Microsoft KB Archive/183144

= Mac Encarta 98: Contents of the Encarta 98 Read Me File =

Article ID: 183144

Article Last Modified on 1/4/2005



This article was previously published under Q183144



SUMMARY
This article contains the complete text of the Encarta 98 Read Me file included on the Encarta 98 Encyclopedia for Macintosh CD-ROM.



MORE INFORMATION
Encarta 98 Read Me File ---

This file contains the following topics.

1. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR RUNNING MICROSOFT ENCARTA 98 ENCYCLOPEDIA

- What you need to use Encarta 98 Encyclopedia

2. MEMORY USE

- Memory management and settings to enhance Encarta 98 Encyclopedia's     performance - Low memory symptoms and solutions

3. PERFORMANCE

- Ways to increase Encarta Encyclopedia's performance

4. SCREEN SIZES AND COLOR CONFIGURATION

- How to make Encarta 98 Encyclopedia look its best

5. SOUND PROBLEMS

- Audio problems and solutions

6. PRINTING AND COPYING

- How to print and copy information from Encarta 98 Encyclopedia

7. TROUBLESHOOTING

- Known problems and ways to work around them - Getting the latest troubleshooting information

8. SPECIAL INFORMATION ABOUT ENCARTA 98 ENCYCLOPEDIA AND THE INTERNET

- How Encarta 98 Encyclopedia uses Internet Config to access the Internet

--- 1. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR MICROSOFT ENCARTA ENCYCLOPEDIA ---

What you need to use Encarta 98 Encyclopedia:

To install and use Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia you need:

- A Power Macintosh or a Macintosh with a 25Mhz, 68030 or faster processor (includes Macintosh IIci, LCIII, Performa 450 and later models)

- System 7.1 or later

- 8 MB of RAM running System 7.1, 16 MB of RAM running System 7.5 or later

- 43 MB of available hard disk space

- 8 MB of available hard disk space for Microsoft Encarta Research Organizer

- Research Organizer requires an additional 3MB of RAM while the encyclopedia is running

- A double-speed or faster CD-ROM drive

- A monitor supporting 256-colors at a 640x480 or higher resolution

To use Encarta Yearbook, Web Links, and monthly online updates, you need:

- A modem (9600 bps or faster)

- Access to the Internet

- 4 MB of additional hard-disk space, plus 1 MB for each monthly update

--- 2. MEMORY USE ---

Memory management and settings to enhance Encarta 98 Encyclopedia's performance

Encarta Encyclopedia needs at least 5 MB of RAM to operate; however, the multimedia components run better if more memory is available. On systems with the minimum recommended 8 MB of RAM, certain encyclopedia features are not be available. For optimum performace, use Encarta Encyclopedia on a system with at least 16 MB of RAM.

If your computer has 8 MB of RAM, and if the system software uses more than 3 MB of RAM, you may need to adjust the way memory is used so that Encarta Encyclopedia runs properly. If you use System 7.5 or higher, your system software may take up more than 7 MB of RAM. For System 7.5 or higher systems, 16 MB of RAM is recommended.

The following are general suggestions for enhancing memory use:

- Run only one application at a time. If other applications are running, close them, then restart Encarta Encyclopedia.

- Reduce the amount of memory used by your system software. To do this, from the Apple menu, choose Finder, and then select About This Macintosh (or About This Computer if you're using System 7.5.5 or higher). The Largest Unused Block should be greater than 5000K to run Encarta Encyclopedia. If the only item listed is System Software and the Largest Unused Block is less than 5000K, reduce the amount of memory used by  your system software. For details on adjusting memory, see your Macintosh documentation or follow the general suggestions below.

- Open the Memory Control Panel and set the Disk Cache setting to the lowest amount possible.

- You can make more memory available by removing fonts and sounds you aren't using. However, do not remove the Arial, Symbol, Times New Roman, MS Reference, and HM Phonetic fonts because these are required by  Encarta Encyclopedia.

