Hi Ralph,

Thanks I might try that.

My screensaver just kicked in again and I noticed the music wasn't playing again. When I exited it, I checked and it was still showing (1 copy this time) in the Task Manager.

Installed
 

Installed the new bata yesterday
background now matches the color of my room..............

Windows 7 does seem to introduce a problem that may or may not affect some.

I have W7 Pro on one system and W7 Premium on another, both 64 bit.

On the W7 Pro system, MarineAquarium3.scr is in the C:\Windows\System32 folder.

On the W7 Home Premium system it is in the C:\Windows\SysWOW64 folder, although other "SCR" files are in the System32 folder.

It is working well as far as I've seen on both systems. If I recall, both setups were what the complete installer routine produced. (Nova install, sorry Jim)

With the new 11e beta, since the download after extracted is a "scr" file, I simply copied it to the appropriate folder where the previous MarineAquarium3.scr file was after I renamed the previous file.

I believe I got the question: "The publisher could not be verified. Are you sure you want to run this software?", maybe on both systems, but I answered "yes" (or similar) and haven't seen any problem since.

Note that I did not "right click" and select "install" on the 11e beta file. Therefore, I don't know for sure where the new MarineAquarium3 SCR file would be "installed" using that routine. It would seem that the download of only the SCR file is not a complete "installer" routine since it does not include the EXE file. Perhaps clarification on this would be helpful?

There is no "installer" with these versions. Manual installation is required, and when a program changes windows will ask you for verification the first time you run it. It does the same thing on my XP Pro, but if I uncheck the box and tell it yes it doesn't happen again.

And on my XP Pro it never asked anything but simply opened the settings dialog, clicking OK closed settings without running the screensaver, renaming to .exe fixed this.

never had any trouble with previous versions.

Right click shows install

If you have no previous version in the win/system32 folder then right click install places a copy there and opens the screensaver dialog, this doesn't work if previous version exists.

With 11e, I had to remove the installer version from my computer in order to confirm that the playlist bug has been quashed. In other words with both versions on my computer but only running 11e the bug was still there. So I would recommend having only 11e on your computer for testing purposes.

Looks like the installer version takes control over Vista and W7's random placement of .scr files. We'll be able to test this in time.

PS. OK my bad, I went back and checked what you were talking about and now understand. I have always dragged and dropped with everything Jim does and never use the install option unless I am looking for something in particular to be wrong. It comes from testing for ages without installers packaged, I thought you were talking about one where you get the install option from running the program and click yes, and then you had something go wrong in the process. I need more coffee this morning, its been rough at the office and I am behind. :(

I think what you are talking about is the digital signature verification that it asks for?

I don't know a good solution to this, but it appears that various people are using various different ways of getting and copying and placing and renaming the 11e .scr file. As well as various approaches to whether the 10d version is present, renamed, uninstalled, etc.

Results of testing will vary, and it's going to be very difficult to sort out the "works fine on my system" "but not on mine" symptoms.

It's not obvious from the release announcement how we should be doing it.

As I said, I don't know a good solution. Just something to be aware of.

[Much less the differences with operating systems, etc.]

BTW I think it was me that provided the details of the packaged installer as it still looks like the Inno Setup Builder and Scriptmaker version I sent in 2001.

See above :)

Pardon me while I go hang a wreath on my nose, I think my brain has died. It's just been one of those days. Comes from jumping back and forth between too many things at once.

I was thinking of a setup exe

Right-clicking on the new MarineAquarium3.scr in C:\Windows\System32, selecting "install", and giving permission - does bring up the settings panel. However, there is no subsequent change to the behavior.

Double-clicking on the "old" (renamed) file does not ask the "... publisher could not be verified..." question.

Double-clicking on the 11e file still does ask the question.

The real effect of this is that clicking on the desktop icon (to run the simulation mode) asks the "publisher could not be verified" question. That's annoying.

Just making sure we are clear - The Installer version is the one at SereneScreen.com. It's still v10d, and will remain so until I've added and tested all the features I'm currently working on.

