System and method for globally accessing computer services

A system for communicating through a computer network. The system includes a communications engine for establishing a communications link with a server, a browser, coupled to the communications engine, for receiving applet information corresponding to a service from the server, and an applet engine for using the applet information to control user interface I/O of the service. The communications engine may confirm user access privileges before establishing a communications link between the client and the server. The communications engine receives configuration data, and configures client attributes using the configuration data to provide a user-specific user interface to the client. It will be appreciated that the system may be stored on a floppy disk or hard drive.