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  Prolific Publishing, Inc. :: Screen Savers :: Marine Aquarium 3.2 for Mac OS X

All sales are final. Please download and try our software products before you purchase them.

  Marine Aquarium 3.2 for Mac OS X
Frequently Asked Questions

Marine Aquarium 3.2 for Mac OS X
Top Questions
1. Will I receive a CD with my online order?
2. Will the Marine Aquarium run on Intel Macs and OSX 10.6 Leopard?
3. I lost my Keycode OR I made my purchase but have not received my keycode.
4. How do I upgrade to the newest version of Marine Aquarium?
5. The Marine Aquarium is slow or freezes.
6. I get a notification that Marine Aquarium will not work with OS 10.6 Snow Leopard
7. Will you be updating older versions of Marine Aquarium to work with a newer OS?


Before You Buy
1. Is your website secure?
2. Basic Information - PLEASE READ
3. Is Marine Aquarium a screen saver?
4. Will I receive a CD with my online order?
5. Does Marine Aquarium 3 include spyware or viruses?
6. What are the Marine Aquarium (Macintosh) system requirements?
7. Will the Marine Aquarium run on Intel Macs and OSX 10.6 Leopard?
8. Will Marine Aquarium 3 run on Apple Macintosh OS 9 (or earlier versions)?
9. Will Marine Aquarium run on widescreen/multiple monitors?
10. Can I use Marine Aquarium as my active desktop?
11. Where can I talk to real people who have used this product?
12. Will Marine Aquarium run on Windows and will my Macintosh keycode work?

Accounts & Keycodes
1. Keycode Retrieval
2. I lost my Keycode OR I made my purchase but have not received my keycode.
3. How do I access or modify my Account.
4. I enter my keycode but the OK button does not activate.
5. I have an old keycode/CD and it does not work with the new version of the Marine Aquarium.
6. How do I copy and paste my keycode?
7. How do I reestablish the Marine Aquarium preferences?
8. Lost or damaged CDs.

Installation
1. General Installation Information
2. How do I test Marine Aquarium on my computer?
3. How do I install Marine Aquarium once I have purchased a keycode?
4. How do I upgrade to the newest version of Marine Aquarium?
5. I cannot get Marine Aquarium CD to install across a network.
6. How do I uninstall Marine Aquarium?
7. How do I reinstall Marine Aquarium?

Operation
1. How do I get to the Marine Aquarium settings menu?
2. Marine Aquarium hot keys.
3. Marine Aquarium Settings tab.
4. Marine Aquairum Fish tab.
5. Marine Aquairum Clock (and Logo) tab.

Troubleshooting
1. Basic Information - Please Read
2. The Aquarium works perfectly on my friend's computer, but not mine. Why?
3. The Marine Aquarium is slow or freezes.
4. Marine Aquarium does not show up in my Screensaver list.
5. The Marine Aquarium does not fill my whole monitor screen.
6. Marine Aquarium runs fine in application mode, but slow as a screen saver.
7. I set Marine Aquarium as a screen saver, but it does not come on when it should.
8. I get a notification that Marine Aquarium will not work with OS 10.6 Snow Leopard
9. Marine Aquarium only displays on one monitor when I run it as an application.
10. I'm, having problems getting the keycode to work.

Screen Savers & Burn-in
1. What is burn-in?
2. Screen savers
3. How can I prevent burn-in?
4. How do I fix burn-in?

Miscellaneous
1. What are the types of fish that come with the Aquarium?
2. How do I register my SereneScreen Product?
3. Can I make my own Fish for the Marine Aquarium?
4. Will you be updating older versions of Marine Aquarium to work with a newer OS?
5. Where can I get information on new releases/features.



Before You Buy

1. Is your website secure?

Yes.

In the interest of protecting your credit card and personal information, we do have several layers of security to ensure that our sites are secure as possible. For more information on our site security, please see our security statement.


2. Basic Information - PLEASE READ

Before purchasing the SereneScreen Marine Aquarium 3 we strongly recommend you test the program to see if it works on your computer. You can do this by downloading the program and running the demo version as outlined HERE.


3. Is Marine Aquarium a screen saver?

Marine Aquarium is an aquarium simulation program. It can be assigned as a screen saver, but it was primarily designed to emulate the elegance and serenity of watching an aquarium.


