AVISaver v2.0
04-01-2001
Copyright (C) 1998 - 2001 Tim Sorrells
All Rights Reserved

What is AVISaver?
-----------------

AVISaver is a screen saver for Windows 9x/NT/2000.  It plays your movie files
when it's running.  It uses the Multimedia Control Interface(MCI) to play
movies.  Supported movie formats are AVI and MPG.  Note: If you don't
have any videos, go get some!

Starting with this version, AVISaver is "EMAILware."  This means if you use AVISaver, you
have to send me an email telling me what you think about it.  When you send me the email
tell me something you'd like to see in AVISaver or something you didn't like.  If there's
a legitimate reason that you can't send me an email message, like you don't have an email 
account or internet access or something, then for you personally I'll grant a freeware 
license.

What is MCI?
------------

You don't need to know anything about MCI to use AVISaver however if you do you can help
yourself out.  AVISaver can play any movie file which has an associated MCI driver.  As of
this writing only AVI and MPG format movies have drivers and these are supplied by Microsoft.
The Quicktime MOV format used to have an MCI driver supplied by Apple, however they no longer 
support MCI for the Windows OS.  If you have any information about obtaining new MCI drivers, 
please contact me at the address listed at the bottom of this document.

Files
-----

This program should have come with 2 files:
avisaver.scr
readme.txt

Installation
------------

Copy the "avisaver.scr" file into your
"\windows\system" directory.  This is usually on your C drive (in which case it would be
"c:\windows\system"), but your installation may differ.  Next, select AVISaver as your current 
screensaver.  Go to display properties->screen saver to do this.  Next you'll need to configure
AVISaver.

Configuration
-------------

Right-click on your desktop.  Go to display properties->screen saver->Settings...
-or-
Right-click on avisaver.scr in explorer, select configure from the 
pop-up menu

Settings
--------

Playlist file - You need to type the name of your playlist in the 
appropriate edit box with full path.  Or use Edit Playlist... to set it up.

Mute Sound - Check this box to mute the sound during video playback.  
Uncheck this box to play sound normally.

Randomize - Check this box to have the tracks played back in random order.

Loop - Check this box to have AVISaver constantly loop during playback.

Hard Drive Saver - This can be turned on or off using this checkbox.
This option limits the movies that will be played in a session.
Currently, the interval is not customizable: movies are chosen every time AVISaver starts.

Movies per Interval - When Hard Drive Saver mode is enabled, AVISaver 
randomly picks the number of movies you have specified from your 
playlist and only plays those movies.  The idea is that this prevents
your hard drive from always being active while you're away.  A good 
rule of thumb for this value is pick the number of movies that can fit
into your computer's memory at one time.  The default value of 2 is
designed with ~30MB movies played on a computer with 64MB RAM.

Playlist Editor
---------------
The Playlist Editor is where you set up your playlists.  Playlists have
a .pl extension by default.  Here is the a description of the interface
to the playlist editor.

Done - Press this to exit the Playlist Editor.

Add File... - Allows you to add one or more files to the playlist.

Remove Selected File - Removes any highlighted files from the playlist.  To highlight a file, 
                       simply click on it.

Save Playlist... - Allows you to save the displayed playlist so that you can use it in AVISaver.

Load Playlist... - Loads a previously saved playlist and allows you to edit it.

Uninstallation
--------------

There is no uninstallation program as of now.  However, uninstallation
isn't too hard.  Simply delete the avisaver.scr and avisaver.txt files
from your "\Windows\system" directory.  Also delete any playlists you may have created.  
WARNING: before altering your registry, always back it up.  To delete 
the registry entries, run regedit, goto 
HKEY_CURRENT_USER->Software->Orgy Software, Inc. and delete that 
registry key.

Known Bugs
----------

None at the moment.

Version Information
-------------------

v2.0
Seeing as how I received a bug report which had to do with someone running a previous version
of AVISaver under WinNT (which it wasn't compatible with at the time) I decided to raise the
version number and redistribute it to all the shareware sites.
The playlist editor now prompts you if you haven't saved the current playlist and you try
to leave or load a new playlist.
The playlist editor has lost the Set as Current Playlist button as I felt that function
could be handled automatically.  Whenever you leave the Playlist Editor by pressing Done
the playlist displayed will be the current playlist.
Added a requirement for registering through email and associated nag messages.

v1.0a
In Windows 2000, AVISaver's title was showing up as "MFC Screensaver."

v1.0
Added Hard Drive Saver

v0.9
Release version

Contact Information
-------------------

Send any correspondence to "orgy@ou.edu" using the following email titles:
Any bugs not listed above, use "AVISaver - bug report" as the title.
If you'd like to register AVISaver or have any suggestions, improvements, or other comments 
use "AVISaver - comment" as the title.