Conflow

Peter, Adding to Dave's reply:- Use a 'Start-Screen' with the Start/Exit Buttons on the lower edge. Use this 'Screen' for Slideshow title and Credit's etc. No music plays until you have finished your pre-amble and the hit the Screen-Start button. We use this as 'standard' on all Slideshows because we use the 'End Screen' either to Exit the Show -or- Restart the Show (button) which brings us back to the 'Start-Screen' again. It look good and works well !! Brian (Conflow).

Hi Colin, You wrote..."will it stop 'phone home' messages from resident malware"... 'The Box on the wall Routers' supplied by your Internet-Provider are Buffer/Filter Unit designed to seperate the Internet signals from the Phone-Line signals or alternatively if its a Cable-TV Link it seperates VHF, UHF and Broadband Internet signals from each other otherwise your PC would not work properly due to co-channel interference. Some of these have a very rudimentary (hardware) Firewall unfortunately they do not change your personal Internet IPS address given to you by your Service provider You are confusing these 'Wall-Boxes' with (stand-alone) "Proxy Address Firewalled Routers" viz:- A "Proxy Firewall Router" interrogates your PC and discovers your unique IPS Address. Then it generates a unique "Proxy IPS Address" different from yours and requests the Server to accept this new proxy address. It attempts this many times till it finds an acceptable code. Thereafter this "proxy" IPS address is used in all communications with your PC so in effect only 2 entities know your true identity...Your IPS provider and you, so in theory you become invisible on the Internet. This "Proxy-Router" also contains a powerful (hardware) Firewall which interrogates all 'scripts' hidden or otherwise and promptly kills them. It also learn data-patterns from your PC communications particularily those which want to 'call Home' whereupon it will trigger your PC.Firewall (if its on) which then should ask your permission to allow that contact if your Firewall hasn't already done so. (Norton Internet Security Suite mirror's the same thing). There is a lot more to these Routers than space allows here and as I wrote earlier I really don't want to expand this thread as it is a complex subject excepting to provide the basics written above. Hope this answers your question and explains the differences between your LAN Box and a Proxy-Router which are two different devices entirely. regards, Brian (Conflow)

Ken, Routers sure were expensive in the days of Win.98 ~ now one can get a decent (single-line) LAN-Router for less than $50 with 4 Port (outputs) for PC's with up to 12.Mhz service speeds. Talking about 'Radio-Routers' we have our own Server and 2 years ago we went over to 'Radio Broadband' with inbuilt Duplex-Router (different in/out proxy addresse's) and we have never looked back...touch wood !! "D-Link" make goood Routers (they can be tricky to set-up) but they sure work well. On this side of the Pond "Net-Gear" is a good choice for simple systems but for a more complex product we opted for "Lab-Gear" - expensive but good. All the best of luck with the New System ~ I'm sure you have seen one heck of an improvement compared to the old unit. regards, Brian.

Ken, As far as it applies to the Web-Internet you are so correct, a decent Router is worth every penny spent on it ~ its the best insurance out there because of its "proxy" IPS Address. When it comes to E-Mails some still come with rogue "attachments" (usually hidden scripts) and if one opens these all hell can break loose when the owner re-starts his PC. I have no sympathy for such owners as its so easy to RH.Click the E-Mail in the 'Inbox' and select properties ~ this showns the source of the E-Mail and its return to 'sender' routing, all is then revealed ~ its easy to do this and delete the rogues in the Inbox without opening them. As for 'Downloads' from 3rd parties this is where the XP-Firewall comes into its own in filtering 'unsigned' Active-X controls and rogue Cookies if auto-management is turned on. Auto-Transponder Programs ~ many Programs make silent connection to the Internet unknown to the PC user and many Comms ports are 'open' active always. This comes as a shock to most PC users and again the XP-Firewall filters these. The Golden Rule is:- If your're not currently using the Internet simply turn it off till you need it. However its my sad experience that most PC users simply don't care or are not aware or ignore simple security and cleaning procedure's until the inevitable happen's...the rest is history. Ken thats a good point you made about Routers and there are no annual subscriptions either !!! All the best, Brian (Conflow)