4. Will I receive a CD with my online order?


No.

We do not ship CDs with online orders. You may purchase the CD at any CompUSA Store, Fry's Electronics Store (a West Coast electronics chain).

You can also purchase the CD online from Avanquest Software

For more details, you can contact our Sales Department via Email


5. Does Marine Aquarium 3 include spyware or viruses?


None what so ever.

We do not send out any product with spyware or support spamming in any manner. Just a clean download of our Screen Saver.

However, there are a companies and software pirates that grab popular online products and alter them to include invasive spyware and even viruses.

If this has happened to you, please let us know the address of the web site that sold your offered you our product. You can contact us by Email.

There is a free product called AdAware, that we ourselves use. This program gets rid of all sorts of spyware, etc. on your machine you might not know about. AdAware can be downloaded from: LavaSoft

Also, Microsoft has recently released their anti-spyware program. Information on it can be found HERE

Afterwards, if you are still interested in Marine Aquarium 3, please download it from our site where we guarantee a download free of any other annoying ads or programs.


6. What are the Marine Aquarium (Macintosh) system requirements?

To view your virtual aquarium effectively, your computer must have:

  • Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later.

  • Intel Pentium microprocessor 1GHz or faster. or Power PC processor 1.2 GHz or faster


  • 1 GB RAM

  • 6 MB hard disk space
  • 3D Accelerator video card with 64 MB VRAM.

  • CD-ROM drive.



7. Will the Marine Aquarium run on Intel Macs and OSX 10.6 Leopard?

Yes!

Marine Aquarium 3 is fully compatible with the Intel Mac and OS 10.6.


8. Will Marine Aquarium 3 run on Apple Macintosh OS 9 (or earlier versions)?

No.

The latest version of Marine Aquarium that will run on OS9 is 2.0, which is available HERE.


9. Will Marine Aquarium run on widescreen/multiple monitors?

Yes!

Marine Aquarium 3.0 supports widescreen AND multiple monitor displays.!



10. Can I use Marine Aquarium as my active desktop?

We have heard of customers doing this successfully. We cannot guarantee that it will work on your system, but a simple search for "Screensaver as Desktop for OSX" should turn up some possible solutions:



11. Where can I talk to real people who have used this product?

Check out the Fan Site, complete with wish lists and discussion forums. Inside: SereneScreen


12. Will Marine Aquarium run on Windows and will my Macintosh keycode work?

Yes to both!

Your Macintosh keycode can be used to unlock the Windows version. We understand that users often have more than one computer and a single license entitles our customers to use a single keycode for up to two computers. We are proud to offer a version of the SereneScreen Marine Aquarium for computers using Windows 3000, XP, Vista, or Windows 7. Click HERE for more information.


Accounts & Keycodes

1. Keycode Retrieval

  • If you lost your keycode or never received a keycode you purchased go HERE

  • If you don't recall the email you registered under or no longer have access to your old email account you will need to log into your account and modify your profile information as outlined in our FAQ HERE

  • If you have an older keycode and wish to upgrade please see our FAQ entry HERE

  • If you have an older keycode and are not interested in purchasing an upgrade, you can download the older versions of Marine Aquarium as outlined HERE



2. I lost my Keycode OR I made my purchase but have not received my keycode.

Please go HERE and sign into your account to retrieve your keycode.

If this procedure does not work, e-mail us the following information where applicable and we can retrieve your information from our customer database:

  • The full name you registered under.
  • The Order Number from your confirmation e-mail.
  • Both the first four AND last four numbers of the credit card you used.
  • Your email address at the time of purchase.
  • Your old Keycode. (If you are upgrading from an older code)
  • The store you purchased from.
  • The date of your purchase.



3. How do I access or modify my Account.

Go to our Homepage

On the right-hand side of the screen you will see a customer sign in box.

Please enter your account name and password in the appropriate text entry fields and hit enter or click Log In.

NOTE: If you have lost or do not remember your account name or password please e-mail us with the information outlined here.

After you sign in you will be redirected to your account page.

To manage your account simply locate the "Your Cart" box on the left side of the screen and select the aspect of your account you wish to access or modify.

