• Unfamiliarity with the product options - Read the on-line help for configuration options, etc. You may wish to Print the documentation from the available PDFs, or purchase the user's guide.
• Default Opening Options - Constantly changing settings and closing The Magnifier during run-time may lead to undesired settings when launched. Use Alt-Z to toggle full screen / windowed operation. Use Alt-D to return to defaults (in windowed mode). Use a second running Magnifier for different uses to eliminate this problem (up to 7 Magnifiers may be run at the same time).
• Track Cursor - if this option is turned on, you will find you cannot move the cursor over the Magnifier Window! In order to turn this option off, you must click on the small Magnifier icon in the tray (on task bar, near clock), or hold the mouse cursor in the extreme bottom-right of the screen for several seconds.

Original ID: IC401308

1. If you are automatically prompted to run setup.exe, then go ahead and select run.
   Otherwise go into windows explorer and find setup.exe from the cd and run it.
2. Windows will ask you if you want to allow the file. Select Allow.
• Once the program starts, select “Install Software”
• Select all the default options to install the software.

***If the install fails, then open the cd folder from windows explorer.***

• Right click on the setup.exe file and select properties
• Go to the compatibility tab
• Select the check box that says “run this program in compatibility mode for:” in the drop-down menu select “Windows XP (Service Pack 2)”
• Then say ok
• Now execute the setup file, “setup.exe” and continue from step #2.
3. Once the window opens up with a list of icons, right click on The Magnifier icon
• Go to properties
• Go to the compatibility tab
• Select the check box that says “run this program in compatibility mode for:” In the drop-down menu select “Windows XP (Service Pack 2)”
• Then say ok


• If asked if you want to allow this program to run, select Allow.

For more information about Windows Vista Click Here.

One option, developed with help from a customer, are the Cursor Lines (Alt-N). These can be turned on (or toggled) in The Magnifier which help locate the mouse pointer. You can set the size, color, and optionally animate them to find the mouse cursor. These can be toggled on or off with the Alt-N keyboard shortcut.

You can use Alt-C to toggle the display of the cursor in the magnified window (There are some differences in appearance available between Vista and 2000/XP ).

You can refer to more details on the cursor options here

Also, if you go into Control Panel | Mouse properties, and look at the Pointers tab, there are various schemes available - several are larger.

There are some limitations on what is possible due to the approach used by The Magnifier software, but hopefully one of the above options will address your requirements.

In Windows Vista, The Magnifier's capabilities rely on the video driver itself (and settings in Windows). I believe what you are describing is the screen smoothing Windows uses on LCD type monitors (ClearType). To change this setting in Windows (not a setting in The Magnifier), you can do the following: Right-Click on the Desktop | Select Personalize | Click on Window Color and Appearance | At bottom, click on "Open classic appearance properties for more color options" | Click on Effects button | Clear the checkbox "Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts" - you may also select Standard, or ClearType, to view the differences on your display. I believe if you clear this option, the text will be sharp and clear when magnified. Depending on how large your magnification setting is, the other settings may be acceptable. You should reload applications after changing this setting.

This is a function of the video display update. (NOTE: It is possible that this is enabled in the Mouse properties Control Panel applet, but then you would see mouse trails always)) One option is to use Alt-C to disable the magnified cursor displayed in The Magnifier window, but I don't think that will affect what you are describing. Another option may be to reduce the magnification, or use the windowed mode (not full screen). You can go into Windows Control Panel | Display Properties | Settings and try different resolutions or color depths (e.g. 16-bit color vs. 24-bit color, etc.) and you may find a setting that minimizes this result. Alternatively, you can buy a more powerful video adapter with more memory that can make video updates invisible to the human eye. On older systems, or systems with stock video cards, the video display may not be able to perform at a satisfactory level, especially when operating a video-intensive application like The Magnifier. As a software program, we have no real control over the physical hardware you have - it can only perform as well as the operating system and hardware allow it to. If you see the mouse cursor leaving cursor images arbitrarily (or just not leaving a clean display), then you are seeing video artifacts, which means your video is not updating at a speed that matches the performance of higher-end video adapters, which may be required to provide a more enjoyable result while using The Magnifier.

On different versions of Windows, and different applications, the default settings of The Magnifier may result in a conflict between the magnification following the mouse cursor, and the magnification following the text caret. By default, The Magnifier has keyboard input tracking On, specifically "Track Text Caret", and "Track Dialogs & Keyboard" in the Advanced Menu - see here for additional details.

