Copyright: © 2000-2002 by H+H Software GmbH
Citation: © 2000-2002 by H+H Software GmbH


Overview
 – Overview

The Virtual CD Settings dialog lets you configure all user-definable parameters in the Virtual CD v4 program. The Settings dialog is divided into the following pages:

Global

CD Management

Editor

Creating Virtual CDs

Compression Defaults

Audio Defaults

Network

Driver

	Configuration settings are user-specific. In other words, if more than one user works with the same computer, each user can store their own version of the Virtual CD settings.


Global Page
 – Global Page

The Current language is valid for all Virtual CD v4 programs. If you change the language, you need to restart the computer before the new language is used in all parts of the Virtual CD program.

The Current symbol style lets you choose between the Windows XP and Windows 98/Me/NT4/2000 styles for the symbols displayed in program windows, as well as in the Drive View of the Management program. After you change the symbol style, you need to restart the computer before the new style is used in all parts of the Virtual CD program.

The Default image folder is the default folder for storing container files on the hard disk when a new virtual CD is created. If no other path is specified in the Image Wizard when creating a new virtual CD, this default path is used.

	Make sure the directory you define here is on a hard disk that has sufficient space available for your virtual CDs.

If you activate the Use the Virtual CD selection program option, then the Start Selection dialog, rather than the Management program, is opened when Virtual CD is started.

	If this option is active but you still want to have direct access to the Management program, you can start it by double-clicking on the Quick Start Utility icon in your Windows taskbar.

When you install the Virtual CD program, the Virtual CD Quick Start Utility, indicated by a small Virtual CD icon, is automatically installed in the Quick Launch portion (or System Tray) of the Windows taskbar. You can double-click on this icon to start the Virtual CD Management program, or right-click on it for a shortcut menu. If you don't want this icon on your taskbar, deselect the Start the Quick Start Utility automatically on system start option here.

Select the Retrieve audio CD information from CDDB² server option to have Virtual CD download album names, track titles and artist names automatically from the CDDB server when you work with audio CDs. If your computer does not have Internet access, please deselect this option.

With the Show popup information texts (tool tips) option selected, brief descriptions are displayed of whatever operating element the mouse cursor is placed on. Once you know your way around the Virtual CD program, you can deactivate this option.

One of the new functions in Virtual CD v4 lets you sort your virtual CDs into your choice of user-defined categories for display in the Quick Start Utility and the Explorer Extension when inserting a virtual CD. This can make it easier to find your way around if you have a lot of virtual CDs. To activate this new function, select sorted by category for the Virtual CDs displayed are... option. Alternatively, you can have all the CDs displayed in a single list, by selecting the all listed together in an overview option.

	If you have a large number of virtual CDs, we recommend using the sorted by category option and assigning designations to the folders that clearly identify the contents, such as "DVD Videos", "Music CDs" and "Applications", for example.
After you install Virtual CD, a Virtual CD symbol is shown in the "system tray" of the Windows taskbar (on the far right-hand side of the taskbar). This icon activates the Quick Start Utility, which gives you quick access to the main Virtual CD functions. If you do not want this icon in the taskbar, deactivate the Show the Quick Start icon in the system tray of the Task bar option.

The last option on this page lets you define a Hotkey combination for opening the Quick Start menu. This lets you access Virtual CD functions even more quickly.

	The hotkey you define opens the Quick Start menu only if the Quick Start Utility is running.


CD Management Page
 – CD Management Page

The Current mode of the CD Management program view refers to the Drive View in the Management program. When you select the Hi-tech mode, the left hand pane shows not only the virtual CD drives but also the physical drives and all of your virtual CDs, both in an overview and sorted by category in a tree structure, in their separate folders. In this mode, the Drive View gives you direct access to all CD-ROM drives and all virtual CDs. The classic view shows only the virtual CD drives, as was the case in the earlier Virtual CD versions. This mode might be easier to work with for VCD beginners.

Select the Show large symbols in the drive view option to have large symbols rather than small symbols shown in the Drive View of the Management program.

When a virtual CD is inserted or ejected, the Management program shows a brief animated sequence illustrating the action. You can choose whether this animation is shown or not by selecting or deselecting the Display animation when inserting/ejecting a virtual CD option.

The option Show only Virtual CD symbols in the image view gives you the choice of having only Virtual CD symbols shown or using the symbols that come with the original CDs. Not all CD applications come with their own symbols. For those that don't, a Virtual CD symbol is used in the display.

