Media Changer Setup Help Contents

Choose one of the following options to find out more about using Media Changer Setup:

Media Changer Setup Dialog

How to Use Media Changer

Revision History

Registering Media Changer


About MCSetup Dialog

The Legal Stuff:

Copyright (C) 1995 Swoosie Software

All Rights Reserved

License Agreement

You should carefully read the following terms and conditions

before using this software.  Unless you have a different license

agreement signed by Swoosie Software, your use of this

software indicates your acceptance of this license agreement

and warranty.

Shareware Edition

Evaluation and Registration

This is not free software.  You are hereby licensed to use this

software for evaluation purposes without charge for a period of 21

days.  If you use this software after the 21 day evaluation period

a registration fee of $10 is required.  Payments must be in US

dollars drawn on a US bank, made payable to Mike Henderson

and Gary Lucero, and should be sent to Swoosie Software,

671 North 120 East, Orem Utah 84057. When payment is

received you will be sent a registered copy of the latest edition

of Media Changer and Media Changer Setup.

Unregistered use of Media Changer after the 21day evaluation

period is in violation of U.S. and international copyright laws.

Distribution

Provided that you verify that you are distributing the Shareware

Edition (see the top of this file to check) you are hereby

licensed to make as many copies of the Shareware Edition of

this software and documentation as you wish; give exact copies of

the original Shareware Edition to anyone; and distribute the

Shareware Edition of the software and documentation in its

unmodified form via electronic means.  There is no charge for any

of the above.

You are specifically prohibited from charging, or requesting

donations, for any such copies, however made; and from

distributing the software and/or documentation with other products

(commercial or otherwise) without prior written permission, with

one exception:  Disk Vendors approved by the Association of

Shareware Professionals are permitted to redistribute Media Changer,

subject to the conditions in this license, without specific

written permission.

Registered Edition

One registered copy of Media Changer and Media Changer Setup

may either be used by a single person who uses the software

personally on one or more computers, or installed on a single

workstation used nonsimultaneously by multiple people, but not

both.

You may access the registered edition of Media Changer and/or

Media Changer Setup through a network, provided that you have

obtained individual licenses for the software covering all

workstations that will access the software through the network.

For instance, if 8 different workstations will access Media Changer

and/or Media Changer Setup on the network, each workstation must

have its own Media Changer license, regardless of whether they

use Media Changer at different times or concurrently.

Governing Law

This agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of

Utah.

Disclaimer of Warranty

THIS SOFTWARE AND THE ACCOMPANYING FILES ARE SOLD "AS IS" AND

WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY

OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED.  Because of the

various hardware and software environments into which Media

Changer may be put, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR

PURPOSE IS OFFERED.

Good data processing procedure dictates that any program be

thoroughly tested with noncritical data before relying on it.

The user must assume the entire risk of using the program.  ANY

LIABILITY OF THE SELLER WILL BE LIMITED EXCLUSIVELY TO PRODUCT

REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF PURCHASE PRICE.

Trademarks

Windows 95 and Plus! are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.


Auto Tile Dialog

Media Changer’s Auto Tile feature allows you to set thresholds for how big horizontally and vertically a bitmap should be before you do not want it automatically tiled on the desktop.

Normally, Windows 95 only allows you to either tile all bitmaps or none at all. Media Changer overcomes this limitation by checking a bitmap’s size, comparing it to the values you’ve set, and then turning tiling on or off, as is appropriate.

The following controls appear on the Auto Tile dialog:

Automatically tile wallpaper smaller than: check box

If you would like to turn auto tiling on, select this check box. It you decide to turn auto tiling off, then both the horizontal and vertical values are reset to 0.

Pixels wide edit box

Pixels high edit box

Enter the largest bitmap you would like Media Changer to NOT tile automatically into these two edit boxes. Pixels wide represents the horizontal dimension, and pixels high represents the vertical dimension. These values are by default set to 320 and 200, respectively. This means that all bitmaps smaller than 320 pixels wide and 200 pixels high will be automatically tiled.

OK button

Select the OK button when you are finished setting up auto tile and would like to keep the new settings. It is still necessary to choose Save from the main dialog in order to save the new settings to the registry.

Cancel button

Select the Cancel button to restore the settings to what they were before you brought up the Auto Tile dialog and began altering them.

Help button

Selecting the Help button brings up this help entry.


