Microsoft KB Archive/127039

Road Atlas 4.0 for Windows README.WRI

PSS ID Number: Q127039 Article last modified on 12-21-1998

4.00

WINDOWS

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= SUMMARY =

The following information is the contents of the README.WRI file included on Disk 1 of Microsoft Automap Road Atlas 4.0 for Windows.

NOTE: This Readme document refers to the Microsoft Download Service (MSDL). As of 12/31/1998, the MSDL service is no longer available. To download support files, visit one of the following Microsoft Internet sites:

http://support.microsoft.com/support

ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/mslfiles

= README.WRI =

Microsoft Automap Road Atlas 4.0 Tips
This document contains information that will help you get the most out of Automap Road Atlas and your system.

To read this file on-screen, use the PAGE DOWN and PAGE UP keys on your keyboard. You can print the file by choosing the Print command from the File menu.

Table of Contents

Section Contents ———- ————

1.         Problems During Setup 2.         Enhancing Automap Road Atlas and Windows Performance 3.         Video Cards and Display Issues 4.         Running Automap with Automap Inc. Products 5.         Running Automap Road Atlas on Windows NT 6.          Printing in Automap Road Atlas 7.         Mouse Cursor Problem 8.         Suggestions, Content Enhancements, and Errors
 * 1) Problems During Setup

Because Automap Road Atlas installs system files that might be shared with other applications, you should shut down other applications before setting up.

If Setup is interrupted by a loss of power, a power surge, or some other unexpected incident, then restart Windows before you run Setup again.

Refer to your Automap Road Atlas User’s Guide for minimum system requirements.

 Enhancing Automap Road Atlas and Windows Performance

There are several ways to make Automap Road Atlas run faster.


 * In the Map Display Options dialog box, change your Drawing option to “Quick drawing”.
 * In the Map Display Options dialog box, turn off the “Sea” option under the Map tab.

The methods described below are general tips to improve the performance of any Windows application. Consult your Windows manual for more details.

If Automap Road Atlas runs slowly or you see out-of-memory errors, Automap Road Atlas may not have enough memory. Below are some tips to make the best use of your computer’s available memory.


 * Close all applications that you are not using.
 * Set up a permanent Windows swap file.

Windows works best when there is hard-disk space allocated for swapping a file into or out of your computer’s memory. To set up a permanent Windows swap file on your hard disk, open the Control Panel (usually in the Main program group of Program Manager), and click the 386 Enhanced icon. Then use the Virtual Memory button to see if your current swap file is temporary or permanent, to check the size of the current swap file, and to make changes. Windows usually creates a temporary swap file by default, but if your disk is full or fragmented, this temporary file can become unavailable. If you can, make the size of the permanent swap file at least 4096 KB.

Look at the Help menu of the Windows Control Panel or in your Windows documentation for more information.


 * Defragment or optimize your hard disk by running a defragmentation program.

For example, MS-DOS 6.0 includes a utility called Microsoft Defrag. Some other popular utilities are PC Tools, Norton Utilities, and Mace Utilities.


 * Add more RAM (random access memory) to your computer.

You can determine how much memory is available by starting MS-DOS, typing mem and pressing ENTER. This starts a program that will tell you how much memory you have. You need at least 4 megabytes (sometimes listed as 4096 kilobytes or KB) of RAM; 8 megabytes is recommended.


 * If you are running Microsoft Office, turn off the Microsoft Office Manager toolbar.

 Video Cards and Display Issues

The standard VGA driver that comes with Windows and almost all video cards can show only 16 colors. Unless you have a VGA-only video card or monitor, you can change to a higher color mode. For example, you can change to a driver that will display 256 colors. Your system may already have a driver installed that displays 256 colors or more. For instructions on how to determine what video driver you have installed, and on how to install or change drivers, see Help within Windows Setup. Click the Windows Setup icon, usually located in the Main group in the Windows Program Manager.

In some situations, Automap Road Atlas may encounter video display problems when using high resolution video drivers from various video card manufacturers. The problems include grainy or flawed maps or images. There are several things you can do if you encounter problems like this:


 * Obtain updated drivers from your video card manufacturer

Most problems can be fixed by obtaining new drivers from your video card manufacturer. Contact the manufacturer of your video card to determine if there are newer versions available. Their phone number should be in the manuals that came with your video card or personal computer. Another option for obtaining updated drivers is the Microsoft Download service, an electronic bulletin board that can be accessed via a modem at (425) 936-MSDL (425-936-6735).


 * Change to a different display mode

An alternative to obtaining a new or updated display driver is to change your video mode to a standard video mode such as 640 x 480 resolution with 256 colors.

Orchid video cards
If you have an Orchid video driver, you may experience some problems while printing. Please contact Orchid Technical Support (510) 683-0300 for assistance if you are experiencing GPFs (system crashes). The affected cards are the Fahrenheit VA/ISA, VA/VLB, 1280+/ISA, and 1280+/VLB.

You do not need to contact Orchid if you already have version 3.0 (or later) of the Orchid Video Bios and version 7.2 (or later) of the screen driver.

ATI video cards
If you are using an ATI Ultra driver, go to the ATI mach FlexDesk Control Panel, click the Advanced button and run Automap Road Atlas in 65K colors.

Also, if the ATI Crystal Fonts option is turned on, Automap Road Atlas may not display the correct colors. We suggest turning this option off if you are running in 256 color mode and are experiencing color problems.

