You have opened the flood gates to a channel. Now what? Here's where IE4 satisfies the control-nut in all of us. Now you get to customize your channel. That's right. Tweak, tune, and twist the channel to your heart's content. But first, you need to find where IE4 hides all the secret controls. To open the secret control panel for a channel: Select Favorites and Manage Subscriptions... from the menu bar. In the Subscriptions window, find the channel you want to tweak and position your mouse over the channel logo. NOTE: Your Subscription window will ONLY display channels that you currently have subscriptions for. If you don't have any channel subscriptions, the Subscription window will be empty. Click your right mouse button to open the pop-up menu. Select Properties from the menu. Presto! You should see three tabs marked: Subscription, Receiving and Schedule Remember, the three tabs will ONLY appear if you have a subscription to the channel! Here's another way to open the channel control panel. This one is a tad speedier. Position your mouse over a channel in the Channels bar. Click your right mouse button to open the pop-up menu. Select Properties from the menu. You can tell IE4 when to update, or open, a channel. In the Properties window of a channel, select the Schedule tab. Check the circle next to Scheduled:. Click the New button to open the Custom Schedule window. Select the Day and Time you want IE4 to update the channel. Give your schedule a name by typing it in the white box (e.g. Early morning). Select the OK button, then the Apply button to accept the changes. The scheduled update feature is pretty neat. But can you use it? Well, it depends. How are you connected to the Internet? If you are wired to the Net using a network, then you're in luck. You can tell IE4 to fetch information anytime of the day because the door to the Net is always open. Even at 4 AM, IE4 will pull content through the network pipe—without you being around. If you are using a standard modem and phone line to access the Internet, you'll probably use the manual update option. This option lets you update subscribed channels using a few simple clicks. Yes, it means you'll have to hang around IE4 and me to do it. But you've got to be here anyway--to wake up that groggy modem of yours. With the manual option, you can update all your channel subscriptions with a few quick clicks. Select Favorites and Update All Subscriptions from the menu bar. A window will appear to let you see IE4's progress. If you don't have time to update all your subscribed channels, you can choose to update only one channel. Here's a speedy way to do this: Click the Channel button on Explorer bar to open your Channels bar. Position your mouse over the channel you want to update. Click your right mouse button to open the pop-up menu. Select Update Now. Note: if you have not subscribed to the channel, the Update Now option will not appear on the pop-up menu. Instead, you will see the Subscribe option. Channel pages can be quite glitzy. If flashing icons and looping music tracks bug you, then tell IE4 to be a better gatekeeper and not to let this stuff through. To control what type of content is downloaded: In the Properties window for a channel, select the Receiving tab. Under "Subscription type", select the second option (...download for offline viewing.) Select the Advanced... button to open the Advanced Download Options window. Check which items you want IE4 to download. Select the OK button, then the Apply button to accept the changes.