Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is PSU Sports Desktop?
A: PSU Sports Desktop is a free, real-time application that provides the latest breaking news regarding PSU athletics including scores, announcements, event information and promotions. The PSU Sports Desktop also delivers RSS feeds, weather alerts, video highlights directly to your desktop.
Q: Can I choose the location from which I get my current conditions, such as temperature?
A: Yes, select the Target icon under the X on the main application window and select the desired location from the list, or click on the Menu link, select options, and then select the new location from the drop down menu.
Q: How often are weather conditions updated?
A: Conditions such as temperature, wind, etc. are normally updated by the National Weather Service reporting station once every hour. On some occasions a report may not be issued by the station every hour in which case the temperature will remain the same until that reporting station provides an updated report. Warnings are issued immediately after release by the National Weather Service.
Q: How often do you up update news stories?
A: News headlines are updated simultaneously with our Web site throughout the day. You can expect breaking weather and news delivered to your desktop with the same immediacy you expect from our local news site without having to do a thing but click on the News link and select a story to view.
Q: What are the system requirements for installing ActiveAccess?
A. ActiveAccess requires Windows 98 or later. It also runs on Windows 2000, Windows NT4 SP6, Windows XP, and Windows Vista.
Q: How large is the download for ActiveAccess?
A: The download for the ActiveAccess application is 3-5 Megabytes in size. 6 MB hard disk space and 64 MB RAM are needed.
Q: How do I install ActiveAccess?
A: To install ActiveAccess, submit the registration form and download the application to your desktop. Once downloaded, the installation should begin, if not, double click on the downloaded install file.
The installation software will guide you as you install the application on your desktop. Estimated installation/download times:
- Cable Modem/DSL/T1 - 2 to 3 minutes
- 56k Modem - 9 to 10 minutes
- 28.8 Modem - 14 to 15 minutes
Q: The temperature in the Current Conditions display is wrong.
A: ActiveAccess requires that you be connected to the Internet in order for it to work. It does not require the use of a Web browser or e-mail program but the connection to the Internet must be made. Users with dial-up modems can de-select "auto connect" in the menu. The application will sit idle waiting for an internet connection to be activated. Once the internet connection is available and connected, the application will get the latest information.
Q: How much of my Windows system resources will be used?
A: ActiveAccess will use approximately 12 Megabytes of your system memory.
Q: Does ActiveAccess take up a lot bandwidth?
A: Running the application for an hour uses about as much bandwidth as loading a single Web page.
Q: Does ActiveAccess use a lot of CPU power?
A: Running ActiveAccess for an hour in the worst-case scenario with full warnings and ad rotations in effect, and with the user clicking and zooming radar, the application uses about two-tenths of one percent of the total CPU time. It has normal spikes when performing complex tasks, such as startup and shutdown, but the overall use is extremely low.
Q: Is ActiveAccess compatible with Mac Computers?
A: Only if the Mac computer you are using has a PC emulator installed. Without that, ActiveAccess will not work on a Mac.
Q: Does ActiveAccess contain spyware or adware?
A: ActiveAccess does not contain any spyware or adware, and does not install any applications that do. A full security document is available for further information. ActiveAccess does have advertising space, and will be sold to a trusted local advertiser.
Q: Will ActiveAccess slow down my office network if a lot of people run the application?
A: ActiveAccess has a built-in cache server that connects directly to the ActiveAccess servers and disseminates the updated data (only if new data exists) to other apps on the network therefore eliminating the "clogging" of the company's Internet connection.
Q. I get an error message saying another version is running.
A. To see what application is already running. Press the keys "Ctrl"+"Alt"+"Delete", then select "Processes" then find "TrueWeather.exe". Close that application then restart the weather application from your desktop. Please let us know if you need further assistance.
Q. My icon doesn't appear in the task bar and/or the option to put it there is grayed out.
A. The task bar has to be on the bottom and the auto hide feature turned off for it to work.
Q. The application will not launch when I click on it.
A. Are you using any type of firewall and/or anti-virus software? Either could be keeping the weather application from updating and/or receiving. You may need to set them to allow the weather application to get through and/or receive information.