What can happen is that the software you are running is creating an event that acts like you are typing (even though you probably aren't), and The Magnifier focuses on the position of the text caret (some field or text entry area). Since you aren't really typing, these actions can be annoying or frustrating. Also, this may only happen occasionally, or only in certain applications, or at certain screens.

The solution is to disable one or both of these settings in The Magnifier, so this automatic tracking doesn't affect the screen location that is being magnified. Simply go into the Menu, then Advanced Menu, and select "Track Text Caret" to disable it. If you still have difficulty, disable the "Track Dialogs & Keyboard" option. In The Magnifier 1.50 Release 3, the new Alt-J keyboard shortcut can toggle these 2 settings on or off - so if you cursor jumps when you don't want it to, use Alt-J to toggle these settings off, or if you want it to Jump to the text insertion point, toggle back on with Alt-J.

On most newer applications, these events are better managed, so some users may never experience this type of problem. Also, it may only occur sporadically, due to different situations in an application or program. Note that it may be possible to click on some other area or section of the application you are using, so the keyboard focus is not on a control that has a text caret. Finally, if you use The Magnifier more for reading, rather than typing, you may wish to keep these settings off.

Download The Magnifier Toolbar as MAGCTRL.EXE (2/24/2009) (788KB) (MD5: BCFC47297E1B9BA71783DC37BF1BECA9)
This is a toolbar that provides a taskbar icon, images or text, and a fixed or sizable toolbar that controls the following basic functions on The Magnifier:

• Toggle Show and Hide The Magnifier
• Toggle Full Screen and windowed mode
• Switch between 2x and 3x Magnification
• Increase Magnification
• Decrease Magnification
• Close Toolbar and The Magnifier

This is a utility that can be run directly (or from the Windows StartUp group), and it will automatically run The Magnifier. This places a visible icon on the taskbar, and provides a sizable toolbar that can be minimized when not needed. For situations where users may access a public computer, and not be familiar with The Magnifier software, this provides an easy to use, understandable way to control basic functions of The Magnifier.

Settings are saved automatically per user when closed. When launched, it will also run The Magnifier. There is a separate System Menu option to close the Toolbar (without closing The Magnifier). Users can also select between a fixed size / graphical icon toolbar, Float above other windows (Topmost setting), or a sizable / text based toolbar from the System Menu.

This will be included in The Magnifier 1.50 Release 3. It is included here for current users and those that are running earlier releases and need or desire this functionality.

Certain games and video display (depending on the system, video adapter, etc.) may display directly to your screen, bypassing the magnification support in The Magnifier. Since the screen is a single resource, any program or approach that display directly to the screen will not work with the application The Magnifier.

• Use The Magnifier in full screen mode and view a windowed video magnified
• Use Alt-S to show/hide The Magnifier when viewing full screen video
• Refer to options in the video playback software or plug in to explore other approaches

This could be related to settings, the actual application you are using, or the new hot-key Alt-J added in the 1.50 Release 4. First, make sure you are running the most current release - From The Magnifier Menu | Help | About, it should indicate Version 1.50, Release 4. Then try a built in windows app like WordPad, and try using Alt-J to toggle the text caret tracking - When on, the magnification focus will follow the text caret, and when Off, it will stick only to the mouse cursor. This should work with WordPad (unless there are other settings or configuration issues in Windows 7). Once this works, then you can try your other applications and make sure everything functions with the text caret tracking. You can find the actual settings in the Advanced menu here: Advanced Menu "Track Text Caret" / "Track Dialogs & Keyboard" should be on for tracking focus / text caret. Note that there is a trade-off, in that if the mouse cursor moves a certain amount, it will override and cancel the text/keyboard focus tracking, so the mouse should be idle when using these modes.

The application support depends on how well it integrates with Window's "Active Accessibility". Not every application that can run in Windows will work with the text cursor (caret) tracking. If it works OK in Notepad, WordPad, MS Office, but not in other apps, this is a limitation in those apps, not The Magnifier. You can contact the software publisher to see if there are other options, or if there is support for "Active Accessibility" (which is what it is called by Microsoft). There are some notes in the manual that mentions this: http://www.imgpresents.com/magnify/guide/html/fullscreenadvanced.html under Track Dialogs & Keyboard. You can toggle this feature using Alt-J to see if a set/reset may help (or make sure the feature is on before starting the application). However, this is a specific support for a feature in Windows that not all applications provide. Unfortunately, there is nothing The Magnifier can do to resolve this lack of Windows support in some other publisher's software.

