Netscape and Microsoft will once again ship "new" versions of their already large browsers.

Instead of a routinely download of one of these "free" browsers, you should download and at least try the latest version of Opera.

Opera is a small and fast browser by an Norwegian genius which lets the huge overbloated 'standard' dinobrowsers by Microsoft and Netscape byte the dust. Opera will only use about 2 MB on the harddrive when installed and it has a lot of configuration possibilities.

Since version 3.0 neither Netscape or MSIE have had any new and significant functionality added so one can safely stay put with Netscape 3.0 until Netscape ship a version that is as versatile as Opera.

Some of the pages on this site will not be accurately viewed with Opera. The java-scripts doesn´t look as I intended. Despite that minor "flaw" in it´s code, I think Opera is a very interesting browser very well worth to download and check out.

There are a couple of themes that I constantly returns to regarding the use of the Internet, and one subject of discussion is of course marketing.

As we all have noticed, both searching and browsing has the last two years become slower and a struggle when in comes to avoiding ad´s and banners on virtually all larger sites. All web masters seem to want to earn a few extra cents, and has banners everywhere on their site´s. Which we, the Internauts are supposed to click on.

Well, I don´t like this, banners only slows down the loading time of a page - and seldom provide any relevant information. To be honest with you, dear reader, Tricky Mickey have also, at several occasions found outstanding sites and valuable information by pure chance, just by letting my curiosity lead me further through the links. But more often clicking on banners only leads to a dead end.

The reasons for why I am constantly are searching for progs and scripts that will eliminate all ads and banners when I visit a site is that the ads makes browsing a tedious and time consuming project, due to the slowed down loading of the pages. I have found the following good programmes, scripts and tricks that will speed up anyone´s browsing.

The simplest way is of course to switch off the auto load of images when browsing, and hit the image button in the tool field of the browser, when entering a site with content that´s interesting. The sites may look a bit dull, but browsing will be real fast.

In Netscape Communicator and Navigator go to View/Preferences/Advanced/ click off the function Automatically load images.

Many visitors do use Internet Explorer, so I will provide information on how to ameliorate this browser as well, even if I would encourage the Internet Explorer user to use Opera or Netscape instead.

In Internet Explorer go to View, click on Options, go to Appearance, click off Show Pictures, Play Sounds, Show Animations.

In general, my recommendation for all Internauts, for whatever that may be worth, is to use Opera, in which the toggle between images and text version of a site is very simple.

Another way to handle the problem with slow loading of pages is of course to get rid of the ad´s.

Mac user can get Webfree. The programme will remove all ads in the broser window. A good shareware programme.

For the PC user there are a similar programme called Intermute. Also a very good shareware programme.

Windows user can also use this free method to get rid of banners and ads. It´s possible to kill the ads directly in the host file on the hard desk. It isn´t a perfect method, but it will remove the ads from large banner providers like Doubleclick.

In Windows 95/98 Use a text editor and open the host file in the directory C:\windows\hosts.sam, add the following text:
#no ads from the following servers
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.se.[or any country prefix of your choice] doubleclick.net

In NT, the host file is in C:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts, simply add the above text, with the appropriate changes.

In this section of the host file you can add any IP and get the same result. All IP´s listed here will be blocked from the harddesk. The comment after the # sign is just a reminder for you. Like the <!-- --> comment in Java scripts.

Close Popup v3.0
A anonymous reader brought my attentention to this effective 33 kb application. Close Popup automatically closes popup windows from Tripod, Angelfire, Free Prohosting and Hypermart. According to the reader the programme works with both Win 95 and 98. It works well with Netscape 3.0 and later versions. Close Popup is freeware and can be download from this url: http://www.homeonthewww.com/ryan/

I haven´t tested it thoroughly yet, but first impression is very good. I will post a more extensive comment within the next couple of weeks. I thought it would be a good idea to include this prog in this update anyway.

Greythorne´s Banner Killer
Greythorne´s oustanding banner killer, will kick out the popup windows with a "Message from our sponsor", used on far to many of the American websites, like Geocites, Tripod and Angelfire. Download it here, or get it at Greythorne´s own and very good site. After some simple configurations to customise the script, it turns out to be a remarkably efficient tool. Makes browsing a lot faster. If you go directly to Greythorne´s web portal, you don´t even have to install the script on your own harddrive. Greythorne provides the same script on line. Simply scroll down the page and click the highlighted text to activate the Banner-Killer in the browser.