Colors in one of the menu windows go crazy
    You may find strange colors making your window practically impossible to read. I found it to happen with a monitor supporting only 256 colors. The window came back to normal when I closed the html file I was viewing at the same time or when I switched back to the menu window. The problem might also be solved by updating your browser.

Index loads slowly
    This is because it has around 2,500 entries, each with a little red image to make reading easy when the lines wrap. It would take time to load even from your hard drive.

PCs in Space
    Some of the options don't work. This is not a mistake. We had to remove some study areas in order to allow space for the main software. Your CD is packed full.

Printable forms
    A box in the middle of the chapter which explains the forms offers suggestions. To find it when you have The Home School Manual running, click on "contents" at the top of the page and go to the bottom of the list. The title is "Forms, use and descriptions." This chapter is also accessible from the forms selection page.

Links to the Internet don't work
    There could be two reasons. The URL (Internet address) may have a typo. Sometimes you can recognize it. Then you can enter the corrected URL directly in your browser to see if it works. The other problem may be that the link points only to the resident computer. For that, try cutting it and pasting it in the browser command line. I apologize.

Software won't start
  In Windows, the CD should begin running when you insert it into your player. If it doesn't, the problem could be with your player. It or your browser software might be too old. You should be able to get it started by going to Windows Explorer (your list of folders and files) and click on the CD drive folder. This should activate your drive and you can see the folders and files on it. In the root directory you will find "autorun.exe." Double click it, and your software should come to life. (You can find Windows Explorer by clicking START, then Programs. Click the Explorer icon near the end of your list.)

Sounds don't play when you click for them
   Here's what you should check:
    1. Be sure your computer sound is turned on with adequate volume. The little speaker icon (probably) at the bottom right of your Windows screen is for controlling your sound.
    2. The files have the extension, .wav, and accessing them should bring to life your sound player. You may have more than one player on your system but it shouldn't matter. If you think the problem is with this software, you can use your explorer file managing system to look on your CD for the folder, sounds, which is under one called html. A double click on one of the file icons should make it play. If it doesn't, the problem is not with this software. To see the file extensions, pull down the view menu in Explorer and go to options. You will see what to do. The icons on your sound files in Explorer should be miniatures of the ones for your sound player. If you are using the Windows player it is a yellow speaker horn.
    3. I discovered that my "Real Player" had copied all the sound files into its own "Juke Box" folder. When I clicked a second time, it found them. You don't need any sound player beyond what comes with Windows. I think that the Macs will play them in a similar way.
    4. With all this, we are assuming you have a sound card in your computer. Without it and attached speakers, the sounds won't work.

Tours
  If you encounter a missing link, just look back at the list of the tours you are on to see where you should go next. The click "contents" at the top of the page and go to that chapter. From there, continue to link to the next chapter on your tour from the icons at the bottom of each chapter.

Warning message as your browser starts toa file
    The browser may think you areng a file on the Internet and may warn you that this is dangerous since some have viruses. Just ignore the warning. We guarantee your CD to be free from viruses. See our limited responsibility statement in the license agreement statement.

Window error
    A file is loaded into the wrong window: I found that, after running a sound file, another file (like a chapter from the book) loaded into the tiny window for the sound control. The reason was apparently the problem that my CD drive was intermittent. In any case, if this happens, you may need to close down this software andit again. Toit, go to Windows Explorer (near the end of the list when you click START then PROGRAMS) and click on the file, autorun.exe.
    If garbage (or the source code) loads instead of the file you called for, follow instructions above.

To make your electronic book run faster
  We have set up the software to run from the CD to keep your disk space free. The program will run a little faster from your hard drive although the difference may not be noticeable unless your drive is very slow. We don't have an installation program but, because of the way we have it set up, you can install it easily yourself. Your CD-ROM has about 600 megabytes in some 950 files. 80% of this is PCs in Space. This astronomy program has to install on your hard drive in order to run, although you don't need to use it all. To make the rest of your book run on your hard drive, simply use Windows Explorer (or equivalent) to look at the files on the CD. To find Explorer, hit Start, then programs, and look near the end of the list. On the CD you will find three folders: data, demos and HTML plus some individual files. Make a new folder on your hard drive called HSM or whatever you like. Drag and drop data and HTML and the few files into it. The folders and the files under them will be copied. Make a folder to go with data and HTML called demos. Then, with your main HSM folder drag and drop the Reading-L folder into demos. This way you leave PCs in Space behind. Basically, you need to look at the relationship of files and folders on the CD and set the system up in the same way on your hard drive. This, without PCs in Space, will take a little over 100 megabytes of your drive space.
    To run the HSM software you will need toexplorer and double click the "autorun.exe" file. To make a shortcut to run from your desktop or from any folder, right click on the autorun icon and choose "create shortcut." It will appear at the end of the list. Simply drag it to the desktop or wherever you want it. Dropping it on the Start button will put it in the start menu.
    There are no .dll files to worry about. The only thing that gets written to your hard drive (if you don't install PCs in Space) is a few lines in the registry. You may need to go throughng the agreement folder to get your software running, but this will be obvious when you start it up. I haven't tried this so let me know about your success or problems (tw)
    You may then be tempted to give or sell your CD to a friend. This is not permissible unless you arrange with us to issue them a license to use it. We haven't set a price, but I expect it will be about $20. Maybe $19. We need to pay royalties to lots of authors for each license, and we need to try to recover the big expense of preparing the CD. If your files get corrupted, you will have to borrow it back. Of course if you remove all copies from your possession, we don't need to know about a change of ownership, and there's no charge.

To enlarge your viewing area
    The normal way to read the various HTML pages (like chapters in The Home School Manual) is in the main frame (part of the window) where they appear. There are several ways to get more viewing space, although you may not want to:
    1. You can get a little more space by suppressing one or more navigation bars at the top of your browser window. About the only thing you need is the back button. In the current Netscape you see three bars which take a lot of real estate at the top of your screen. There are little dotted icons at the very left of each one. You click on them to hide the bar. (Click again to see it). The one you need with the back button can be made smaller by choosing to see only the words — no icons. To do this, pull down the "edit" menu at the very top of your screen. Choose "preferences," then click "appearance" and you can see what to do.
    2. You may be able to view the frame in a window of its own. Just right click within the frame and click toin a new window. You can enlarge it to fill your screen.
    3. The left frame where the Contents appears, may be made larger by dragging its right border.

To get a Home School Manual icon on your Windows desktop
    Go to Explorer (START, Programs, Windows Explorer) Click on the icon for your CD drive. Find Autorun.exe and right click. One choice is Create Shortcut. Click and click again to say yes, you want it on your desktop. Once on the desktop you can drag it to where you want it. Dragging it to the Start button will add it to your start options. The icon will be labeled only as autorun.exe. You can change the label by clicking on it, pausing (to avoid a double click), and clicking again. Then write what you want, maybe HSM.

To remove the software from your hard drive
    You simply delete what you can see in Windows Explorer. The only thing left behind are a few lines in registry which take practically no space. If you use uninstall software, it may remove the registry lines, too. Or if you understand editing the registry you will find the folder as HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SOFTWARE, gazelle. To edit the registry click START then Run then give the command regedit. Be very careful about what you do elsewhere in the registry. Your computer or some software could be changed or stop running. A computer expert can get you going again, perhaps by reinstalling software. With software removed (even without removing the very small entries in the registry), you are free to give or sell your CD to someone else (although we will miss you).

If you don't have Internet access
    What we said on the CD about this is probably covers it. Of course the links to the Internet won't work if you are not connected to it. You do need a browser but probably already have one, and you can install one from the CD.