Expert ScreenSaver Help
 Expert Screen Saver Help Contents

For Help on Help, Press F1

Basic Controls

The Expert Screen Saver Main Window

Screen Saver Settings

Wallpaper Settings

The Album Viewer

Creating Scrolling Messages

Picture Collections

Using Your Own Pictures

Creating New Picture Collections

Adding Pictures to a Collection

Deleting Picture Collections

Tips on Using Wallpaper

Register...

Registration

About...

The Photographs

Expert ScreenSaver

Product Support...

Product Support

Troubleshooting


Expert Screen Saver Main Window

The Screen Saver Main Window contains the basic controls you will need to use the Screen Saver and Wallpaper functions.

Screen Saver Controls

Screen Saver Preview Window: shows an image from the currently selected Screen Saver picture collection. Tip: Double-click on this window to edit your Picture Collections in the Album Viewer.

On/Off: turns the Screen Saver feature On or Off.

Settings Button:  Takes you to the Screen Saver Settings dialog box.

Test Button:  Displays a full-screen preview of the current Screen Saver image.

Display Message: When activated, displays the scrolling message entered in the Scrolling Message dialog box.

Picture Collection Select: choose the Picture Collection to use as a Screen Saver from this menu. Highlight your selection and the first picture in the set will appear in the Screen Saver Preview window.

Wallpaper Controls

Wallpaper Preview Window: shows an image from the currently selected Wallpaper picture collection.

Tip: Double-click on this window to edit your Picture Collections in the Album Viewer.

On/Off: turns the Wallpaper On or Off.

Settings Button:  takes you to the Wallpaper Settings dialog box.

Picture Collection Select: choose the Picture Collection to use as a Wallpaper from this menu.

Main Window Controls

OK Button:  Accepts your changes and returns you to Windows. The Expert Screen Saver icon will appear minimized at the bottom of the screen.

Quit Button:  Turns off all Screen Saver and Wallpaper functions and removes Expert Screen Saver from memory until you re-start again.

Help Button:  Brings up this Help Window.

Scrolling Message Button:  click here to set up your Scrolling Messages.

See Also:

•	Creating Scrolling Messages.


Screen Saver Settings

The controls in this dialog box allow you to customize the settings for the Screen Saver.

Time Options:

Save Screen: sets the time you wish the Screen Saver to activate after the computer becomes idle. You can enter a range from 1 to 99 minutes.

Change Image: sets how often to display a new Screen Saver image. You can enter a range from 1 to 99 minutes.

Other Options:

Hotspot in Upper Left Hand Screen Corner: when selected, allows you to start the Screen Saver instantly when you move the mouse pointer to the upper left corner of the screen.

Random Playback of Images: when selected, tells the Screen Saver to display images in a random order (like the "shuffle-play" feature in CD players).

Stretch Image To Fit Screen: select this option to enlarge images to cover the whole screen on displays with resolutions higher than 640 x 480 pixels.

Setup Password: allows you to change the settings for the Password Protection feature. Clicking this button will bring up the Expert Screen Saver dialog box which works within the Windows Control Panel. Check on the box labeled 'Use Password Protection...' to enable password protection.

Note: when Password Protect is on, you will be prompted to type in the current password to be able to return to Windows and to your application when the Screen Saver becomes activated. If you wish to change the current password, click on the button labeled “Set Password...". You will need to type in your old password to make any changes.

Collection Options: Create, Modify, or Delete Picture Collections with these buttons.

See Also

•	Creating New Picture Collections

•	Editing Picture Collections

•	Deleting Picture Collections


Wallpaper Settings

The controls in this dialog box allow you to customize the settings for the Wallpaper function.

Wallpaper Changer:

Change Wallpaper Timer: sets how often the computer changes the Wallpaper image. The range is 1 to 310 minutes.

Keep Current Wallpaper Image: when selected, disables the Wallpaper Changer and keeps the currently selected image as the only Wallpaper.

Tip: when you are in the Album Viewer, the thumbnail that is currently highlighted when you exit is automatically selected as the current wallpaper. To set the image you want, simply go into the Album Viewer, highlight your choice, then click on OK.

Random Image Playback: when the Wallpaper Changer is active, this option randomly selects images from the current Picture Collection for use as Wallpaper

Display Options:

Center and Tile Wallpaper: when using small pictures for your Wallpaper, this feature lets you either center the images or tile them on your desktop. Tiling will cover the screen with copies of your picture and works best when you wish to create a textured pattern or motif.

Stretch Image To Fit Screen: select this option to enlarge images to cover the whole screen on displays with resolutions higher than 640 x 480 pixels. This feature will be disabled if you have the Tile option selected.

Picture Collections:

Create, Modify, or Delete Picture Collections with these buttons.

See Also:

•	Creating New Picture Collections

•	Editing Picture Collections

•	Deleting Picture Collections


Creating New Picture Collections

You can create, modify, and remove Picture Collections, and store them in any directory on your hard drive. Each individual Picture Collection may contain up to 16 images.

