Vexing problem with Screensavers in Win XP

[Ed Overstreet]

I have recently noticed a problem with several screensavers that I've created in the past couple of months. This problem does not arise with older screensavers that I created a couple of years ago. However, it arises whether I create the screensavers in PTE 4.48 (which I think some of the older ones is what I used then) as well as in PTE 5.0, 5.1 and 5.5 The problem occurs whether I use the "display slides at random" feature or not. I suspect the problem may be something in my operating system, though I can't figure out what.

When I go into Display Properties, Screensaver tab, and select one of my recent screen savers and click Apply, I can then preview it and it works fine. But then if I click OK and close Display Properties, it doesn't come back, and when I re-open Display Properties and go to Screensaver the drop-down menu has changed to "None" for screensaver. As I say, this only happens with relatively recently-created screensavers, but I have trouble seeing any consistent pattern in terms of which PTE version I use or what options I select in Project Options.

Does anyone have a suggestion as to what the problem might be and how I might fix it? I'm getting a bit bored with some of my older screensavers and would really like to use some of my new ones

Thanks.

[fh1805]

Have you tried renaming out the old screensaver and renaming in one of your new screen savers but using an old name?

regards,

Peter

P.S. I'm having a similar problem with associating icons to desktop items. I have a weblink on my desktop that shows the icon that I want in its properties but shows the standard IE shortcut icon actually on the desktop. Running Vista Home Premium SP1

[Conflow]

ED,

I assume you are using XP ~ if so, I too had this problem after a recent Microsoft 'upgrade' some months ago (May).

The damn System was putting 'spurious' Photographs it found in the 'My Photos' Folder into the Protected Screen-Saver

List as shown in the "Attachment" below. Obviously Microsoft were trying to secure the Protected Screen-Saver Folder

and made a 'haymes' of it as usual. I was using 'still Images' rather than a Slideshow and I now note that Win creates

its own 'Screen-Saver Slideshow' ~ it didn't do that before the upgrade.

You will find that you will be forced to remove the Folder "My Photos" from within "My Documents" and park it

somewhere where it's not open to saving Photographs. Alternatively if you don't use it, delete it and create your

own (source) Screen-Saver Folder as described in the link below.(On your System it could be the 'My Pictures' Folder)

Furthermore you will now find that 'Screensavers' and 'My Picture Slideshow' are hidden Folders with no direct access

except through 'Display Properties' and the following Instructions "Link":-

http://www.xp-tips.com/my-pictures-screensaver.html

Hope this helps...

Brian.Conflow.

[Ed Overstreet]

Thanks for the suggestions, Brian and Peter. I tried them both, and neither fixed the problem.

I have Windows XP Home Edition SP2 (I have studiously avoided "upgrading" to SP3). My system stores all the screen savers in c/windows/system32. I renamed "My Pictures" in My Documents to something else, and my new screen savers still wouldn't work. I renamed one screen saver that did work to the same name but adding the word "saved" to the file name, then renamed a new screensaver to that old file name. Not only did that not work, but when when I renamed the old screen saver back to its original name (deleting the string "saved" from the file name), now I can't get that one to work any more either!

I hate Windows and Microsoft

Anyone have any other ideas? This is getting ridiculous. I hope Bill Gates invested all his money in sub-prime-mortgage derivatives before the crash last month

[Conflow]

Ed,

Can I have more details and perhaps you can answer the following:-

You say that the 'Screen-Saver Folder' is in C:/Windows/System.32 ~ I cant find it.

Q1) What is the name of this elusive Screen-Saver Folder ?

Q2) Is this Folder of your own making or is it a Windows Folder ?

Q2) Are you using a 'Slideshow' as a Screensaver or 'Static-Images' ?

I did say that there have been changes to the Screensaver System and I want to

see if your XP-Home is the same as mine with the SP2 (only) upgrade.

Brian.Conflow.

[Ed Overstreet]

Hi Brian and thanks again for taking the time and trouble with my question.

