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Troubleshooting When Running in the Internet Security Zone

Do You Have the Current Versions of the Manta Presentation Software and the Sun Java Runtime?

The Manta training may not run if you have either an old version of the Manta presentation software or an old version of the Sun Java Runtime. If you have problems running the Manta courseware, you should first confirm that you have current versions of both. Go to www.mantatech.com/manta/update.html to download an installation program for the current version of the Manta presentation software. Go to www.java.com to install the current version of the Sun Java Runtime. Both updates are free.

Be aware that installing the current version of the Manta presentation software is an option only if you purchased your training after March 7th, 2003. If you purchased your training prior to this date, you must purchase an upgrade to the current version of the products from your original order. Contact a Manta sales representative for pricing.

Is Your Browser Properly Configured to Run the Manta Courseware?

Internet Explorer supports a variety of settings that affect how — and even whether — Manta courses will be displayed. If you receive an error message or notice unusual behavior, check the Internet Explorer settings described below to confirm that they are set as required. To view these settings, open an Internet Explorer window, select the Tools pull-down menu, then select Internet Options...

There are multiple tabs available from the Internet Options window. We will describe only those tabs that include settings that affect the display of Manta courses.

The General Tab

There are three settings on the General Tab that affect the Manta courseware. The first two are related to temporary internet files, and are accessed by selecting the Settings button under Browser History. (Under earlier versions of Internet Explorer, it was calledTemporary Internet Files.) The Manta courseware fetches the graphics in a session while you are reading the first few screens. Normally, the browser will save the graphics in a cache, so that they will be immediately available when they are used later in the session. If you notice that figures do not appear immediately, it is possible that your browser is set to not save objects in its cache. You can specify that objects such as graphics be cached by setting Check for newer versions of stored pages to anything other than Every time I visit this page. The Disk space to use value (which determines how many objects can be stored at one time) should be in the recommended range (50-250 MB).

The third setting on the General tab is accessed by selecting the Settings button under Tabs. The When a pop-up is encountered setting should be set to anything other than Always open pop-ups in a new tab.

The Security Tab

There are five security settings that affect the Manta courseware. Perform the following steps to display and/or change these settings:

  1. Click the Security tab.
  2. Select the Internet zone.
  3. Click the Custom level... button.

The following settings under the heading ActiveX controls and plug-ins must all be set to Enable: The following setting under the heading Java VM must be set to High safety, Low safety, or Medium safety: The following setting under the heading Miscellaneous must be set to Enable: The following settings under the heading Scripting must all be set to Enable:

The Privacy Tab

Both settings under the Privacy tab can affect the Manta courseware. First, the Select a setting for the Internet zone setting should be set no higher that Medium High.

The second setting requires some explanation. When you launch the Manta training, you initially receive a window in which the Manta logo and a copyright notice is displayed. After a few seconds, the actual training should launch in a second window. If you have the Block pop-ups option under the Privacy tab selected, you will not receive the second window. Instead, you will receive a message indicating that the Manta software is unable to run because you have pop-ups blocked. After receiving this message, perform the follow steps to allow pop-ups from the Manta site:

  1. Click the OK button in the message window to close it.
  2. Open the Internet Explorer Tools pull-down menu.
  3. Select the Pop-up Blocker option.
  4. Select the Always Allow Pop-ups from This Site option.
  5. Click the Yes button when asked to confirm the request.

Do You Have a Third-Party Pop-Up Blocker Running?

A pop-up is a browser window that is opened by a Web page. Frequently, pop-ups are used to display advertisements and are not generally part of the functionality of a Web site. These are often displayed by spyware or adware. However, many Web applications (including the Manta courseware) use pop-ups for legitimate purposes. Because pop-up advertisements have become so common and are general annoying, pop-up blockers (software that prevents pop-ups from being displayed) have become popular. As discussed above, Internet Explorer now includes a pop-up blocking feature. Listed below are some other popular pop-up blockers:

Many people don't know that they have other pop-up blockers on their computer, because this functionality is often included anonymously with programs and Internet Explorer add-ons. For example, all of the following include pop-up blockers:

The problem is that many pop-up blockers (such as the pop-up blocker built into Internet Explorer) cannot always distinguish between pop-up advertisements and legitimate pop-ups and will therefore block legitimate pop-ups as well as pop-up advertisements.

If the Manta software can detect that you have a pop-up blocker running, you will receive a message indicating this when the main training window fails to display. Some pop-up blockers, however, cannot be detected, in which case you will simply never receive the window in which the training is presented. In either case, you should perform the following two steps:

  1. Confirm that you indeed have a pop-up blocker by running these Pop-up tests. (This analyzer has multiple tests.)
  2. Once you’ve confirmed that you have a pop-up blocker, you need to either disable it completely or disable it for the site http://www.mantanow.net. Keep in mind that your pop-up blocker could be part of a browser toolbar (such as Google Toolbar, Yahoo toolbar, etc), part of your browser itself, part of a virus protection or security suite on your system, or a standalone program. Also keep in mind that you may have multiple pop-up blockers running.
There are over 100 pop-up blocking software packages, so it is next to impossible to document the procedure for disabling each one and/or indicating how to set the pop-up blocker to accept pop-ups from a particular site. You need to determine which pop-up blocker(s) you have running and consult the documentation or help facility for that software.



© 2007 Manta Technologies Inc.