You can create a new Picture Collection from the Screen Saver Settings or the Wallpaper Settings dialog boxes by clicking on the button labeled Create New Collection [image].

This will bring up a dialog box where you can name your new collection.

Enter a short descriptive title for your collection. This name will identify your collection in all the selection menus.

Enter a file name of 8 characters or less. Expert Screen Saver will attach the extension .ESS to your file name and place it in the Windows directory. This file will contain information about your pictures such as where they are located and any text that you attach to them.

Click on OK to accept, or Cancel to exit.

See Also:

•	Using Your Own Pictures


The Album Viewer

The Album Viewer window allows you to see up to 16 pictures contained in each Picture Collection. From here you can Add, Delete, and Preview the pictures that will be part of your collection. The thumbnail that is last highlighted when you click on OK will automatically become the current Screen Saver or Wallpaper image and will be displayed in the Main Window

Collection Selector: select the Picture Collection you wish to view from this dropdown menu. Miniatures of the pictures in the collection will appear in the thumbnail squares below.

Add Image Button:  click on this button to add a new picture into the collection. This will bring up the 'Add an Image' dialog box from which you can select and browse the files in your hard drive.

Tip: you can also double-click on the thumbnail square to bring up the 'Add an Image' dialog box.

Del Image Button: click on this button to remove the highlighted image from the collection. Note: the image will only be 'deleted' from the collection, not from the disk!

Preview Button: displays a full-size preview of the image you have highlighted. VCR-type buttons allow you to see the next or previous images, or to go to the beginning or end of a collection. A picture's caption will be displayed next to the buttons.

Tip: pictures smaller than your screen size (such as wallpaper pictures) will appear centered on the screen.

Caption Box: displays text associated with an individual picture. This text is added in the Open an Image dialog box. If a picture is deleted from a collection, the caption is also deleted.

See Also:

•	Adding New Pictures


Deleting Picture Collections

When you delete a Picture Collection, you are only erasing the file Expert Screen Saver uses to keep track of the pictures in a collection (the .ESS file) and not the actual pictures themselves. Once you have deleted a Picture Collection, it will no longer be available as a selection in any of the Selector boxes.

Delete Collection Button:  clicking on this button will bring up a dialog box containing a list of all available Picture Collections. Highlight the collection you wish to remove and click on the OK button. You will be asked to verify your command.


Creating Scrolling Messages

This fun feature allows you to type in a message that scrolls from right to left across your screen when the Screen Saver becomes activated. You must have the 'Display Message' box checked in the Screen Saver Main window for the text to be shown.

Scrolling Message Button:  this button is located at the bottom of the Screen Saver Main window. Clicking on it will bring up the Enter Message dialog box where you set up your messages.

Enter Your Message Below window: you may type up to 53 characters in this window. You will see a preview of your text scrolling across the preview window.

Position: you may either have the text scroll centered on your screen, or scroll it randomly anywhere on the screen.

Speed: slide the control to the left to slow down the rate of scroll, or to the right if you wish to set it faster.

Choose Font Button: you may use any font installed in Windows for your Scrolling Message. Clicking this button will bring up a Font dialog box from where you may select the style, size, and color of your text.


Using Your Own Pictures

Expert Screen Saver can display any Windows bitmap (or raster) image saved in the BMP file format, and in 256 colors (8-bit). Many popular paint and graphics programs, including the Windows Paintbrush application can convert files of different formats such as PCX, GIF, TIF, etc. to 256 color BMP files.

Picture Size: for screen saver pictures, the ideal size of your pictures should match that of the screen size and mode in which you are running Windows. For example, if you are running in 640 by 480 mode, then your pictures should be 640 by 480 pixels for best results. Pictures smaller than the screen size will be displayed with a black border around them and centered on the screen. Using the Stretch Image to Fit Screen option will enlarge pictures but the quality will decrease as the images are distorted. However, if your pictures are larger (such as 800 by 600 pixels in 640 x 480 mode), Expert Screen Saver will only show an enlarged portion of the picture and not the whole image.

For Wallpaper Displays: pictures smaller than your screen size can either be displayed centered or tiled as wallpaper for creating custom textures or motifs. Expert Screen Saver will tile images and cover the entire screen of any size monitor.

See Also::

Adding New Pictures


Troubleshooting

I am having trouble installing. I don't see a program icon or an Expert Software program group.

Expert Screen Saver will not install properly on machines that are using Norton Desktop version 2.x or other alternative Windows shell programs. All the program files will be copied to your hard drive, however, a program group or icon will not be created. Please refer to the readme.txt file for complete instructions.

The pictures are being displayed in the wrong colors and look dark.

Your Windows program is set to display 16 colors. Expert Screen Saver needs 256 colors to display images properly. Please consult your Windows manual, or video adapter manual, on how to change your system settings to display 256 colors.

When using a paint or draw program such as PageMaker 4.0 or CorelDraw 3.0 with Expert Screen Saver , the colors of my work change.