With the Do not show virtual CDs for which files are not found option activated, Virtual CD does not attempt to show icons for virtual CDs that are not currently accessible.

A virtual CD cannot be shown more than once in the Category folders: Select this option if you do not want to allow duplicate virtual CDs in the display folders.

The option for the Double-click function determines the action initiated by double-clicking on a virtual CD in the CD View of the Management program. If you select Show the virtual CD/DVD properties, the Image File Properties dialog is opened. The other option is to Insert the virtual CD in the default drive. If no default drive is defined for a given virtual CD, then it is inserted in the first available virtual drive found. If no virtual CD drive is available, then the virtual CD in the first virtual drive found is ejected, and the virtual CD in question is inserted in its place.

The boxes at the bottom of this page let you define which columns are shown, as well as the order they appear in, when 'details' are shown in the CD View of the Management program.


Editor Page
 – Editor Page

On the dialog page for Virtual CD Editor settings, you can define the default directory for the temporary files stored when creating a customized virtual CD.

	Make sure the directory you define here is on a hard disk that has sufficient space available for the temporary files.
	Make sure the directory you define here doesn't contain any files that should not be deleted, as all files in this directory are deleted automatically when the Editor program is closed.


Creating Virtual CDs Page
 – Creating Virtual CDs Page

Use Easy Copy Mode is one of the most important options, with the most wide-reaching effects.

The Image Wizard operates in either the Easy Copy Mode, in which it configures most settings automatically, or the Expert Copy Mode, in which all settings are configured by the user.

When the Use virtual drives as source drives option is activated, you can create virtual CDs from other virtual CDs. Selecting this option affects other VCD programs as follows:

•	In the Management program, when you right-click on a virtual CD drive, you can select an option to Create a virtual CD if there is a virtual CD in the virtual drive.

•	The Explorer Extension adds the Create a virtual CD option to the shortcut menu that opens when you right-click on a virtual drive.

•	The Image Wizard treats virtual drives in the same manner as physical CD drives. In other words, any virtual CD drive that contains a virtual CD is listed as a potential source drive.

	You cannot create a virtual CD from a virtual CD that contains analog audio tracks. If a given virtual CD drive contains a virtual CD with sound files, that drive is treated as an empty drive by the Image Wizard.

The Enable CD/DVD label editing option releases the field in the Image Wizard that lets you edit CD labels.

If you select the Create a title list in the 'Comment' field of virtual audio CDs option, then all track titles from a source music CD are listed in the "Comment" field of the virtual CD. The "Comment" field can be edited at any time, regardless of whether this option is selected or not.

CD-Extra is a multisession CD with audio tracks in the first session and a data track in the second. The data track usually contains a short video that starts automatically when the CD is inserted in a computer. To save disk space, you can select the option to Automatically remove the data track from "CD-Extra" CDs.

If you select the Allow repair of the CD's table of contents option, Virtual CD checks the ToC of the source CD and corrects any errors detected.

Automatically set the "Eject on exit" option for new virtual CDs: Select this option to have the "Eject on exit" option automatically selected for every new virtual CD created. You can change this option later on the General page of the Image File Properties dialog.

The option Eject source CD/DVD after image creation has finished is useful for providing a clear signal—by opening the physical CD-ROM drive—that the virtual CD creation process is finished. Once the virtual CD has been created, the physical CD is no longer required anyway, and ejecting it automatically can help prevent confusion.

	The physical CD is ejected automatically only if the creation process is concluded successfully.

Once the creation of a virtual CD is completed, the Image Writer opens a window with a summary of the creation process, and you have to close this window in order to close the Image Writer. If you select the Close Virtual CD Image Writer automatically option, the summary window and the Image Writer program are closed automatically.

	Even with this option selected, the Image Writer is closed automatically only if the virtual CD creation process concludes successfully. If any errors occur in the process, an error message is shown. If this happens, please see Error Messages from the Image Writer for details.

The last option on this page lets you adjust the priority given by the operating system when allotting system resources to the Image Writer for creating a virtual CD. You can choose from the following:

•	Low priority: With this setting, other programs are allowed a much greater share of system resources than Virtual CD, which can slow down the creation process considerably. We do not recommend this setting unless you have an operation running in the background that requires higher priority.

•	Normal priority: With this setting, Virtual CD is allotted about as much CPU time as would normally be the case, if no adjustment were possible.

•	High priority: With this setting, the Virtual CD Image Writer gets as much CPU time as possible, while other processes are allotted only the bare minimum.

