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Q147139: Mac Encarta 96 Encyclopedia: General Readme Contents

Article: Q147139
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
=======

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

MORE INFORMATION
================

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Microsoft Encarta 96 Encyclopedia for Macintosh General ReadMe File:

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This ReadMe file contains information on the following topics:

1. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR RUNNING ENCARTA 96
  What you need to run Encarta

2. MEMORY USE
  Encarta memory usage

3. PERFORMANCE
  Tips on how to increase Encarta's speed

4. COLOR CONFIGURATION AND SCREEN SIZES
  What makes Encarta look best

5. SOUND PROBLEMS
  Common problems playing sounds and how to fix them

6. WHERE ENCARTA PUTS FILES
  What folders are created and which files are copied by the
  Installer

7. CUSTOM INSTALLATION
  Other options for installing Encarta

8. PRINTING FROM ENCARTA
  Possible printing problems and suggestions for printing

9. KNOWN PROBLEMS
  Known problems and suggestions to help you work around them

-----------------------------------------------
1. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR RUNNING ENCARTA 96
-----------------------------------------------

To install and run Encarta 96 you will need at least the following
minimum configuration:

- A 68030 based Apple Macintosh Computer that supports a 13-inch
  (640x480 pixels) or larger monitor that can display 256 or more
  colors
- System 7.0 or later
- At least 8 MB of random-access memory (RAM) with 4 MB or more
  available
- At least 9.6 MB of hard drive space. (11.1 MB recommended.)
- A double-speed CD-ROM drive

In order to use Encarta 96, you must install the application and its
supporting files on your hard disk. The Installer program on the CD-
ROM installs the Encarta program to a new folder and adds any
necessary files and resources to the System folder on your hard disk.

NOTE: The installation process may require more than the required hard
disk space on machines running System 7.0 or 7.0.1. This space is
required only during installation. After you restart, Encarta 96 will
take as little as 9.6 MB on your hard disk, depending on the
installation option you have selected. Under System 7 or 7.0.1, the
installation program must make a copy of your System file in order to
install the fonts required for Encarta 96. The extra copy of the
System file is removed when you restart your computer. If you
encounter problems with this installation, see section 7, CUSTOM
INSTALLATION.

-------------
2. MEMORY USE
-------------

Encarta 96 Encyclopedia needs a relatively large amount of your
computer's system memory (RAM) to display pictures and play sounds. It
should run on systems with 8 MB (8,192K) of RAM that have at least 4
MB (4096K) available for Encarta. Please refer to the "Encyclopedia &
Memory ReadMe" document for advice about optimizing memory usage on
your Macintosh.

---------------
3. PERFORMANCE
---------------

If Encarta 96 seems to run slowly, interrupts sounds or film clips,
does not play sounds at all, does not allow you to enlarge images, or
is using incorrect fonts for text, here are the main things to check:

If you are running on a Macintosh with low memory and experience
performance problems, please refer to the document "Encyclopedia &
Memory ReadMe" for advice about memory usage.

If your Macintosh is using Virtual Memory, you may find that Encarta
96 runs slowly. For best performance on machines with over 8 MB of
physical RAM, turn off Virtual Memory. To do this, open the Memory
control panel, choose the Virtual Memory Off option, and then restart
your computer. See the document "Encarta & Memory ReadMe" for more
advice about Virtual Memory.

If you are using a slow CD-ROM drive, it may not be able to supply
information to the Macintosh at the speed required by the software.
There is no workaround for this problem. If you suspect a problem with
your CD drive, ensure that it is properly terminated and that its
software is properly installed. For more information on SCSI
termination, read your Macintosh or CD-ROM drive documentation, or ask
your Apple dealer.

Encarta may run a bit faster if your machine is set to thousands of
colors (instead of 256 or millions). Running Encarta 96 Encyclopedia
in thousands of colors will require more memory than running in 256
colors. To change your monitor color depth setting, select the Control
Panels folder in the Apple menu, double-click the Monitors control
panel and select the desired number of colors.

----------------------------------------
4. COLOR CONFIGURATION AND SCREEN SIZES
----------------------------------------

Encarta 96 requires that your monitor display 256 or more colors.

Encarta 96 will run in 16-bit mode (thousands of colors) and 24-bit
mode (millions of colors). These video modes improve the appearance of
Encarta's photos and film clips; however, using 16-bit or 24-bit video
may alter Encarta's performance or reduce the amount of memory
available to Encarta. If you see low memory messages when running in
thousands or millions of colors, you should increase the memory
available to Encarta. Refer to the "Encyclopedia & Memory ReadMe"
document for more details.

------------------
5. SOUND PROBLEMS
------------------

If there is no sound at all, first make sure that the sound level on
your Macintosh is set correctly. To set the sound level, use the Sound
control panel and experiment with the speaker volume setting until you
get a comfortable sound level. If you set the sound level to maximum,
you may hear sound distortion.

