Frequently Asked Questions

Question: I'm working on my own computer. How do I get started (Windows)?
Answer: To install and register your courseware on the hard drive of your Windows computer:

  1. Install Revealing® Archaeology by double-clicking RA setup.exe on the Revealing® Archaeology CD.
  2. Once the install is complete, CLOSE any and all open windows.
  3. Be sure you have an active internet connection and then launch Revealing Archaeology by double-clicking the shortcut that was created on your Desktop or going to your Start Menu and then Program Files and then Revealing® Archaeology.
  4. When you are asked if you want to Register or Browse, choose REGISTER.
  5. When you are asked where you want to store your data, choose the large blue button on the left to store you data on your hard drive. Wait while the initialization files are copied from the CD.
  6. Complete the registration information screens.
  7. Once you see your Achievement Profile, quit Revealing® Archaeology BEFORE beginning to work and then relaunch it to make sure that it is installed properly.

Question: I'm working on my own computer. How do I get started (Macintosh)?
Answer: To install and register your courseware on the hard drive of your Macintosh computer:
  1. Install Revealing® Archaeology by double-clicking the appropriate installer (RA Installer MAC9 or RA Installer MacX) on the Revealing® Archaeology CD.
  2. Once the install is complete, CLOSE any and all open windows.
  3. Be sure you have an active internet connection and then launch Revealing® Archaeology by double-clicking the application inside the Revealing® Archaeology folder inside your Applications folder. You might want to make an alias to the application at this time or place it on your Dock.
  4. When you are asked if you want to Register or Browse, choose REGISTER.
  5. When you are asked where you want to store your data, choose the large blue button on the left to store you data on your hard drive. Wait while the initialization files are copied from the CD.
  6. Complete the registration information screens.
  7. Once you see your Achievement Profile, quit Revealing® Archaeology BEFORE beginning to work and then relaunch it to make sure that it is installed properly.

Question: I'm working in my college/university computer lab. How do I get started and run from the CD?
Answer: Complete instructions for registering and running your courseware from the CD-ROM in a computer lab are provided in the documents titled "Registering Revealing ... When Running from the CD with Data on a Zip Disk" and "Running Revealing ... When Running from the CD with Data on a Zip Disk."

Question: I registered my courseware and now I see my Achievement Profile. What do I do now?
Answer: Using your courseware is quite simple. Let's say you want to do the first module or Revealing® Archaeology (Humanity's Imprint) or the first module of Revealing World Religions (Exploring Religion). When you are on your Achievement Profile, single-click on the title of the module, Humanity's Imprint Or Exploring Religion. This will show you all the sections of tyhat module in a second column on your Achievement Profile. Then, double-click on one of these. This will take you to that section. You need to go through screen by screen (click the right arrow button at the bottom of the screen or use the right arrow key on your keyboard). There's stuff to read and activities to do. On any screen, click the star in the lower left to get back to your Achievement Profile.

We highly recommend you print two files from your CD, your hard drive, or this web site:
RA Users Guide.pdf
RA Hints.pdf

You can also single-click on any entry in the second column of your Achievement Profile to see more details in the third column.

By the way, if the Assistance Palette is in your way, you can close it temporarily by clicking the little circle in the upper left of the little windows. You can re-open it at any time by clicking the Question Mark button at the lower right of the screen.

Question: The software is taking over my entire display. Can I change this?
Answer: Each screen of your coursware is 800 x 600 pixels. It is likely that the courseware does not fit on your screen because your display resolution is set to 800 X 600, which does not meet the system requirements as is specified on the back of your CD package.

To change your display resolution, follow these steps:

(Windows) Open your Windows Control Panel. If you are using Windows XP, go to "Appearances and Themes" and choose "Change the Screen Resolution." If you are using Windows 98 or ME or etc., choose "Display" and then go to the Settings tab. Drag the Screen Resolution Slider at the lower left of the Window to 1024 x 768, or select this from the pull-down menu. While you are there, check that your color quality is set to highest (32-bit).

(Macintosh) In OS 9, go to the Monitors Control Panel and increase your Display Resolution to at least 1024 x 768. In OS X, go to System Preferences, then Display and select a resolution of at least 1024 x 768. In either OS 9 or OS X, set the Colors to "millions."

Question: I'm running my courseware on Macintosh OS 9 and sometimes it just shuts down.
Answer: You should allocate more memory to the courseware. Go to the application (which you will find inside your Mac OS9 Applications folder). Right-click on the application and select "Memory" from the pull-down menu on the Information screen. Increase the numbers in the memory fields.

Question: I sent my progress report and now the "envelope" is gone.
Answer: If the "envelope" button is not showing, it means you haven't done any additional work since the last time you successfully sent your progress report to the Interactive Grade Book®. Once you do some more work, the "envelope" button will be back.

Question: I'm not receiving a gold star for an entry on my Achievement Profile. How do I check to see what work I haven't yet completed?
Answer: You receive a "completed" star next to each entry when you have completed the work for that section. (If you roll over the gold star, you will see the date of completion.) These are cumulative; you will have a star in the second column when you have completed all the work in the underlying third column. Once you have stars for every section in the second column, you will receive a star for the entire module (i.e., Humanity's Imprint). Rolling over a star shows you the date of completion. When you complete an individual "screen," the star in the lower left of the window will turn gold. For details, please refer to the RA Users Guide.pdf that is included on your CD and that was installed on your hard drive if you are working on your own computer.

