FAQ

Animation run when a game is won

Q - How can the animation run when a game is won be turned off?

A - Choose the Animation options command (Options menu), locate the "Game end animation" section and deselect the check box "Run if game is won".

Q - How can the length of the animation at the end of a won game be decreased (or increased)?

A - Choose the Animation options command (Options menu), locate the "Game end animation" section and decrease (or increase) the animation length to the desired number of seconds.

Note - The animation run when a game is won can be interrupted at any time by pressing the Escape key.

Game animation speed and length

Q - Why does decreasing or increasing the game animation speed in the Animation options page of the Advanced options dialog box (Options menu) seem to have no effect?

A - Because the animation speed (pixels per step) is not the only factor affecting the apparent speed. The animation minimum length is also quite relevant. For example, if you want to increase the apparent speed, try decreasing the minimum length besides increasing the actual pixels per steps.

Q - Why does the animation speed considerably slow down sometimes?

A - Because some advanced video drivers often create compatibility problems with applications, such as Solitaires, that make an extensive use of the Windows® graphics device interface. Try decreasing the hardware acceleration of your video driver. This may also help avoiding other problems with animation and graphics.

Playable games

Q - Why can only three games (and always the same ones) be played of any solitaire?

A - Because Solitaires has not been registered. Before registration, only the three default games can be set as the new game. After registration, any game (out of a million billion different game numbers) can be set as the new game.

Reinstallation

Q - After a system crash, Solitaires does not start correctly and an error message appears. How can Solitaires be recovered?

A - In such an unfortunate (but extremely rare) case, a "clean" reinstallation might be required to reset corrupted or missing files and registry entries. To perform a clean reinstallation, carefully follow this procedure:

1	from the Start menu in the task bar, point to the Settings command, choose the Control Panel command, double click on the Add/Remove Programs icon and uninstall Solitaires
2	delete the folder where Solitaires was previously installed
3	from the Start menu in the task bar, choose the Run command, type "Regedit" in the text box "Open" and click on the OK button
4	locate the key "HKEY_CURRENT_USER" and double click on it
5	locate the subkey "Software" and double click on it
6	locate the subkey "VB and VBA Program Settings" and double click on it
7	locate the subkey "Solitaires" and delete it
8	locate any subkey "Solitaires - Installation 1 (or 2, or 3, and so on)" and delete it
9	from the Start menu in the task bar, point to the Search command, choose the For Files or Folders command, click on the option "All files and folders", type "sols.exe" in the text box "All or part of the file name" and click on the Search button
10	if the file is found, double click on it to reinstall Solitaires; otherwise, redownload Solitaires and reinstall it
11	if you have a serial number for the newly installed version of Solitaires, choose the Activate command (Registration menu) and type your user name and serial number in the appropriate text boxes
Warning - When working with Regedit, use extreme caution not to delete undesired subkeys.

Serial number and activation

Q - How shall the serial number be used to activate Solitaires?

A - Choose the Activate command (Registration menu) and type your user name and serial number in the text box "User name" and "Serial number" respectively.