Hi Colin, I think you have completely missed the point of my reply to Chrisp, as follows:- .."It is bad practice to run 2 Firewalls simultaneously on any Windows PC".. As for 'Active X Controls' one only has to go into Control Panel-->Internet Options -->select-->Security(set to Medium) -->select Privacy(set to Medium) then these settings block all 'Unsigned Active X Controls'. The subject of the thread is about duplex 'Firewalls' running simultaneously on a PC, If people wish to ignore the advice given -thats not my problem- nor do I intend to pursue consequential problem threads resulting from 2 x Firewall operation's. Best regards, Brian. Conflow.

Ronnie, You wrote..."I am using Version 5.6.4 and have saved a Project to a folder on my drive. When I try to reload that saved project, I get the attached message and file will not open"... Ronnie, by any remote possibility were you working with a 'Transparency or a Layer or Image' which you simply 'Saved' instead of 'Save As' and that Image was placed into your Show-File ?? This may/may not run in Preview-Mode but will not run in Exe.Mode as the Image is missing... Just a thought ! Brian (Conflow)

Chrisp, I have said this many times before on this Forum and it can be supported by the Microsoft Corp. XP2 and XP3 have excellent "Intergrated Firewalls" built into the Operating Systems which from time to time are 'auto-updated' by the Microsoft Corporation without reference to the PC Owner. Microsoft DO NOT advise the installation of a 2nd.Firewall on any XP whilst the original still exists on that PC and under Anti-Monopoly Law's the Company is precluded from preventing you installing a 2nd Firewall. The Anti-Virus Industry know about this 'loophole' and exploits it to supply/purvey their own Products and unfortunately most PC Owners fall into this trap with detrimental effects to their Computer. The Computer Industry is well aware of the problems of 2 concurrent Firewalls and have advised the Public over and over against this practice, however there are some PC owners who seem to know better than the Computer Industry. Ask yourself: Who's better to provide an effective XP-Firewall ~ Microsoft of a 3rd Party ?? Now you have the facts and its your choice... Brian (Conflow).

Laszlo, The Thumbnails/Images are the "attachments" to my Post as Ken has shown. You will find the Web Address for the Program in my Image "Pan-3". All you need is an (electric) 'Rotorary Demonstration Plinth' as used in Shop-Window displays. You can set the rotation speed of these and use a black background behind the rotating plinth. Now set your Camera to Multi-Shot and run off a series of shots. You can 'stitch' these shots together and then use the W-Panorama program to create the rotary effect. You may need an 'Image-Stitcher' ~ you can get that from www.webattack, see link below. You asked...."Can you import its final product into PTE? is that what's is in your first two lines ? ... In answer...No you can't directly import it into the Pte Slideshow as an intergrated part of the Slideshow. You can make Pte run that 'Panorama' as a seperate Exe -and when its done- Pte continues with the Show. (W-Panoramma is 'Freeware' and other Webattack utilities usually have a 30 day Free Trial). Link:- http://www.webattack.com and a particular cheap 'stitcher' Link:- http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/zoner-pan...erpanorama.html Hope this is what you wanted. Brian (Conflow)

Hi Laslzo, Here is a different approach to your problem. Would you consider 'jumping-out' of the Pte Program then running a small external Exe and then returning to the Pte Program ?? If so, here below are some "attachments" about a program called "W-Panorama" which I have used for some time. Its small, 3.0mB, its controlable and offers various frame-rates in creating a 360*-Panorama of your "Rose" object ~ because essentially thats what you are trying to achieve. I forgot to mention that it runs in "Full-Screen" and other sizes and contains 'examples' and has a very good Help-File. Attachemts and Web-Link in my Image titled Pan-3. Hope it helps... Brian (Conflow)

Ken, Thanks for that correction concerning 'date' of 1st addition of 'Backup to Zip' in the Main Pte 5.00 Beta Program. My above post has been corrected. Brian (Conflow).

