How to... Use the screen saver

MyAlbum comes with a screen saver module for Windows that enables you to play your favorite album when you're not using your PC.

How to set it up

• First build an album with your best pictures!
• Save the album.
• In the Tools menu select the Install screen-saver command.
  The Display Properties window should open showing that the MyAlbum Screen Saver is now set as the default Windows screen-saver. Close this window with the OK button.
• In the Tools menu select the Test screen-saver command.
  This will set the current album as the album to use for the screen-saver.
  The screen-saver will start and the slideshow will begin. Just move slightly the mouse to return to MyAlbum.
• The MyAlbum Screen Saver is ready!

Customizing the screen-saver

• In the Tools menu select the Setup screen-saver command.
• The MyAlbum Screen Saver setup window is then displayed, if necessary, select the album you want to use with the Browse button.
• You can then adjust the other parameters:
  • Delay is the delay in seconds between two pictures.
    It can be a value different from the one stored in the album.
    It can also be a fractional number like 1.5 for one second and a half.
  • Comment: display or not the picture comment,
  • Random order and Shuffle order: selects between a random slideshow, a shuffle slideshow or sequential slideshow (when both options are unset),
  • Multi mode : selects the multiple mode and one of its sub-mode:
    • Sequential: pictures are displayed, left to right, top to bottom.
    • Random: pictures are displayed randomly but without overlapping each others.
    • Floating: pictures are displayed randomly overlapping each others.
    • You can also adjust the number of columns and rows displayed that will have a direct impact on the size of the pictures on the screen.
  • You can choose to exclude certain files from the slideshow:
    • Skip non-graphic files will exclude all files that are neither pictures nor videos (HTML page for instance).
    • Skip videos will exclude video files.
    • Silent will not play any of the files listed in Play Commands attached to the album and the pictures.
    • Filter pictures using keyword will keep only the pictures that have the specified keyword.
  • If you have more than one screen connected to your computer, the screen-saver will use the setting defined in the Monitors window of the MyAlbum Setup.
    You can use the whole virtual screen (all the monitors) by selecting the Use the whole virtual screen option. For instance use it with the Multi mode option set.
  • Set last picture as desktop wallpaper: check this option to have the screen-saver automatically change the Desktop wallpaper (using the last displayed picture) when you exit the screen-saver mode.
• Validate your choices by click the OK button.

Manual installation

You can install and setup manually the MyAlbum Screen Saver:

• Install the module Use the Windows Explorer to locate the file named MyAlbum Screen Saver.scr (it is normally located in the folder MyAlbum has been installed in).
• With the right mouse button, click the file and select the menu command Install.
• The Display Properties window should open showing that the MyAlbum Screen Saver is now set as the default Windows screen-saver.
• Click the Settings button to open the MyAlbum Screen Saver setup screen (see above).
• Select the album to use, adjust the other parameters and click the OK button to return to the previous screen.
• Click the Preview button to have a look at the result.
• Click the OK button to save all the settings.

It's not working!

When testing the screen saver, instead of your pictures, you are only seeing the MyAlbum logo moving across the screen or, worse, an empty black screen....

• Empty black screen
  • The screen saver module is dependant of the main MyAlbum application for displaying the pictures. The file MyAlbum.exe must be present on your computer and correctly registered (MyAlbum register itself the first time it is run).
  • The version of the screen saver module and the version of the main MyAlbum application must match. If you have installed a new version of MyAlbum check that there no other files named MyAlbum Screen Saver.scr from an older version on your computer.
  • You have specified a very large album to use with the screen-saver. The album must first be loaded and the pictures selected before the slideshow could begin. In this case, please be patient for a few seconds!
• Bouncing MyAlbum logo
  • This can be the result of a mismatch between the version of the screen saver and the version of MyAlbum (see above).
  • Most often, it means that the specified album cannot be found (album file moved, renamed or deleted) or read (damaged file or insufficient access rights) or is empty. Check what you have entered in the Album field and if you can open it in MyAlbum.
  • Another common mistake is to set a too restrictive filter: setting Skip videos on an album containing only video files will produce zero picture to show. The same thing will occur if you have misspelled the filter keyword or selected a keyword that isn't attach to any picture.