Tedium Compensator (TC) BETA Release Info The program version is displayed in the title bar of the configuration dialog box i.e. the window that is displayed when you run TediumCompensator from the desktop. Current Version is BETA. File size is 69632 bytes. Functionality. TC is a startup settings changer, designed to alleviate the tedium of having the same background screen, startup sound and shutdown sound every time you boot/reboot Windows. (Anyone who regularly restarts Windows will know what I mean.) TC allows the user to configure each setting changer separately. The user must specify a folder from which a file will be selected at random. This file will be installed as the background wallpaper, startup sound or shutdown sound. In addition, TC can be configured to remove old temporary files from a Windows (or other) temp folder. On Windows startup, any files left in the temp folder are leftovers from programs that failed to clean up after themselves. These files accumulate over time, wasting disk space and eventually reducing hard-disk performance unnecessarily. To ensure that no useful files are removed in the temp cleanup, only files older than a certain age are deleted. This file age is user selectable in the configuration screen. The Temp Cleanup service will recurse down through the specified directory deleting all files and folders it encounters, unless they are in use, read only or younger than the specified age. Special care must be taken to ensure that the selected folder contains only temporary files. In some Windows installations, temporary files are placed in the Windows home directory. Setting Temp Cleanup to this directory will delete the entire Windows installation. The program self-installs as a Service in Windows 95, 98, or Me and as a per-logon-Run in Windows NT 4 and Windows 2000. On Windows startup (or user logon), all configured TC services will be executed and the program will terminate. Therefore no resources are utilised for longer than a few seconds at most (per restart). To install, uninstall or configure TC, simply execute the program file without parameters and follow the prompts. To run TC services silently, execute the program file with a parameter "-service". Compatibility. Windows 98/Me, IE4/5.X, Active Desktop disabled. No known issues Windows 98/Me, IE4/5.X, Active Desktop enabled. Issue 1 Windows 95, IE1/2/3/4/5.X, No Active Desktop Issue 2 Windows 95, IE4/5.X, Active Desktop enabled. Issue 1 Windows NT 4, IE1/2/3/4/5.X, No Active Desktop Issue 2 Windows NT 4, IE4/5.X, Active Desktop enabled. Issue 1 Windows 2000, IE4/5.X, Active Desktop disabled. No known issues Windows 2000, IE4/5.X, Active Desktop enabled. Issue 1 Windows 3.X and Windows NT 3.X unsupported. ISSUE 1: ACTIVE DESKTOP ENABLED. BACKGROUND CHANGES ON "RUN NOW" BUT NOT ON STARTUP. With active desktop enabled and the "View as Web Page" option enabled, there is a chance that TC executes and terminates before the Active Desktop initialises. The result is that the background does not change on startup but does change when TC is executed and "Run Now" is clicked. Workaround: Make a shortcut to "TediumCompensator.exe" and place it in the Startup folder. Edit the shortcut properties and add " -service" to the end of the "Target:" field. Please mail us if you have this problem. Altenatively, disable active desktop. i.e. untick "view as web page" from the display properties. ISSUE 2: IF BACKGROUND IS SET TO "NONE", TC CANNOT SET THE BACKGROUND. This problem crops up only on systems with a shell32.dll version of 4.00 i.e. Explorer 3 and before. Unfortunately, upgrading to Explorer 4.X without active desktop or to Explorer 5+ does not update shell32.dll. This problem can therefore occur even in systems with the latest version of Explorer. Workaround: Install a background in display properties and then run TC. Alternatively, uninstall Explorer 5.X and/or Explorer 4.X, then install Explorer 4.X with Active Desktop and then upgrade to Explorer 5.X if necessary. This will install the new shell32.dll version 4.7X. NOTE 1: MULIPLE CONFIGURATIONS NOT SUPPORTED ON THE SAME MACHINE. If you are running a Windows NT system or any system with multiple users/profiles, there cannot be mutiple versions of TC installed with different configuration settings. Configuration settings are stored centrally and are shared for any instance executed on the same windows installation. Multiple user config may be supported in later versions. Send us mail if you want this to see this implemented. Support. If you encounter problems, please send us mail with a subject line of "TC BETA". Please include the following information in your mail: - Windows version.
- Active desktop installed/not.
- Active desktop enabled/disabled.
Legal.Use all you like, any way you like. Copy all you like. We are not responsible for anything. Guarantee. In its unmodified form, this software makes no WINSOCK or MAPI calls. This means that it will not communicate with the outside world in any way. It is not watching you, nor is it being used as a back-door to spy on you or monitor the contents of your hard drive. If you think that your copy of TC has been modified, mail it to us and it will be analysed. |