 FIVE FANTASTIC TASKS
TO GIVE ENCARTA 99 A WORK-OUT
How to install Encarta 99 trial edition
By Linda Bruce
Once you install the 30 day trial edition, you can
potter around and look up heaps of cool stuff. To compress the multi-CD version, some
multimedia features as well as the Research Organiser have been omitted. But here are five
pathways to access the riches in the trial version.
1. Take a virtual 360 degree
tour.
 In the lowland rainforest of the southern Yucatan peninsular, New Mexico, the
ancient Maya people built a massive ceremonial centre named Tikal. Tikal was a major
political, religious and trade centre that sustained a population of nearly 50,000 at its
height (AD 600-900).
To get there, click on the top menu:
Features/Virtual Tours and then click on The Maya Ruins at Tikal.
In this section you can virtually
stroll around the Great Plaza, the scene of religious rituals that included human
sacrifice and blood-letting by the Mayan kings.
Other virtual tours available in the
trial edition include the Space Shuttle, The Grand Coulee Dam, the USS Missouri aircraft
carrier, the Suleimanye Mosque and Westminster Abbey.
2. Interactivities!
Start at the main menu listing Encyclopedia
Articles, Media Features, Online features, Dictionary and Overview. Then click Media
Features to access a screen listing Virtual Tours, Media Gallery, Interactivities,
Timeline, Topic Trails, Collages, Atlas and Mindmaze. Select 'Interactivities; investigate
and learn with dynamic, hands-on activities'. Here, 24 activities are grouped under the
three broad categories of Humanities, Living World and Sciences. Topics range from
Population Chart, World Languages, and World Music Through Anatomy of a Human Hand, Insect
and Nautilus to Principles of Orbit, Pendulum and Probability.
Clicking Hand Anatomy presents a
diagram of a human hand showing nerves, muscles, ligaments, tendons, blood vessels and
bones. Simply click the categories to see labelled close-ups of each of these alone, and
access palm or dorsal views. Each diagram is accompanied by explanatory text.
Do you know what an insect looks
like? Insect Structure presents 16 parts for you to assemble and learn by: wings,
wing-cases, legs, feelers and just what are those knobbly bits? Place parts correctly and
the beetle flies away.
Easy? Then building a strand of DNA
will be no problem! Simply drag each nucleotide base to its complement in the partially
unwound structure of DNA to the right of the figure.
3. Sydney 2000
Go to the Find Menu which brings up the Pinpointer and click Word
Search. In the blank space presented 'Find all articles that include the words "
" and " "', type "Sydney" and "2000". From the 17
articles retrieved click Olympics. This reports that the 2000 Olympics will be held in
Sydney Australia and provides details on the history of the Olympics. Other articles note
that ballroom dancing may be included as a demonstration sport at the Olympics 2000 and
trace the evolution of ballroom dancing to dance sport.
4. Internet links
Links to the World Wide Web extend
and complement Encarta 99 Encyclopedia's coverage. Sites have been selected by the
editorial team and feature news, pictures, maps, audio, video, the full text of historical
documents and literary works, and a variety of interactive tools. An initial set of Web
links is included on the CD-ROM.
To access Web links, go to the
opening screen and select Online Features. Then from the categories of Yearbook, Web
Links, Downloads, Encarta Online and World Wide Web Tips, select "Web Links." On
the next screen presented, click "Directory".
This presents the categories of
Physical Sciences and Technology, Geography, Life Sciences, History, Social Sciences,
Religion, Art and Literature, Performing Arts, Sports, Games, Hobbies and Pets.
To find all Australian sites listed,
click the 'Word Search' button and input "Australia". This retrieves 120
Australian sites from the ABC Online and Abel Tasman through to Australian cattle dogs,
the West MacDonnell ranges and Whyalla.
The official Australian Football
League (AFL) site, for example, offers information on teams, players and match results,
along with a guide to the game of Australian Rules Football.
5. MindMaze
A fascinating quiz you can play on
four different skill levels. From the main menu select the Media Features page. When this
appears click on the MindMaze game.
On the game screen choose your area
of interest from life sciences; geography; history; physical science; social science;
religion and philosophy; art; language and literature; performing arts; sports, hobbies
and pets, or all of these. Then select a level of play, explore the castle and answer
quizzes as you go.
How to Install Encarta 99 Trial
Edition
System Requirements:
Pentium or higher
microprocessor
16 MB of RAM
24 MB for Win NT; 45 MB of hard disk space
2X CD ROM drive
Super VGA, 256 color monitor supporting 640 x 480 or higher resolution
Windows 95 or later, or Windows NT 4.0 operating system or later
Requires local bus video with 1 MB or more of video memory, Microsoft Mouse, Microsoft
Intellimouse, or compatible pointing device. Also recommended: 16 bit sound card with
speakers or headphones.
Check out the microsoft
site for more information about Encarta Encyclopedia 99.
Encarta 99 takes up the entirety of disk
2 in this set. To install Encarta 99 simply:
1. Insert Disc 2 into your CD-ROM
drive. This should Autostart the setup program for Encarta 99
2. If you have Autostart disabled,
open My Computer and double-click on the CD-ROM drive icon.
3. Double click the file setup.exe to begin the installation.
Then follow the instructions that appear.
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