First and foremost, a good video card is a must for getting the full impact of Gasser Madness or any site that has photos.

Windows Users: "Setting Colors". Click on Start, click on Settings, chose Control Panel. Click on Display, choose Settings. Choose True Color (24 bit) or True Color (32 bit). While you're here, you might want to reset your "Screen Area". Windows default is 800 by 600 pixels. If you slide the arrow up to 1024 by 768 pixels and commit that setting you will gain desktop area and see a lot more of every Webpage you visit. (If you're vision impaired, leave the default). When done, you may have to readjust the contrast and brightness on your monitor to suit your viewing taste.

AOL users: AOL thinks they are doing you a favor by installing a graphics limiter in their browser. True, graphics will load faster but they look terrible. To see what the photos on Gasser Madness really look like follow the steps below:

Click on My AOL, then click on Preferences, Click on WWW, click on tab marked Web Graphics. Make sure the box marked "use compressed graphics" is not selected, if there is a check mark in the box, click on it to remove it and then click on Apply at the bottom of the window.

Also under the Preferences section is a tab marked Graphics, set maximum disk
space to use for online art to 200 megabytes.

Since AOL has more problems than any other ISP - here are some more tips for increasing its performance:

Below is a quick list of a few things every Windows and AOL user should do at least once a month. If you like, you can print this, and keep it near your computer. If you suspect that your computer may be experiencing some difficulties, these steps should be run immediately. Detailed descriptions on these maintenance procedures are included below.

A. EMPTY YOUR AOL CACHE
B.  BACK UP YOUR ADDRESS BOOK, FAVORITE PLACES AND PERSONAL FILING CABINETS
C. CLEAN UP THE HARD DRIVE
D. DEFRAGMENT YOUR HARD DRIVE
E. RESOURCES ON AOL
F. RESOURCES & UPDATES AT MICROSOFT.COM

A. EMPTY YOUR AOL CACHE

NOTE: Sometimes browsing the web gets a little sluggish. Deleting the web cache or stored files can make a big difference. Below are the steps on how to do that. Remember that you can do all of this through the toolbar at the top of the AOL screen.

1. Click on MY AOL on the AOL toolbar, then select PREFERENCES.
2. Select WWW from the options in the sidebar on the left (it's the second from the top).
3. Click on DELETE FILES, located on the right side of the preferences window, then click on OK.

NOTE: Although you may see the spinning beach ball for a few seconds, if there are many files being deleted, you may not see any obvious signs of activity. Rest assured, it is working.

B. BACKING UP YOUR ADDRESS BOOK, FAVORITE PLACES AND PERSONAL FILING CABINETS

NOTE: The Organize folder contains all the Address Book entries, Favorite Places, and Personal Filing Cabinet (PFC) information. If you make a copy of the Organize folder, and save it somewhere other than the AOL Folder, you can always restore your Address Book, Favorite Places and PFC should the originals develop any problems. You can also put a copy of the Organize folder on a disk and move it to a new computer.

1. Double-click on your My Computer icon.
2. Double-click on the C: Drive.
3. Double-click on the AMERICA ONLINE folder.
4. Single-click on the Organize folder to highlight it, click on EDIT on the menu, then select COPY.
5. Click on EDIT on the menu, then select PASTE.
NOTE: This will make a folder called Copy of Organize, which will contain backups of the files you need. It will also contain copies of several database files, which can get rather large, and are automatically created by the AOL software. Continue with the steps below to remove them.
6. Double-Click on the Copy of Organize folder.
7. Click the folder named Cache.
8. Click on File on the menu, then select Delete and answer Yes.
NOTE: Now you can move the "Copy of Organize" folder to a safe place such as the desktop, or ZIP disk.
8. Close all open windows by clicking on the X in the upper right hand corner of each window.

C. CLEAN UP THE HARD DRIVE

All sorts of programs place files on your hard drive. Some are temporary files a program neglected to clean up, others are copies and logs of changes made to your system by programs such as Scandisk, and still others accumulate as you surf the Internet. What do you do with all these files?

Windows 98 has a wonderful applet called the Disk Cleanup Utility. This utility, found in the Start/Accessories/System Tools folder, will help you rid your hard drive of useless space wasting files. The applet is configurable and will let you specify standard types of files it should delete, such as .TMP, .OLD, .BKU, or any file type you supply. It will also clear your Internet cache.

NOTE: For Advanced Users - the advanced feature ties into the system, allowing you to remove unwanted Windows component and to uninstall applications that have registered themselves with Uninstall routines. With the Disk Cleanup Utility, finding needed disk space will be a snap.  If you aren't sure about what you're removing...DON'T remove it!

D. DEFRAGMENT YOUR HARD DRIVE
Disk Defragmenter rearranges files, storing each file in a block of contiguous space on the hard drive, thus improving read and write time to the disk. You can use Disk Defragmenter with any hard drive or floppy disk that is attached to your system. You can even use the Disk Defragmenter with hard drives that have been compressed with DriveSpace.

To defragment your hard drive:
1. Open My Computer and right-click the icon for the drive you want to defragment.
2. Choose Properties from the shortcut menu.
3. In the Properties dialog box, click the Tools tab.
4. Click Defragment Now.

Disk Defragmenter looks at your drive and tells you what percentage of its space is currently fragmented. If the percentage is low, the program lets you know that you don't need to bother defragmenting at this time. Of course, you can go ahead and defragment anyway if you want to.

E. RESOURCES ON AOL
If you have any questions about America Online, please refer to Keyword: HELP which will take you to our online technical support.

You can also access the Microsoft on AOL area where you can post on message boards, enter Windows-specific chat rooms, and find other great information.
You can access this area by going to Keyword: Microsoft.

F. RESOURCES & UPDATES AT MICROSOFT.COM
The Windows Update Manager Web Site is a valuable, centralized web-based resource that gives registered Win98 users easy access to the latest drivers, operating system files and more. This user friendly website also allows you to take advantage of product assistance with up-to-date information and answers to many "how-do-I-do?" and "how-do-I-fix?" questions.

Once you have signed on to AOL do the following to check for updates to your Windows 98 system:

1. Minimize America Online
2. Double click the Internet Explorer Icon (usually a blue 'e')
3. From the menu click on Tools and then click on Windows Update.
4. Follow the on screen instructions to update your Windows 98.

Microsoft technical support representatives can also be reached at:
Standard Support: 1-425-635-7000 Internet Explorer Support: 1-425-635-7123

If you require more help or have additional questions please feel free to take advantage of our online One-on-One help and/or online help files.

Now that you've jumped through more of AOLs hoops, here's another tip. Find another ISP. Every area has several reliable hassle free ISPs who will give you great service without the con. Yep, AOL is probably the greatest fraud ever perpetrated on the web surfing American public. Their #1 - absolute function is information gathering. Your name, credit card yada yada. They make a TON of money not only selling your information but also bombarding you with all those irritating ads etc. The browser they use is Internet Explorer (IE) - yep, good old Bill Gates. They have no stand alone programming. Do yourself a huge favor and stop being a sheep. Check out your local ISPs.

If DSL, cable or wireless modems are available in your area we suggest you lose your archaic phone modem and step up to high performance web surfing. With DSL for example, by the time you look at the first photo on a Gasser Madness page, read the caption, all of the other images will already be loaded. You'll kick yourself for not getting high speed internet sooner!