DOWNLOAD PROBLEMS

Downloading is very, very, very slow I run NetMechanic performance reports occasionally, and the last report rated download time in the 85th percentile, which is very good indeed. However, download speeds depend mostly on traffic. If there is a lot of internet traffic, then either the connection between you and the mckernon.com web site can be congested, or the mckernon.com server itself can be clogged with other people accessing the server. Try downloading at a less-used time of day or on a different day of the week. Weekend nights are generally the worst, while weekday mornings around 11am are usually very good.

Windows: "Could not initialize installation (CRC)" Ah, the wonders of Windows! I called the Wise installer tech support folks, and according to them, the problem is probably not with the file you downloaded, but with one or more settings on your computer. If you are running either Windows 95 or 98: Go to the DOS prompt and enter the word SET. Look at the list you get and find the line that says TEMP= Look at the name of the directory listed after that. On my system the line says TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP Then go see if that directory exists. If it doesn't exist or isn't writable, then you'll get the CRC error message. Another possibility is one or more missing DLL's. Be sure your system has VER.DLL and DDEML.DLL in your Windows\System directory. Everybody's system should have them, but if either one is missing then you'll get the CRC error message. Windows NT/2000/XP, etc.: For Windows NT, you will need to look in the registry (using RegEdit) under the ENVIRONMENT label for the same "TEMP=" line mentioned above. The make sure that directory exists and is writable.

Macintosh: "Corrupted" Downloads Various people get this message, for reasons that I don't completely understand... The files posted on the web site are fine and are not corrupted, so the problem lies somewhere else -- I have had reports from people who previously had this problem that Stuffit Expander 5.5 opens the files very happily, but if you do not have SE5.5, then here are things to look into: I suspect the problem is that your web browser is misunderstanding what to do with the files after it downloads them. Some people use Interner Explorer (4.5), and if you do too, then here's where to look: Start Internet Explorer and then choose Preferences from the Edit menu. Look under Receiving Files for the File Helpers section. Look through the Application and Extension list to see what application has been set to open the ".hqx" extension. (You can sort the list by Extension by clicking on the word "Extension".) The .hqx extension should be handled by BinHex 4, Stuffit Expander, or Stuffit Deluxe. If it's not on the list or being handled by some other application, then that's probably why you're having trouble. If you don't have Stuffit or BinHex, I recommend getting one of them and then setting it as the helper for .hqx files.