2. My CD does not auto start. How can I open the CD?
Various versions of Windows operating systems have different processes for enabling and disabling the CD-ROM autorun feature. To learn how your version handles this, click on Start, Help, then search for autorun and follow the instructions to turn this feature on. If you can't locate these instructions, you can open the home page of the CD by following these steps: 1) activate your Internet browser; 2) locate the home page file, usually the index.htm file, in the root directory of the CD-ROM using Windows Explorer; 3) double click the home page file to open it inside the browser. Then be sure to bookmark this page in your browser for convenient future access.
3. What screen resolution should I set for my display?
The CD-ROM can be run at any screen resolution; however, many files (particularly Excel worksheets) are optimized to be viewed at a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels.
If you use an 800 x 600 screen resolution, you may find it helpful to adjust your browser settings to optimize the display. To do this, follow the instructions below.
Internet Explorer: From the View pull-down menu, select Full Screen or use the F11 key to toggle to the Full Screen mode.
Netscape: Select the Options pull-down menu and turn off the Show Toolbar, Show Location, and Show Directory/Buttons options.
NOTE: If you run an 800 x 600 screen resolution and do not adjust your browser to the full-screen mode, you may need to scroll in order to view all of the content on each screen. Running screen resolutions lower than 800 x 600 is not recommended for this CD-ROM.
You can usually change your screen settings in one of the following ways:
Right click on your desktop, then select Properties, Settings tab, then adjust the slider to select from typical resolutions, such as 640 x 480, 800 x 600, and 1024 x 768.
Click the Start button, then Settings, Control Panel. In the Control Panel dialog box, double click the Display icon. Click the Settings tab, then adjust the slider to select the desired resolution (typical resolutions are 640 x 480, 800 x 600, 1024 x 768).
6. I have Excel on my computer but the CD worksheets pop up inside the browser. How do I get Excel worksheets to open directly inside Excel?
This is an issue with Internet Explorer, since by default all Microsoft applications are set up to open in the browser window. There are a few ways to get around this.
Right click on the link (usually highlighted in blue) then select Save Target As and save the file on your desktop or in your data directory. Then open Excel and locate the file.
If your operating system is Windows 2000 or XP, double click the My Computer icon on your desktop. Click Tools, then Folder Options from the drop-down menu at the top of the window. Click the File Types tab. Find the XLS extension, and click it to highlight it. Click the Advanced button. Uncheck Browse in same window.
If your operating system is Windows 98, double click the My Computer icon on your desktop. Click Tools, then Folder Options from the drop-down menu at the top of the window. Click the File Types tab. Find Microsoft Excel Worksheet, and click it to highlight it. Uncheck Browse in same window.
If your operating system is Windows 95, double click the My Computer icon on your desktop. Click View, then Options. Click the File Types tab. Find Microsoft Excel Worksheet and click it to highlight it. Uncheck Browse in same window.
7. I've added some info on the Excel spreadsheets but can't seem to save the file. What am I doing wrong?
The Excel spreadsheets are stored on a read-only file. When you select File, then Save As, the computer will allow you to save the file to your hard drive.
9. Excel does not appear to be calculating my answers—how do I fix this?
Iterations are required to use course spreadsheets. When a formula refers back to its own cell, either directly or indirectly, it is called a circular reference. To calculate such a formula, Excel must calculate each cell involved in the circular reference once by using the results of the previous iteration (the repeated calculation of a spreadsheet). Unless the iteration default settings are changed, Excel stops calculating after 100 iterations or after all values in the circular reference change by less than 0.001 between iterations, whichever comes first.
In Excel, click on Tools, then Options, then select the Calculations tab. Check the Iterations box (with at least 100 iterations). You'll need this setting to calculate circular references in some of the spreadsheets.
11. I pressed F11 to get a full screen view of an Excel spreadsheet in my browser, but this command drew a chart instead of increasing the size of my window.
The browser F11 command, which allows a full-screen page view, will not work when Excel is in the browser window. You can, however, view an Excel spreadsheet at full screen size when it is opened inside the Excel program (not the browser).
