Tips For Using www.OrbusMax.com

(a narrative FAQ)

1. Make Orbusmax your homepage. This will allow you to easily get to the OrbusMax website without having to remember the URL..

Netscape Navigator 3.0

1 - Open your browser.
2 - Select the "Options" menu, then "General Preferences."
3 - At the bottom of the "General Preferences" window is the "Browser Starts With" box. Select the button marked "Home Page Location".
4- Erase whatever address is listed and replace it with http://www.OrbusMax.com/
5 - Click "OK" at the bottom of the window.

Netscape Communicator 4.0 or higher:

1- Open your browser
2 - Select the "Edit" menu, then "Preferences." While in the "Preferences" window, locate the "Navigator Starts With" box.
3 - Click the button next to the phrase "Home page".
4 - In the "Home Page" box, erase the current address in the "Home Page Location" field and type http://www.OrbusMax.com/
5 - Click "OK" at the bottom of the window.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or 4.0

1 - Open your browser.
2 - Select the "View" menu. Under "View," select "Options," then "Navigation."
3 - From the "Navigation" box, locate the "Address" box. Erase the current address and type http://www.OrbusMax.com/
4 - Click "OK" on the bottom of the "Navigation" box.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher

1 - Open your browser.
2 - Select the "Tools" menu. From "Tools," select " Internet Options."
3 - When the "General" tab appears, click the cursor inside the "Home Page" section in the "Address" box. Erase the current address and type http://www.OrbusMax.com/
4 - Click "OK" on the bottom of the "Internet Options" box.

If you use America Online 3.0 or higher:

1 - Open the browser and click the "Prefs" button.
2 - In the box "Your Home Page," erase the current address and type http://www.OrbusMax.com/
Or, click on the "Members" menu from anywhere on America Online, then "Preferences." Follow the preceding directions.

2. Adjust the size of your browser window. I would suggest making your window as wide as necessary, so that you don’t need a scrollbar at the bottom. Make the height of the window large enough to always see the banner headline, and the first story line link in the “today” column. That way you can always see the latest, hottest breaking news. To adjust the size, just clink and drag the borders of the browser window as necessary.

3. Links at the top of the page. OrbusMax provides easy access to breaking news, sports, weather, stocks, and traffic. These links are located in the upper far right and upper far left, and are always visible when web site is displayed. One link in particular is the "STOCKS (NW)" link. This provides the current prices and breaking news for the top Northwest stocks.

4. Search engine and Portfolio Manager. OrbusMax provides web-searching via www.Google.com. Also, a portfolio manager via Yahoo.com is provided for tracking investments. Both are free - as is pretty much all of the website unless duly noted.

5. News story links. The heart of OrbusMax. This where the latest news and headline links are found. These are the stories OrbusMax thinks are most impactful to residents of the Pacific Northwest. It is generally about half Northwest, and half nation/world, but since this is a current event-driven website, it depends on what is going on at home and abroad. I update these links throughout the day, at my discretion. This is NOT a typical news website, where I report EVERYTHING that is happening - just the stories OrbusMax thinks will generate the most thought, discussion, and interest.

6. Bookstore, news search engines, financial markets, and 'works of note'. This is a hodgepodge of tools and information that OrbusMax feels are used by on a regualr basis. It is updated at the discretion of Orbusmax. The bookstore provides an easy way to seach for books, magazines, articles, and authors. It's also a mini reference desk. The 'Works Of Note' are news stories/essays/columns/books that OrbusMax considers especially worthy to promote, beyond the daily news stories.

7. Media Links. This is where visitors can have easy access to their favorite news websites. It's divided into 3 sections: Northwest, U.S., and World. Within each section, the links are arranged alphabetically. If there are links missing, you may be able to still find them by clicking on the section headers (N.W. MEDIA, OREGON, WASHINGTON, U.S. MEDIA, INTERNATIONAL MEDIA, etc.).

8. Economy/Govt/Taxes. These are helpful links to various government websites, congressmen/women, think tanks, tax groups, etc. It is arranged by state, alphabetically.

9. Navigation tool at the bottom. I'm still updating all the vatious pages, but the they will all have the same "Navigation" tool at the bottom of each page. This allows visitors to quickly jump from one OrbusMax page to another, without having to rememeber URL's or search. Some of the more important links include:

Archives - where all pervious OrbusMax homepages are stored, per day.

Chat - open 24/7, primarily designed for discussing current events, but no hard rules on that.

Newsgroup - Post comments on the website, news events, or start duscussions here.

Sports/Leisure/Travel - The Orb's list of links to pro sports teams, colleges, outdoor recreation, etc. in the Pacific Northwest.

ToolBox - A good set of links to free and/or cheap tools and services to make using the internet and your computer in general a whole lot easier. Some of the more useful links. One of the best ones is direct access to the Microsoft 'update' sites, for quickly checking and updating your Windows OS and Office products with the latest updates and patches.

10. Contact OrbusMax. This is KEY. If you see broken or missing links, have suggestions to improve the website, or just want to say Hi, there is a link at the bottom of the page, in the Navigation tool, for contacting OrbusMax . Just understand that the volume of e-mail may prohibit OrbusMax from responding personally, but be assured he reads them all. The bottom line is, I can’t improve the website if you don’t tell me what’s wrong with it.

11. How do I support OrbusMax? The website is free all who wish to use it, and OrbusMax is currently not soliciting for financial assistance. But there are ways you can support him and feel like you are getting something in return:

Visit the advertisers at the top of the main page.

Visit the BOOKSTORE to search for books, magazines, articles, etc. , and consider making your purchases from there.

Visit the 'Sports/Leisure/Travel' section and make hotel/plane/car/travel reservations from the various links there (Hotwire,Orbitz,Expeida,Priceline, All-Hotels, Choice-Hotels, etc.).

I may consider putting a PayPal donation box in at some point, but for now I'm holding off on that.

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