- Third-party system extensions such as screen savers, fax software, desktop pictures, utilities that modify menus, and other system enhancements increase the amount of memory consumed by your system software. Removing some or all of these extensions increases the amount of memory available to applications and minimizes the risk of conflict. Save anything you remove from your System Folder and place it in a  separate folder on your computer's hard disk so that you can replace it   later. You can use Apple's Extension Manager or an equivalent third-party utility to do this. Do not remove the CD-ROM driver software, or QuickTime components because these extensions are necessary to run Encarta Encyclopedia.

- Turning on Virtual Memory increases the amount of memory available by  using space on your computer's hard drive to simulate RAM. Although using virtual memory may slow down performance, the extra available memory may cause applications like Encarta Encyclopedia to be allocated more memory at start up or allow more applications to be run simultaneously. When Virtual Memory is turned off, Encarta Encyclopedia's memory requirements may increase by 7MB. To turn on  Virtual Memory, from the Apple menu, choose Control Panels, and then choose Memory. In the Memory Control Panel, click the On button under Virtual Memory. Then restart your computer.

WARNING: Allocating less than 7,000K for Encarta Encyclopedia's memory requirements may cause the program to perform poorly. For example, you may not be able to play video clips or enlarge images if the encyclopedia runs out of memory.

For additional Mac OS memory management support, contact Apple Computer, Inc.

Low memory symptoms and solutions:

Following are examples of some low memory symptoms and possible solutions to these problems.

Symptom: Incorrect or oddly-sized characters displayed in article text.

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

Solution: First ensure that the correct fonts are in your System Folder. If any required fonts are missing, reinstall Encarta Encyclopedia Encyclopedia from Disc 1. If all the required fonts are properly installed, there may not be enough free system memory to display the custom fonts. Try the adjustments described previously to increase system memory.

Symptom: When enlarging an image, I get an empty box or an error message saying the encyclopedia is "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, more memory is required.

Solution: Close any windows, list boxes, or minimized features you may have open (More Info, Outline, Pinpointer, MindMaze, Collages, etc.), and then try again. If this doesn't work, you can quit and restart Encarta Encyclopedia, or try the adjustments described previously to increase system memory.

Symptom: When printing from the encyclopedia, the pages are blank or partial pages are printed.

Reason: Printing requires creating a duplicate layout for the printer because the printer has different margins from 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 your computer's available memory.

Solution: Close any windows, list boxes, or minimized features you may have open (More Info, Outline, Pinpointer, MindMaze, Collages, etc.), and then try again. If this doesn't work, you can quit and restart Encarta Encyclopedia, or try the adjustments described previously to increase system memory. Or you can copy the topic to the Clipboard, quit Encarta, then paste it into your word processing program to print it.

3. PERFORMANCE

Ways to improve Encarta Encyclopedia's performance:

If Encarta Encyclopedia seems to run slowly or if audio and video clips are choppy or interrupted, try the following tips to improve performance.

- If less than 6 MB of memory are free when you start the encyclopedia, you may notice some performance problems. See the previous section, MEMORY USE.

- Increase the preferred size for Encarta Encyclopedia's memory allocation. The encyclopedia is set to a suggested memory size of 7000K. If there is sufficient additional memory available to run Encarta, you can increase the amount of memory the program requests by selecting the Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia application icon on your hard drive, choosing Get Info from the File menu, and changing the preferred size in  the area titled "Memory Requirements."

NOTE: If Encarta Encyclopedia is running or busy, you may not be able to  change the memory allocation. In this case, quit Encarta, and then try again, or restart your computer and try again.

- Encarta Encyclopedia may run slowly if you use Virtual Memory to expand available memory. For best performance on a 68k Macintosh, turn off Virtual Memory or reduce its allocated size in the Memory control panel. On a Power Macintosh, running with without Virtual Memory, Encarta Encyclopedia will require twice as much memory. Virtual Memory is  recommended on a Power Macintosh.

