NetZero - Hey! What Do You Want For Nothing?
Written: Sep 12 '00 (Updated Sep 13 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Free Of Course
Cons: Ad Bar (but you knew that)
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| rpllingrock's Full Review: NetZero |
As I've said before, nothing is truly free. Free of cost maybe, but you'll pay in performance and quality. But maybe this one is different?.
After a successful sign-up and a hefty download of 4.8 Megs, we're on way to Net for Zero$! Their minimum requirements call for a 90MHz Pentium with 32 MB RAM and an 800 by 600 display. I've tried this on my oldest machine and can safely say forget about it! If you were using the above minimum requirements, you'd be much better off with AltaVista's free service which demands much less in the way of resources.
At sign-up we'll give up a little privacy while they ask for your name, address, DOB and a few other questions you may find prying. But are we not here to get something for nothing?
Quality Of Connects
This is where it counts the most I think. You can get dozens of free ISP's but without quality connects, it's just not worth it. Although it can't compare to my paid ISP, I was very satisfied with the connect rate and connection stability overall.
Where's My Screen?
As with most, if not all, free ISP's, you'll have to look at an ad bar that takes up real estate on your screen, and this is no different. But wait….
Do I Detect A Useful Ad Bar?
I never thought I would ever say this but…. I kind of like this ad bar! A feature called "My Ticker", which you can toggle on and off and adjust its speed. It runs along the bottom of the ad bar giving you the latest headlines from ABC or ESPN by clicking the "up arrow" near each name.
Now I can find a use for this! Clicking on any of the headlines takes me to a page containing that story. This ticker can be customized to your liking by choosing what types of news headlines, stocks or sports you're interested in. The lists are pretty extensive!
Two somewhat useful buttons located on the top right, "E-Mail" and "Browse", that can be used to access your NetZero POP mail or a quick search with the browse button. I've found the browse button to be useful to the point that it doesn't just take you to a NetZero sponsor, but to a site that pertains to your search. Sure you can live without it but if it's there, I will use it.
Don't get me wrong! I'd rather not have an ad bar flashing in my face but if I'm forced to look at it, it might as well be useful.
On my 17" monitor, it measures approximately 1 ¼" by the width of the screen. It did not interfere with other program running besides my web browsers.
Stability
Whenever it comes to ad bar driven schemes, stability always seems to come into question. This has never been a problem for the ten days of personal use. Never did I experience unexplained crashes or lock-ups.
I had used NetZero shortly after it came onto the scene. The interface at the time did not run nearly as smooth or stable as this version and to top it all off, it runs equally well on Internet Explorer 5 and Netscape 4.75, which surely surprised me.
The Big Test
With nearly every free ISP I've tried, with the exception of FreeWWWeb, disconnecting and shutting down the interface caused more problems than it was worth. Many times I would have to restart my computer because of either a display problem or some unexplained bug. Estimating, I would say I started and stopped the program over fifty times without one single hitch. Is this to say you won't have problems? No! But I've tried enough of them to know that NetZero may have taken the time to make sure this wasn't a constant glitch.
What I Didn't Like
· During peak access times it seemed like it took forever to connect, but once logged in I was there for the duration of the call.
· Clicking on anything on the ad bar opened up a new browser window, forcing me to close them after reading. Not a big problem, but one that annoyed me.
· If you do use the ticker you'll lose about ¼" of screen since instead of shrinking the ad bar, they add to it. Figures.
Overall
After downloading the NetZero install file, I wasn't expecting much in the way of quality, but I've since changed my mind. I plan on using this periodically along with AltaVista as my back-up service.
If you've tried it in the past with mediocre results as I did, you may want to give this a second look!
But if you are in the market for a free provider or a back up to your current one, then you may want to give it a go at NetZero. If your experience is anything like mine, you're in for a pleasant surprise!
Recommended:
Yes
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