Connection Manager

The first part of Wildcat Navigator that you see is the Connection Manager. This is like a phone book that contains a list of all the places you connect to. It also keeps track of user names and passwords, and allows several people sharing a computer, to have individual entries that connect to the same site. If you have an Internet connection, the Connection Manager allows you to connect to sites that support WC Navigator over the Internet by entering the site's Internet address. Or, if you prefer, the Connection Manager can dial the system directly (entering the site's phone number instead of their Internet address.) You can even switch back and forth between the two methods, connecting to a site over the Internet one day, and dialing it directly the next.

Web Browser
After the Connection Manager connects you to a site, it turns control over to other clients. One of the first clients to launch will be your web browser. The web browser is different from the other clients built into wcNav. You must choose your own web browser (we strongly recommend using either Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer, versions 3.0 or higher). Since a web browser is not built into Wildcat Navigator, you may need to configure it before you begin - be sure to follow the instructions on the Configuration Notes page.

Message Client

The heart and soul of most online systems is the messaging area, and the Big Blue and Cousins BBS is no exception. When you first open the Message Client, you should see a list of conference groups available to you. Open one of the groups, and a list of individual conferences appears. Conferences that have new mail in them will appear in bold text, while conferences without new mail will appear in plain text. When you select a conference (or click on a web page link to enter a particular message area), you will see a list of new messages in that conference. Double-click on a message to read it, and a new window will open. The interface looks similar to an Internet email program, or a specialized word processor. A spell checker, a personal address book, and automated file attachment support are included.

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We have many files available online for you to download if you choose, and the File Client is a simple and familiar interface to get to them. The File Client looks similar to Windows 95 Explorer windows, with the bonus of having short textual descriptions of each file. When you double-click on a file, a hidden Transfer Client automatically handles the download, allowing you to continue working while the file is copied to your computer.

Chat Client

When the Chat Client is opened, you will find chat rooms, where you can talk "live" to other users on our system. It takes at least two people to make the Chat Client worthwhile (since you'll need someone to chat with), but the live interaction is a different experience from sending email messages back and forth. You can even set up your own private chat channel if you wish, where only the users you choose to invite can join in.

Who's Online

If you're going to chat with someone, you are going to need to find out who is on our system to chat with! That's what the Who's Online Client does for you: it shows you who else is connected to our system. From the Who's Online Client, you can page other users, or ask them to join you in a live chat session. Or, you can just satisfy your curiosity and watch how busy our system is as people come and go.

Terminal Client

As well as the GUI interface that we have been discussing, our Wildcat BBS also supports a text-based interface. This text-based side of our system looks much like our PCBoard BBS and the Terminal Client allows you access to this text-based system while still connected to the GUI version. (You can also access this client by dialing the BBS using a text-based terminal program.)

Personal Properties

Change your password, determine if others can page you for chats, and see your personal statistics in the Personal Properties Client.