Oxford English Dictionary 2nd Edition Version 2.0
System Requirements
- PC with minimum 200MHz Pentium-class processor
- 32 Mb RAM (64 Mb recommended)
- 750MB hard disk space (required for indexes)
- 16-speed CD-ROM drive (32-speed recommended)
- SVGA monitor: 800×600 pixels; 16-bit setting recommended (High colour; 64K)
- Windows 95, 98, NT4*.
* Local Administrator permissions are required to install and run the OED
Technical Issues
1: Copy-protection software incompatible with Windows Me, 2000 and XP
At the time of publication the copy-protection software included on the OED version 2.0 was not compatible with Windows Me, 2000 or XP. A patch has been produced to fix this problems and is available from the Authentication Drivers page.
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2: Incompatibility with OED version 1
It is possible to have the OED version 1 and version 2.0 installed on the same computer, but in order for this to work, the two programs need to be installed in different folders. As a default the OEDv1 is installed to
and OEDv2.0 is installed to
C:\PROGRAM FILES\OED\OED CD V2
Each time the OEDv2.0 is opened and the FINISH button is clicked, the copy-protection software attempts to open the old OEDv1 giving an error message about not being able to find the correct CD-ROM. To resolve this problem uninstall OEDv1 and reinstall it to a different folder, e.g.
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3: Incompatibility with Norton Antivirus
Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect can prevent the OED from opening fully. The OED passes the Authentication process successfully and opens the Homepage, but at this stage the mouse pointer stays in the hourglass position indefinitely and eventually Windows becomes unstable. To tackle this problem, first try disabling the Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect before opening the OED. If the OED opens completely, then this shows that the Norton Auto-Protect is the source of the problem. To resolve this issue permanently, the Norton Auto-Protect needs to be told not to attempt to scan the OED data files when the OED program is opened. To do this, the OED data files can be added to the EXCLUSION list in the Norton Antivirus OPTIONS. Use the instructrions below for guidance on how to achieve this.
| [1] |
Open the Norton AntiVirus
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| [2] |
Click on the button OPTIONS
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| [3] |
Click on the EXCLUSIONS tab
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| [4] |
Click the NEW button
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| [5] |
In the ITEM box, type D:\DATA\*.HTM (replacing the letter D with the drive letter of your CD drive)
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| [6] |
In the EXCLUDE FROM area, tick the box VIRUS DETECTION, click OK
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| [7] |
Close Norton AntiVirus
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4: Incompatibility with ARMON32.EXE
The ARMON32.EXE is a program called Access Ramp Monitor which is automatically installed by some Internet Service Providers to montior internet access for marketing purposes. The program usually opens automatically when Windows starts. When ARMON32 is open and an attempt is made to open the OED, the result is usually an Illegal Operation message. To resolve this problem, the ARMON32 should be disabled before opening the OED. Use the instructions below to guide you through this process.
| [1] |
Press <Ctrl>+<Alt>+<Del> once, this should bring up the CLOSE PROGRAM box
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| [2] |
Select the item in the list called ARMON32 choose the END TASK button. Wait a few seconds. If a confirmation message appears, choose END TASK again
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| [3] |
Attempt to run the OED
|
To disable the ARMON32 program permanently, check the START | PROGRAMS | STARTUP folder and remove the Access Ramp Monitor shortcut.
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5: Fonts appear unreadable, in Greek or as boxes
If the Dictionary of National Biography is installed on the computer, then please see Technical Issue number 6: for details on how to tackle this problem.
Problems displaying fonts usually happen because the fonts have become corrupted, damaged, or are simply missing from the computer. To correct this problem, delete the OED fonts (list shown below)from the computer using the FONTS Control panel. Check also that none of these fonts are found in the
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM folder, deleting them if necessary. Restart the computer, and install the OED fonts from the folder TEMPFONTS folder found in
C:\PROGRAM FILES\OED\OED CD V2\
List of installed OED fonts
- aribioup.ttf
- ariboup.ttf
- arioup.ttf
- aritoup.ttf
- hadas.ttf
- pi6oup.ttf
- pi7oup.ttf
- pi8oup.ttf
- pi9oup.ttf
- Pitenoup.ttf
- Plaa____.ttf
- Plaab___.ttf
- Plaabi__.ttf
- Plaai___.ttf
- planboup.ttf
- planioup.ttf
- planoup.ttf
- planzoup.ttf
- plcoup97.ttf
- porgrk.ttf
- porgrk2.ttf
- tnrphon.ttf
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6: Incompatibility between the OED and the DNB fonts
There is a known problem between the OED fonts, and the fonts installed by the Dictionary of National Biography. If both programs are installed then the fonts can appear unreadable in both the OED and the DNB. To resolve this problem, it is necessary to uninstall both the OED and the DNB programs.
Use the list of fonts provided below to check that all the fonts associated with both these programs have been removed from the computer, deleting them if necessary. Check the FONTS control panel and also the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM folder. Once satisfied that all these fonts have been removed, restart the machine.
Install the OED in the usual way and verify that the fonts appear correctly at this stage. Install the DNB choosing not to install the fonts when prompted. Once the DNB installation has completed, install the DNB fonts manually using the FONTS control panel. It is important to only install two of the DNB fonts, Oupdnb0 and Oupdnb1, leaving the others uninstalled.
