The Complete National Geographic FAQ

What are the System Requirements for The Complete National Geographic?

The Complete National Geographic uses a technology called Adobe AIR, which allows the same The Complete National Geographic software to run on various computer operating systems. The Complete National Geographic runs on Windows and Mac computers with the following system requirements:

An Internet connection is required for access to some of the features of The Complete National Geographic, including Geobrowse and software and content updates. The primary functions of the product are available without an Internet connection.

Does my computer need to be connected to the Internet to use The Complete National Geographic?

Some features of The Complete National Geographic, such as Geobrowse and software updates, require an Internet connection. But you don't need an Internet connection to use many of the other features, including all standard searches, or to browse through the pages of National Geographic Magazine.

Can I view recent issues of National Geographic Magazine?

The Complete National Geographic contains all National Geographic Magazine issues published through December 2008. A content update containing the 2009 issues of National Geographic Magazine for The Complete National Geographic will be available for purchase, by download over the Internet, in spring 2010.

When do I use The Complete National Geographic DVDs?

The first disc contains software required to install The Complete National Geographic. The software allows you to browse, search, and play the trivia game. Whenever you click on an issue cover or article abstract, a DVD is necessary to read the content. The content is split chronologically between six DVDs. A full install feature is now available for Mac users, which allows users to copy all content onto their hard drive. The full install feature will be available shortly for those users with a PC.

Can I print content?

Yes. While reading an article, you can print the current spread (the two displayed pages), or just the left or right page, or a full article. Pictures embedded in an article page cannot be extracted and printed separately.

How do I search in The Complete National Geographic?

There are several ways to search in The Complete National Geographic. One can search by keyword, date and by content type, including articles (feature articles), departments (smaller articles), map supplements, illustrations (including photographs) and ads. Users can also narrow searches by contributors (authors, photographers).

How do I browse The Complete National Geographic?

There are several methods to browse through The Complete National Geographic:

• By year
• By Issue Cover
• By Article

You can browse any year from 1888 to 2008 and be taken to the magazine cover carousel for January of the year selected. Once you're in the magazine carousel, you can browse issue covers by month and year. Within an issue, you can browse the article abstracts from the table of content. In any of these scenarios you can link from the issue cover view or the article abstract view directly to a full view of the magazine starting at the cover of the first page of an article within an issue.

How do I get software updates for The Complete National Geographic?

From time to time, updates to The Complete National Geographic software are made available for download over the Internet. Software updates will be made available of download over the Internet, for free, to improve the user experience.

You can check for updates using the Check for Updates Now feature in The Complete National Geographic under the Preferences tab. You can also opt to have the software automatically check for updates on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule.

When, and how will The Complete National Geographic update the digital archive?

Content updates for The Complete National Geographic will be available after the print editions of the previous year have been published. The 2009 content update will be available for purchase and download via the Internet in the spring of 2010.

Why does the DVD-ROM not work in my DVD player?

The Complete National Geographic is not a movie and will not play in a standard DVD player. It is a DVD-ROM product and will not work in a computer with a CD-ROM player. To insure that The Complete National Geographic will work on your machine make sure it has the DVD video symbol, seen below, displayed on it.

What should I do if my questions are not answered on this page?

If your issue cannot be resolved through the list of FAQ's please visit http://cngsupport.nationalgeographic.com to receive further assistance, as well as email support.

I received an error message saying, "Located files on your disc that is currently in use."

This message occurs if you have the Sonic DLA system installed on your computer. Sonic DLA is a CD/DVD burner that was pre-bundled with many PC systems. It has since been discontinued, but can interfere with your copy of The Complete National Geographic. To solve the problem it is recommended that you uninstall Sonic DLA.

When I switch DVDs the application says "Looking for Disc," but always end up at "Please Insert Disc #..."

The Complete National Geographic cannot read any content from a DVD until the computer can recognize the DVD. To be sure your computer can recognize the DVD inserted, go to My Computer>DVD Drive Letter: The Complete National Geographic. Until the DVD drive says "The Complete National Geographic" or "CNGDisc1 (for Mac Platform)," the application will not be able to display the requested content.

What if I previously purchased The Complete National Geographic?

