Media Changer Deluxe Setup Help Contents

Media Changer Deluxe (MCD) can automatically change your system sounds, wallpaper, screen saver and/or theme each time one of its support applications is run. Please select one of the following items for more information on setting up or using MCD:

The Media Changer Deluxe Tutorial

Media Changer Deluxe Tray

Wallpaper settings

Screen Saver settings

Sounds settings

Themes settings

Options

Command Line Switches and Changing Options

Trouble Shooting Notes

Error Messages

Revision History

Registering Media Changer Deluxe

License Agreement

Acknowledgements


About MCSetup Dialog

The Legal Stuff:

Copyright (C) 1995-1998 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 $18.00 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 can then download from the Swoosie Software web site the latest edition of Media Changer Deluxe.

Unregistered use of Media Changer Deluxe after the 21-day 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 Deluxe, subject to the conditions in this license, without specific written permission.

Registered Edition

One registered copy of Media Changer Deluxe 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 Deluxe 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 Deluxe license, regardless of whether they use Media Changer Deluxe 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 Deluxe 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 non-critical 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.

This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.

Trademarks

Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, Internet Explorer and Plus! are all trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

Desktop Themes is the trademark of Left Side Software.


Wallpaper

Enable Wallpaper  - Enable or disable changing the current wallpaper each time MChanger.EXE is executed.

Random - Specify whether wallpaper should be randomly chosen each time MChanger.EXE is executed. If this check box is turned off, Media Changer Deluxe will select the next bitmap alphabetically from the directory the current file is in.

Current Wallpaper - Specify the initial starting path and filename for the bitmap to use as wallpaper. If no filename is specified, the first bitmap (whether its extension is .BMP, .JPG, .JPEG, etc.) in the directory will be chosen when MChanger.EXE is executed. To specify a different filename, first click on the folder you want to search in from the search folders list. Then click on the icon next to ‘Current Wallpaper’ to bring up the ‘Select wallpaper’ dialog. Click on the 'Files of type' combo box at the bottom of the dialog to show different types of files. If you select 'JPEGs (*.jpg)', for instance, then you can select a file with a .JPG extension for your initial wallpaper bitmap. You can choose from .BMP, .JPG, .JPEG, .PNG, .HTM, .HTML, and .GIF file types and cycle through those. Note that without MS Internet Explorer 4.0X or Windows 98 and the Active Desktop with ‘View as web’ on, only .BMP, .JPG, and .JPEG files will be cycled through. Click on the button with the view icon (glasses) to view the bitmap file in the edit box. This will load the currently specified bitmap into Quick View. If Quick View is not installed on your computer, perform the following steps to install it:

Click Start | Settings | Control Panel | Add/Remove Programs | Windows (NT) Setup | Accessories | Details | Quick View | OK | OK

Search Folders – Specify folders to search for bitmaps. You can add as many folders as you like, and when changing your wallpaper, Media Changer Deluxe will search through all the specified folders for matching bitmaps and cycle through them. Click on the folder icon with the plus sign to add folders. Select a folder and click on the folder icon with the minus sign to a delete folder.

Save List – Save the current folder list. Note that this list can be automatically saved when Media Changer Deluxe Setup is exited by setting the check box “Automatically save wallpaper, screen saver, and theme search folder lists when exiting Media Changer Deluxe Setup” in the Options tab.

Automatically tile wallpaper smaller than - Enable or disable automatic tiling. This feature allows you to chose a maximum size wallpaper should be before it is tiled.

*Automatically stretch wallpaper as big or bigger than - Enable or disable automatic stretching. This feature allows you to chose the minimum size wallpaper should be before it is stretched to fill the entire desktop area.

OK will save the current settings.

Cancel will close MCSetup.EXE and throw away all current changes to its settings.

Help will display context sensitive help for the current tab.

*This requires that Microsoft Plus!, Microsoft’s Windows 95 font smoother, Windows 98, or Left Side Software’s Desktop Themes Version 1.1 or later be installed on your system!


 Screen Saver

Enable Screen Saver - Enable or disable changing the current screen saver each time MChanger.EXE is executed.

Random - Specify whether screen savers should be randomly chosen each time MChanger.EXE is executed. If this check box is turned off, Media Changer Deluxe will select the next screen saver alphabetically from the directory the current file is in.

Current Screen Saver - Specify the initial starting path and filename for the screen saver to use. If no filename is specified, the first screen saver in the folder will be chosen when MChanger.EXE is executed. To specify a different filename, first click on the folder you want to search in from the search folders list. Then click on the icon next to ‘Current Screen Saver’ to bring up the ‘Select screen saver’ dialog. Click on the button with the view icon (glasses) to view the screen saver in the edit box.

Search Folders – Specify folders to search for screen savers. You can add as many folders as you like, and when changing your screen saver, Media Changer Deluxe will search through all the specified folders for matching .SCR files and cycle through them. Click on the folder icon with the plus sign to add folders. Select a folder and click on the folder icon with the minus sign to a delete folder.

