Greetings, and welcome to the NetAnswers Internet Extra. This weekly newsletter is for CompuServe members who want to get the most from the Internet -- it is for those of you who know that the Internet can be a truly useful part of your life, even if you aren't quite sure how. Yet.
The Internet isn't just for geeks anymore, and that's a very good thing. Your CompuServe account includes everything you need to access the depth and breadth of good stuff on the Internet. You can use the Net to search for an old high school buddy, gather fonts and clip art for your company newsletter, get today's news headlines, sell your old stuff, talk with fellow Deadheads or survivors of cancer, learn to speak a foreign language, play a game of chess, find out the weather in Toledo, discover how to make a paper airplane, chat about last night's episode of the X-Files, post pictures of your new baby... Well, you name it.
Whatever your interest, chances are very good that there's a forum to discuss it on the Internet. If there's information that you need, the Net can be a fine place to start your search. In the coming weeks this newsletter will delve into these and other subjects, answering some of your questions and helping to make the Internet truly useful to you.
The Internet isn't a magic bullet, it is not all rose petals and Fudgesicles. There's a lot that you can do with the help of the Net, and also a lot that the Net isn't so effective for. And yes, the there's "spam" (those ubiquitous commercial e-mail messages), porn sites, scams of all sorts, and worries about computer viruses. We'll cover those issues, too.
So, you're (hopefully) someone who wants to know more about using the Net. You may be a "newbie" who hasn't even tried sending an e-mail message yet, or you may be a hardened Net junkie. Either way, welcome.
Me? I'm Kevin Savetz, an Internet guru writing from the cluttered attic office of my Northern California home. I write for a bunch of computer magazines (including Computer Shopper, Web Publisher and MicroTimes), have written and edited a smattering of Internet books (including the Microsoft Bookshelf Internet Directory and Internet Unleashed), and have hacked together more than my fair share of Web sites. I've been using the Net since long before it was a household word and have been logging into CompuServe since my Atari 800 and 300 BPS modem were suitable tools for the task.
If you have comments about the NetAnswers Internet Extra or there's a topic you would like me to cover, I'm just an e-mail message away -- my address is savetz@northcoast.com (and if you haven't mastered e-mail yet, don't worry. We'll cover that in the near future, too.)