How to use the DSR network
Access is available from 6:00 AM to 8:00 AM and from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.
Start your web browser and try to open a page. You should get the Login page
shown here:
The login information (04-2013) is:
login = DSR-Guest
password = DSROA
(both the above are case-sensitive)
Note that this will change from time to time to ensure that only authorized users
are on the system. The Ranch Host should have the most current login information.
You might get a CHAP error in the Status window - this seems to be the result of
some network hardware going into power-save mode and not waking up fast
enough. Just try again.
After you successfully log in, you can do stuff for 30 minutes before you will be
automatically
logged out. Minimize the status window so you can see your remaining time and open
a new browser window to do your work.
If your computer or other device remains idle for 5 minutes, you will be automatically
logged off.
The Cabins are allotted a fixed amount of data per day so as to not exceed the limit
on our incoming feed. If you get a message when trying to login that the daily
limit
has been reached, you will need to try again tomorrow.
Things you should not do while using the Ranch Network
Download music.
Download video.
Download any kind of multimedia.
Large downloads or uploads of any kind.
File sharing / torrent.
Updating / sharing music libraries - DISABLE this while at DSR.
Skype or other "phone" app.
Leaving your computer logged in and turned on and not actively using it - LOG OFF!
Uploading large digital images - resize them to no more than 800 x 600 first.
Watching video on a news site or any other site.
Excessive use of Facebook - all those ads munch up our bandwidth.
Online gaming.
Anything that updates itself automatically - stock tickers, news strips,
"widgets" on your
Smartphone.
Having your email set to check itself every X minutes - turn that off and check manually.
"Cloud computing" services of any kind - these run a continuous stream of data.
Anything that can wait until you get back home.
You don't want to be the one who exceeds the daily data limit and shuts things down
for everyone until the next day. Please be nice and follow the rules.
Keeping your network usage low and still getting done what you need to get done
Don't use Outlook Express / Windows Messaging
Use an email client that allows you to just download message headers. Outlook
Express downloads
the *entire* message AND attachment whether you want it or not. I suggest nPOPuk for
usage at the
Ranch. It won't automatically delete all your emails so they will still be in your
Inbox when you get home
and you can use Outlook to grab them there.
nPop site is here:
Stop ads from loading with the ESC key
If you go to a news site or similar, press the ESC key a few times as soon as the text
of the news story
loads. This will stop anything else from loading (usually ads and other worthless
junk).
Some pages will auto-refresh every so often so they can shove more ads at you - when
this happens
just hit ESC again.
Summary
Typical Internet session at DSR goes like this:
Log in
Check your email
Check the weather
Maybe a quick check of the news
Log off
That's it. Should only take you a few minutes. Then go out and have some fun at the Ranch.