Save List – Save the current folder list. Note that this list can be automatically saved when Media Changer Deluxe Setup is exited by setting the check box “Automatically save wallpaper, screen saver, and theme search folder lists when exiting Media Changer Deluxe Setup” in the Options tab.

Settings - Brings up the selected screen saver’s properties so you can customize them. This button does the exact same thing selecting the Settings button in the Screen Saver tab of the Display Properties control applet does.

OK will save the current settings.

Cancel will close MCSetup.EXE and throw away all current changes to its settings.

Help will display context sensitive help for the current tab.


 Sounds

NOTE: Unless you specifically turn off changing for a particular Windows event, Media Changer Deluxe by default changes all events for Windows. To turn off changing for a particular application event, select the application and event, click on Change Event to check (changing on) or uncheck (changing off) it, and then select Save Event to save the settings for that event.

Enable Sounds - Enable or disable changing sound events each time MChanger.EXE is executed.

Current Sound - The path and filename to the .WAV file for the currently selected event. To specify a different filename, first click on the folder you want to search in from the search folders list. Then click on the icon next to ‘Current Sound’ to bring up the ‘Select sound’ dialog. Click on the button with the play icon to listen to the .WAV file in the Filename edit box.

Search Folders – Specify folders to search for sounds. A different folder list is stored for each event. You can add as many folders as you like, and when changing your sounds for the current event, Media Changer Deluxe will search through all the specified folders for matching .WAV files and cycle through them. Click on the folder icon with the plus sign to add folders. Select a folder and click on the folder icon with the minus sign to delete a folder. Click on the copy button to copy the current folder list to the sounds clipboard. Click on the paste button to paste the contents of the sounds clipboard to the current folder list. Paste will always append the folder list box.

Save List – Save the current folder list.

The tree control beneath these controls lists all of the applications for which sound events exist. Clicking on the plus (+) button next to an application displays all of the events for that application. Clicking on an event displays the associated sound (if there is one) and allows you to associate a different sound.

Random - If checked the .WAV files for this event will be selected randomly. If this check box is turned off, Media Changer Deluxe will select the next .WAV file alphabetically from the directory the current file is in.

Change Event - If checked the .WAV file for this event will be changed each time MChanger.EXE is executed.

No sound - Clears the edit box so that no sound file is assigned to the currently selected event.

Save Event - Click on this button to save the current .WAV file and settings for this event.

Options… - Displays the Sound Options dialog.

OK will save the current settings.

Cancel will close MCSetup.EXE and throw away all current changes to its settings.

Help will display context sensitive help for the current tab.


 Options

On OK allows you to decide what happens when you select OK from Media Changer Deluxe Setup. If you select “Set current wallpaper, screen saver, and sounds”, then when you select OK, Media Changer Deluxe Setup will use the settings you’ve defined and change the wallpaper, screen saver, and sounds for your system to use those settings. Otherwise, Media Changer Deluxe Setup records those settings, but doesn’t update your desktop directly. If you select “Set current theme” then when you select OK, Media Changer Deluxe Setup will use the theme specified in the Themes tab and make that the current theme. Regardless of which setting you choose, all of the changes you make will be saved, they just might not be reflected in the desktop.

Automatically save wallpaper, screen saver, and theme search folder lists when exiting Media Changer Deluxe Setup, when checked, causes Media Changer Deluxe to not prompt you if the wallpaper, screen saver, or theme search folder lists have changed since the last time you selected Save List, and instead automatically update the settings for those lists.

The copyright information will indicate the name and version, along with copyrighted dates of this program.

Register MCD will launch your browser and link you to our web site, where you can order Media Changer Deluxe.

Swoosie’s Site will launch your browser and display the Swoosie Software home page. Here you can find the latest version of Media Changer Deluxe, hints, tips, a FAQ, and links to sounds, bitmaps, screen savers, and themes.

Registered to lists your name and key code if you have registered this copy of Media Changer Deluxe. If it is not registered, then you will be nagged each time you run TChanger.EXE or MChanger.EXE.

OK will save the current settings and set your wallpaper, screen saver and sounds according to those settings.

Cancel will close MCSetup.EXE and throw away all current changes to its settings.

Help will display context sensitive help for the current tab.


 Themes

The following feature requires that Microsoft Plus! or Left Side Software’s Desktop Themes Version 1.1 or later be installed on your system:

Current Theme - The path and filename to the current .THEME file in use. To specify a different filename, first click on the folder you want to search in from the search folders list. Then click on the icon next to ‘Current Theme’ to bring up the ‘Select theme’ dialog.

Random - If checked the .THEME files for this event will be selected randomly. If this check box is turned off, Media Changer Deluxe will select the next theme alphabetically from the directory the current file is in.

