ATI DeskTop

The ATI DeskTop provides you with a single point of access to all of your ATI products and features.  If you have just installed a new ATI product, take a few moments to familiarize yourself with the ATI DeskTop by browsing through this help file.  For help on individual products and features, use the Help On button.

The ATI DeskTop displays each ATI product you have installed in its own Product Group.  Within each product group, the Product Logo is displayed, plus a Feature Icon for each of the product's features.

Most of the actions you can perform in the ATI DeskTop involve double-clicking on the Product Logos, the Feature Icons, and the Main Logo.  You can also get information about products and features using the Help On and Read Me buttons.

The ATI DeskTop also provides convenient access to ATI Customer Support, as well as Version Information on each of the products and features.

See also:

Product Groups

Product Logos

Feature Icons

Main Logo

Menus

OK Button

Help On Button

Read Me Button

Status Bar

ATI Customer Support

Version Information


Product Groups

The ATI DeskTop displays one or more product groups, depending on the number of ATI products you have installed.  Each product group consists of a group box with the product name above it, and in the box, a product logo at the left, followed by one or more feature icons.

See also:

Product Logos

Feature Icons


Product Logos

Product logos serve a variety of functions.  However, not all products provide all of these.  The best advice is, try it and see!

* the product logo may be clicked with the help cursor to obtain product-level help

* the product logo may be clicked with the read me cursor to obtain product-level ReadMe information

* the product logo may be double-clicked, to activate a product demo

* the product logo may be shift-double-clicked to get product version information

See also:

Help On Button

Read Me Button

Version Information


Feature Icons

Feature icons serve a variety of functions:

* the feature icon may be clicked with the help cursor to obtain feature help

* the feature icon may be clicked with the read me cursor to obtain feature ReadMe information

* the feature icon may be single-clicked, to make it the currently selected feature

* the feature icon may be double-clicked, to activate the feature

* the feature icon may be shift-double-clicked to get feature version information

The currently selected feature is shown with its name highlighted.  This is the feature that will be acted on if the Enter key is pressed.  In help mode or read me mode, pressing Enter will get the help or ReadMe information for the currently selected feature.  When not in any of these modes, the currently selected feature will be activated if the Enter key is pressed (i.e. same as a double-click).  Also, the currently selected feature can be changed using the cursor (arrow) keys.

See also:

Help On Button

Read Me Button

Status Bar

Version Information


Main Logo

The main logo (at the upper right of the ATI DeskTop window), serves a variety of functions:

* the main logo may be double-clicked, to go to the ATI Customer Support dialog

* the main logo may be shift-double-clicked to get version information for the ATI DeskTop

See also:

ATI Customer Support

Version Information


Menus

There are two menu items in ATI DeskTop: File and Help

The File menu contains one entry: Exit.  This is the same as the OK Button.  (Esc and Alt+F4 will also work.)

The Help menu contains the following items:

Contents

Using Help

Customer Support

About

Contents gives the ATI DeskTop help contents.  Using Help gives help on using help.

Customer Support leads to the ATI Customer Support dialog.

About gives version information on the ATI DeskTop.

See also:

ATI Customer Support

Version Information


OK Button

Click the OK button to exit the ATI DeskTop.  The File menu Exit command may also be used.

If you have made changes to any feature that would require a restart of Windows to put into effect, you will be prompted at this time with the following question:

Restart Windows now to implement these changes?

and three buttons: Restart Windows, Continue, and Cancel Warning.

1) If you select the Restart Windows button, Windows will be automatically restarted for you.  This process can take several seconds, during which time the screen will blank out.

NOTE: If you have any open applications with unsaved changes, they should prompt you at this time to ask whether you want to save your changes.  If you cancel any of these prompts, the restart will be aborted.  Once you are again ready to restart Windows, you will have to re-enter ATI DeskTop and choose OK again.

2) If you select the Continue button, ATI DeskTop will exit, but any changes you made will not be in effect until the next time you restart Windows.  However, INI files may have already been modified, so it's a good idea to exit Windows sometime soon after selecting Continue.

3) If you select the Cancel Warning button, ATI DeskTop will forget about the fact that there is a Windows restart pending, and will not prompt you to restart Windows until the next time you make changes requiring a restart.  Since the Restart Windows? prompt is a handy reminder that you have made some unimplemented changes, it's not usually a good idea to choose this option.  However, you may find it handy in certain situations.


Help On Button

The Help On button turns the cursor into the 'help' cursor.  In this mode, clicking on any part of the ATI DeskTop window will show help for the item clicked.  In the case of product logos and feature icons, the help for the product or feature will be presented.  If there is no help available for the product or feature, general help on product logos or feature icons is presented.

Help on the currently selected feature can be obtained by pressing F1.

Help mode can also be toggled on and off by pressing F2.  Esc can be used to return to normal mode.


Read Me Button

The Read Me button turns the cursor into the 'read me' cursor.  In this mode, clicking on any product logo or feature icon will show any 'ReadMe' information available for the item clicked.

ReadMe information usually accompanies products and features either to add information that may have been unavailable at the time manuals were printed, or to act as a convenient online reference.  Even if you are familiar with a product, you may want to check its ReadMe files after installing an update to get the latest information.

ReadMe mode can also be toggled on and off by pressing F3.  Esc can be used to return to normal mode.

NOTE: ReadMe files are usually distributed as text files (.TXT), or Write files (.WRI).  The ReadMe mode requires that File Manager associations exist for these file types (usually Notepad for .TXT and Write for .WRI).  This is a normal situation, but if you have removed these associations, ReadMe may not work.


Status Bar

The Status Bar at the bottom of the ATI DeskTop window shows a brief summary of the functionality or purpose of the currently selected feature.

In help mode and read me mode, the status bar displays a short help message.


ATI Customer Support

The ATI Customer Support dialog can be reached via the Help menu, or by double-clicking the main ATI logo.

The ATI Customer Support dialog gives some basic information about obtaining assistance from ATI, including the following:

ATI Customer Support hours:

Monday to Friday 9:00am - 7:00pm EST

Telephone:	(905) 882-2626

Facsimile:	(905) 882-0546

ATI Download BBS:	(905) 764-9404

(14400/9600/2400/1200 baud;

8 data, no parity, 1 stop)

CompuServe:	GO ATITECH

ATI SUPPORT	74740,667

The ATI Customer Support dialog also allows you to create a problem report, to have on hand when contacting ATI, or to send to ATI Customer Support for further analysis.

After filling in the Problem Report form, a problem report file will be automatically created.  This file will be placed into your Windows directory (usually C:\WINDOWS), and will be named ATI_PR.TXT.  You will be given the option to view the file using Notepad after it is created.  Whether you view it or not, the file will remain there for you to view or print later, or send to ATI Customer Support.


Version Information

Version information for any product or feature may be obtained by double-clicking the product logo or feature icon, while holding down the Shift key.

Version information for the ATI DeskTop itself can be obtained by shift-double-clicking the main ATI logo.  The Help, About menu item also gives this information.