Microsoft KB Archive/131432

= MAC Encarta 1995: Encarta and Memory Readme Contents =

Article ID: 131432

Article Last Modified on 1/19/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 95 for Macintosh

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This article was previously published under Q131432



SUMMARY
The following is the complete text of the Encarta and Memory Readme for Encarta 1995.



MORE INFORMATION
-- Memory Issues with Microsoft Encarta '95 for the Macintosh --

This document contains information on the following topics:

1. GENERAL MEMORY ISSUES WITH ENCARTA '95:

- How Encarta uses memory

2. ADVICE FOR COMMON CONFIGURATIONS:

- If you have less than 8 MB of memory - If you have 8 MB or more of memory

3. LOW MEMORY SYMPTOMS AND SOLUTIONS:

- When enlarging images - When printing topics - When printing images - When launching mini-applications

--- 1. GENERAL MEMORY ISSUES WITH ENCARTA '95 ---

Encarta 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. Encarta also contains several mini-applications, such as the InterActivities, the Animation Launcher, and the MindMaze game. All this multimedia can use a large amount of your computer's memory (RAM). We put this document together to help explain and solve any memory problems you may encounter while using Encarta.

We tested Encarta on systems with many different memory configurations, from 5 MB up to over 32 MB of memory. All parts of Encarta work on a 5 MB system, but Encarta runs best on systems with 8 MB or more of memory.

If you have a machine with 5 MB of memory, we offer advice to help avoid problems and make the best use of your available memory. If you have a machine with 8 MB or more of memory, we also offer advice on how to make Encarta take best advantage of the extra memory.

2. ADVICE FOR COMMON CONFIGURATIONS

Encarta is designed to work best with the most common multimedia Macintosh computers being sold today. These machines have 6 to 8 MB of memory, a double-speed CD-ROM drive, a 13-inch monitor, and can display thousands of colors. However, we know there are many machines that have only 5 MB of RAM and can display only 256 colors. There are also many machines with 16 or 32 MB of RAM, 16-inch monitors that can display millions of colors. The following sections show how you can get the most from Encarta with your computer's configuration.

2a - If you have less than 8 MB of memory

Typical System:

Macintosh Performa 550 5 MB of RAM Built-in 14-inch monitor 256 colors

You will need to have Virtual Memory turned on for Encarta to run properly on this typical 5 MB system. The amount of Virtual Memory required depends on the size of your system, which depends on whether your system has many extensions, fonts, screen savers, etc.

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 run more effectively. To turn on Virtual Memory, open the Memory control panel, choose the Virtual Memory On option, choose an amount of disk space to use for memory (we recommend 2 to 5 MB) and then restart your computer.

The following are more tips to help you run Encarta in this configuration:

Run Only One Application at a Time -

If other applications are running, close them before launching Encarta '95.

Reduce the Size of the Disk Cache -

Open the Memory Control Panel and check the Disk Cache setting. To make the greatest amount of memory available, set the cache to 32K.

Remove Unused Fonts and Sounds --

Fonts and sounds consume system memory, even when not being used. Remove those you don't need to make more memory available. Be careful when removing fonts. Some applications (like Encarta) may not work properly if the correct fonts are not available. Remove only what you are certain is not needed. Encarta requires the following fonts: Arial, Times, Symbol, and MS Reference.

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 disk so that you can replace it later.

NOTE: Be sure to restart your Macintosh after making any of the above changes to your system.

If You are Running in Millions or Thousands of Colors, Switch to 256 Colors

To change your color setting, open the Monitors control panel, and select 256.

Run InterActivities, Animations, and MindMaze from outside of Encarta. You can find these applications in the InterActivities folder which is in the Encarta '95 folder on your hard drive.

--- 2b - If you have 8 MB or more of memory ---

Typical System:

Macintosh Quadra 800 16 MB of RAM 16-inch monitor Millions of colors.

In this configuration, you may want to increase the amount of memory made available to Encarta and the Encarta mini-applications. Here are some tips to enhance performance on this type of configuration:

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-ROM drives and hard disk drives. 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 1 MB of physical RAM in your system, or set any higher than 512K, you will experience degraded performance while running Encarta. For system 7.5, a larger cache can improve Encarta's performance.