Search Folders – Specify folders to search for themes. You can add as many folders as you like, and when changing your theme, Media Changer Deluxe will search through all the specified folders for matching .THEME files and cycle through them. Click on the folder icon with the plus sign to add folders. Select a folder and click on the folder icon with the minus sign to a delete folder.

Save List – Save the current folder list. Note that this list can be automatically saved when Media Changer Deluxe Setup is exited by setting the check box “Automatically save wallpaper, screen saver, and theme search folder lists when exiting Media Changer Deluxe Setup” in the Options tab.

Screen saver - If this is enabled, then when a new theme is chosen, the screen saver in that theme will become the current screen saver. Otherwise your current screen saver setting will not be altered.

Sound events - If this is enabled, then when a new theme is chosen, the sounds in that theme will become the current sounds. Otherwise your current sound settings will not be altered.

Mouse pointers - If this is enabled, then when a new theme is chosen, the mouse pointers in that theme will become the current mouse pointers. Otherwise your current mouse pointer settings will not be altered.

Desktop wallpaper - If this is enabled, then when a new theme is chosen, the wallpaper in that theme will become the current wallpaper. Otherwise your current wallpaper setting will not be altered.

Icons - If this is enabled, then when a new theme is chosen, the icons in that theme will become the current icons. Otherwise your current icon settings will not be altered.

Colors - If this is enabled, then when a new theme is chosen, the colors in that theme will become the current colors. Otherwise your current color settings will not be altered.

Font names and styles - If this is enabled, then when a new theme is chosen, the fonts and font styles in that theme will become the current font and font styles. Otherwise your current screen font and font styles will not be altered.

Font and window sizes - If this is enabled, then when a new theme is chosen, the sizes of the fonts and windows in that theme will become the current sizes for your fonts and windows. Otherwise your current font and windows sizes will not be altered.

Themes Application – This is the program Media Changer Deluxe will use by default to change themes. If Media Changer Deluxe cannot find the program specified here, or Themes.EXE or Desktop Themes.EXE, then all the rest of the controls except for this edit box and the icon next to it will be disabled. Click on the icon next to ‘Themes Application’ to browse for a different program. If you successfully select Themes.EXE or Desktop Themes.EXE, the rest of the controls will enable.

OK will save the current.

Cancel will close MCSetup.EXE and throw away all current changes to its settings.

Help will display context sensitive help for the current tab.

_


Registering Media Changer Deluxe

Media Changer Deluxe is Shareware.

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 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 32-bit computing experience. Please don't take advantage of us.

If you do register, feel free to download the most recent version of Media Changer Deluxe from our web site at:

http://www.xmission.com/~myq/swoosie.html

To register by CHECK OR MONEY ORDER, send $18.00 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

DO NOT MAKE THE CHECK OUT TO SWOOSIE SOFTWARE!!!

MAKE IT OUT TO Mike Henderson and Gary Lucero.

We’ve included a handy, easy to use form (the filename is ORDER.TXT or double-click on the Media Changer Registration Form icon in our program folder on the Start menu). Just print it out from Notepad or any other text editor or word processor, fill it out, and send it in.

- OR -

To order by CREDIT CARD ONLY, go to the following web site:

http://www.xmission.com/~myq/register.htm

Now you don’t have any excuses for not registering today!


Trouble Shooting Notes

If Media Changer Deluxe displays an error when you run MChanger.EXE or choose OK 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 Screen Saver combo box. Click OK to save the settings.

2) Start MCSetup.EXE, select the Sounds tab, and select sound files (they can all be set to the same one) for every one of the following Windows events:

Asterisk

Critical Stop

Default sound

Exclamation

Exit Windows

Question

Start Windows

Click Set Sound after assigning a sound for each event.

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

For TChanger.EXE, make sure Theme support is installed from your Plus! disc. To verify it is, open Control Panel, and double-click on Desktop Themes. Select a new theme from the Theme drop down list, and select OK. If you receive any error messages from Windows 95 while attempting to complete these steps, please reinstall Plus! and make sure the Theme check box is checked in Plus!’s Setup program.

NOTE: Because Microsoft often leaves registry entries dangling even after you uninstall the various modules of Plus!, we may sometimes ACT like Plus! is installed on your system even when it isn’t. If the Themes tab or the stretch controls show up in MCSetup and you don’t have Plus! theme support or visual enhancements installed, you will need to go into the registry and delete the keys that we look for. This is not for the faint of heart. Please contact us for this information.

For Technical Support send E-Mail to:

Swoosie_Software@Yahoo.com

or Snail Mail to:

Swoosie Software

671 North 120 East

Orem, Utah 84057


Command Line Switches and Changing Options

Each time you run MChanger.EXE, it will choose new media files to use according to the options you specified in the Wallpaper, Screen Saver, and Sounds tabs.

