bwat

I had this problem and took the matter up with Norton. Their reply and solution is as below. (NB this proceedure refers to Norton 360 Anti Virus and may be different with other versions). Norton reply:- "I understand that the SONAR in your Norton program is stating that the Audio Visual Presentation exe files which was created by you are unsafe and deleting the files when tried to run them. We are really sorry for the inconvenience caused to you and sure I will help you in providing the details. This issue occurs if the Norton program recognizes or suspects the file behavior as suspicious and will quarantine since it is unable to decide whether it is good or bad even though it is good software. Please accept our sincere apologies. This is due to False Positives in Norton. False Positives occurs when your Norton product incorrectly alerts that a file is infected, or a program or Web site is suspicious. You can get more information and can submit your software in whitelist of known good software maintained by Symantec from the link below: http://us.norton.com/support/kb/web_view.jsp?wv_type=public_web&ssfromlink=true&sprt_cid=e900dad8-6fc3-4707-ae03-66edf9fdaae0&seg=hho&ct=us&lg=en&docurl=20100222230832EN NOTE: If clicking the link doesn’t open, please copy and paste it in the web browser and tap enter. To resolve this issue, I request you to add the Audio Visual Presentation exe file to the scan exclusion list. For your convenience, I have added few simple steps to add the file to the Scan Exclusion list below. Please proceed with the steps and try to resolve the issue. Scan Exclusion List for 360 4.0 1. Open the Norton 360. 2. Click Settings > Antivirus. 3. Click Scans and Risks tab. 4. Under Exclusion/Low Risks, click Configure [+] next to Scan Exclusions. 5. Under Scan Exclusions, click Add. 6. Browse and select the disk drive or folder or file you would like to exclude and click OK. If you want to include subfolders within the folder, check Include Subfolders. 7. Under Real Time Protection Exclusions, click Add. 8. Browse and select the disk drive or folder or file you would like to exclude and click OK. If you want to include subfolders within the folder, check Include Subfolders. 9. In the Scan Exclusions window, click Apply > OK. 10. In the Settings window, click Apply > Close. Once you follow the steps provided, the file will not be removed by the Norton program anymore and you can run it in your computer. If you require additional assistance or still have some concerns, please contact us and we will be happy to assist you." End of Norton reply Hope this helps. Regards bwat

Thanks to you all for your comments. I think most showings of my PTE shows are different to most. Largely my Grandchildren (aged 4, 8 and 10 years)think it a treat to be allowed to have the projector set up in their 'home cinema' and select which shows they want to watch themselves. I set things up to start with a main menu and leave them to select 5 themed sub menus which give access to all my shows, they operating the shows through the remote wireless mouse. They get many hours of enjoyment from this particularly because they can watch any show they chose rather than an adult operating the system. Hence my need to have all shows accessible rather than producing an individual menu for a particular 'public' event such as at my camera club. To the have facility in PTE to operate shows from any version through a common menu without having to rebuild after every upgrade would be a real bonus and hope this can be available in the future. One point in the various comments reffered to PTE taking control of the graphics card. My operating system is Windows 7 which uses, I believe, a combination of the dedicated graphics memory and allocates additional virtual graphics memory when needed. My graphics card is 512k but total graphics capability of my computer is in excess to 1.5GB. Does PTE also take control of this or is it restricted to only operating with the lower 512k memory limit. Regards bwat

There appears (to me anyway) a major flaw in PTE when using menu buttons to lauch my slideshows. Every new version (4.48, 5.6. 6.0 and now 6.5) does not allow a show created in an earlier version to be launched using the 'run slideshow' command but gives a message 'version mismatch - use run application instead'. When upgrading to v6.0 I had to re-create some 80 shows to allow menus to work, a very time consuming task. The 'run slideshow' was introduced to eliminate 'desktop' flash back when lauching a show whilst 'run application' causes the desktop to appear before the show runs. To have to revert to this to use v6.5 I find unacceptable and it is not practical to re-create every show previously produced whenever PTE ungrades are issued. Surely it is not beyond reason to expect any new PTE upgrade to operate retropective shows from previous versions of the program as it the case with most software. PTE is a first class program but this inherent flaw in its design means I shall have to stick with using v6.0. Regards bwat

