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 Post Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 12:58 pm 
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I have a new visitor on my lower task bar, a little house, and if I right click on it, I can see what it is and if I left click on it, it goes away. It calls itself DirectX6 application.........looks like it is some Microsoft thing but I have not been able to duplicate what makes it show up or even why it shows up.


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 Post Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 1:32 pm 
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As far as I know that is nothing that would be displayed through DirectX. I would say that it is probably an application that makes use of DirectX. Check your Programs and Features for a match, also check your screen savers. You might also check the programs list via your Start menu.

Just a hunch but my guess is a screen saver or theme package. Have you installed any of either lately?

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 Post Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:46 pm 
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jaylach wrote:
As far as I know that is nothing that would be displayed through DirectX. I would say that it is probably an application that makes use of DirectX. Check your Programs and Features for a match, also check your screen savers. You might also check the programs list via your Start menu.

Just a hunch but my guess is a screen saver or theme package. Have you installed any of either lately?

Neither of those lately.......I did install a screensaver when I first set up Windows 7 but I do not recall getting the little house icon at that time. The screensaver is listed under Programs and features. I guess I will have to wait and see if I can determine what triggers it.


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 Post Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:33 pm 
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Process Explorer has a feature, called find windows process, that allows you to drag a little target over an application window such as that house and it tells what process that is. You might find it useful for this little mystery.

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 Post Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2012 5:12 pm 
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Manny Carvalho wrote:
Process Explorer has a feature, called find windows process, that allows you to drag a little target over an application window such as that house and it tells what process that is. You might find it useful for this little mystery.

That looks like a neat program Manny but I just found out who owns the "Little House". My screen saver was running when I came home from town today and I used my Magic Jack Phone to make a call. In so doing, it closed the screen saver, opened Magic Jack, and at the same time it put the "Little House" on the task bar. I thought I might be able to open the task manager and see if the house was a running program but as soon as I did that, the house closed. :dunno: I thought maybe I could open the task manager before hand and then let the screen saver come on again and then dial the phone, and that worked because I was able to look at the task manager as soon as the screen saver went off and magic jack came. The little house showed up in the running processes as my "Snowy Cottage Screen Saver"

I should have put 2 and 2 together when Jay mentioned the screen saver because the little house on the task bar had snow on the roof. Then again, the actual screen saver shows a "mansion in the mountains" slowly being covered with dense snow rather than a small cottage. Anyway, the problem is solved and my thanks once again for your help


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 Post Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2012 11:29 pm 
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Good for you.

Say, how are you liking that magic jack? Is it saving you money; how's the quality?

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 Post Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 12:18 am 
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Glad that you figured it out. Please keep in mind that "free" screen savers are not always free. They are known for being a potentially dangerous download.

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 Post Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 12:48 pm 
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Manny Carvalho wrote:
Good for you.

Say, how are you liking that magic jack? Is it saving you money; how's the quality?



Hi Manny,

Magic Jack has worked really great for me. My cost for the device was originally $19.95 but it may be more now. Sound quality is excellent........better than my land line phone that I had with Comcast. My cost per year is $29.99 or about $2.50 per month and I can call anywhere in the US and Canada

It does have some special requirements in that you must have a computer or a computer modem to plug it into or you will not be able to obtain a phone number. The later model that they have says "no computer required" and that may be true but you must have a computer modem to plug the device into. What the later model allows you to do is shut the computer down and you can still receive calls because the device is plugged into the modem. As for me, my computer is on 24-7 so I do not need the updated model. With the computer on 24-7, you cannot let it sleep or hibernate as incoming calls will not wake it up so I set those two things to "never". I added a screen saver and it does wake that up and the phone rings if the screen saver is on.

There was one more problem with Magic Jack, it would not open upon reboot of the computer so I had to open the program location and create a shortcut and drag the shortcut to the startup folder so now it loads the program each time Windows 7 starts up. I was paying $56 a month for unlimited calling so it has been quite a savings for me.

One other thing I forgot to mention is that you can carry the plug in Magic Jack device with you when you go on a trip and you can call anywhere in the US and Canada on your laptop provided you have an interenet connection. I'm going to Surrey, BC Canada in two weeks so I will be able to see how that works.


Last edited by chadslink on Thu Oct 04, 2012 11:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 1:17 pm 
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jaylach wrote:
Glad that you figured it out. Please keep in mind that "free" screen savers are not always free. They are known for being a potentially dangerous download.


I totally agree with you on "free is not always free" !! I have set aside one computer here in my "playroom of computers, recording devices, Tv's and what not" for the sole purpose of downloading and testing programs off the net before I even think of downloading them to computers that I do not want to have compromised.


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 Post Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 1:33 pm 
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There are few sites that I do not hesitate to do a download they are as follows... Remember that, if possible, it is usually best to download from the author's site if it is a well known program.

http://cnet.com
http://filehippo.com
http://snapfiles.com
http://softonic.com

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 Post Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 7:35 pm 
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jaylach wrote:
There are few sites that I do not hesitate to do a download they are as follows... Remember that, if possible, it is usually best to download from the author's site if it is a well known program.

http://cnet.com
http://filehippo.com
http://snapfiles.com
http://softonic.com


My new Kaspersky anti-virus renewal CD came this week and it was improved quite a bit. One of the things I see now is that any site that I search on Google either has their Green K after it meaining it is ok to download or a Grey K which states that "accessing this resource is not recommended if you do not trust the source of this link". Some of the snowy cottage screensaver sites are green and others are grey. I have no idea how foolproof this is but if I get a site that is grey, you can bet your boots I will not download it. Another thing they have is one of those drag and drop files to scan them separately which is kinda nice.


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