You can use the command line switch ‘-c’ to force MChanger to reset the current MCSetup options. For instance, if you have used MCSetup to configure your wallpaper, and then at a later time use the Display control panel applet to change the wallpaper, running MChanger with the ‘-c’ switch (MCHANGER.EXE -c, for instance) would reset the wallpaper to the MCSetup configuration. Alternately, running MCSetup.EXE and choosing OK would do the same exact thing.

Other useful command line options are:

Switch: ‘-b’

Description: Change just the wallpaper

Usage: MChanger.EXE -b

Switch: ‘-r’

Description: Change just the screen saver

Usage: MChanger.EXE -r

Switch: ‘-s’

Description: Change just the sounds

Usage: MChanger.EXE -s

Each time your run TChanger.EXE, it will choose a new theme to execute according to the options you specified in the Themes tab. This theme will be randomly chosen if you turn Random mode on in the Themes tab.

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 MChanger.EXE and/or TChanger.EXE with System Agent, running them every time you boot your system, once daily, or less often if you prefer.

You can also use the timers built into MCDTray.EXE to automatically change your wallpaper, screen saver, sounds or theme at regular intervals. This way you don’t have to schedule MChanger.EXE or TChanger.EXE nor place shortcuts to either one in your Startup folder.

Also, you can just right-click on the Media Changer Deluxe Tray Icon in the system tray and choose Change theme or Change wallpaper, screen saver, sounds to run TChanger or MChanger respectively.

If you ever wish to change your settings, simply run MCSetup.EXE and alter the options to your liking.


Media Changer Deluxe 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 non-registered 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.

2.52:

Mar., 1996 - We make a minor modification to MCHANGER.EXE to

handle random selections better. We change both MCHANGER and MCSETUP to use a different registry key. We also updated MCSETUP’s interface to reflect the new version number. This help file was also revised, edited, and somewhat prettied up.

3.0:

June, 1996 - We rewrote MCSetup.EXE from scratch, making it into more of a Windows 95 application. In doing so, we removed quite a bit of it’s standard controls, including the Save, Change, Network, About, and Auto Tile buttons. Some of the functionality that these buttons served has been kept (like Auto Tile), and some has not (like Change and Network). We also removed the Clone button and figured users could just as easily use the clipboard to do the same thing (you can right-click in an edit box to cut, copy, or paste). We no longer support Preview, although the Windows 95 common file dialog used to browse for files supports this automatically (just right-click on a filename and choose Play for sounds; Quick View or Open for bitmaps; or Test for screen savers). Our Browse buttons have been replaced with icons of a small folder, and everything appears on a tabbed dialog now. We have added a few new features too: TCSetup is now integrated into MCSetup and themes now support a random mode. We added the ability to automatically stretch wallpaper for Plus! users. Help has been completely rewritten, and we’ve added an additional application, MCDTray.EXE.

3.0a:

July, 1996 - We fixed a bug in MCSetup.EXE that was causing a serious crash on some user’s machines. We also fixed a bug in MChanger.EXE that was preventing the Default Beep from being changed under Windows NT 4.0 Beta 2.

3.0b:

July, 1996 again - Changed the Customize button in the Screen Saver tab of MCSetup.EXE to Settings, and got it working the way I had wanted to originally. It now works correctly for Windows 95 and NT 4.0. Check help for the Screen Saver tab for more information.

3.0b (second take):

July, 1996 again again - Changed error handling on MChanger.exe so if MS supplied registry keys are not present, MChanger.exe will not issue error messages. Now MChanger.exe will only issue error messages if Swoosie keys are not present or contain invalid data. Changed all version numbers to 3,0,2,0/3.0b in all applications.

3.1:

Oct/Nov 1996 - Fixed TChanger.exe to handle alternate paths. Modified TChanger.exe and MChanger.exe to use Desktop Themes, if it is available, for theme setting, wallpaper stretching, and JPEG support. Modified MCSetup.exe to allow inclusion of .JPG files for initial wallpaper selection and to offer means of launching Desktop Themes from the Themes tab when it is installed. Added registration and current theme read-only edit boxes to MCSetup.EXE. Added nag support and ability to handle key codes to MChanger.EXE and TChanger.EXE. Moved all apps (except MCDTray.EXE) to MFC, using a shared DLL, which is installed in the Program directory.

3.5:

March 1997 - Added support for all available sounds. Added autochange timers for theme and sound/screen saver/wallpaper changing. Changed registration location from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE to HKEY_CURRENT_USER and changed the install to no longer add or delete registration keys on install/uninstall. Changed initial installation location, Start menu program folder, and Add/Remove Programs name. Added routine that will import settings from a previous version of Media Changer Deluxe automatically. Changed sequential changing to be alphabetical instead of selecting files based on how they appear in the FAT. Changed MCDTray.EXE to display its menu if right-clicked and to run MChanger.EXE if double left-clicked. Added preview buttons for wallpaper and sounds. Now stretch controls are displayed in MCSetup.EXE if running under NT 4.0, if PLUSTAB.DLL exists in the SYSTEM folder, or if Left Side Software’s Desktop Themes is installed on the system.

3.5.0.1:

Later that month, March 1997 - Removed routine to import settings from a previous version of Media Changer Deluxe automatically. We now nuke the old settings unconditionally. Removed upper limit of how many applications we can track for sounds. It should now be infinite or whatever Windows can handle.

3.5.0.2:

April 1997 - If the sound application in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps does not contain a default value, then MCSetup.exe will set the default value to the app key's name. This situation usually only arises when using a utility like Surf's Up to create new sound applications. There was a hanging bug in MChanger.EXE that is now thankfully gone, as well as some problems it was having handling wallpaper and screen saver paths without filenames.

3.5.0.3:

April 1997 - Several fixes to try to get rid of a crashing problem a few people are experiencing.

3.5.0.4:

April 1997 - Removed code that deletes previous (V3.1) registry settings. Fixed a couple of possible crashing situations. Fixed problem where code for 3.5.0.2 (apps without default values) was not working as designed...we broke that trying to fix this crashing bug.

3.6:

April 1997 - Added command line switches to MChanger.EXE and timers to MCDTray.EXE to handle wallpaper, screen saver, and sound changing separately. Made MCSetup.EXE more robust. Also added an option in MCDTray.EXE to either change just the wallpaper or the wallpaper, screen saver and sounds when you double-click on the system tray icon.

3.7:

July 1997 - Added internal support for JPEG files. Replaced list boxes in the Sounds tab with a tree control. The applications in the tree control are now sorted alphabetically. Now when browsing for sounds the name of the application and event you are selecting a sound for is displayed in the open dialog. When browsing for bitmaps or screen savers the open dialog's title bar is now 'Select wallpaper' or 'Select screen saver' instead of simply Open. We've added two new options for the Sounds tab: One allows you to automatically save event information when selecting events; the other allows you to use the previously chosen path when browsing for sounds. We've added a tutorial to help and in general cleaned up help to make it a bit clearer, more accurate and more useful. We added two new double-click actions to the tray icon: 'Change theme', which when activated with a double-click on our tray icon changes the current theme; and 'Activate screen saver', which when activated with a double-click  on our tray icon activates the current screen saver. We cleaned up the tray icon menu and changed the Run Desktop Themes menu item to 'Configure desktop themes' and now when it's selected it will either run Left Side Software's Desktop Themes.exe or MS Plus!'s Themes.cpl. If both of these are available it will default to Plus!'s control panel applet. Added support for MS Plus! For Windows NT 4.0 in TChanger.EXE, MCDTray.EXE and MCSetup.EXE. Fixed the stupid, little irritating bug where under Windows NT 4.0 the default path for screen savers was being set to the SYSTEM folder instead of the SYSTEM32 folder.

3.72:

August 1997 - Several small fixes in TChanger.EXE to better handle random changing. Switched our online order service from PsL to Digitial River.

3.80:

June 1998 – We now properly change media in Windows 98. Fixed Media Changer Deluxe Setup and TChanger.EXE to search for THEMES.EXE and DESKTOP THEMES.EXE if one of them cannot be found via registry information. This should ensure that the Themes tab in Media Changer Deluxe Setup always shows up properly, and that TChanger.EXE can always change themes correctly. Fixed the nag screen for MCDTray.EXE to only display once instead of multiple times each time it displays. Added more file types in wallpaper browsing dialog in Media Changer Deluxe Setup. So now you should be able to select .BMP, .GIF, .JPG, .JPEG, .PNG, .HTM and .HTML file types as wallpaper, though without MS Internet Explorer 4.0X or Windows 98 and Active Desktop with ‘View as web’ on, you will only cycle through .BMP, .JPG, and .JPEG files. Added support for folder lists for all media types, so you can specify any number of folders for wallpaper, screen savers, sounds (on an event by event basis) and themes and Media Changer Deluxe will search all specified folders for matching files. Added ‘Suspend changing’ item to tray icon menu. Added tool tips for iconic buttons in all tabs that contain them. Changed browsing for all media types so that if a search folder is currently selected, then the browse dialog will show the contents of that folder initially. If a search folder is not selected, then the browse dialog will default to the path of the filename specified in the edit box, if one is present. Added browsing ability to Themes tab, so a default theme can now be selected. Also added Theme Application edit box and browse button, so the program used for changing themes can be specified. Added new options to what used to be called the About dialog (it’s now called Options) that allows you to decide if you want the theme set on OK, or the wallpaper, screen saver, and sounds. Added new option to Options tab that allows for wallpaper, screen saver, and theme search folder list to automatically update when MCDS is exited. Fixed a couple of bugs in MCDS where if Random or Change Event was selected in the Sounds tab, the Save Event button would not be enabled. Now it will be.

4.0:

August 1998 – One fix in Mchanger.EXE for a problem where .HTM files were not being cycled as wallpaper. Also, changed versions for all executables to 4.0. We realized after shipping 3.80 that this was a major upgrade over 3.7X. This really is 4.0.


Media Changer Deluxe Tray

MCDTray.EXE is automatically added to your StartUp folder as the icon Media Changer Tray Icon. Each time you start your computer, a small icon depicting our dog, CEO and chief scientist, Swoosie, is added to your system tray.

If you right-click on the icon, a menu appears with the following options:

Change wallpaper - MChanger will run but only change the wallpaper.

Change sounds - MChanger will run but only change the sounds.

Change screen saver - MChanger will run but only change the screen saver.

*Change theme - TChanger will run and the current theme will be changed based on the options you have set in the MCSetup Themes’ tab.

Set autochange timers… displays a dialog that allows you to configure the autochange timers.  You can set timers to change wallpaper, screen saver, sounds, and themes all individually. You can configure them to run TChanger.EXE or MChanger.EXE as often as once per minute or as infrequently as once every twelve hours. MCDTray.EXE, MChanger.EXE and TChanger.EXE have to all be in the same folder, and MCDTray.EXE has to be running in order for this to work properly. You can set a given autochange timer to 0 in order to deactivate it.

Set double-click action… displays a dialog that allows you to choose what media items you would like to change each time you double left-click on the Media Changer Deluxe Tray icon. The choices are Activate screen saver, Change wallpaper, Change screen saver, Change sounds, and Change theme. You can set any combination of them and that will be the default double left-click action.

Configure Media Changer Deluxe - MCSetup will run.

*Configure desktop themes - Left Side Software’s Desktop Themes.EXE or MS Plus!'s Themes.CPL is launched.

Activate screen saver - The screen saver currently configured in the MCSetup Screen Saver tab will be activated. If you have changed your screen saver with the Display control panel applet, Activate screen saver will still activate the one configured in MCSetup. If the screen saver configured in MCSetup is no longer available, no screen saver will be activated.

Suspend changing – Although the autochange timers continue to run, changing does not automatically take place until you re-enable changing using this option. This setting is saved from session to session.

Exit - Media Changer Tray Icon will be terminated.

*This requires that Microsoft Plus! or Left Side Software’s Desktop Themes Version 1.1 or later be installed on your system!


Media Changer Deluxe Tutorial

The way it works right now:

Windows 95, Windows 98 and NT 4.0 all allow you to select a desktop bitmap (usually referred to as wallpaper), a screen saver, and sounds. Depending on how you installed Windows, several bitmaps (files with the extension .BMP), screen savers (files with the extension .SCR), and sounds (files with the extension .WAV) were copied to your Windows (default folder name for Windows 95) or Winnt (default folder name for Windows NT 4.0) folder.

You can choose a bitmap for your desktop by clicking on Start, selecting Settings, clicking on Control Panel, then double-clicking Display. Select a new name from the Wallpaper list on the Background tab. Click OK and notice that the desktop wallpaper changes.

Now follow the previous steps again but this time click on the Screen Saver tab. Click on the current screen saver (found right below the words Screen Saver) and then choose a new one from the list. Click on Preview and the screen saver will activate. Now click on OK and that’s your current screen saver.

The sounds are usually associated with applications and events. When you install Windows, several Windows events, such as Asterisk or Default Sound, will be defined. When you install a new application, it could potentially create new sound events. Setting up sounds is a bit more complicated, but let’s try that now. Click on Start, select Settings, click on Control Panel, then double-click Sounds. Notice the list of applications and events. The items on the left margin with the icons that look like little windows are the applications. When you first install Windows, you might only have two or three of these, but after you’ve installed a number of applications you could have more. Indented from each of the application names are the events. If the event name has a little speaker next to it, then a sound is associated with that event. To see what sound is currently associated with a given event, click on the event. Look at the Name.

If the event name does not have a little speaker next to it, then no sound is associated with it. Click on an event name without the speaker. Notice the word (None) under Name. If you click on the downward arrow just to the left of (None) you can choose a new sound for this event. Go ahead and do that. If there are no sounds in the list, then close the list and click on Browse. If you installed sounds when you installed Windows you will find them in the C:\Windows\Media or C:\Winnt\Media folder. Navigate to that folder and select a new file. You can do this for each event that you would like to set a sound for. Once you are finished setting sounds for the events, click on OK.

So what does this have to do with Media Changer Deluxe? Now that you’ve set your wallpaper, screen saver and sounds, Media Changer Deluxe can change them without you having to go to the control panel.

The new way:

Down in the system tray, which is located on the right side of the task bar, which is usually at the bottom of your desktop, lives the Media Changer Deluxe tray icon. You can identify it pretty easily because it looks like a dog standing on top of the task bar. Find the icon and right-click on it. Notice the menu that displays. Click on Configure Media Changer Deluxe.

There are either four or five tabs (depending on whether you have Microsoft Plus! or Left Side Software’s Desktop Themes installed or not). The ones we’re concerned with right now are labeled Wallpaper, Screen Saver and Sounds.

Wallpaper:

The Wallpaper tab should be currently displayed. If you want Media Changer Deluxe to change your wallpaper, make sure the ‘Enable wallpaper’ check box has a check in it. If not, click on the check box. The currently selected bitmap should be displayed in the bitmap filename box right below ‘Enable wallpaper.’ To select a different bitmap, you just need to click on the icon that looks like a yellow folder that sits next to the bitmap filename box. This is the browse button. When you click on it the 'Select wallpaper' dialog will appear. You can use it to choose a different bitmap. The folder the bitmap you select exists in is the folder where Media Changer Deluxe will look for more bitmaps when performing the changing operation. Now you can navigate to find a new bitmap. But with Media Changer Deluxe you’re not restricted to just .BMP files. You can also use .JPG, .JPEG, .PNG, .GIF, .HTM, and .HTML files, though without MS Internet Explorer 4.0X or Windows 98 and Active Desktop with ‘View as web’ on only .BMP, .JPG, and .JPEG files will be cycled through. All of these type of files are common on the Internet, and they are smaller than .BMP files, so when you use them they take up less space on your hard drive. To preview the currently selected bitmap, click on the eyeglass icon.

If you would like Media Changer Deluxe to randomly choose the next bitmap, click on the Random check box so it has a check in it. Normally bitmaps are cycled through alphabetically by their filename if this check box is not checked.

Right below the bitmap filename box are the tiling and stretch controls. If you have Microsoft Plus! installed on your computer, are running Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 98, have Desktop Themes installed, or have Microsoft's free font smoothing software installed, there will be two sets of controls. The first set has a check box labeled ‘Automatically tile wallpaper smaller than’ and boxes for the width and height. The second set, if present, has a check box labeled ‘Automatically stretch wallpaper as big or bigger than’ and boxes for the width and height.

If you want very small bitmaps to always tile, which means instead of seeing one copy of the bitmap centered in the middle of the screen, you’d prefer seeing the entire desktop covered with multiple copies of the same bitmap, click on the first check box so it has a check in it. The default values for auto tiling are 320 pixels wide and 200 pixels high. This means that if the bitmap is smaller than 320 pixels wide and 200 pixels high, Media Changer Deluxe will tile it. You might want to set these values smaller or bigger depending on the resolution you run your system in. The best way to determine how to set auto tiling is by letting Media Changer Deluxe cycle through a number of bitmaps, both large and small, and seeing how you like the way they are being tiled or centered. You can then adjust the settings and try again.

If you want large bitmaps to always fill the entire screen, then click on the second check box. This enables auto stretching. The default values for this feature are 640 pixels wide and 480 pixels high. This means if the bitmap is wider than 640 pixels and taller than 480 pixels, Media Changer Deluxe will stretch the bitmap to fill the entire desktop. This will remove the border around the bitmap but could also distort it so it’s not proportional anymore. Again, the best way to determine the settings for this feature is by trying various widths and heights and letting Media Changer Deluxe cycle through several bitmaps and seeing how you like the way it stretches them.

Screen Saver:

The next tab to consider is Screen Saver. Click on it now. If you want Media Changer Deluxe to change Windows screen savers for you, then click on ‘Enable screen saver’ so that it has it check in the check box. Below the check box is the screen saver filename box. You can change the current screen saver by clicking on the browse button and selecting a different one. The folder the screen saver you select exists in is the folder where Media Changer Deluxe will look for more screen savers when performing the changing operation. You can configure the currently selected screen saver by clicking on Settings, and you can preview the currently selected screen saver by clicking on Activate.

If you would like Media Changer Deluxe to randomly choose the next screen saver, click on the Random check box so it has a check in it. Normally screen savers are cycled through alphabetically by their filename if this check box is not selected.

Sounds:

This tab is similar to the Sounds control panel applet, but has some useful differences. Click on the Sounds tab and let’s check them out.

At the top of the tab is the ‘Enable sounds’ check box. If you would like Media Changer Deluxe to change your sounds for you, click this check box so it has a check in it. A list similar to the one in the Sounds control panel lists all of the applications and their events. You have to decide on an event by event basis which sounds you want changed and how. Open up the application Windows, by clicking on the plus (+) sign next to it. Notice all the events indented beneath the application name. Click on .Default. If a sound is chosen for this event, it will be displayed in the Filename box. You can select a different sound for this event by clicking on the browse button and selecting a different sound file. The folder the sound you select exists in is the folder where Media Changer Deluxe will look for more sounds when performing the changing operation. You can preview the currently selected sound by clicking on the little play icon.

There are three check boxes to the right of the list box. These are Random, ‘Change event’ and ‘No sound’. If you click on Random so that there’s a check in the check box, when you Media Changer Deluxe selects a new sound for this event, it will choose it randomly. If you click on ‘Change event’ so that there’s a check in the check box, then the sound associated with this event will be changed by Media Changer Deluxe. If you click on ‘No sound,’ the Filename will be cleared and there will be no sound associated with this event. Once you have finished configuring a given event, click on the ‘Save Event’ button to save the settings for that event.

Once you are done configuring all of the settings in Media Changer Deluxe, click on OK and they will be saved.

But how do we change them?:

Now that you have the basic settings, let’s determine what and how often we want Media Changer Deluxe to change our wallpaper, screen saver and sounds.

Right-click on the Media Changer Deluxe tray icon and click on ‘Set autochange timers.’ You can specify times from 0 (don’t ever change this item) to 720 (change this item every 720 minutes or 12 hours). You will find either three or four boxes here. The first, Wallpaper, is where you specify how often you want Media Changer Deluxe to change the wallpaper. Click in the box, and type in the number of minutes between changing operations. If you set it to 15, for example, then every fifteen minutes a new bitmap will be selected and set as the current wallpaper on your desktop.

The next box is Sounds. Do the same here, specifying how often you want all the sounds changed. Remember, only the events you specified as ‘Change event’ will actually be changed.

The third box is ‘Screen saver.’ Specify how often you want your screen saver changed by clicking in the box next to the label and typing in the number of minutes between changing operations.

Once you have set all of the autochange timers, click on OK to save your settings.

If you feel like even every 12 hours is too often to change your wallpaper, screen saver or sounds, and would like it less often, like once a day or every time you start or restart your computer, then read on.

These times are they are changin’ too quickly:

If you leave all the autochange timers at 0, then you can choose a different method of making Media Changer Deluxe change your wallpaper, screen saver, or sounds.

One way:

If you would like for Media Changer Deluxe to change your wallpaper, screen saver or sounds every time your computer starts or is restarted, then let’s create a shortcut to Media Changer Deluxe in the StartUp folder

Right-click on the Start button and click on Explore from the menu that pops up. A two-pane Explorer view will display. The currently selected folder in the left pane will be Start Menu. Below and indented from this folder will be Programs. Click on the plus sign (+) to the left of Programs and find the StartUp folder beneath and indented from it. Click on StartUp. In the right pane all of the shortcuts for programs that are normally started every time Windows starts up are displayed. Right-click in the right pane of Explorer in an empty space. From the menu select New and then click on Shortcut.

The ‘Create Shortcut’ wizard will start. The first page of the wizard is where you specify the program you would like to start. Click on Browse and navigate to the folder where you installed Media Changer Deluxe (by default this is C:\Program Files\Swoosie Software\Media Changer Deluxe, but if you specified a different folder when you installed Media Changer Deluxe, find and open that folder). Now select MChanger (or MChanger.exe if you don’t have extensions hidden) and click on Open. Now click on Next. Now click on Finish.

Another way:

If you have Microsoft Plus! and System Agent or some other task scheduling program installed on your computer, you can schedule Media Changer Deluxe to change your wallpaper, screen saver, or sounds once a week, once a day, once an hour, or as often as the task scheduling software will allow. We won’t get into specifics here as to how to set up Media Changer Deluxe with all the various task schedulers, but suffice it to say you will have to have your task scheduler run MChanger.exe.

But does it do anything else?:

Yes, it does.

Media Changer Deluxe can also change themes, it has a double-left click option that allows you to change on demand, and it has a menu item for activating the current screen saver. Please refer to this help file for more information on these and other Media Changer Deluxe topics.


Sound Options

Automatically save event changes - If this is not checked you will be prompted every time you've made a change to an event but did not choose Save Event before selecting a different event or clicking on OK or Cancel. If this is checked the event changes will always be saved even if you do select a different event or click on OK or Cancel.

Remember path from last browse - If this is not checked, the 'Select sound' dialog will use the path in the Filename box, if one is present, when browsing for a sound. If this is checked, the last path selected by the 'Select sound' dialog will be used in subsequent browses. For example, if you choose a sound from the C:\Windows\Media folder for the Windows event SystemAsterisk, and then click on SystemExit, and click on the browse button, the 'Select sound' dialog would display .WAV files from C:\Windows\Media. The path is only 'remembered' for the current session.

OK will save the changes made to Sound Options.

Cancel will throw away the changes made to Sound Options.


Error Messages


Acknowledgements

We'd like to thank the following folks. Without them this product would not be a reality, nor would it be as good as we hope it actually is:

Ted Tatman for his encouragement and feedback.

This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.

Andrea, Nik, Oscar and Smokey Henderson for their love, patience, support and encouragement.

Kathy Krebs and Anna and Swoosie Krebs Lucero, for their love, patience, support and encouragement.