Have just upgraded (7 weeks ago) to a new Dell Inspiron laptop running Windows 7 64bit Home Premium and simply plugged my 4 LaCie USB drives in and they all worked perfectly. Drives connected to a 4 port hub with single connection to computer. Previous computer was running Vista 32bit. Had no problem with installing software either, all run ok even MS Publisher 2000 (yes 2000) taken from my old Office 2000 disc and Quickbooks 2005. PTE also giving no problems (v6.0). bwat

I am not going to comment on the experts 'infighting' but I thought the photography was first class and the AV presentation excellent. The images were so striking that I did not notice the length of the show but just ran it again to enjoy the sequence. With such a good selection of images 9 minutes just disappeared. I appreciate that the 'sterotype' show should be 4-6 minutes but as with all photography you can break the 'rules' and excell. Thanks for sharing your show. Barry

Thanks Peter Have copied/pasted my menus into a single file and edited the main menu buttons to go to the respective sub menu slide. Similarly return to main menu and exit buttons. All works well. However with transition set at 'fade' I experienced flash to previous sub menu before selected menu showed (eg: if menu slide 3 selected from button on slide 1 and subsequent return to main menu slide 1, when then clicking on button for menu slide 5 slide 3 appears briefly before slide 5 appears). Switching off transitions eliminates this problem. Also I have had to keep 'hardware acceleration' off until I recreate all slideshows in v6.0 format but the above flash back also occurred with it switched on. Thanks again for your help and tips. Barry

Peter Thanks for your reply. I use the menus to access all my slideshows (good and bad) and there are to many to show in a single screen, hence I need to break them down under main categories and have a sub menu for each catergory. Frequently there is a need to change to other menu by going back to the main menu and selecting an alternative. Manual control to next slide would not work for me. I had not used 'run slideshow and return' before but have rebuilt my menus in v6.0 using this so only one menu is running at a time, automatically reloading the main menu on exit from any sub menu. This appears to have solved the problem (although I am still testing). At present I have had to retain 'run application' on the sub menus for my shows because of the 'PTE Show ExeFile Version Mismatch' warning but will recreate all shows in v6.0 so that 'run slideshow and return' will work eliminating any need for multiple PTE windows being open. Windows 7, for me, seems a more 'user friendly' than Vista and certainly superior and faster than Xp although all applications appear similar in use. Whether W7 contains a different graphics engine (or whatever) that has caused this glitch I do not know. Thanks again for your interest and help (similarly to all Forum Contributers). It is nice to know you are not alone when you have a problem with PTE as you are with most Windows applications. Thanks Barry

Thanks for you offer to review my PTE setup. PTE v5.64 used to create menus (although some shows created in earlier versions) I attach 3 zip files. 'Start v01' is just a black slide to cover the screen (to prevent flash back to the Windows Desktop) and has a button to open my Main Menu. This 'Start' window normally remains open throughout a slide show. 'Main Menu v04' is opened as above and again stays open throughout. 'Travel v04' is a typical sub menu which is opened via the main menu button (Travel/Holidays button). Again this menu normally remains open. The three menus normally reside on top of each other in the order opened (ie start-Main-travel). When any slideshow finishes and closes the sub menu then is reshown, closing sub menu then shows main menu, etc. This arrangement previously worked OK in Vista but in Windows 7 intermittently the new Window opens behind the initial active window. Barry start v01_Dec2-2009_6-29-01.zipMain Menu v04_Dec2-2009_6-30-09.zipMenu - Travel v04_Dec2-2009_6-31-02.zip

Thanks for you offer to review my PTE setup. PTE v5.64 used to create menus (although some shows created in earlier versions) I attach 3 zip files. 'Start v01' is just a black slide to cover the screen (to prevent flash back to the Windows Desktop) and has a button to open my Main Menu. This 'Start' window normally remains open throughout a slide show. 'Main Menu v04' is opened as above and again stays open throughout. 'Travel v04' is a typical sub menu which is opened via the main menu button (Travel/Holidays button). Again this menu normally remains open. The three menus normally reside on top of each other in the order opened (ie start-Main-travel). When any slideshow finishes and closes the sub menu then is reshown, closing sub menu then shows main menu, etc. This arrangement previously worked OK in Vista but in Windows 7 intermittently the new Window opens behind the initial active window. Barry

