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1.	In Windows 98, click the Start button and select Run. Type command.
2.	In the Open window, type ping, followed by a site's name (for example, ping cnet.com).

In the first line of text, you'll find the site's IP address within brackets. Copy the number. Armed with an IP number and the domain name, you're ready to create your own hosts file.

 

1.	In Windows 98, click the Start button and select Programs/Accessories/Notepad.
2.	Type the IP address you just copied into the text file and follow it with a space and the domain name (for example, 216.200.247.133 cnet.com).
3.	Under the File menu, select Save and save the file in your Windows folder as "hosts" (not "hosts.txt").

Go back to your browser and type the nickname (in this case, cnet.com) in the location field, and you'll go straight to the IP address. You can shorten the process even more by abbreviating the site's name in your hosts file. For example, use nyt to get to the New York Times. And you can add optional comments to remind you of shortcuts. Enter a number sign and an equal sign (#=) before your comments.

To load a blank page in Netscape Communicator 4.x:

1.	Under the Edit menu, choose Preferences/Navigator.
2.	Under Navigator Starts With, select Blank Page.

In Navigator 3.x:

1.	Under the Options menu, select General Preferences and choose the Appearance tab.
2.	Under Browser Starts With, select Blank Page.

In Internet Explorer 5:

1.	Under the Tools menu, click Internet Options and select the General tab.
2.	In the Home Page dialog box, click Use Blank. The next time you open your browser, it will open the blank page file (about:blank).

In Internet Explorer 4:

1.	Under the View menu, select Options and choose the General tab.
2.	In the Home Page dialog box, click Use Blank. The next time you open your browser, it will open the blank page file.

Cut the Graphics
Of all the tweaks you can make, the biggest speed gains you're likely to see come from improving your browsing habits, which means you have to reduce the amount of junk moving down your wire. You really don't need to see every single graphic and every line of text from some huge, poorly designed page.

To turn off graphics in Navigator 4.x:

1.	Go to the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
2.	Select Advanced and uncheck Automatically Load Images.

To turn off graphics, animation, and sound in Internet Explorer 4:

1.	Go to the View menu, select Options, and choose the Advanced tab.
2.	Uncheck the appropriate boxes.

In Internet Explorer 5:

1.	Go to the Tools menu and select Internet Options.
2.	Choose the Advanced tab and uncheck the Multimedia settings.

Even if you've turned off the graphics, you won't be left in the dark. Many sites provide alternative text, which shows up to describe the graphics your browser doesn't display. The text's primary function is to let you know what the graphical links connect to. But if you need to see a navigational image map, click Navigator's image placeholder or right-click Internet Explorer's image placeholder and select Show Picture.

To get rid of Java in Navigator 4.x:

1.	Go to the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
2.	Select Advanced and uncheck Enable Java.

To get rid of Java and ActiveX in Internet Explorer 4:

1.	Under the View menu, select Internet Options and the Security tab.
2.	Under the Internet Zone, choose Custom/Settings.
3.	Choose options that let you turn off or be warned about ActiveX Controls and Java applets.

To turn off Java in Internet Explorer 5:

1.	Under the Tools menu, select Internet Options and the Security tab.
2.	Click the Custom Level button.
3.	Choose options that let you turn off or be warned about ActiveX Controls and Java applets.

Augment Your Cache
If you're the kind of surfer who often revisits the same site several times in one session, this speed tweak is for you. When you visit Web pages, your browser stores HTML and graphics from those sites in a folder called a cache. The cache helps you get files fast when you hit the Back button because they're coming from your hard disk, not over a phone line. To see all the files currently stored in your cache folder, look in the browser folder (C:\Program Files\Netscape\Users\default, for Netscape; or C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files, for IE 5).

To increase your cache size in Navigator 4.x:

1.	Under the Edit menu, select Preferences, double-click Advanced, and select Cache.
2.	Change the disk cache to 10,000K.

In Internet Explorer 4:

1.	Under the View menu, select Internet Options and choose the General tab.
2.	Under Temporary Internet Files, click Settings. Under "Amount of disk space to use," drag the slider to the right. The amount to use depends on the size of your hard disk, but it should be about 5 percent. (If you have relatively little RAM and visit graphic-intensive sites, add a bit more to your cache.)

In Internet Explorer 5:

1.	Under the Tools menu, select Internet Options and choose the General tab.
2.	Under Temporary Internet Files, click Settings. Under "Amount of disk space to use," drag the slider to the right. The amount to use should be about 5 percent of your hard disk.

If you surf a lot without returning to the same sites very often, it helps to purge the cache in the middle of your session.

To clear the cache in Navigator 4.x:

1.	Under the Edit menu, select Preferences, double-click Advanced, and select Cache.
2.	Click the Clear Memory Cache button.

In Internet Explorer 4:

1.	Under the View menu, select Options and choose the General tab.
2.	In the Temporary Internet Files dialog box, click Settings/Delete Files.

In Internet Explorer 5:

1.	Under the Tools menu, select Internet Options and choose the General tab.
2.	In the Temporary Internet Files section, click Delete Files and confirm the deletion.

Keep in mind that your browser's cache isn't selective. It just stores what you've already viewed. Smart caches (such as the disk and memory caches in your PC) read ahead, anticipating what you may ask for, so the information will be ready and waiting for you. That's the premise behind PeakJet 2000, a utility you can download and demo for free.

 
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