Ronnie, Ed, and all. Firstly, the inclusion of "Backup to Zip" is a relatively recent addition to the Pte 5.0 series of Beta Program's. Since 1996 PC users have used a range of Zip-Products, some good, some bad, and some downright useless and reading some of your previous Posts (above) it would appear that most Pte users thought a Zip was a Zip "per se" and never gave it second thought and had never considered the 'quality impact' on good Photographs. As they say 'familiarity breeds contempt' and dont we all fall into that trap ? I have addressed that problem with proof from a leading Zip Manufacturer that over-compression can cause many problems and from my working experience in Conflow that certainly is the the case with 'non-descript' Zip Programs. (See link in my #25 Post above). 'WinZip' and 'WinRar' are the Industry leaders in compression technology ~ there are differences between both. WinZip is to the compression Industry as Photoshop is to the Photographic Industry, need I say more ! 'WinRar' is a contender to 'WinZip' and in some situations it offers faster zipping but less compression for a given 'Image quality-index' compared to WinZip. But then WinZip offers many extra utilities not included in WinRar. In the past I had problems with WinRar but in 2009 this program has sorted its problems excepting there appears to be some recent issues with Vista-Pro ~ probably due to Vista itself. (I never had any problems with WinZip). Pte Backup to Zip:- I simply don't know what method technology Igor is using within this Backup-Utility so unlike others I'm not qualified to comment -except to say- knowing Igor he has alredy considered all the quality issues and has produced a (no frills) 'simple-utility' suitable for its intended purpose ~ but thats a WnSoft issue not mine. regards, Brian (Conflow).

Peter and Colin, Yes it does come as an unexpected surprise to most PC users where 'zipping' a File with over-compression can lead to unexpected and unexplained corruptions to that File. There are also other ways where Zip-Files become corrupted due mostly to Server errors and poor Unzipping Programs. As far as 'hi-grade' JPegs are concerned if you notice small 'colour-casts' or slight 'vignetting' or 'chroma-errors' in comparitive testing of Original-V-Zipped Files most likely that File has become corrupted due to over-compression ~ If there is loss of data its usually Server error or File 'too large'. If you are Zipping for archival purposes ~ golden rule ~ never compress the Archive File, just Zip-it. In 2009 the Zip-File size limit is just on 2.0 Gigbyte running on XP or Vista provided you have a good Zip-Program such as 'Win-Zip' (nothing to do with Microsoft) and of course provided you have the Memory to process that File size. For 'Hi-quality Images' up to 10% compression is the accepted norm ~however~ Win-Zip Corporation recently released Win-Zip 12 which can go all the way to 25% compression, this is a landmark breakthrough in the Compression Industry. Zip-Files are used extensively in Archictecture & Engineering circles where Image sizes are often larger than 36"x24" and must be scaleable up or down to within 1/100th of an inch. You can imagine the size of those Files !! and most are in Colour. Link: http://www.winzip.com/whatsnew120.htm See attachment which also explains... Brian (Conflow)

Xaver, John and Colin, Hey Guys, where is all this Zip-response relative to Pte 5.6 coming from ???? Ronnie never mentioned Pte 5.6 nor did I. My response to Ronnie was to show the relative differences between a Pte-Template -V- Zipped Files which others had failed to do previous to my Posting and which Ronnie had specifically asked for such an explaination. Should you wish to start a new Topic relative to 'Pte-Backup in Zip' thats solely your affair, but I would like to point out that there are some 20 Zip-Programs available to PC users ~ some good, some bad and some definitely interfer with the quality of Images after Un-Zipping generally due to too much compression. The 'attachment' below gives some idea what I'm talking about and for further data Google up on Zip-Program Reviews. Best regards, Brian (Conflow).

