ADVICE FOR BEGINNERS AND TROUBLESHOOTING
 

This guide is written for Windows users only. We have a short list of Mac savers, but unfortunately we are not qualified answering Mac specific questions. Please note that Mac downloads are sit-, sea- or hqx-files and Windows downloads either exe- or zip-files.

DOWNLOADING INSTRUCTIONS
 

Downloading problems
 

Interrupted downloads

VIRUS CONTROL
 

INSTALLING THE FILES

Exe files
 

Zip files
 

Scr files
 

Installation problems

DISPLAY PROBLEMS

UNINSTALLING
 

DOWNLOADING

Always left-click on a screensaver's name. In many cases the link leads to the author's download page and visitors right clicking end up mistakenly saving html files. Author's page will give you more information about the screensaver and the downloading option. If the link leads directly to a file, you will see a window asking what to do with the file. You should choose the 'save file', 'save to disk" or "save as" option - exact wording depending on which browser you are using and which file type you are downloading. - Never use the 'Open file' or 'Run file from current location' if these are offered.

BEGINNERS: Please look where you save the file. Netscape or Internet Explorer will not automatically save your files to a 'correct' folder, you have to go up and down the folders in "Save As"-window, until you have found the one where you want to put them.The latest version of Win98 already has a folder called 'Downloads' on your C drive.

If you don't have such folder, you have to create one.

Next time you download, the browser will often 'remember' the previously chosen folder.
 

DOWNLOADING PROBLEMS

TROUBLE 1: instead of these two previous choices, you'll get a message
 

"..cannot connect to the server" or in Internet Explorer "cannot open the file"

This is nothing serious, the server is simply too busy coping with the demand - or might be even temporarily down. Try a little bit later on. If you cannot make the connection during that session at all, try another day.

TROUBLE 2:There is no reaction whatever when you click on a link: there is congestion somewhere on the line or the connection is too slow. Try later on or another day. - Some servers are also very slow to respond. Wait for a while before clicking the next link.

TROUBLE 3: A new page opens in the browser saying "404 - error, cannot find page xxx.html" or "The file requested is not available on this server" (or something similar). These messages mean that the file has been moved, deleted or the site has closed. Use the "Broken Link" at the bottom of the screensaver pages to notify the Webmaster.
 

INTERRUPTED DOWNLOADS: Nothing as irritating as a connection that cuts, or a browser that crashes after you just got 95% of a 5MB file downloaded! There exists a wonderful shareware program which puts this problem behind you for ever! Get hold of the evaluation version of Get Right. Your downloads will be handled separately from your browser and will continue even if the browser crashes. Even better, if the connection cuts, Get Right will pick up where it left the next time you connect. (PS. there are a few servers that don't support download resuming but they are a minority and you will be advised about that.)

Other software of the same type are Godzilla, Netants and Download Demon.
 

VIRUS CONTROL

All screensavers are virus scanned before they go to the list, but as most of these files are not in our servers their content might be changed at a later date. We strongly advice scanning them again before installation. If you don't have a anti-virus program yet, try some of the free evaluation versions available like McAfee VirusScan, Norton Anti-Virus or Protector Plus. You should only install one virus program at a time.

Always scan downloaded files BEFORE opening them. Remember to update your anti-virus program regularly, otherwise it will not be able to protect you from the latest viruses. Registered users will be notified of the latest updates.

Some virus scanning programs add a "Screen Scan" tab to Display Properties. I would recommend disabling scanning while in screensaver mode. This option can cause some screensavers to crash.

Do not let the fear of viruses to stop you using the wonderful resources available on the Net. We have downloaded thousands of files during the last few years and have thus far only contracted one virus. Do take your precautions though.

INSTALLING THE FILES

More and more screensavers now have fully automatic installation. Still, there are quite a few where you need to do things manually. The downloaded files come in two types:
(Win95/98 default settings will not show you file type. Please check your Explorer "view" is set to "details" and not to "icons", then go to "view" - "options" and clear the 2 boxes telling "hide ...")

a) EXE-files
Go into the folder where you downloaded the file. Double-click on the exe-file. There are two types of exe-files: either a DOS window opens and the files self-extract (wait until the extracting process is finished and then close the DOS window) or it is a Windows exe-file and Windows setup procedure starts. Most screensaver files are this type now and you need only to follow the on-screen instructions.

In the rare case of DOS installation the newly extracted files will go at the bottom of the folder where the original exe-file is situated. Find among them a file called readme.txt or readme.doc or something similar. Double-click on this file and read the instructions carefully. This file should give you all the necessary instructions, how to install the screensaver. - If there are no instructions, do the following:

 

If there is an install.exe or setup.exe among the extracted files, double-click on that and it should complete your Windows installation. If the screensaver works fine, you can delete the extracted files afterwards, but keep the original downloaded file somewhere safe (I will explain at the end of this page, why this is important.)

