How to play java applets without logging on the Internet

Something a little different this week - I'm going to try to teach you a neat trick you can do with Java applets. Install them on your local hard drive so you don't have to log onto the Internet to play.

Have you ever found a great Java applet and thought, wouldn't it be nice if I could run this applet again without logging back on? Well, you can. The instructions below are a bit detailed so you might want to get someone older - or younger - to help you the first time if you are not too comfortable with computers. If you stick around to the end, I'll have a couple of sites for you to visit and try out your new-found skills

The easiest way to get your own copy of a Java applet is to e-mail the author and ask them to send you one. Make a folder and place the files they send you in there and then just open the main HTML file with your browser and away you go. If you can't get a response then it's time to do it the hard way. Unfortunately, because of the way Netscape stores files in its disk cache you can really only do this with Internet Explorer.

1. Create a bookmark for the page that you are interested in copying, then create a new folder to hold the applet
2. Clear you browser cache. In IE you do this by clicking View, Internet Options, select the general tab and click the delete files button. On IE3 it's View, Options, Advanced, Settings, Empty Folder
3. Now click on the shortcut to your Java applet you created in step 1 and play for a while.
4. Now go to the cache directory. In IE4 you can click on View, Internet Options, general Tab, Settings, View files. In IE3 it's on the Advanced tab of View, Options.
5. sort the folder by time by clicking on the last accessed tab at the top of the window.
6. copy all the files whose last accessed time is after the time you recorded above to new folder you created above. Usually the first file will be the html file that represents the shortcut of the page.
7. click on the html file in the folder that represents the shortcut you and the applet should start.

Easy, huh? Perhaps you should just send e-mail to the author. If you've stuck it out this long you deserve a reward. My maze applet has evolved yet again. Take a look and please let me know what you think.

I have just finished going through all my old articles, verifying the URL of the java games I've recommended and then adding them to the links section of Kids Stuff. To get to the more links section you click on the More links text on the left top corner of this page. Membership is required to view the links section but it's free and easy to get. If your parents don't let you give out your email address you can make one up but we promise not to release or sell your email address

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