  • View Cart - Lists any product purchase you have pending from our website.

  • Checkout - Takes you to the checkout page where you can finalize your pending purchases.

  • Modify Profile - Allows you to modify your personal information(including email), password, and mailing lists.

  • Delete profile - Deletes your account. Warning Deleting your profile will remove all reference to your account from our server, making it impossible to retrieve your product in the future.

  • Orders History - Allows you to view and search your product order history. You can retrieve your keycodes from here.



4. I enter my keycode but the OK button does not activate.

If your keycode continues to give you trouble, there are a couple of things that can cause this:

Please Note: If you are upgrading from a CD, you will need to make sure that the CD is in the drive during this procedure.

  1. Some characters in the keycode can be easily confused (i.e. capitol O and zero, capitol I and the number one, etc.). Try to copy and paste your keycode into the Marine Aquariums registration space to avoid any possible input errors. For detailed instructions on how to copy and paste your keycode, click HERE.

  2. You may be attempting to use your keycode in another one of our programs or an earlier version. Please make sure that the version you downloaded is the version you purchased. (i.e. - the Marine Aquarium 2.0 keycode will not work with the Marine Aquarium 2.6).

  3. The preference files related to the program may be corrupted. Try deleting and reestablishing the preference files. For detailed instructions on how to do this, click HERE.



5. I have an old keycode/CD and it does not work with the new version of the Marine Aquarium.

Keycodes and CDs will not work between the separate Marine Aquarium series (.99, 1.0, 2.0, 2.6, 3.0 etc.). In order to prevent piracy, we modify the keycode system for each new release of Marine Aquarium. If you wish to use a new version of Marine Aquarium, and you have an old keycode, you will have to acquire an upgraded keycode.

The only exception to this is v2.5 CD's which will unlock v2.6 download for free.

For more information on upgrading, please click HERE.

Lastly, keycodes that we find posted on the Internet are automatically deactivated in our database. You are urged to NEVER give out your keycode to anyone. If you do, they might post YOUR keycode to a website or forum. At that point we will be forced to disable the keycode. We ONLY disable keycodes that are posted to the Internet, or from customers that could not get the product to work on their computer. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES CAN WE "RE-ACTIVATE" A KEYCODE. We apologize for any inconvenience.


6. How do I copy and paste my keycode?

Please Note: If you are upgrading from a CD, you will need to make sure that the CD is in the drive during this procedure.

To copy and paste the keycode, do the following:

  1. Hold down the mouse button and pass the cursor over the keycode. This will highlight the code. Be sure not to grab any extra characters or leave any out.

  2. Press the Command Key (Open Apple) and the "C" key at the same time. This will COPY the keycode.

  3. Start Marine Aquarium.

  4. The first time you run Marine Aquarium the registration window will appear. Copy and paste your keycode into the registration space to avoid any possible input errors (Some characters can be easily mixed up i.e. the letter O and zero, capitol I and the number one, etc.) and press enter. The registration window may not appear if you have not quit (not just closed) the System Preferences application.

  5. Put the cursor in the registration window and click the mouse button once Press Command Key and "V" at the same time. This will PASTE the keycode. Be sure to eliminate any spaces before or after the code so you can have a clean paste.

  6. Press the Enter key. The program should start right up.



7. How do I reestablish the Marine Aquarium preferences?

You may need to remove and reestablish the Marine Aquarium preference files to solve certain problems.

For users of OS 10.4 Tiger and before please do the following:

  1. From the Finder, go to File and select "Find".

  2. Use the following information:
    Search in: Local disks

    Search for items whose NAME CONTAINS: com.prolific.ScreenSaver.Aquarium2.plist
  3. Click the Search button. Once you find the file, drag each one that you find into the Trash and empty it. Empty the trash by holding down the mouse button on the trash in the dock for a few seconds until the "Empty Trash" option pops up.

  4. Try to unlock the program again.

For users of OS 10.5 Leopard and later the procedure is somewhat changed:

  1. Double Click on your Harddrive.

  2. Double Click on the Library folder.

  3. Use the following information:
    Type “com.prolific.ScreenSaver.Aquarium2.plist” into the search text field.

    In the area below the search text field, Select the buttons “Library” and “Filename” (not “This Mac” and “Contents”).
  4. Drag each file that you find into the Trash and empty it. Empty the trash by holding down the mouse button on the trash in the dock for a few seconds until the "Empty Trash" menu pops up.

