How many times have you started out looking for something on the internet, and after your eyes have glazed over, you start asking yourself; "who am I, what am I doing here, that's not my house, thats not my wife ....."; hmm that could probably be good lyrics for a song.

OK, you get the point, the internet is not a big friendly (?) spider web as some would lead you to believe. Instead it is a BIG VACUUM PUMP which is trying to SUCK what little sanity you have left, out of your head through your EYEBALLS!!! - - OK, OK, I'm alright now.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the almighty TECHNO-WEENIE search engines! They are part of the big conspiracy, you know. They make you think you are going to find what you want, IN YOUR DREAMS MAYBE, and then you wake up wondering "who am I, what am I doing here, HOW DID I GET HERE??, WHAT WAS I TRYING TO DO??."

You have probably already said to yourself, THERE MUST BE AN EASIER WAY! - - Well, there is, and it's called internet survival. You guessed it ... I also write and maintain internet survival too. You visit us, pump a little iron with your brain, and who knows, maybe you too can become a techno-freakout genious! We'll show you how to kick butt on those search engines. And if you dont reach genious status, at least you will be able to impress your young kids by turning the computer on and off with skill. You can also impress the women in your life by mumbling some techno-sounding whiz words with confidence.

If you have a question, first check with internet survival. It is likely that the answer to your question is already there. If you ask me a related topic which is not listed there, I will politely attempt to resolve your problem, respond to your e-mail, and add your topic to the internet survival topic list.

If you ask me about a topic that is already discussed in the internet survival topics, and your question doesn't address any inadequacy in our internet survival topics, then stand by for silence. I wont waste my time answering questions which are already covered in the internet survival topics. So ... if you dont get an answer from me, maybe you should check out the internet survival . Either the answer is there, or the internet just failed world wide, or there was an atomic war which you haven't heard about yet, or I just freaked out of my mind because NO ONE IS EVEN TRYING to use internet survival - - OK, OK, I'm calm again.

Please don't make me freak out. It's an ugly thing that gets totally out of control once it starts!
We got mail, so click on my mailbox and tell me something to make this website better, or ask an internet question or windows computer question not covered in the internet survival topics. It'll make you feel better and it'll make me feel more important! Remember, my purpose here is to help you use the internet smarter. I'll see what I can do to make your internet life a little easier. But you're on your own with all the other issues in your life. Oh, by the way, check out our free e-mail service. It is super! You can access this mail with your web browser.

This Month's Topic - Lack of Speed Kills

There is nothing more irritating than waiting for a web page to load on your computer. This tip will make your connection to the TruckTroubles website much quicker. Skip the bull, just tell me what to do!

I need to drag you through the techno-slime for just a moment or two to give you a brief overview of why this trick works. OK, here goes. When you type in a website address such as http://www.truckt.com, and press enter on your browser, you have just dispatched a loaded truck. Now this truck knows the city the load goes to, but it has to call the destination dispatcher to get the exact address. Well guess what, the destination dispatcher's phone is always busy and you have to wait until it is not busy, to get through. Sound familiar? That load will not get delivered until you get that address.

On the internet, that destination dispatcher is called a domain name server. http://www.truckt.com is a domain name (we wont beat you up with details) and this domain name server has to list every one of the three million plus domain names that exist on the internet (a little poetic license here also). If it is looking up some other schmuck's address, then you get to wait until schmucko's number is found first, and then it is your turn. When it finds a match for http://www.truckt.com ( and this could take a second or two), it spits out an address such as 64.70.172.142, which is the truckt address; and sends it back to your browser. Now your browser tells his local internet router (he is like the truck driver who steers the load to its destination) the address, and your load is finally off to its destination.

The load you sent out is usually a request for more of these magnificant TruckTroubles information pages. When your request load arrives here at TruckTroubles, your bill of lading includes your return address. Yes, your computer also has a unique address while using the internet. Once your request is processed, a return load is sent back to you. This return load is usually the information you are seeking <yeah, right>.

This process repeats nearly every time you click on your browser, and the domain name lookup takes time, each and every time you send a request load out. So why do we have this bottle neck? Because us humans are to stupid to remember 64.70.172.142 instead we just have to remember truckt.com, because we already memorized the http://www. which is required for most all websites anyway.There are other reasons for the domain name concept, but they squish though your toes while dancing the internet router techno mumble mombo.

Now our web browsers are pretty street smart. If you give them that address number, they break the picket line, thumb their nose at the domain name server and pass this address on to the routers (the truck drivers) immediately. This cuts out that middle man, the name server, and expedites your request load delivery. Many times this direct addressing will more than double the delivery speed, and this is good, this is very good.

How to do it!

All websites have a unique address. Some website addresses have multiple businesses at the same address. So in addition to the building address, you may also need a business name (a sub-directory of the website). For TruckTroubles, the complete address is: http://64.70.172.142/ and no sub-directory is required. A website with multiple businesses could use http://###.###.###.###/somename/ or they could use http://###.###.###.###/~somename. Both examples represent access to an alternate website at a sub-directory named "somename".

What happened to the www. you ask? Well, it just isn't needed when you have the address. Why the trailing / after the address? This makes the whole thing work even faster. Always use the trailing slash, even when using the domain name. Much more detail can be found about this discussion on internet survival , under the topic name: "URLs in Paradise".

Just type http://64.70.172.142/ in your browser at the same place you would normally type http://www.truckt.com and you will see much speedier responses from our website. Cant remember the address number? Then bookmark (or favorites) the whole thing. Bookmark is another topic on internet survival. Once you bookmark (or favorites) the address, just click on the bookmark, and fast times will be coming your way!

Is there a drawback?

This same concept can be used for other website addresses also. The only draw back to using the address, is when the address changes, your request load will no longer go to the right place. The address changes almost never for most websites, but it could happen. If it changes you will have to revert back to the domain name (and run slower), or get the new address. Internet survival has a topic "Show-me-the-address" which describes how to determine the website address for most all websites. We have no reason to suspect that our address will change anytime in the forseeable future.

<Dont let the internet win. You can beat it!>
<I did ... I did ... I did ... I did ... I did ... I did ...>
webRider@truckt.com

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