Once you have installed your Second Life (SL) viewer, double click to open it. It may take a few minutes to connect. Wait for the black screen to display a picture of Second Life, and look at the upper right corner, where it will give the grid status. It should say ONLINE in neon green. (If it is OFFLINE, check http://secondlife.com/status/ to find out when the grid will be up so you can log on.)

Enter your username and password and click the “connect” button just to the right of the password field. It may take a minute or two to connect.