FAQ:

I purchased the screensaver but never received an activation code by email.
What do I do?

What is the software code and where do I find it?


If you have ordered software and would like to review your order information,
or if you have questions about ordering, payment,
or shipping procedures, please go visit the Customer Care Center.


The Snowfall3D Screensaver seems to run slowly.
What can I do to speed it up?

 The screensaver doesn't start. What is the problem?

When I run the setup program I keep getting some kind of system update message...

The password protection pop-up window doesn't pop up and the screensaver
seems to freeze. What do I do?

After the screensaver quits, my cursor disappears and doesn't come back
for 5 seconds or so.

Q: The Snowfall3D Screensaver seems to run slowly.
What can I do to speed it up?
A: The Snowfall3D screensaver requires a computer that runs at
least at 300mhz and that has 64 megs of ram. There are some
settings that reduce the heavy load on your computer.
These are:
1) Reduce the complexity of the snowflakes by sliding the
complexity slider towards the left.
2) Reduce the quantity of snowflakes. Slide the quantity sliders
for both large snowflakes and background snow towards the left.
3) Turn transparency off for the large snowflakes by sliding the
transparency slider towards the right.
4) Turn the picture option off.
5) Reduce the resolution settings to a smaller resolution like
640x480.

Q: The Autumnleaves3D Screensaver seems to run slowly.
What can I do to speed it up?
A: The Autumnleaves3D screensaver requires a computer that runs at
least at 300mhz and that has 64 megs of ram.
Also required is a minimum 16meg DirectX compatible video card.
There are some settings that reduce the heavy load on your computer.
These are:
1) Reduce the quantity of leaves by adjusting the sliders in the settings panel.
Each leaf takes up a fair bit of memory.
2) Change the screen resolution to a lower setting eg:640x480
Less video memory is used this way.

Q: The screensaver doesn't start. What is the problem?
A: You need to have DirectX8.1 and newer installed on your computer.
You can check what version of directX is on your machine by
running the dxdiag program that is installed with directX.
(search your computer's hard drive for dxdiag)
Using Dxdiag, check to see that Direct3D is enabled.
Sometimes, after installing DirectX or a new video driver,
Direct3D needs to be re-enabled.
Autumnleaves3D and Snowfall3D both require a graphics adapter or
video card that has 3D acceleration, 16 megs of video RAM
and DirectX compatibility.
Most graphics cards nowadays do.
If DirectX isn't the problem, then it may be that your computer
needs to run the screensaver at different resolutions
and reduced settings. (see above)

Q: When I run the setup program I keep getting this message...
"Setup cannot continue because some system files are out of date on your system.
Click OK if you would like setup to update these files for you now.
You will need to restart Windows before you can run setup again.
Click cancel to exit setup without updating system files."

A: This is a problem that sometimes occurs with software setup programs
created by visual basic. There are about 8 different reasons for why this can
happen. Rather than go through all the possible reasons, it would probably be
easier to just follow the next three steps.

1.Download and copy VB6STKIT.DLL to your windows/system folder (or to the
winnt/system32 folder if you have windowsNT or Windows2000).
Here is the file:
vbstkit.dll
2.Download and run VBRun60sp5.exe. This will install the visual basic 6 runtimes.
Here's the file:
Visual Basic 6 Runtime Files
3.Download and run the special setup versions of Autumnleaves3D or Snowfall3D.
(these versions do not contain the setup instructions that cause
the troublesome system setup update messages)
Here are the special versions:
Snowfall3D Special Version
Autumnleaves3D Special Version

If you still have problems running the setup, here's Microsoft's
recommendations and explanation of the error message:
Microsoft Error Specifics

We apologize for any inconvenience this causes you. As soon as there is
another way to prevent this from happening and keeping
program installations as simple as possible, we will implement the
changes right away.

The password protection pop-up window doesn't pop up and the screensaver
seems to freeze. What do I do?
If the screensaver seems to have frozen, pressing the escape
key will probably resume the animation. The pop-up window is there but it's
behind the screensaver...pressing the escape key will cancel it.
Press the Escape key a number of times, and the pop-up window
will appear. It just takes a few tries. We're working on fixing this.

Q: After the screensaver quits, my cursor disappears and doesn't come
back for 5 seconds or so.
A: This can happen when you have animated mouse pointers installed.
Reset your mouse pointer to the default pointer set and
you'll find the screensaver stops and you'll have your mouse pointer back
immediately. You can change your mouse pointer
cursors from the control panel. Select the mouse options
and then look for the pointers options.

Q: I purchased the screensaver but never received an activation code.
Where do I find the software code?
A: Don't panic! Your screensaver has a unique
software code that Arctic Owl Software needs in order to generate a
activation code for you. While filling out the payment form, you may
have entered it incorrectly, or possibly not at all.
You are a paying customer and we want to get your activation code to you
as quickly as possible. You simply need to send us the software code by email.
The software code can be found in your screensaver's settings window.
Open the settings window and click the "About Button".
The "About Window" pops up and it shows the software code at the
bottom of the window.
(Please note: below this is where you enter your activation code.)
Email the software code and your name to support@arcticowlsoftware.com
and they'll get your activation code to you as quickly as possible.

More Info:
1) To get the software codes, open your display settings from your control panel.
2) Select Autumnleaves3D from the Screen Saver list.
3) Click on the Settings button. That will open the following settings window.
If you have the Snowfall3D Screensaver follow the same procedure.


Click the about button indicated in the picture. That will open the "About" window.
The About button for the Snowfall3D Screensaver is at the bottom of the settings window.
Here's what the About Windowlooks like...


The software code is what you need to send to us so we can generate
your activation code.
Below the software code is where you enter the activation code we send you.
The procedure for retrieving the software code from the Snowfall3D Screensaver
is pretty much the same as it is for Autumnleaves3D Screensaver.