  5. Try to unlock the program again.



8. Lost or damaged CDs.

Unfortunately, since our CDs are manufactured by another company, we cannot replace lost or damaged CDs with another CD or a keycode. Please e-mail our Technical Support department for other possible solutions to this issue.


Installation

1. General Installation Information

  • To install the the latest version of MA3 please see our entries on installing the Demo and Full versions of the program.

  • If your program is having problems and you want to re-install follow the procedures we outline HERE



    2. How do I test Marine Aquarium on my computer?

    To properly install Marine Aquarium 3.0 for OSX and activate the demo mode, follow the instructions below:

    1. IMPORTANT: Before installing, be sure your anti-virus software is deactivated for the duration of the installation. Also, if your computer is a lower end machine, you may optionally wish to set its color resolution to "thousands of colors" to improve performance (See "Displays" under System Preferences, in the Apple Menu).

    2. Download the newest version of Marine Aquarium 3.0 from HERE.

    3. When the download is finished, you will have a new file on your desktop named MarineAquarium3.0.dmg. Double-click this file.

    4. When the file opens you will see the Marine Aquarium 3.saver file (Fish w/ screen effects icon) the Marine Aquarium 3 application file (Fish icon), text files for both a license agreement, a ReadME and a link to our site.

    5. Click and drag the Marine Aquarium 3 application file to the provided applications folder.

    6. Click and drag the Marine Aquarium 3.0.saver file (the screen effects icon) into the "Screen Savers" folder provided in the DMG.

    7. Go to the Apple Menu and select "System Preferences".

    8. Click on the "Desktop and Screen Savers" icon.

    9. Select "Marine Aquarium 3" from the list of screen savers.

    10. Marine Aquarium can now be run either from the application folder (you can drag it to your dock for easy access) or will come on as your screen saver.

    11. The first time you run Aquarium you will see the registration window. Type in the word TESTFISH and press Return. This will activate the demo mode.

    12. Do not forget to reactivate your anti-virus software when you are finished.

    13. Let the Marine Aquarium run for a little while to be sure everything is working properly. If you have any problems, please contact us by e-mail.



    3. How do I install Marine Aquarium once I have purchased a keycode?

    To properly install Marine Aquarium 3.0 for OSX, follow the instructions below:

    1. IMPORTANT: Before installing, be sure your anti-virus software is deactivated for the duration of the installation. Also, if your computer is a lower end machine, you may optionally wish to set its color resolution to "thousands of colors" to improve performance (See "Displays" under System Preferences, in the Apple Menu).

    2. Download the newest version of Marine Aquarium 3.0 from HERE.

    3. When the download is finished, you will have a new file on your desktop named MarineAquarium3.0.dmg. Double-click this file.

    4. When the file opens you will see the Marine Aquarium 3.saver file (Fish w/ screen effects icon) the Marine Aquarium 3 application file (Fish icon), text files for both a license agreement, a ReadME and a link to our site.

    5. Click and drag the Marine Aquarium 3 application file to the provided applications folder.

    6. Click and drag the Marine Aquarium 3.0.saver file (the screen effects icon) into the "Screen Savers" folder provided in the DMG.

    7. If you are upgrading using a CD Upgrade code, place your Marine Aquarium CD in the computer now. If you are not upgrading with a CD please skip this step.

    8. Go to the Apple Menu and select "System Preferences".

    9. Click on the "Desktop and Screen Savers" icon.

    10. Select "Marine Aquarium 3" from the list of screen savers.

    11. Marine Aquarium can now be run either from the application folder (you can drag it to your dock for easy access) or will come on as your screen saver.

    12. The first time you select Marine Aquarium, you will see the registration window. Copy and paste your keycode into the registration space to avoid any possible input errors (Some characters can be easily mixed up i.e. the letter O and zero, capitol I and the number one, etc.) and click the OK button.

    13. Do not forget to reactivate your anti-virus software when you are finished.

    14. Let the Marine Aquarium run for a little while to be sure everything is working properly. If you have any problems, please contact us by e-mail.



