Frequently Asked Questions

General and Social Issues

Installation / Can't Connect / Can't Make It Work Issues

Sound Configuration Issues

Advanced Questions

I would like to report a bug


What is HearMe VoiceCREATOR? top

HearMe VoiceCREATOR lets you talk with anyone visiting the same web page. Using your PC, speakers, and microphone, you can talk to others over the Internet. Best of all, it's free.

You can tell your friends and relatives to meet you on this web page to talk, or you can just chat with whoever's here. (If you have your own webpage, you can add HearMe VoiceCREATOR to your page for free by visiting http://www.hearme.com and following the simple instructions.)

How do I talk? top

Click on and hold down the Talk button at the bottom left hand corner of the VoiceCREATOR device to talk. The Talk button text changes to Live when you're talking. The volume meter to the right indicates how loud you sound to others in the room.

You may also talk by pressing and holding down the F9 key on your keyboard.

How do I change my name? top

If you're listed as Guest followed by a number, you can change your name by clicking on the Options button. Your current name should be highlighted in purple.

Some web pages automatically set your name for you. If the owner of the page containing the VoiceCREATOR device has set the page up to do that, you won't be able to change your name from within VoiceCREATOR.

How do I boot out an obnoxious user? top

You cannot boot out another user using this "Basic" version of the HearMe VoiceCREATOR product. However, you can ignore the obnoxious user.

How do I ignore an obnoxious user? top

You can ignore another user by right-clicking on the user's name, and selecting Ignore. You can also ignore a user by selecting the user's name in the list, clicking Options, and selecting Ignore. After ignoring a user, you won't hear, get messages from, or receive text chat from that user.

You will no longer hear the person speaking and a muted speaker icon will display on the left side of the user's name as long as you have Ignore in effect. If you want to listen again to someone you have ignored, right-click again on the user's name and deselect the Ignore option.


What are the system requirements? top

Note: If you do not have a small speaker icon on the right hand side of the taskbar (normally at the bottom of your screen), then you either do not have a sound card or do not have appropriate sound drivers installed.

Can I use HearMe VoiceCREATOR on my Mac? top

At this point in time, the product is not supported on a Macintosh platform. We've heard reports of people having success with running HearMe in an emulation mode through a product called VirtualPC from Connectix (www.connectix.com), but we can neither verify nor guarantee this support.

We are, however, working towards having a Mac compatible version available soon.

I get the error "HTTP Did Not Parse". What should I do? top

Generally, this occurs if you reject our license agreement by NOT clicking "Yes" when the digital certificate is displayed. To resolve the problem, accept the agreement by clicking "Yes" when prompted to accept it. If the agreement no longer comes up, try uninstalling and reinstalling the plugin by following the instructions below for an Internet Explorer browser or Netscape browser.

Why do I get a gray or white box while waiting for the plug-in to load? top

A gray or white box may appear during the first 60 seconds while the web page is loading. After loading, you should see a "Security Warning" window pop up, to which you want to click "yes." Beyond this point, the plug-in should work normally. If you continue to see this gray or white box, please try uninstalling and reinstalling as directed below for an Internet Explorer browser or Netscape browser.

I see a message that says "You are not connected...." top

This message may appear for the following reasons:

* You are behind a firewall or otherwise unable to connect to the HearMe voice servers

* The HearMe voice servers are currently down

If you suspect a firewall problem, HearMe VoiceCREATOR can be made to work with the cooperation of your company's Information Technology (IT) department. Please tell your firewall administrator(s) within that department that HearMe "relies on the client software making outgoing TCP requests to servers listening on ports 8800-8809. All of the ports from 8800 to 8809 need to be open." If your IT department can reconfigure the firewall appropriately, then you'll be able to use HearMe successfully. An alternative solution, which many people have reported success with, is to obtain access to a modem dial-in Internet Sevice Provide (ISP) -- and use HearMe through the ISP.

