Once the application is launched, you should see the application box that says "U.S. Census 2000 Data Engine" in the blue band at the top.

Take a moment to look around the rest of the software. Just underneath the "U.S. Census 2000 Data Engine" text are five tabs: WORKSPACE, PICK GEOGRAPHY, OUTPUT, SIMPLE VARIABLES, and CUSTOM VARIABLES. We'll be referring to these as we move through the tutorial.

Along the bottom of the DVD software interface are four buttons: CLOSE, < BACK , NEXT >, and FINISH.

The software has these buttons to move through the process of creating the dataset. Experienced users may also simply use the tabs at the top to create and refine their datasets.

On the right third of the workspace is a large empty box for OUTPUT VARIABLES (the selected variables show up there) and underneath the OUTPUT VARIABLES box are two additional buttons: DELETE and HELP.

The DELETE button deletes selected variables from the OUTPUT VARIABLES box. The HELP button provides help when using the software.