Hi Ronnie, Correct me if I'm wrong ~ do you want to know the 'factual' difference between a Template ~V~ Zip backup ?? Pte Template Pte can make a 'template' of a Show whilst in its early stages of production or it can make a 'template' of a finished Show. The 'template' is presented as a Folder whose title is that of the 'work in progress' or as that of the 'finished Show' This Template-Folder contains copies of all Images & Sounds and other content at the instant of making the Template. Consequently its a 'Snapshot-Recorder' of work to date which may be over-written time and time again until completion. Within each Template Folder there is a Dat.File simply called (.pte) which contains instructions to recompile the Folder contents back into a viable 'work in progress' or recompile the contents back into a 'Preview-Show' provided you have the PTE Program. The Template Folder DOES NOT contain the Pte.Slideshow Exe Files so one would need the Pte.Program to make that Exe. (Consider the Template Folder as a complete 'Kit of Model Parts' awaiting the glue and creator to put it together) Zip for Web In this case one simply has a complete Slideshow-Exe which is 'zipped-up' and sent onwards to some recepient. The 'zip-process' simply compresses the Exe-File by a given amount from Zero to 30%. This compression reduces the File size so it takes less time to transmit over the Web and also preserves the integrity of the Folder by keeping it confined within one package. Zip Backup In these circumstances by all means 'zip-up' the Exe.File or indeed 'zip-up' the Template Folder complete with enclosed Exe.File but DO NOT USE zip compression ~ set this to zero-compression if you want to preserve the utmost quality with the zip-package. Wisdom has taught us to 'burn' all our important Data-Files to CD-Disc as Hard-Copy for Library purposes and never ever depend on Hard-Drives for permanent storage ~ Hard-Drives are mechanical devices and they will eventually fail... Hope this helps... Brian (Conflow)

Colin, I like that remark..."The thot plickens" and you are correct for the reason that Garys' (Goddi) problem is simple 'User Error'. Had I known Gary was using 'Vipre Anti-Virus Software' (also known by other titles) I would have suggested get rid of it because its known to be a 'Memory-Hog' and it also becomes unstable if used together with the Windows XP-Firewall in conjunction with the remnants of the other Anti-Virus he had installed on his Computer before installing 'Vipre'. The makers of 'Vipre' quite clearly state that all other Anti-Virus MUST BE REMOVED FROM THE PC BEFORE INSTALLING VIPRE and furthermore why Gary wants to run an alternative 'Firewall' to the installed XP-Firewall absolutely dumbfounds me as the XP-Firewall in XP-Sp3 is one of the best available. I have forgotten the number of Posts I have submitted about this problem of 'duplex' Firewalls running in XP ~ even Microsoft disapproves of this practice ~ but there are those who still insist in doing so !! Also Vipre is one of those 'old-technology' programs which is ALWAYS running in the background burning up 'virtual-memory' up to known levels of 92% of that available whilst 'hogging' the installed User-Ram and pushing the Processor to its limits with unnecessary utilities of 'File-Protection' which was used by Norton in the dim distant past around 1998. (We all remember those days). These 'facts' are easily checked-out with Google....but then someone remarked..."forget the Tech-Talk etc"...at that point I bailed out of this discussion and had not intended to re-enter it until I got that kick-start from yourself..."The thot plickens" Funny how the clock always turns full circle...and if Gary reads this, I do hope he takes the advice given. regards, Brian (Conflow).

Yachtsman, Eric the way to do this which applies to a Desktop-PC is as follows. Visit any good PC Store and purchase the following,viz;- 1) A good quality 'External Firewall Hard Drive' 2) A '2 or 3 Port Firewire PC Card'. (Install into the PC) 3) A 'Firewire to PC Cable' Some of these Ext/HD-Drives come with a CD-Installation Disc with Drivers for use in case the PC does not recognise a Firewire-System ~ some dont. Usually from Win-2000 upwards most PC's recognise such Firewire-Sytem. Most good Stores will have a Firewire 'Demo-System' so you can see the benefit's for yourself. Concerning your Desktop-Laptop I'm afraid I have no experience of these particular machines or indeed if they will accept a Firewire-System. In this case I suggest have a look at its Manual or contact the Manufacturer. regards, Brian (Conflow).

Yachtsman, OK, I got it ~ you use Laptops ~ but here is some info which may explain the problem:- Internal & External Hard-Drives demand 5volt @ 0.5A and 12volt @ 0.75A on average so the overall power consumption is in the order of 11~12 watts. Thats OK with an external supply. However the Laptop still has to power the USB-2 connection which depending on the external device - the signal demand can rise up to 1.5 amp and this is highly intermittent in nature depending on how the 'Data-Blocks' are managed. This 'intermittency' can push an older Laptop Battery to its limits and cause drooping of the 5v USB System giving rise to (soft) data error's and soft address error's. Suffice to say, I've been there done that, and its the reason I converted to Firewire. Best regards, Brian (Conflow).

