Microsoft KB Archive/147138

= Mac Encarta 96 Encyclopedia: Memory ReadMe Contents =

Article ID: 147138

Article Last Modified on 1/19/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 96 for Macintosh

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This article was previously published under Q147138



SUMMARY
The following article contains a complete copy of the Encarta 1996 Encyclopedia Memory ReadMe file included on the Encarta Encyclopedia compact disc.



MORE INFORMATION
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Memory Issues with Microsoft Encarta 96 Encyclopedia for the Macintosh
- This document contains information on the following topics:

1) GENERAL MEMORY ISSUES WITH ENCARTA 96 ENCYCLOPEDIA  a. How Encarta 96 Encyclopedia uses memory   b. Increasing the amount of memory available to Encarta 96      Encyclopedia

2) ADVICE FOR COMMON CONFIGURATIONS  a. If you have exactly 8 MB of memory   b. If you have more than 8 MB of memory

3) LOW MEMORY SYMPTOMS AND SOLUTIONS  a. Error message on Encarta 96 Encyclopedia  startup:      "You are low on free system memory"   b. Problems enlarging images   c. Problems printing topics   d. Problems printing images   e. Sounds do not play   f. Incorrect characters displayed

- 1) GENERAL MEMORY ISSUES WITH ENCARTA 96 ENCYCLOPEDIA -

1a. How Encarta uses memory

Encarta 96 Encyclopedia lets you explore a tremendous amount of information and media. You can read articles, see color photos, listen to high quality audio, or watch animations and videos. All this multimedia can use a large amount of your computer's memory (RAM). We put this document together to help you understand how to best manage your computer's memory and get the most out of Encarta 96's features.

1b. Increasing the amount of memory available to Encarta 96 Encyclopedia

Turn on Virtual Memory - Virtual memory allows you to increase the amount of available memory by using space on your hard disk to simulate physical memory. Although using virtual memory will slow down performance slightly, the extra available memory can make applications like Encarta 96 Encyclopedia run more effectively. To turn on Virtual Memory, open the Memory control panels from the Apple menu on the system toolbar, and choose the Virtual Memory On option. Using the up and down arrows, adjust the "After restart" value. We recommend setting the "After restart" value to 1.5 times the "Available built-in memory." For example, if you have 8 MB of "Available built-in memory," change the "After restart" value to 12MB.

Run only one application at a time - If other applications are running, close them before launching Encarta 96 Encyclopedia.

Reduce the size of the Disk Cache - To make the greatest amount of memory available, open the Memory Control Panel and set the cache to 32K

NOTE: On systems earlier than 7.5, if your cache is set to higher than 32K for every 1MB of physical RAM in your system, or set any higher than 512K, you will experience degraded performance while running Encarta 96 Encyclopedia. For system 7.5 or greater, a larger cache can improve Encarta 96 Encyclopedia's performance.

Remove unused fonts and sounds - Fonts and sounds consume system memory, even when not being used. Removing those you don't need will make more memory available. Be careful when removing fonts however, as some applications (like Encarta 96 Encyclopedia) may not work properly if the correct fonts are not available. Remove only what you are certain is not needed. Encarta 96 Encyclopedia requires the following fonts: Arial, Chicago, Times New Roman, Symbol, MS Reference, Times New Roman Special G1, and Times New Roman Special G2. If you use System 7.5 or above you can use the Extension Manager to disable fonts and sounds.

Remove or disable system extensions - Third party system extensions such as screen savers, fax software, desktop pictures, menu-modifying utilities and other system enhancements increase the amount of memory consumed by your system. 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 in a separate folder on your hard disk so that you can replace it later. If you use System 7.5 or above you can use the Extensions Manager to disable any extensions.

NOTE: Be sure to restart your Macintosh after making any of the above changes to your system. To restart your Macintosh, choose Restart from the Special menu on your system toolbar.

