Subscriptions, Channels, and Active Desktop By Carolyn Z. Gillay Carolyn Gillay is author of Windows 98: Concepts & Examples (Franklin Beedle & Associates). This article is excerpted from her book—click on thumbnails to see larger versions of the screens. Download the PDF file for this article. Windows 98 wants to integrate the World Wide Web and your computer. It does so by the means of push technology. Push technology is a method of distributing information over the Web by automatically sending updates from Websites. Your computer acts like a receiver, and the Websites act as broadcasters. Windows accomplishes this via three related methods: subscriptions, channels, and Active Desktop. A subscription to a Website is made through Internet Explorer. You can request that Internet Explorer check that Website regularly and report to you when it has changed. You can also have Internet Explorer notify you of a change by email or have Internet Explorer visit the sites and download them at night when you are not using the computer. A channel is a Website that has been expressly designed for push technology. Typically a channel offers some type of information that has wide appeal and needs to be updated regularly such as news, weather reports, sports information, or stock market information. Windows 98 offers a Channel Bar with preselected channels. You may subscribe to those channels, add new channels, or delete channels you are not interested in. Active Desktop is a customization option that makes your desktop and windows look like Internet Explorer. An Active Desktop object is some piece of Web contact that you have chosen to be placed on your desktop such as stock market prices or a weather map that needs to be updated frequently. Furthermore, you can make this object your desktop wallpaper. If you have a cable modem, or T-1 line where you are always connected to the Internet, then your updates to your subscriptions and/or your active desktop object happen in a “real-time” mode. If you must connect to the Internet by a dial-up connection, then your information is updated when you log on. Activity: Subscriptions, Channels, and Active Desktop Step 1 Click Start. Point to Settings. Click Folder Options. Click the General tab. Click Web Style. Click Apply. Click OK. Step 2 Right-click the desktop. Click Properties. Click the Web tab. Set View my Active Desktop as a web page. Set Internet Explorer Channel Bar. Click Apply. Click OK. What's Happening? Your desktop will now act like a web page. Step 3 Go online. Once you are online, click Channel Guide on the Channel Bar. What's Happening? As you can see, this is an ever-changing technology. Microsoft has replaced the Active Channel with what they now call windowsmedia.com. It functions the same as channels. If you clicked the windowsmedia.com link, you would be taken to MSN.COM. The active channel guide on the left of the screen are the preselected channels you can choose from. You can have news delivered from a variety of sources such as CNN, the New York Times, or Time. To view a channel's contents, you can click its logo to subscribe. To update content, you use the Favorites menu. Step 4 Click News and Technology. Click ZDNet. What's Happening? Ziff-Davis is a publishing conglomerate that publishes such journals as PC Magazine. It also maintains an extensive Website, as you can see, with tips and tricks, downloads of software, games, and all the current computer news you could want. Step 5 Click Favorites on Internet Explorer's menu bar. Click Add to Favorites. What's Happening? You can simply add this page to your favorites without subscribing to it. (In Netscape Navigator or Commnicator, you would create a bookmark.) You can subscribe but only be notified when the page is updated or download the pages for offline viewing. Step 6 Click Yes, but only tell me when this page is updated. Click Customize. What's Happening? The Subscription Wizard begins. You will know when the page has changed because Internet Explorer will add a red gleam to its icon. You can also be notified by email when the page is updated. Step 7 Click Next. What's Happening? You are asked if this site needs a password. This site does not. Step 8 Click Cancel. Click Yes, notify me of updates and download the page for offline viewing. Click the Customize button. What's Happening? You are creating a subscription to ZDNet. Step 9 Click Next. Click Next. What's Happening? You were asked if you wanted to be notified by email. This page lets you select your schedule for updating, either automatically or manually. If you choose manually, you can choose a specific time. Step 10 Click Next. Click Finish. Click OK. Step 11 Click Favorites. Click Update All Subscriptions. What's Happening? You just updated your subscription to ZDNet so that you have the latest information. Step 12 Click Favorites. Click Manage Subscriptions. What's Happening? You see your subscription. The update in this case had no effect; there were no changes since you just subscribed. Step 13 Close the Subscriptions window. Right-click in the ZDNet window. What's Happening? Besides maneuvering through Internet Explorer, you can also use this page as wallpaper, save it as a picture, or create a shortcut to it. Step 14 Click Favorites. Click Manage Subscriptions. Right-click ZDNet. Click Delete. What's Happening? You are warned that your subscription is about to be deleted. Step 15 Click Yes. What's Happening? You are no longer subscribing to ZDNet.

Go back to eTechNotes main page.