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Changer2 (VERSION 1.1)
Copyright (c) 1998 Ziff-Davis Publishing Company
Written by Douglas Boling
First Published in PC Magazine, US Edition, January 20, 1998.
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About Changer2s:
Changer2 is a Windows 95 utility that automates changes in your 
wallpaper, pointers, screen saver, and desktop themes. You can use 
Changer2 to give your system a different look each time you boot 
up, or you can implement your change settings on demand.

Usage:
To install Changer2, simply copy CHGR20.EXE into a directory 
on your hard disk. Then start Changer2 by double clicking on its icon. 
The Changer2 window consists of a property sheet with six tabs--one for 
each system parameter that Changer2 can change, plus one for program 
configuration and one for online Help.

The first of the four system parameters is Screen Savers. You configure 
Changer2 by giving it a list of items to pick from when making a change. 
The left list box contains the possible screen savers; it is your job to place 
in the right list box the screen savers you want Changer2 to pick from. 
To do this, select a screen saver you want and click the 'Copy' button. 
That item will be removed from the possible selection list and put in the 
active selection list. The 'Copy All' button can be used to copy all of the 
items from the possible list to the active list. The 'Remove' and 'Remove 
All' buttons let you move items back from the active list to the possible list. 
Alternatively, you can double click on an item in a list box and it will be 
transferred into the other list box. Changer2 looks for screen savers in your 
Windows and Windows\System directories. If you have screen savers in 
another directory, you will need to move them into one of these two 
directories for Changer2 to find them.

Once you have selected the screen savers you want Changer2 to pick 
from, you need to tell it how to choose from the active list. Below the 
list boxes is a group box containing three radio buttons: Random, 
Sequential and None. You can have Changer2 pick a new screen saver 
randomly, or have it move down the active list sequentially each time a 
change is needed. Finally, you may not want Changer2 to change your 
screen saver at all. In that case, simply select None. Of course, you can 
also just empty the active list; if Changer2 has no selections to choose 
from, it will not make a change. But you may want to keep an active list 
and just disable the change occasionally.

Changer2 also can change your mouse pointers. The Pointers page is laid 
out identically to the Screen Savers page. On the left are the available 
pointer schemes. Use the buttons to select the pointer schemes you want in 
the active list. Then select the change method (random sequential or none) 
at the bottom of the page.

Changer2 does not change individual pointers; it changes pointer schemes. 
To configure a pointer scheme or to see what pointers are used in a particular 
scheme, open the Mouse Control Panel applet and click on the Pointers 
property page. There you will see a combo box with the available schemes, 
as well as the pointers for each scheme. To create a new scheme, double click 
on a pointer in the list and select from the available cursor files on your 
system, then save the new scheme using the Save As button.

The Wallpaper page is similar to the Screen Saver and Pointer pages. The list 
box of possible wallpaper files is filled with all the .BMP files in the Windows 
directory. You move them into the active list box in the same way as the other 
pages, but after a file is in the active list there is a new twist: you can select 
whether it should be tiled. To indicate that a wallpaper file should be tiled, select 
the wallpaper file in the active list and click the "Tile" checkbox located below 
the active list box. To find out if a wallpaper file in the active list will be tiled, 
select that file in the active list and Changer2 will update the checkbox to indicate 
whether the file will be tiled. You can then check or uncheck the checkbox to 
update the tile status.

The Themes page has a few more complications owing to the many changes 
that setting a new theme entails. The Themes page will only be enabled if you 
have the Desktop Themes applet (part of the Microsoft Plus! pack) installed on 
your system. If you do, the installed themes are listed on the left and, as with the 
other pages, you move them into the active list by using the button controls or 
double-clicking the item.

After you have selected the active themes and a change method, switch to the 
Configure page. There you will see three check boxes enclosed in a group box 
labeled Themes settings. Each of the checkboxes enables or disables part of the 
themes package. Since changing a Theme can change the screen saver, desktop 
wallpaper, and pointers, changing a Theme will overrule Changer2's other settings 
unless you specify otherwise. If, for example, you want to change the theme but 
still want Changer2 to change the pointers, you need to check the 'Changer2 mouse 
pointers override Theme mouse pointers' checkbox. The check boxes in this group 
set the change methods for the Desktop Themes control panel applet as well as for 
Changer2. In fact, these check boxes replicate part of the function of the Desktop 
Themes applet. They are included in Changer2 for convenience.

The other checkbox in the Configure page is a check box to have Changer2 change 
the system settings each time you start Windows. This is really the best way to use 
Changer2 since it will run automatically and provide a new look each time Windows 
is started. The alternative is to have Changer2 make changes on demand. The method 
for doing this is described below.

Changer2 has two modes of operation. When launched with no parameters, Changer2 
opens the configuration dialog I've just described. When launched with a "-C" parameter, 
Changer2 will implement the changes specified in the configuration dialog. The easiest 
way to run Changer2 in "change mode" is to create a desktop shortcut that includes 
the -C parameter.

To do this, right click on the  desktop and select New|Shortcut. When the shortcut wizard 
is displayed, enter the fully qualified path name to Chgr20.exe. You can use the Browse 
button to locate Changer2 in your directory tree. After you have entered the path and 
name, append a "-C" (a dash immediately followed by a C), to the end of the command 
line. Once that is done, press the Next button and enter the name you want for the 
shortcut, perhaps something like 'Change Desktop'. Click on the Finish button and 
you now have your desktop shortcut. Double click the shortcut to change your desktop look.

Note: The file Chg2_src.zip contained in Chang2.ZIP is the 
source code for Changer2.  This will only be of interest 
to you if you are a programmer, and can be discarded 
if you choose.

Support for Changer2:
Support for the free utilities offered by PC Magazine can be 
obtained electronically in the discussion area of PC 
Magazine's Web site. Go to the URL 
http://www.pcmag.com/discuss.htm/ and select the Utilities 
area. You can also access the Utilities discussion area from the 
utility's download page. The authors of current utilities 
generally monitor the discussion area every day. You may 
find an answer to your question simply by reading the 
messages previously posted. If the author is not available and 
you have a question that the sysops can't answer, the editor of 
the Utilities column, who also checks the area each day, will 
contact the author for you.

Douglas Boling is a contributing editor of PC Magazine. Sheryl Canter is the editor of the 
Utilities column and a contributing editor of PC Magazine.
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