Microsoft Scenes Version 2.00

This document contains information that supplements Microsoft Scenes 
Help and Quick Reference Card.

CONTENTS

1   System Requirements/Overview

2   Troubleshooting Tips

    > If not enough memory is available to run Scenes
    > If there is insufficient disk space to install Scenes
    > If you have problems printing when Scenes is running
    > If the screen saver doesn't cancel immediately
    > If the screen saver pictures do not appear to change
    > Displaying non-standard JPEG files
    > If an application's password dialog box loses focus when
      you start Windows
    > If you cannot see part of the captions, wallpaper or Picture
      Information window

3   Software Compatibility Issues

    > Running multiple screen savers
    > Starting the Scenes screen saver from the Windows Control
      Panel    
    > Windows NT
    > MS-DOS, version 6.0 Delete Protection or Central Point
      Software's PC Tools Datamon
    > DOS sessions
    > Communications activity
    > Desktop shells
    > Wallpaper color quality

4   Hardware Compatibility Issues

    > ATI display drivers
    > Number 9 GXE video display adapter
    > Laptop computers with desktop docking stations

============================================
1. System Requirements/Overview
============================================
The minimum requirements for Microsoft Scenes are a 386SX
running Windows 3.1 and a VGA display, 3 megabytes (MB)
of available disk space and 2 MB of available random-access
memory (RAM).

For the best-looking pictures, make sure your display
adapter, driver and monitor support 256 colors or more. Scenes
will also display on 16-color VGA displays; however, the colors
will be noticeably limited and will not match the original colors
of the pictures.

To display pictures at full screen size (up to 1024 x 768 pixels),
select the Enlarge pictures to full screen size option in the Screen 
Saver Settings dialog.  

Scenes utilizes image compression and palette fitting technology
to produce very high quality images--even on systems with 
relatively modest hardware configurations. Palette fitting is a
processes that selects the best mix of colors for each image 
on a 256 color (8Bit) display. Depending on the speed of your 
computer, these operations can take anywhere from a few seconds 
to 5 minutes. Enlarging pictures to full screen size in high 
resolution video modes requires even more time. To display pictures 
as quickly as possible, set your display to more than 256 colors 
and disable the Enlarge picture to full screen size option.

=============================================
2. Troubleshooting Tips
=============================================
This section supplements the Troubleshooting section of Microsoft 
Scenes 2.0 Help.

Insufficient disk space to install Scenes
------------------------------------------------

If there is insufficient disk space to install the Scenes software 
and images, a "Not Enough Space on Drive [drive]:" dialog is 
displayed. Since Scenes does not support component level setup, 
selecting the Change Options button simply returns Setup to 
the main Installation dialog. To solve this problem, free up disk 
space. 

If you are installing multiple Scenes Collections, you 
can save disk space by specifying the existing Scenes directory 
when installing a new collection. In this way, you will require 
just enough disk space to store and display the new images, 
and only one copy of the Scenes screen saver software will 
reside on your system.

If not enough memory is available to run Scenes
-----------------------------------------------
For proper operation, Scenes requires 2 MB of available
memory. You may be able to free up some memory by closing
other applications. If you are running Scenes on a system 
with disk compression and you get a message saying not enough
memory is available to run the Scenes screen saver, the
About Program Manager dialog box may still indicate that
you have more than 2 MB of memory available. Choose the
About command from the Scenes Control menu to see the
available memory that Scenes can actually use.

Attempting to display very large graphics files will also result
in "Out of Memory" errors. Scenes cannot display images larger
than 16MB uncompressed.

Running out of memory on a regular basis may be a result of
how your system is set up. For more information on potential
solutions, see "If not enough memory is available" in the
Troubleshooting section of the Microsoft Scenes Help.

If you have problems printing when Scenes is running
----------------------------------------------------
If printing appears to stop, the printer you are using may be
shared on a network in which the server is running Scenes.
To correct this in Windows version 3.1, open Print Manager,
and, from the Options menu, choose High Priority. In Windows
for Workgroups, open Print Manager, choose Background
Printing from the Options menu, and then select High for
the Printing Priority.

If the screen saver doesn't cancel immediately
----------------------------------------------
Running other applications while using Microsoft Scenes can
occasionally slow the process of displaying pictures or the
time Scenes takes to start and stop the screen saver.
Applications that are processor-intensive, such as compilers,
or communications-intensive, such as CompuServe, are
particularly likely to affect the performance of Scenes.

Increasing the time between picture transitions will reduce
the likelihood of a delay when canceling the screen saver and
returning to Windows. To increase the transition time, set the
Change picture every [n] minutes setting to a larger number.

If the screen-saver pictures do not appear to change
----------------------------------------------------
You may have selected a personal picture set that contains just
one picture as your screen saver. If this is the case, Microsoft
Scenes "changes" from the current picture to the same picture.
In this situation, you will not be able to see the transition
effects because the image remains unchanged. To avoid this, select
a picture set with more than one picture, such as a Microsoft
Scenes collection, or select more than one collection for display
in the Screen Saver Settings dialog.

Displaying non-standard JPEG files
---------------------------------------------
Certain graphics applications are capable of saving JPEG files 
that contain extensions to the standard JPEG file format. 
Some of the products from Adobe, Altimera and Fauve are 
examples of such applications. These images may not display 
properly in Scenes. In some cases Scenes will not be able to 
open the file, in others, the colors in the image will not display 
properly. If you are having problems displaying a JPEG file, 
it is likely that the application that generated the file did not 
conform to the JPEG standard. You may be able to correct this 
problem by opening the JPEG file in the original application, 
turning off all non-standard JPEG options, and saving to 
JPEG again.