If your Macintosh is using Virtual Memory, you may find that sounds
are interrupted. When Virtual Memory is turned on, sounds are
sometimes placed on the hard disk rather than in RAM. For best sound
performance, turn off Virtual Memory. To do this, open the Memory
control panel, choose the Virtual Memory Off option, and then restart
the computer. It is possible however, that you will require Virtual
Memory to run Encarta. See the document "Encyclopedia & Memory ReadMe"
for more advice about Virtual Memory.

In low memory situations, you may find that sounds will not load or
play. If you cannot get a sound to play and are sure that your sound
control panel is set correctly, or you are receiving error messages
when attempting to play sounds, please refer to the document "Encarta
& Memory ReadMe" for instructions on how to allocate more memory for
Encarta.

The sounds used in Encarta 96 are stored on the CD-ROM in a compressed
format. In order to be played, the sound must be read from disk and
decompressed. Older or slower Macintoshes-such as the Macintosh LCIII
or the earlier Performa models-may experience interruptions in audio
playback.

The slider on the audio controller is not updated as often while the
sound is playing on lower performance machines as it is on higher
performance machines. This will give the slider's movement a "choppy"
effect, and it may not reach the end of the bar by the time the sound
finishes.

-------------------------------------
6. WHERE ENCARTA INSTALLER PUTS FILES
-------------------------------------

The Encarta Installer program creates folders on your hard disk and
copies files to several locations. When you install Encarta 96, the
Installer program:

Creates a folder on your hard disk called "Encarta 96 Encyclopedia"
and copies the following files to this folder:

- "Encarta 96 Encyclopedia" - the main Encarta application
- "Encyclopedia General ReadMe" - the document you are reading now
- "Encyclopedia & Memory ReadMe" - a Read Me document explaining
   memory issues and troubleshooting
- "Animation Launcher" - used to run animations in low memory
   situations
- "Animation" - a file used by Encarta in playing of animations
- "Encarta Projector" - Macromedia application that plays Director
   movies
- "SimpleText" - a text editor that allows you to view the ReadMe
   files
- "Data Files" - folder that contains data files needed by Encarta
- "Microsoft System Information" - folder with applications that may
   be required if you need product support from Microsoft
- "Yearbook Files" folder - This is where the yearbook update files
   (downloaded from - http://www.microsoft.com/Encarta - the Encarta
   webpage) belong. Encarta 96 Encyclopedia installs the August
   Yearbook Builder update file inside this folder
- "Yearbook State" - An index file which keeps track of update files
   which have been integrated into the Yearbook Builder

Creates a folder called "Encarta 96 Preferences" in your
System:Preferences folder

Creates a folder called "Encarta '94 Preferences" in your
System:Preferences folder. This folder allows Microsoft Works 4.0 to
search Encarta 96 Encyclopedia content. If Encarta '94 is installed on
your machine, this folder will not replace the "Encarta '94
Preferences folder already in your System Folder.

Copies QuickTime 2.1, QuickTime Musical Instruments, and Sound Manager
3.1 to the System:Extensions folder (if needed), these are necessary
to play video and sound.

Copies QuickTime PowerPlug to your System:Extensions folder. {This
will only happen if you have a Power Macintosh}

Copies the Sound Control Panel version 8.0.5 to the System:Control
Panels folder (if needed)

Copies Times New Roman, Arial, MS Reference, Times New Roman Special
G1 and G2 and Symbol fonts to System folder. On System 7.0 and 7.0.1,
these fonts are copied to the System suitcase. On System 7.1 or higher
these fonts are copied to the Fonts folder.

If you choose to switch disks before installing (to a hard disk that
is not your startup volume) you MUST RESTART YOUR MACINTOSH before
Encarta will run correctly. On System 7.0 and 7.0.1, installing to a
non-boot drive will not properly install the necessary fonts. It is
also possible that the installer will not install the program to a
non-boot drive on some systems. To resolve these problems, try
installing to your boot drive, then drag the Encarta 96 Encyclopedia
folder to the desired drive.

----------------------
7. CUSTOM INSTALLATION
----------------------

For the majority of users, using the Easy Install provided in the
Installer program is the best way to install Encarta 96.

You may wish to perform a custom installation if you are running
System 7.0 or 7.0.1 and don't have the extra hard disk space needed
for installation. (See Section 1 for details.) You may also choose
custom install if you would like to save hard disk space, though this
will decrease Encarta's performance. You may also use customize if you
want to replace a single Encarta component.

To perform a custom installation of Encarta 96:

Double-click the "Install Encarta 96 Encyclopedia" icon on the Encarta
96 CD-ROM.

Click the Customize button in the Installer dialog box.

Choose which options you would like to install from the list. If you
are unsure of what a component does, clicking on it will show you a
description below. You may choose more than one item by holding down
the shift key while clicking custom installation items.

