What are the system requirements for running the Book-on-CD?
Do I need to install any software?
How do I start the software?
What if the Book-on-CD doesn't start or "freezes" my computer?
Can I install the Book-on-CD on my hard disk?
Are any NP4 files stored on my computer?
How do I use the software?
How do I use the Tracking Disk?
What if I get an error when I try to save results on my Tracking Disk?
I've been using my Tracking Disk for some time and had stored many results on it. Now the results seem to be gone. Why?
Why do I get an "Invalid File Format" message when checking the tracking data?
Does the Book-on-CD work on a network?
How do I uninstall the Book-on-CD?
Why can't I use some of the menu options in the Word Processing Lab?
Why can't I use some of the menu options in the Photo Editing Lab?
Things don't seem to fit on the screen. What's wrong?
An error message appears when I try to run a video. How can I view the videos?
After using my computer for a long computing session, strange things start to happen--videos and screentours won't play and my Tracking Results are not written to disk. What can I do?
I start the CD and everything seems fine, but after a few minutes, the program starts again. (Sometimes I find that I have multiple copies of the software running.) How can I stop this from happening?
Why do I get an error saying "File not found: 'C:\WINDOWS\NP4CD.TMP\PERIPHS.MDB'"? [This message may also reference various other .mdb files.]
When I choose Practice Test from the Assessments menu and create a Tracking disk, the first question appears blank. When I click on the Next button, I get the message "Subscript Out of Range." What's the fix?
Why can't I print?
What if I can't solve my problem after reading these FAQs?
What are the system requirements for running the Book-On-CD?
The New Perspectives on Computer Concepts CD (also referred to as the NP4CD or the Book-on-CD) is designed to run on most standard computers running current versions of the Windows operating system. Your computer needs to meet the following minimum requirements:
- Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT 4.x, or Windows 2000.
- A Pentium processor
- 32 MB of RAM
- VGA, SVGA, or XGA Video with High Color, or True Color Graphics.
- CD-ROM Drive for Stand-alone Systems (Network workstations accessing the software from a file server or network CD-ROM drive do not need a local CD-ROM.)
- Mouse or similar pointing device
- Floppy disk drive or other writable storage device configured as drive A
- A properly configured dial-up or direct Internet connection with Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator is required for automatic links to the InfoWeb Internet sites. A browser and Internet connection are not required to use the other features of the program.
- A sound card properly configured to run WAVE and MIDI sound files is recommended, but not required. Sound capability is particularly valuable when running the video segments and animations.
- You must have Write rights to the \Windows directory of your system. The NP4CD.INI initialization file and several temporary files are stored in the \Windows directory. If you are using your own computer, this requirement will not typically be a problem.
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Do I need to install any software?
No installation is needed if the software is to be run from the CD-ROM.
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How do I start the Software?
In most cases, you will want to run the Book-on-CD directly from the CD-ROM drive. To do so, you will need to put the CD in the drive and leave it there while you use the product. To start the Book-on-CD:
- Insert the CD into the CD-ROM drive. If Auto Insert Notification is active for your CD-ROM drive, the Book-on-CD program will automatically start a few seconds after you close the CD-ROM drive tray.
- If the program does not start, click the Start button (located in the lower left corner of your screen), click Run, and then type d:\start.exe where d: is the letter assigned to your CD-ROM drive. Press Enter.
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What if the CD doesn't start or "freezes" my computer?
Your CD-ROM drive might have trouble reading the NP4 CD for a variety of reasons, such as:
- It is possible that AutoRun is disabled on your computer. To check this setting:
- Click the Start button, point to Settings, then click Control Panel. Double-click the System option. Click the Device Manager tab.
- Click the plus sign next to CD-ROM to display the CD-ROM drives that are installed on your computer.
- Right-click the name of your CD-ROM drive, then select Properties from the short cut menu that pops up.
- Click the Settings tab and make sure that a check mark appears in the box for Auto Insert Notification.
- A few fast (36X speed and higher) CD-ROM drives seem to have trouble automatically starting CDs. To temporarily disable the AutoRun process, hold down the Shift key while you insert the NP4 CD and close the drive tray. Continue to hold down the Shift key until your CD-ROM drive stops making noise. Now, you can try to start the NP4 CD manually. To do so, click the Start button (located in the lower left corner of your screen), click Run, and then type d:\start.exe where d: is the letter assigned to your CD-ROM drive. Press Enter.
