GBnew

Hi folks, Well, the plot continues ... maybe ad infinitum. Re the last two posts: 1. Nobeefstu ... I have been using Norton Internet Security as my Firewall / Antivirus software and it has never ever caused a problem in over 8 years on my pc, probably because I don't interfere with its settings. I don't feel inclined to spend what will probably turn out to be many hours/days trying all possibilities there. 2. Colin ... the strangely named temp folder appears to be used by PTE literally as that (i.e. a temporary folder). The actual .pte and .exe files that I use are indeed saved in my own project folders within My Documents. After much thought, I've decided not to pursue this anymore for the time being as I just haven't got the time to try all the possible combinations of events that might cause this. If PTE continues to crash too often, then I will just uninstall it and use another product, and accept that I've spent about £50 buying PTE unnecessarily. I also have VideoStudio installed and have been using it for many years without problems, so I'll probably just go back to that as it creates acceptable videos and slide shows with many special effects, pans & zooms, transitions, titles and music/voice tracks (although the end result is not as high quality as PTE, but I can live with that). Thanks for all your time and suggestions. Regards, Geoff

Hi Peter and Dave, To answer your questions: Peter ... I hear the click after the exe file is created initially, but not in the second case (before it freezes). As a matter of interest, I tried to run the exe file that it produced in the second case, but it didn't work - proving that PTE did not create the exe file successfully. Dave ... I've tried creating the .pte and .exe files in another folder to which I had copied all the required images for the slides (My Documents\PTE) and it makes no difference - it still crashes.

Hi nobeefstu, Sequence of events that led to PTE freezing: 1. Launch PTE 2. Add some slides to create a short slideshow 3. Save to the Desktop as Project1.pte 4. Create executable file for PC: - click the "Create" menu item; - click "Executable File for PC"; - set filename as Project1.exe, then click "Save" (to the Desktop). 5. Close down PTE ***(These first steps work ok for a new slideshow file) 6. Launch PTE again (noting that the Project1.pte file opens automatically as it's the last file worked on) 7. Add some more slides to modify the slideshow 8. Save to the Desktop as Project1.pte - (click "Yes" when asked if want to replace existing Project1.pte file) 9. Create executable file for PC: - click the "Create" menu item; - click "Executable File for PC"; - set filename as Project1.exe, then click "Save" (to the Desktop again) - (click "Yes" when asked if want to replace existing Project1.exe file). ***After a few seconds, PTE freezes with the error message I originally posted to this forum, so have to kill PTE through Windows Task Manager. Hope someone can replicate it, otherwise I'll just have to grin and bear it! Regards, Geoff

Dave, I think we're going off at a bit of a tangent here (probably my fault for not explaining it very well). The point is, even if you select a font size, the slideshow/video editing software (at least all the ones that I've ever seen or used) will still put the text in a text box (whilst automatically sizing the box to fit the text size). So there is no issue with viewing it on higher resolution screens - it will still be the same size relative to the other objects (i.e. they will all look smaller in the same proportion), because the text is actually an object itself. Perhaps using MS/Word was a bad example - have a look at Powerpoint instead, where you insert text via text boxes which are automatically resized if you choose a larger font size. It's exactly the same principle as other slideshow software uses to insert text. There's obviously nothing to stop you dragging the text box handles to change the text size yourself, but I would just find it easier and more intuitive to be able to select a font size to ensure that all slides have the same size text (rather than copying and pasting text boxes from one slide to another). Geoff

Hi DaveG, Not quite sure what you mean by the font size relative to other objects. Once you've chosen a suitable font size, that's it - it stays the same relative to the size of the overall slide frame. So, if you viewed it at 200% magnification, the text size would double as would the size of the other objects in the frame. This is exactly what happens when you increase the zoom in, say, MS/Word - the text displays bigger on the screen the more you zoom in (i.e. the displayed text size for a given font size always stays the same relative to the size of the document that contains it, irrespective of zoom or resolution). Geoff

Hi Guys. Looks a bit more unpredictable than I first thought. The folder name with the long string of numbers and letters in Local Settings\Temp is created as soon as PTE is launched. It opens a new folder each time. I have repeated the sequence of events that causes the problem, and now ... sometimes it crashes and sometimes it doesn't, irrespective of whether I delete the above-mentioned temporary folders beforehand. The plot thickens! Maybe as you say it's something to do with my setup. So, thanks anyway, Regards, Geoff

Whenever I try to create an executable file (for PC), it only works if I use a new file name to save it as. If the filename already exists and I choose to overwrite it, then PTE 6.5.2 freezes with an error message (see attached file to see message). I then have to kill PTE in Windows Task Manager. I am using Windows/XP SP3. Is this a known problem and, if so, is there a fix? I know I can choose a different filename each time, but it should be able to overwrite an existing file. Geoff

Thanks for you comments. I know you can adjust the text size by dragging the box handles, and also that you can copy and paste text objects from other slides, which gives a lot of flexibility. But I was just trying to make the point that it would be more intuitive to also have a text font size drop-down list when adding or editing text objects, so that it is more in line with apps like Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Corel VideoStudio and other video/slideshow programmes. Then, whenever you want to add text to new slide, you wouldn't have to go back to an earlier one where you had text, to copy and paste it, if you wanted the same font size. Regards, Geoff

Please can you arrange for the user to be able to select a font size when adding text to a slide (like every other word processing and text editing software does). This would make it a lot easier to ensure that text on different slides is all the same font size. Also, it would be nice to be able to edit text directly on the slide (by clicking inside the text frame) instead of having to go to the separate box to enter or edit text. Thank you.