What (if any) are the recommended guidelines for filesize when
creating a screensaver for Windows (.SCR file)? Are there dangers in
creating a .SCR file that is 900 KB in size?

I need this for a work project: I have created an internal screensaver
for my company using Macromedia Flash and a utility that generates an
.SCR file from the Flash movie. My resulting .SCR file is ~900 KB, and
I have been told by the IT department that I must limit the size to
500 KB because anything larger will "take up too much memory" or "have
too large of a memory footprint". I believe these to be mistaken
claims, because as far as I know:

a) there is no correlation between an application's size and the
amount of memory it takes up
b) a screensaver (.SCR) file is not memory-resident until it is
actually called (my IT department is claiming it is always taking up
memory even when not engaged)

I think they're wrong. The only reason they chose 500 KB as a size is
that was the biggest .SCR file they could find that comes bundled with
Windows, and they are staying within what they consider Microsoftian
limits.

A successful answer for this question will include web locations where
I can send my IT department as proof that they are mistaken, and/or
links to Microsoft-bundled .SCR files that are 900 KB or greater.
Basically, I think I'm right, and I need back up. Of course, if I'm
wrong I'd like to know, too!

I'm using Macromedia Flash 4, and the program I'm using to compile the
.SCR is called "Flash Screen Saver" from Leesoft:

http://leesoft.net/

Thanks in advance.

Are there dangers? Screensavers have a bad reputation because they
often do some of the most complex math the computer will do in a day,
so they are often more likey to crash. Also, Shockwave is easy to
crash stuff with.

You're right       (they're wrong in their assessment), 
they're right      (it's probably a hog), 
you're wrong       (application size does effect memory consumption)
and they're wrong  (it's not a hog because of its footprint, but
because
                    all screensavers are hogs, and shockwave ones
moreso)

You're right, the application size and execution space don't
necessarily coincide, but there is a correlation: the application
must at least be loaded into memory, and so the size of the exec-
utable reflects upon the total memory consumption.

They're right that the screen saver is too large for efficient use.
Screen savers are a waste in general, and most of them consume more
cycles running than the computer does when it's idle open to a page in
Microsoft Word. But
what are they a waste of? For a workstation, the machine is most
likely idle,
so it's a waste of electricity and maybe computer lifespan. You're
better off
having the monitor go into standby if you really want to "save"
anything.

Microsoft's ~400k screen savers are considered hogs, but mostly
because they hog the processing time of the system, but yes yes YES!
there are lots of HUGE screensavers out there just like there are HUGE
web pages and ASF files and all sorts of other gluttony. Here's a good
article about SCR waste:

[http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/TechNet/prodtechnol/winntas/tips/platinum/ptredcpu.asp]

They're wrong if they think that picking on the size of the SCR file
is the best way to bag on your screen saver. The best way is the fact
that it takes on the Shockwave framework as well as its own size.
Shockwave is designed to be heavy on the processor so it can be light
on the data transfer, so in a lot of respects, it's the Shockwave
that's going to kill the machine, and not for memory, but for
processing cycles. Again, though, whose cycles are you wasting?
These machines aren't servers, right?

They're wrong if they think the screen saver is loaded at boot time.
What is secured, however, is a virtual desktop for addressing the
screen saver screen.
This size shouldn't change regardless of what screen saver you choose
to use.

[http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/security/Security/initializing_winlogon.asp]

Finally, if this is a political thing and it came from a guy who wears
shirts that cost more than $30, you should know by now that it is
better for a computer to look good than to feel good, so none of this
should matter, right?

you're right about the fact that it doesn't get loaded until it is
called. This can be proven very easily with log files or monitoring
task list.
There's a nice free (?) command line tool PrcView
"PrcView v 3.5.4.1 command line utility by Igor Nys"
to monitor what processes are running.

Maybe I should elaborate.
I mentioned the process viewer software because you could run it e.g.
on a timer (Windows scheduler) every 5 seconds from a batch file and
redirect the output to append to a text file. I thought that will
convince your managers.. more than a log file created by your own
application.