- Some CD-ROM drives do not comply with CD standards. These drives have trouble with a variety of CDs, not just the NP4 CD. You might have to adjust some of the settings for your CD-ROM drive to, in effect, slow it down and bring it into normal specifications.
- Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
- Double-click System.
- On the Performance tab, click File System.
- On the CD-ROM tab, move the Supplemental Cache Size slider to the Small position.
- In the Optimize Access Pattern For box, click No Read-Ahead.
- Click OK, and then click Close.
- When you are prompted to restart your computer, click Yes.
- A CD-ROM drive, especially a faster one, can have trouble reading a CD if the CD "wobbles." Sometimes the drive is a bit out of alignment and sometimes an off-center disk label can cause wobbling. You might try inserting the CD again. If your CD-ROM drive cannot reliably read the NP4 CD, you can simply install the software on your hard disk. To do so:
- Insert the CD while holding down the Shift key (to prevent it from trying to automatically start). Continue to hold down the Shift key until your CD-ROM drive stops making noise.
- Click the Start button, click Run, type "D:\nwsetup" (where "D" is your CD-ROM drive letter).
- Click the OK button.
- Click the Start Copy button in the window that opens to copy the CD-ROM contents to your hard disk.
- Click the Start button, click Run, type "C:\np4cd\makemenu"
- Click the Make Menu Items/Icons button in the window that opens, then click OK.
- Once you have installed the software on your hard disk, you will not need to insert the NP4 CD each time that you want to use the program. Instead, simply click the Start button, point to Programs, then select NP4 CD from the menu. Note that you can typically expect better performance on videos now that the software is installed on your hard disk.
- CD-ROM drive problems are not common, but the Microsoft Web site provides some excellent troubleshooting information. Connect to Microsoft CD Troubleshooting Information.
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Can I install the Book-on-CD on my hard disk?
Yes. You can use the Nwsetup program provided to easily copy the contents of the CD to your hard disk. The files for the Complete version require approximately 575 MB. Installing the Book-on-CD has several advantages. You will not need to insert the CD every time that you want to use the software and you will get better video performance. The downside is that you've used some space on your hard disk. Please remember that when you install the software, you still have only one license for it. Therefore, it would be illegal to give the CD to someone else while you are using it on your hard disk.
To install the software on your hard disk:
- With the NP4 CD in the drive, click the Start button, click Run, type "D:\nwsetup" (where "D" is your CD-ROM drive letter).
- Click the OK button.
- Click the Start Copy button in the window that opens to copy the CD-ROM contents to your hard disk.
- Click the Start button, click Run, type "C:\np4cd\makemenu"
- Click the Make Menu Items/Icons button in the window that opens, then click OK.
Once you have installed the software on your hard disk, you will not need to insert the NP4 CD each time that you want to use the program. Instead, simply click the Start button, point to Programs, then select NP4 CD from the menu. Note that you can typically expect better performance on videos now that the software is installed on your hard disk.
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Are any NP4 files stored on my computer?
Whether you choose to use the Book-on-CD from the CD-ROM drive or your hard drive, a few files are stored on your computer. The first time an InfoWeb icon is clicked the system will search for an Internet browser and creates the file NP4CD.INI in the \Windows directory. When you click other InfoWeb icons, the system will check NP4CD.INI for the location of your Internet browser instead of searching for the browser again. You can change the currently selected browser by using the Help, Select Browser menu option on the main screen.
Several of the New Perspectives Labs create temporary files in the \Windows directory. The temporary files are deleted each time you exit the Labs.
No other files are stored on the computer system.
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How do I use the software?
The NP4 CD software is designed to be very easy to use. Essentially it works like a book with active links. The following hints will help you use all of the features of the software.
- Click Chapters, select a chapter, then click Chapter Opener.
- Use the vertical scroll bar, the up/down arrow keys, or the Page Up and Page Down keys to move up or down the page.
- Click the Prev or Next buttons on the toolbar or press the left/right arrow keys to move to the previous or next pages.
