by Joyce Kohl
October 14, 1998
Where has SurfSaver by askSam Systems been all my Internet life? Searching the Internet for specific information for any type of project, business or school or personal knowledge, is an activity we all engage in sooner or later. But how do we surf the waves of the Internet sea? We set some bookmarks in our browsers - IF we remember to do that, but then we have to return to those Websites and HOPE the information hasn't changed. Or we patiently download the Web page source, and each graphic to a new folder we create on our hard drive. Doing it this way requires a folder for each page.
Browser Enhancement
SurfSaver allows you to save Web pages, graphics, sounds, formatting, frames,
and all the hypertext links from numerous Websites all into one specific category, and
then search the pages for specific words, phrases, or sentences. As each page is saved,
you can choose to make notes and type in keywords for Boolean searching later. SurfSaver
creates an archive of the information you want into descriptively named folders for easy
organization and easy retrieval. SurfSaver allows capturing those Internet
"waves," the "crests" of information YOU want, and then you can browse
through them later right on your own desktop without connecting to the Internet or even
while you're connected. askSam Systems has thought of everything in this small but mighty
Internet tool which integrates 100% seamlessly with either Microsoft Internet Explorer OR
Netscape Navigator.
Requirements
SurfSaver uses very little memory and only a small amount of disk space. Requirements are
minimal:
• 4 MB of RAM
• 6.5 MB of free disk space
• Windows 95, 98, or NT
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0x and/or Netscape Navigator 4.0x
My SurfSaver is installed on a Windows 98 system. It found and installed itself into both Netscape Communicator 4.07 and Internet Explorer 4.72.
In the following screenshot, captured during installation, notice that SurfSaver picked up both my browsers, and correctly identified the versions, then installed itself into both of them with no problems.
If for any reason you need to uninstall SurfSaver, you'll need to either manually delete the new bookmark.htm file in Netscape's User directory, then rename the original one SurfSaver backed up, bkmk.srf to bookmark.htm. If you've created any new bookmarks after you installed SurfSaver you may prefer to edit bookmark.htm and simply removed the lines inserted by SurfSaver. Editing can be done with Notepad or any ASCII editor. As always, backup the file before editing it.
In the following screenshot of my new SurfSaver bookmark.htm file, note the lines created by SurfSaver for placing the tab and options in Netscape.
Activating SurfSaver
Saving and searching couldn't be easier. To activate SurfSaver when using Internet
Explorer, simply right-click anywhere in the browser window; activate in Netscape from the
button on the Personal Toolbar which can be turned off or on. If it's off, select
SurfSaver from the bookmarks.
Dialog Box In Internet Explorer
Launched by Right-Clicking My Mouse
Saving Web Pages
First, of course, you must have a Web page active in your browser. Then activate SurfSaver
and select "SurfSaver/Save." The first time you activate SurfSaver, there will
be two folders in the default dialog box:
The first thing I did was to begin saving articles from Go Inside Magazine. I created a new storage folder. If you should save a Web page into the wrong folder, which I did right off the start, simply move it to the correct folder by using the Edit feature which is accessed by selecting SurfSaver/Search. The title field is filled in for you, but it's easily edited. Use the keywords field to enter words which best describe the page or maybe unique words from the article. The notes area can contain up to 10K. Searches can then be done on keywords and notes.
Saving a Web Page
Options
In the first area of the Options dialog box is the choice to save the graphics on a Web
page as well as the text. The only time I can think of to uncheck the "Save
Graphics" option would be if you're saving informational Web pages or if your hard
drive space is limited. Saving the graphics is the default.
You can use the QuickSave option to save Web pages, then go back later and edit the information you normally would want entered for each page. This is quicker, but also leads to my procrastination, so I prefer to enter the keywords and notes as I save pages. In the following screenshot, saving would be into the Archive folder. Change the folder to any existing folder, or create a new one.
Search
SurfSaver will search for the keywords and notes you enter for a Web page as well as
searching the entire text of the page. Boolean operators can be used and the NEAR command
which will find words appearing close to each other. SurfSaver searches are not case
sensitive. For example: Initiating a search for "Graphics," would find pages
containing "graphics" or "Graphics" and even "graPhics." You
could also set the options for the NEAR command for "graphics" to appear within
a specific number of words, or where the words appear within the same line, sentence or
paragraph.
Note this following screenshot of the left side of the popup menu bar you see when selecting Search, and remember clicking on Close will close your browser. If you want to close only SurfSaver, click on your browser's back button, forward button, select a favorite Website, etc. Clicking on the SurfSaver Trademark will give you the version number of SurfSaver in the browser Window.
Collecting Information
The other day someone sent me an email containing a "very interesting" Website.
I clicked on the URL and found an extremely informative Website, "The Story of Oscar
Schindler." The site contains numerous photographs and links to other information
sources about the holocaust. Though it wrenches my heart to its core to read about the
atrocities which is so incomprehensible, and because I'm unable to read but only a few
lines at a time, I bookmarked the site. Each day I return there to read a bit more.
With SurfSaver, I've begun to save a few other Web pages relating to the holocaust. One of these days I may write an article on it. Amassing the facts would be the first step.
Tips for Using SurfSaver
The program consumes a lot of hard drive space for storing your saved Web pages and
images. For example, in my SurfSaver directory there are already 4,225,490 bytes used for
only nineteen files - sixteen pages I saved plus the three default pages installed by
SurfSaver. This figure includes all the many, many graphics which goes with each of the
graphics intensive pages I saved. Can you imagine the time it would take to download a big
review on Go Inside Magazine and then save each and every image? SurfSaver does
it all for you and builds a searchable database all at the same time.
As you begin to search a directory of Web pages you've saved, you'll think of other keywords and notes to use for searching your archives. Simply highlight the Web page you want to edit, then click on the Edit icon. The Save Dialog box will pop up.
Create a folder for
your favorite recipes here on Go Inside in Joyce's Eatery. Better yet, start
archiving all of them! Then organize them any way you wish by using the keywords field to
type in searchable categories. Maybe you would put a recipe for Banana-Apricot Nut Bread
into a two or three categories such as "Breads," "Desserts," and
"Holidays." If so, then type the words into the keywords field. In the following
screenshot, I saved one of my favorite Mexican recipes. Note the keywords I chose to use
in the next screenshot. I consider Chimichangas to be a main meal, so I used
"main" for one of the keywords. It's a favorite dish in the Southwest, and its
origin is Mexico (I think!) - thus two other keywords/categories. Guacamole is one of the
toppings for chimichangas as well as other recipes. Using it as a keyword will allow me to
search for all pages containing the word, "guacamole," and will also bring up
the recipe to make guacamole.
Conclusion
Don't browse the Internet without SurfSaver! Saving the entire Web pages of favorite
Websites allows you review or search a saved page or even an entire Website without
connecting to the Internet, complete with all the graphics, formatting, and even any
sounds which may be coded into the pages. With its seamless integration with Internet
Explorer and Netscape, SurfSaver becomes part of them. There's no separate launching.
Simply launch your browser and SurfSaver is ready to use. Connect to the Internet and
SurfSaver is ready to help you save and organize Web pages.
For a the online price of only $29.95 SurfSaver is, without any doubt, a "must-have" tool for Internet users.
This is a terrific enhancement to your Internet browser! I give SurfSaver five out of five Go Inside Review Lights!
Copyright © 1998 by Joyce Kohl
"Go Inside" is a David Boles Trademark