marian

Have you tried downloading PTE from Winsoft and reinstalling it again? What Windows are you using?

Is there a quick way to bring PTE to the school and a make a quick slide show (compile it) on the university computers? That will help to narrow down the problem.

The latest version of PTE is 3.8 Is your version of PTE the latest? And yes, was your XP download a service pack release? Sounds like the show was created under an old version and then you upgraded something. Give us details

It has been running great for 2 years?? I think you should recompile the program in Win XP to take advantage of the updated OS. Do you also have an older version of Pic2Exe? Something is "amiss" here.

cameraman, There are dozens of screen capture programs on the market. I'm sure that if you surfed the web for those exact terms, you find many that you can download for free. I use Paint Shop Pro which has a screen capture built within it. I start up PSP and activate (click on the icon) the screen capture program. I then minimize the screen, so I can run a Pix2Exe slide show. As each slide comes on the screen, I capture it by hitting my F11 key. (You set the key, you want) When an image is captured, PSP comes up and the captured image is on the screen. I merely save it to my hard drive. This is what "bugs" some people, that an image can be grabbed.

Is this a Pic2Exe related question(s)???

Steev What good will it do to encrypt a slideshow? I downloaded the Crypto-Lock by RTSoftware program as you mentioned and I installed it. I created a slideshow and encrypted it. All it does is to ask for a password. You have to give the password to your client, so they can view the slideshow! I was then able to screen capture the images anyway! What good does the encryption do for Pic2Exe?

jrb, Are you subscribed to any photo forums? There are a "ton" of them out there and you can post your photo questions there. Go to this link below and subscribe. The interesting part is that they have a category where you can see images BY CAMERA! http://www1.photosig.com My interest is in portraiture and a lot of people post pix, by camera and then I can "see" the quality that comes out of that particular camera. I am not digital yet (scanner) but since the prices will drop after the holiday season, they will become affordable. With the newer 10+ mgapxl cameras coming out, the others will drop in price. Marian

ljb, Wewlcome aboard! I think there's a bunch of us who do photography! If you use a computer, there are projectors that hook up to the laptop or computer desktop. Then you can project the proofs, if that is what you are thinking of doing. There's a lot of info on securing images on the cd, and maybe that's the way you want to go? As they say, "whatcha got in mind?" Marian

Have you tried builidng and compiling the show on the ME system? There's something going on with the compiling and it may be native to the system OS. Is it possible to build and run it on ME?

Need more details! What Windows? 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP, etc? Sounds like you are squashing memory somewhere! Is this a consistent error every time you run it? What else is open, etc?? Like Dr. Evil said in Austin Powers, "..need the info!"

Truelight, I made the test and here's the info. I started with an existing 300 DPI JPG file which I had on my hard drive. (A picture of my kids, I did last week.) Using Paint Shop Pro, I took the 300 DPI image and then saved it as a 10 DPI image. So for the math, for the other forum people, I had 2 identical picture files. To help identify them on the screen, using PSP, I wrote 10 dpi on one and 300 dpi on the other: 10 DPI 176 x 233 inches - 593k size (see the BIG size?) 300 DPI 5.8 x 7.7 inches - 593k size I then used Pix2Exe and made a slide show and compiled it. I ran it and saw the 2 images come up. They were identified by the 10 and 300 logo, imbedded in the picture. I open up PSP, set the screen capture and then ran Pix2Exe and captured both images. PSP captured the images at 96 DPI, respectively. I placed these 2 identical images side by side in Pagemaker and printed them out on my Epson 640 Color Printer. I used Kodak High Gloss Photo Paper and set it to Super Fine PHOTO Resolution Printing. WITHOUT using a photo loupe (those small glass magnifiers), I could VISUALLY see the difference in the side by side comparison. Edges on the 10 DPI picture, were "jaggy." The image appeared to be slightly out of focus. The detail was "not there," as far as a "photographic eye" is concerned. The 300 DPI picture was much clearer, lines were smoother, etc. There was no comparison, in my opinion! Could a "customer" live with it? Probably! As a photographer, I would NOT give a client a picture like that! So, a "savvy, cheap person" who wants to "steal" an image, probably could! But it would not be as sharp as a higher res scan. NO! Again, my comments from earlier. WaterMark it AND low res scan! You keep the HI RES scan in your computer when the customer orders a picture. If anyone else wants to make tests, please do. (The idea of a 200x150 sounds good, I'll play around with that!) Anyone else got more ideas, tests, etc? Let us know Thanks

you should have reveiced a registration file which was "added" to your computer. This file is the registration key and unlocks the program. Did you make a back up copy of it somewhere? If not, I believe you have mail Wnsoft again .

Casey, Correct again! But, I have to add again, the "normal" user will NOT do this! Hmm, let's see! I need to have a portrait sitting. My photographer uses P2XE to show me the "proofs." I think I'll surf the web for a decompiler, and then spend several weeks, trying to learn THAT program (which is shareware, "crippled" to a point) to extract an 8x10 which I like of myself! Nah! I'll look for Freeware! This one is no good, that one is useless, etc NOT!

