WINDOWS COMPUTER SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

WHAT COMPUTER CAN I USE?

To view the Great Basin Visual Science Symposium web site, you can use either a Windows-based computer or an Apple Macintosh computer. How powerful a computer do you need? The following specifications are the minimum configurations required. If you can't meet these minimum requirements, your experience with the symposium site will be slower than you would like or errors may occur.

The information below is divided into two sections:

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR WINDOWS-BASED COMPUTERS

  1. Pentium-based processor (Pentium II or higher is best)
  2. Operating System Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows ME, or Windows NT. Windows 3.1 will NOT work with LearningSpace.
  3. Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or greater
  4. Netscape Navigator 4.0 or greater
  5. QuickTime for Windows 4.1.2 or greater
  6. Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 or greater (latest version)
  7. At least 64 MB of RAM.
  8. Internal Hard Drive with about 12 MB of space available for file downloads.
  9. Sound card with speakers or headphones
  10. Monitor capable of displaying a screen 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels high or greater resolution.
  11. Screen display capable of Super VGA quality with "thousands" (16 bit) or "millions" (24 bit) colors. A system that only displays 256 colors (8 bit) will not render colors correctly.
  12. Connection to the internet: You must have an account with an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that you dial up or a direct TCP/IP connection from your educational institution

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HOW TO DETERMINE YOUR COMPUTER'S PROFILE

 

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WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEM

To determine what version of the Windows Operating System you have on your computer (Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT, Millenium), follow these steps:

  • From the TASK BAR of your Windows computer, click the START BUTTON and select the menu option called SETTINGS.
  • Under SETTINGS, choose CONTROL PANELS. A window will open and display all the Control Panels for your computer.
  • In the CONTROL PANELS window, look for the Control Panel labeled SYSTEM. It will probably have an icon that looks like a little computer. Double-click the SYSTEM CONTROL PANEL to open it.
  • A window will open entitled SYSTEM PROPERTIES. In the SYSTEM PROPERTIES window, be sure the first TAB labeled GENERAL is selected.
  • The version of your Windows Operating System is displayed.

 

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WINDOWS COMPUTER PROCESSOR

To determine what type of computer processor you have on your computer (Pentium, Pentium II, Pentium Pro, etc.), follow these steps:

  • From the TASK BAR of your Windows computer, click the START BUTTON and select the menu option called SETTINGS.
  • Under SETTINGS, choose CONTROL PANELS. A window will open and display all the Control Panels for your computer.
  • In the CONTROL PANELS window, look for the Control Panel labeled SYSTEM. It will probably have an icon that looks like a little computer. Double-click the SYSTEM CONTROL PANEL to open it.
  • A window will open entitled SYSTEM PROPERTIES. In the SYSTEM PROPERTIES window, be sure the first TAB labeled GENERAL is selected.
  • The type of computer processor you have is displayed.

 

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RAM (Random Access Memory)

To determine how much RAM (Random Access Memory) you have on your computer, follow these steps:

  • From the TASK BAR of your Windows computer, click the START BUTTON and select the menu option called SETTINGS.
  • Under SETTINGS, choose CONTROL PANELS. A window will open and display all the Control Panels for your computer.
  • In the CONTROL PANELS window, look for the Control Panel labeled SYSTEM. It will probably have an icon that looks like a little computer. Double-click the SYSTEM CONTROL PANEL to open it.
  • A window will open entitled SYSTEM PROPERTIES. In the SYSTEM PROPERTIES window, be sure the first TAB labeled GENERAL is selected.
  • The amount of installed RAM you have is displayed and expressed in MegaBytes (MB).

 

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MONITOR OR DISPLAY PROPERTIES

To determine the Color Depth (256 Color, High Color-16 bit, True Color-24 bit, True Color-32 bit) and the Screen Resolution (640 by 480 pixels, 800 by 600 pixels, 1024 by 768 pixels, 1152 by 864 pixels, 1280 by 960 pixels, 1280 by 1024 pixels, 1600 by 1200 pixels) you have on your computer, follow these steps:

  • From the TASK BAR of your Windows computer, click the START BUTTON and select the menu option called SETTINGS.
  • Under SETTINGS, choose CONTROL PANELS. A window will open and display all the Control Panels for your computer.
  • In the CONTROL PANELS window, look for the Control Panel labeled DISPLAY. It will probably have an icon that looks like a computer monitor. Double-click the DISPLAY CONTROL PANEL to open it.
  • A window will open entitled DISPLAY PROPERTIES. In the DISPLAY PROPERTIES window, click the TAB labeled SETTINGS.
  • The Color Depth options and Screen Resolution options for your computer will be displayed.

 

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QUICKTIME PLAYER 4.1.2 OR GREATER

To determine if the QuickTime digital media player is installed on your computer, follow these steps:

  • From the TASK BAR of your Windows computer, click the START BUTTON and select the menu option called SETTINGS.
  • Under SETTINGS, choose CONTROL PANELS. A window will open and display all the Control Panels for your computer.
  • In the CONTROL PANELS window, look for the Control Panel labeled QUICKTIME. It will probably have an icon that looks like a "Q."

To determine which version of QuickTime you have installed, follow these steps:

  • Double-click the QUICKTIME CONTROL PANEL to open it. A window will open entitled QUICKTIME SETTINGS.
  • In the QUICKTIME SETTINGS window, select "About QuickTime" from the pull-down list.
  • The version of QuickTime that is installed on your computer is displayed.

If QuickTime is not installed on your computer, f ollow the instructions offered through the link Get QuickTime for Windows Computers.

 

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ADOBE ACROBAT READER PLUGIN 4.0 OR GREATER

The Adobe Acrobat Reader opens any text document saved in the PDF or Portable Document Format. With the reader installed on your computer and configured to seamlessly open PDF documents from within your Web browser, the ability to open, save and print documents has never been easier across Windows and Macintosh computer platforms.

Regardless of which version you may or may not have installed on your computer, we strongly recommend that you download and install the latest version of Acrobat Reader.

To get the Reader, f ollow the instructions offered through the link Get Acrobat PDF Reader for Windows Computers.

 

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