Hi Yachtsman, Yes, you have just about hit the nail on the head ~ there are different types of 'External Hard-Drives' viz:- Some of these are ' USB Static-Types' which depend on the PC-Processor for refreshing and addressing and are connected to the PC via a USB-2 Port. The problem with these is the fact that the USB-Port is always 'active' and consequently uses massive refresh resources and they also hog the PC Databuss as well as imposing heavy demands on the 5volt USB supply. That power demand can give iintermittent problems if the PC Power-Block has not been upgraded from the original 325 Watt type installed on the PC. . Another type is the 'Firewire External Hard Drive' such as the 'LaCie' make. These require the installation of a 'Firewire-Card' within the PC. This system is super-fast, has its own buffers, and most important it goes to a 'standby-state' when not being addresed so it doesn't hog the Databuss and its also switchable On/Off but is instantaneously available on demand and has no effect what so ever on the USB System. There are other 'older' types of (parallel) 'External Hard-Drives but these are no longer used with modern PCs. Hope this is of some help to you. Brian (Conflow)

Gary, Some time ago in the distant past we went over this problem with other Forum Members. Look, its not all to do with (user) RAM ~ that's only part of a PCs' dynamics, other things must be considered and the most important one is functional 'dynamic workload' viz:- 1) When you add together all the 'Running Utilities' both silent and visual plus your Slideshow and Anti-Virus etc, this can add up over time where eventually it overwhelms the PCs' ability to make available sufficient 'Virtual-Memory' to run your (large) Slideshow as the system is pre-occupied in with other activities considered to be of a higher priority than your Show. 2) PC Users have brought forward a 'misconception' from the days of Win'98 that these problems have to do with inadequate RAM ~ that was true for Win'98 but today modern PC's use fast 'Virtual-Memory' because RAM is simply too slow for Graphic Programs and such like. 3) With modern PC's its RAM is like a 'scratchpad' or an interchange-junction. It accepts your instructions plus system instructions and asks Windows to make available enough virtual memory to run those combined instructions. The Processor(s) jump into actions and start to transact the called Programs which are routed thro' their internal L2 Cache-Memory writing into the allocated 'Virtual-Memory' provided they are not overwhelmed by too many instructions arriving too quickly. The Processor(s) L2-Cache Memory is the modern day 'Achilles-Heel' of hi-speed Processors trying to do too much too fast. Suggestion Before you start buying more RAM (more Procesor load) I would do a System-Audit and find out how many Programs you personally have running on your PC and most important how many Gigabytes of Images/Sounds Files you have on the Hard-Drive. Unknown to you these are always in a state of contineous 'refresh' and believe me they burn up more Memory resources than a petrol Fire....so how full is your Hard Drive ?? and how many USB devices are connected to the PC ?? Gary, you may need more RAM but first stop and think...How loaded is the PC ?? because if this is the case no amount of RAM can correct an overtaxed Processor(s) System. Kind regards, Brian.Conflow. P.S. All RAM Memory has a certain amount of permitted 'leakage' which can flag-up as a fault. But RAM was never intended for 'permanent-memory' usage ~ its purely a transitorary first-in and first-out 'scratchpad' and its up to 100 times slower than Virtual-Memory depending on type etc.

Tmcphnx, Would I be correct in assuming that you have downloaded Pte.5.6x into the 'old' Pte.4.4x Folder ??? If so, your PC doesn't know which version to use and it is now chasing its own Tail and slowing down. If this is the case rename the old Folder as Pte44x and delete the version of Pte.5.63 resident therein. Now create a new Folder titled Pte563. and re-download a new copy of Pte.5.6.3 into the New Folder. That should sort out your problem if in fact this is what happened ~ otherwise more explicit PC data is needed. Brian (Conflow).

