            Ŀ
              HELP SEARCHING FOR COMPUTER PERIPHERALS   
            
     Important Notes:
     1.  When you perform a search, the items selected by 
         your search criteria will be listed in PRICE order, 
         beginning with the best (lowest) price at the top.

     2.  Be SURE to see the hints section at the bottom of this 
         window. 

     3.  You may find information using any part of the 
         product description.  (You cannot, however, search 
         on the amount of the price.)  You can even search on 
         part of a word, like "Pana" for "Panasonic".   Simply 
         enter into one or all of the text lines (as shown 
         below) words that will be in the product 
         descriptions you want to call up. 

     
     The search window provides up to 3 sets of text segments you 
     may use.   For example, if you want to see a list of 20mhz 
     (20 megahertz) computers that have 1mb RAM (1 megabyte or 
     1024K of volatile memory), you would enter: 

       ͻ 
        
         S E A R C H   
        
       Ķ 
                                                              
               TEXT 1 >   20mhz          
                                                              
               TEXT 2 >   1mb          
                                                             
               TEXT 3 >   _           
                                                              
                                                              
       ͼ 
 
     Notes: If you had entered nothing and just touched enter at 
            the TEXT 1 > line, a non-selective listing would 
            ensue, i.e. everything in the category would list in 
            order of price (lowest price first).  When carefully 
            scrutinizing options, this isn't a bad idea. 

            It doesn't matter which you enter first.  You could 
            have just as easily entered 1mb and then 20mhz. 

            Searches are case insensitive.  It doesn't matter 
            whether you use upper or lower case. 

            After you touch ENTER in TEXT 1 > the cursor jumps 
            down to TEXT 2 >, etc.  Note that the cursor is now 
            waiting in TEXT 3 > awaiting further selections.  Just 
            touch enter after your last selection and the search 
            will begin. 
   
            Common sense prevails in choosing text to search 
            on.  The database must assume that it will find a 
            string of data in the database exactly like you key 
            it in (except for capitalizing).  So, if you're 
            searching for a KXP4450 Panasonic and get no 
            matches, it may be in (backwards) as Panasonic 
            KXP4450.  You could:
               A. Try again as Panasonic KXP4450 (which works)
               B. Enter only 4450 and browse through the resulting
                  listing to see how it looks in the database or
               C. Enter Panasonic on one line and 4450 on another.  
                  Then, regardless what order they come in, you'll 
                  find your machine.  This is the example shown 
                  below:

       ͻ 
        
         S E A R C H   
        
       Ķ 
                                                              
               TEXT 1 >   kxp4450          
                                                              
               TEXT 2 >   panasonic          
                                                             
               TEXT 3 >   _           
                                                              
                                                              
       ͼ 
                   THE REASON THIS WORKS IS THAT EACH LINE'S DATA 
                   IS TESTED SEPARATELY AGAINST THE DATABASE.  If 
                   the data for each line you fill in is found in 
                   the database, that item will be listed.
 
                   Be careful about placing spaces between model 
                   prefix and number (like KXP 4450 or KXP-4450).  
                   This will usually frustrate you because the 
                   database typically leaves out punctuation 
                   between model name and number.

            

   
     Editing Features: You may use the left and right arrow keys, 
     tab key and the backspace key to move around within a 
     selection modifying or correcting your text.  You may even 
     use the up and down arrows to jump from selection to 
     selection, say from TEXT 3> back up to TEXT 2> to correct an 
     error.   However, this requires that you move back down to 
     the last selection box (TEXT 3 >) when you finally hit enter 
     to let the system know that you're really through modifying 
     the data and to begin the search. 

     The editor also has an insert and writeover mode.  The 
     default is writeover which means that if you use the left 
     arrow key to move left and then enter a letter, that new 
     letter will be written over the previous character there.   
     Touch the INSert key and the bottom line will inform you that 
     you are in insert mode.  Now when you enter a letter, any 
     text to the right of it is moved to the right.  To turn 
     insert off again, just touch the INS key again to toggle it 
     back off.       


               ͻ
                         H   I   N   T   S           
               ͼ

     GENERAL HINTS:
     If you are seriously looking for the best configuration for 
     you, don't make your searches too restrictive.  It's better 
     to make restrictions minimal (which means more items will be 
     listed) and spend some time paging through them.   FREQUENTLY 
     you can find, for example, a VGA monitor and VGA video card 
     for much less by buying them separately from different 
     vendors.   So if you search for and look at only combinations 
     (example:monitor AND card together) you could miss a good 
     buy. 

     The alternative consideration is handling and freight.  If, 
     for example, you find a them separately for only $20 less 
     than they are available for together, the two separate 
     freight and C.O.D. charges will probably make that small 
     additional cost of buying them together a good investment. 
     
              Touch ESCape to exit or PgUp to review.

