Timmy P's Internet Favorites Management Page

Internet Favorites Management

(This is a bit old, and may not fully apply to newer software versions.)

AOL Users (the rest of you skip down to the next section). There are several reasons to use Internet Explorer instead of AOL's web browser:

	The AOL browser is Internet Explorer, it just lacks a few features (such as the ability to to stop the background music on a website, and buttons that are large enough to see and click on). Advantage I.E.
	AOL's favorites folder is inside the main AOL folder, so if your AOL program goes south on you (which mine did about every 6 months until I started using it BYOA - see below) your favorites could be lost. Advantage I.E.
	It is much easier to back up the Internet Explorer Favorites than the AOL Favorites. Advantage I.E.
	You can send your Internet Explorer Favorites to anyone to use. Only AOL folks can use your AOL favorites. Advantage I.E.
	When unable to connect to the desired page, a browser will occasionally "hang" and refuse your efforts to make it stop or to close it. If you are using I.E. you can hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete and select I.E. in the list of running programs in order to close it. If you are using the AOL browser, you have to close AOL to close the browser. Advantage I.E.
	If you loose your connection (even if using AOL BYOA) the AOL browser will close. I.E. will remain open so that you can continue to read the page or save it as a favorite. Advantage I.E.
	You can put an address bar on your Windows 98 task bar, so you do not even have to open the browser to type in an address. (AOL has this at the top, so advantage even.)
	You can use AOL BYOA (bring your own access, $10 per month instead of $23) and use I.E. whether you have AOL running or not. (I use FreeInternet, AltaVista, and Xoom free ISP services. They work about as well as AOL.) (Avoid NetZero and Freewwweb.) Advantage: you save $13 per month.

Backup your Favorites:

	Open Internet Explorer.
	Click File, click Import and Export, click Next.
	Click Export Favorites, click Next.
	Highlight the Favorites folder, click Next.
	Select Export to a File or Address; In the address field type C:\MyDocuments\bookmark.htm (this is the default location and so Windows may enter the address for you) then click next.
	Click Finish. When it is done, click OK.

The Favorites folder is exported as an HTML document that can be viewed, copied to a floppy disc for backup, or e-mailed to friends.

Restore your Favorites (or to install them on another computer):

	Open Internet Explorer, click File, click Import and Export, click Next.
	Click Import Favorites, click Next.
	Select Import from a File or Address; In the address field type or navigate to the location of the file (i.e.: C:\MyDocuments\bookmark.htm if it is your backup file, or A:/bookmark.htm if you have the file on a floppy disc) then click Next.
	Highlight the Favorites folder, click Next.
	Click Finish. When it is done, click OK.

Note: You may have to have Internet Explorer 5.0 or greater in order to backup and restore (I am not sure, as I did not discover this until I had 5.0 on both my home and office computers). You can download newer versions of IE free from Microsoft.