The Magnifier relies heavily on the video sub-system, and underlying capabilities of the Windows Operating System. The Magnifier has been shipping since 1997, is on countless thousands of systems, and it is highly unlikely problems such as these are related to The Magnifier software. This is one of the reasons we always recommend that interested parties download and work with the software before committing to the purchase. If the particular system you want to use does not perform properly with The Magnifier running, there is little we can do to fix a hardware or hardware driver issue. The following information may be helpful to you in resolving the issue, or may explain in sufficient detail why you are experiencing an issue with our software that is, in fact, not an issue with The Magnifier software - it is only a symptom, not the cause.

The following outlines the steps you should address to make sure your system is up-to-date, and give it the best chance to run The Magnifier (and potentially remove any problem you are experiencing).

1. Make sure you have the best video driver for your system
2. Run at a lower color depth (16-bit color is sufficient)
3. Make sure Windows is up-to-date
4. Reduce (or eliminate) other software running that may sap system performance

1. The reality of video drivers (the untold story) A modern day computer system is an amazing piece of technology - the industry is constantly moving forward providing more features, faster operation, and additional capabilities. Some people may be old enough to remember monochrome screens, and the video capabilities of the hardware (and the supporting software that connects a particular manufacturers video adapter card to the operating system) are in constant flux. One real issue with new features on a video card is that the software guys can't develop/integrate new features until they actually have a physical piece of hardware to work with. So what comes first? The hardware. (Important point #1 - the hardware is available before the optimally tuned supporting software (I.e. hardware driver software) is available). Now look at a manufacturing plant making video cards/adapters. When it comes time to make the new one, do they also continue to make the older ones? No - there typically is not enough capacity, so when the new cards start being manufactured, the old ones have reached the end of their life. Therefore, when the older adapter inventory runs out, the only thing left are the new ones. So now move on down the road to the computer manufacturer, who gets the video adapters, and builds them into their new computer systems. When the video factory stops delivering old ones, and starts delivering new ones, they don't stop what they are doing, they keep building computers, and they keep delivering computers. So what happens all too often is new video hardware is matched with older video driver software. In many cases, new improvements are a superset of the existing capabilities, so the older software may work just fine - just maybe not as fast, etc. But this may very well describe the computer you are using - a newer video adapter with an older video driver. (Important point #2 - many systems (yes, even brand new systems) are not using the best/optimal video driver software) Since it works for many situations, you may think everything is fine. So when you run The Magnifier, which relies heavily on the underlying video system (hardware AND software), and may push things to the limit in terms of speed and memory usage, problems may result only when running The Magnifier. The solution is to update your video driver (or at least verify it is the correct match for your video hardware). (Important point #3 - brand new systems are at a great disadvantage to have the manufacturers correct video driver software - due to the inability to test/debug/verify operation on a specific set of hardware as quickly as that hardware ships. Also, since the vast majority of users do not realize this (plus it is not in the best interest of the manufacturers to let on that you aren't getting the best system possible), along with the fact that optimized software lags shipping hardware, it is often the case that the video driver sofware is NOT the best match for the actual video hardware.) Therefore, if you experience any problem in your system with software, it is always a good idea to verify you are using the most up-to-date video driver for your system.
   You can update the driver in various ways
   1) Use Control Panel | Display | Settings | Advanced | Adapter | Driver | Properties | Update Driver… (or something similar based on your version of Windows)
   2) Check with your computer manufacturer's website, and follow any instructions or review any available downloads
   3) Identify the actual manufacturer of the video adapter (either through Windows or from your computer manufacturer), and then go direct to the video adapter manufacturer's website for further information. It is difficult to know if option 2 or 3 is better (much depends on the computer manufacturer and their level of customer support), but typically option 3 is recommended.
2. Resolutions and Memory usage The larger the color depth (i.e. 16-bit or 24-bit or 32-bit), the more memory it takes to fill the display. Also, due to the 2 dimensions of height/width, each increase in color depth geometrically expands the amount of video memory required. Once you get to 16-bit color, the average person cannot distinguish color differences in sufficient detail for it to matter. So on systems where video memory is limited (i.e. most systems), selecting a lower color depth may make all the difference. You can go into Windows Control Panel | Display | Settings and try different resolutions or color depths (e.g. 16-bit color vs. 24-bit color, etc.) and you may find a setting that improves performance, or eliminates any problem you are experiencing. For virtualized systems, checking video settings, 2D or 3D acceleration, or adding memory to the Virtual Machine (VM) settings may help with video performance. Note for VMs you now may need to optimize the host hardware/supporting system AND the VM system for best results. On desktop systems, you can buy a more powerful video adapter with more memory that can make video updates invisible to the human eye. On older systems, laptops, or systems with stock video cards, the video display may not be able to perform at a satisfactory level, especially when operating a video-intensive application like The Magnifier. As a software program, we have no real control over the physical hardware you have - it can only perform as well as the operating system and hardware allow it to.
3. Windows and Updates Windows continually gets updated, and when things finally work correctly, they rewrite everything again, so people keep buying Windows. This approach works great for certain things, but what it means in reality is that there may be issues that have nothing to do with The Magnifier, and only by getting the latest & greatest version (with bug fixes and fixed problems), can you be sure that you have the best system for running The Magnifier trouble-free. There are different settings available for Windows Updates, and you can refer to Control Panel for the specifics available for your version of Windows.
4. Other programs and system resources The Magnifier constantly refreshes the magnified image, and this constant updating means it uses system resources unlike other types of programs. Because of this, if you already have limited resources, or are running many programs all at once, system resources may be in high-demand. Often this is not the case, but if you are experiencing slow downs or problems, it may be helpful to review the Task Manager (right-click on a blank area of the Task Bar, and select Task Manager... to open the Task manager, and review the tabs available to see programs running, what is using CPU time/system memory/resources. This may be helpful to you (or a system administrator) to identify what is using resources in the system. If possible, close or make sure other programs aren't automatically run, to make more resources available to The Magnifier.

