Step 1. Installing the IR Communications Driver

Note  You must always remove any previously installed version of the IR communications driver every time you install the driver. For example, if you have an earlier (Beta) version of the IR communications driver already installed you must remove it before you install Version 1.0. You may also need to remove an installation of the Version 1.0 driver. For example, if you change the IR adapter model that is connected to your computer, you must remove the installed IR communications driver and reinstall it, specifying the new IR adapter type. Instructions for removing the IR communications driver are in An Optional Step: Removing the IR Communications Driver.

To install the IR communications driver, do the following:

1. Click the Start button and select the Run option.
2. In the Run dialog, open the Setup program (SETUP.EXE) from the Infrared setup location. After the Setup program copies some files, it starts the Add Infrared Device Wizard.
3. When the wizard prompts you to choose a manufacturer's name for your IR device, choose "(Standard Infrared Devices)" if you have a computer with a built-in device, or choose the name of the manufacturer and the model of the adapter if you have an IR adapter attached to the computer.
4. When the wizard prompts you to choose the communications port that the IR device is physically connected to, click the port from the list. If you are not certain which physical communications port the IR device is using, make your best guess.
5. When you are done with the wizard, click the Finish button to complete the IR device installation. The wizard should have briefly displayed New Hardware Found messages. If the wizard did not display these messages, then restart the computer.
6. Activate the IR device by clicking the Start button, pointing to Settings, and then clicking Control Panel. Double-click the Infrared icon. If you chose the correct port in Step 4, the Infrared Monitor interface screen appears. If you did not choose the correct port, a message appears telling you that the port you have chosen is being used by another program. Click OK. When the Infrared Monitor interface appears, click the Options tab, and then choose a different communications port (for example, COM1 instead of COM2). Repeat this step until you have chosen the correct port.

For general information about how to use the Infrared Monitor, click the Help button in the lower-right corner of the Infrared Monitor interface screen. To get information about individual items in the Infrared Monitor interface, such as check boxes, click the question-mark (?) button in the upper-right corner of the screen and then click the item you want information about.

The Options tab of the Infrared Monitor interface contains the following two particularly useful items:

• The Enable Infrared Communication On check box, which enables and disables the IR device.
• The Limit Connection Speed To option, which limits the link speed the IR device can negotiate.

You might want to use the Limit Connection Speed To option if an adapter is attached to a COM port that is using an 8250 UART instead of a 16550 UART, or if an adapter is connected to a relatively slow computer (such as a 386 running at 20 MHz). In these cases, you could use this option to limit the connection speed to 19.2 Kbps.