Ralph & Xaver, Ralph thats correct, Windows wants to count in decadic ranges or as Xaver calls it 'lexicographical'. Another way of doing this if you have large Image-Libraries is as follows,viz:- A-01 to A-99 B-01 to B-99 C-01 to C-99 D-01 to D-99 We arrange all our Engineering Image-Libraries to a 4 character Alpha/Numeric Code as above and of course that can be expanded to 5 character set ~ above that defeats the simplicity purpose. It offers many advantages in keeping Libraries simple and very easy to re-name and re-index Images in 26 Groups which can be further expanded to additional groups by adding another 'alpha' such as AA-01. Also if you want to introduce an 'orphan image' you can use a suffix such as A-87a (small letter a,b,c etc). So now you can have 01-99 to the power of 26 minus 1 which is a vast but simple numeric sequence indeed. The above is a simple 4 Character code which we developed a few years ago to replace the 8/9 Digit Code used by Fuji, Canon, Nikon, Kodak and others which are very cumbersome and give no 'indexing' whatsoever. (The vast majority of 'Renamer-Programs' work very well with this simple 4 character code). Brian (Conflow).

Hi All, Unknown to many users, PCs' do not like numbers sequenced in the order,viz:- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,.....8, 9, 10, then followed by 11, 12, etc, etc. This sequence is not logical to a PC as the numbers are singular sequential and not decadic cadence (decimal) which a PC understands. The correct sequence should be,viz:- 01, 02, 03, 04,.....08, 09, 10 then 11 to 20 onward to 100, 101, and so on and on. Hope this little 'Tip' sorts out this numeric problem. Brian (Conflow.

Ronnie, This problem came up on the Forum some months ago and I had explained how DEP is activated and what it really is. Unknown to most of us DEP has nothing to do with Microsoft ~ It was designed by Intel Corp and adopted by most PC Manufacturers to protect their Microprocessors against 'Infinity Scripts'. These illegal instructions are used by Hackers and are also accidentally created by innocent PC.Users who evoke a situation which the Processor can not resolve !! In your situation it seems something happened to evoke the DEP protection, perhaps in the creation of the PTE Avi File or trying to mix it into Camtasia Studio ??...I'm afraid only yourself can track that down. Switching off DEP will have no short term effects once you clear the problem and switch-on again. However this does not resolve how you accidentally created the problem in the 1st instance. regards, Brian.

Hi Ronnie, I have just returned home having been away on business for the past week. I see you have a problem with DEP and an AVI file and I also note that Igor had responded to your problem with a series of questions...PC Type & Op.System etc, which I would have asked anyway. Igor has asked are you trying to 'delete' a Virtual File which is different from a de-facto real File. There are many types of 'Virtual Files' ~ mostly they are scripts of one form or another which may activate DEP. Also DEP can be activated by a File which is too large for the Recycle Bin and it can also be activated by an non-existant File which has registered itself into the File-of-Types listings in the Registry which could cause conflict with another real File of the same name. (Its difficult to know which is which). At this stage its too soon to give advice as you have not given enough detail to work on ~ but for what its worth I think your PC is looking for a 'Containing-Folder' for a non-existant Avi File or is seeing a Dat-File pointing to non-existing Images. If you know the saved 'Title of Avi' you could do a 'Start'--->Search--->AVI Title--->then see does it exist and where it is, then Rh-Click to get its properties. If its less than 1.Kb simply Rh-Click on it and select delete. Hope this helps, Brian.

Andrew, I support Peters point of view where he wrote... "There is no right or wrong way to build a sequence; nor is there a good or bad way to do it. Each of us has our own way of working. I would suggest there are two basic methods:- * Shoot the images then find the music * Be inspired by some music and shoot the Images"... At the end of the day it really boils down to..."What do you want to achieve with your Show" ? Then adapt one of the work-flow procedures to exploit your ambition's for that Show. Tip:- Holiday Photos can be very boring to any audience but if you adopt a 'Theme' which can be enhanced with Boats, Trains, Planes and Maps it becomes very interesting as it now imparts knowledge to the viewer which evokes discussion, then you know it hit the target ! Best of luck with it... Brian (Conflow).