Steve A Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 I've got a show coming using video projection from an unattended laptop. What scares me is that some app or update or pop-up window will start running and bugger everything up. I'll be disabling wireless network, anti-virus & firewall, and setting power etc to 'always on' but is there anything else lurking that my leap up unwanted? Grateful for any suggestions/warnings here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomo Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 Depends entirely on your computer.Seriously. The best course of action is to use a completely clean reinstall of the operating system and playback software - that way you can be certain that there's nothing 'funny' there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest minisrule192 Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 Whenever I am doing computer projecton I set it up as a extended desktop and have the software on monitor one and then the output on monitor 2 (projector). So far I have never had anything pop up, surely if it's not connected to the internet there won't be any updates? Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunk_1984 Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 Can I ask what you intend on doing/ projecting, as something like powerpoint automatically blocks all pop-ups (well won't show most). Or software such as easy worship if you only want to use it once on your laptop you can download a 30 day trial free.(a simple google will bring this up) will use your second monitor as the screen (also this can be done in powerpoint) and then project what you want. Again it depends what you are intending on projecting. Whenever I am doing computer projecton I set it up as a extended desktop and have the software on monitor one and then the output on monitor 2 (projector). So far I have never had anything pop up, surely if it's not connected to the internet there won't be any updates? Chris. Many factors affect this. As for example if you are using non-official windows it will constantly pop up reminding you, IF you disable windows firewall and Anti-virus you will in fact get more pop-ups as windows will keep popping up telling you to use anti-virus and firewall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 Background programmes like Norton do seem to take over in practice, and there are loads of other windows processes that can suddenly leap into action - and if you are showing video at high data rates in the presentation, this is a pain. One thing to try is to hit ctr-alt-del and then right click on the power point entry and make sure priority is set to high, and any troublesome other processes running are set to a lower priority - this, I've found does help a little. I'm not preparaed to switch off anti-virus stuff unless there is zero chance of problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 I'm not preparaed to switch off anti-virus stuff unless there is zero chance of problems.My show machine which was a clean install does not have antivius installed, and it's running Windows as intalled with updates off. Stuff gets onto and off it via a USB memory stick, so it's virus checked on the lappie as it gets written. Although there are risks being taken here, my RA says that is the right thing to do. It's also technically the right thing to do, as on access virus detection takes time, and thus can cause delays in things happening. Bottom line - clean show machine, everything automatic switched off, and as little software installed as possible. I've done the odd show using the lappie, it's a higher risk strategy for all the reasons outline by everyone above, but for some stuff its a risk I'm prepared to take. For video I use extended desktop, and persuafde PowerPoint to use alternate monitor for full screen, just a tick box in options, so if anything silly happens it'll be on the primary screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mac.calder Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 If you are going to be constantly doing projection, it may be worth while creating a live-cd installation (using BartPE) with all the 'gunk' removed. Then use a USB key for storage and don't have it mount the hard drives. Would certainly stop any risk of viruses. Another option would be to dual boot a second copy of windows stripped down in much the same way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve A Posted February 11, 2007 Author Share Posted February 11, 2007 Many thanks for all these suggestions. I'll have to disable what I can and cross fingers for the imminent preview then look into a dedicated 'clean' machine for rest of the tour. One other thing, I've had to crank back from the laptop's 1024x768 native resolution to 800x600 and drop down from 32-bit to 16-bit colour to get smooth playback (I'm using a ProShow executable to run a pan-and-zoom slide sequence, no sound). Is it normal to have to rein in quality like this? Laptop is IBM Thinkpad T42 (Pentium M 1.4GHz, 512 RAM, ATI Mobility Radeon graphics 9500 with 64MB mem I think). I've eased off on quality settings in creating the show file, too. Looks OK, but images are starting to get a little blotchy round the edges. Any canny tricks I could try? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 Keeping your PC "clean" is the best bet, but I've found that a useful little utility is something called "End it All" which lets you go through and selectively close/kill anything running on your computer. It's free and can be downloaded HERE though I gather the freeware is being replaced by a pay-for programme so download sites are gradually drying up. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzerman Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 I once watched with horror as Peugot's MD's presentation stopped mid-show. It was their machine, they insisted on us using it (trying to cut corners, I think, should have seen their UK demise coming!), and despite being declared totally show-safe by their IT dept, it went into virus-guard update at 1 pm on Friday, as did ALL of their computers. They reckoned it had been disabled, but the clock showed 1pm, so it woke up and did what it was supposed to do. Not my field of expertise, but double check that disabled IS disabled, not hibernating deep inside the infernal machine. Moral - Always use your own machine, and keep it as clean as possible, for show use only. And don't trust I.T. depts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyro_gearloose Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 You could always put your slide show on a dvd, and use a dvd player insteed of your laptop. Dvd players cost almost nothing compared to a laptop, and they should be alot less hassle. With dvds, I think its possible to have stills or transition animations run and then wait until the enter button is pressed on the remote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve A Posted February 11, 2007 Author Share Posted February 11, 2007 You could always put your slide show on a dvd, and use a dvd player insteed of your laptop. Dvd players cost almost nothing compared to a laptop, and they should be alot less hassle. With dvds, I think its possible to have stills or transition animations run and then wait until the enter button is pressed on the remote. Thanks. I've considered this but I've experienced stuttering DVD players before, and also I don't want the pause screen kicking in. The show requires a slide sequence to run for a couple of minutes and then hold/run on a 'fixed scene' slide for up to 15mins, then another slide sequence etc. What I've done is set the 'fixed scene' slide to run for an hour (plenty of overlap!) and then trigger 'next slide' with the page down button to start the next sequence, and so on. The complications arise because this is a one-man play and I'm the actor and I have to come off stage, trigger the sequence, then do a quick costume change and get back on when the long fixed scene appears. Then I do a scene and trigger the next sequence etc etc. I have to do this nine times in all and I've got sweaty palms just thinking about it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 One other thing, I've had to crank back from the laptop's 1024x768 native resolution to 800x600 and drop down from 32-bit to 16-bit colour to get smooth playback ... Is it normal to have to rein in quality like this? Laptop is IBM Thinkpad T42Yeah, I get that too on the second output, the only transition that works acceptably for me in powerpoint is disolve, all the others look absolute pants. It's like the screen update rate is 5 frames a second. Which is why I only use the lappy for shows on low requirement and restricted embaressment factor :( For shows that really matter it's dedicated clean PC(s). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete McCrea Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 I'm sure that on some of the machines that we've had that insisted on running the video poorly, it was possible to set the laptops built in to be the secondary, with the display device as primary, and then run the VT/PPT on the display device. it was one fudge, but it worked. It did mean that the laptops screen went to black as it was running the video on the main device. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest minisrule192 Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 Disabling updates will make your computer more open to viruses etc... I always use a dual monitor setup and if there were to be any popups they would pop up on monitor 1 so only you would see them but I have never experienced any popups whilst doing these sort of things. Or you could try Linux as you don't get many popups init. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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