Accessing empeg http server while offline!

I'm using Windoze ME with Internet Explorer 6. When I try to access the empeg by typing in its IP in the address bar, IE insists that I dial to connect to the internet. Only after it has dialed and made a connection will it proceed to retrieve the page from the empeg.

Any ideas what I can do to access the empeg without being online all the time? I use a dialup modem to connect to the 'net, and a network card thru a hub to connect to the empeg.

Any suggestions would be gratefullly received!
Cheers.

This is an option within the internet connection settings for Internet explorer. The empeg web server isn't the only online application which will cause the auto-dial, lots of other activities in IE will induce the same problem. Go select the "never dial a connection" option in the internet connection settings.

Hmm, that's awkward - I'll have to dial manually, don't expect to have to do that sort of thing these days

Thanks!

Hmm, that's awkward - I'll have to dial manually, don't expect to have to do that sort of thing these days

Well, the only other option is for Internet Explorer to develop some kind of new intelligence so that it can tell the difference between when you're trying to reach an address on the local LAN, or when you're attempting to access an address on the dial-up internet.

Truth is, it doesn't sound like that would be too tough to do. Perhaps there's a way to configure internet explorer so that it can do it right now. I just don't know how. As far as I remember, all forms of network access from IE will induce that dial-up.

If you're dialing up, are you using a proxy? if you are, could you use the 'bypass proxy server for local addresses'? (IE>tools>internet options>connections>Lan settings)

Good suggestion, but... Odds are that he's not using a proxy. Usually Dialup != Proxy.

What about the "dial whenever a network connection is not present"
that should mean that if your cross-over network cable is plugged in [to the Empeg] then the PC won't dial out.

It will also mean it won't dial if the empeg is online and you want to read your mail though, so that may make it a non-starter.

And if you have a hub then the network connection is always there too.
But what are doing dialling up for if you have a LAN connection?

It's already set to 'dial whenever a network connection is not present'.

I have a hub which the computer is always connected to, and the empeg plugs into when it's around; the hub doesn't go anywhere else (ok, sometimes a laptop goes in there).

Unfortunately, IE seems to check the dial-up connection first, to do this I reckon it needs to connect; if I click work offline, it says it can't find anything and stops! Maybe it's because it's a crappy 'software modem'; maybe I need to have a linux firewall and connect to that through the LAN. For now Tony's solution is the only option, and sticking a shortcut to my connection on the quick-launch bar!