    4. How do I upgrade to the newest version of Marine Aquarium?

    To upgrade from an older version of Marine Aquarium to Marine Aquarium 3.0, please see our website HERE.

    Please note that there are separate instructions for CD and download customers.

    Thank you for your continued interest!


    5. I cannot get Marine Aquarium CD to install across a network.


    To use the CD version of the program, the computer you are installing to needs to have a CD-ROM drive. (See the System Requirements HERE) When Marine Aquarium is first run the program looks for the CD to register the program. Using a network CD-ROM will not work for this purpose, but a portable CD-ROM drive will suffice.


    6. How do I uninstall Marine Aquarium?

    Uninstalling Marine Aquarium is as simple as dragging the Marine Aquarium 3.0.saver file and Marine Aquarium 3.0 application into the trash. If you would like a more thorough uninstall procedure, carefully follow the instructions below:

    1. From the Finder, go to File and select "Find"

    2. Search in "Local disks" and type "com.prolific" into the text field of (not the quotes, just what is inside them).

    3. Click the Search button.

    4. Drag each file that you find into the Trash and empty it. Empty the trash by holding down the mouse button on the trash in the dock for a few seconds until the "Empty Trash" menu pops up.

    5. Close the Search Results window.

    6. From the Finder, go to File and select "Find" again.

    7. Search in "Local disks" and type "Marine Aquarium" into the text field of (not the quotes, just what is inside them).

    8. Click the Search button.

    9. Drag each file you find into the trash and empty it.

    10. This will clean your system of any Marine Aquarium data.



    7. How do I reinstall Marine Aquarium?

    To do a FULL reinstall of Marine Aquarium, first use the long uninstall process as outlined here:

    Marine Aquarium Uninstall
    Then install as outlined here:

    Marine Aquarium Install


    Operation

    1. How do I get to the Marine Aquarium settings menu?

    You can bring up the Marine Aquarium settings menu in one of two ways:

    1. Press the spacebar on your keyboard while the Marine Aquarium is running.

    2. Or, from the System Preferences/Desktop & Screen Savers menu, click the OPTIONS button.

    Once you have the settings menu up you can pick fish and change the program options. For more information on the different settings menu tabs see the following sections:
    Settings tab - Settings
    - Basic setting for the Aquarium.
    Fish - Pick your favorite fish.

    Crystal - Choose clock faces and change settings for each. Import logo.

    Sound - Choose iTunes playlists and turn the Bubble sounds on or off.

    Help - A listing of Keyboard Commands



    2. Marine Aquarium hot keys.

    A copy of this list can be found under the Help tab in the settings menu.

    Cmd-Q - Exit
    ? - Help
    B - Bubble sound mute/unmute
    F - Full screen/window mode
    M - iTunes mute/unmute.
    N - Next iTunes track
    P - Previous iTunes track.
    R - Restore Settings
    S - Show frame rate
    space - Settings
    space space - Change the random fish

    NOTE Some key controls are specific to the screen saver or application version of Marine Aquarium.


    3. Marine Aquarium Settings tab.

    All of the options below are found in the Marine Aquarium settings menu under the Settings tab. To bring up the settings menu, press the spacebar on your keyboard while Marine Aquarium is running.



    Tank
    Bubble Column - Turns the bubble column on/off.

    Auto Pan - Turns the panning function on/off.

    Panning slider bar - Controls the speed of the auto panning.

    Frame rate

    • Show FPS - Shows the frame rate and display resolution in the tank.

  • Limit frame rate (fps) - Limits the frame rate or animation speed to what you set on the slider bar below.

  • Frame rate slider bar - Allows you to set the frame rate or animation speed.

  • <

    Application

    Exit full screen on mouse move - Toggles whether the program exits with mouse input.



    4. Marine Aquairum Fish tab.

    All of the options below are found in the Marine Aquarium settings menu under the Fish tab. To bring up the settings menu, press the spacebar on your keyboard while Marine Aquarium is running.

    Marine Aquarium, by default, has 14 fish swimming through the virtual tank. You can have up to 30 fish in the tank from the 28 fish and 1 starfish in the tropical fish library.

