Dialing The World from your computer

How this works...

Every current operating system includes the necessary tools for connecting to The World over a phone line -- you probably won't need to install any special programs. The World supports PPP (a standard for connecting to the Internet from any sort of computer) so all you need to do is tell your computer to call one of our phone numbers and log you in via PPP. After this one-time setup has been done, whenever you connect you can use any Internet programs (any Web browser, any mail program, and so on) -- you can use whatever you choose.

Getting started is easy!

Our illustrated "quick start" guides will walk you through a simple setup (it only takes about five minutes). The "detailed instructions" are longer text documents for special setups. We suggest you print out whichever instructions you plan to use. If you haven't yet opened an account with The World, you'll need to Join The World first.

Windows
	Windows XP	quick start	detailed instructions
	Windows 2000	quick start	detailed instructions
	Windows ME (Millennium Edition)	quick start	detailed instructions
	Windows 98	quick start	detailed instructions
	Windows NT 4		detailed instructions
	Windows 95		detailed instructions
Mac OS
	Mac OS X	quick start	detailed instructions
	Mac OS 8.5 to 9.2.2	quick start
Linux
	Red Hat Linux		detailed instructions

In case you have something exotic...

If your operating system isn't listed, you can probably still connect to The World if you have PPP software and can find where to enter one of our phone numbers and your login name (in the form "yourlogin@theworld.com".)

Very old operating systems (such as Windows 3.1 or Mac OS 8.1) might not connect to the Internet easily. In those cases, it might be worth upgrading.