- If you are using FWB CD-ROM Toolkit on your computer, you may have difficulty swapping discs and playing media.

- Encarta Encyclopedia is designed to for use with a CD-ROM drive that has a 150K/sec or faster transfer rate. A double-speed CD-ROM drive or one with a faster transfer rate will provide even better performance in some areas. If your CD-ROM drive has a sustained transfer rate less than 150K/sec, it may not be able to supply audio and video information to  the Macintosh at the speed required. The only solution is to upgrade to  a faster CD-ROM drive. If you suspect there is a problem with your drive, ensure that the drive is terminated properly and that the software is installed properly. For details on SCSI termination, see your Macintosh or CD-ROM drive documentation, or contact your Apple dealer.

- Dirty or scratched compact discs can cause your CD-ROM drive to perform poorly. Other symptoms include "Cannot Read" error messages and continual spinning of the CD-ROM (which appears to cause the computer to  freeze). Make sure the bottom surface of the Encarta Encyclopedia discs are clean and undamaged.

- 4. SCREEN SIZES AND COLOR CONFIGURATION -

How to make Encarta 98 Encyclopedia look its best:

- Encarta Encyclopedia checks to ensure that your computer's monitor is  set for at least 256 colors. If your monitor is set to a lower configuration, and if the settings can be adjusted to 256 colors, the encyclopedia prompts you to change the settings.

- Encarta Encyclopedia will run on any 256-color, 640x480 (13-inch) or  higher resolution Macintosh compatible monitor, although Encarta's video clips and still images look best in 16-bit color (thousands of colors) or 24-bit color (millions of colors).

NOTE: If your computer is set to use 24-bit color (millions of colors), encyclopedia performance is slower and Encarta Encyclopedia uses memory more quickly. If your Macintosh is set to this color mode and you get out-of-memory messages, you can increase the amount of memory Encarta Encyclopedia requests. Just click the Microsoft Encarta 98 icon, choose Get Info from the File menu, and then change the preferred size under "Memory Requirements."

- Encarta Encyclopedia is not designed to run in black and white, 16 colors, or on monitors that display less than 640x480 pixels, for example, Color Classics, most PowerBooks and all 12-inch Apple monitors.

--- 5. SOUND PROBLEMS ---

Audio problems and solutions:

If sounds do not play or are interrupted, check the following:

- Sounds will be inaudible if the sound level is turned down to far. To  set the sound level, open the Sound control panel and adjust the speaker volume to a comfortable sound level. If you set the sound level to  maximum, you may get sound distortion. If you have external speakers, ensure that they are connected properly and turned on. You can usually adjust sound level with the external speaker volume knob as well as with the Sound Control Panel.

- If Virtual Memory is turned on, sounds may be choppy. When Virtual Memory is turned on, sounds are sometimes temporarily stored on the hard disk rather than in physical RAM. For the best performance, turn off Virtual Memory. To turn off, from the Apple menu, choose Control Panels, and then choose Memory. In the Memory Control Panel, click the Off button under Virtual Memory. Then restart your computer.

NOTE: You must have enough RAM to run your system software, Encarta Encyclopedia, and any other applications you want with Virtual Memory turned off. Also note that it may not be appropriate to turn off Virtual Memory on a Power Macintosh. Please see your Apple documentation for more information about Power Macintoshes and Virtual Memory.

- In low memory situations, sounds may not load or play. If you cannot get a sound to play and you are sure that the Sound Control Panel is set correctly, or if you are receiving error messages, you may need to  allocate more memory to Encarta Encyclopedia. See the MEMORY USE section for suggestions improving memory management.

- Some encyclopedia sounds are stored on the disc in a compressed format. To play these sounds, the sound must be read from the disc, and then decompressed. Older or slower Macintoshes (such as the Macintosh IIci  and Macintosh LC III) may experience interruptions in audio playback.

- Version 1.5.1 of Connectix RAM Doubler has a known bug that prevents audio and video clips from playing properly on Power Macintosh models. To obtain upgrade information, contact Connectix Corporation. For RAM Doubler support see http://www.connectix.com.

