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WEB ELFIN TUTORS
HELP WITH STARTING NETMEETING

MSN Netmeeting	GETTING STARTED
Problems with	ECHO
Problems with	COMPUTER FREEZE (freezing)
Use MSN Netmeeting	WHITEBOARD
Use MSN Netmeeting	SHARED FILES
Set up MSN Netmeeting	AUDIO
Place your call using	MSN MESSENGER

NetMeeting has a very good HELP section which you can use once you have launched it, and you may not need the following instructions. You can try out the whiteboard and other features without being in a session. If you hold your cursor over any icon for a couple of seconds, the name of the icon will appear.
It appears that you may have to have a Hotmail e-mail address (free) and an MSN Passport for MSN Messenger to find you. A Yahoo e-mail address may work.
Get a Hotmail address and Microsoft.NET Passport

GETTING STARTED before you are in a tutoring session

CLOSE ALL OTHER PROGRAMS
that you do not need to conserve RAM.
FREEZING -This program takes a considerable amount of RAM to run, and shortage of RAM may make your computer freeze. There is a possibility that a phone line rather than a high speed internet connection may also cause freezing. A high speed internet connection works best. See the Microsoft site for NetMeeting System Requirements
OPEN NETMEETING
AUDIO:
If you have audio, adjust your volume.
Go to TOOLS->AUDIO TUNING WIZARD. Follow the directions on the screen. This will only work when you are not in a call.
To ACTIVATE / MUTE the microphone or speakers, click on the ADJUST AUDIO VOLUME icon. Make sure the respective check boxes next to the microphone and speaker icons are checked to activate the microphone and/or speakers, clear the check boxes to mute.
During a session, click on the ADJUST AUDIO VOLUME icon and click-and-drag the sliders to adjust the volume.
ECHO - If either you or your tutor/student has speakers rather than headphones, the other person is likely to get an echo. When one person speaks, the sound goes into his mic, down the connection and comes out of the other person's speakers. The sound then goes into the mic of the listener and back with a time lag to the person who spoke, causing an echo and forming a feedback loop. If both people have speakers, the sound could keep going round in circles between both people, causing multiple echos. You may be able to reduce the volume of the echo by turning the speakers away from the mic and shielding the mic from the speakers with your hand. You can get headphones and boom mic quite cheaply (mine were $20 canadian), which should cure the problem.
If your computer has full duplex audio, NetMeeting automatically uses it. This means that you can hear and talk at the same time. If you are experiencing poor audio, you may wish to disable it. This will mean only one person will be able to speak at a time.
Go to TOOLS->OPTIONS->ENABLE FULL DUPLEX and toggle it OFF.
SHARED FILES:
If you are going to share a file, (eg an english essay), you need to open it before you click the SHARE PROGRAM icon on the bottom row of the NetMeeting screen. If you have already clicked the 'share program' icon before you opened your file, just click the icon again. You can minimise your file while you launch anything else in NetMeeting.
All minimised files will appear in the list of files which are able to be shared. However, the person with the file on their computer must CLICK TO HIGHLIGHT the file to be shared and then click SHARE before the other person can see it.
TRY OUT THE WHITEBOARD.
Click on the WHITEBOARD icon (The white rectangle with a pen across it). I suggest that you play around with the whiteboard first while not in a live session to see how the features work. If you hold your cursor over any icon for a couple of seconds it will tell you what it is. If you click on the pen tool, your mouse will draw lines on the screen. If you click the icon with the letter A, you can type on the screen. The text will be placed wherever your cursor is positioned. If you click on a color on the bottom bar, it will change the color of the tool you are using. eg. If you click on red while using the pen tool, you will type with red letters. Experiment with the other icons. Close it again before making your call if you need to conserve RAM. Otherwise you can leave it open, or minimise it.
Launch MSN MESSENGER.
Go to 'Add A Contact' at the bottom of the screen and add your tutor or student, using their hotmail e-mail address. If they do not already have an MSN passport they will be invited to get one.

START A TUTORING SESSION

CLOSE ALL OTHER PROGRAMS that you do not need.
SHARED FILES:
If you are going to share a file, eg an english essay, you need to open it before you click the 'share program' icon on the bottom row of the NetMeeting screen. You can always open it, and then minimise it, before you start Netmeeting.
OPEN NETMEETING
This can take a while to open, so opening it now saves time later.
AUDIO:
If you have audio, adjust your volume.
Go to TOOLS->AUDIO TUNING WIZARD. Follow the directions on the screen. This will only work when you are not in a call.
PLACE YOUR CALL USING THE MSN MESSENGER CHAT SCREEN
to your tutor or student. It is much easier to start the call on MSN Messenger and then invite the other person to use NetMeeting, than it is to start in NetMeeting.
- Either OPEN the MAIN MSN MESSENGER screen, or CLICK on the BUDDY ICON (it looks like one of the fisher-price little people) if it is at the bottom of your computer screen.
- If you are in the MAIN MSN MESSENGER screen,
  and your contact's name is there, click on it and it will open up the SEND AN INSTANT MESSAGE screen.
  If the name is not there, CLICK on "I want to 'SEND AN INSTANT MESSAGE' ". This is somewhere on your main MSN Messenger screen. Again, if your contact's name is in the MY CONTACTS list, click on it. If it is not, click the OTHER tab. You will be prompted to fill in their e-mail address. If they do not have MSN MESSENGER yet, you can go back to the MAIN MSN MESSENGER screen and click 'I want to "ADD A CONTACT" '. You will be guided by the wizard. You can use their e-mail address and you will be asked if you want to invite them to download MSN MESSENGER.
- If you clicked the BUDDY ICON
  you will get a pop-up menu. Click 'SEND AN INSTANT MESSAGE'" Again, if your contact's name is in the MY CONTACTS list, click on it. If it is not, click the OTHER tab. You will be prompted to fill in their e-mail address. If they do not have MSN MESSENGER yet, you can go back to the MAIN MSN MESSENGER screen and click 'I want to "ADD A CONTACT" '. You will be guided by the wizard. You can use their e-mail address and you will be asked if you want to invite them to download MSN MESSENGER.
- Once you are in the SEND AN INSTANT MESSAGE screen, you type your message in the bottom box. A message will not be sent until click SEND or hit the ENTER key. This way, when you are ready, you can have two-way communication between tutor and student while you get NetMeeting going.
START NETMEETING
Once the other party appears on the MSN chat screen, one person clicks 'invite to NetMeeting' on the right hand side of the screen. If both parties invite the other at the same time, things get confusing to say the least! It does not matter whether NetMeeting is already open or not. If it is not already open, it may take several seconds to open up.
LAUNCH CHAT
on MSN NetMeeting by clicking the icon with the bubble. Once you are both up and running in the NetMeeting chat, then close the MSN Messenger program to conserve RAM. The NetMeeting chat program is the one which will usually be used for communication in a session. You may, however, prefer to use MSN Messenger for chat if you have enough RAM, since the text for each person can easily be made a different colour making things quite clear, and some people are more comfortable using it.
LAUNCH WHITEBOARD.
If you are going to use the whiteboard, click on the WHITEBOARD icon.
HAVE A GOOD SESSION
END THE SESSION.
Click the END CALL icon. (telephone receiver with a red arrow under it)

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