Signing up with Mother Lode Internet, is as easy as dropping by our office at 301 South Shepherd Street in Sonora or calling us at 209-536-5800.

No, you do not need a dedicated phone line to access the Internet. However, keep in mind that when you are on the Internet, no one can call you and you cannot make any outgoing calls on the line the computer is using to connect to the Internet.

To get on the Internet you need to have a computer that is either an IBM PC compatible or a Macintosh. For IBM PC based platforms you need to be using either Microsoft Windows 95 or higher. To run today's Internet software your computer should also have a 486 or better processor and 16 MB or more of RAM. You need to have a modem in your computer and that modem must be 14.4 bps or faster. For Macintosh users you need to have a 68020 processor or better and a minimum of 8 MB RAM. Your modem also must be of at least 14.4 bps.

For IBM PC compatible machines running Windows 95 or higher, you need to have either Netscape Communicator 4.7 or Higher, Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5 or Higher. For Macintosh users you need either the Netscape Communicator 4 or Higher, Internet Explorer 4 or Higher.

Mother Lode Internet can provide Microsoft Internet Explorer and also Netscape Communicator.

We will do it for free. If you do not want to install or setup your Internet software we can do it for you. If you drop your computer off at our office, one of our Internet technicians will install and configure your Internet email and browser software for you. Call us at 209-536-5800 for details and drop off times.

Newsgroups are kind of like giant bulletin boards that you can post messages to and read messages on. Currently Mother Lode Internet provides access to over 40,000+ newsgroups. Each one of these newsgroups covers a different subject. Participants of a newsgroup can post questions or answers to other peoples questions that pertain to the newsgroup. These newsgroups can be seen by people worldwide. Newsgroups do not cost anything and are a part of your subscription to Mother Lode Internet.

You need a program that can access the newsgroups. Some programs that do this are are Netscape Communicator, Microsoft Outlook Express.

You subscribe to one or several newsgroups that interest you. This only tells your own news reader that you want to track that or those newsgroups. Most news readers will move subscribed newsgroups to the top of the list of newsgroups so that you can access them easier. Also, most readers will allow you to hide (don't display) all newsgroups that you aren't subscribed to. That way you don't have to wade through the thousands of available newsgroups to find your favorites. Don't worry, you won't be charged for subscribing. Also, you don't have to subscribe to any newsgroups in order to read them.

Your E-mail address is composed of your user name (sometimes called login name) the "@" sign and the domain name. An example of a Mother Lode Internet E-mail address might be username@mlode.com. In that example username is the user name and mlode.com is our domain name.

In order to send and receive E-mail you need some sort of E-mail program. Some commonly used E-mail programs are Eudora Mail, Netscape Mail (integrated into Netscape Navigator 4.7 and higher), Outlook Express (integrated into Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 and up), Pegasus Mail, and Apple's Mail.

The proper E-mail program settings would be as follows:

• POP3 server - mail.mlode.com
• POP3 user account - your E-mail address ex. username@mlode.com
• POP3 user name - your user name ex. username
• SMTP server - mail.mlode.com
• Password - same password that you use for logging into your account
• Reply to address - your E-mail address ex.username@mlode.com

For more information about setting up your E-mail and troubleshooting tips, see the Technical Support pages.

In your E-mail program there should be a setting to save your password. It is different for every E-mail program. Here are a few examples:

• Outlook Express: Under Mail choose Options. Next go to the Server tab and make sure that your password is entered in. Click OK to save the changes.
• Netscape Composer: Under Options choose Mail and News Preferences. Then go to the General tab under Mail Servers and there you will see a box to check that says "Remember Mail Password". Click OK to save the changes.
• Eudora Light: Under Special choose Settings (or under Tools choose Options). Then in the category Checking Mail there should be a box to check that says Save Password. Click OK to save the changes.

Every E-mail program has a different way of telling it to go retrieve your mail. Here are some example of ways to check your E-mail:

• Netscape Messenger: Click on the button that says Get Mail or under File select Get New Mail.
• Outlook Express: Click on the Send and Receive button or under Mail select Send and Receive.
• Eudora Mail: Click on File and select Check Mail.

Yes, once you are connected to Mother Lode Internet you can E-mail anyone in any other country as long as they have an E-mail address and they have given it to you.

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is the protocol that the Internet uses to transfer files to and from different computers that are on the Internet.

