Addressing Internetinternet connection issues duringfor SmartMusic activation

The following error may occur under a number of circumstances:

UseHere are the following stepscommon practices that should be followed to attempt to assist a customer in resolvingto address this problem:error.

1. Are you connected to the Internet? SmartMusic requires an active Internet connection to activate for the first time, and whenever the subscription needs to update. If your computer does not have an active Internet connection, it cannot activate. To test your Internet connection, launch a web browser (Internet Explorer or Safari) and go to This is a system requirement to use the SmartMusic subscription and it cannot be activated with out an Internet connection. If the user is not connected to the internet, SmartMusic can not reach our server. To test the internet connection, use a Web Browser (IE or Safari) to view http://www.smartmusic.com/.

2. Who is your Internet Service Provider (ISP)? Some ISPs block other programs from accessing your Internet connection. This happens very often with America Online (AOL). If AOL is your provider, make sure to launch AOL before running SmartMusic. You will also need to disable Parental Controls in your AOL Setup. Make sure you have a current version of AOL (Version 8 or later) to use SmartMusic properly.provider? The internet service provider may not allow programs like SmartMusic to access the internet. The most common internet service provider that encounters issues is America Online (AOL). If a user is connecting via AOL, ensure you connected to AOL and logged in before starting the SmartMusic program. If they are using any parental controls with AOL, they will need to disable these controls to allow our program access to the internet. Also make sure they have the latest AOL program installed (at least AOL 8 or greater), as older versions may not work correctly with SmartMusic.

3. Do you have any network security software? Quite often, Internet The Users security software preventsis preventing the SmartMusic program from reaching our Activation Server. Hereserver. The following are some suggestions we can give to help use SmartMusic with Internetusers how to get around their security software. to activate. How to do any of this specifically depends on the software they are using.

a. For Home Users -: Most often, home users employ Internet security software is included with your computer before you buy it. Look for the following programs and packages which block SmartMusic:at the suggestion of their network provider or computer retailer. Unfortunately this usually means the user does not fully understand how to use this software.

i. Common single applications include:

BlackIce Defender

McAfee Personal Firewall

1. Norton/Symantec Personal Firewall

2. SygateMcAfee Personal Firewall

3. ZoneAlarm

4. BlackIce Defender.

ii. Common “package” programs:

McAfee Internet Security

1. Norton Internet Security

2. Symantec Internet Security

Firewall software is designed to stop programs from using yourInternet

3. connection. It uses the program’s nameMcafee Internet Security

The Firewall program may prevent internet communication of SmartMusic for a number of reasons, but the most common is the program’s name. The website address and port are usually not blocked by default by personal programs. The best suggestions to give to do this (“Smartmusic.exe”). If

youarea home user using a personal secu rity software for your Internet

connection, addSMARTMUSIC.EXEprogram would be to the list of programs allowed

iii. adjust their security software settings to use your InternetConnection,ensure the SmartMusic program can send and receive information via their network or temporarily simply disable your securityto software temporarily while they activate. The user should also be aware that they might have more than one piece of software that is blocking SmartMusic.

software. You may havemore than one security program running.

b. For Educator Networks: When addressing network issues for educators most commonly they are users in a larger school network. These networks are usually administered by one or more network administrators whose task it is to adjust policies or settings for their security software. If the user is not a network administrator and they are encountering problems there is usually nothing that they can do other than contact their network administrator for assistance. If an educator is attempting to contact their network administrator for assistance they may need to ensure they have:

i. Full access to the computer they are activating (I.E. Administrative access to the computer).

ii. Access to the website www.SmartMusic.com (if they can access our site via a web browser they do), and that the application can send and receive information with their network connection (SmartMusic.exe for SmartMusic 9 or SmartMusicStudio.exe for SmartMusic 8).

iii. The latest version of the SmartMusic program. If they are using an older version, recommend they use SmartMusic 8.3 or later as 8.3 and later include a number of changes to attempt to be better suited to “secured” network environments.

iv. In a larger network there are a number of measures that may be employed and the network administrator should be familiar with ways to address this issue. If the user is the network administrator, they may be looking for some items of information. The following should only be released to a network administrator.

What protocol is employed by SmartMusic.exe?

HTTP

What Port does SmartMusic.exe use?

80

What site is SmartMusic.exe trying to reach?

www.SmartMusic.com

What is the IP address for www.SmartMusic.com?

Currently the IP is207.67.104.182.

NOTE: For more information on the IP address, please see the Resources area at the end of this document.

Note: MakeMusic cannot provide network administrative support! If a user has employed security software, or they are in a “secured” network environment, they may need to adjust policies or settings for their security software and are ultimately responsible for making the necessary changes to ensure SmartMusic can send and receive information with our server.

Rare Issues

The following are rare issues that may also need to be investigated to attempt to address this error.

For users of Microsoft Windows XP – Windows XP has a built-in “Firewall”

software. Disabling it does not allow SmartMusic to connect to the

Internet. You must add SMARTMUSIC.EXE to the firewall’s

“exception” list ofprograms.

Extended characters in the subscription name: Check the name of the subscription in CSI. It should only contain alpha-numeric characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9). If it contains any extended characters (??ě?), the name will need to changed.

For Educators –Macintosh Proxy server: At this time SmartMusic can have many different kinds of problems on school networks. These networks are designed to be secure and avoid Internet problems by limiting what end-users (teachers and students) can do with networked computers. In these cases, you should refer to the network’s administration for assistance in activating SmartMusic:

You must have Administrator-level access to this computer.

You must be able to access rtmusic.com/.

You must have the most current version of SmartMusic properly

installed.

SMARTMUSIC.EXE must be able to send and receive information

over the computer’s network connection.

For network administrators – In large networks, all of the above problems may apply. Please be aware that MakeMusic cannot provide network administrative support. The management of an organization’s network needs to be handled by their professionals. The simplest way to help an administrator get SmartMusic set up for the customer’s use is to supply the administrator with the following information:

SmartMusic uses the HTTP protocol.

It can only send users to rtmusic.com/.

SmartMusic only uses Port 80.

Our activation server’s IP address is currently 207.67.104.182:80.

For more information on IP addresses, please see the Resources

area at the end of this document.

Rare Issues

Extended characters in the subscription name: Check the name of the subscription in CSI. It should only contain alpha-numeric characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9). If it contains any extended characters (??ě?), adjust it to remove them.

Macintosh Proxy server: At this time SmartMusic cannot be used in some environments when a Macintosh computer is using a proxy server. Specifically, if the proxy server requires authentication for outgoing requests, SmartMusic does not have the facilities on Mac to provide this information. The network administrator will have to disable proxy service for this machine and allow it full network access for the activation or moving of a SmartMusic subscription.

Resources

YouFor MakeMusic Customer Support, you may wish to search for more information regarding Firewall software. and its common employment. A good introduction to this kind of security software may be found at stuffworks.com/firewall.htm.

The IP Address is subject to change. The IP address that a user needs for activating SmartMusic is the same as the IP address for www.smartmusic.com. The most up-to-date address is available by looking up rtmusic.com/ through online DNS/IP tracing services such as stuff.com/ by typing in “smartmusic.com” in the “Name Lookup” field. For the most up to date address there are a number of services available to determine the ip address of a website including stuff.com/. Be aware though that if an administrator is controlling networkaccess by IP, they willshould already be familiar with using tools of this nature to determine this information.