tech help

[Gilly]

You probably don't need to buy anything. Exact Audio Copy should do the job. I've never used it for that, but EAC is a great program and should work.

I am dumb, and my smarter technology oriented son is not speaking to me, but I don't understand how that software helps with non-CDs. Got a thumbnail explanation?

You just go to tools and record wav. That's the thumbnail version, here's a link to show how to do it.

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/9/13/11498/3759

But, Audacity might be easier and that is also a good program. I just have used EAC a lot in the past and knew it was capable.

[Sarah]

Anyone have a clue why my screensaver (a series of photos) should suddenly have grown about four times bigger than it used/is supposed to be?  Everything else (icons, desktop) is the same size it was before.  (Please don't suggest I change the resolutiion: it's as it has been from the beginning and is correct for my monitor.  Besides, as I said, only one component is suffering from gigantism.)

[fonpr]

Virus?

[Sarah]

Not as far as I can suss.  AVG says I'm clean, anyway.  And the only other problem I have been having is an exception error balloon that appears every time I start up. Come to think of it, that may have begun when the screensaver got huge.  If I knew how to fix it, maybe the other would be cured as well.

[Bryan]

So, visually the pictures look bigger? It's not that the folder containing the files went from being 2 MB to 8 MB?

I'm assuming that this is not a special piece of software you're running - it's the "My Pictures" slideshow in the screensaver menu, correct? If you go to the "settings" for that option, there's a scroll bar that dictates how big you want the pictures to be. You could try playing with that. There's also a check box to "stretch small pictures". See if that's on or not.

If that stuff doesn't make a difference, try changing your screensaver to something else, and rebooting. If that gets rid of the warning at startup, change your screensaver back to the slideshow, and see if it's fixed or if it causes the error message to appear again.

That should at least help you figure out what, exactly, the problem is.

[Sarah]

 Thanks, Bryan.  A few things:

* I've already tried using a different set of pictures, with the same result.

* I'm using the Windows Live Photo Gallery option in the Screensaver section.  There is no slider or "stretch small pictures" box in the settings.

* The screensaver looks fine when I'm in the settings window; it's when I preview it or it starts up naturally that it's wrong.

* I'm not sure the error message is connected to the screensaver mystery.  It's just the only other anomaly that's plaguing me at the moment.

I'll continue exploring when the mood strikes me.  It's more annoying than anything else. 

[fonpr]

* I'm using the Windows   

It's more annoying than anything else.

I've identified your problem.

[Sarah]

Yet you offer me no solutions.

[Bryan]

* I'm using the Windows Live Photo Gallery option in the Screensaver section.  There is no slider or "stretch small pictures" box in the settings.
* I'm not sure the error message is connected to the screensaver mystery.  It's just the only other anomaly that's plaguing me at the moment.

Oh yeah, I was looking at XP. You're probably running Windows 7 if you're using your new computer.

[Sarah]

Yup.

I switched over to bubbles for the time being.  Maybe I'll have a brainstorm overnight and think of something else to try.

[Bryan]

Does this help?

There is no need to worry if the Windows 7 screensaver is stretching photos. Simply follow the steps given below:
Download Windows Live Photo Gallery.
Install the same in your system that is running Windows 7.
After that, you need to right-click on the desktop, where you will get an option called as Personalization.
Here, select Windows Live Photo Gallery for the screensaver.
With this setting done, the stretching of the photos will be avoided.

[Sarah]

Hmm.  I'll give it a try.  The computer arrived with Windows Live Photo Gallery installed, but maybe downloading a fresh version will clear things up.

I will report later.  And thanks, Bryan.  You must be bored or desperate to avoid some other chore to be spending so much time on this.  Whatever the reason, I'm grateful.

[Sarah]

No joy.

[Sarah]

Never did solve that screensaver mystery, so I just switched to Mystify (aptly), which is more entertaining anyway.

New request:  What video-splitting program do the FOT recommend?

[Andy]

I'm going to risk getting screamed at by suggesting simple things that you've probably already eliminated:

you don't have it set to stretch small pictures, do you?
or the percentage of screeen slider?

both of these are under the settings option of the screensaver.