I have a user reporting problems with my app. The app has run well for months, but recently sometimes she gets the "Illegal operation" Windows message, and statics and edit controls look like white and black rectangles. The latter made me think of resource problems. But it happens when the app is run alone too. She thinks it's also happened not too long after a reboot, so I don't think it's simply a case of running out of resources.

Perhaps the "Illegal operation" message is an important clue?

More details:

Sometimes it has happened when she is when reviving the PC after the screen saver has been active (with 3D Text). But not always.

The app runs on a standalone PC, Win 95, with 64 megs of RAM. The user got a new Agfa scanner installed not long before the problem started and wonders if there is a connection. And speaking of connections - the scanner, and a printer (?), use SCSI.

Any ideas? Any ideas at all?

- Oystein -

I know that 3D screen savers can be a resource hog on a Win95 PC. I had to stop using mine due to problems caused with other applications.

Todd,

They can hog as much as they like as long as they release the resources when they're finished. But you say they not always do?

- Oystein -

Hi Oystein,

I like to use the 3D textured Flag screen saver but starting having problems with it on my PC at work. (Win95 MMX-200) When I would clear the screen saver, my e-mail program (Notework) would cause a GPF. This did not happen when I used other screen savers.

We changed e-mail packages so I tried to use the 3D again but it caused problems in other running software. I don't know if it is a problem with 3D s'savers in general or just a bug in the one I was running.

Todd

Todd,

Today my client reported back she's tried with the plainest of the screen savers - the black screen, and the problem went away. At least almost. There's no "Illegal operation" and no black and white rectangles stuff when she revives the computer after screen saving mode. But just when the screen saver starts - for a split second before the screen goes black - she gets the rectangles.

Weird.

I had no other idea for her than to reinstall Windows. Or just live with it and take her chances.

- Oystein -

Oystein,

Screen savers are the bain of my life. Seen all sorts of applications messed up by them. Often they leave residual bits in all sorts of places.

Simple answer - monitors are dirt cheap today and come with energy efficiency features, why screen save at all?

Claude

Must admit I haven't much experience with screen savers. Either I'm working continuously at my computer or I'm off work. My computer is either on or off.

But on a totally irrelevant tangent - I do remember a sorry display device I once saw at a software exhibition - one that really would have benefited from a screen saver. It was a $15,000-$25,000 video projector (this was 14 years ago) showing some multimedia application, very fancy stuff for its time, but perhaps due to lack of interest from the visitors, the image of the initial screen's startup buttons was permanently etched into the phosphorus (or whatever it is devices like that have for displaying images).

(Didn't nake me start using screen savers, though.)

- Oystein -

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