If you are using an ATI Ultra driver, specifically the drivers ULTRA.DRV or ULTRABG.DRV, Automap Road Atlas may “freeze” while running. If this happens, you will get no error message, and will have to restart your computer to close Automap Road Atlas and return to Windows. The solution to this problem is to obtain a newer driver from ATI. For information about ATI video cards or the ATI installation utility referred to above, contact ATI Technical Support at (905) 882-2626.

 Running Microsoft Automap Road Atlas with Automap Inc. Products

Automap Streets
If you had Automap Streets from Automap Inc. previously installed on your system, then Automap Road Atlas should function properly now. If you install Automap Road Atlas and then install Automap Streets, you will encounter functionality problems. To remedy this situation, reinstall Automap Road Atlas after you have installed Automap Streets.

The program icon for Automap Streets will not be removed; please delete it from Program Manager. The street maps can be accessed through the Automap Road Atlas File Menu’s Change Map option.

Automap Destination Europe
If you had Destination Europe from Automap Inc. previously installed on your system, then Automap Road Atlas should function properly now.

If you want to install Destination Europe after installing Automap Road Atlas, contact Microsoft Product Support Services at (425) 635-7146.

NOTE: Destination Europe will work only if you have selected the Fast install option of Automap Road Atlas. If you have used the Slow install option and want to run Destination Europe as well, then rerun Automap Road Atlas Setup and choose the Fast install option.

Other Destination Products
All other Automap Inc. Destination products should work properly if the Destination product was already installed on your machine when you installed Automap Road Atlas. If you install Automap Road Atlas and then install any Destination product, you will encounter functionality problems. To remedy this situation, reinstall Automap Road Atlas after you have installed the Destination product.

NOTE: Automap Road Atlas contains an updated database of ski attractions; running Automap Destination Ski and Automap Road Atlas together will produce duplicate icons and information on your maps. We recommend that you delete Destination Ski from your hard drive and refer to the updated ski information in “Attractions” in the Map Display Option dialog box under the Places tab.

Automap Pro
Make sure that these two programs are installed in separate directories on your hard drive.

 Running Automap Road Atlas on Windows NT

Automap Road Atlas runs well under Windows NT with the following exceptions:


 * Under Windows NT, some text boxes are incorrectly sized.


 * Automap Road Atlas will fail on exit if you select “Run in Separate Memory Space” in the Properties dialog box for Automap Road Atlas in the Program Manager. The default setting has this option turned off so Automap Road Atlas will run properly.

NT Printing
Automap Road Atlas expects the printer driver to exist on the local computer when you are printing to a network printer. Some applications may fail when the network printer is not available. To avoid these problems, use the following procedure:

To create a printer for Automap Road Atlas:


 * 1) Start Print Manager.
 * 2) From the Printer menu, choose Create Printer.
 * 3) In the Print To list, select Other.
 * 4) In the Print Destinations dialog box, select Local Port.
 * 5) In the Port Name dialog box, enter the print share name.

For more information, refer to the PRINTER.WRI file located in your WINNT directory.

 Printing in Automap Road Atlas</li></ol>

If you encounter printing problems in the Windows NT environment, see the previous section.

Map printing can produce extremely large files. The size and complexity of these graphics files can cause very slow printing. Files might exceed the capabilities of your printer, causing printer errors such as memory overflow or print overrun.

The best fix is to increase your printer’s memory, if possible.

Other suggestions follow:

''Turn off unnecessary Places, Areas, or Map options in the Map Display Options dialog box. ''Use “Quick drawing” on the Drawing tab in the Map Display Options dialog box. *Turn off “Enlarge to Fit Paper” in the Printing Options dialog box.

If your printed table of directions is empty, your print driver may not have TrueType fonts enabled.


 * 1) In the Windows Control Panel select Printers.
 * 2) Select the correct printer.
 * 3) Click the Setup button.
 * 4) Setup dialog boxes are different for different printers. Look for an option such as “Enable TrueType Fonts” or “Print Text as Graphics”. Turn the option on.
 * 5) Click OK.

If your printer does not support TrueType fonts, you can print the table using a non-TrueType font.


 * 1) Make sure that the table is the active window.
 * 2) Click the Print button.
 * 3) In the Print dialog, click the Options button.
 * 4) Select a font that is supported by your printer.

Do not print more than six legends on a map.

If you have an HP Laserjet IIISi and are encountering problems with printing labels on maps, switch off the Faster printing option.

Automap Road Atlas will not print using the HP7550 plotter driver.

 Mouse Cursor Problem</li></ol>

If you find that the mouse cursor jumps around on the screen when you perform certain actions in Automap Road Atlas, and you are using Microsoft Intellipoint mouse software, you should turn off the Snap-to option. Open the Control Panel, usually found in the Main group in Program Manager, and select the Mouse option. Turn off the Snap-to option in the Mouse Manager dialog box and close the Mouse Manager and the Control Panel.

 Suggestions, Content Enhancements, and Errors</li></ol>

If you have suggestions for features you would like to see in future editions of Automap Road Atlas or comments about the current version, please send them to:

Automap Road Atlas Program Manager Consumer Division Microsoft Corporation 1 Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052-6399 FAX: (425) 936-7329 Internet: mswish@microsoft.com Comments about errors, comprehensiveness, or validity of information presented are welcome. Please send these comments by FAX, U.S. mail, or e-mail.

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= Additional reference words: kbhowto auto auto-map automap reference =

Version : 4.00 Platform : WINDOWS ============================================================================= Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1998.