If you believe that HearMe's voice servers are down, please feel free to submit a bug report and also try again later. We make every effort to perform routine maintenance in the early morning hours -- so as to minimize any disruption -- and we appreciate your support in this area.

My Internet Explorer says "Your browser is not configured to install ActiveX plug-ins" when I try to install VoiceCREATOR. What's wrong? top

To enable the installation of VoiceCREATOR, perform the following steps:

How do I uninstall and reinstall VoiceCREATOR Basic using Internet Explorer? top

  1. Open Internet Explorer
  2. Close all other Internet Explorer windows except one. Make sure that the one remaining Internet Explorer window does not contain a "Powered by HearMe" logo on it.
  3. If there is a HearMe VoiceCONTACT icon in your system tray (that is, if you've invited people to a private conversation using HearMe VoiceCONTACT before), right click on the icon and select "Exit" to shut it down
  4. Select "View | Internet Options" from the menu on Internet Explorer 5.x (or "Tools | Internet Options" on Internet Explorer 4.x)
  5. Click "Settings" (this appears immediately in the section "Temporary Internet Files")
  6. Click "View Objects"
  7. For each object with the name "HearMe VoicePresence", "HearMe VoiceCREATOR", or "HearMe Microphone Configuration", select the object, right-click on it, and then select "Remove" from the popup menu. (If right-clicking is difficult for you, you can alternatively select "File | Remove Program File" from the menu)
  8. Completely exit Internet Explorer (by closing all windows and clicking OK as necessary)
  9. If you relaunch Internet Explorer, follow again the above steps, and find that the HearMe files that you attempted to remove are still present, please also follow the Netscape uninstallation instructions below before continuing.
  10. Open Regedit
  11. From your Windows task bar, click the "Start" button and select "Run...".
  12. Type "regedit" and click OK
  13. In the "Registry Editor" window, click the + (plus sign) button next to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" and then next to "SOFTWARE"
  14. Select the folder labeled "HearMe"
  15. Select "Edit | Delete" from the menu
  16. Click "Yes" to confirm deletion of the key
  17. Close the the "Registry Editor" window. (Your changes are saved automatically)
  18. Visit a new web page to reinstall. Visit our demo site by going to http://www.hearme.com/products/voicecreator/tryitnow.html and you will automatically have the software reinstalled
  19. You should see the following upon installation:
    * A security warning popup should appear automatically, click Yes
    * A license agreement window should then popup, click "Accept" to continue
    * You should then see a box on the web page with a list of people (if any) concurrently visiting the web page. You may hear those people talking

How do I uninstall and reinstall VoiceCREATOR Basic using Netscape? top

  1. Open Netscape
  2. Close all other Netscape windows except one. Make sure that the one remaining Netscape window does not contain a "Powered by HearMe" logo on it.
  3. If there is a HearMe VoiceCONTACT icon in your system tray (that is, if you've invited people to a private conversation using HearMe VoiceCONTACT before), right click on the icon and select "Exit" to shut it down
  4. Select "Edit | Preferences" from the menu
  5. Click on + (plus sign) next to "Advanced". (This appears on left side of the window)
  6. Click on "SmartUpdate"
  7. Select "Hearme VoicePresence" or "HearMe VoiceCREATOR" from the right-hand side window and click the Uninstall button
  8. Click "Yes" to confirm your uninstallation
  9. Close Netscape
  10. Just to double-check, open Windows Explorer and make sure that the following files are deleted from your Netscape directory (if they are not deleted, then delete them manually):
    * C:\Program Files\Netscape\Communicator\Program\Plugins\npjac.dll
    * C:\Program Files\Netscape\Communicator\Program\Plugins\npevp.dll
  11. Open Regedit
  12. From your Windows task bar, click the "Start" button and select "Run..."
  13. Type "regedit" and click OK
  14. In the "Registry Editor" window, click the + (plus sign) buttons to expand this tree hierarchy. Click the + sign next to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE", then next to "SOFTWARE"
  15. Next, select the folder labeled "HearMe"
  16. Select "Edit | Delete" from the menu
  17. Click "Yes" to confirm deletion of the key
  18. Close the the "Registry Editor" window. (Your changes are saved automatically)
  19. Visit a new web page to reinstall. Visit our demo site by going to http://www.hearme.com/products/voicecreator/tryitnow.html and you will automatically have the software reinstalled
  20. You should see the following upon installation:
    * On that web page, you should see a puzzle piece that's labeled "Click here to get the plug-in", click there
    * A window that gives you the option to "Get the plugin" will appear, click on "Get the plugin"
    * A "Java Security" window should appear, click "Grant"
    * A license agreement should then popup, click "Accept" to continue
    * You will get a message saying that you need to restart Netscape. Often, so long as the below steps work properly, this can be ignored
    * You should then see a box on the web page with a list of people (if any) concurrently visiting the web page. You may hear those people talking

