Microsoft Chat 2.1a Readme.txt File (183602)

MORE INFORMATION

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                             Microsoft Chat README
                                     December 1997
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                      (c) Copyright Microsoft Corporation, 1997


This document provides information to supplement the Microsoft Chat Web
page. The Frequently Asked Questions section on the Web contains more
up-to-date information. You can access this Web page by clicking the
Help menu, clicking Microsoft On The Web, and then clicking Frequently
Asked Questions.


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How to Use This Document
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To view Readme.txt on screen in Notepad, maximize the Notepad window.

To print Readme.txt, open it in Notepad or another word processor, and
then use the Print command on the File menu.


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CONTENTS
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1. Supported Configurations/Platforms
2. Connecting to Other IRC Chat Rooms
3. Support Information for Microsoft Chat
4. Frequently Asked Questions


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1. Supported Configurations/Platforms
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Microsoft Chat currently runs under Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0.
Microsoft Chat requires the following minimum configuration:

- A 486 processor
- 8 MB of RAM
- 256-color video
- A 9600-baud modem


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2. Connecting to Other IRC Chat Rooms
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If you want to connect to an IRC chat server that you already know
about, expand the Connect dialog box, and then type the server address
and channel name--for example, you might type the following:

     mschat1.msn.com, #Comic_Chat.

Microsoft Chat servers currently support the following channels:

     mschat1.msn.com, #Comic_Chat
     mschat1.msn.com, #Comic_Help
     mschat1.msn.com, #Newbies
     mschat1.msn.com, #Pet_Chat
     mschat1.msn.com, #Sports_Chat

     mschat2.msn.com, #Family_Chat
     mschat2.msn.com, #Internet_Chat
     mschat2.msn.com, #Politics_Chat
     mschat2.msn.com, #Singles_Chat

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3. Support Information for Microsoft Chat
-----------------------------------------

For support issues regarding Microsoft Chat, please refer to the
support.txt located in the same directory as the Microsoft Chat readme.txt.

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4. Frequently Asked Questions
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Q. Will you be updating Microsoft Chat?

A. We will update our Web site frequently. To view the updates, click
   the Help menu, click Microsoft On The Web, and then click Free Stuff.


Q. How do I connect to other IRC chat rooms or channels?

A. If you want to connect to an IRC chat room or channel that you
   already know about, carry out the following steps:

   1. If you are running with Internet Explorer 3.0 or 4.0, click the File
      menu, and then click New Window.

      Otherwise, you can just click New Connection.

   2. In the Connect dialog box, type the following information:

      - In the Server box, type the IRC server name.
        The default entry is mschat1.msn.com.
        Replace this with the IRC server you want to connect to.

      - In the Chat room box, type the chat room name, preceded by a
        number sign (#).
        The default channel name is #Comic_Chat.


Q. How can I tell which version of Microsoft Chat I am running?

A. If you are running Microsoft Chat outside of Internet Explorer, click
   the Help menu, and then click About Microsoft Chat. The version number
   is listed at the top of the box. From within Internet Explorer, you can
   click the Help menu, click Microsoft Chat Help, and then click About
   Microsoft Chat.


Q. Why can't I get access to any Microsoft Chat or IRC chat rooms?

A. If you are accessing the Internet from your corporate network, you
   will be able to download the Microsoft Chat program; however, most
   corporate proxy servers limit access to chat rooms. If you have any
   questions, please contact your system administrator or use a dial-up
   analog or ISDN line to access the Internet.


Q. Can I create my own comic characters?

A. Yes, you can create characters. To install the Microsoft Chat Character
   Editor click the Help menu, click Microsoft On The Web, and then
   click Free Stuff.

Q. Can I create my own backgrounds?

A. Microsoft Chat supplies a limited number of backgrounds, but more will
   be added soon. Backgrounds are bitmap files, which you can create with
   any graphics package.


Q. How does the emotion wheel (lower right corner) work?

A. The emotion wheel enables you to manually change your character's
   emotions. The center of the emotion wheel is neutral emotion. Where
   there are multiple levels of emotion, the intensity of the emotion
   increases as the control moves away from the center.