Increase the "Preferred Memory" for Encarta ---

Only make these changes on a system with more than 8 MB of memory. The minimum amount of memory Encarta requires to run is 3500K. Encarta will run with this amount of memory, but to do this, the application sometimes will need to purge some memory if many windows or large photos are opened. This purged memory may have to be re-read from the disk if it is later needed, slowing down Encarta. To set aside more memory for Encarta to use, quit Encarta if it is running, click the Encarta '95 application icon then choose "Get Info" from the File menu. In the section titled "Memory Requirements," change the Preferred size from 4200K to 5000K or 6000K.

Increase the "Preferred Memory" for the Encarta Projector -

If you have a large display and are running in Millions of colors mode, the Encarta animations may be able to run. You can set aside more memory for the Projector by increasing the "Preferred Memory" in Get Info to 4000K or 5000K if you have a very large display.

-- 3. LOW MEMORY SYMPTOMS AND SOLUTIONS --

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

Symptom: Error Message on Encarta Startup: "You are low on free system memory" ---

When starting Encarta, the "You are low on free system memory" error message appears. While running Encarta afterward, I experience problems such as sounds not playing, images not loading, or other low memory problems.

REASON:

Some of the multimedia aspects of Encarta require "free system memory." This is the amount of free memory left available by your system, Encarta, and any other applications you might be running. This "free system memory" can be used by QuickTime and certain other multimedia aspects of Encarta. Encarta may require as much as 400K of free system memory, depending on your system configuration and your use of Encarta. 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:

Close other open applications, including the InterActivities, the Animation Launcher, and the MindMaze game, if they are running.

Decrease the "Preferred Memory" for Encarta. To change this program setting, Quit Encarta '95 if it is running, click the Encarta '95 application icon then choose "Get Info" from the File menu. In the section titled "Memory Requirements," change the Preferred size from 4200K to 3500K. You should only make this change if you are sure you are not running other applications when you get the error message.

Turn on Virtual Memory. See instructions above in section 2a.

Refer to the section "ADVICE FOR COMMON CONFIGURATIONS" above for advice on configuring up your system.

Refer to symptoms and solutions below for specific problems.

Symptom: Problems Enlarging Images --

When enlarging an image, I get an empty box or an error message regarding the loading of the 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 other open applications, including the InterActivities, the Animation Launcher, and the MindMaze game, 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.

Restart Encarta.

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 longest articles in Encarta are thousands of words long. Having two copies of a long article in memory at the same time can use up all of the available memory.

SOLUTION:

Close other open applications, including the InterActivities, the Animation Launcher, and the MindMaze game, 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.

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

Restart Encarta and try to print again.

Install LaserWriter 8.2.2. See the Encarta Readme document section on printing problems for instructions on how to install this from your Encarta '95 CD.

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, including the InterActivities, the Animation Launcher, and the MindMaze game, 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.

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

Restart Encarta and try to print again.

Install LaserWriter 8.2.2. See the Encarta Readme document section on printing problems for instructions on how to install this from your Encarta '95 CD.

Symptom: Not Enough Memory to Run Mini-applications ---

InterActivities, the Animation Launcher, the MindMaze, or my word processor cannot be launched. I get an error message that starts with "There is not enough memory to start this program."

REASON:

While everything inside Encarta may have enough memory to run, there may not be enough memory available to launch a mini-application.

SOLUTION:

Close other open applications.

Run mini-application outside of Encarta by quitting Encarta and other open applications, and double clicking on a program alias within the InterActivities folder that is in your Encarta '95 folder on your hard drive.

Turn on Virtual Memory to make more memory available to run applications. This will slow Encarta's performance, you may prefer to simply run the applications outside of Encarta as described above.

Symptom: Sounds Do Not Play ---

When I click on the play button on a sound media item, I do not hear any sound.

REASON:

If your Sound control panel is set correctly, it is possible that you do not have enough memory for sounds to load.

SOLUTION:

Close other open applications, including the InterActivities, the Animation Launcher, and the MindMaze game, 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.

Restart Encarta.

Try re-installing the QuickTime and Sound Manager extensions. You can copy these files from the System Files folder in the Installer Files folder on your Encarta '95 CD, to your Extensions folder in your System Folder on your hard drive.

Symptom: Fonts are Not Loading --

I see the wrong characters 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.

SOLUTION:

Close other open applications, including the InterActivities, the Animation Launcher, and the MindMaze game, 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.

Restart Encarta.

Additional query words: kbhowto mac 1995 multi media multimedia multi- mmtitles

Keywords: kbhowto KB131432

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