V11e is the test version that I've got at http://www.fish-byte.com/MA3Beta.zip. It's just the naked program, no Installer. Right-clicking ANY .scr file will bring up a menu which includes an "Install" item. This is a Windows thing, and has nothing to do with an actual Installer, or anything in my program. When clicked, Windows will copy the filename into your list of screensavers, bring up the Display Properties box, and launch the screensaver in -p mode (tiny Preview window, no sound).

If some of you are getting a "Publisher Can't be Verified" message, I'm not surprised. Microsoft doesn't know me from Adam. Using XP, I've never seen this message with my own program, though I get it with about half the things I download.

Just making sure that I'm clear. I have both .scr files (10d and 11e) in C:\Windows\System32.

Double-licking on the 10d .scr file does not ask for permission - it just runs.

Double-licking on the 11e .scr file does ask for permission - and will not run until permission is given.

Double-licking on the MA3 desktop icon does ask for permission - and will not run until permission is given.

That's a difference in behavior from 10d. Jim, I'm not saying it's something you changed. I'm just reporting the difference in behavior.

Hopefully, that's an Installer issue which will be fixed when Prolific sprinkles their magic fairy dust on the program after my part is finished.

What I'm more concerned with is the report of multiple instances of the program running. There's a built-in safeguard against this, called a Mutex object (mutually exclusive). Before the program launches, it uses this to make sure there is no other instance already running. If there is, it's supposed to switch the Windows focus to that copy, and not launch a new one.

If I understand the situation, some of you are reporting that there may be ways to defeat this feature by entering and exiting the program in unusual ways - through Display Properties, for example.

The best thing I ever did, 'upgrade-wise', was change to Win2Kpro, - the next best thing I ever did, was to NOT downgrade to Vista or W7. :)

Just set up 11e
 

Running Windows 7 home premium 64-bit.

Because the file was an scr which ran when I double-clicked it, I set up a folder labeled Marine Aquarium 3 Beta 11e and created a shortcut to it. I assume that's the expected approach(?). It worked, anyway.

I did get the message about unrecognized software, and, as someone has already observed, removing the check-mark from the box and clicking Yes solved that problem.

I also uninstalled the version from last year to see what would happen. Approximately nothing, except that my 16 random fish became selected fish again and the clock switched to the SereneScreen logo, though maybe that had more to do with moving the file(?).

I also checked Registration, and it said Thank you for registering this product. Does that mean it found the number(?), or do the betas not check for registration at all? If it does become unregistered, will the Register button provide a way to enter the license code?

Finally, I found out about this change by checking in on the forum. I don't know how many new versions I may have missed. Is there a notification of a new beta(?), or should I check in on the forum more often?

When you run the program it saves information (your keycode - the choices you make within the program, etc etc ) in the Windows registry, if you manually or sometimes even using delete software - remove the program, those settings are still there in the registry. So when you delete one version and install a later one it is still reading those settings from before. That's normal activity and expected.

As far as being informed about newer versions, I hope you stop in once in awhile and check to see what's going on, :) - but if you would prefer, click on this thread and subscribe to it. It is a locked thread and only Jim, Morgan, or I can post there about new versions. That way when it gets posted to, you will get an e-mail letting you know something happened in that thread.

Looks like Michael answered just about everything. The only thing I might add is that the test versions act the same as the regular versions regarding Key Codes, which is:

If a valid Key Code is found in the Registry, it will recognize it. (They are scrambled in the Registry, by the way.)

If there is no Key Code, the program will launch in Demo Mode, which disables a few features and allows you to enter a Key Code in the Register box of Settings.

Progress Report:
I've got a user interface working for changing the text color of the digital clock/calendar. It's a series of color squares, with a slider that can be pointed to any square. This is different from the experimental layout that you see in v11e, which consisted of checkboxes and words which would need translating ("Red", "Blue", etc). The new scheme works pretty well, but my brilliant method of coding the final color of the font has a minor drawback - everything on the crystal must be the same color. This means that the white ellipse showing the current date will be the same color as the numbers. Now I need to determine if this is a big enough deal to write new code to address it.

Looking at this with the current default color scheme (white ellipse) - it seems to me that having some contrast (like the white ellipse) to identify the current date is a "big deal".

But of course, we can't see your new schema. Maybe it's not really a big deal.

Suggest you post a few pictures (before, and after in a few new colors).