Before You Begin

Connecting to the Internet is one of those things you set up once and then forget about. Still, you do need to get some information from your ISP up front. The basics are as follows:

• Your user name and password

• The phone number your modem will be dialing to connect

• The IP address of the DNS (name servers described earlier)

• The IP address of your SMTP and POP3 e-mail hosts

• The IP address of your news server (optional)

All of this information likely came with your contract when you first signed up with your ISP. Armed with this information, you are ready to begin.