
Helen Bradley gets you started with
Microsoft NetMeeting.
Follow these simple steps.
Step 1: Use the Windows Sound Recorder to test your microphone and
speakers. Make sure that you can record and playback sound before you continue.
Step 2: Connect to the Internet and then
select Microsoft NetMeeting from your Internet Explorer program folder.
Step 3: Work through the NetMeeting
configuration Wizard, if you're unsure about any option, select the default settings. The
Wizard asks you for information about yourself, the directory server to connect to, your
video preferences and gives you the option to customise your audio features. If you make a
mistake or want to change any of these options later on, select Tools, Options and make
your changes from the dialogue boxes.
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Making a call
Step 4: When you load NetMeeting you'll be logged onto your default
server. Select the Directory Tab to see a list of people on this server. You can call
another user by selecting their name and clicking on the Call button and selecting Call.If you know a user is on a particular server, whether or not you're on that
server, you can call them using their server name and e-mail address. Click the Call
button and then type their servername followed by their e-mail address, for example,
uls.microsoft.com/user^at^address.com.au will call the person with the e-mail address
user^at^address.com.au on the server uls.microsoft.com (see Figure 1a).
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Figure 1b: Use the Call
dialogue to place a call to a person if you know the server they use and their e-mail
address.
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Adding users
Step 5: To add an additional user to your meeting, place a call to them
or accept a call from them.Other people in
your meeting can also add other people by calling them or accepting a call from them.
There's an upper limit of 32 people in a meeting at one time.
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Figure 2b: You can run the
Audio Wizard at any time to tune your audio settings.
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Using the microphone
Step 6: To speak to the other person, make sure the microphone check box
in the top-left of the screen is selected, hold the microphone a short distance from your
mouth and speak. If your voice is distorted, hold the microphone further away. |
Improving
sound quality |
If you're having
difficulty with sound, try running Audio Tuning wizard: Step 1: Disconnect from any NetMeeting call by
selecting the HangUp button.
Step 2: Select Tools and
select Audio Tuning Wizard and follow the instructions on the screen.
If sound quality remains poor, try
switching from full duplex to half duplex. Half duplex consumes less bandwidth and
requires less processing by your CPU and this may improve sound quality. To switch:
Step 1: Disconnect from
any NetMeeting call by selecting the Hang Up button.
Step 2: Select
Tools, Options, select the Audio tab and deselect the Enable Full Duplex Audio So I Can
Speak While Receiving Audio check box.
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Improving
video quality |
To improve video
quality:
Step 1: Close down any unnecessary applications on your desktop.Step 2: Experiment with the camera
settings by selecting Tools, Options, Video tab and select the Source and Format buttons.
You may find manually adjusting these settings gives better performance than leaving it to
your video driver software do it for you.
Whatever the case, video is a big consumer
of bandwidth and CPU processing effort. Don't expect quality video if you're not using a
fast Pentium machine, if you're using a parallel port camera (especially if your parallel
port is unidirectional), a slow modem connection (28.8 baud or worse), a slow Internet
connection or if you're using audio or other shared applications at the same time. |
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Using video
If you have a video camera you can send video to another person in the meeting regardless
of whether or not they have a camera. To send video:Step 7: Check the image you will be sending by selecting the
Current Call tab and select the button at the bottom of the My Video window.
You can choose to send video automatically when the call
begins by selecting Tools, Options, Video tab and select the Automatically Send Video at
the start of each call check box. Alternately, you can begin sending video at any time by
clicking the button on the My Video window.
To automatically receive video from another person, whether
or not you have a camera, select Tools, Options, Video tab and select the Automatically
Receive Video at the start of each call check box. Alternately, you can begin receiving
video at any time by clicking the button on the Remote Video window.
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Using collaboration tools
Step 8: As well as speaking to the other person you can use one or more
of the collaboration tools. Select these using the Tools menu and then your choice of
Chat, Whiteboard and File Transfer, or choose the appropriate icon from the toolbar. |
Sharing audio and
video
You can only share audio or video with one person at a time but you can share other
collaborative tools such as the Whiteboard or Chat with more than one person.Step 9: To change the person you're
sharing audio and video with, select the Tools menu and then Switch Audio and Video and
select the person to share audio and video with.
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Finishing the call
Step 10: To finish your call, click the Hang Up button or select the Call
menu and choose Hang Up. When you hang up you'll automatically disconnect from anyone whom
you have called and anyone who has called you. |
Receiving a call
You can only receive calls if you're running NetMeeting and you haven't selected the Do
Not Disturb option on the Call menu. If someone calls you, a small dialogue box will
appear at the foot of your screen.To accept
the call click on the Accept button. To reject it, click on the Ignore button.
If a call is automatically accepted it will be because you
have the program set to automatically accept incoming calls. Disable this feature by
selecting Tools, Options, General tab and deselect the Automatically accept incoming calls
option.
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Do not disturb
The Do Not Disturb function allows you to be unavailable for calls but still have
NetMeeting loaded and be logged onto a server. Set this option using by selecting Call,
and Do Not Disturb. |
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Using the Directory
The Directory list shows all the people logged into the server you're using. It's
periodically updated, although you can force an update by selecting the Refresh button on
the toolbar and you can stop an update by selecting the Stop button. Click any field
heading in the directory list to order the list alphabetically by that field.You can also use the Category list in the Directory tab to narrow down the
list of names to a more manageable group. The actual categories you'll see will depend on
whether you've classified yourself as Personal, Business or Adults Only use. The first
five categories relate to your classification and narrow it down in various ways. The All
category includes everyone on the server you're logged into and the remaining groups are
people in categories other than the one you're classified as.
Like Netscape Conference, don't be surprised to find people
you've never heard of calling you for a chat. If you don't want your name published in the
directory select Tools, Options and the Calling tab and select the Do Not List My Name In
The Directory option. People can still call you if they know your e-mail address but you
won't receive unsolicited calls.
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Handy resources
Microsoft NetMeeting: http://www.microsoft.com/netmeeting/
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