If there is no exe-file but a scr-file, move the scr-file WITH ALL THE OTHER extracted files to the main Windows directory.

Now go to Settings - Control Panel - Display - (or in Win95/98 simply click with right mouse button on the desktop) - Screensaver. Choose the new screensaver's name in the drop-down list, check the settings (sometimes you can change speed, number of characters, use a password etc) and see if the screensaver works correctly. Attention: all screensavers don't work in Preview mode. In that case you have to actually wait the number of minutes, you have set the screensaver to start at. Sometimes you need to restart Windows to be able to use the screensaver. If you are installing several screensavers just after each other, you might get error messages. Restart Windows and run the setup/install again and things should go more smoothly. Windows also has an upper limit how many screensavers it can handle - it is somewhere between 50 and 100+ screensavers depending of your hardware specifications.

 

b) ZIP-files
For zip-files you need a unzipping program. If you don't have any yet, try our favorite shareware program: WINZIP. There exists many other unzipping programs and you can of course use any of them. For simplicity my instructions are based on WinZip only.

Double-click on the downloaded zip-file. Winzip-window will automatically open with the contents of the file visible.

If "Install"-button is visible in the menu bar of the WinZip-window, simply click on it and follow the instructions. If there is no "Install"-button visible, check the list of unzipped files. There should be a readme-file. Double-click on it to see the instructions. Usually you have to move the scr-file with the other files to Windows directory. Sometimes exceptionally you are instructed to extract all the files to a specific directory and to click on the setup- or install-file only once there. There is a special button in Winzip-window for "extract"-option. If you find only a scr-file, move it to Windows directory. Remember to close the Winzip-window, when you have finished with installation.

b) SCR-files
Move or extract (if zipped) scr file to c:\windows unless author's instructions tell you otherwise (sometimes needs to go to c:\windows\system).

INSTALLATION PROBLEMS
Sometimes during installation, you can get a message : "this file is corrupted - application cannot be installed" or "this file is not a valid DOS- (Windows-, Win 32- or ZIP-) file" (or something similar). This means that something has gone wrong during the downloading. There is only one thing to do: download the file again. If after several downloads the file still doesn't work, it is evident that original file in the server has become corrupted. Fortunately this doesn't happen very often. Notify the author of the screensaver about the problem.

While Windows installation is running, you might get a message "file missing". Try the option "skip file" and sometimes you can manage to finish the installation. (Missing file can be for example a picture file - one among many, or a help-file etc - and the program can run without it.) - If everything fails, back to downloading!

Some screensavers do not tolerate energy saving features. If you notice that a screensaver crashes when the PC is left alone for a longer time, try disabling low-power standby and monitor shut-up.When you run a screensaver though Windows Control Panel ensure you disable any screensavers that run as separate programs.

DISPLAY PROBLEMS
If you have a PC running Win95 and you are suffering from sudden color changes, then your PC is still in the Win95 default setting 256 colors. Go to 'Display Properties' (in Control Panel) -> 'Settings' and change the color palette to 'HighColor' (16-bit). While you are there, check also that your screen is set to 800 x 600 pixels. These are the most common settings for screensavers and Web pages for the moment.

UNINSTALLING SCREENSAVERS

One day when you have 50 or more screensavers on your hard disk (and you only use one or two of them), you will start to wonder, how to get rid of them. Most of the recent screensavers now have an uninstall option, but unfortunately there are still many that don't. To see if there is an uninstall option go first to 'Control Panel' -> 'Add/Remove' programs. If you don't see the screensaver you want to get rid of there, then have a look at 'Start' - > 'Programs'. While uninstalling Windows might give you a warning about a shared file (many programs use same Visual Basic=VB components). Don't delete shared files. Better to be safe than sorry.

If you could not find your screensaver in the two locations mentioned above, it is time to have a closer look in the c:\windows and c:\windows\system folder. All files ending with scr will show on your screensaver list. Instead of looking after the files in "type" order, it is better to look after them in "name" order. Example: you have a screensaver called "Bear" and you might find after each other "bear.exe, bear.ini, bear.midi and bear.scr". You should delete them all. This method does not necessary get rid of all installed files (there might be some hiding in the systems folder) but at least it gets rid of the main files and the name on the list.

If you any doubts about which file to delete, don't do it. It is better to have one screensaver too many, than to have to reformat your hard drive. For more advice please check the screensaver author's website, or write to the webmaster. (NB. 99% of files at Topdownloads.netare NOT produced by us but by hundreds of different author's).

Good luck and enjoy the screensavers!