We also support Internet Explorer 6 SP1, Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2. MediaTel's Press+ system does not support Internet Explorer 6. We do not undertake rigorous testing using less common browsers (including Safari 3+, Chrome and Opera 9+) but welcome reports from users of any problems found.

This is the default browser setting.

Parts of the MediaTel website require the use of Internet Explorer and ActiveX plug-ins, namely Regional Mapping, the Press Tree and Chart FX. All the plug-ins you will need can be downloaded from here. (Regional Mapping's "MapGuide" Plug-in will self-install upon generating a map for the first time.)

Note: If it is your company's policy to prevent ActiveX downloads, a system administrator will have to log on to your PC in order to perform these installations.

While not required, having Flash 9 (or higher) will allow users of the Press+ system to view and manipulate data using a richer user interface.

Flash can be installed from http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/

By using Office 97 or higher, users may easily copy-and-paste data from the web browser straight into an Excel spreadsheet. (Simply highlight the data you wish to copy, open an Excel spreadsheet and paste the data in.)

However, we recommend a resolution of 1280x1024 or higher for improved usability.

The use of a caching proxy server at a client site can cause problems with websites including mediatel.co.uk.

A cache is a place to store something temporarily. The files you automatically request by looking at a Web page are stored on your hard disk in a cache subdirectory under the directory for your browser. When you return to a page you’ve recently looked at, the browser can get it from the cache rather than the original server, saving time and the network burden of additional traffic.

A proxy server acts as an intermediary between a workstation and the Internet to ensure security. It separates the local area network (LAN) from the outside world and protects it from outside intrusion. When a request is made by a user, the proxy server will connect to external servers on the user’s behalf.

With a caching proxy server, when it receives a request for a web page from a user, it will look in its local cache of previously downloaded web pages. If it finds the page, it returns it to the user without needing to forward the request to the Internet.

If the page is not found, the proxy server acts on behalf of the user, and requests the page from the Internet, which it then forwards to the user. To each user, the proxy server is effectively invisible.

Use of stale, shared cache files can cause problems for MediaTel. Problems can be avoided if the caching feature of a proxy server can be disabled. It is usually the case that a filter can be set up on the proxy server to allow pages from *.mediatel.co.uk URLs through without them being cached.