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ReadMe for The Idle Screen "Roaches!" screensaver for Microsoft Windows 98, ME, NT4, 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista *************************** Thank you for purchasing this screensaver. It shows that your sense of humor has a weird side. This product has been tested on an unsuspecting little girl and the resultant reaction met all expectations. So off to marketing it went. However, little boys and cats love it so take precautions when present such as a deadbolt on the door or a pet python. *************************** Installation Installation is straightforward, unzip and click the roachSsaver.exe file. Enter the password when requested and after the install is finished you will be asked if you want to view the readme file and/or the Desktop Properties window. The properties window is where you can select your preferred screensaver and set the options. It is normally accessed by right-clicking your desktop and choosing "Properties" then the "Screensaver" tab. Test that the roaches are running at a good pace using the "Preview" button and adjust as needed by clicking the "Settings" button. You may also run the screensaver from the desktop shortcut and view this readme file from the Start/Programs/Roaches! folder. To uninstall, use either the Start/Programs/Roaches!/Uninstall link or with the regular Windows "Add or Remove Programs". *************************** Options There are varied options that users can play with. The default behavior spawns a selectable number of life-sized roaches (up to 15) in slightly random sizes and speed that run in randomly changing directions on a black background. When one runs offscreen it runs back in from a random spot around the screens border to give the impression of a serious infestation. You can select zero roaches to use only the fake desktop, clock, and/or center covers. Roach speed and scale settings can be changed to suit your taste and computer. Play with the speed setting if they don't scamper fast enough. Use the Roach Scale to adjust size to your preference and/or screen resolution. Scale will also change speed so check roach action after scaling. You can also choose to generate SuperRoaches at random intervals. These are 175% of normal size. When on, a roach has a one in fifty chance of being Super when it reappears after running offscreen. Another setting is Swarm. Roaches will disappear as they wander offscreen until all are gone. They will respawn after the time set in Swarm Pause has elapsed. Time is set in seconds with a range from 1 second to 3600 (1 hour). This gives the impression of a blank monitor until they swarm again and can catch people offguard. Using Swarm to make them pour out after a certain time is fun if sufficient glance traffic is available. Glance traffic is the number of nosy people per hour walking by your computer and peering at it. It is usually a high percentage of the total traffic. If you are absent and they should happen to be snooping at the wrong time, and happen to have a good healthy cockroach phobia, it should fix them real good. A soiling may occur if they are really nosy and get close to your monitor to snoop and a spawn goes off. Great fun. Having just 1 or 2 run fast and disappear is also effective. The fake desktop is used to make it look like a normal desktop, either plain or with an e-mail window open. There are a few options for e-mail subjects showing in the preview. A "Last Warning!" text message, a partial image of sultry eyes, and a single mother image titled "Child Support Due". The clock is not fake, it shows your computers real time. *************************** Settings Roach Number: Number of roaches, reduce if action seems slow. Select zero to use only the fake desktop, clock, Windows error, pumpkin, or hearts. Roach Speed: Add or subtract a bit from the default speed. Roach Scale Add or subtract a bit from the default scale. Super Roach?: Whether to randomly generate an extra large roach every once in awhile. Regular Roaches?: Generate the regular roaches. Center Spawn?: Spawn roaches from the center of the screen, under the cover of one of 3 warning messages, a pumpkin, or a pair of hearts. Swarm Roaches?: Roaches will disappear as they wander offscreen until all are gone, then they will respawn after the time set in Swarm Pause has elapsed. Swarm Pause: Time to wait, in seconds, before respawning. Range is from 1 to 3600 (1 hour). Will default to 5 if exceeded. Fake Desktop?: Use a fake desktop with either a plain background or with an e-mail window open. Optional e-mails in the preview window are a warning message, child support due message, and an eyes only message showing a girls eyes. Always: Show a working clock, and/or the Center Spawn cover selection. *************************** Troubleshooting Slow playback may be due to too many roaches, too large of roaches, and/or use of the background graphics. The max number of roaches allowed is high enough to give all but the most powerful computers a hard time. Especially with larger scales. Reducing roach quantity or scale should help. We've taken pains to optimize graphics and movement code so slow running should not be a problem. The online demo will let you know how well it will play. The largest scale may also cause the Super Roach to not be fully covered by the center graphic when spawing, if center spawn is selected. Either reduce scale, choose a cover that is larger, or turn center spawn off. Another cause of slow running could be if a memory intensive program such as an anti-virus scan is running. If your settings are not being saved, a likely problem would be if Adobe SharedObjects are disabled. SharedObjects are normally allowed because they are low risk, and were likely turned off manually if currently disabled. If at work and your company allows it, have an admin change the setting. A SharedObject is similar to a website cookie but for Flash, and has very limited access on your computer. For this screensaver a SharedObject is created when the settings window is opened for the first time and is only used to store your settings. The screensaver will use default settings if not enabled. Default is 7 roaches at default speed with super and regular roaches checked. Swarm and fake desktop are off. Your computers security settings can also block the SharedObjects. Check If you can run the online demo it should be fine but another problem could be that you need to update your Flash plugin. Currently the update site is: http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash&promoid=BIOW To check if Adobe Flash SharedObjects Local Storage is enabled: Bring up the Roaches! screensaver settings window, right-click a blank area in the screensaver settings window, and choose "Settings". This will bring up a window showing your Flash options. Click the folder icon at the bottom to bring up your Local Storage settings. If the slider is all the way to the left and the "Never ask again" checkbox is ticked, you've found the problem. Uncheck the box and set the space allowed slider for SharedObjects, 100KB should be plenty and is what I had as a default. Close the Flash and screensaver settings windows and try again. Settings are saved in the following folders under WinXP, the "Administrator" and "ELV377C7" folders will vary. Other Win versions are similar, using Start/Search for "roach" (remove quote marks) is an easy way to find them: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects\ELV377C7\localhost\roachSS.sol C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player\macromedia.com\support\flashplayer\sys\#local\settings.sol *************************** Thank you for purchasing this screensaver and we hope you enjoy it. Due to spammers, may they rot in a very hot place, please visit www.theidlescreen.com to contact us. The Idle Screen |