FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Questions

• How to prevent playing a sound when cycling the wallpaper?
• Why is the wallpaper not cycling?
• Why is Wallpaper Cycler not starting when Windows starts?
• Why is the text of my desktop icons not correctly transparent (Windows XP)?
• How to open links on my desktop in a new window of Internet Explorer instead of reusing an existing window?
• Why isn't the Offline Help working?
• Why doesn't it cycle the wallpaper while a UAC window is displayed in Vista?

Answers

• How to prevent playing a sound when cycling the wallpaper?
  Go to "File > Document Settings > Cycling Sound" and disable the option "Play sound when cycling".
   
• Why is the wallpaper not cycling?
  This might have several causes:
  • Wallpaper Cycler is not in cycling mode. To do so, click on "Tools > Start Cycling"
  • CPU monitoring is enabled and you are running some background processes causing the CPU to be at full load (for example: a Seti@home client). Disable CPU monitoring with "File > Document Settings > CPU Monitoring".
  • It might be caused by some bug in Windows XP. Try to right-click the desktop and choose "Arrange Icons By...". In that sub-menu there is an item called "Lock Web Items on Desktop". Even if this is not checked, check it, then uncheck it and try to cycle again.
  • It can also be caused by a restriction in the Group Policy (gpedit.msc) set by your administrator. Contact your administrator and ask him to set "Active Desktop Wallpaper" and "Allow only bitmapped wallpaper" to "Not Configured" in the "User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Desktop > Active desktop" branch of the policy.
  • It might be caused by a registry setting.
    (NOTE: Only make changes to the registry if you know what you are doing as it might damage your Windows installation!)
    In the following registry keys:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop and/or
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop
    delete "NoChangingWallPaper" or change the value to 0.
    In the following registry keys:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
    delete "Wallpaper" and "WallpaperStyle".
     
• Why is Wallpaper Cycler not starting when Windows start?
  Check the Wallpaper Cycler settings as follows: go to "Tools > Program Settings > Startup". In the list on the right, make sure that the option "Auto-start Wallpaper Cycler at Windows logon" is checked. Also make sure that the option "Cycle once and exit at Windows logon" is not enabled because otherwise Wallpaper Cycler will launch and exit immediately at startup.
   
• Why is the text of my desktop icons not correctly transparent (Windows XP)?
  It might be caused by some bug in Windows. Try to right-click the desktop and choose "Arrange Icons By...". In that sub-menu there is an item called "Lock Web Items on Desktop". Make sure this is disabled.
  NOTE: Windows XP has built-in support for transparent icon text. You can enable this built-in transparency by following these steps:
  • Go to the Control Panel of Windows and open the "System" control panel.
  • Select the "Advanced" tab.
  • Click on the "Settings" button under the Performance heading.
  • Find the option "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop" and enable that option.
  • Click "OK" and "OK".
     
• How to open links on my desktop in a new window of Internet Explorer instead of reusing an existing window?
  When using URLs as Link Targets for layout objects and you use Internet Explorer and you want the links to open in a new window instead of reusing an existing IE window, in IE go to "Tools > Internet Options > Advanced" and disable "Reuse windows for launching shortcuts".
   
• Why isn't the Offline Help working?
  One of the reasons could be that the HTML Help control is not properly registered on your system. To force that control to register itself open a command prompt with Administrative privileges and type "regsvr32 hhctrl.ocx". After this, try the help again.
   
• Why doesn't it cycle the wallpaper while a UAC window is displayed in Vista?
  UAC or User Account Control is a new feature of Microsoft Windows Vista. When you want to do certain operations in Vista, the UAC will ask for permission to continue. Wallpaper Cycler cannot change the wallpaper during the time when one of these UAC windows is being shown. When this happen, you can hit "Refresh current wallpaper" in Wallpaper Cycler which will not rerender the wallpaper but simply refresh it to cause Windows to update the desktop. You can also assign a hotkey for "Refresh current wallpaper hotkey" to make this easier.