I have upgraded to Windows 7 and now find when running slideshows they are opening and running behind the Menu window used to select the show. The Menus and shows were created in v5.64 but a similar situation exists with Menus updated in v6.0. I normally build the menus with hardware acceleration off, keeping the Menu running with the show opening in front of the Menu so when the show ends and closes the Menu reapears on screen. How can I ensure the shows open infront of the Menu. Barry

Lin Have answered my own query. Having viewed your 3D transform tutorial the was able to see the new v6 Beta tabs and this explained all. Great Tutorial (as always)on the 3D Transform, looking forward to full release of v6 when you experts have sorted it out. Thanks again, the input from you 'Experts' is appreciated by us 'PTE mortals' bwat

Lin Am I being 'thick' or is this a feature of v6 Beta. I cannot find an 'enable border' checkbox. I have 'main image', edge antialiasing', 'blur', 'anti shimmering' and 'low quality resizing' boxes only under the 'Properties Tab' with the image highlighted in the 'objects' box. I am using v5.6.3 Regards bwat

I don't want to fall out with you experts but to remove a valuable tool (in my and my Camera Club's case an essential tool) in future upgrades of a product just because it is infrequently used and tell Users to they need to employ an earlier version of the product to be ludicrous. It's like Adobe taking the crop tool out of CS5 and saying you need to obtain Elements 2 to carry out that task. If future upgrades of PTE are to limit their use to, which I suggest, many present and future Users then the appeal for upgrading becomes diminished to the 'ordinary' worker. I'am all for improvement to an already fantastic product but surely the 'basics' and existing tools need to also be retained so that all tasks in producing our AV presentations can be done with the the 'latest' version, now and in the future. bwat

I only turn off hardware acceleration when building menus using buttons to start shows. Whilst it would be possible to close the menu when a show runs and re-start it with 'run slideshow' command at the end this would only be possible if ALL slideshows were built with this facility and everybody building a show knows the filename/path of the menu being being run. This is OK if you have full control and have built all shows yourself but this is not always the case. At our Camera Club we have frequent AV evenings where members can show their work (irrespective of quality, experience or standard) so they can see their work projected. These shows are opened on the night by a 'purpose built' menu prepared for the particular evening with the evening organiser having received shows from the respective members via disc, memory stick or Email. These shows are built using numerous systems, from simple 'freeware' programmes, ProShop Gold, MS bundled software such as their moviemaker, etc, etc,not always PTE. We cannot dictate (only encourage) the use of PTE. As a result for our shows it is necessary to keep the menu resident on the computer throughout the evening and run each show 'on top' of the menu. In fact we use two open 'menus', a black slide with a small button to open the main menu and the main menu itself, both running below any slide show so as not to give any 'flasback' to the windows desktop on exiting a show. At times the menu buttons have to be programmed to run Windows Media Player if a member has their show built on a DVD for TV use in lieu of exe format. If hardware accelleration is on for the menus then the slideshows do not run smoothly, hardware accelleration off, no problem. To remove the facility in PTE to disable hardware acceleration would prevent us building menus for the Club evenings using any future PTE version and consider it essential that it is retained. Regards bwat PS (If I'm doing anything wrong and anybody can suggest a 'workaround' for this please let me know).

I do not rate myself as an experienced user of PTE but from making my first PTE show anticipated future inrease/improvement of projectors so have always used images of a higher resolution than 1028x768. My early digital camera was a compact using 4x3 format so I resized all images to 1600x1200 (easy maths for 4x3 conversion) since purchasing a digital SLR with 3x2 format have resized to 1500x1000 (again easy maths). The images have always been saved at maximum JPG compression (100% on my simple editor I use for resizing batch files and I belive 12 in Photoshop). The images are generaly 700-1000KB each and in a 10 minute show using 130-150 images with 20% or so using PZR and other animation give a PTE exe file in the order of 120-130MB. I have put 4 such shows (equivalent to 40 minute show with 500-600 images) on a single DVD with animated menus and the ISO image file is only 1.7GB. With the future outlook of even higher resolution projectors (and monitors/TV's) I will be increasing the base image size of all images from now on. Regards bwat