Q147138: Mac Encarta 96 Encyclopedia: Memory ReadMe Contents
Article: Q147138
Product(s): Microsoft Home Multimedia Titles
Version(s): 1996 edition
Operating System(s):
Keyword(s):
Last Modified: 24-MAY-2001
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The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Encarta 96 Encyclopedia for Macintosh
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SUMMARY
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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:
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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
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1) GENERAL MEMORY ISSUES WITH ENCARTA 96 ENCYCLOPEDIA
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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.
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2) ADVICE FOR COMMON CONFIGURATIONS
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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.
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3) LOW MEMORY SYMPTOMS AND SOLUTIONS
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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
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Keywords :
Technology : kbHWMAC kbOSMAC kbHomeProdSearch kbEncartaSearch kbEncartaEnCyc1996Mac
Version : :1996 edition
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