Object Desktop for Windows

--- Frequently Asked Questions ---

Components

Topics - Overview

Control Center

What are the "MiniApps"?
How can I make use of locked windows in my virtual desktops?
Control Center becomes non-responsive and I can't click on it!
Why do some windows remain on screen after I change virtual desktops?

WindowBlinds

WindowBlinds FAQ

Object Edit

Saving files that are opened and in use
Binary files and Unicode files (NT & Windows 2000)

Association Wizard

Hmmm, it looks important, but how do I use it? (note: this component is being rewritten w/another interface)

IconPackager

All my icons are not changing on Windows NT4 + Internet Explorer (4.x or 5.x) + Active Desktop

Netscan

Settings are not being saved and my adapter is not always being detected correctly

Topics - Detailed

Control Center: What are the "MiniApps"?

Located in the Object Desktop folder are five "miniapps" designed to complement the functionality of the Control Center. These programs provide an interface to their respective Windows functions, depending on what flavor of Windows is in use. Add these miniapps to a Control Center for quick access to commonly used functions.

Note: to provide a common level of functionality across Windows releases, at this time the Lockup miniapp only provides an interface to the Lockup functions of Windows screensavers. You must have a screensaver configured to "lock" your system in order to use the Lockup miniapp.

Control Center: How can I make use of locked windows in my virtual desktops?

You may want a particular object to always be part of the current desktop. For example, you may want to access the Calculator or the Tab LaunchPad on every desktop.

To place an object on every desktop, open the Locked Windows tab of the Virtual Desktop page in the Control Center Properties notebook and define a locked window.

You can choose an object that is currently running by clicking the Browse Windows button, as shown in the following figure, and selecting from the list of available windows. Alternatively, you can type the title of any object in the system. It is advisable to enter the exact title as it appears on the Taskbar. For example, Outlook Express or FrontPage Editor.

To add a locked window after the title has been entered, click the Add button. It then appears in the Locked Windows listbox. You can add an unlimited number of locked windows.

To remove a locked window, click a title in the Locked Windows listbox and click the Delete button.

The locked object does not appear at once in all desktops sections in the Control Center. As you click a different desktop section, the locked object moves from the current desktop to the new desktop section.

Control Center: Control Center becomes non-responsive and I can't click on it!

This may happen when another application is actively using 100% of the CPU resources on the system. Some applications may also not respect window "move" messages, which may cause the Control Center to appear to hang. Should this occur, give the application a few seconds to attempt to finish processing. In extreme cases, it may be necessary to close and restart the Control Center (use the NT TaskManager or press Ctrl-Alt-Delete to bring up the Windows Task Manager).

Control Center: Why do some windows remain on screen after I change virtual desktops?

You probably have a Locked Window setup configured (see the Virtual Desktop tab under the Control Center properties).

Object Edit: Saving files that are opened and in use

When opening a file on a network drive, you may experience problems saving it if other users have also opened the file. Save the file to a different name to prevent conflicts with the other users who have opened the file.

Object Edit: Binary files and Unicode files (NT & Windows 2000)

Binary (e.g. non-text) files are not currently editable by Object Edit. When opening a non-text file, Object Edit will warn you that continuing could lock the Object Edit window. Also, unlike the NT/W2K Notepad application, Object Edit does not currently support reading or writing Unicode text files.

IconPackager: All my icons are not changing on Windows NT4 + Internet Explorer (4.x or 5.x) + Active Desktop

There is currently a bug in IconPackager relating to Windows NT4 systems that installed Active Desktop as part of their Internet Explorer 4.x installations (this carries over to systems upgraded to Internet Explorer 5 as well). When you apply an icon package, only some of the icons actually change to the "new" ones. We are working to correct this, but in the interim you can use the NT Task Manager (press Ctrl-Shift-Esc to access it) to kill EXPLORER.EXE. Then, select the Rebuild icon cache option in IconPackager, and restart EXPLORER.EXE through the File -> Run option in the Task Manager.

Netscan: Settings are not being saved and my adapter is not always being detected correctly

These are both known bugs with the current beta build that we are working to resolve.

[Home] [Search] [Order] [Help]