--- 2) ADVICE FOR COMMON CONFIGURATIONS ---

Encarta is designed to work best with the most common multimedia Macintosh computers sold today. These machines have 8 to 16 MB of memory, a double-speed CD-ROM drive, and a 640 x 480 monitor which can display thousands of colors. Encarta 96 Encyclopedia has been tailored to work best with that configuration. However, we know that not all monitors can display more than 256 colors. Many machines are configured with more than 16 MB of RAM, larger monitors and the ability to display millions of colors. The following sections show how you can get the most from Encarta 96 Encyclopedia with your computer's configuration.

2a. If you have 8 MB of memory

Typical System: Quadra 800 or Power Mac 7100/80 double speed CD ROM 14-inch monitor running in thousands of colors

Depending upon how your computer is configured, its operating system can use from 2.5 to 5.5 MB of RAM. Therefore, if your machine has 8 MB of RAM, there may not be sufficient memory left over for additional operations. This may result in frequent alert messages from the Finder, or the inability to launch Encarta 96 Encyclopedia. If Encarta 96 Encyclopedia will not run, or you wish to avoid seeing alert messages, increase the amount of memory available to Encarta 96 Encyclopedia. [See section 1b. "Increasing the amount of memory available to Encarta 96 Encyclopedia."]

2b. If you have more than 8 MB of memory

Typical System: Macintosh Quadra 950 or PowerMac 7200/90 16 MB of RAM 16-inch monitor running in Millions of colors.

Here are some tips to enhance performance on this type of configuration:

Increase the "Preferred Memory" for Encarta 96 Encyclopedia - Only make these changes on a system with more than 8 MB of memory. The minimum amount of memory Encarta 96 Encyclopedia requires to run is 4000K. Encarta 96 Encyclopedia will run with this amount of memory, however performance will be degraded. To set aside more memory for Encarta 96 Encyclopedia to use, quit Encarta 96 Encyclopedia if it is running, click the Encarta 96 Encyclopedia application icon then choose "Get Info" from the File system menu, and change the Preferred size from 6000K to 8000K. Close the window to apply these changes.

Increase the size of the Disk Cache - In the Memory control panel, you can set aside a portion of your RAM to store recently used information read from your CD-ROM drive or hard disk. A larger cache can improve performance considerably because RAM is much faster than CD-ROMs and hard disks. For a system with more than 8 MB of RAM, you should set the cache size to be 256K or 512K. On systems earlier than 7.5, if your cache is set to higher than 32K for every 1MB of physical RAM in your system, or set any higher than 512K, you will experience degraded performance while running Encarta 96 Encyclopedia. For system 7.5 or greater, a larger cache can improve Encarta 96 Encyclopedia's performance.

3) LOW MEMORY SYMPTOMS AND SOLUTIONS

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

3a. Symptom: Error message on Encarta 96 Encyclopedia startup:

"You are low on free system memory"

When starting Encarta 96 Encyclopedia, the "You are low on free system memory" error message appears. While running Encarta 96 Encyclopedia, sounds don't play, images don't load or fonts display incorrectly.

Reason: Some of the multimedia aspects of Encarta 96 Encyclopedia require "free system memory." This is the amount of free memory left available by your system, Encarta 96 Encyclopedia, and any other applications you may be running. This "free system memory" can be used by QuickTime and certain other multimedia aspects of Encarta 96 Encyclopedia. Encarta 96 Encyclopedia may require as much as 400K of free system memory, depending upon your system configuration and your use of Encarta 96 Encyclopedia. You can determine the amount of free system memory available while running Encarta 96 Encyclopedia 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: Close other open applications, if they are running.

Decrease the "Preferred Memory" for Encarta 96 Encyclopedia. To change this program setting, Quit Encarta 96 Encyclopedia if it is running, single-click the Encarta 96 Encyclopedia application icon then choose "Get Info" from the File menu. In the section titled "Memory Requirements", change the Preferred size from 6000K to 4000K. You should only make this change if you are sure you are not running other applications when you get the error message.

Increase the amount of memory available to Encarta 96 Encyclopedia. [Refer to section 1b. "Increasing the amount of memory available to Encarta 96 Encyclopedia"]

Restart your machine.

