SUMMARY
The following is the complete MSWORKS.TXT file for Works for Windows,
multimedia edition, version 2.0 found in the MSWORKS directory.
- For additional information, please see the following article in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:
132992 Windows 95 Multimedia Questions and Answers
Welcome to Works!
Multimedia is a new technology, and the new combinations of hardware
and software can present a wide variety of potential performance and
configuration problems. This file contains a number of tips on
performance and system configuration that you'll want to check if you
have any problem running Works, or if you're just interested in
getting the best performance out of your system. Microsoft's Product
Support Technicians are always available to help you out, but if you
check here first you might find the answer right away.
Sound Problems
If you don't hear any sound when you play animated movies from the
Works online reference or tutorial, you'll want to make sure that you
have a sound card installed, a speaker hooked up, and the volume set
at a comfortable level. You can perform a sound check by selecting the
Sound option from the Windows Control Panel.
Improving Performance
Works for Windows, multimedia edition, version 2.0 uses a lot of your
system memory and speed to display the animated movies and the online
reference. You can improve your system performance by:
- Adding more extended memory to your system.
- Running Works without the SmartDrive device driver
that Windows may have installed on your system.
(To disable SmartDrive remove the DEVICE=SMARTDRV.SYS
line from your CONFIG.SYS. For more information see
Appendix D: Command Lines in the CONFIG.SYS in the
Windows 3.0 User's Guide.)
- Setting up a permanent Windows SwapFile on your hard
drive (if you're running on a 386). See "Setting Up a
Permanent Windows SwapFile" Chapter 13 in the
Windows 3.0 User's Guide. Normally Windows creates its
own temporary SwapFile, but if your hard disk is full
or fragmented, this temporary file occasionally becomes
unavailable. Make this SwapFile at least 2048 Kb.
- Using a 16 color driver for your display, even if
you have a 256 color card, when running on a 20 MHz or
slower system with only 2 meg of RAM. (To change the
display driver, run the Microsoft Windows Setup program
from DOS or Windows and select the standard VGA
driver.)
- Defragment, or "clean up", your hard disk by running
a disk defragmentation program. Third-party utility and
disk optimization programs often provide a
defragmenting program.
Troubleshooting
If you're not getting any sound from your system, make sure that your
speaker or headphones are plugged into the sound jack on your sound
card, and not into the sound jack you may have on the front of your
CD-ROM drive.
If you're running Works on a 386 with only 2 meg of memory and are
encountering out of memory errors, or if the audio is broken up and
animations are slow, you should check to see if you're running in
Standard mode Windows. Choose About Program Manager... from the
Program Manager Help menu to see which mode you're running in.
If you're in Standard mode, make sure that you're starting Windows by
typing WIN at the DOS prompt. If Windows defaults to Standard rather
than Enhanced mode on a 386 then it's probably because you don't have
enough memory free. Try removing SmartDrive from your CONFIG.SYS file,
if it's installed, or cutting down the size of any RAM drive you may
have set up. (See Appendix D of the Microsoft Windows 3.0 User's
Guide.)
When running in Enhanced mode on a 2 meg 386 you may still encounter
memory problems or sound breaks. Make sure that when you start Windows
you have a permanent SwapFile of at least 2048 Kb. (See Chapter 13 of
the Windows 3.0 User's Guide)
Sound breaks on any config with a 256 color card are usually the
result of a low memory situation and can usually be fixed by switching
back to a 16 color driver; this means Works will need less memory to
display the graphics and can use it to keep the sound and animation
flowing smoothly.
Things to Note
If you wish to leave the Works tutorial temporarily to run another
application that plays sound, quit the tutorial first. Otherwise the
other application may not be able to play any sound.