    To the right in this window you will see the "fish library" which lists all of the fish breeds available to you. This window also has some settings and two boxes on the left


    Fish info - When a fish is selected, this box displays information about the fish.

    Number - To be seen, a fish must have this number be at least 1. To not be seen, Number must be 0. While you have a fish highlighted clicking up or down on this setting will increase or decrease the total population of this breed in the tank. Clicking on the ? will increase or decrease the number of breeds that will randomly appear in the tank. This will affect the Total Fish information below the Fish Sets box, which will be discussed later.



    Fish sets - This box contains all of your fish set configurations. Each set can be configured by clicking on it and then making changes to the number of fish in the tank etc. These changes are saved automatically when you select another fish set.



    + - Clicking the this will create an additional fish set.

    Total Fish - This dialog displays the total number of fish that will be in the tank at once based on the settings in each individual Fish Set. The number can be as high as thirty or as low as zero depending on what breeds or settings you have chosen.





    5. Marine Aquairum Clock (and Logo) tab.

    All of the options below are found in the Marine Aquarium menu under the "Crystal" tab. To bring up the menu, press the spacebar on your keyboard while Marine Aquarium is running.


    Default Clock - This list lets you choose which Default Clock will be shown when the "Cycle Clocks" option below is unchecked.

    • Digital - Displays a digital clock by default complete with text indicating time, day of the week, and month

    • Analog - Defaults to an analog clock complete with an hour, minute, and second hand.

    • Calendar - Displays the month, day, and day of the week in a standard calendar format

    • Logo - Displays either the default or any custom logo's you have imported



    24 Hours - Changes all digital clocks to 24 hour (Military) time format.

    Cycle Clocks - Marine Aquarium cycles through all Clocks. Cycle time is determined by the slider bar setting below.

  • Cycle Delay - The time, in seconds, it takes for the Clocks to change.


    LogoThis box displays all of the logo's available for display. You may import your own or use the default logo provided.

    To add and image tot eh Logo list:
    1. Click the + button.
    2. In the Open dialog box, locate and select an image file (.tiff, .png, or .jpeg file).
    3. Click Open
    4. To include and image on the crystal, select the check box to the left of the preview in the list.
    5. To adjust the size of the image, in the logo position dialog box, drag the scale slider (or drag the black square in the lower-right corner of the preview image) until you achieve the desired size and position for your image.
    6. To re-order the images in the list, drag the row for an image up or down in the list.
    7. To show the selected images from the Logo list, select Logo in the Default clock drop-down menu.
    8. Click OK.




    Troubleshooting

    1. Basic Information - Please Read

    The graphics used in the SereneScreen Marine Aquarium require a fairly up-to-date computer with a strong graphics card. Our realistic graphics use the same system resources as some video games. If you do not have your computer set up for this kind of activity, you may need to >adjust some of your settings< to get it to work correctly.

    Because of this we encourage you to test the program before buying or upgrading to a new version of our program by installing the demo as described >here<.

    If you are having problems with the program running slowly then please go >here<


    2. The Aquarium works perfectly on my friend's computer, but not mine. Why?


    We are sorry, but without knowing the exact specifications of both computers, this is impossible to answer. You may fill out a troubleshooting form found HERE, to help us solve your problem.


    3. The Marine Aquarium is slow or freezes.

    Slow, jittery, or frozen graphics are most often caused by low video resources. The best way to improve performance is to complete ALL of the following steps:

    1. Start the program and hit the spacebar.
    2. Select the Settings Tab.
    3. Turn off the Bubble Column .
    4. Now select the Fish tab.
    5. Reduce the number of fish to zero. For more information on fish settings go >here<

      After finishing all of these steps, take each setting back to default to see where the problem is solved.



    4. Marine Aquarium does not show up in my Screensaver list.

    Please make sure that you have installed the .saver file in your Harddrive/Library/Screensaver folder and not your User/Library/Screensaver folder. This is the most common reason for the problem you are describing.

    However, if this still doesn't solve the problem please try the following.
    1. Open System Preferences.
    2. Click on Desktop and Screen-savers (make sure the Screen-savers tab is highlighted in blue)
    3. Scroll down the list of screen-savers, past the Pictures section to the very bottom, which should be a section entitled Other.
    4. Check this section for the Aquarium, if you don't see it make sure the list is fully expanded (click the carat next to the Other title heading).