List of installed OED fonts
- aribioup.ttf
- ariboup.ttf
- arioup.ttf
- aritoup.ttf
- hadas.ttf
- pi6oup.ttf
- pi7oup.ttf
- pi8oup.ttf
- pi9oup.ttf
- Pitenoup.ttf
- Plaa____.ttf
- Plaab___.ttf
- Plaabi__.ttf
- Plaai___.ttf
- planboup.ttf
- planioup.ttf
- planoup.ttf
- planzoup.ttf
- plcoup97.ttf
- porgrk.ttf
- porgrk2.ttf
- tnrphon.ttf
List of installed DNB fonts
- Oupdnb_a.ttf
- Oupdnb_b.ttf
- Oupdnb_c.ttf
- Oupdnb_d.ttf
- Oupdnb_e.ttf
- Oupdnb_f.ttf
- Oupdnb_g.ttf
- Oupdnb_h.ttf
- Oupdnb_k.ttf
- Oupdnb_m.ttf
- Oupdnb0.ttf
- Oupdnb1.ttf
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7: The FIND WORD icon is missing from the main search area
This problem is related to the display settings of the particular computer. If the font size is set to a size larger than 125%, then the FIND WORD icon will not be displayed and even though the mouse pointer changes to indicate that there is a link there, clicking that area does not initialize the search. To reduce the font size, use the DISPLAY control panel and click the ADVANCED button.
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8: Error message - “Authentication Failed”
If experiencing problems with the authentication process, firstly make sure that the correct CD is in the drive when clicking the FINISH button. The text appearing in the MAIN window requesting the "original CD-ROM" is actually refering to the OED version 2.0 Data CD, not the Installation CD or the old OED version 1 Data CD. Unfortunately it was not possible to change the wording on this MAIN window to make it less ambiguous before the OED was published.
If the correct CD-ROM is in the drive, but the OED is still not authenticating successfully, download the latest Authentication Drivers.
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9: Error message - “Please insert the correct CD Rom, select OK, and restart the application”
The text appearing in the MAIN window requesting the "original CD-ROM" is actually refering to the OED version 2.0 Data CD, not the Installation CD or the old OED version 1 Data CD. Unfortunately it was not possible to change the wording on this MAIN window to make it less ambiguous before the OED was published.
If the correct CD-ROM is in the drive, but the OED is still not authenticating successfully, download the latest Authentication Drivers.
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10: Error message - “Unable to read CD-ROM. Ensure the text CD is in the drive, and retry when the drive is ready”
Once the authentication process has completed successfully, the OED Homepage will open. If the above error message appears, it is usually because the OED program is looking in the wrong drive letter for the OED data. Usually the OED expects to find the data CD in the same drive letter as the drive used for the installation. If there is more than one CD drive on the system, the same CD drive must be used for the data CD as was used for the installation. In addition to this, it is possible that the CD-ROM drive letter has changed since the OED installation took place, for example if an additional drive has been added to the system. To change the settings so that the OED looks in the correct drive letter for the data, open the OED.INI file, usually found in the C:\WINDOWS folder, or
C:\WINNT folder. Amend the line starting CD_PATH= to indicate the correct CD drive letter.
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11: Error message - “OEDCD_V2.EXE has generated errors and will be closed by Windows”
The above error occurs during the authentication process when the current user is not logged in with Administrator permissions. In order to pass the authentication process, the user must have local administrator rights.
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12: Error message - “Error initializing the printer. Out of memory”
This problem usually occurs on Windows 2000 computers which have the default printer set as a shared printer, attached to another computer on a network. If the machine acting as a printer server is not switched on when the OED is opened, the above error message appears. To resolve this problem, either switch on the printer server, or set the default printer on the Windows 2000 machine to a generic local non-existing printer.
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13: Error message - “Entry cannot be accessed. Close OED and try again. If problem recurs reinstall the OED”
An example of this is the word FERMI, when searching for this word the above error message appears. Although the word appears in the list of entries on the left of the screen, clicking on the word also generates the above error message.
If a new word is found to generate the above error message, please report this to the Customer Service department.
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14: Slow or sluggish searching
To speed up searching, it is possible to copy the OED data to the hard disk so that it performs searching from there rather than using the CD-ROM drive. Unfortunately the CD is still required in the drive to pass the authentication process, but accessing the OED data from the hard disk should be faster than using the CD-ROM drive.
Copy the DATA folder and all its contents from the CD-ROM (approx. 600mb) to a folder on the hard disk, e.g. C:\OED\DATA. Open the OED.INI file, usually found in the C:\WINDOWS folder or the C:\WINNT folder. Amend the line starting CD_PATH= to indicate the folder the OED data has been copied to, in this example CD_PATH=C:\OED. It's important not to include the DATA folder as part of the CD_PATH statement.
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15: Using the OED on Windows 2000 and XP
Local Administrator permissions are required in order to run the OED on Windows 2000 or XP. In some versions of Windows, namely NT4, 2000 and XP, it is possible to assign different permissions to each user, thus enabling less experienced user to have restricted access to the machine. When referring to logging in with Administrator permissions, this means the user with the most control over the machine. To check what type of permissions a user has it is best to search the Windows Help, because it may be different for each version of Windows.
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