• User requirements
• Finding allpenpals.com
• Logon
• Password
• Contacting members / mail
• Forgot password or username
• Change details
• Change email address
• Search profiles
• Membership options and costs

Finding AllPenpals.com

HOW DO I FIND AllPenpals.com ON THE INTERNET? To find AllPenpals.com on the internet type http://www.allpenpals.com in the Address field (in Internet Explorer) or Location field (in Netscape Navigator) located at the top of your web browser. This will take you to the AllPenpals.com homepage.

HOW DO I BOOKMARK AllPenpals.com? You can bookmark a webpage by pressing "favorites" then "add to favorites" (in Internet Explorer) or "Bookmarks" then "Add bookmarks" (in Netscape Navigator) located at the top of your web browser. This will take you to the AllPenpals.com homepage when you click on book marks or favorites.

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WHY CAN'T I LOGON - IT SAYS "Your session has timed out..." OR "You need to logon as a member..."? You are receiving this error because the page has not loaded correctly, you have disabled cookies, your browser settings are incorrect or you are accessing the page through a proxy server.

If you are trying to access the home page through an embedded link at Hotmail, do not click on the link to logon. Instead please do the following:

• Open a new web page and type http://www.allpenpals.com and then logon

If you still have problems, you need to change your PC settings as follows:

Step 1 - Refresh the web page: Logon and then when you receive the error message try pressing the 'refresh' button (Internet Explorer) or 'reload' button (Netscape Navigator) at the top of your browser.

Step 2 - Clear your cache: Go to the menu at the top of Internet Explorer then:

• Click 'Tools' then click Internet options, then under the heading of "Temporary Internet Files", click on delete files (It could take several minutes to to this).
• Next, under the heading of "History" click on 'Clear History'.

By doing this you will clear the cache in your browser completely, which should solve the problem. To see if it worked, try to logon again. Even if this fixes the problem, we recommend that you follow steps 3 through 7 below to avoid any repetition of this problem.

Step 3 - Check browser version: Ensure that you are using a version 4 or above browser. To check your browser version, click on 'Help' then 'About Internet explorer'. If you have an old browser version then you will need to download a newer version from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.asp

Step 4 - Check cookies are enabled: Select the instructions for the correct browser as per below.

Version 4 & 5 Internet Explorer / AOL 4 & 5 - To check if cookies are enabled with Internet Explorer (Microsoft) go to 'Tools' then 'Internet Options' then 'Security' then 'custom level' then under the heading of cookies enable the headings that say "allow cookies that are stored on your computer" and "allow per session cookies".

Internet Explorer Version 6 / AOL 6 - To check if cookies are enabled with Internet Explorer 6 (Microsoft) go to 'Tools' then 'Internet Options' then 'Privacy'. Then do any one of the following:

• Slide the privacy setting to medium.
• Click on'Advanced'. Next, click on "override automatic cookie handling", then click to accept "First Party Cookies". Next, check that you have selected 'always allow session cookies'.
• Under the heading of "websites" click edit, then type the address http://www.allpenpals.com then click allow then click ok.

Step 5 - Set your browser settings: Ensure that your browser is set to automatically refresh content. To do this with Internet Explorer (Microsoft) go to 'Tools' then 'General' then 'Internet Options' then 'Settings' then make sure you set 'Check for newer versions of stored pages' to "Automatically" and press 'OK'. To do this with Netscape Navigator go to 'Edit' then 'Preferences' then 'Advanced' then 'Cache' then make sure that you set 'Document on cache is compared to document on network' to either "Once per session" or "Every time".

Step 6 - Disable proxy server: Make sure you are not using a proxy server. To do this with Internet Explorer (Microsoft) go to 'Tools' then 'Internet Options' then 'connections' then 'Settings' then make sure the 'use a proxy server' box is unchecked.

Step 7: Re-start your PC and logon.

I TRIED EVERYTHING AND STILL CANT LOGON? If the above suggestions do not fix the problem then try using Internet Explorer instead of Netscape, if it still does not fix the problem, then test your password and logon on a different PC in order to isolate the problem as being PC specific or browser specific.

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Contacting Members / Mail

HOW DO I SEND MAIL? To send mail you need to logon first, then you can send e-mail by doing the following:

• Click on the name of the member that you would like to send mail to
• Then, click on this member's e-mail address

HOW DO I RECEIVE MAIL? Any mail from an AllPenPals.com member is sent to your registered email account.

HOW DO I READ MY MAIL? To read your mail, access your registered email account.

WHY DO I NEED A VALID EMAIL ADDRESS TO USE YOUR WEBSITE? In order to prevent spam and misuse of the website, all members are required to have a valid, functioning email address.

HOW DO I VALIDATE MY EMAIL ADDRESS? When you first join you are sent a unique access code. Please either type this code in the requested place or click on the link as directed to validate your email address. This is only required once upon your registration.

If you have already done the above, but your account has been marked as having an invalid email address, then it could be for the following reasons:

• You have a junk mail filter and it is rejecting mail sent from our website. For example if you use Hotmail or Yahoo or many other email providers when you set your filter to high it will reject mail unless it id from a "safe address". To fix this please access your email and then add the following email addresses to your safe list team@allpenpals.com & messages@allpenpals.com . Alternately you can change your junk mail settings to low.
• Your email service provider had a problem with their mail server and could not deliver your mail. To fix this use a more reliable email provider such as Hotmail or Yahoo.

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Forgot password

IF I LOSE MY PASSWORD WHAT DO I DO ? If you lose your password, you can get it emailed to you automatically by clicking here and following the instructions.

Membership options and costs

WHAT ARE THE MEMBERSHIP OPTIONS AVAILABLE? allPenPals.com is currently a free site. In the future we may offer additional premium services.

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