One of the rarely advertised features of the Palm is its ability to surf the Internet. Many software developers have Palm specific web browsers available. While this feature can be helpful, limitations such as the Palm's small screen size and the 14.4 modem speed on most Palms make for a maddening experience - to say the least. With the ever growing complexity of web pages today, and the slowness of palm-sized modems, many times the Palm will time out before a web page is downloaded for viewing.

This is where ProxiWeb (formerly 'Top Gun Wingman'), ProxiNet's full-featured Palm-sized web browser, stands head and shoulders above the rest. ProxiWeb allows full graphic and text integration, allowing websites to be viewed in a miniature version. This is done through a Proxy server. In order to download ProxiWeb, you must sign up for a free account with their proxy server. This proxy server's purpose is to filter unnecessary information and shrink graphic files to a minimum, allowing faster download times that rival speeds on your desktop PC. In order to view a graphic full-screen, simply tap on it and make the selection from the menu. You 're never aware of the Proxy server's presence, other than the fact that you can surf the net as quickly and efficiently as you can at home. Of course, you'll need an internet connection (e.g. via a modem) of some sort to access these web pages.

ProxiWeb will even support buttons, hyperlinks, and forms. Just about any web page can be navigated with ease. ProxiWeb will even allow you to download and install Palm applications right from the Internet. Setup is similar to setting-up a dial-up networking account on your PC. You'll need all your DNS information from your Internet Service Provider, and don't forget to add your Proxy sever username and password.

Once all of this is setup, you're ready to connect and surf the web with ease. Once you familiarize yourself with the navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen, they will allow you to move from site to site quickly. You can even view a page's source code, just like on your desktop web browser. One of ProxiWeb's nicest features is the ability to cache web pages for off line viewing and reference. Download the necessary information that you need, choose 'Menu - Go - Lock in Cache', and disconnect to save power. Once pages are cached in your Palm, you can view them anywhere a connection isn't convenient. Remember that saving a webpage in cache uses Palm RAM space.

You can limit the amount of space available for cache by selecting 'Menu - Settings - ProxiWeb' in the Preferences menu. The rest of the information on the Preferences page has to do with your Proxy server information, which you generally shouldn't need to change. One noteworthy change is the "Map Phone/ToDo as Prev/Next" checkbox. Check this and your Address Book and ToDo buttons will become forward and back navigation buttons to speed your Internet viewing.

You'll find it much faster to store your most frequently viewed pages as bookmarks. To do so, tap the Open URL icon, enter your address and once at the site, 'Menu - GO - Add bookmark' will permanently store it in ProxiWeb's memory. If your bookmarked pages are not stored in cache, ProxiWeb will ask if you'd like to open a connection to your proxy server. Choose yes, and ProxiWeb will search for and download the website for viewing. Noticeably missing from ProxiWeb's menu is a Disconnect command. In order to disconnect, you must either turn off your Palm, or tap Menu-Settings-Network, and choose disconnect in your Network panel. These extra steps can become a nuisance.