My screen savers aren't in any special folder, they're just sitting in c/windows/system32 along with everything else that Microsoft puts in that folder. I do this because all the Microsoft screen savers that came with my system are in that folder, and when I do a Windows Explorer search for *.scr I can't find anything with that file extension except in that location. When I store my own screen savers there, they automatically appear in the drop-down menu in Display Properties>Screen Saver, and I can't find and don't know where to change the drop-down default to some other folder.

All my own screensavers I created in PTE, which as you know generates an *.scr file, same extension as the Microsoft screensavers. Those PTE files (at least the ones I created a while ago) run the same (or did) as do the Microsoft ones, from this drop-down menu.

I'm not sure where the "slideshow" versus "static images" setting is in Windows that you're mentioning, I can't seem to find it.

There is a settings button next to the drop-down menu in Display Properties>Screensaver, which I logically thought might contain something that I should check, but whenever I click on that button the button merely blinks at me and nothing pops up, nothing happens. Maybe that's part of the problem, in which case the issue is, whatever happened to that settings button and how do I get back into it when it won't open when I click on it, like all the other settings buttons in Display Properties do.

And of course the very last thing I'd do (in fact, won't do) is to reinstall the operating system to bring that button back, which would be a bit like using a sledgehammer to kill a mosquito (Don't laugh, I once had an ISP techhie recommend I reformat the hard drive and reinstall the OS to fix what turned out to be their server problem; I cancelled my account and changed ISPs immediately, without even thinking of following his advice

[davegee]

Ed,

I made my screen saver in PTE and dropped the file on the desktop.

When I right clicked on it I was offered the option to "Install a Screen saver" or similar.

I just searched for mine and it is in C:\windows\Prefetch

The original file was, I believe "Bracken.scr".

It is now "Bracken.scr-19a3bc2d.pf" ??????????

Hope this helps?I also searched for System32 and that is not in the Windows Directory - it's in Windows\I386.

I have XP Media Edition.

DaveG

[davegee]

Hi Ed,

More info:

I was incorrect about the placing of my original "Bracken.SCR" it was/is on a different drive.

I just changed my screen saver and Bracken disappeared from the list of screen savers.

The ".pf" file above was just a red herring.

If I want to re-use the Bracken.scr as my screen saver I have to re-install from its location on the other drive.

It then remains in the list of screen savers until I change it or delete the PTE .scr file.

The screen saver uses the original PTE .scr file from its original location.

DaveG

[Ed Overstreet]

Hi Dave G. Thanks for the help attempt.

I say attempt because my Windows doesn't behave the way yours does (why does this not surprise me? ). No matter where I locate one of my *.scr files, in System 32 or on my desktop or on my external hard drive, if I right-click on the file, the pop-up menu does not give me any choice called "install a screensaver" or any other text line that contains the word screen saver or looks remotely likely to relate to that. The pop-up menu is the same I get if I right-click on any other file with any other file extension, as far as I can tell.

I have XP Home Edition not XP Media Edition; I guess it's way too much to hope that the geniuses in Microsoft would keep things like this consistent across different editions of what is ostensibly the same version of the OS. Another reason why, if I were starting computers again from scratch (I'm not, not even remotely), I'd forget PC/Windows/Microsoft and go with a Mac/Apple. Another reason why companies should never be allowed to develop monopoly-, or near-monopoly, power in what is theoretically (but not in reality) a free market. But I digress.

I still live in hope that someone will hit on something that will work. If not, I'll just have to live with my old screen savers, or (gosh I really don't want to, it sticks in the throat to say it) go back to using Microsoft's lame stupid screen savers.

[davegee]

Ed,

I tried it again on my XP Home Edition Laptop.

Save Screen Saver from PTE to Desktop.

Right click on the screen saver logo (same as EXE) - see attached JPEG.

P.S. It occured to me - you are changing the file type from EXE to SCR in the drop down box?

The right click / Install does not appear for EXE files.

DaveG

[nobeefstu]

Ed,

Im not a big user of screensavers for some years ... but I tried a few tests since your post, as I also have XP SP2.

I named the pte screensaver using a short file name ( 8.3 chars) as windows does for theirs. Im a firm believer in 8.3 filenames to avoid any possible issues.

I then copied the screensaver to the Windows/System32 folder.

