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Talking Stocks Support Page |
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Please direct
your question and comments to the 4Developers Team at tstocks@4dev.com |
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We welcome
your comments and suggestions to help us
refine Talking Stocks. |
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Frequently Asked Questions |
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AUDIO |
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Q: I'm
using Windows XP and can't hear the character talking. How do I fix this
problem? |
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Talking
Stocks uses SAPI 4.0 to provide speech services. Windows XP however now
ships with SAPI 5.0 which does not provide backward compatibility support
for its predecessor. Fortunately, SAPI 4.0 and SAPI 5.0 can co-exist
together on the same Windows XP computer.
To make the speech engines work with
Talking Stocks in Windows XP, first install the SAPI
4.0 runtime binaries, then reinstall Talking Stocks.
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TIPS |
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Q: I like the
program, but I work in a cubicle and cannot have the character speak out
loud. Can I still use the program? |
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A:
Absolutely! In the Options dialog, Character tab,
change the "Character Behavior" to either "Character Thinks" or "Character
Is Silent". The character will still appear but not speak.
You can easily disable the frequent stock
Broadcasts by unchecking the "Read broadcast every" checkbox in
the Options dialog, Broadcast tab. Now the character will only
appear to announce alerts.
If you'd rather not be interrupted with the
character appearing at all, simply push the Quiet button on the
toolbar. This is great for when you have visitors or are talking on
the phone and want to temporarily banish the character from your screen.
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Q: When I add a new
stock, either Talking Stocks displays "N/A" or displays quotes
that are clearly for a different company? |
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A:
First, please make sure your are selecting the Country correctly.
Then type in the company Name as accurately as possible and click Lookup
Symbol to browse for possible stocks that match the company Name.
(You may be surprised at the number of symbols available for each company,
and you need to choose the correct one.) For accuracy, copy the
stock symbol from your browser to the Windows clipboard, then paste it
into the Symbol box in Talking Stocks.
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Q: Sometimes it takes a long time
to update the stock prices from the Internet. I don't want to wait; I just
want to read the prices as displayed. How do I do
that? |
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A:
Use the Tools menu, "Read all prices" item. |
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Q:
Can I replace the StockMan character with another
character? |
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A: Yes. Registered users can change the selected character from the
'Character' tab located in the 'Options' screen. Please visit our Character Gallery for
details. |
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CONNECTION |
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Q. I am connected to the Internet via
cable modem, and Talking Stocks gives an error when I click on Broadcast.
Is there some setting I'm missing? |
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A: First, if Internet Explorer is used regularly, make
sure it can browse to any web site. If it can, Talking Stocks should work.
If not, correct the problem in Internet Explorer by going to the Control
Panel and opening the Internet applet. Second, if Internet Explorer is not
used regularly, make sure the Talking Stocks proxy settings are correct.
This is set in Talking Stocks Options dialog, Connection tab. If you are
using Netscape, and Netscape browses correctly, you can copy its proxy
settings into Talking Stocks. In Netscape, select Edit:Preferences, then
double-click on the "Advanced" item at the bottom of the list. An item
called "Proxies" will appear; click on it. Click on the "View" button and
copy the information shown in the first (HTTP) line into the Talking
Stocks Proxy fields. Please note: SOCKS proxies or
proxies requiring you to enter a username/password are not supported. |
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Q:
I dial-up to connect to the Internet, and I checked
the box in the Options, Connection tab - "Dial the Connection if
necessary". But when the stocks are retrieved, the modem is not
dialed, and the status line says "No Connection."
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A:
Please go to the Windows Control Panel and open the Internet applet. Make
sure the Connections tab has all the options correct, especially the
Dial-up settings. As a workaround, establish your Internet connection
yourself by starting your Dial-up Networking profile. Talking Stocks will
use it once the connection is established. |
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Q: How often are my stock prices updated from the
Internet? |
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A:
The prices are updated prior to a Broadcast and when Rules are
checked. You can set these
intervals in the Options dialog: see the Broadcast tab, "Read
Broadcast every N minutes"; and the Rules tab, "Check rules every
N minutes".
By default, Broadcasts are read every 30
minutes, and Rules are checked every 1 minute. Therefore, your
stocks are updated every minute.
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Q: I connect to the Internet through AOL, and Talking
Stocks constantly gives the error "No connection." How do
I fix this? |
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A: In the Options, Connection tab, select "LAN" (not
'dial-up'). This is necessary because AOL uses a proprietary "AOL Adaptor"
which is not compatible with traditional Windows Dial-up
Networking. |
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Q: I connect to the Internet through
AOL version 5, and Talking Stocks constantly gives the error "Error during
update." None of my stocks are updated. What's the
problem? |
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A: On a Windows
95 machine, AOL 5 does not install all the necessary software. Please
install Microsoft DUN 1.3 (Dial Up Networking 1.3). You can download DUN
1.3 by Clicking
Here.
Further information is in the Microsoft
Knowledgebase article "Installing AOL 5 in Windows 95 Causes Problems for
Non-AOL DUN Connections" available at: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q244/2/52.asp
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DISPLAY |
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Q: Why don't I see alternating colored rows in the Stock
page? |
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A:
Your display must be set to show more than 256 colors. Go to the Windows
Control Panel and click on the "Display" icon. In the "Settings" tab,
adjust the Colors beyond 256. |
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Q: I've set my display to more than 256 colors, and I still
don't see alternating colored rows in the Stock page. Why
not? |
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A:
If you're running Windows 95 without Internet Explorer installed, you may
need to update a file called COMCTL32.DLL. The update is provided by
Microsoft free of charge at:
http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/ieplatform/ie/comctrl.asp
You do not need to install Internet Explorer to use
this update. |
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Q: The toolbar buttons display, for example, "&Broadcast"
and I can't press Alt-B to push it. |
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A: If
you're running Windows 95 without Internet Explorer installed, you may
need to update a file called COMCTL32.DLL. The update is provided
by Microsoft free of charge
at:
http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/ieplatform/ie/comctrl.asp
You do not need to install Internet Explorer to use
this update. |
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QUOTES
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Q:
Talking Stocks says Real-time quotes are available in Canada,
Australia, and New Zealand, but the quote is really delayed?
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A: The
problem is that Yahoo indicates that real-time quotes are available in these countries, but the quotes are indeed delayed. You
can verify this by double-clicking the stock (within Talking Stocks) to
open the browser at Yahoo, clicking on "Real-time ECN" at the
top of the page, and noting that the quote is italicized to indicate that
it is delayed. Talking Stocks checks for the presence of the
"Real-time ECN" link and assumes the quote is real-time; that's
why it erroneously reports that real-time is
available. We hope that the presence of the "Real-time ECN"link
indicates Yahoo does plan to make real-time quotes available, and that in
the near future, the quotes retrieved by Talking Stocks will indeed be real-time. We apologize for the confusion.
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WISH
LIST
Feature requests for future versions of Talking Stocks:
- I
would like to enter the number of shares of a stock which I own and have
Talking Stocks re-calculate
its value based on the latest stock price.
- I
would like to retrieve my stock quotes from my own provider instead of
from Yahoo! Finance.
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1999 - 2001 4Developers LLC. All rights
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