Various screen savers...

[Paul H]

Thanks Ralf,
The routines that control things like screen savers exist somewhere. I
should be able to locate the one I like, on my wife's Acer laptop, and
install it on my Compaq laptop. Both are new within the last 3 months or
so, and came with Vista Home Premium installed. I wonder how I can find
that location, probably in the Windows folder somewhere. TIA, Paul



OEM manufacturers can add whatever software extras they want to their
computers so in that sense yes, every Vista laptop or desktop can be a
little different. One brand/model may include different or extra gadgets,
another may include non-standard screensavers, wallpapers, games or even
custom themes. The (pre-Vista) HP computers I've bought typically included
select parts of the MS "Plus!" software package that would otherwise be a
separate purchase item. Those included screensavers, themes, games, backup
software and other extras not included with the basic OS. Those extras were
preinstalled and there is no installation program provided for them.



We have 4 family laptops with Vista - 3 with home premium. All are current
with updates. My wife's is the best, even though her laptop is a cheap
($289) Acer Celeron. It does cool transitions with the screen saver slide
show. The others are the more traditional - simple transitions - sometimes
annoying monochrome - sometimes expanding the pictures so the edges are
cropped.

How do I get the good features on all my laptops?

Also, they do not all have the same selection of Gadgets available for the
side-bar.

Is it normal for every Vista laptop to be a little different?

TIA, Paul

 

[donald huang]

Hi Paul,

The transparency effects may rely on edition of vista and graphic card
qualities, you can sort of customize it through some settings from Control
Panel->Personalization.

For the transparency effect, you can check the following page about some
settings.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/features/aero.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/compare-editions/default.aspx

For the system requirements of the transparency aero effects, you can check
the following page.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919183

Note that there are definition of DirectX 9 class graphic card and aero
capable graphic card and memory requirements. You can see the edition of
your vista system from control panel->systems. Basically from Home Premium
you will get those features.

You can download some more gadgets for your vista from the following page.

http://vista.gallery.microsoft.com/vista/SideBar.aspx?mkt=en-us

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/bf34e3b5-8514-4044-9b2d-e0076fbb92a81033.mspx

You can even create your own gadget with the instruction on the following
page.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/topics/vista/gadgets-pt1.mspx

I hope it helps.

 

[donald huang]

And it does depends on OEM a lot for the things they will add to vista.

 

[Paul H]

Thanks Donald, I'll try what you've suggested. But I'd still like to know
where the routines exist that support the slide show screen saver. In
Windows or in Acer folders somewhere. And I doubt that my cheapest laptop
has the best video card.


Hi Paul,

The transparency effects may rely on edition of vista and graphic card
qualities, you can sort of customize it through some settings from Control
Panel->Personalization.

For the transparency effect, you can check the following page about some
settings.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/features/aero.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/compare-editions/default.aspx

For the system requirements of the transparency aero effects, you can check
the following page.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919183

Note that there are definition of DirectX 9 class graphic card and aero
capable graphic card and memory requirements. You can see the edition of
your vista system from control panel->systems. Basically from Home Premium
you will get those features.

You can download some more gadgets for your vista from the following page.

http://vista.gallery.microsoft.com/vista/SideBar.aspx?mkt=en-us

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/bf34e3b5-8514-4044-9b2d-e0076fbb92a81033.mspx

You can even create your own gadget with the instruction on the following
page.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/topics/vista/gadgets-pt1.mspx

I hope it helps.