @ Therefore my own e-mail address is gdl272@gonuts4free.com

As already stated it is normally the case that when using an Internet Cafe that you use webmail. Hence to access my account I need to use Internet Explorer to connect to the Internet and then access Gonuts4free by entering www.gonuts4free.com Having done so you then select from a menu system "Webmail" where you enter your user name and password used when setting up the account. It is always safer to ensure that nobody knows your password and select something over 8 characters in length to avoid anyone else picking it up by foul means or whatever.

There are two stages to setting up an account with Gonuts4free. Firstly you need to set up an Internet Connection. Click on Control Panel and select Network Selection and under Network tasks click on Make New Connection.

	The next screen asks you to select a connection type. Normally this will be a Dial-up connection if you are using an ordinary telephone line. Select this option and click on 'Next' unless you are using a Broadband Connection. In the following Box merely add the Name Gonuts4free and click on 'Next'. The next box asks you to fill in the telephone number you dial to connect to Gonuts. Enter 901929200 and click on next.
The next screen as shown to the right is where you need to complete the connection details. The answers are the same for everybody so don't worry. Just add as follows   User name - one@free Password - 123456   Click Next to complete the section.

The second part of the operation is to choose an e-mail name for yorself. This will look something like ???????@gonuts4free.com when completed. You need to log onto www.gonuts4free.com and work your way through this. Select Internet Options and seek Free Dial-up Connection. Then select the page where free e-mail addresses are made available. You need to enter your name and telephone number here and then pick your e-mail address. There is an option to ensure that the one you want is available which then becomes your User Name. Select a suitable Password for the account, this is not the same as the passwords above so you can make them meaningful to you.

Alternatively you can then either set up your e-mail program (usually Outlook or Outlook Express) manually or by downloading a small program that will make the relevant setting for you. If you select to do this yourself open Outlook Express and click on Tools followed by Accounts. Click on New Account and complete each screen. The first page merely asks for the name that you wish to be shown to recipiants of your mail. I suggest that you use your own name here.

The following screens ask for your User Name and Password. These are the beginning of your e-mail address as far as the '@' sign and the password you selected in the earlier stage.

The following page deals with the addresses where your incoming and outgoing mail are directed. These should be set as follows:

Incoming Mail = pop3.gonuts4free.com

Outgoing Mail = smtp.gonuts4free.com

Please remember that these are case sensitive so enter them in lower case letters. The same applies to your user name and password.

It is then simply a matter of writing sending your e-mail.

Have fun.

Gerald D. Lawson