12. When I open an Excel spreadsheet, I can't see any function buttons.
When you open these files, an Excel window should prompt you to make a choice about macros. Always select "Enable Macros." The function buttons are driven by macros. When the buttons do not appear, this means the macros are not accessible. Your Internet security settings may be preventing the macros from loading. This happens more frequently in Office XP than older versions of Windows. Office XP users may have to change their security settings in Explorer (Tools, Internet Options) in order to view any spreadsheet with a macro. Set the security slider to medium. If the security level is set too high, the workbook macros will not work. This problem also can occur in Excel 97. To correct, click Tools, then Options, then select the General tab, then uncheck Macro Virus Protection.
13. I'm not seeing any drop-down menus like I've seen on other students' computers. What's wrong with my system?
To view the drop down menus, you must have one of the following browsers:
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Internet Explorer (version 4.0 or higher)
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Netscape Navigator (version 4.0 or 6.0+)
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Mozilla (version 9.x)
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Opera 5
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Mac Internet Explorer version 5
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Mac Netscape Navigator version 5
This CD-ROM is optimized for viewing with Microsoft's Internet Explorer version 5.0 or higher. Formatting in other browsers, while readable, may be somewhat altered.
14. When I try to open a PDF file, a color space error appears. How can I open the file?
Click the option to suppress further errors. Then, check your version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you haven’t upgraded to the latest version, you can do so from your CD-ROM. After installing the new Adobe Acrobat Reader, you need to close and reopen your browser, otherwise you will continue to see the color space error even though you've upgraded your version of the Reader.
15. I get this error message when I try to open a PDF file: “You cannot currently view Adobe PDF files from within your web browser due to a configuration problem. Would you like to fix the configuration?”
If you have Office XP you may see this message. Click Yes to fix the configuration, then uncheck the box that reads Always perform this check when starting Acrobat.
16. I just clicked a PDF file and my browser window went blank.
Check to see if you have the updated version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. An updated version of Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to use in-place activation. In-place activation is a function that opens a program file in Internet Explorer and displays the toolbars from the associated program.
If you are running a version of Internet Explorer earlier than Internet Explorer 5.5, a blank page may appear after you click a linked PDF file. You need to upgrade your browser to the latest version of Internet Explorer.
The security level for this zone may be set to high in Internet Explorer 4.0, 4.01, or 5. You may need to lower your security settings.
Another option is to configure PDF files so they appear in a separate Acrobat window by enabling the browser to use Acrobat or Acrobat Reader as a helper application. Internet Explorer or America Online (AOL) then starts Acrobat or Acrobat Reader, which displays PDF files within an Acrobat window instead of within the browser window.
To configure Acrobat or Acrobat Reader as a helper application:
Exit Internet Explorer or AOL.
Start Acrobat or Acrobat Reader.
Choose Edit, then Preferences, then General (Acrobat 5.0 or Acrobat Reader 5.0) or choose File, Preferences, then General (Acrobat 4.x or Acrobat Reader 4.x).
Select Options from the list, then uncheck Display PDF in Browser (Acrobat 5.0 or Acrobat Reader 5.0) or uncheck Web Browser Integration (Acrobat 4.x or Acrobat Reader 4.x).
Click OK, and then exit Acrobat or Acrobat Reader.
Restart Internet Explorer or AOL.
Note: The next time you select a link to a PDF file in Internet Explorer and AOL, a dialog box will prompt you to specify what to do with the file. If you select Open this file from its current location, Internet Explorer and AOL open the PDF file in Acrobat 4.0 or later or Acrobat Reader 4.0 or later as a helper application. If you select Save this file to disk, Internet Explorer saves the PDF file to your hard disk, from where you can open it later.
17. I connect to America Online (AOL) using my laptop, so every time I try to open Internet Explorer my computer tries to go online. How can I stop this?
The steps you need to take to change this will vary based on your browser and AOL version. One way you may be able to make this change is to go into the Control Panel under Internet Properties and select “never dial a connection” for AOL.
Microsoft has developed an update to correct a problem that may occur if you save an Office 2003 document that includes OfficeArt shapes created in an earlier version of Microsoft Office. Click here to open the Office 2003 Critical Update for OfficeArt from Microsoft's Web site.
To print part of a worksheet, select the relevant cells, then from the File menu select Print Preview. If your selection will not fit on one page, select Page Break Preview, from where you can adjust the page breaks. If your selection still will not fit on one page, try File, Page Setup, then select the Page tab and change the orientation to Landscape. From this tab, you can also adjust scaling to a lower percentage of normal size. This may be useful if you want to print a tenant or owner spreadsheet and your analysis is for less than the 10 years that these spreadsheets display.