- There are some incompatibilites with Now Menus and Encarta Encyclopedia audio. Avoid adjusting the volume of the audio via the Now Menus customized menus while Encarta Encyclopedia is running. For Now Menus support see http://www.nowsoft.com.

- 6. PRINTING AND COPYING -

How to print and copy information from Encarta 98 Encyclopedia:

You can print or copy from any article within Encarta Encyclopedia by selecting a range of text and choosing the appropriate command from the Edit menu. To paste images and text together into your word processor - use the Paset Special command found in most word processor's Edit menus.

- If you are planning to paste the text into your word processor, you may switch to it via the tools submenu under Features from the Main Article screen. If you have choosen a word processor in the Encarta Encyclopedia preferences, it will be opened for you. If you have not picked a word processor, SimpleText will open. If you have choosen a  word processor in your preferences and it doesn't open or SimpleText opens, then there is something preventing your word processor from launching. See Section 2 on memory use to make sure there is enough free RAM for your word processor. If your computer has sufficient RAM available check to see that your word processor launches when you double click the icon.

If you find that printed text is improperly formatted or that special characters do not print correctly, try the following:

- Turn off background printing. Encarta Encyclopedia stores custom TrueType fonts within the application. This allows Encarta Encyclopedia access to these custom fonts without taking up space on your computer's  hard drive. However, because many printer drivers start a separate application to print jobs in the background, printing errors may result when background printing is turned on. To turn off background printing, from the Apple menu, choose Chooser, click the active printer, and then click the Off button under background printing.

NOTE: If you install the Encarta Encyclopedia fonts, background printing is fully supported. To install these fonts, start the Installer on the Encarta Encyclopedia disc 1, choose Customize from the popup menu, select Encarta TrueType Fonts, and then press RETURN.

7. TROUBLESHOOTING

Known problems and ways to work around them:

The following is an overview of problems you may encounter using Encarta Encyclopedia:

- Wrong or Multiple Versions of QuickTime

During installation, the Installer checks the versions of QuickTime and Sound Manager present on your Macintosh, and, if necessary, replaces them with newer versions. However, the Installer cannot remove older versions if you or another installer program have renamed them. For example, if you renamed an older version of QuickTime to "Old  QuickTime", the Encarta 98 Installer would install a newer version of   QuickTime, but would not find and remove the older version.

The same would happen if another installer application placed a file named "QuickTime 2.0" in the Extensions folder. The only QuickTime files found in the Extensions folder should be named, QuickTime, QuickTime PowerPlug (Power Mac only), QuickTime Musical Instruments and QuickTime Settings. To fix this problem, manually remove any renamed copies of  these system components and restart your Macintosh. Encarta Encyclopedia will not start unless QuickTime 2.5 is installed and enabled.

- If you are having difficulty launching Encarta, it may be because 32-bit addressing is turned off. To turn on 32-bit addressing, from the Apple menu, choose Control Panels, and then choose Memory. In the Memory Control Panel, click the On button for 32-bit addressing. Then restart your computer.

- Problems Running Encarta on System 7.0

Due to an incompatibility among Microsoft Encarta, Apple Guide 2.0, and versions of System 7.0, access to the Encarta Guide from within the Encarta Encyclopedia application has been disabled with this configuration. To fix this problem, upgrade to System 7.1 or later.

- When you copy images or articles from Encarta, they sometimes contain both text and pictures. Microsoft Word and Adobe PageMaker don't allow you to use the Paste command if the Clipboard contains both text and images. Instead, use the Paste Special command, then choose whether you wish to paste the text or picture.

- Difficulty installing Encarta Encyclopedia or changing Encarta's memory partition -- To minimize the number of extensions that Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia must install in your computer's System Folder, the encyclopedia has several built-in PowerPC shared libraries. These libraries can stay open even after you quit the application. As a  result, you should restart your Macintosh if you want to delete the Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia application or edit the application's  memory partition sizes in Get Info.