Then opened display properties|screen tab and selected, previewed, applied, and closed out. Reopened and screensaver was still enabled. Rebooted and screensaver was still enabled. So no problems here.

Right-click your screensaver file within the system enviornment (Windows/System32 folder) to see if you get a test, configure, install file option. Configure wont apply to pte screensavers cause theirs no config setup data in the scr file.

[nobeefstu]

Peter,

Have you tried renaming out the old screensaver and renaming in one of your new screen savers but using an old name?

regards,

Peter

P.S. I'm having a similar problem with associating icons to desktop items. I have a weblink on my desktop that shows the icon that I want in its properties but shows the standard IE shortcut icon actually on the desktop. Running Vista Home Premium SP1

Do you have a actual copy of the Weblink icon file stored on your pc ?

Does it have multiple icon formats ?

What size Vista desktop icons are you using and does your selected Weblink icon match the desktop format ?

[Ed Overstreet]

And the winner of the puzzle-solving prize is Nobeefstu, in one line of his reply.

I don't know quite why this should matter, because my older screen savers that do work have longer file names, but I tried Stu's tip of keeping the file name to 8.3 characters. When I re-create one of the same screen savers from PTE that wasn't working using a name of less than 9 characters, I can get it to work. The one with the longer name doesn't work (in terms of still being there in the screensaver setting, instead of None, when I OK out of Display Properties and then go back in).

That seems to have fixed the problem. Though why some older screen savers with file names as long or longer than the ones that weren't working are still working OK, is anyone's guess, but I guess that is Windows for you?

I briefly thought another issue might have been that in some newer screensavers I had set the D3D Hardware Acceleration On in Project Options in PTE even though I don't really need it (since I'm not doing O&A tricks in the screensaver), but I've verified that doesn't make any difference to the presence or absence of my problem. For now anyway, until Windows changes its mind again , the file-name length change seems to be the solution.

Maybe one of those monthly security updates from Microsoft, the ones that don't install SP3 but that I do allow to install, messed something up? Who knows? Anyway I can work with my SCR files now, so I'm a happy camper.

Thanks again all for your quick and helpful replies. As always, I am amazed and impressed with what a great and helpful forum this is (i.e., what a great and helpful bunch of folks are populating it).

[Conflow]

ED,

Now that you are a 'Happy Man' (thanks to nobeefstew) you might like to have more details about

Microsoft Screen-Savers for future reference.

If you want to play around with these things there are certain facts you need to know which are

hereunder illustrated in the "Attachments".

Nobeefstew is quite correct about "8.Characted Naming" of certain Images ~ you will also find that

most Cameras use 8.Digit naming for Images as does most 'Burning-Software' to agree with the

ISO-Naming Convention for Images. The 8.Digit Standard is used right across the board because

it's an exact multiple of:- 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 Bit Data Systems.

Hope you have some use for the 'Attachments-Data'.

Brian.Conflow.

[fh1805]

Do you have a actual copy of the Weblink icon file stored on your pc ?

Does it have multiple icon formats ?

What size Vista desktop icons are you using and does your selected Weblink icon match the desktop format ?

Stu,

Everything was working just fine until a few days ago. The solution turns out to be the same as for Ed's screensavers. I renamed the ico file to an 8.3 format - and everything resumed working again.

It must be a change brought in by a recent Microsoft update. Perhaps this is just the "thin end of the wedge" and they are embarking on a programme to withdraw long filename support over the coming months. Now there's a horrible thought!!!!

Anyway, your tip solved my icon problem as well as Ed's screensaver problem.

regards,

Peter

[Conflow]

Right-On Peter,

That (unheralded) upgrade was 'auto-loaded' to XP-Systems last May, I had only noticed some effects

in September but accepted them as 'cleanup-upgrades' ~ looks as if they are a little more subtle that

I previouusly thought. In fairness to Microsoft they didn't "dump" XP-3 on PC Users who elected not to

download it. But they did clean up XP-Security issues relative to internal Graphics-Management which

was open to abuse if the XP-Firewall was dropped, so for once I take my hat off to them...

Brian.Conflow.