Self Study Option Programs

If you have already used our Free Evaluation you will not need to read the following. However, if you don't already have Real Audio Free
Player 7 - this is how to get it.

Real Audio Free Player 7:

This information is for use before you download our audio files as part of your purchased Self Study Option - the audio file player may be downloaded by clicking the following link:

Real Audio Free Player 7 for Windows 95/98/2000 & NT 4.0

Just follow Real Audio's downloading and installation instructions. Choose "Save to disk" when given the option between "Save to disk" and "Open this file from its current location" and save it to the Desktop on your hard disk. Double-click the file you downloaded; answer the questions it asks, and this will install it on your computer.

There are no other technical questions to answer concerning our Self Study Option programs - unless you would like information about downloading files from the Internet.

Downloading files

All our files are virus scanned, but you should always scan all files that you download. There are a number of virus scanners available for free evaluation on the Net. You will receive a link to our program download server in your confirmation of order e-mail. You click this to start the download and follow the on-screen instructions.

Our Files
Our programs make quite large files. This is because they contain, depending upon program chosen, between 15 - 20 minutes of real time audio and although this material has been compressed into MP3 format they still make files of between 3.5 and 4.5 megabytes (MBs) size and there are also three .rtf text files (.rtf - rich text format - is the most widely readable format used on the Internet).

Download times
Under the best conditions you can reckon on download times of roughly 6 minutes per MB for a 28.8 K modem, 3 minutes per MB for a 56.6k modem and proportionally longer or shorter times for other slower or faster modems of other types. We have given you 7 days in which to download your program - and you get three attempts at doing it. On fairly rare occasions the attempted download will fail due to circumstances beyond your (or our) control and you may need to have either more time or more attempts at downloading your program. Should you need either of these please e-mail us at info@fluency.force9.co.uk

Best Conditions
Internet conditions and the FTP server speeds vary very considerably, often from hour to hour, dependent upon the the amount of traffic on the Internet and the number of other people downloading from the server. Most browsers give you an indication of the download process, including an estimation of time remaining, which gets more accurate as the download continues. If you find the download is either not happening or taking ages it may be worth while trying a bit later, or indeed at a completely different time of day when you may guess that fewer people may be on-line. In the UK that might be in the early morning and up till about 12 p.m.

Make a back-up copy
Our programs are no different from any other program you use. If you have ever have a problem with your hard disk you will need back-up copies of any vital material. Back-ups are the ultimate protection for your data.

How to install and run .exe files
.exe flies are the easiest files to download and open. During the ordering process we posted notices for you suggesting that, when you are prompted to specify a destination for the program to install it, you save it to your Desktop rather than to the defaulted suggestion of C:windows/TEMP. It will be easier to find - you can always move it later. Just click on the file icon; you will see a folder entitled MP3 - that contains the audio file to play on Real Audio. You will also see three other text file -; one is your program with a REF number, and the other two are the free bonus files (More Words of ... and Mild slang).

Live Tutor Option Programs

To get the best results from our programs you will need a computer with the following minimum specification:

Hardware

A PC with a sound-card, microphone and speakers - or a headphone with attached boom mike is better - minimum Pentium 133 MHz processor and 16 Mb RAM. An Internet connection with a 28.8 kbps modem - or faster. A camera is not necessary, but if you do have one you'll be able to use it with our tutors.

Free Software

Our programs are delivered using two software packages, both of which may be downloaded free of charge from the Internet. Microsoft NetMeeting 3.01 for the actual delivery of the Live Tutor Option program and Free Real Audio Player 7 for playing the audio files you will download for the Self Study Option in order to practise the audio content of the program. Please click and read on for help with downloading and installing NetMeeting 3 and downloading Free Real Audio Player 7.

NetMeeting 3.01

You may already have version 2.0.or 2.1 of NetMeeting if you have the browser Internet Explorer 4, or Version 2.11 if you have downloaded it since . Version 3.01 is now available from Microsoft. As it is always better to have the latest version of any software do download it.

This software may be downloaded by clicking the following link:

Microsoft NetMeeting 3 for Windows 95/98 & NT 4.0

Choose "Save to disk" when given the option between "Save to disk" and "Open this file from its current location" and save it to the Desktop on your hard disk. When the download is finished you will find you have a new file "nm3RK.exe" on your Desktop. Double-click on the file and answer the questions it asks.

Any further technical information required for our Live Tutor Programs relating to NetMeeting will be given to you when you actually book a program.

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