- Do not use the control strip to change monitor resolution settings while Encarta is running because there are conflicts between the control strip and Shockwave.

- Speak Article isn't reading the articles or has a choppy voice.

All the Apple PlainTalk components must be installed for Speak Article to work properly. If Speak Article is silent - reinstall Encarta 98 Encyclopedia from CD 1.

If you have a Macintosh with a 68030 processor (such as an LCIII) there are other voices that may sound better. Try Ben, Boris, Brenda, Mariel, Marvin, Mr. Hughes, Otis, Robovox, Votron, or Xeno.

- Internet Connections

Depending on your Internet connection, it may take up to several minutes for your browser to successfully connect with a site that you have launched from the Internet Directory. Wait to see if the connection is  successful before you initiate another link. Attempting to connect with multiple Internet sites simultaneously is not recommended.

Getting the latest troubleshooting information:

Additional updated troubleshooting information is available for Encarta Encyclopedia on the World Wide Web. You can use the Encarta Encyclopedia Help page, which contains the latest information about using and troubleshooting your encyclopedia. Use your Web browser to connect to this address:

http://encarta.msn.com/teleport/fromCD98/troubleshoot.asp

--- 8. SPECIAL INFORMATION ABOUT ENCARTA 98 ENCYCLOPEDIA AND THE INTERNET ---

How Encarta Encyclopedia uses Internet Config to access the Internet:

To use the World Wide Web Links in Encarta Encyclopedia, you need access to the Internet through an Internet Service Provider (ISP).

You may already have an ISP through your employer or academic institution. However, if you want to use the Internet for personal use, you may need to find an ISP that sells Internet access to the general public. If you use an ISP with proprietary software, be sure to ask if they have a Macintosh version - some are Windows only - and find out if the Macintosh version has similar features to the Windows version.

Most Macintosh users access the Internet with their modem through a SLIP or PPP account using a freeware control panel. There also are commercial versions, and Apple has recently released its own PPP control panel designed for use with Open Transport 1.1.2 or later. You will use SLIP or PPP based upon the software you use and which protocol your ISP supports. PPP is the more flexible protocol and has lately become more prevalent. These accounts enable you to run graphic Internet applications that work and feel like Macintosh applications should. If your computer has enough memory, you can run several Internet programs concurrently with Encarta Encyclopedia.

Setting up a SLIP/PPP control panel and configuring the MacTCP or the TCP/IP control panel (included with Open Transport in System 7.5.2 and later) can be a bit overwhelming. Your ISP should walk you through this process, providing critical information including DNS addresses and search domains, as well as the essential phone numbers and modem settings to get you up and running.

When Encarta Encyclopedia launches an Internet application, the browser assumes that you have a TCP/IP connection already established. Some SLIP/PPP control panels automatically dial up and initiate a session when you launch an Internet application, but often the time lag required for dialing and negotiating the connection exceeds the timeout on the request. So it's a good idea to connect to your ISP before you use the Encarta Encyclopedia Internet Directory or other encyclopedia features that connect you to the Internet.

Depending on the speed of your Internet connection, it may take several minutes for your Web browser to connect to a site that you've launched from Encarta Encyclopedia. You should wait to see if the connection is successful before attempting to initiate another link. Attempting to connect with multiple Internet sites simultaneously is not recommended.

Encarta Encyclopedia uses software called Internet Config to determine which Web browser should be used to connect to the Web. If you aren't currently using Internet Config, it will be installed for you when you run the Encarta 98 Installer. Also your Internet Preferences will be preset to use Internet Explorer to handle the following Internet resource types: Web (http), FTP (ftp), Gopher (gopher), Email (mailto) and Usenet News Groups (news). If you want to use a different browser or override any of these defaults, you can start the Internet Config application and change the Helper application for that resource type. Internet Explorer 3.01 is available for you to install from your Encarta Research Organizer disk.