When Expert Screen Saver changes images, it must adjust the Windows 256 color palette in order to display the new picture. Older versions of graphics software do not expect this change and are therefore affected. Your work is not affected, only the way it is displayed. To avoid this, simply turn off the Wallpaper Changer Feature, or turn off the Wallpaper.

I don’t see my Wallpaper images or my Wallpaper images aren’t being displayed properly.

Check your tile/center option in the Wallpaper Settings dialog box. Small images that are centered may be hidden by the program window. Change this setting to tile to fill the screen. If your image is somewhat smaller than your screen size, then you might get better results by centering the image.

My pictures look horrible, and are dithered in appearance.

For best results, you must run Windows in 256-color mode or higher. Refer to your Windows manual for instructions on how to do this.

Can I use Expert Screen Saver with other screen savers?

One screen saver program only should be running in Windows. Having two different screen savers running may cause system problems. Please refer to the readme.txt file for complete instructions.

Can I start Expert Screen Saver automatically when I start Windows?

Place the Expert Screen Saver icon in your startup group and restart Windows. Please refer to the readme.txt file for complete instructions.


Tips on Using Wallpaper

Tip: If you have a paint program, or know how to use the Windows PC Paintbrush application, try "cropping" parts of larger images and use these tiled as your custom wallpaper. Also, company or other logos make cool wallpaper. Experiment with these!

Tip: For Picture Collections you intend to use as wallpaper, it is a good idea to include the word "wallpaper" in the descriptive title. This will keep your collections organized. For example: "Keith's Wallpaper Set", or "Allan's Awesome Wallpaper".


About the Photographs...

Photos in Expert Coral Reef ScreenSaver © Barry Kulick

When he was three years old, Barry Kulick watched as his mother, for the first (and only) time in her life, jumped off a high diving board to demonstrate to her son that there was no reason to be afraid of the water. He followed her lead happily and has remained wet behind the ears for the past thirty-two years.

Originally from New York City, this professional underwater photographer now resides in Miami, along with his wife Miriam, and their young son Alexander.

No pictures in Coral Reef ScreenSaver may be copied or reproduced without express written authorization from Expert Software, Inc. and Barry Kulick.


About Expert ScreenSaver...

Product Manager:	Dan Ormes

Developed by:	Software Excellence by Design, Inc. Eric Anderson, Charles Cullinan II.

Quality Control:	Jeff D. Mendelson, Cameron Watson, Patty Fuquen, Jose Cepeda.

Version 2.0:	December 1994

Product Support:	(305) 567-9996 Monday to Friday 9 AM to 5 PM EST (Eastern Standard Time)


Adding New Pictures

To add a new picture to a collection, you must click on the 'Add Image' button or double-click on a thumbnail square. This will bring up the 'Open an Image' dialog box. From here you can browse and preview all available pictures in your hard drive.

Supported File Types: in this dropdown combo-box, you can set directory filters for the two types of files that Expert ScreenSaver can use. Having the selector on any setting will allow you to see only the files of that particular type in any directory that you choose to browse.

File Name and Directories: choose the file name and directory location of the file you wish to add.

Preview: click on this button to see a preview of any files you highlight in the file name Selector box, before you load them into your collection.

Image Credits/Information: once you are ready to add a picture to your collection, you may type up to 40 characters of text that will be associated with your picture. When you browse through your collection in the Album Viewer, you will see this text in the lower left hand part of the dialog box, in the Caption window.

See Also::

•	Using Your Own Pictures


Register your Software

Please print out this page, fill out the registration card and mail it to:

Expert Software, Inc.

P.O. Box 144506

Coral Gables, FL 33114-9796

or you can fax it to:

(305) 569-1350

By registering, Expert Software, Inc. can keep you informed of the latest changes and improvements to Expert ScreenSaver, as well as information on our other products. Sending in your registration card also allows you to receive free product support.


Product Support

Your purchase of an Expert product includes free product support to help you get the most out of your software. All Expert products are thoroughly tested and come with a user's guide. In most cases, the answer to many of your questions are in this online Help file.

If you are having problems starting or running the program, please feel free to give us a call. We can be reached at (305) 567-9996, Monday through Friday, 9:00AM to 5:00PM EST (Eastern Standard Time).

When you call, you should be at your computer. Be ready to give the Product Support Specialist the following information:

1.	The 10-digit program version number from the front of your program CD.

2.	The version of DOS that is installed on your computer. (You can determine the version by typing VER at the DOS prompt.)

3.	The version of Windows installed on your computer.

4.	The type of hardware you are using:

•	Brand of computer you own

•	CPU type (386, 486, Pentium)

•	Video type (EGA, VGA, Super VGA)

•	Model and type of printer

5.	The exact wording of any messages that appeared on the screen.

6.	What happened and what you were doing when the problem occurred.

We encourage Windows 3.1 (or MS-DOS 6.X) users who need product support to print an MSD report. Have it available for the Product Support Specialist who answers your call. You will find the MSD (Microsoft Diagnostics) program in either the Windows or the DOS directory.