    5. The Marine Aquarium does not fill my whole monitor screen.

    Pressing the "F" key will switch the Marine Aquarium to full screen mode.


    6. Marine Aquarium runs fine in application mode, but slow as a screen saver.

    This is still an issue of system resources.

    See the FAQ entry on slow and frozen graphics for more details.


    7. I set Marine Aquarium as a screen saver, but it does not come on when it should.

    This can happen if your Energy Saver options are set to put the computer or monitor to sleep at the same time Marine Aquarium is set to activate. To check this, do the following:

    1. Click on the Apple Menu and select your System Preferences.

    2. When the System Preferences window comes up, click on the "Energy Saver" icon.

    3. Check to be sure that the "Put computer to sleep..." and "Use separate time to put monitor..." options are set beyond the time that you have Marine Aquarium active. In other words, if you have Marine Aquarium set to come on in five minutes, the Energy Saver settings will have to be longer than five. We recommend at least fifteen minutes between the two settings.



    8. I get a notification that Marine Aquarium will not work with OS 10.6 Snow Leopard

    Versions of Marine Aquarium prior to v3.0 will not work with OS 10.6 Snow Leopard.

    OS 10.6 Snow Leopard requires that all screen-savers be compiled as 64-bit savers which use Garbage Collection. OS 10.5 Leopard (and previous versions of OS 10) required 32-bit savers, and did not support 64-bit savers or Garbage Collection. Due to these changes changes within OS 10.6 Snow Leopard our older products do not work with OS 10.6 .

    Fortunately Marine Aqurarium 3 has been rebuilt from the ground up to work with Snow Leopard. If you are experiencing problems with an older versionn of Marine Aquarium and would like to upgrade, please test the program on your system by installing the >Demo< and then upgrade >here<.


    9. Marine Aquarium only displays on one monitor when I run it as an application.

    This was intentional, as we wanted to allow users to be able to have the program running on one monitor while working on another. Relax and listen to iTunes through our playlist manager and watch our fish swim while you work!

    If you want the full multi-monitor experience simply wait for the Marine Aquarium to start as your screensaver or access it through your >System Preferences>Desktop and Screensaver and hit the Test button.


    10. I'm, having problems getting the keycode to work.

    Please see our FAQ section >here< for all of your keycode related questions and problems.


    Screen Savers & Burn-in

    1. What is burn-in?

    Burn-in is a generic term for a ghost-like image that appears on a monitor or television after displaying an image that does not change for a long period of time. Burn-in is also called ghosting or image persistence. While the exact cause is different for different types of monitors, the result is the same, a light or dark area of the screen where the non-moving image was displayed. Due to better technology, energy saver options, and screen savers, burn-in is much less of a problem than in the past. However, any program, even a screen saver, can cause burn-in if left running long enough.


    2. Screen savers

    Screen savers were originally designed to help avoid the effects of burn-in by automatically changing the images on the screen when the computer was not in use (thus "saving" the screen from burn-in). They are usually set up to launch automatically by the computer's operating system, waiting a specified amount of time after the last keystroke or the last mouse movement made by a user. The screen saver then blanks the screen, or more commonly produces animation effects, thus avoiding any "fixed" images.

    Modern monitors are much less susceptible to burn-in than older models due to improvements in technology and the addition of energy saver options . For these reasons, screen savers today are primarily decorative or for entertainment, and usually feature moving images or patterns and sometimes sound effects.

    Our LifeGlobe and SereneScreen products are hyper-realistic simulators. They model real creatures in real environments. They are completely unpredictable, and follow behaviors modeled after their real life counterparts.

    As a result, the background can remain on screen for long periods of time without change.

    By default our simulators ship in a mode that cycles the background and/or lighting. Changing these options can effect some monitors over a long period of time. If you are concerned about burn-in, do not turn off this cycle.


    3. How can I prevent burn-in?

    Most computers have several layers of protection against burn-in:

    Better technology
    Advancements in monitor hardware and software mean that todays monitors are less likely to burn-in.

    Energy saver options
    To save electricity, monitors will switch to an energy saving mode after a period of time, either reducing the brightness of the display or turning off the display entirely.