Network Settings Dialog

In a networked environment, it is sometimes necessary to copy media files (bitmaps, sounds, and screen savers) locally instead of pointing at them (via the registry). Reasons for doing this include:

1) When booting your computer, the connection to the network is not normally active yet, and any files required at start up time (usually just the Wallpaper bitmap and Start Windows sound) are not available.

2) If the network is offline for some reason, then none of the media files will be available unless they have been copied locally.

In order to copy a specific media file to your local directory (to the directory where MCHANGER.EXE and MCSETUP.EXE exist, that is), select the check box for that specific media file. NOTE: If you are running Media Changer off of the network (not recommended), then turning copy on for media files will not prevent the problems outlined above.

OK button

Once all of the settings are to your liking, choose the OK button and they will be kept. It is still necessary to choose Save from the main dialog in order for the settings to be stored in the registry.

Cancel button

If you decide to throw away the changes you’ve made while having the Network Settings dialog open, choose the Cancel button.

Help button

Selecting the Help button brings up this help entry.


Media Changer Setup Dialog

The following controls appear on the Media Changer Setup dialog:

On/off check box

The media type label (for example, Wallpaper or Asterisk) is also the on/off switch for that media type. When on, Media Changer will change the media type each time it's run. When off, Media Changer will not modify the item.

Path + filename edit box

The edit box allows you to specify which directory Media Changer should copy files from. You can type in a path, or a path plus a filename, or you can select the Browse button and choose a file from the common file dialog.

Browse button

Choosing Browse brings up the common file dialog. Navigate to the directory of your choice, and choose a file to begin with. The common file dialog by default shows only those file types that are compatible with the media type you are choosing for. The name of the media type appears at the top of the common file dialog.

Preview button

The Preview button allows you to load the current selected wallpaper bitmap into the associated .BMP viewer, begin the current screen saver, or listen to the current system sound (using SNDREC32.EXE).

Random check box

Checking any of the Random checkboxes next to any of the media types will cause Media Changer to randomly select the media file from the specified directory. With this checkbox off, Media Changer will select the next file in the directory (sequentially).

Clone button

The clone button copies the contents of the Asterisk edit box into the edit boxes of the remaining system sounds. All values for the other system sounds will be lost. Clone makes setting up system sounds very easy. For instance, if you keep all of your .WAV files in one directory or folder, use the Browse button for Asterisk, and select any file from that directory or folder. Now select the Clone button. The text from the Asterisk edit box is copied to the rest of the system sounds. Now turn Random on for all of the system sounds. Select the Save button. Now select the Change button. Notice that now each of the system sounds is using a different .WAV file.

Even if you keep your .WAV files in more than one directory or folder, Clone can still make setting up Media Changer easier. If the directories or folders are all on the same drive, type that drive name, or select a file from it with Browse, for Asterisk. Now select the Clone button, and then in order to correctly specify the remaining directories or folders, select Browse or edit the paths by hand.

At the bottom of the dialog, six more buttons, from left to right, perform the following functions:

Close button

Choosing the Close button will close Media Changer Setup. If any settings have been altered but not saved, a message will display prompting you to save or discard the changes.

Save button

Selecting the Save button saves the current settings to the registry. The specified files (if any) are copied, and the registry and Media Changer Setup dialog are updated with any changes you’ve made.

Change button

Selecting the Change button causes MCHANGER.EXE to run and all of the currently enabled media types to be changed. If any settings have been altered but not saved, a message will display prompting you to save or discard the changes before running MCHANGER.EXE.

Auto Tile button

Selecting the Auto Tile button brings up the Auto Tile dialog, which allows you to set thresholds for the largest bitmap you would like NOT tiled as your desktop wallpaper.

Network button

Selecting the Network button will bring up the Network Settings dialog. This allows you to tell Media Changer if you want it to make copies of the current media files in its own directory.

About button

Selecting the About button displays a message box with copyright information concerning this shareware product.

Help button

Selecting the Help button brings up the Media Changer Setup Help Contents.


Registering Media Changer

Media Changer is GuiltWare. It has taken an unbelievable amount of time to design, code, debug, test, enhance, and fix this software. We were even kind enough not to put annoying nag screens or disable any features in this version. We would appreciate your support in our endeavors. Swoosie Software is committed to producing top quality software that enhances your Windows 32bit computing experience. Please don't take advantage of us.

If you do register, we'll send you the next major upgrade free of charge, and you will remove all feelings of guilt from your mind.

