Help

The Ingredients you need to access the TechShare Websites
Slow Connections

Close all applications
Empty your cache on your browser
Cache selected pages

Shockwave and Flash Plugin Installation
RealPlayer 8 Basic Installation
Quicktime Installation
Windows Media Player Installations

Navajo Fonts

Ingredients to access the TechShare Websites

a computer
a modem or ethernet card
a telephone line or cable that gives you access to a server
internet connection software such as AOL, Earthlink, AT&T WorldLink, or any other software from an Internet Service Provider (ISP)
navajo font

To take full advantage of the multi-media presentations included in this web site, it is recommended that you have at least the following:

Intel Pentium PC or better, or Macintosh PowerPC or better.
Modem (28.8 speed), or other connection to the internet.
Sound capabilities (i.e., audio card & speakers).
Monitor capable of displaying at least 256 colors.
Mouse and Keyboard.
Windows 95/98/NT PC operating system, or Macintosh System 7 or higher.

Slow Connections

The speed with which websites download onto your computer varies due to different connection rates. If you have a modem or ethernet connection you probably have either a 14.4kbs, 28.8kbs, T1, or ISDN connection. Because we know the schools have a variety of connection speeds we tried to design our sites to load quickly even on the slowest of connections. However, here are some hints as to how you might be able to speed up your connection.

Close all applications

First close all other applications on your computer. In doing so, you free up more of your RAM memory for the web browsers to work more effectively.

Empty your cache on your browser.

The cache is a temporary location where the browser stores recently visited sites. If you clear the cache or delete what files are currently in there you leave more room to store the web pages that you are working with.

Clearing Cache in Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher

Go to the Tools menu bar and select Internet Options...
Under the General tab, go to the Temporary Internet Files section and select Delete Files... and then select o.k. when the confirmation pop up window appears. Then select the Clear History button at the bottom of the General tab page.

Clearing Cache in Netscape Navigator 4.0 or higher

Go the Edit menu bar and select Preferences...
Under the History section select Clear History and then select o.k. when the confirmation pop up window appears.

Cache Selected Pages

After you empty your cache you can fill it up again with all the pages that you will use with the TECH Share Lesson. Just by visiting the web pages once, the computer copies the information to your hard drive. Thus, when you revisit those pages the browser will look on your hard drive rather than go to the internet and download all the information a second time.

Browsers

Browsers allow you to view text, images, and other data from the internet. You are probably viewing this through a browser. The TechShare Project websites are viewable through all browsers. However, the sites are optimized for best viewing using Netscape Navigator 4.0 or higher and Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher browsers. Currently, you can download the most recent versions of these browsers for free at the following websites:

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 (16 MB required memory)

Netscape Navigator (16 MB required memory)

Browser Error Messages

What do you do if you see the following Error Messages on your screen?

"Timed out, " "No Answer" or "Too busy"

The computer that has all of the websites is either down or has too many people connected to it. If you receive this message, continue to hit the reload button or try again later.

"403 Forbidden"

Some of the websites are password protected -- that means the material can only be viewed by certain people -- and unless you have certain permissions you are not allowed to enter that part of the site. If you receive this message go back to the previous page and enter at the locations where you have access.

"Error 404, Page/File not found"

This is an ambiguous message that could result from any one of the following reasons:

the link no longer exists
the URL is not valid or has been changed
you entered the URL incorrectly (check spelling errors, make sure lower and upper case are correct (browsers are case sensitive)
if the URL has more than one directory level, move up the path until you make a connection to the server -- this won't always work
if you are still having trouble use a search engine to relocate the new URL (if there is one)

This site is best viewed with Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer. For best results, make sure Java and JavaScript are enabled in your browser preferences.

The plug-ins required for the TECH Share web pages vary by page. However, all plug-ins are available on the internet for free. Though each plug-in differs, you will generally need to download and then install each plug-in before you can use it. Click the links to these files to see if you can view each media type. If nothing happens there is probably a problem with the plug-in or you need to download the plug-in.

Macromedia Shockwave and Flash Player
RealPlayer
QuickTime 4 or higher
If one or none of the above plugins worked here are the directions on you go about installing the plugins on your machine.

Shockwave Flash Plugin Installation

1. Open your browser and type the following into the Address bar and then select your enter button.
http://www.macromedia.com/downloads/

2. Select Macromedia Shockwave and Flash Players from the main page.

3. Go to Step 1 and select the Click Here to Autoinstall Now button. Wait for the program to download then select Yes.

RealPlayer 8 Basic Installation

1. Open your browser and type the following into the Address bar and then select your enter button.|
http://www.real.com

2. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select Free Download for the RealPlayer 8 Basic.

3. They are a little tricky here and send you to the RealPlayer 8 Plus page but down in the bottom left hand corner it says RealPlayer 8 Basic is our free player.

4. Select the RealPlayer 8 Basic and then type in your email address, United States, your operating system and your connection speed (there is an other/don't know option here too). Select Download FREE RealPlayer 8 Basic located at the bottom of the page.

5. Select the radio button that chooses RealPlayer 8 Basic Minimum and then select Download FREE RealPlayer 8 Basic Now.

6. Choose a SF Bay Area, CA download location to begin your download. Wait until the File Download box opens and ignore what appears on your browser..

7. Save the program to disk if you are running at a slow connection speed. If you are running at a high connection speed select Run this program from its current location.

8. If you run it from the current location select run program now and the windows will guide you through the installation. Stay with the defaults if you like or customize them for your needs.

9. If you run the program from your computer, double-click the program and that will start the installation program and the windows will guide you through the installation.

QuickTime Installation

1. Open your browser and type the following into the Address bar and then select your enter button.
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/

2. In the bottom left hand corner of the page fill out your email address, first and last name, select your operating system, and language then select Download Quicktime.

3. Save the program to disk if you are running at a slow connection speed. If you are running at a high connection speed select Run this program from its current location.

4. If you run it from the current location select run program now and the windows will guide you through the installation. Stay with the defaults if you like or customize them for your needs.

5. If you run the program from your computer, double-click the program and that will start the installation program and the windows will guide you through the installation.

6. Although the installation program prompts you for a registration number you do not have to enter one and can just continue through the installation without entering this information.

Windows Media Player Installation

1. Open your browser and type the following into the Address bar and then select your enter button.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/en/download/default.asp

2. Windows Media Player for whatever type of operating system you are working on and the language you would like it in (i.e., English). Then select download now.

3. Save the program to disk if you are running at a slow connection speed. If you are running at a high connection speed select Run this program from its current location.

4. If you run it from the current location select run program now and the windows will guide you through the installation. Stay with the defaults if you like or customize them for your needs.

5. If you run the program from your computer, double-click the program and that will start the installation program and the windows will guide you through the installation.

Navajo Font

Right Click (your mouse) here and copy this Navajo Font to your systems font directory.

Typically your font directory is located in the following directories:

Windows 95/98
c:\windows\fonts\

Windows NT
c:\winnt\Fonts\

Macintosh

Hard Disk
System Folder
Fonts directory