   To see a tooltip describing each emotion, rest your mouse pointer over
   one of the eight faces around the perimeter of the emotion wheel. To
   change your character's emotions, drag the control (the dark dot in
   the center of the emotion wheel) from the center of the emotion wheel.


Q. How can I tell characters apart when there are duplicate characters?

A. Move your mouse pointer over the character and then pause. A tooltip
   appears that displays the user name and character.


Q. How do I print?

A. On the File menu, click Print, click Properties, and then click
   Graphics. Change the resolution to 150 or 300 bps. This will speed
   up printing and still provide high quality.


Q. How big is Microsoft Chat to download?

A. The program with its existing artwork is currently 1 MB compressed.


Q. How much space does Microsoft Chat take up?

A. The Microsoft Chat program with its existing artwork is currently 4 MB.
   Upcoming artwork and character updates will increase this size.


Q. Can I uninstall Microsoft Chat?

A. Yes. To uninstall Microsoft Chat, carry out the following steps:

   1. In Control Panel, double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon.
   2. Click Microsoft Chat, and then follow the instructions on your
      screen.


Q. Why does it say my ID is in use when I go to another chat room?

A. Nicknames (IDs) must be unique. Your connection will be refused if:

   - You are already connected to a chat room on the server.
   - You recently disconnected and the server has not refreshed.
   - Someone else is using your nickname.

   To connect, you can either choose a new nickname or make sure that
   all Microsoft Chat clients have been closed and then wait a minute
   and reopen Microsoft Chat.


Q. How do I get more panels across the screen?

A. There are a few things you can try:

   - Increase your screen resolution. To do this, in Control Panel,
     double-click the Display icon, and then click the Settings tab.
   - Maximize the window.
   - Move the vertical splitter to the right to make the member list
     thinner.

   Once you have done this, click the View menu, and then choose the
   largest number of panels you can. Depending on your screen resolution
   and monitor size, you can select from one to four frames.


Q. What is the difference between Microsoft Chat and IRC chat?

A. Microsoft Chat is a graphical chat client that can be used like any
   text chat client on the IRC channel. Not everyone inside the channel
   (chat room) needs to be using Microsoft Chat for this to work. Text
   chat users will automatically be assigned a character, so the entire
   chat is graphically represented to the Microsoft Chat client user.

   NOTE: When you use Microsoft Chat on an IRC channel where most of
         the other users are using IRC text clients, it is a good idea
         to begin by clicking the Options menu and then selecting the
         Don't Send Microsoft Chat Specific Information check box. This
         will prevent special comics messages from being sent to the other
         chat clients. After you log off Microsoft Chat, the client will
         reset. The next time you log on, the check box is not selected.


Q. Why do I get an "HTTP 1.0 / 404 Object Not Found" error from the
   chat room Web page?

A. The names of the room files and the names of the channels on the server
   were changed. Your browser or Internet service provider may be caching
   the Web pages, and you are seeing the old page which links to files that
   no longer exist. To work around this problem, try refreshing the Web
   page or clearing the local cache if your browser caches the file.


Q. How do I connect to mschat1.msn.com if I am using AOL as my
   Internet service provider?

A. If you are using AOL to connect to the Internet, you will need to
   specify port number 7000 for the following mschat servers:

   - mschat1.msn.com
   - mschat2.msn.com
   - mschat3.msn.com

   To do this, in the Connect dialog box enter the server name followed by
   the port number--for example, mschat1.msn.com:7000. If this does
   not work, check the Frequently Asked Questions Web page for the latest
   information about this issue. You can view this Web page by clicking the
   Help menu, clicking Microsoft On The Web, and then clicking Frequently
   Asked Questions.


Q. I click the hot links--such as http:, mailto:--in text mode, but nothing
   happens. Why does this work in comics mode but not in text mode?

A. The hot links in text mode are dependent on the rich edit functions in
   Windows. Initially, the rich edit functions did not support the hot-link
   capability, but Windows NT and later versions of Windows 95 added this
   capability to rich edit. If you cannot use the hot links in text mode,
   you can always change to comics mode and use the hot links from there.