To transfer files between computers via the Internet you need a program that supports FTP. Many World Wide Web browsers now support downloading files using FTP and some support limited uploading via FTP.

Most programs designed to perform only FTP functions can upload and download files as well as change file attributes, create and delete directories, and let you set login and password information.

Some commonly used programs would be WS-FTP and CuteFTP which are Microsoft Windows programs and Fetch and Interarchy, which are Macintosh programs. These files can be obtained from the many software archives on the net such as Tucows and Downloads.com.

There are a growing number of ways to upload your web page to our server. We recommend that you find a program specifically designed to use File Transfer Protocol (FTP) for uploading your files.

1. Using an FTP program - Recommended
   1. Open your FTP Program and put in the information that was given to you by the Webmaster 
   2. Use your login name and the password that you received from the Webmaster. Do not use an anonymous login.
   3. Upload your webpage into the directory that the Webmaster told you to in the e-mail that you received
   4. * Remember to name your main page index.shtml (all lower case) so that it will display properly.

See "FTP" section of this FAQ for more details.

If you are sure that you are entering your password correctly, check to see that you are trying to access the proper server. Also check to make sure that you are typing the correct password and user name.

If you continue to get an invalid password error, E-mail the webmaster.

You may have successfully logged in to mlode.com instead of www.mlode.com. You wouldn't have a public_html directory on mlode.com.

Our web server looks for a file called index.shtml in every directory that it is told to access. If an index.shtml file doesn't exist, the server returns the content of the directory instead.

This can be a handy feature. If you want to place pages on our server while you are developing them and don't want anyone else to have access to them, create a directory under your public_html directory and then place a blank page called index.shtml in it. Then you can upload your work in progress to that directory. If someone accesses your new directory, the server will automatically show them the blank page. You, however, will be able to access your other page(s) since you are the only one who knows that they are in that directory and what their names are.

Unix, the operating system that our web server uses, is case sensitive. To the server index.shtml is a different file than index.shtml or index.shtml. Be sure that you have named your main page index.shtml (all lower case).

Again, Unix is case sensitive. Make sure that when you are calling your images and links from within your page, that the file names and links are the same case. For example, MY_PICTURE.GIF is not the same as my_picture.gif.

Mother Lode Internet has the most liberal web space policy around. While conforming to the restrictions listed below, our subscribers can use up to 10 megabytes of hard drive space for their web pages, their web pages can generate up to 100 megabytes of traffic per month, and they can place commercial information in their pages.

1. 10 megabytes
   Subscribers are allowed to place up to 10 megabytes of files on Mother Lode Internet computers. This includes all E-mail, web pages and files, and shell files.
   
   Subscribers who exceed this allotment will be contacted and given the option to purchase more space in 10 megabyte lots at $10 per month or remove excess files.
2. 100 Megabytes of traffic
   Every time your web page is accessed, the files associated to your web page(s) are transferred to the person accessing the page. This outgoing traffic is logged and each month a total is produced for each web account. If a web account's traffic exceeds 100 megabytes in a month, a surcharge of 10¢ per megabyte will be added to that customer's access account bill. If you are concerned about your traffic, keep an eye on the size and number of files that you upload and present.
3. Commercial Information
   Our subscribers can advertise businesses that they themselves own on their web page. Reselling web space or advertising another person's business, product, or service is not permitted.

A less than technical description of a Virtual Domain is: a Domain whose web site is served from someone else's web server.

Normally you would register a Domain and then setup your own web server, E-mail server, and ftp server to respond as that Domain. In the case of a Virtual Domains, one computer can be configured to host hundreds of different Domains without anyone realizing that they all live on the same computer. Since they don't actually have their own individual hosts, they are considered Virtual Domains rather than real Domains.

If you would like us to register a Domain for yourself or your company, please visit the hosting section of our web site, or E-mail our webmaster.

Unless you know that the Domain that you will be requesting is available, please include a list of 5 acceptable domain names with your request.

Also include a short description of how you intend to use the Domain as well as your name, your company's name, a mailing address, phone number and E-mail address.

Our domains are registered with Verisign. The domain registration fee is $35/yr. and must be sold in conjunction with either a Hosting Package, Point or Park of the domain.

Static IP addresses are reserved for our internal computers and Virtual Domains. Therefore, you will be charged the Virtual Domain rate for your own IP address.

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is the protocol that the Internet uses to transfer files to and from different computers that are on the Internet.