To complete a particular section for which you do not have a gold star, please double-click the entry on your Achievement Profile. This will take you to the FIRST page of that section or topic. Many sections have multiple pages/screens. Click the right arrow button or use the right arrow key on your keyboard to move forward one page at a time. Be sure you have a gold star on every page.

Question: I am reading the text on the page quickly. It seems like I'm always waiting to receive credit (a gold star). What should I do?
Answer: If you find you are reading the text more quickly than the time required to receive credit, why not Alt-Click (Win) or Opt-Click (Mac) to check out the background image and its caption? Or, explore Glossary terms (rollover the text; the cursor will change to a pointer when a word is defined), or rollover page titles for bibliographic references, URLs, etc. The students who get the most out of this courseware are those who use the tools it provides to explore more than the text, not just skim the text for main ideas. There's lots to be learned by exploring...

Question: Can I print the text of my courseware?
Answer: You can print the text of any screen by clicking the Print Page button at the lower right of the screen. Many students find it useful to print the "Summary" page of each section to use as a study guide.

Question: My internet connection is down and my assignment is due. What should I do?
Answer: You can print a hard copy of a summary of your progress report by clicking the "Print Progress Report" button at the lower right of your Achievement Profile. If any "Essay" questions were due with your assignment, you should go to the screen on which that Essay is displayed and click the "Print Essay" button. Then, when you again have an internet connection, click the "Send Results" button to send your data to the Interactive Grade Book®. In the meantime, please be assured that the dates that will be in the Grade Book when you do send your progress report are the dates you completed the work, not the dates the reports are sent.

Question: When I first registered my courseware, I did not enter the Pass Key for my class. How can I enter my Pass Key now?
Answer: To add your Pass Key to your Revealing® Archaeology registration, here's what to do:

  1. Be sure you have an active internet connection.
  2. Launch Revealing® Archaeology.
  3. On the Achievement Profile, double-click your name.
  4. On the registration info page, click the button on the bottom that says to "Use this Software for a Class."
  5. Enter your student ID and the Pass Key your professor told you, and then press Continue.
  6. You will be asked to confirm your course.
  7. Wait until you are told your registration has been updated and you again see your Achievement Profile.
  8. Click the "Envelope" button to send your Progress Report to your professor.

Question: I've been sending progress reports to my instructor, but s/he says my work is not in the Interactive Grade Book®.
Answer: If your progress reports are not making it to the Interactive Grade Book® and you have entered your correct Pass Key, it is most likely that the sending of reports is being blocked by a firewall established on your computer or your network. Please email us at support@thinkingstrings.com for assistance.

Question: (Revealing® Archaeology) In the Digging a Site section of Following the Trail, my pie charts, scatterplots, contingency tables, etc., don't contain any data.
Answer: The pie charts, scatterplots, contingency tables, etc., in the Try It: Digging a Site section of Revealing® Archaeology contain data pulled from your excavated assemblages. Different students will have different data. In order to have any data on your pie charts, you must excavate on page 31 of the Digging a Site section of Following the Trail. Please note that you must click "through" a stratum to collect those artifacts it contains. When you first see the stratum, you are looking down on it (and the artifacts it contains) from above -- the artifacts remain in the ground until you click through the stratum, collecting the sediments and the artifacts (and thereby the data) it contains. To see which portions of any stratum you have already excavated, use the "stratum menu" at the upper right of the excavation screen (page 31). Complete instructions are provided on pages 19 through 30 of the same section.

Question: I had to reformat my hard drive and I DO have a backup of my user data. How do I get started again?
Answer: We are pleased that you have a backup of your user data. To get going again with your courseware, here's what to do:

  1. Install the application from the CD.
  2. Once the install is complete, CLOSE any and all open windows.
  3. Launch Revealing® Archaeology by double-clicking the shortcut that was created on your Desktop (Windows) or going to your Start Menu and then Program Files and then Revealing® Archaeology.
  4. When you are asked if you want to Register or Browse, choose REGISTER.
  5. When you are asked where you want to store your data, choose the large blue button on the left to store you data on your hard drive. Wait while the initialization files are copied from the CD.
  6. When the Registration screen appear, QUIT the courseware.
  7. Now you need to copy the two files contained inside your Backup user data folder to the following location:
    Windows:
    My Computer
    Local Disk or Hard Drive (usually C:)
    Program Files
    Revealing Archaeology
    RA (This is the name of a folder)
    RA_UserData     		Macintosh:
    Hard Drive
    Applications Folder
    Revealing Archaeology
    RA (This is the name of a folder)
    RA_UserData

Question: I had to reformat my hard drive and I do NOT have a backup of my user data. How do I get started again?
Answer: Since you don't have a backup of your user data, you should email us at support@thinkingstrings.com with a detailed description of your situation, your full name, and your software serial number so that we can best assist you.

Question: How do I edit some of my original registration information, such as my email address?
Answer: To edit any of the information you entered when you registered your courseware, be sure you have an active internet connection. Then, double-click your name at the top of your Achievement Profile. Edit any information as necessary and then click Continue. You will receive a message saying that your update message was sent successfully and you will be returned to your Achievment Profile.

Question: I bought a used CD from a friend. How do I register it under my name?
Answer: The license purchased by your friend is non-transferable. We suggest you seek a refund from him/her for your purchase. You can purchase your own license from the bookstore indicated by your instructor/professor or directly from Thinking Strings via our web site.