Boxig, Beth started the thread and some of us"jumped in" to help. I'm sure that it has been asked many times on the old forum. (Any chances of getting those threads back, guys?) Everyone one of us has different software, different needs for Pic2Exe. I personally (me only) wouldn't give thumbnail images to my client. I like a larger view (i.e. computer screen). Sometimes, a client can't make it back, so the CD is mailed to that person. As with any photographic work, the issue of copyright, stolen images, always comes up in this day and age of scanning, etc. There are many photographic boards and the subject comes up all the time. It's interesting to see how FAR the photographer "pushed" the issue and what happened (if any) in court. (Who got awarded what, etc.) In this thread, we are just "throwing around" ideas/comments on how to "secure" the images (printed, scanned, screen capture, etc) As in any case, it's an "individual thing, with each one of us.

Bothell, I had the same scenario happen to me during a few months ago. I remember Guido and others offering their generous help! I had to wait and I finally got my key! The product is working great for my needs. "Be patient my young Jedi Knight!"

Lin & JRB, I agree with you both. Back in the 70's, I spent a year in Taiwan. I saw rampant copyright stuff going on. (What can you do?) In this situation, we are users of this product and ideas are being "thrown out" to prevent someone from grabbing "our" work! If someone wants to "actively" hack at the program to steal the image (one way or another) then, how are we to know? In the meantime, we do the best we can!

nobeefstu Correct! But make 2 copies of the orginal images for yourself. The original scan at whatever resolution you need for YOUR output. Then make another very low res scan for Pix2Exe. The customer can try to "play around" with a "stolen image", but in the end, it will not do them any good! They can do all the "manipulating" that they can try, but it will do them no good at all! They need to go to YOU for the original order!

Harold! Sure can! BUT , you will HANG YOUR MACHINE while Photoshop or some other program is trying!! Try it yourself and try to "upscale" the 7 DPI image from that website. (I had to reboot my machine!) Program stopped responding! We are refering to the the "normal end user" who probably will NOT go through all the trouble to "extract" an image!

Lin & Casey! I agree with all the comments, BUT what person (World super hacker?) is going to reverse engineer/dissamble Pix2Exe to "get at" some images? I use mine for photography purposes. (Portraits, families, weddings,etc.) Who is willing to "reverse engineering/hack" at a slide show file to grab "an 8x10?" What's that person's time worth? It's just a heck of a lot easier if they came to you and spent the money to purchase one! While I'm at it, what do you (I do photography) use PX2Exe for, that makes one "worry" about stealing images?

Truelight, Go back to that SCANTIPS link (see above) and look at the actual print sizes of those 3 images: For quick reference, from the site: @ 7 dpi, prints a 58 x 46 inch picture @ 72 dpi, prints a 5.7 x 4.5 inch picture @ 720 dpi, prints a 0.57 x 0.45 inch picture The low dpi scan will create a very huge picture size. How can you print out a 58x46 inch picture on a desktop printer? (It prints BLOCKY and only a portion of it.) The low dpi scan WILL "hinder" someone in trying to print one of the images, after he makes a screen capture. Again, a watermark will frustrate the user from trying to edit the image to some reasonable degree. Each one of us, will have to decide at "what degree" a watermark/transparent gif is "effective" on a picture. It would be tough for Igor to "code in" a buffer blocker when there are several dozen programs on the market to do screen captures. He's only charging $29 for the program and I (my opinion) think it's great for the low price. No one thinks your "experiment has a flaw!" We are all in the "same boat" and are trying to figure a "workaround" for 2 things. Screen capture and printing the image out. I, as a photographer am concerned with both. I believe the methods mentioned above will suffice. If there's other ways to do this, then I hope that other members can help. We "all" would like to do this without buying additional software and/or use what we have available in the computer now. Thanks for your time! Marian

Truelight, Unless, you didn't see the post up top, a screen capture program CAN "grab" the images from the slideshow! There's 2 methods to "frustrate" a user from PRINTING them or getting a "GOOD" screen capture. 1. PUT A WATER MARK ON THE IMAGE (ACROSS IT.) 2. SCAN THE IMAGE IN AT VERY LOW DPI TO PREVENT PRINTING! Forget about ENCYPTION software! That's another DIFFERENT issue! Marian

As an added comment to my post, I tried printing out a 7 DPI image. ( I knew what would happen!) The image was BLOCKY, BLOCKY, BLOCKY! Only a small portion of it printed out, as it was a 56 inch file. (Try it yourself, if you want to "see" the results!) This method, will secure your images on the slideshow slide and prevent it from being printed out! If you are worried about the "screen capture" portion, then simply watermark the image, with YOUR LOGO and now you can sleep safely! Have a good holiday all! Marian

Casey, As nobeefstu mentions, don't "give away the store!" See the thread on Copying photos from PtoExe . (There are 2 threads running the same "questions.") Can we combine this into one thread, somehow? Thanks! Marian

Beth, It would take a while to type & explain the process. Please go to http://graphicssoft.about.com/library/uc/ucjwoods.htm which shows it exactly, step by step! (It's a downloadable Adobe PDF file.) You can use this and/or scanning the image in at 7 DPI (or something similar) and put it in PToExe, to "secure" your images. A lot of us "wish" that PToExe can prevent copying images, but let's help "ourselves" by doing that "extra step" and not relying on Wnsoft to "fix" the problem! I believe that this is not an issue (my opinion) that they need to look into. They have a GREAT product for $29. How can you go wrong? Have a great holiday!