To register, make out a check or money order for $10.00 payable to:

Mike Henderson and Gary Lucero

And send it, along with your name and address, to:

Swoosie Software

671 North 120 East

Orem, Utah 84057

We’ve included a handy, easy to use form (the filename is ORDER.TXT). Just print it out from Notepad or any other text editor or word processor, fill it out, and send it in. Now you don’t have any excuses for not registering today!


Trouble Shooting Notes

If Media Changer displays an error when you run MCHANGER.EXE or choose Save or Change from MCSETUP.EXE (and all of the settings are correct), try the following steps and then run MCHANGER.EXE again:

1) Open the Control Panel and bring up the Display Properties control panel applet. Choose any bitmap from the Wallpaper edit box in the Background tab. Next, select the Screen Saver tab, and select any screen saver from the the Screen Saver combo box. Click OK to save the settings.

2) Open the Sounds control panel applet. Select sound files (they can all be set to the same one) for every one of the following Events:

Asterisk

Critical Stop

Default sound

Exclamation

Exit Windows

Question

Start Windows

Click OK to save the settings.

If these notes do not help you to get Media Changer running, you are welcome to contact us.

E-Mail:

Mike Henderson	Stichner@AOL.com

Gary Lucero	DngrBird@AOL.com

Snail Mail:

Swoosie Software

671 North 120 East

Orem, Utah 84057


How To Use Media Changer

Each time you run Media Changer, it will choose new media files to use according to the options you set in MCSETUP. It will then set your Windows media settings to either a copy of the chosen media files, or to the chosen media files themselves.

For the best (and the most exciting) results, place a program item or shortcut for MCHANGER.EXE in your Windows Startup program group or folder. This way, each time Windows restarts, your system settings will automatically change. If you are a user of Microsoft Plus!, you can schedule the Media Changer executable with System Agent, running it every time you boot your system, once daily, or less often if you prefer.

If you ever wish to change your settings, simply run Media Changer Setup and alter the options to your liking.

Trouble Shooting Notes


Media Changer Revision History

1.0:

May, 1995  Media Changer is born as a shareware app. MCSetup is only offered to registered users.

2.0:

July, 1995  Media Changer begins storing all of its configuration in the Windows registry. All system media settings are automatically changed via the Windows registry as well. MCHANGER.EXE receives a complete rewrite which removes many bugs and shrinks the .EXE size considerably. MCSETUP.EXE undergoes a major interface overhaul, and is now included in the nonregistered release. The Random feature is removed from BMP and SCR settings. You can now turn wallpaper tiling and screen saver password mode on or off through Media Changer Setup. All of Media Changer's copies of the media files are now stored in the same folder as MCHANGER.EXE except under NT. The wallpaper is automatically updated	as soon as Media Changer is run.

August, 1995  As the Windows 95 release date draws near, we figure out that NT doesn't take kindly to its registration being fiddled with. We decide to remove registry support for NT, and instead we go back to the 1.0 way of doing things for NT: The user must open the Control Panel and do initial setup themselves. But the Windows 95 version still uses the registry, and it all works pretty well, even though Windows in general is kind of inconsistent in the way it updates the registry versus the Control Panel applets. V2.0 is released to the Internet and we finally start getting people to register Media Changer.

2.1:

Sept., 1995  We enhance the random functionality to make it more 'random'. We also remove unnecessary error messages.

2.5:

Oct., 1995 - We make many modifications to both MCHANGER.EXE and MCSETUP.EXE, including:

1) Change Exit on MCSETUP dialog to Exit Windows.

2) Add Online help to all Media Changer Setup dialogs.

3) Add an Auto Tile dialog to Media Changer Setup, and auto tile functionality to Media Changer.

4) Change the Tile and Password check boxes to Random, since we now have automatic tiling and the password check box didn’t work right anyway!

5) Add code to set wallpaper when Save is selected from Media Changer Setup dialog.

6) Change Save so instead of those media items that are set to random being randomized when the settings are saved, they are only randomized when either Change is selected, or when MCHANGER.EXE is run.

7) Add the Change button which causes MCHANGER.EXE is be run, which in turn causes all media files to be changed.

8) Add code to check for changes to any of the check or edit boxes in Media Changer Setup, so if Close or Change is selected before Save, and changes have been made, the user is prompted to save them before continuing.

9) Remove support for Windows NT.

If you have Windows NT, please find a previous version (V2.1 or earlier) of Media Changer. If you can’t find a previous version of Media Changer, please let us know and we will be happy to send you V2.1.