Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

I have 2 questions. First, I have some wallpaper from one of my sons games on  
my comp. The memory that these take up is huge 2.5m each, Does this have any  
affect on my available ram when they are activated as wallpaper, and can I  
use Ifranview to possibly reduce the memory size. Secondly, I am curious if I  
can create a user that has disabled 3D video card drivers that will not  
affect the other user profiles.The reason for this is I am playing Fallout2  
and it crashes sometimes, I have all the updates/patches downloaded, And I  
read that disabling the 3D drivers is a good fix. I don't want to have to  
disabble then enable just to play 1 game. I tried to create the second user  
with them disabled but it affected the other user also and I had to enable  
them again. Can this be done. Thank you for any help.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Yes, shrink the wallpaper to about 500kb or even less and in Display  
use the Stretch feature.  The rest of your post I'll leave to the "3D  
experts".
--  
XP-WNP
Today is the first day of the
rest of your life.
 
 
"Forddieselguy" wrote:
 
> I have 2 questions. First, I have some wallpaper from one of my sons games on  
> my comp. The memory that these take up is huge 2.5m each, Does this have any  
> affect on my available ram when they are activated as wallpaper, and can I  
> use Ifranview to possibly reduce the memory size. Secondly, I am curious if I  
> can create a user that has disabled 3D video card drivers that will not  
> affect the other user profiles.The reason for this is I am playing Fallout2  
> and it crashes sometimes, I have all the updates/patches downloaded, And I  
> read that disabling the 3D drivers is a good fix. I don't want to have to  
> disabble then enable just to play 1 game. I tried to create the second user  
> with them disabled but it affected the other user also and I had to enable  
> them again. Can this be done. Thank you for any help.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

There is a difference between memory and storage space.
We use the same terms , Kilobytes, Megabytes, Gigabytes, etc, but these are  
only measurements.
 
A picture does not take up "memory" while it is stored on the hard drive.
 
However, to display this image as a desktop will take up some system  
resources.
 
A previous poster suggested to shrink the file to 500k and then use the  
stretch function.
 
This advice is nonsense.
 
First see what format the picture is in.
My guess, they are either JPG or BMP files.
If they are BMP files you should convert these to JPG using Paint, or any  
picture editing software you have that can save in that format. This will  
radically reduce the size of the file.
 
If they are jpg files already, then I would recommend that you have your son  
do any resizing that needs to be done, because once an image becomes a JPG  
it will usually look horrible if you try to do anything to other than make  
it smaller or crop it.
 
This is specifically why the other post was nonsense. When you resize,  
resize it down to the resolution that you want. If you go by file size you  
could make the file a lower resolution than the desktop, thus you would need  
to stretch it and make it look horrible.
 
In the grand scheme of things however, there is very little difference in  
the system resources used by a 2.5 mb background and a 500 k background  
image since the file is rendered from its source it is not the actual file  
that is residing in memory.
 
If you are worried about the space they are taking up on the hard drive all  
I can say is that 2.5 MB is a tiny fraction of most current hard drives, but  
if you are pressed for storage space then you have options, such offloading  
to another media. CDs hold 650 MBs and if you don't have a CD writer you can  
pick one up online for about $30. DVD writers can be found for about $40 and  
they hold several GB. Or you can just add a HD.
 
A nice alternative that can keep him from running riot is available if you  
have win XP Pro. Its the disk quotas feature. Basically you say that he can  
only use a cretain amount of storage and no more, and then its up to him to  
manage his usage, not you.
 
You can reads up on it here:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=183322
 
 
**************************************
Now your question about the disabling 3D for one user profile.
 
Short answer- Can't be done
 
Video card settings are system level configurations, not user level. This  
includes video card features, resolution settings, color depth, refresh  
rate, etc etc.
 
Technically it can be possible be done with a log in script, depending on  
the video card. But that's not a simple solution.
 
--  
Manny Borges
MCSE NT4-2003 (+ Security)
MCT, Certified Cheese Master
 
The pen is mightier than the sword, and considerably easier to write with.
-- Marty Feldman
"Forddieselguy" <Forddieselguy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message  
newsC415B32-9FBA-4A83-BBDA-6E592C2C5A02@microsoft.com...
>I have 2 questions. First, I have some wallpaper from one of my sons games  
>on
> my comp. The memory that these take up is huge 2.5m each, Does this have  
> any
> affect on my available ram when they are activated as wallpaper, and can I
> use Ifranview to possibly reduce the memory size. Secondly, I am curious  
> if I
> can create a user that has disabled 3D video card drivers that will not
> affect the other user profiles.The reason for this is I am playing  
> Fallout2
> and it crashes sometimes, I have all the updates/patches downloaded, And I
> read that disabling the 3D drivers is a good fix. I don't want to have to
> disabble then enable just to play 1 game. I tried to create the second  
> user
> with them disabled but it affected the other user also and I had to enable
> them again. Can this be done. Thank you for any help.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

"Manny Borges" wrote:
 
