Introduction

Thank you for your interest in the techexplorer Hypermedia Browser!

The following paragraphs include responses to frequently asked questions regarding techexplorer. For support with techexplorer issues not covered by the following information, please send mail to:

What operating systems are supported?

techexplorer is currently available for free download from this web site for individual use for the Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X/9 operating systems.

What browsers are supported?

techexplorer is designed to operate as an ActiveX control or as an IE behavior within Microsoft Internet Explorer or other ActiveX control containers.

Within Netscape Navigator, versions 4, 6, and 7, techexplorer operates as a Netscape 4 plugin, subject to known limitations of Netscape 4 plugins in later editions of Netscape.

Mozilla versions 1.6 and newer work with techexplorer. Other browsers will support techexplorer to the extent that they support the Netscape 4 plugin model. techexplorer does not currently support the Mozilla browser on Mac OS/X.

To the extent that other browsers such as Mozilla and/or Firefox support these technologies, techexplorer may be used with these browsers.

Work is in progress to provide the functionality of techexplorer as a native Mozilla plugin, however, we do not have an anticipated release date to announce at this time.

On the Macintosh platforms, techexplorer is designed to work with the Internet Explorer browser versions available on Mac OS/X and Mac OS 9, and with the Safari browsers available on Mac OS/X. techexplorer is supported for the Netscape browser on Mac OS/X and the Mac Classic emulator, but is not currently supported on Mac OS 9.

What special characters are supported?

techexplorer supports documents written in both LaTeX and MathML.

Each of these markup languages provides support for special characters within its markup definition. For example, please see the documentation for accented characters in LaTeX and for Unicode character entities in MathML for additional details on how to produce special character entities in these markup languages.

The techexplorer documentation describes how techexplorer supports special characters written using LaTeX and MathML markup.

What am I allowed to do with an individual license?

The techexplorer browser plug-in is sponsored freeware. As an individual user, you may download and install, free of charge, one copy of techexplorer for your own personal use. You may not redistribute techexplorer to others, nor may you distribute commerical products that use or incorporate techexplorer, without obtaining an appropriate site license or commercial license.

Under what circumstances must I obtain a commercial license?

A commercial license allows you to redistribute techexplorer and/or the MathML Equation Editor in conjunction with a commercial product under the terms of a Commercial License Agreement. Please note: If you sell a product that requires the use of techexplorer or the MathML Equation Editor, you must obtain a Commercial License Agreement even if you do not actually redistribute either of these products.

How can I verify that the installation files have downloaded sucessfully?

There are at least two ways to verify that the installation files have downloaded sucessfully. First, you can check that the size of the file you have received matches the size of the original file you are trying to download.

Second, if you have access to a program like 'md5sum' that computes a checksum for a file, you can compare the checksum on the file you have received against the checksum on the original file you are trying to download.

Here are the file sizes and MD5 checksums for the installation files for techexplorer:

You can use these numbers to verify that the installation files have been downloaded successfully.

What browser should I select?

The broswer selection dialog during the techexplorer installation allows you to specify the plugins directory for where to install the Netscape 4 PlugIn Edition of techexplorer.

Netscape plugins are typically installed in the plugins directory under the installation directory for Netscape Navigator. When using a version of Internet Explorer that supports Netscape plugins, you may elect to install techexplorer in the plugins directory used by Internet Explorer so that IE will find and load the techexplorer plugin. When using Mozilla, you may elect to install techexplorer in the Mozilla plugins directory.

For techexplorer to work with a particular version of Netscape, you must install techexplorer in the plugins directory for that version. If you have multiple versions of Netscape and/or Mozilla installed, you may use the browser selection dialog during installation to select the version of Netscape/Mozilla you prefer to use with techexplorer. If you do not see the version of Netscape you have installed on your machine, you may specify the plugins directory explicitly by selecting the 'Other plugins directory' option at the bottom of the list.

If you would like to install techexplorer for use with more than one version of Netscape/Mozilla, select one version of Netscape during installation, and simply copy the files NpTchExp.dll and NpTchExp.zip from the Netscape plugins directory where techexplorer is installed into the Netscape plugins directory for additional version(s) of Netscape and/or Mozilla that you would like to use.

The ActiveX control edition of techexplorer is always installed under the techexplorer installation directory and requires no user intervention.

Why am I asked to import a certificate?

The techexplorer installation program creates registry entries needed for the proper operation of the techexplorer ActiveX control and its associated signed Java archives. In connection with these archives, the installation program also needs to install the trust certificate used to sign the Java archives to allow proper operations of programs using the techexplorer Java library.

Why does Norton AntiVirus identify a malicious script?

Older versions of the techexplorer installation program used Windows Scripting to create registry entries needed for the proper operation of the techexplorer ActiveX control and its associated signed Java archives.

Some versions of Norton AntiVirus may identify the file MsiExec.exe as a malicious script, as shown above, when the techexplorer installation invokes Windows Scripting to make modifications to the Windows registry. The file MsiExec.exe is the Microsoft Installer program that is used by the techexplorer installation to create its registry entries.

The installation program for techexplorer Release 3.5 and later no longer uses Windows Scripting to create registry entries, and so should not cause Norton AntiVirus to believe it has detected a malicious script. You may still see this warning when installing or uninstalling older versions of techexplorer.

If you see this message from Norton AntiVirus, you may safely allow the script to continue to completion.

Why do I get an error message when closing an Internet Explorer window?

Using older versions of the techexplorer ActiveX control within Internet Explorer, an error message may appear when closing a second instance of the Internet Explorer window. This error message is the result of a Windows message being sent to the techexplorer window after Internet Explorer has already unloaded the ActiveX control.

This error message has been fixed in techexplorer Release 3.5 and should no longer appear.

When I try to look at a techexplorer document in Mozilla, why does it ask me if I want to download it?

Older versions of Mozilla do not support techexplorer. Please make sure you are running Mozilla version 1.6 or newer.