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About PDF files

Some of the links on this site download "PDF" files and indicate that you need Adobe Acrobat. Here's more about PDF files.

Most information on Web sites is stored in HTML files, which are fetched and displayed by your browser. That's how you are looking at this page. Sometimes sites have information, such as a report, that has formatting that can't be displayed well in your browser. PDF files are a way of storing this rich information. When you click a link to a PDF file, your browser will download it so that another program can display it for you. Adobe Acrobat Reader is the most popular program for "reading" (i.e., displaying) PDF files.

If you're not sure if you already have Acrobat installed, try downloading and double-clicking on a PDF file. If Acrobat doesn't launch, you probably don't have it.

Fortunately, Acrobat is free. It takes about 10 to 20 minutes to get and install it, but you only have to do this once.

You can download Acrobat by clicking on the image below. It will take you to the Adobe site, where you can find additional help if you need it.

About Real audio and video files

Some of the links on this site download "Real audio" or "Real video" files and indicate that you need RealPlayer to play them.

These files are sound and video files that your browser doesn't know how to play or display. When you click a link to a "Real audio" or "Real video" file, your browser will download it so that another program can play or display it for you. RealPlayer is the most popular program for handling these sound and video files.

If you're not sure if you already have RealPlayer installed, try downloading a sound or video file. If RealPlayer doesn't launch, you probably don't have it.

Fortunately, RealPlayer is free. It takes about 10 to 20 minutes to get and install it, but you only have to do it once.

You can download RealPlayer by clicking on the image below. It will take you to the RealPlayer site, where you can find additional help if you need it.

Search help

To search, just enter one or more search words and click the Search button.

To further control your search, you can:

  • Specify if you want to find documents that contain any or all of the words you have entered by using the all/any selector.
  • Indicate that words must or should not be in the matching documents by adding + or - in front of them. For example, to find documents containing malathion but not parathion, enter: +malathion -parathion.
  • Limit your search to specific kinds of documents by selecting areas of the site to search. To select multiple content areas, click while pressing Ctrl (PC users) or Shift (Mac users).

For best results, only use words that are relevant to your search. If you're looking for documents about goats, don't enter a search like documents about goats. Such a search will also yield documents about documents.

Also note that common words are ignored. The search engine doesn't index common words like a, and, or the.

Can my browser handle online transactions?

"Online transactions" refers to the safe transfer of sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, over the Web. It's done with "protocols" that most, but not all, browsers support. Most versions of Netscape's and Microsoft's browsers support these secure transactions.

You can find out what browser and version you're using, its support for secure transactions, and get upgrade information from this browser-checker service.

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