Q. The icon in the System Tray is flashing. What does that mean?
A. The flashing icon is to notify you of news updates when the application is minimized. To disable this option, click Menu > Options, uncheck "Flash tray icon on news update", click on "OK" to save the changes then restart the application.
Q. (Eudora) "Share with a friend" isn't working.
A. You may need to disable the "Enable mail client if available" feature in the weather application. To disable this feature, click on Menu > Options, un-check "Enable mail client if available" then click on OK to save the changes.
Q Why is the "Share with a Friend" email is only partially showing up?
A. The problem that you are having is most likely caused by not having a default mail handler. In Outlook Express, go into Tools > Options > General Tab. At the bottom of this section is "Default Messaging Programs", click on the button next to "This application is NOT the default Mail handler". If you are using some other program, you will need to the equivalent in that program.
Q The app disappears when I minimize it. It doesn't show up in my taskbar.
A. It sounds like you have the auto hide feature enabled in your taskbar. To disable it, right click on your taskbar, click on "Properties", un-check the box next to "Auto hide" then click on "OK" to save the changes.
Q How do you activate the program after you download it?
A. Once the weather application has been successfully downloaded and installed it will leave your station's icon on your desktop, by which you can activate the weather application...If you have no icon you may have downloaded the installation program, which installs the weather application. To make it easier, try going through the download process again. This time when you are prompted, click on "Open" instead of "Save". Keep in mind that terminologies such as "Open" and "Save" may vary from browser to browser...choose the latter of the two.
Q Where does the local weather information come from and what areas/cities does it cover?
A. The current weather information (temp, wind direction, humidity etc.) comes from the National Weather Service official reporting station for (name of the city) at (name of the reporting location).
Q Why were some reporting locations removed?
A. The reason why some of them were removed from the weather application was due to their infrequency of sending current condition information. New sources are in research/development and should be available in a later version.
Q How often does the national radar update and where does it come from?
A. The weather application itself checks for new information once every five minutes (looking for watches, warning etc.). The National Weather Service provides the data. The radar however is a live feed.
Q The program doesn't seem to be updating, why?
A. There are a couple of things you need to check. When you are running the weather application, are you maintaining an active connection to the Internet? For the weather application to operate it needs to be on and maintain an active connection to the Internet to receive information. Keep in mind that some Internet services will automatically disconnect you after their predetermined amount of time. Also, have you tried refreshing (Click on Menu > Refresh) and/or rebooting your pc?
Q The crawls and/or the local area warning map are not working, why?
A. The only time that the crawls and/or the local-area warning map (Show Alert) are shown is during the duration of a watch and/or warning or when issued by the station. However, you can customize these features (i.e. number of times the crawl will scroll across your screen) by opening the weather application, clicking on Menu, then Options.
Q Since I downloaded the app my computer is automatically connecting to the Internet, why?
A. Being that the weather application has to maintain an active connection to the Internet to operate, it has two default settings to automatically maintain connection. To turn off the first option, double click on the desktop icon to open the weather application, click on "Menu" then uncheck the "Auto Connect". The second option is to Launch with Windows, if you do not want the weather application to launch with Windows (which in doing so will automatically try to connect as well), open the weather application, click on Menu, Options, then uncheck the box Launch with Windows.
Q The program will not stop starting when I start Windows.
A. It sounds like you have the Launch with Windows feature enabled. To turn this off or on, double click on the desktop icon to open the app, click on Menu > Options and uncheck the box "Launch with Windows" then click on "OK" and restart the application.
Q How do I uninstall the program?
A. There are two ways to remove the weather application from your computer. The first is from your control panel that can be accessed via Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs. The second is from your program files that can be accessed via Start > Program Files > the name of the [weather] application installed > then select Uninstall.
Q: What do I do if I have problems with ActiveAccess?
A: Click on the Menu button on the ActiveAccess Application Face and select Technical Support. Fill in the e-mail with your problem and someone will get back in touch with you quickly. If you have problems before you complete your installation, simply Click Here to send an e-mail to Technical Support.