- Click any Play icon to view the associated media element. When running a ScreenTour, close the ScreenTour to return to the NP4 CD page. When running an in-place animation or video, click anywhere else on the page to stop the animation or video.
- Click any InfoWeb icon to display the associated InfoWeb page (if you have an Internet link) or InfoWeb section (if you do not have an Internet link). Close your Web browser to return to the NP4 CD page.
- Click any Lab icon to open the associated Lab. Close the Lab to return to the NP4 CD page.
- A number of interactive exercises are located at the end of each chapter. To check your understanding of the material in each section, type your answers in the boxes, then click the Check Answers button. You'll have the option of saving your score on your Tracking Disk after you see your results.
- To use the Interactive Key Terms, look at the words on the list and try to think of the correct definition. Click any term to display the pop-up definition to see if you were thinking of the correct definition.
- From the main menu, click Tests, then select a chapter.
- To go to the front matter, enter a Roman numeral from i to xvi as the page number. To go to the glossary/index pages, enter gi as the chapter number followed by any page number.
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How do I use the Tracking Disk?
If you want to store your results on a Tracking Disk, insert a formatted blank disk in drive A:, and click Create Tracking File A:\Tracking.Trk to create a tracking file on the disk in drive A:. If you do not want to use a Tracking Disk, click Continue without a Tracking Disk. Instructors will be provided with a utility program to consolidate Tracking Disk results.
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What if I get an error when I try to save results on my Tracking Disk?
If you create a new Tracking Disk, but encounter an error when you complete a Practice Test, it is possible that the Tracking File was not generated correctly. Use Explorer to check the size of the file Tracking.Trk on your Tracking Disk. If this file is 0 bytes in size, then delete it, and re-enter a Practice Test to regenerate the Tracking File.
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I've been using my Tracking Disk for some time and had stored many results on it. Now the results seem to be gone. Why?
You might have inadvertently erased the tracking file, or it might have become damaged. The Tracking Disk routine automatically makes a backup copy of the Tracking file Tracking.tk2 before it writes the new data to the disk. If Tracking.tk2 is damaged or erased for some reason, you can use Windows Explorer to make a copy of the file Tracking.bak, then rename the copy as Tracking.tk2. That should recover all of your previous data except for the last result that you tried to save. However, for maximum safety, you should make regular backups of your Tracking Disk so you won't lose all of your data if your Tracking Disk is lost or destroyed.
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Why do I get an "Invalid File Format" message when checking the tracking data?
You might have an incompatible version of the vcview.vbx file on your computer. Sometimes, when you install new software, your "good" files might be overwritten by incompatible ones. To fix this problem, open your Windows System directory [C:\Windows\System] and find the vsview.vbx file. Rename this file to vsview.old and then restart the computer. You should then be able to run the program without error.
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Does the Book-on-CD work on a network?
Institutions with workstations that do not have local CD-ROM drives can use the network installation program NWSetup.Exe (located in the root directory of the CD-ROM) to copy the files from the CD-ROM to a network file server. The NP4 Book-On-CD can then be run from any workstation without use of the CD or a CD-ROM drive.
It is not necessary to run a setup program on the workstations. Simply run the program Start.Exe from the directory on the server where the NP4 files were copied. The program Makemenu.exe is copied to the directory on the server during a network installation. You can run that program from a workstation to create a menu entry that will run Start.Exe.
Two network installation options are supported. The complete network installation copies all files to the file server, while the compact network installation copies all files except the video files. The estimated drive space requirements for network installation are listed below:
| Product |
Compact
Installation |
Complete
Installation |
| Brief |
151 MB |
335 MB |
| Intro |
204 MB |
486 MBs |
| Comp |
282 MB |
573 MB |
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How do I uninstall the Book-on-CD?
If the software has been run from the CD-ROM drive, it is not necessary to uninstall the software because only one file--NP4CD.INI--was installed on your computer. You may delete the file NP4CD.INI from the \Windows directory. This is the only file that is written to the local hard disk drive.
If you used the Nwsetup program to install all of the NP4 files to a local hard disk or network file server, you should delete the directory in which you installed the software as well as the \NP4CD directory below it.
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Why can't I use some of the menu options in the Word Processing Lab?
