Troubleshooting

Some users may experience some minor obstacles when installing or running the Britannica Student Library CD application. The list below outlines a few common scenarios; each scenario links to an explanation that will help you to deal with the issue. For information on obtaining additional assistance from Britannica Technical Support, see the Contacting Britannica section.

 

Error message: 'Quicktime is missing or incorrectly installed.'

If the above error message is displayed when attempting to start Britannica Student Library CD, you may not have Quicktime installed.

To install Quicktime:

  1. Insert your Britannica Data Disc.

  2. From My Computer, explore the disc in order to locate the 'support' folder.

  3. Double-click the Quicktime Installer icon to begin the Quicktime setup.

 

Error message: 'A component of Quicktime 6 that is not installed on this machine is required for full multimedia functionality.'

This error appears when you are missing the 'Quicktime for Java' component of the Quicktime Player. You can resolve this issue by downloading and installing this component using the Quicktime Updater.

To install the Quicktime for Java component:

  1. Connect to the Internet

  2. Click the Start button on your Windows Taskbar

  3. Choose Programs (or All Programs for Windows XP) and then select Quicktime

  4. From the displayed programs, click on Quicktime Updater

  5. When all of the update information is finished downloading, you will see a window titled 'QuickTime Component Install'

  6. Click the Custom button and then find and select 'Quicktime for Java' from the displayed list

  7. Click Update Now. When the download completes (approx. 1 MB), you should be able to view multimedia content within the Britannica Student Library CD application

 

Installing Britannica Student Library CD on Macintosh OS 10.2 (Jaguar)

Britannica uses Java 1.4 technology, which is not installed by default on Macintosh OS 10.2 (Jaguar). Therefore, only OS 10.3 is officially supported by Encyclopµdia Britannica. However, Britannica can be made to run on OS 10.2 given the following conditions:

To check if your computer meets these two requirements, you can use the System Profiler:

  1. Click the Apple menu and select About This Mac.

  2. On the screen that appears, make note of the OS version that is installed.

  3. Click the More Info... button that is displayed.

  4. Look on the Software Application tab to see if any variant of Java 1.4 is listed.

Both of these updates are available from the Software Update tool available in System Preferences. If you do not already have them installed, you can install them using the steps below:

  1. Click the Apple menu and select System Preferences.

  2. From System Preferences, click on Software Update.

  3. Download the latest OS Update that is available. At the time of this writing, OS 10.2.8 is the most recent update.

  4. After installing the OS update, you will need to restart your computer.

  5. When your computer restarts, revisit the Software Update tool and select the now-available Java 1.4.1 update.

  6. Install Britannica.

Note: OS 10.2 is not officially supported by Encyclopµdia Britannica. We have provided the instructions above as a convenience to OS 10.2 users, but we did not test or design our application for this platform. As a result, your experience may vary.

 

Systems with the PC-Cillin virus scanner installed may experience longer than usual installation times or degraded performance when using the program.

If your system has the virus scanner 'PC-Cillin' running in the background, the performance of the Britannica program may be severely degraded. This is due to the 'Active Scan' feature of PC-Cillin attempting to read Britannica's compressed data files at the same time as the Britannica program itself. In most cases, disabling this feature will alleviate the performance issues. However, some customers may need to completely disable the virus scanner whenever the Britannica program is in use. For more information on this issue, please consult our Technical Support Web Site.

 

Virus scanners may affect the performance of the Britannica application

In some cases, it may be necessary to disable your virus scanner while running the Britannica application. Most virus scanners come configured to scan all files that are opened by any running program. Since Britannica's data files are highly compressed and complex, this sort of real-time scanning by your virus program could adversely affect the program's performance. For information on how to disable real-time scanning, please see your virus-scanner's documentation.

 

Having too many article windows open may hinder performance.

Having too many article windows open at the same time can hinder the program's performance. The maximum number of windows that can be open will depend on your computer system. In order to allow the Britannica program to operate most effectively, keep the amount of open windows to a minimum.

 

Printing a map in Portrait mode may produce undesired results.

If you are having difficulty with the way maps appear when printed in Portrait mode, try opening 'Print Setup' and choosing 'Landscape' mode instead.

 

Printing a Research Organizer HTML report in the 'Elegant' layout in Windows 98.

Windows 98 users who print an HTML report in the 'Elegant' layout may experience some formatting problems with the printout. If you are experiencing such formatting problems, use the 'Simple' layout instead.