Then either wait or force the screen saver to activate and see the
results.

Good luck

-Peter

You are right. 
There are many screen savers with .SCR file more than 900 KB. Actually
there is no reason to have any upper limit on it's size. Check for
proof at
       http://www.rocketdownload.com/details/scre/6814.htm
you might find many more at: 
       http://www.3dscreensaver.com/
       http://www.freesaver.com/top.htm

A screen saver is not a memory resident program. According to windows
OS architecture a screen saver service is a memory resiedent program.
But a service is a OS utility. For the service it does not matter
which screen saver it is set to activate. It just check if the
conditions are attained to activate a pre decided screen saver.

The people from your IT department may be apprehensive about 500 kb
limit because somebody is confusing between the old system memory
limit of 512 kb which used to be true with old versions of windows or
with DOS based programs. But even with that notion their fear is not
true because even in DOS a screen saver was just a very small memory
based program like described above which does no other work than
calling a pre decided screen saver.
-ajit

Sorry forgot this to add in my comment above: 
A screen saver downloaded from
http://www.rocketdownload.com/details/scre/6814.htm will add a
Autumn.scr file to your windows\system32 directory. which is more that
900 kb size.

One must also note that a screen saver program is technically no
different than any other program which a windows start automatically
when there is no activity on your machhine for a given period of time.
Many other programs like background virus check, indexing service for
a fast search, auto disk scan, etc are sometimes set to be started
when the machine is idle.
-Ajit Kale

Here is a good trick to known how much memory your screensaver uses.

This will work with windows NT4, 2000 or XP

rename it to a .exe file and execute it.

Press ctrl+alt+del go to the process panel and find the name of your screen saver 
in the list. and whao!! it takes way more memory than 900K !!! :)

You can tell your IT guy that the flying stars screensaver takes 2 140K ok RAM.

Regards

PM Legris


(Do not forget to rename it back to a .scr file )

A *.SCR screensaver is an EXE file which is renamed to SCR. Simple as
that. If the EXE is uncompresed then the EXE will be big on the disk
with all the code and data, but if it is compressed then it will still
have the same "memory footprint" if not maybee a little more for the
decompresion.
On the side of the execution of the SCR it is only loaded when the
machine drops to screensaver mode, so just check in the close program
or similar window for the file or anything it has to parse it with.
There are programs out there for 9x and ME that show you memory use by
file / process and NT 2K and XP I would guess that has it built in.
http://download.com.com/3002-2086-6582407.html?tag=dir This URL may
help in this - I did a quick shufti at it and it seems OK for this.

Hope this helps and all the best.

If you are having problems with the .scr your software is producing,
you could try a program called "Anysaver" at:
http://www.dgolds.com/anysaver.htm

Simply, it allows any program to be triggered as a screensaver. I have
used it to launch the PowerPoint viewer and open a specified
Presentation file (using powerpoint command line options which can be
specified in Anysaver).  With the caveat that mouse movement does not
exit the Ppt screensaver/presentation (Esc is required) it works very
well. Using it to launch a Flash viewer in full screen mode might work
better than trying to use third-party software to view the Flash
content file. It may help you find another way round your problem even
if it isn't a direct answer/solution.

Owain, Scotland, UK

fismo,

If I was in your IT department, I would ask questions like:

- How many company employees will use the screensaver?
- How is the screensaver going to be distributed to the employees?
Over the network, or by foot?
- Is the screensaver necessary, or just for fun?
- Will IT staff need to test, install, explain, support, or delete the
screensaver?

IT departments (and their networks) are typically overworked and
overloaded. Perhaps they are just trying to drop you a few hints?

huntsman

Thanks everyone for the great comments. As for huntsman's questions...
this was basically a situation where the "Big Boss" said, 'Hmm, I want
a custom screensaver, and the whole company should have it' ... so, is
it really necessary? Politically, yes.

About 300 employees will use it, distributed via network. IT will
definitely have to test and install the screensaver, but it's going to
happen whether the .SCR is 5 KB or 5000KB.