-------------------------
8. PRINTING FROM ENCARTA
-------------------------

Encarta 96 Encyclopedia may not print properly with LaserWriter
version 7.x drivers. Problems you may see when printing with these
driver versions include: media items printing in black and white
instead of grayscale despite proper printer settings sections of text
overlapping, and images within the article text printing black bars on
the right.

To solve these problems, we have provided a LaserWriter version 8.2.2
driver on the Encarta 96 CD

To install the LaserWriter 8.2.2 driver on your system, follow these
directions:

Double-click the Encarta 96 Encyclopedia CD icon.

Scroll down the window until you see the "Installer Items" folder.

Double-click the Installer Files folder and the open the LaserWriter
8.2.2 folder.

Drag the "LaserWriter 8" file from the LaserWriter 8.2.2 folder into
the Extensions folder inside the System folder on your hard drive.

Drag the "Printer Descriptions" folder into your Extensions folder.
(If this folder already exists on your hard drive, drag the contents
of the Printer Descriptions folder from the CD into the Printer
Descriptions folder).

Once you have copied these files, select Chooser from the Apple menu.

Locate and select the LaserWriter 8 item in the upper left box within
the Chooser. (You may need to scroll down to find this item).

Select your printer in the printer list box and select Setup.

-----------------
9. KNOWN PROBLEMS
-----------------

Virus protection software issues warnings during Encarta installation-
Some virus protection software may confuse the Installer program's
necessary actions with behaviors associated with a virus, possibly
disrupting the installation process. It is recommended that you
disable any virus protection software before installing Encarta, then
re-enable it after the installation.

Screen saver software may conflict with installation. Some screen
savers, such as After Dark, are known to conflict with the installer.
Turn off your screen saver using the control panel before installing
Encarta.

Restarting from the Installer program may hang on some Macintosh Power
PC and Performa models. This is a known problem with Apple's Installer
version 3.4 and the new PCI bus Macintoshes. To work around this
problem: (1) Turn your computer off by its power switch and wait 10 to
15 seconds, (2) Restart your computer.

Dialog box warns you have an incorrect version of QuickTime or Sound
Manager installed- During installation, the Installer program checks
the versions of QuickTime and Sound Manager present on your machine
and, if necessary, replaces them with newer versions. However, the
Installer cannot remove older versions if you have renamed them. For
example, if you renamed an older version of QuickTime "My QuickTime,"
the Encarta Installer would install a newer version of QuickTime, but
would fail to remove the older version. To fix this problem, manually
remove the renamed version(s) of these system components and restart
your Macintosh.

Special or international characters are copied incorrectly to the
Clipboard- As a custom bitmap font, the MS Reference fonts do not map
special or international characters correctly to the Macintosh
character set. These characters appear as inappropriate or non-
printing characters when copied to an application such as SimpleText.
[Note: Special characters appear and print correctly in MS Reference
fonts when printed from Encarta.]

QuickKeys conflicts while running Encarta 96- The QuickKeys scrolling
macros which QuickKeys installs by default do not work correctly
within Encarta. In order for pressing {Home}, {End}, {Page Up}, or
{Page Down} to work correctly within Encarta, these QuickKeys macros
will have to be disabled or removed.

If you have both Encarta 96 Encyclopedia and an earlier version of
Encarta installed on your system, you may experience a problem when
running the animation launcher. If, while running the animation
launcher, you select "Switch to Encarta" with the Encarta 96 CD in
your drive, you will receive the error message: "There is a problem
starting Encarta: The Files cannot be located. Make sure the Encarta
CD-ROM disc is in the drive. If you still have a problem, run the
Installer again from the CD-ROM". This message is being displayed by
the earlier version of Encarta. The resolution for this problem is to
remove that version of Encarta from your hard drive. If you are also
using Microsoft Works, however, do not remove the Encarta '94
preferences folder from your drive.

In order for animations to run in the Encarta 96 Encyclopedia or from
the Animation Launcher, both Encarta 96 Encyclopedia and the Animation
Launcher must be in the same folder as the Encarta Projector.

If you attempt to do a word search with a text string copied and
pasted from Encarta 96 article text, your search will always come up
with 0 items. This is not a bug in Encarta 96, but a side effect of
one of its features. The reason is that Encarta 96 automatically
includes a copyright annotation with all media and text copied from
the encyclopedia. This text string is necessary because it allows you
to take copyrighted material from Encarta for your own use, however
the text string is not found in any articles. To do a search using
copied Encarta 96 text, please paste it into Notemark or a word
processor first and then remove the copyright string. You can then
copy the edited text into the word search edit box and your search
will be successful.

PageMaker users who wish to paste text from Encarta into their
layouts, will need to use the "Paste Special" command and then select
"Text" or else PageMaker will give an error message. This is because
Encarta 96 article text often contains both images and text.

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

======================================================================
Keywords          :  
Technology        : kbHWMAC kbOSMAC kbHomeProdSearch kbEncartaSearch kbEncartaEnCyc1996Mac
Version           : :1996 edition

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