> There is a difference between memory and storage space.
> We use the same terms , Kilobytes, Megabytes, Gigabytes, etc, but these are  
> only measurements.
>  
> A picture does not take up "memory" while it is stored on the hard drive.
>  
> However, to display this image as a desktop will take up some system  
> resources.
>  
> A previous poster suggested to shrink the file to 500k and then use the  
> stretch function.
>  
> This advice is nonsense.
>  
> First see what format the picture is in.
> My guess, they are either JPG or BMP files.
> If they are BMP files you should convert these to JPG using Paint, or any  
> picture editing software you have that can save in that format. This will  
> radically reduce the size of the file.
>  
> If they are jpg files already, then I would recommend that you have your son  
> do any resizing that needs to be done, because once an image becomes a JPG  
> it will usually look horrible if you try to do anything to other than make  
> it smaller or crop it.
>  
> This is specifically why the other post was nonsense. When you resize,  
> resize it down to the resolution that you want. If you go by file size you  
> could make the file a lower resolution than the desktop, thus you would need  
> to stretch it and make it look horrible.
>  
> In the grand scheme of things however, there is very little difference in  
> the system resources used by a 2.5 mb background and a 500 k background  
> image since the file is rendered from its source it is not the actual file  
> that is residing in memory.
>  
> If you are worried about the space they are taking up on the hard drive all  
> I can say is that 2.5 MB is a tiny fraction of most current hard drives, but  
> if you are pressed for storage space then you have options, such offloading  
> to another media. CDs hold 650 MBs and if you don't have a CD writer you can  
> pick one up online for about $30. DVD writers can be found for about $40 and  
> they hold several GB. Or you can just add a HD.
>  
> A nice alternative that can keep him from running riot is available if you  
> have win XP Pro. Its the disk quotas feature. Basically you say that he can  
> only use a cretain amount of storage and no more, and then its up to him to  
> manage his usage, not you.
>  
> You can reads up on it here:
> http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=183322
>  
>  
> **************************************
> Now your question about the disabling 3D for one user profile.
>  
> Short answer- Can't be done
>  
> Video card settings are system level configurations, not user level. This  
> includes video card features, resolution settings, color depth, refresh  
> rate, etc etc.
>  
> Technically it can be possible be done with a log in script, depending on  
> the video card. But that's not a simple solution.
>  
> --  
> Manny Borges
> MCSE NT4-2003 (+ Security)
> MCT, Certified Cheese Master
>  
> The pen is mightier than the sword, and considerably easier to write with.
> -- Marty Feldman
> "Forddieselguy" <Forddieselguy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message  
> newsC415B32-9FBA-4A83-BBDA-6E592C2C5A02@microsoft.com...
> >I have 2 questions. First, I have some wallpaper from one of my sons games  
> >on
> > my comp. The memory that these take up is huge 2.5m each, Does this have  
> > any
> > affect on my available ram when they are activated as wallpaper, and can I
> > use Ifranview to possibly reduce the memory size. Secondly, I am curious  
> > if I
> > can create a user that has disabled 3D video card drivers that will not
> > affect the other user profiles.The reason for this is I am playing  
> > Fallout2
> > and it crashes sometimes, I have all the updates/patches downloaded, And I
> > read that disabling the 3D drivers is a good fix. I don't want to have to
> > disabble then enable just to play 1 game. I tried to create the second  
> > user
> > with them disabled but it affected the other user also and I had to enable
> > them again. Can this be done. Thank you for any help.  
>  
> I am not worried about hard drive space, it's only at 50% capacity right now. My worry is does the wallpaper use any RAM when it's applied. I converted then to JPEG and cut down the byte's considerably. My concern is I am trying to cut down on system resources because I have a game crash issue. Thanks for answer to video card question, I guess I will have to use the long way around that one.
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Manny Borges <manny_borges@hotmail.com> wrote on Tue, 30 Aug 2005:
 
>First see what format the picture is in.
>My guess, they are either JPG or BMP files.
>If they are BMP files you should convert these to JPG using Paint, or any
>picture editing software you have that can save in that format. This will
>radically reduce the size of the file.
 
Yes, but when you select a .jpg as wallpaper Windows will convert it to  
a .bmp again: search for Wallpaper1.bmp (usually in C:\Documents and  
Settings\Username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft) and see the  
entry for Wallpaper in the Registry at:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. My .jpg of 63kb has become a  
..bmp of 1,407kb :-)
 
As for the driver question, I'm wondering, could it be done within a  
hardware profile? (Device Manager > Help > Device Manager > Concepts >  
Hardware Profiles Overview.)
 
--  
Nightowl

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Thanks for the info. Currently I found a game patch and it hasn't crashed  
yet, but will keep this in mind for further problems.
 
"Nightowl" wrote:
 
> Manny Borges <manny_borges@hotmail.com> wrote on Tue, 30 Aug 2005:
>  
> >First see what format the picture is in.
> >My guess, they are either JPG or BMP files.
> >If they are BMP files you should convert these to JPG using Paint, or any
> >picture editing software you have that can save in that format. This will
> >radically reduce the size of the file.
>  
> Yes, but when you select a .jpg as wallpaper Windows will convert it to  
> a .bmp again: search for Wallpaper1.bmp (usually in C:\Documents and  
> Settings\Username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft) and see the  
> entry for Wallpaper in the Registry at:
> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. My .jpg of 63kb has become a  
> ..bmp of 1,407kb :-)
>  
> As for the driver question, I'm wondering, could it be done within a  
> hardware profile? (Device Manager > Help > Device Manager > Concepts >  
> Hardware Profiles Overview.)
>  
> --  
> Nightowl
>