Although it contains the same magazines cover to cover, along with all the years since through December 2008, The Complete National Geographic: 120 Years is a different product from that which was released between 1997 and 2003. The new version of The Complete National Geographic is run on an entirely different, more sophisticated platform, Adobe AIR, which utilizes higher resolution pictures and text, and advanced search functions.

What is the difference between the DVDs and the Hard Drive?

The DVD set contains the entire collection of National Geographic magazines split chronologically between six DVD-ROM discs. In order to search material the user is required to have a disc inserted in or downloaded onto their computer. The hard drive provides a compact and portable option for those wishing to use The Complete National Geographic without having to keep track of or change out discs. The hard drive plugs into the USB port of the computer. The DVD set retails for $69.99 and the Hard Drive is retailed at $199.99. Further updates for either purchase will be available for purchase over the Internet, and will be downloaded onto the user's computer hard drive.

Some pages display horizontally, is there a way to rotate them?

Currently, there is no way to rotate the pages. This issue has been noted and is being reviewed by the CNG development team.

How do I access foldout maps?

While using the search function, select maps only and input (*) into the search box. The result will bring up the entire collection of maps in The Complete National Geographic. If you wish to specify your search for maps type in the correct keyword or adjust the settings for the date range.

When I click "okay" on the End User License Agreement (EULA) of The Complete National Geographic, either nothing happens or the application freezes.

In most cases, the application will start loading shortly after "okay" is pressed. In some cases, if the user presses "okay" several times in a row the application can freeze. If this happens, just close the application and re-start it. The application should load without the EULA acceptance screen.

When I installed the application I got an error, so I uninstalled it. When I tried to re-install the application, I get a message that says, "the application is current."

During the install process the application creates a folder called "natgeo_temp. " If you get this error you should delete this file before trying to re-install the application. You can find this folder in the following locations on the following platforms:

MAC OS X
/Users/username/natgeo_temp/

WinXP
C:\Documents and Settings\username\natgeo_temp\

Vista
C:\Users\username\natgeo_temp\

I'd like to copy the DVDs to my internal or external hard drive.

Currently, this feature is only available on the Mac platform. This feature will be enabled on Windows machines in the near future. If you have a Mac and would like copy The Complete National Geographic DVDs to your hard drive, please follow these instructions:

Requirements

• A Mac running 10.4.11 or higher
• CNG application v1.12 or higher (check "Preferences")
• The 6 DVD CNG set (this app will not copy from the external hard drive CNG product, just from DVDs)
• 50 GB of free space in your home folder. (usually /Users/_yourUserName_)

Installation - To copy all the content from the 6 DVDs to your Mac's hard drive:

1. Close the CNG app if it is currently running.
2. Go to:
   http://www.nationalgeographic.com/updates/products/cng120/CNG_DVD_Installer_RC7.zip
   *Users opening through Safari may have difficulty opening the link. If issue occurs try opening through FireFox or Internet Explorer/
3. Insert Disc 1 once the application requests it.
4. Wait for some indication that it is copying the DVD. Either the "percentage complete" will increment, or the number of megabytes copied will increase. We have found that it can take from 30-90 seconds for OSX to start allowing the full-content installer to read from a DVD. Once the copying starts, we have measured copy throughput of between 1-6 MB/sec.
5. Each disk takes between 30-45 minutes to copy.
6. When prompted to swap the next disc, do so.
7. Continue until all 6 DVDs have been copied.

Once the full-content installation is complete, you should be able the launch the app and browse to any issue without requiring any DVDs.

Known Issues:

1. Hard Drive Space: If you do not have at least 50GM of free hard drive space, the application will tell you and will not proceed with the installation. You will need to make sure 50GB of space is free.

2. Cancellation: If you cancel the process after you've started, when the applications starts again it will not continue if you have less than 50GB of space free. If you have already copied 3 DVDs, it will not re-start unless you have room for 6 DVDs.

3. DVD Icon: Once the full content is installed, the apps DVD icon in the top menu bar does not change. The icons remains at "No DVD" (if none is inserted) or "DVD x" if a CNG DVD is in the drive.

4. Uninstall: Uninstalling the app does not uninstall the full content.

5. Snow Leopard: This DVD copying feature does not work correctly with the Mac Snow Leopard operating system at this time. Stay tuned for an update to this application or email a request for work-around instructions from the support section at http://cngsupport.nationalgeographic.com