You are encouraged to print out a hardcopy of these instructions so that you have them available to you when configuring your machine while it is not online to view the document.

Start by making sure you have your modem installed properly and that Windows recognizes it (see Modems in Control Panel). Also, while in Control Panel, check the Network icon to see that you have the TCP-IP protocol installed for your "Dial-up adapter" (which is Windows' networking name for your modem).

If you do not have a modem installed, go to the Add New Hardware icon in Control Panel and choose to select it from a list and choose Modem from the device type list. Further modem installation and configuration is beyond the scope of this document, and should be covered in your modem documentation.

If you do not have TCP-IP installed (you'll need to first have the modem configured properly), click on ADD choose Protocol, then Microsoft, and TCP-IP from the list. This will install the WINSOCK driver for TCP-IP networking over the modem (TCP-IP is the networking protocol used on the Internet). You do not need to configure the protocol beyond that - choose OK in the Network configuration dialog. This step may require a system restart.

Go to START/Programs/Accessories/Dial-Up Networking

If Dial-Up Networking is not present in the Accessories group, you need to go to START/Settings/Control Panel/Add-Remove Programs, Click on the Windows tab, doubleclick on Communications in the listbox, and select "Dial-Up Networking", and be prepared to insert the Windows 95 setup disc when prompted.

Continuing, from DUN, doubleclick on Make New Connection

Run through the DUN setup wizard:

Enter the name of the connection (such as the name of your ISP and the city where the dialup is located), verify that the modem shown is the correct one, and correct your modem configuration if it is not.

CLICK [NEXT]

Enter the areacode and phone number of your ISP dialup. Yes, even though you might not normally dial the areacode because it is the same as where you are, you should enter it -- the windows modem config should know what your areacode is and whether it needs to be actually used.

CLICK [NEXT]

You can change the name again if you want, and then

CLICK [FINISH]

From the DUN window, right-click on the new connection icon (the one you just made), and choose Properties from the pop down menu.

Now, here you'll have one of two known interfaces depending upon which version of Windows 95 you are running -- one has only a General tab, and has a server-type button in the modem information group near the bottom (Windows 95 Retail, shown on the left), while the other has tabs across the top (Windows 95 OEM R2, shown on the right). Windows 98 should be reasonably similar.

Beyond this initial interface, the configuration is much the same for either version:

Click on the Server Type button (retail) or tab (OEM)

Choose settings so that you have the same configuration as shown above. This includes having NetBEUI and IPX/SPX DISABLED, as these protocols will open you up to Windows security problems when connected to the internet. Depending on your modem and your ISP, you may find that selecting "Enable Software Compression" will increase your speed - I've found that it doesn't matter if it is set or not, since at login, the availability of software-based compression should be negotiated, and if unavailable, it won't be used anyway. This option seems to have more effect on machine-machine Dial-Up networking, not Internet connections.

Then click on the [TCP Settings] button.

The Primary DNS and secondary DNS settings should be available from your ISP, and you should use the settings which they provide you, not the exacr IP addresses you see above. The DNS servers given above are for Netcom (now Earthlink/Mindspring) customers.

Close out all the dialogs using [OK], and then doubleclick on the connection icon.

Type your username (probably synonymous with the username portion of your email account) in the username field. With many services, you must prefix the username with a symbol such as the pound ("#") sign, or in some cases, a prefix such as "ELNK/" to signify a specific ISP when connecting to a multiple-ISP dialin. Your login may be case sensitive, so if your account documentation shows it in a specific case (UPPER, lower, Proper, MiXed, etc), enter it exactly as shown.

Type your password in the password field and check the "save password" box (unless you have reasons to want to type the password each time). Note that you cannot save the password unless you are logged into windows properly (ie. if your Win95 configuration has several different users, the DUN with saved password will only be available from those configurations from which it has been entered and saved under).

Click on [CONNECT], and your modem should dial out and connect to your ISP. You can then run all manner of winsock applications such as email, web browsing, chat, etc.