Tips for America Online Users

While OFFLINE:

1. From the AOL Main menu select Mail | FlashSessions...

2. To have the software lead you through the process for the first time, select "Walk Me Through". Otherwise, on this screen the user may check what he or she wants to accomplish during this FlashSession. Options are

__ Retrieve unread mail
__ Send outgoing mail
__ Download selected files

3. Check the "Retrieve unread mail" box.

4. Select "Activate Session Now".

5. A dialogue box will be displayed offering the user the option to remain online once the FlashSession has terminated. For the fastest time online, leave this option unchecked.

6. Select "Begin".

7. The software takes over, going through the logging-on process, supplying even the user's password.

While ONLINE:

1. The software immediately downloads all unread mail to a database file on the user's hard drive, keeping a log (in a window) of each item.

2. If the user checked only "Retrieve unread mail", then at this point the software would immediately disconnect.

While OFFLINE:

1. To read, save to disk as a separate file, or replay to mail, from the AOL Main menu select Mail | Read Incoming Mail.

2. A list of mail items will be displayed. To read all, double-click on the first item in the queue.

3. To save any piece of mail as a separate file, click on the "Save Text As" icon or select File | Save from the AOL Main menu.

4. Click on "Next" to read the next piece of mail; click on "delete" to delete the displayed item from the mail database. A faster way to process the mail is to save what you want to keep while reading, then when all finished reading, return to the original list of mail to delete.