Q. I have Comic Chat 1.0 on my computer, and after installing Microsoft
   Chat 2.1, I see a shortcut to Comic Chat 1.0. Is it safe to delete the
   shortcut to Comic Chat 1.0?

A. If you installed Microsoft Chat 2.1 over Comic Chat 1.0, you might see
   Comic Chat 1.0 icons (as well as Microsoft Chat 2.1 icons) on the Start
   menu. You can safely delete the Comic Chat 1.0 icons; this will not
   affect the usability of Microsoft Chat 2.1. For more information, see
   the Microsoft Knowledge Base.


Q. I have a previous version of Comic Chat on my computer. Should I
   uninstall Comic Chat before installing Microsoft Chat?

A. We recommend that you uninstall any previous version of Comic Chat
   before installing Microsoft Chat 2.1. However if you did not uninstall
   Comic Chat before installing Microsoft Chat, you should not experience
   any problems with Microsoft Chat.

Q. I am using Chat 2.1 with Russian settings and when I join a room, where
   Chat 2.0 users with Russian settings are speaking, I don't recognize the
   characters. Why is this?

A. We changed the character set used for chatting in Chat 2.1, when the
   user has Russian settings. By using this new character set Chat 2.1 is
   now compatible with most chat programs on the internet. Chat 2.0 users
   should upgrade to Microsoft Chat 2.1 to become compatible with Chat 2.1
   and other chat clients on the internet.

Q. When I am chatting in rooms that don't start with a "#", Microsoft Chat
   2.0 users tell me that they don't recognize the characters I am sending
   them, even though we are using the same language. Why is this?

A. On some chat servers (such as mschat.msn.com) that support creating
   rooms without a "#", the character set used by Microsoft Chat 2.0 and
   Microsoft Chat 2.1 in these rooms may be different.

   i)  If Microsoft Chat 2.1 creates a room without a "#", Microsoft Chat
   2.1 user uses unicode character set to communicate in this room.
   Microsoft Chat 2.0 user might see the room listed in the room list
   dialog box beginning with a "%#". If Microsoft Chat 2.0 user enters such
   a room, it will not be able to communicate with Microsoft Chat 2.1,
   since 2.0 uses a different character set then the unicode character
   set. You can find out if the user is Microsoft Chat 2.0 user, by
   selecting their nickname from the member list and then selecting the
   Version command from the Member menu.

   ii) Microsoft Chat 2.1 will be able to enter rooms without a leading "#"
   created by Microsoft Chat 2.0 users, and the two clients will be able to
   communicate with each other.
     There are some problems with this:
        a) If the user uses characters outside the range of A-Z,
           Microsoft Chat 2.1 will not show these rooms correctly in the
           room list.
           In some languages the characters will not be recognizable.
        b) Microsoft Chat 2.1 will not show invitations to these rooms
           correctly. The room name in the invitation might not be
           recognized, if the room name contains characters not in the A-Z
           range.
        c) Trying to join Microsoft Chat 2.0 rooms using the "Enter Room"
           command or the initial "Connect Dialog" might not connect the
           user to the 2.0 room, but instead the user will join a 2.1 room
           with the same name. If you want to join the room that the chat
           2.0 user created, then you need to join the room from the room
           list.
        d) Certain error messages might show the room name incorrectly for
           2.1 users, if the room name was created by a 2.0 user, and it
           contains characters not in the A-Z range.

Q. Why can't I join the chat room, when I click on a mic URL link?

A. Currently the mechanism for launching chat from a web page using the
   mic: url is supported by Internet Explorer. If you have another browser,
   this launching mechanism might not be supported.

Q. On some IRC servers I can not use some characters in my nickname and on
   others servers I can use any character in my nickname. Why is this?

A. Microsoft chat 2.1 will allow you to use most characters in your
   nickname.  However depending on the chat server, you may not be allowed
   to use all characters in your nickname and the server will return you an
   error. Our default server mschat.msn.com is one of the chat servers
   which will allow you to use most characters including Far East
   character sets.