05/06/96 CATCHING WEB PAGES IN YOUR SLEEP

CATCHING WEB PAGES IN YOUR SLEEP

CALL IT THE WORLD WIDE WAIT: ESPECIALLY IN THE LATE evening, when the Web is busiest, many of its most popular attractions are practically unreachable. Between overtaxed servers, digital traffic jams, and slow PC modems, it can take minutes for Web pages to show up.
So why not let your PC do the Web-walking for you--late at night, when traffic is down and you're sound asleep? A new breed of ``offline'' software offers to do just that. Products such as FreeLoader, Blue Squirrel, and Web Whacker can automatically grab copies of specified Web pages--once an hour, once a day, or as often as you like. Later, you can browse the pages as usual, displaying them in a flash off your hard drive.
Companies that advertise on the Web may benefit, too. Some off-line browsers ask users to supply a few pieces of personal data, which are passed on to advertisers along with data on how often certain Web ads are getting viewed.
Sunil Paul, founder and CEO of Washington-based FreeLoader Inc., says Web-site operators and Internet service companies are likely to start encouraging offline browsing, perhaps through discount pricing, to cut peak-period traffic.
EDITED BY JOHN W. VERITY