Microsoft KB Archive/158595

= Mac Encarta 97: Readme.txt: Memory Use =

Article ID: 158595

Article Last Modified on 1/19/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 97 for Macintosh

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This article was previously published under Q158595



SUMMARY
The following article contains the Memory section of the Microsoft Encarta 97 Encyclopedia Readme.txt file and discusses ways to optimize memory usage for Encarta.



Readme File
- Encarta 97 Encyclopedia will run on any Macintosh with 8 MB of RAM. However, if 4,352K of memory are not free when you launch the application, a warning message will be displayed indicating there is insufficient memory available.

TIPS ON FREEING MEMORY -- Most users with 8 MB of RAM will not experience problems, but if your system software takes more than 3,840K, you may need to adjust memory usage to make Encarta run properly. Some general suggestions follow:

TURN ON VIRTUAL MEMORY. Virtual Memory allows you to increase the amount of available memory by using space on your hard disk to simulate RAM. Although using virtual memory may slow down overall performance, the extra available memory will allow applications like Encarta to be  allocated more memory on launch or allow more applications to run simultaneously. To turn on Virtual Memory, open the Memory control panel, switch the Virtual Memory radio button to On, and then restart your computer. You may also wish to investigate third-party virtual memory utilities, such as RAM Doubler from Connectix Corporation.

NOTE: Enabling Virtual Memory actually reduces the overall memory requirements and launch time for large native Power Macintosh applications like Encarta. For this reason, most Power Macintosh users will want to enable Virtual Memory. If you wish to take advantage of the increased memory available to applications, Apple recommends setting Virtual Memory to 50% more than the amount of  physical RAM. To maximize performance, you should set Virtual Memory to the minimum amount of 1 MB more than physical RAM. If you choose to disable Virtual Memory on your Power Macintosh, be aware that the system will automatically raise Encarta's memory requirements by 5,480K.

RUN ONLY ONE APPLICATION AT A TIME. If other applications are running, close them and then relaunch Encarta.

SWITCH TO 256 COLORS. Running in Millions or Thousands of colors requires more memory to  display images in Encarta.

REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF MEMORY BEING USED BY YOUR SYSTEM SOFTWARE. To do this, return to the Finder and select About This Macintosh from the Apple menu. The Largest Unused Block needs to be greater than 4,352K to run Encarta. If the only item listed in the About This Macintosh dialog is System Software and the Largest Unused Block is less than 4,352K, you need to reduce the amount of memory consumed by your system software. Refer to your Macintosh documentation for details on how to do this, but some general suggestions follow:

a. Open the Memory Control Panel and check the Disk Cache setting. To maximize the memory available to Encarta and other applications, reduce the cache to 96K or less. For more details on  Disk Cache settings, check the PERFORMANCE section.

b. Remove unused fonts and sounds. Be careful when removing fonts however, as some applications may not work properly if the correct fonts are not available. Encarta 97 Encyclopedia requires the following fonts: Arial, Times New Roman, Symbol, MS Reference, and HM Phonetic.

c. Third-party system extensions such as screen savers, fax software, desktop pictures, menu-modifying utilities, and other system enhancements increase the amount of memory used by your system software. Removing some or all of these extensions will increase the amount of memory available to applications. Be sure that you save anything you remove from your System Folder and place it in a separate folder on your disk so that you can replace it  later. Apple's Extension Manager (included with System 7.5 and  later) or an equivalent third-party utility can be useful for this purpose. You must restart your computer for changes of this type to  take effect.

LOW MEMORY SYMPTOMS AND SOLUTIONS -

The following are examples of some typical low memory symptoms and possible solutions to these problems:

SYMPTOM: ERROR MESSAGE READING, "YOU ARE LOW ON FREE SYSTEM MEMORY."

REASON: Some system components used by Encarta Encyclopedia require free system memory. This is the amount of free memory left available by your system, Encarta Encyclopedia, and any other applications you may be running. This memory can be used by system components like QuickTime, QuickTime VR, Sound Manager, Apple Guide and Desktop Printing, or used to launch additional applications like Internet Config and your Web browser. You can determine the amount of free system memory available while running Encarta by switching to the Finder and selecting the "About this Macintosh" item under the Apple menu. Largest Unused Block tells you how much memory is free for the system's use.

SOLUTION: Turn on Virtual Memory. Virtual Memory allows you to increase the amount of available memory so that Encarta can be allocated its preferred memory allocation of 6,144K on launch and still leave free memory for the system. To turn on Virtual Memory, open the Memory control panel, switch the Virtual Memory radio button to On, and then restart your computer.

WARNING: Reducing the preferred size for Encarta's memory requirements may cause the program to perform poorly. For example, Encarta may not be able to play video clips, open collages or enlarge images if it runs out of memory. If you allocate less than 4,352K, these problems are likely to result.

SYMPTOM: INCORRECT OR ODDLY-SIZED CHARACTERS DISPLAYED IN ARTICLE TEXT.

REASON: Encarta uses a variety of fonts to display special characters within article text. If there is not enough memory to load one of these fonts, the Macintosh uses font substitution to attempt a "best fit" from a font that is already available in memory. Encarta 97 Encyclopedia requires the following fonts: Arial, Times New Roman, Symbol, MS Reference, and HM Phonetic.

SOLUTION: First check to see if the correct fonts are located in your System Folder. If they are missing, reinstall Encarta 97 Encyclopedia from Encarta 97 Disc 1. If all the required fonts are properly installed, there may be inadequate free system memory for the custom fonts to be displayed. In this situation, try the techniques described above to increase free system memory.

SYMPTOM: WHEN ENLARGING AN IMAGE, I GET AN EMPTY BOX OR AN ERROR MESSAGE READING, "UNABLE TO LOAD IMAGE."

REASON: A single image needs up to 300K of memory to display in 256 color mode and 900K in Millions of colors. If the enlarged image also has sound that plays with it, even more memory is required.

SOLUTION: Close any extra windows, list boxes or minimized features you may have open (More Info, Outline, Pinpointer, MindMaze, Collages, etc.) and try again. If this has no effect, you can quit and relaunch Encarta or try any of the tips described earlier in this section to free up more memory for the Encarta application.

SYMPTOM: WHEN PRINTING, PAGES ARE BLANK OR PARTIAL PAGES ARE PRINTED.

REASON: Printing requires creating a duplicate layout for the printer since it has different margins than the screen. Some of the articles in Encarta Encyclopedia are thousands of words long and having two copies of a long article or large image in memory at the same time can use up all of the available memory.

SOLUTION: Close any extra windows, list boxes or minimized features you may have open (More Info, Outline, Pinpointer, MindMaze, Collages, etc.) and try again. If this has no effect, you can quit and relaunch Encarta or try any of the tips described earlier in this section to free up more memory for the Encarta application. One way to work around a printing problem is to copy the topic to the clipboard, quit Encarta, then paste it into your word processing program and print from there.

Additional query words: 1997 multi media multimedia multi-media mmtitles kbmm macmm

Keywords: KB158595

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