Note: Complete technical details about installing PC-SPAN version 4 are available.
PC-SPAN version 4 requires a PC running Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT version 4, or Windows 2000.
You will need to install version 5 of Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser ("IE5"), if it isn't already installed. See below for more information about this.
The PC-SPAN program requires about 10M (ten megabytes) of disk space. As a practical matter, you will need at least 50 megabytes of free space on your hard drive or an accessible network drive to install and use PC-SPAN version 4 and IE 5.
Your PC will need at least 32 megabytes of RAM to run PC-SPAN version 4. The more RAM, however, the faster and better it will run.
The primary method by which PC-SPAN version 4 will be distributed is via download through the Internet, from the PC-SPAN software distribution website, at www.cme-ch.com. At this site, you will be prompted to logon with your user ID and a password. Once you have logged on, you will download a single file, approximately 11M in size, named to indicate the exact version number being downloaded.
For example, the file might be named pcspan-4.00-beta-270.exe to indicate that it is for "build number 270" for the beta version of PC-SPAN 4.00. You can download this file to any convenient directory on your hard disk or network drive. For example directory C:\Span4\Install would be a logical place to store the installation file you have downloaded.
Alternatively, you may have received PC-SPAN version 4 on CD-ROM.
PC-SPAN version 4 uses many features provided by Version 5 of Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser software, and it requires that this browser software be installed.
If you already have Internet Explorer on your PC, but it is an earlier version, you will need to upgrade to Version 5. (You can check the IE version number by choosing "Help" and then "About" from the browser menu.) If you have a different browser, or no browser at all, you will need to install Internet Explorer version 5.
Please note that you are not forced to stop using any other browser program, nor are you required to make IE version 5 your "default" browser. But IE 5 must be installed before PC-SPAN version 4 can be installed.
How to obtain Internet Explorer version 5:
The first thing the PC-SPAN version 4 installation program does is to verify that Internet Explorer version 5 is installed on your PC. If it is not, you will have to exit the install program, install IE 5, and then start the PC-SPAN installation again.
Assuming that IE 5 is installed, the Welcome screen will display:
Select Next to continue the installation.
Next, if this is the first time you are installing PC-SPAN version 4 on this PC, the installation program will prompt you to install a component of the operating system called MDAC -- short for Microsoft Data Access Control. When the installation is complete, you will be prompted to reboot your PC. After the reboot, the installation program will automatically start again and bring you to the Welcome screen. Again select Next to continue the installation.
Next, the PC-SPAN version 4 software license agreement screen will display:
Please read the entire agreement. If you accept its terms, select Yes to continue. Otherwise, click No to abort the installation.
Next, the Choose Destination Location screen will display, so that you can select the location where PC-SPAN version 4 will be installed:
You can specify any directory on any drive (hard disk or network drive). As you can see, the default location is C:\SPAN4. If you wish to specify a different location, click on the Browse button to do so.
Please note that PC-SPAN version 4 and version 3 can co-exist on the same computer, but PC-SPAN version 4 should not be installed in the same directory as version 3.
Once you have specified the desired location, click Next to continue. If the destination directory does not already exist, you will be prompted for confirmation that it should be created.
Next, the Setup Type screen will display:
For an initial installation of PC-SPAN version 4, click Next to select a standard installation.
Next, the Select Program Folder screen will display, so that you can specify the folder name on your Start Menu from which you can run PC-SPAN.
The default folder name is PC-SPAN®. When you have specified the desired folder, click Next to continue.
The installation program will now install PC-SPAN.
Last, the installation process will prompt you to place an icon for running PC-SPAN on your desktop:
Click Yes to do so. (You can always delete it later if you prefer.)
The installation program will now exit and the PC-SPAN version 4 setup process is now complete.