To transfer files between computers via the Internet you need a program that supports FTP. Many World Wide Web browsers now support downloading files using FTP and some support limited uploading via FTP.

Most programs designed to perform only FTP functions can upload and download files as well as change file attributes, create and delete directories, and let you set login and password information.

Some commonly used programs would be WS-FTP and CuteFTP which are Microsoft Windows programs and Fetch and Interarchy, which are Macintosh programs. These files can be obtained from the many software archives on the net such as Tucows and Downloads.com.

There are a growing number of ways to upload your web page to our server. We recommend that you find a program specifically designed to use File Transfer Protocol (FTP) for uploading your files.

1. Using an FTP program - Recommended
   1. Open your FTP Program and put in the information that was given to you by the Webmaster 
   2. Use your login name and the password that you received from the Webmaster. Do not use an anonymous login.
   3. Upload your webpage into the directory that the Webmaster told you to in the e-mail that you received
   4. * Remember to name your main page index.shtml (all lower case) so that it will display properly.

See "FTP" section of this FAQ for more details.

If you are sure that you are entering your password correctly, check to see that you are trying to access the proper server. Also check to make sure that you are typing the correct password and user name.

If you continue to get an invalid password error, E-mail the webmaster.

You may have successfully logged in to mlode.com instead of www.mlode.com. You wouldn't have a public_html directory on mlode.com.

Our web server looks for a file called index.shtml in every directory that it is told to access. If an index.shtml file doesn't exist, the server returns the content of the directory instead.

This can be a handy feature. If you want to place pages on our server while you are developing them and don't want anyone else to have access to them, create a directory under your public_html directory and then place a blank page called index.shtml in it. Then you can upload your work in progress to that directory. If someone accesses your new directory, the server will automatically show them the blank page. You, however, will be able to access your other page(s) since you are the only one who knows that they are in that directory and what their names are.

Unix, the operating system that our web server uses, is case sensitive. To the server index.shtml is a different file than index.shtml or index.shtml. Be sure that you have named your main page index.shtml (all lower case).

Again, Unix is case sensitive. Make sure that when you are calling your images and links from within your page, that the file names and links are the same case. For example, MY_PICTURE.GIF is not the same as my_picture.gif.

Mother Lode Internet has the most liberal web space policy around. While conforming to the restrictions listed below, our subscribers can use up to 10 megabytes of hard drive space for their web pages, their web pages can generate up to 100 megabytes of traffic per month, and they can place commercial information in their pages.

1. 10 megabytes
   Subscribers are allowed to place up to 10 megabytes of files on Mother Lode Internet computers. This includes all E-mail, web pages and files, and shell files.
   
   Subscribers who exceed this allotment will be contacted and given the option to purchase more space in 10 megabyte lots at $10 per month or remove excess files.
2. 100 Megabytes of traffic
   Every time your web page is accessed, the files associated to your web page(s) are transferred to the person accessing the page. This outgoing traffic is logged and each month a total is produced for each web account. If a web account's traffic exceeds 100 megabytes in a month, a surcharge of 10¢ per megabyte will be added to that customer's access account bill. If you are concerned about your traffic, keep an eye on the size and number of files that you upload and present.
3. Commercial Information
   Our subscribers can advertise businesses that they themselves own on their web page. Reselling web space or advertising another person's business, product, or service is not permitted.

A less than technical description of a Virtual Domain is: a Domain whose web site is served from someone else's web server.

Normally you would register a Domain and then setup your own web server, E-mail server, and ftp server to respond as that Domain. In the case of a Virtual Domains, one computer can be configured to host hundreds of different Domains without anyone realizing that they all live on the same computer. Since they don't actually have their own individual hosts, they are considered Virtual Domains rather than real Domains.

If you would like us to register a Domain for yourself or your company, please visit the hosting section of our web site, or E-mail our webmaster.

Unless you know that the Domain that you will be requesting is available, please include a list of 5 acceptable domain names with your request.

Also include a short description of how you intend to use the Domain as well as your name, your company's name, a mailing address, phone number and E-mail address.

Our domains are registered with Verisign. The domain registration fee is $35/yr. and must be sold in conjunction with either a Hosting Package, Point or Park of the domain.

Static IP addresses are reserved for our internal computers and Virtual Domains. Therefore, you will be charged the Virtual Domain rate for your own IP address.