	If you have not experienced any problems while creating virtual CDs, we recommend leaving the setting at normal. This corresponds to the CPU time normally allotted to any program.


Compression Defaults Page
 – Compression Defaults Page

The defaults you set here are applied for data tracks automatically by the Image Writer when working in the Easy Copy Mode, and are presented as defaults that can be overwritten in the Image Wizard when working in the Expert Copy Mode.

You can define a set of compression defaults for each type of CD.

	For CD types that include audio tracks (such as audio CDs, CD-Text CDs, etc.) these defaults are applied only if the audio tracks are created as data tracks on the virtual CD.

Double click on a given CD type to view or change the compression defaults used for that type of CD.

In the "1 : 1 copy" box, you can choose from the following settings for the Use compression option:

•	Use standard compression: uses the compression technique defined under Standard.

•	You can select a Compression level that is always used with the CD type in question. If you select "None" for "Compression level", then the data is not compressed.

•	Define a compression ratio that must be attainable before compression is used. For example, if you want to use compression only on files that can be reduced to 80% (or less) of their original size, enter "80" here. When this option is selected, Virtual CD estimates the compression ratios that could be attained at each level of compression, and sets lowest compression level that can be expected to attain the required ratio.

	If you choose this option, do not set a ratio that is too low, as this could result in Virtual CD selecting the highest compression level every time—which might put a considerable strain on system resources. The optimum setting is generally around 70% to 80%.

Select Standard to define the compression used for all CDs types for which no specific defaults have been set. Select Editor to define the compression used (if any) when creating virtual CDs with the Virtual CD Editor program.

	When creating a virtual CD on a network drive, as opposed to a local path, the use of data compression can result in a much slower write process.

In the "Editor" box, you can set the compression level used by the Virtual CD Editor. This is a separate setting because the no distinction is made between types of source CD when using the Editor, nor can any projected compression ratio be estimated.


Audio Defaults Page
 – Audio Defaults Page

The settings for audio tracks that you configure here are applied automatically when working in the Easy Copy Mode, and presented as defaults that you can overwrite in the Image Wizard when working in the Expert Copy Mode.

The Read sub-channel data from audio CDs option is for use with audio CDs, CD-Text and CD-Extra CDs, but is not necessary in most cases.


Network Page
 – Network Page

Before you can work with the 'Network view', you need to set up a "Global configuration path". This is where Virtual CD stores the configuration files required for working with virtual CDs in the network. All workstations that use the same configuration path have the following in common:

•	They show the virtual CDs that are stored on the network.

•	They have the same tree structure in the Network view.

•	You can insert and eject virtual CDs on the workstation remotely (as administrator, using the central management program).

	If you want to use the central management functions for virtual CDs stored on the network, we recommend using UNC path designations, so that the drive names are independent of the individual workstations used.

You can configure any workstation to work exclusively with virtual CDs stored on the network. To do this, select the Block usage of locally stored CDs option. This blocks access to virtual CDs that are stored or displayed on the local machine.

Display local and network virtual CDs lets you define how the available virtual CDs are displayed on each station:

•	together in the 'Virtual CDs/DVDs' folder: Virtual CD creates one view showing all of the available virtual CDs.

•	separately (divided into 'local' and 'network'): Virtual CD creates a view of two additional folders, 'Network' and 'Local', and sorts the virtual CDs based on your settings for each virtual CD.

	Virtual CDs can be divided into 'Network' and 'Local' views only if you have entered a valid global configuration path and have not disabled the use of locally stored CDs on the workstation in question.


Driver Page
 – Driver Page

Like physical CD drives, the virtual drives created by Virtual CD are identified in the system by three items of information: Manufacturer, Product and Version. Virtual CD lets you change this information if necessary. Select Reset to restore the factory defaults for these fields.

	As a rule, it is not necessary to change these values. Please keep in mind that an error in entering data here can lead to errors in all programs that work with CD drives.

With the Force Hibernate/Sleep mode option selected, Virtual CD provides optimal support for the mode in question. If this option is not activated, the VCD driver might prevent the machine from switching to the 'hibernate' or 'sleep' mode.

	If you select this option, the system might eject some or all active virtual CDs, as some operating systems do not allow a sleep mode when files stored on shared resources are open.


Change Compression Defaults
 – Change Compression Defaults

This dialog opens when you choose a CD type from the Compression defaults page. Which elements are shown here depends on the setting you choose from the select list:

Use standard defaults

Compression level:

	To deactivate compression defaults for a given CD type, select None.

Compression when ratio is equal to or less than: