Copyright: Copyright © 1998 Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Citation: Copyright © 1998 Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.


Welcome to InControl Tools 98
Welcome to InControl Tools™ 98

InControl Tools 98 is a display and desktop utility that make it easy for you to maintain a picture perfect environment for work or pleasure.

With InControl Tools 98, you can:

Instantly switch desktop resolution (screen area) and colors for each individual monitor in a multiple-monitor setup (Windows 98 and Windows NT 5.0 only). To use the switch, simply move your cursor to the background of the monitor you want to change, right-click for the enhanced popup menu, and choose a new setting.

Use toggles on the configurable InControl Tools 98 enhanced popup menu to turn desktop management features on or off any time. You can even use the menu to switch your screen saver on and off.

Configure shortcut key combinations to control desktop resolution\color switching and provide on/off toggles for other InControl Tools features.

Empower your Start menu with left-button popup capability. When running multiple monitors on Windows 98 or NT 5.0, this unique feature gives you convenient access to the Start menu from any enabled monitor.

Access your favorite internet sites instantly with through the enhanced popup menu.

Use the new Diamond Properties desktop to configure your popup menus, and shortcut keys.

Center your screen any time using InControl Tools' dynamic screen positioning utility, available any time (and separately for any monitor if using multiple monitors in Windows 98 or NT 5.0) in the new Diamond Properties dialog.

Windows 95 and NT 5.0 users can control monitor refresh rates by selecting from a list box in the new Diamond Properties dialog (Windows 98 and NT 5.0 users already have this capability in the Windows Display Properties dialog.)

Use the special Video tab in your Diamond Properties dialog to play and adjust video settings. Note: This tab appears only when supported video cards are installed.

Use the special TV Out tab in your Diamond Properties dialog to send output to one or two connected television monitors. Note: This tab appears only when supported video cards are installed.

Use the special Gamma Correction tab in your Display Properties dialog to adjust the color balance of your monitor. This feature is useful in compensating for differences between monitors, and between monitors and printers. Note: This tab appears only when supported video cards are installed.

InControl Tools 98 is also extensible, and will seamlessly support future display, desktop management and communications management features developed by Diamond.

Copyright © 1998 Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc
InControl Tools is a trademark of Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc. All other trade names referenced in this document are the service mark, trademark, or registered trademark of their respective manufacturers.


Getting started with InControl Tools 98

Using the enhanced desktop Popup Menu and the popup Start Menu

Click your right mouse button on the Windows desktop. Your enhanced desktop menu appears. Note that this is the same Windows "right-click" menu that normally appears, but with several new items listed above the standard items. These new items are your InControl Tools enhancements. Check all features and submenus to review the default settings.

Click your left mouse button on the Windows desktop. Your popup Start menu appears. Note that this is the same menu that appears when you click your Windows Start button. Now, however, it's now also available as a "floating" popup menu. If you're using multiple monitors under Windows 98 or Windows NT, the Start menu is now available as you work in all enabled monitors.

Using the Diamond tray icon

The primary access point for InControl Tools 98 is the Diamond tray icon on your Windows toolbar:

This icon lets you open the Diamond Properties dialog (the program's main configuration dialog) and the Windows Display Properties dialog. It also lets you get Help or quit InControl Tools 98.

In addition, the tray icon offers an optional extended menu that lets you switch monitor resolution/color depth, and provides on/off switches for the Popup Menu (an enhanced Windows "right-click" desktop menu), the popup Start menu, and the Taskbar Menu extensions themselves. These toggles are described in more detail in the topic InControl Tools 98 menu extensionsIDC_MENUEXTS.

Note that when you rest your cursor over the tray icon, a "flyover" label appears. This label lets you know the resolution and color depth for the monitor on which the tray icon appears.

To open the tray icon menu, click the icon with your left mouse button.

Using the Diamond Properties dialog

The Diamond Properties dialog is the management and configuration control center for InControl Tools 98. To open and examine the features in the Diamond Properties dialog, click the Diamond tray icon and choose Diamond Properties. When the dialog appears, you can press Help for details on all features and functions in any of the dialog's property pages.

 Also see


InControl Tools 98 menu extensions
Using the InControl Tools 98 menu extensions

InControl Tools 98 extends the standard Windows "right-click" desktop menu and its own Taskbar Menu with a number of items that control display and desktop management functions.

These functions include:

Popup Menu. An on/off switch for all InControl Tools 98 menu extensions on the Windows desktop menu. If this item is switched Off and the Taskbar Menu is On, you can restore the extensions to the Popup Menu by clicking the Diamond tray icon and toggling the Popup Menu item On. If the Taskbar Menu is Off when you switch the Popup Menu off, however, you must open the Diamond Properties dialog to restore the menu extensions. To open the dialog, click the Diamond tray icon and choose Diamond Properties. To turn on the extensions, choose the Popup Menus tab, then check Customize Taskbar menu and/or Customize Popup Menu.

Taskbar Menu. An on/off switch for the menu extensions added to the Diamond tray icon menu. As noted above, if the Taskbar Menu item is turned On, you can hide the extensions on the Popup Menu by switching the Popup Menu to Off. If both are off, you must turn one or the other back on through the Diamond Properties dialog in order to restore the menu extensions and their toggles.

Start Menu.. An on/off switch for the popup Start Menu. The popup Start Menu is the same menu that appears when you click the Start button. When this toggle is On, you can access the menu by left-clicking on your desktop. If you are using multiple monitors under Windows 98 or Windows NT 5.0, the popup Start Menu feature provides a way to access all Start items from any monitor without having to return to the monitor that houses the Start button. If both the Taskbar Menu and Popup Menus are off, you can still enable the popup Start Menu by opening the Diamond Properties dialog from the Diamond tray icon, choosing Popup Menus, and checking the Start Menu checkbox.

Switch Desktop. Provides a submenu list of all resolutions and color depths available to your monitor. The current resolution and color depth is checked on the submenu. Note that if you are using multiple monitors under Windows 98 or Windows NT 5.0, the selected item reflected the resolution and color depth for the currently selected monitor (if using Switch Desktop from the tray icon menu, the selected item reflects the resolution and color depth for the monitor on which the tray icon resides). To instantly switch resolutions and color depths, simply choose another item.

Screen Saver. An on/off switch for your screen saver. Effective only if you specify a screen saver in your Windows Desktop Properties dialog (if your screen saver is set to anything but "<none>"). If a screen saver is specified, you can reset the specification to "<none>" by choosing Off for this item. Note also that this toggle is unavailable if both the Popup Menu and Taskbar Menu items are switched Off.

Desktop Icons. Provides the unique service of allowing you to save and restore desktop icon arrangements or automatically arranging your icons whenever you switch resolutions. Normally, desktop icons are repositioned whenever you change resolutions. If, for example, you switch from 1024X768 to 640X480, your icons are rearranged to fit the smaller workspace. It doesn't work the other way, however: When you switch back to the larger workspace, icons retain the positions they were assigned in the smaller workspace. InControl Tools' Desktop Icon feature resolves this inconvenience by letting you save your current desktop state (if you don't use the Windows Auto Arrange option) and restoring the state when you switch resolutions. If you use the Windows Auto Arrange option (right-click popup menu, Arrange, Auto Arrange), you can click the Auto Desktop Icon Restore option to automatically reposition your icons whenever you switch resolutions.

Internet Sites. Provides the user easy access to his favorite internet sites for the Netscape Navigator  and Internet Explorer.

For information on adding or removing items from your extended menus and Start menu, see see Configuring Popup Menus.

 Also see


Configuring popup menus

The Popup Menus tab on the Diamond Properties dialog lets you enable, disable, and configure InControl Tools 98's menu extensions or enable/disable the popup Start Menu.

Left Mouse Button Popup Menu controls

Start Menu. This checkbox enables or disables the feature that lets you bind the Windows Start menu to a left mouse button click on the Windows desktop. Among the advantages of this feature is the ability for Windows 98 and Windows NT 5.0 users to access the Start menu (the menu that appears when you click the Windows Start button) by clicking the background of any enabled monitor in a multiple-monitor setup.

Add/Remove/Advanced. These buttons let you customize your Windows Start menu. Same functionality as provided in the Windows Taskbar Properties dialog, but the options are available here only if the popup Start Menu is enabled (if the Start Menu checkbox is checked). The Add button opens a wizard that lets you configure a new program shortcut for the Start menu. Remove lets you delete Start menu items, and Advanced opens a copy of the Windows Explorer to operate on the Start Menu folder using the full functionality of the Explorer.

Right Mouse Button Popup Menu controls

Available/Current Menu Items. These lists display the items currently available and included in your Diamond popup menu extensions. To add items to the extensions list, select from the Available list and click Add. To remove items, select from the Current list and click Remove. When you click Apply, the changed extended menu, if enabled, is available for use.

Customize Taskbar Menu/Customize Popup Menu. These two checkboxes let you enable or disable the selected Diamond menu extensions (as listed above in Current Menu Items) on the menus that appear when you right-click your Windows background or click the Diamond InControl Tools tray icon. You can also use the checkboxes to restore the extensions if both menus have been turned off through the toggles on the menus.

For more on the Popup Menu extensions and the popup Start Menu, see InControl Tools 98 menu extensions.

 Also see


Using Shortcut keys with InControl Tools 98

InControl Tools 98 lets you assign Shortcut keys to provide an alternative means of accessing its display and desktop management features.

After binding a key combination to a task, you can use the combination any time from anywhere in Windows. For Windows 98 or NT 5.0 users with multiple monitors, the key combinations are available while working in any application on any monitor.

To create a Shortcut:

1	Click the Diamond tray icon (normally located in the taskbar tray in lower right corner of your desktop):

2	Choose Diamond Properties. The Diamond Properties dialog appears.

3	Click the Shortcuts tab. The Shortcut bindings window lists all currently assigned Shortcut key combinations and the features to which they're bound.

4	To add a new Shortcut, click the arrow on the Shortcut action box to open the list of items that are available for binding.

5	Click the feature you want to bind.

6	Click the Shortcut key box (so that the cursor appears in it).

7	Press the key or key combination you want to use to activate the feature. For example, if you want the feature to be activated whenever you press the Ctrl, Alt and X keys at the same time, press all of those keys at once. When you do, the combination appears in the Shortcut key box. If you change your mind, press another combination.

8	Click Add Binding. The new binding appears in the Shortcut bindings list. When you're finished adding Shortcuts, click OK to close the Diamond Properties dialog.

To remove a Shortcut or change an existing key binding:

1	Follow steps 1-3 above.

2	In the Shortcut bindings window, select the binding you want to delete or change and click Remove Binding.

3	To reassign the feature to a new key combination, follow steps 4-8 above. When you're finished removing or reassigning Shortcuts, click OK to close the Diamond Properties dialog.

 Also see


Using the Diamond Information dialog
Using the Diamond Information dialogs

The Information page on the Diamond Properties provides contact information, connections to the Diamond Multimedia home page and Technical Support page (via the Technical Support button), and information on your system and display configuration (via the Details button from the main page).

Note: You must have an Internet connection running or available in order to use the Diamond Multimedia links provided on the main Information page and to connect to the Technical Support site using the Technical Support button.

The Details button opens a second dialog with three tabbed pages:

Display Information provides all collectable data on your display adapter and driver. Windows 98 and NT 5.0 users with multiple monitors can view data on any enabled monitor by selecting from the Display dropdown list.

System Information provides data on your operating system, registration information and computer.

ICT '98 Information displays a scrolling list of the people who brought you InControl Tools 98.

 Also see


Using the Gamma controls

The following configuration options are available on the Gamma page of the Diamond Properties dialog:

The test pattern area of the dialog lets you see the effect of your custom color correction settings on a variety of test patterns. To choose a new pattern, select it from the listbox.

The color space area of the dialog lets you choose the color space—either RGB (red/green/blue) or CMY (cyan/magenta/yellow)—that is used when color controls are manipulated. It also displays a graph of the color components in the color table.

The color controls area of the dialog contains the sliders that let you modify your monitor’s color table. Here you can adjust the overall brightness, contrast, and gamma. Note that the gamma slider allows adjustment of the color table from a standard linear ramp, though the actual physical characteristics of a monitor are not linear. To choose a color component for modification, click one of the color buttons below the sliders. To reset the settings to their defaults, click the Reset button.

Saving your settings. You can save your custom settings and return to them any time by selecting a Scheme name from the dropdown listbox. To save a custom scheme, make your adjustments, click Save As, then name the scheme. The new scheme then appears in the listbox. To delete a saved scheme, select it on the list, then click Delete.  To make settings apply on reboot, you must save them as a scheme and have that scheme selected.

Reset. Click button to set all custom gamma correction entries to their default color table values.

Apply Settings. For 3D enabled products you will have the option of saving Gamma Settings separately for 3D displays.

 Also see


Centering your screen using the dynamic screen positioning tool

1	Click the Diamond tray icon (normally located in the taskbar tray in lower right corner of your desktop):

2	Choose Diamond Properties. The Diamond Properties dialog appears.

3	Click the Refresh tab.

4	Move your mouse cursor to the screen area on the monitor graphic. The mouse cursor changes to a hand.

5	Press and hold your left mouse button and move the screen graphic up, down, or to either side. Note that your screen is repositioned dynamically as you move the mouse.

6	Release your mouse button when your screen is centered. Note: You can also change the screen position dynamically by simultaneously pressing your Alt key and any of the directional arrow keys.

7	A confirmation message opens to let you verify the change. Click Yes to confirm the change, or No to revert to the previous screen position. If you don't make a choice, the message box is dismissed after a few seconds and the screen reverts to its previous position.

To restore your monitor to its default centering position, click Default.

 Also see


Using the TV Out controls

Use the special TV Out tab in your Diamond Properties dialog to send output to one or two connected television monitors. Note: This tab appears only when supported video cards are installed.

TV Out controls

Master on/off switch. The TV page's master on/off button lets you enable or disable TV output when a television monitor is connected. When you click it On your monitor receives TV output and only TV-compatible modes are present through the settings page or InControl Tools. When clicked Off, your monitor switches back to normal VGA output. If a television monitor is not connected, the controls on the TV page—including the on/off switch, are automatically disabled.

Test pattern. This area of the TV page displays the currently selected test pattern. You can switch test patterns using the dropdown listbox to the right. The patterns show the effects on the TV output quality as you make modifications using the other controls on the page.

Test pattern list. This dropdown list of test patterns on the TV page lets you select from among samples that help you adjust TV output quality for color balance, character sizing, and single-pixel vertical and horizontal adjustments. The pattern you select here is displayed in the window to the left. Available only when a television monitor is connected and TV output controls are switched on.

Brightness. This TV page slider lets you adjust the brightness setting on your TV output. Works only when a television monitor is connected and TV output controls are switched on.

Fine tuning. This TV page slider lets you fine tune your TV output. Works only when a television monitor is connected and TV output controls are switched on.

Port selection options. If you have television monitors connected to both Composite and SVideo ports, these TV page option buttons let you switch between them to make adjustments to TV output controls. If a TV monitor is connected to only one port, only that port type is active. If a TV monitor is not connected or the TV output switch is turned off, both port types are grayed out.

Sharpness. This TV control lets you choose between Low and High sharpness for your TV image. Works only when a television monitor is connected and TV output is switched on.

Centering controls. Use this TV page button cluster to shift your TV picture left, right, up or down. Each click moves the picture four pixels. Works only when a television monitor is connected and TV output is switched on.

Overscan options. These two TV option buttons let you select between two modes of TV image coverage. Overscan lets the picture flow beyond the physical boundaries of your screen, which truncates small portions of the image on all sides. If you choose Overscan, however, you can make further adjustments to the image using the Overscan Filter options. Underscan reduces the overall height and width of the TV image on your screen. Both options are unavailable if a TV monitor is not connected or TV output is turned off.

Overscan filter. This TV option lets you adjust the amount of overscanning, which is the extent to which the TV image flows to and beyond the edges of your screen. To make this adjustment, you must select the Overscan option (available only if a TV monitor is connected and TV output is turned on).

 Also see


Using the Video dialog

Use the special Video tab in your Diamond Properties dialog to play and adjust video settings. Note: This tab appears only when supported video cards are installed.

Video controls

Playback window.The video playback window. Click the Play button to start the video. To move to another position in a running video, move the slider left or right.

Video Clip.Use this listbox to select the media clip you want to play in the video window.

Vertical Filtering.Clear this checkbox to enable or disable vertical filtering of the video playback. The feature is enabled by default.

Set Defaults.Click this button to restore all Color settings (the brightness, contrast, saturation and hue sliders) to their default positions.

Medial Player.Click this button to launch the Windows Media Player application.

Video Status.Displays the current status of the Diamond video overlay driver.

Brightness.Move this slider to adjust the brightness of the currently selected video.

Contrast.Move this slider to adjust the contrast of the currently selected video.

Saturation.Move this slider to adjust the color saturation of the currently selected video.

Hue.Move this slider to adjust the color hue of the currently selected video.

 Also see


Solutions

Problem: The Video, Centering or TV Out tabs aren't on my Diamond Properties configuration dialog.

Solution: These three tabs appear only if the InControl Tools 98 installation mechanism detects the hardware needed to support the special features available in these dialogs.


About Diamond Multimedia
Connecting with Diamond Multimedia

If you have Internet access, use any of the links below to connect to the Diamond Multimedia home site:

Home Page

Driver Updates

Product Information

General Information

Developer Relations

About Diamond Multimedia

Copyright © 1998 Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc
InControl Tools is a trademark of Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc. EDGE is a registered trademark of EDGE Interactive Media, Inc. and is used under license. All other trade names referenced in this document are the service mark, trademark, or registered trademark of their respective manufacturers.