The Magnifier will work with all standard windows applications. Certain games and programs that use DirectX, or are full screen programs, will not. We always strongly recommend that you download a demo of the software and try it to make sure it will meet your needs. The demo will run for about an hour, up to 100 times.
Original ID: QU253148

The "Save Position" saves the current layout of the Magnifier window. Right-click on the magnifier window, then select Save Position. If you close the Magnifier, then re-open, it will be at the last "Saved" position / size.
Original ID: QU253461

The Magnifier window is sizable - simply click & drag one of the borders to resize the window. Note that if you get more than 1/4 of the screen, it starts to take away the usable screen real-estate.
Original ID: QU253995

The easiest way to do this is to copy the shortcut into the Start Up Group. You can open the Start Menu | Programs | The Magnifier, and then right-click on the Magnifier icon & select copy. Now, use the Start Menu to get to Programs, and right-click on Start Up - select Open All Users (to have it start for all users on the machine), and right-click on a blank area & select Paste to paste the magnifier icon. Now when the machine restarts, it will run the Start Up programs, and start The Magnifier.

The top row of keys was specifically chosen because of the Alt-1 thru Alt-9 instant magnification settings, which are on the top row of the keyboard. The Magnifier is specifically is looking for those physical keys on the top row, not the simply the characters - / +. It comes down to what The Magnifier is looking for - it is not looking at characters, it is looking at the VK_OEM_PLUS & VK_OEM_MINUS keys (Virtual Keys as handled by a normal keyboard which is handled internally by Windows). In other words, the supported keys are the top row keys, not any + or - keys.

You can use Alt-M to open the custom magnification dialog, and select your desired magnification, or use the keys supported by The Magnifier.

The whole issue of hot-keys raises many issues, including compatibility with other software (i.e. conflicts when different programs use the same hot-key combination), user customization, etc., etc. The Magnifier uses hot-keys in a straightforward manner - these are the hot keys, you have 3 options (Alt, Alt-Shift, or Ctrl-Shift), and that is it. There are multiple ways to control the magnification, as outlined above, and through the menu.

Notes:

• Depending on product, release version, OS version, and specific technical issue, some tech items are very specific, and some may span to other products/versions
• Downloadable files can also be accessed by anonymous FTP at ftp://downloads.imgpresents.com
• Older files are moved into a separate archive location - see notes/details/new location in *.archived.txt text file

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