3b. Symptom: Problems enlarging images

When enlarging an image, I get an empty box or an error message saying: "Unable to Load Image".

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

Solution: Close any list boxes you may have open (such as Related Articles, Outline, Pinpointer).

Switch to 256 Colors if you are running in Thousands or Millions.

Restart Encarta 96 Encyclopedia.

Increase the amount of memory available to Encarta 96 Encyclopedia. [Refer to section 1b. "Increasing the amount of memory available to Encarta 96 Encyclopedia"]

3c. Symptom: Problems printing topics

When printing topics, pages are blank or not all of the topic is printed.

Reason: Printing topics requires creating a duplicate layout for the printer since it has different margins than the screen. Some of the articles in Encarta 96 Encyclopedia are thousands of words long and having two copies of a long article in memory at the same time can use up all of the available memory.

Solution: Close any list boxes you may have open (such as Related Articles, Outline, Pinpointer).

Switch to 256 Colors if you are running in Thousands or Millions.

Copy the topic to your word-processing program and print it from there.

Restart Encarta 96 Encyclopedia and try to print again.

Install LaserWriter 8.2.2. See the Encarta 96 Encyclopedia ReadMe document section on printing problems for instructions on how to install this from your Encarta 96 Encyclopedia 96 CD.

Increase the amount of memory available to Encarta 96 Encyclopedia. [Refer to section 1b. "Increasing the amount of memory available to Encarta 96 Encyclopedia"]

3d. Symptom: Problems printing images

When printing photos, the output is garbled.

Reason: As with printing topics, printing a photo requires creating a duplicate copy of the image on the screen. Two versions of a large photo can consume all of the available memory.

Solution: Close other open applications, if they are running.

Close any list boxes you may have open (such as Related Articles, Outline, Pinpointer).

Switch to 256 Colors if you are running in Thousands or Millions of colors.

Copy the topic to a paint or word-processing program and print it from there.

Restart Encarta 96 Encyclopedia and try to print again.

Install LaserWriter 8.2.2. See the "Printing From Encarta 96 Encyclopedia" section in the "Encyclopedia General ReadMe" document for instructions on how to install this from your Encarta 96 Encyclopedia CD.

Increase the amount of memory available to Encarta 96 Encyclopedia. [Refer to section 1b. "Increasing the amount of memory available to Encarta 96 Encyclopedia"]

3e. Symptom: Sounds do not play

Reason 1: Your Sound Control Panel is set incorrectly

Solution: Adjust your Sound Control Panel. See your Macintosh User's Guide for instructions on how to correctly adjust your Sound Control Panel.

Reason 2: It is possible you do not have enough memory for sounds to load.

Solution: Close any list boxes you may have open (such as Related Articles, Outline, Pinpointer).

Switch to 256 Colors if you are running in Thousands or Millions.

Restart Encarta 96 Encyclopedia.

Try re-installing the QuickTime and Sound Manager extensions. Use the customize option in the installer on your CD to install individual components.

Increase the amount of memory available to Encarta 96 Encyclopedia. [Refer to section 1b. "Increasing the amount of memory available to Encarta 96 Encyclopedia"]

3f. Symptom: Incorrect or oddly-sized characters displayed in article text.

Reason: Encarta 96 Encyclopedia 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 96 Encyclopedia requires the following fonts:  Arial, Chicago, Times New Roman, Symbol, MS Reference, Times New Roman Special G1, and Times New Roman Special G2

Solution: Close any list boxes you may have open (such as Related Articles, Outline, Pinpointer).

Switch to 256 Colors if you are running in Thousands or Millions.

Restart Encarta 96 Encyclopedia.

Check to see if the correct fonts are located in your system folder. If they are missing, use the customize option in the installer to re- install them.

Increase the amount of memory available to Encarta 96 Encyclopedia. [Refer to section 1b. "Increasing the amount of memory available to Encarta 96 Encyclopedia"]

Additional query words: 1996 multi media multimedia multi-media mmtitles kbmm read me mac_mm cd-rom cd-disc disk read-me

Keywords: KB147138

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