If an application's password dialog box loses focus when you
start Windows
--------------------------------------------------------------
Starting Windows automatically starts all applications with icons
in the StartUp group, beginning with the icon in the top-left
corner of the group. If an application with a password
dialog box, such as Microsoft Mail or Microsoft Schedule+, has
an icon before the Scenes icon in the StartUp group, you may 
have to activate the application's Sign In dialog box before
you can type your password. To correct this, move the Scenes
icon to the top-left corner of the StartUp group.

If you cannot see part of the captions, wallpaper, or
Picture Information window
------------------------------------------------------------
Check to see that the vertical and horizontal alignment on your
monitor are set properly. If you are using a high-resolution
"virtual" display, you may need to pan up to see the captions
or pan down and right to see the Picture Information window.
To display your wallpaper correctly, pan until the wallpaper
is centered on your screen.


=============================================
3. Software Compatibility Issues
=============================================

Running multiple screen savers
------------------------------
If more than one screen saver is running at a time, unpredictable
things can happen. Before starting another screen saver, make 
sure you exit Scenes. 

Starting the Scenes screen saver from the Windows Control Panel
---------------------------------------------------------------
You can run Scenes 2.0 from the Windows Control Panel's
Desktop applet. This is a convenient way to take advantage of
many of the screen saver features and at the same time utilize
minimum system resources. 

To run Scenes from the Control Panel, exit Scenes. Launch the 
Desktop applet from the Control Panel and select Microsoft 
Scenes 2.0 as the screen saver. Select the Settings button to 
change the Scenes screen saver options.

Windows NT
----------
NT processes keystrokes differently than Windows 3.x in order to 
provide a higher level of security. For this reason, when running 
Scenes with Windows NT, the Keyboard QuickStart is not available. 

MS-DOS version 6.0 or Central Point Software's PC Tools
for Windows Delete Protection
-------------------------------------------------------
If you use the MS-DOS version 6.0 or if you use PC Tools
Undelete option and the Sentry Tracker option, configure
Data Sentry to exclude these files from those that Data
Sentry protects: 
MSSCENES.BMP. ~MSS*.BMP, and -*.TMP.

@@@

For details, consult your documentation for MS-DOS version 6.0
or PC Tools for Windows.

DOS sessions
----------------------------------
If you are running a DOS session full screen, the Scenes screen 
saver will not start automatically and the Keyboard QuickStart 
will not function. If you run a DOS session window only the 
Mouse QuickStart will function.

Communications activity
-----------------------
If you are downloading files from CompuServe or anticipate 
other prolonged communications or network-related activities,
turn the screen saver option off. This will ensure that your
connections are not interrupted unnecessarily when Scenes
is running.

Desktop shells
--------------
If you are running a Windows desktop shell, do not install
Scenes from a virtual screen or run Scenes maximized (i.e.,
full screen.)

If you are running from a shell, it might hide the Scenes
wallpaper title. Minimizing the desktop icon may correct
this problem. If you cannot see the title, you can view a
picture's title in the picture description window by
choosing Show picture descriptions from the main Scenes
dialog.

If you use Central Point PC Tools for Windows, do not run
utilities which run on a schedule, such as Anti-Virus,
while the Scenes screen saver is active.

Wallpaper color quality
-----------------------------------------------
When using any palette-intensive application while in 8Bit 
display mode, the palette for the Scenes wallpaper may lose 
some of its colors, degrading the quality of the wallpaper. 
This may occur when you activate an application dialog or 
icon that is currently utilizing many colors. For best wallpaper 
quality, minimize palette-intensive applications and change
the focus to a non-palette application or application icon such 
as Program Manager. 

In 8Bit display mode, the active application window will 
determine the colors needed for optimal display of its graphics.
Any other windows (and the wallpaper) will then be forced 
to use this palette of colors. If you frequently use 256 color 
applications and this presents a problem for you, turn off 
the Scenes wallpaper feature while you work.
 
============================================
4. Hardware Compatibility Issues
============================================

ATI Display Drivers
-------------------
The ATI Mach 32 FlexDesk driver build 2.2 may cause your
system to crash when running Scenes 2.0 to crash. Contact 
your video display adapter manufacturer regarding problems 
with your display driver.

If you are using a Mach 32 driver and you get a message
in Setup or the Microsoft Scenes dialog box stating that
you may be able to make your pictures look better, open the 
Mach 32 Control Panel (FlexDesk). Make sure that your screen
resolution is set to 256 colors or more and that the
256-color palette has been turned on in the Advanced
dialog box.

If you're using the Mach 32 driver in 640x480 mode, select
the Small Font option. This will make the dialog boxes
and Microsoft Scenes Online Help easier to read.

If you are using any ATI driver with Crystal fonts, a message
will appear in Scenes stating that you could make your pictures
look better. To display Scenes with 256 colors, turn off
Crystal fonts or select a driver without Crystal fonts.

Number 9 GXE video display adapter
----------------------------------
This display adapter may exhibit minor screen artifacts 
when using the Scenes In & Out Box transition effects.

Laptop computers with desktop docking stations
----------------------------------------------
Some laptop computers that use desktop "docking stations" may
be able to use a video card attached to the docking station.
However, that card may offer resolutions that are not available
when the laptop is used by itself. For example, when docked, 
your computer may be able to display 256 colors; as a laptop,
the same computer may be limited to 16 colors. Before removing
the laptop from the docking station, change your display driver
to one that the laptop is capable of using.