NOTE: For more information on Internet Config, please see the user documentation provided in the Internet Config 1.3 folder.

Tips on downloading Encarta updates:

To keep your encyclopedia current, you should connect to the Encarta Web site every month to download new installments of Yearbook updates, Web Links and the Month in Review. Each monthly update file is free. You can download the updates to your hard disk and integrate them into the Encarta Encyclopedia. The Encarta Installer copies a sample update installment - July 1997 - that you can display right away and use to become familiar with these update features.

In-depth instructions for downloading updates are provided within the Downloads screen. However, here are some tips on streamlining the downloading process on your Macintosh:

- When you click to download an update file in your Web browser, Internet Config can identify Encarta update files based on the file extension and set the file's type and creator. Next it automatically launches Encarta 98 Encyclopedia to integrate the update. The file mapping entry for this feature is included in the preconfigured Internet Preferences and Internet Explorer preferences installed on your computer's hard drive. If you're already using Internet Config, Encarta 98 Encyclopedia automatically adds this file mapping entry to your existing Internet Preferences file the first time you launch Encarta. If you use an  Internet Config application like Internet Explorer or Anarchie, downloading updates is as simple as clicking the filename, waiting for the file to download, and following the directions displayed on your screen.

NOTE: If you use a Web browser that isn't fully Internet Config enabled, you need to save the file in the Updates folder (in the Encarta 98  Encyclopedia folder on your hard drive), and then integrate the update using the Integrate button on the Downloads screen. If you want to  connect by typing a URL into your browser, you will need to connect to:

http://encarta.msn.com/teleport/fromCD98/download.asp

- Encarta updates should be downloaded with binary encoding, not plain text. Most Web browsers and FTP clients default to this mode.

- The same update files are used for both the Windows and Macintosh versions of Encarta 98 Encyclopedia Deluxe Edition. Since the update file is internally compressed and has no resource fork, you don't need to use StuffIt Expander to decompress or decode the archives posted online.

- Make sure you have enough free disk space to download and integrate the update file. In the process of integrating the update, Encarta will decompress and copy the information within the update file to several internal databases, then delete the original file when the integration is complete. Consequently, you need enough free space on your computer's  hard disk for at least two complete copies of the update file.

- Be sure to only download update files for the North American version of  Encarta 98 Encyclopedia Deluxe Edition. Update files for Encarta 96 or  97 Encyclopedia, Standard or International releases can not be   integrated with content on your encyclopedia CD-ROMs.

- If your computer doesn't have enough memory to run both Encarta 98 and a  web browser at the same time, you can still update your encyclopedia.

To do so, please follow these instructions:

1. Connect to http://encarta.msn.com/teleport/fromCD98/downloads.asp

2. Find the month you are interested and double click to start download.

3. If you are using Internet Explorer 3.01 and it attempts to     automatically launch Encarta, you will need to "disassociate" the file type since Internet Explorer and Encarta are designed to work together. To do this, simply go to your browser preferences list, and select the File Helpers control panel. Then delete the "Yearbook     Update" description from the list. You should now be able to download without automatically launching Encarta.

How to choose a Browser with Internet Config:

If Internet Config is not set up properly, you may see the following error message:

Internet Config is not properly installed. Please launch Internet Config and ensure that you have a valid helper application selected for this Internet resource type.

Or you may click an Internet Link in Encarta Encyclopedia and have nothing happen.

If this happens, use Internet Config to select your HTTP Helper application. To select the helper application, use the following procedure.

1. Find and open the Internet Config 1.3 folder on your computer's hard drive.

2. Double-click the Internet Config application icon.

3. In the Window menu, choose the Helpers item.

4. Select the HTTP icon, and then click Change.

5. Click Choose Helper.

6. Navigate to the location of Web browser.

7. Select the application, and then click Open.

8. Click OK.

9. On the File menu, click Quit and click OK to Save changes.

Additional query words: multi multi-media media mm readme

Keywords: kbinfo kbreadme KB183144

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