If you continue to experience problems under Netscape, please submit a bug report and consider following one of the following two options: either try again under Microsoft Internet Explorer or install a new copy of Netscape in a separate directory, and attempt to get the software to work under the new copy of Netscape (we've found that new copies of Netscape work almost all of the time).

Why can't I see another person that I know is looking at the same page? top

For each person, verify that the web "Address" displayed by the web browser is exactly, verbatim identical. For example, if one person's web address reads http://www.hearme.com/ but another person's reads http://hearme.com/, then they will not be able to see each other.

The owner/editor/controller of the web page can make some more advanced changes to the web page to circumvent this type of issue. Web page owners should seek advanced assistance at http://www.hearme.com within the "Help" pages for VoiceCREATOR Basic, look for information about "channel names".

When I was first asked to download your plugin, I cancelled the download; now it won't ask me to download the plugin and just gives an error message when I visit a page that has the control in it. What can I do? top

Since you cancelled the initial plugin download, the web browser thinks that the required plugin has already been downloaded to your PC, even though it hasn't. Since the web browser cannot find the HearMe plugin, it issues an error. Try uninstalling and then installing the plugin by following the instructions above for an Internet Explorer browser or Netscape browser.


Where can I buy a microphone or a headset microphone? top

We recommend that you visit the following web site for a high-quality, inexpensive headset microphone: the Mplayer store.

Other people can't hear me. How do I adjust my microphone? top

This is typically caused by:

We recommend that you try the HearMe "Audio Configuration Wizard" to help you configure your microphone. It may take 30 seconds or so to open this web page, but this should help you to configure your microphone and speakers:

Advanced Instructions.
If using the HearMe Audio Configuration Wizard does not work, you can also try taking the following steps:

If the volume is still too low, you can select (with some sound cards) the Advanced option under the microphone volume control. Check either the Automatic Gain Control checkbox or the Mic Gain checkbox to further increase the volume.

Why does the microphone automatically mute when F9/Talk is pressed? top

In order to prevent squealing from audio feedback, VoiceCREATOR automatically and intentionally mutes your microphone on the Windows Play Control panel for the Microphone Volume. Again, this prevents audio feedback problems. Others can still hear you, but you cannot hear yourself (you can verify that you are indeed being heard by trying the HearMe Audio Configuration Wizard). HearMe highly recommends that the Mute box be checked.

When I try to talk, I get this message: "recording/playback device in use." top

To solve this problem,

1. Verify that no other audio applications are running.

2. If the error persists, restart your computer to ensure that no other audio applications are running.

Why can I hear others talking but cannot hear myself? top

More than likely, the Mute box on the Windows Play Control panel for the Microphone Volume is checked. This is intentionally set to prevent feedback and other noise from interfering with your speech. HearMe highly recommends that the Mute box be checked.


Note that you must own, edit, or control your own web pages, and have the ability to publish your own web pages, in order to use HearMe VoiceCREATOR.

Can HearMe VoiceCREATOR be used on a password protected web page? top

Yes, absolutely.



Copyright HearMe 1999 - 2000
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