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AnchorDesk

Jason Parker
Surf the Web--when you're offline. Here's how

Jason Parker
Contributing Editor, Downloads
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
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As I've mentioned before, I engage in a number of diversions to help me pass the time during my commute to work. Sometimes I like to play racing games on my PDA and other times I read e-books. Another thing I like to do on my commute is surf offline on my laptop.

How do I manage this? Before I leave for work, I use a type of program I like to call a "Web sucker" to download Web content onto my laptop's hard drive. I usually don't download entire sites because they're simply too big. But I've found I can grab a few AnchorDesk columns and a handful of news stories without any problem. Before I know it, I have plenty of reading material for my trips to and from work.

These programs aren't just for laptop surfing, though. You can also use them for conducting research (to save the info you find) or for surfing the Web on a desktop PC if you have a limited amount of time you can be online. Here are my three favorites.

Netdrag lets you download Web pages for viewing offline by just drag-and-dropping links. This one is great for quick harvesting of news items and pages you want to look at whenever you are going to be without Net access. (Shareware/Windows)

Internet Research Software is my favorite of the bunch, as it offers the most tools for downloading, editing, and viewing Web pages offline. Like Netdrag, it has drag-and-drop capabilities, but you can also use this one as your online browser. Unfortunately, the added functionality also means a higher price ($59). (Shareware/Windows)

Web Dumper for Mac OS X is a little less involved, but it gets the job done. With this one, you input or drag-and-drop a URL to a window, then Web Dumper downloads everything on that page, including graphics. From there you can open pages in your usual browser. (Shareware/Mac OS X)

Just because you don't have access to the Internet doesn't mean you can't surf the Web. Try one of these programs and start downloading pages to view during your next commute, plane trip, or library visit.

Know of any other good "Web suckers"? TalkBack to me!

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