Advice and Troubleshooting

ADVICE FOR BEGINNERS AND TROUBLESHOOTING

DOWNLOADING
FALSE POSITIVES BY ANTI-VIRUS PROGRAMS
INSTALLING
DISPLAY PROBLEMS
UNINSTALLING

Holiday-Screensavers.com is a directory of free screensavers that have been submitted by freeware authors around the world. All screensavers have been tested and found to be free of viruses or adware/spyware.

DOWNLOADING

On our pages click on a screensaver's name to connect to the download page/file. In most cases the link leads to the author's download page, more rarely directly to the file. Before downloading please check if the author's page contains any special requirements for your Windows version or any special instructions concerning the installation of the file.
The file will be downloaded to your usual download folder. This folder has normally been selected by you in the browser settings.

Error messages
Sometimes a download link does not lead to a file download but you will see various error messages instead, like 'this page cannot be displayed', or 'cannot connect to server'. Most of these problems are of temporary nature due to server or connection problems. Please try again on subsequent days.

FALSE POSITIVES BY ANTI-VIRUS PROGRAMS

Some anti-virus programs (like Norton) treat any new files with suspicious. If it is not known by 'Norton community' (=Norton anti-virus users) it can get a yellow warning and it leaves you the choice to trust or not to trust the file. Practically all new files get that warning so you should be safe selecting 'trust'. Other anti-virus programs may do similar things.

INSTALLING THE FILES

Most screensavers these days have fully automatic installation. You only need to double-click on the downloaded file and follow the on-screen instructions.

If screensaver does not start automatically after installation, go to Control Panel -> Display Settings - (or simply click with right mouse button on the desktop and choose 'Properties') and choose Screensaver tab. Select your new screensaver's name in the drop-down list, check the settings (you can often change speed of a slideshow, or mute the music, etc).
If you are installing several screensavers just after each other, you might get error messages. Restarting Windows solves most problems.

ZIP-files
Some downloaded files are compressed zip-files and you might need an unzipping program if you have a very old Windows version. Windows XP/Vista and Windows 7 can open zipped files without problems by double-clicking on them. Then double-click on the screensaver setup file inside the zip folder to install it.

Windows default settings will not show you the file type. If you can't see the file extension, you need to go to file Tools ->Folder Options -> View and clear the box telling "hide extensions for known file types". SCR-files
If the downloaded file is of 'scr' type (rare), you need to move it manually to c:\windows unless author's instructions tell you otherwise (sometimes needs to go to c:\windows\system or c:\windows\system32). Vast majority of screensavers available at our site have fully automatic installation.

Installation problems
Sometimes during installation, you can get a message : "this file is corrupted - application cannot be installed" (or something similar). This means that something has gone wrong during the downloading. There is only one thing to do: download the file again. If after several downloads the file still doesn't work, it is evident that original file in the server has become corrupted. Fortunately this does happen very seldom. Notify us or the author of the screensaver about the problem.

DISPLAY PROBLEMS

Display problems are mostly caused by advanced 3D screensavers that require good quality graphics cards with plenty of video memory. Also it is essential that you are always using the very latest video drivers. Go regularly to Windows Update, scan for updates and you should see on the left side under 'Drivers' any possible drivers you might be missing. Alternatively you can go to the graphics card's manufacturer's site and look for latest drivers. If a 3D screensaver still does not work, it might be the time to upgrade your graphics card.

UNINSTALLING SCREENSAVERS

To uninstall a screensaver, go to 'Control Panel' -> 'Add/Remove programs' (Win9x,XP) or 'Programs and Features' (Vista, Windows7). Often you can uninstall a screensaver through 'Start' - > 'Programs' also.

DISCLAIMER:
Anything you download from the Net is always at your own risk. Please note that the listed screensavers are NOT produced by us but by hundreds of freeware authors around the world. Any complaints about individual screensavers should be addressed to the authors directly. Same applies to any screensavers downloaded from advertising banners and popups.