    Screen savers
    Finally, there are an incredible number of screen savers that display moving images to reduce the persistence of a single image on the screen helping to avoid burn-in.

    However, even with these advancements and options, in rare cases, burn-in can still occur. To prevent burn-in, we recommend the following:

    • Different monitors have different needs when it comes to burn-in. You should check the users manual for specific information, or even contact the manufacturer, just to be sure what steps you can take for your specific monitor.

    • Set the energy saver options to turn off your monitor when not in use for a long period of time.

    • With any of our products older products, the background and foreground lighting change constantly on an automatic cycle. If you are concerned about burn-in, do not turn off this cycle.

      MA3 is different than the MA1 or MA2 series of our products in that it does not have an automatic light cycle, instead the program pans from right to left which create a constantly moving background which should help your monitor prevent burn in. Changing this setting, or stopping it will increase the risk of burn in and should be done so with caution.




    4. How do I fix burn-in?

    This depends on the kind of monitor you have.

    CRT
    Unfortunately, once burn-in occurs on a CRT monitor, there is no fix as the actual process that produces the image has been damaged.

    LCD & Plasma monitors
    The approach to fixing burn-in on plasma and LCD monitors is the same: Display a white screen on the display for a length of time equal to the image that burned-in.

    Apple has an excellent article on how to go about this:

    Apple: Avoiding image persistence on Apple LCD displays



    Miscellaneous

    1. What are the types of fish that come with the Aquarium?


    Marine Aquarium currently includes the following twenty-nine fish:

    Copperband Butterflyfish
    Achilles Tang
    Powder Blue Tang
    Yellow Tang
    Clown Triggerfish
    Picasso Triggerfish
    French Angelfish
    Threadfin Butterfly Fish
    Queen Angelfish
    Purple Tang
    Forceps Fish
    Addis Butterflyfish
    Royal Gramma
    Blue Damselfish
    Squarespot Anthias
    Percula Clownfish
    Flame Angelfish
    Three-Stripe Damselfish
    Regal Tang
    Koran Angelfish
    Regal Angelfish
    Redfin Butterfly Fish
    Blue Ring Angelfish
    Rock Beauty Angelfish
    Longfin Bannerfish
    Emperor Angelfish
    Clearfin Lionfish
    Volitans Lionfish
    Ochre Starfish

    For more information on the Marine Aquarium fish, see our ichthyology page.

    Additional information and a full color guide to the Fish can be found at the SereneScreen fan site




    2. How do I register my SereneScreen Product?


    If you purchased a CD from a retail store or from Encore Software, you can register this product using the link below:

    Encore Software Registration Page

    Products purchased directly from our website as an electronic download do not need to be registered, all of your information was entered into our database at the time of purchase. However, if did not check the "I would like to receive email updates, notices, free offers and gifts." option when you made your purchase then you will receive none of these services.


    3. Can I make my own Fish for the Marine Aquarium?

    Currently we do not permit people to create or add custom fish for Marine Aquarium. There are many reasons, but the most important is that while we trust an artisan would be motivated, and even capable of creating a truly wonderful masterpiece, there are others that might not, and a version were to get out that was less than the highest quality, it might reflect poorly on us.

    If you are interesting in creating fish or wildlife for our company, we are always seeking talented artists. Please e-mail us samples of your work.

    Thank you for your support.


    4. Will you be updating older versions of Marine Aquarium to work with a newer OS?

    No.

    We wish to concentrate on the latest release of Marine Aquarium to make it the best out there.

    As it stands, Marine Aquarium 1.1 works on Mac OS through Tiger and on PowerPC computers if you shut off the bubble column. Marine Aquarium 2.0.6 works on Mac OS through Tiger. Marine Aquarium 2.6works on Mac OS 10.2.8 Jaguar through Leopard, on PowerPC, and Intel-Mac computers. Marine Aquarium 3 is compatible with the former and is fully compliant with the OS 10.6 Snow Leopard.

    For information about upgrading click HERE.


    5. Where can I get information on new releases/features.


    The best way to keep up with our products is to check out the Fan Site. This site is complete with wish lists, a fish library, and discussion forums.


 
 
 
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