Several functions in the text box used in the Word Processing Lab are not compatible with Windows NT 4.0. Students can complete the Steps and all Lab Assignments in Explore under Windows NT 4.0, but should not use the Edit/Select All, Edit/Find, or Edit/Replace functions because they do not function correctly under NT 4.0.
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Why can't I use some of the menu options in the Photo Editing Lab?
Under Windows NT, the Explore section of the Photo Editing Lab will not automatically open Paint. Students should be instructed to manually open Paint (Click Start, point to Accessories, click Paint), then open the file Dog.bmp. They will then be able to complete the exercises in the Explore section of the Lab.
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Things don't seem to fit on the screen. What's wrong?
Your computer might be set to display large fonts. The NP4 CD only works if you are using the standard Windows font size. To check this setting:
- Click the Start button, point to Settings, then click Control Panel.
- Double-click the Display option.
- Click the Appearance tab.
- Make sure that Windows Standard appears in the Scheme box.
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An error message appears when I try to run a video. How can I view the videos?
The Media Player and Video Compression components may not be installed on your computer. This can happen if Windows was installed on your computer using the Compact installation option. Insert your Windows CD and install the Media Player and Video Compression components to view the videos.
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After using my computer for a long computing session, strange things start to happen--videos and screentours won't play and my Tracking Results are not written to disk. What can I do?
During a long computing session, your computer can run low on system resources, particularly if you're running other programs at the same time. The solution is to exit the NP4 CD, then restart your computer. When you system reboots, everything should be back to normal. To avoid the problem in the future, try not to run other programs while using the NP4 CD. If using your computer for extra-long sessions--many hours at a stretch--you might want to periodically exit the program and/or reboot your system to make sure that sufficient system resources are available.
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I start the CD and everything seems fine, but after a few minutes, the program starts again. (Sometimes I find that I have multiple copies of the software running.) How can I stop this from happening?
Your computer's AutoRun feature might not be working properly. You may want to turn off, or disable, the AutoRun feature if this situation occurs frequently. To do so:
- Click the Start button, point to Settings, then click Control Panel. Double-click the System option. Click the Device Manager tab.
- Click the plus sign next to CD-ROM to display the CD-ROM drives that are installed on your computer.
- Right-click the name of your CD-ROM drive, then select Properties from the short cut menu that pops up.
- Click the Settings tab and make sure that a check mark appears in the box for Auto Insert Notification.
Use CTRL-ALT-DEL to make sure you do not have more than one copy of the software running. If you do, simply End Task on any additional copy shown.
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Why do I get an error saying "File not found: 'C:\WINDOWS\NP4CD.TMP\PERIPHS.MDB'"? [This message may also reference various other .mdb files.]
This message may appear on Network installations or other systems on which certain security protocols are in effect. The NP4 software requires users to have WRITE Rights to the Windows directory. The program writes temp .ini files to the Windows\TMP directory, which are removed when the session is ended and the user exits the program. Make sure that students have WRITE rights to the appropriate directories.
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When I choose Practice Test from the Assessments menu and create a Tracking disk, the first question appears blank. When I click on the Next button, I get the message "Subscript Out of Range." What's the fix?
Please get a newly formatted floppy disk and follow the directions below:
- Place the new floppy in the A:/ drive.
- Go to the Tests menu and choose the Practice test you would like to take.
- When the menu presents itself, please click Create Tracking File A:\Tracking.trk
- You will be presented with a screen that asks for First Name, Last Name, User ID, and Section. Please fill in these with no more than ten alpha/numeric (letter or numbers) characters. Do not use any punctuation, spaces, or special characters. Click OK.
- You should now be able to view the Practice Test questions and save the results to your Tracking Disk.
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Why can't I print?
Your computer might not have a printer selected under Windows. Click the Start button, point to Settings, then select Printers to open the Printers dialog box. Use the Add Printer option, if necessary, to add or select a printer.
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What if I can't solve my problem after reading these FAQs?
If you are using this product in a school lab, contact a lab assistant, a lab manager, or your instructor. These people understand the details of the lab installation and may be best prepared to help you troubleshoot.
If you need further assistance, send an e-mail to technical support by going to www.course.com/support and clicking Technical Support Request. If this route does not produce results, call 800-648-7450 and ask for Technical Support.
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