Frequently Asked Questions

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Question: How to install Talisman themes ?

Answer: Standard method (from version 2.9+): Just drag a downloaded ZIP file into Talisman Desktop workspace. If the ZIP-file contains Talisman Theme - the theme will be installed automatically.

Old method: To install a new Theme create a subfolder in the “../talisman 2/themes/” folder and unzip the downloaded file into this subfolder. You can then open the Theme by selecting the Theme from the Theme sub-menu of the Main Menu.

Use the "Set as default" command from the Theme sub-menu to make your Theme the default (startup) Theme.

Question: Does Talisman Desktop work with Windows 10 or Windows 95 ?

Answer: Yes!   Talisman works on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT4 (version Talisman Desktop 3.1 and previous versions!) 
Windows 2000/2003/2008, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7/8/8.1/10 (version Talisman Desktop 3.2 and higher) .

Question :  I want to use Talisman as default shell for my wife and son, but use Explorer as default shell for me.

Answer: For Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista/7:

To have the possibility to use different shells for different users you have to login as Administrator and switch shells with Shell Switcher (tss.exe) at least once. TSS will make all necessary changes in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key of your register. These initial changes are available only from Administrator account. 
After that you can use TSS to switch shells from any user account.

Set different themes as default for your wife and son shells. You can also create different menus for your users to limit their access to your programs and folders. Use InputBox with "Enter Password" command to open your special Administrator's theme.

For Windows 9x and Windows ME: unfortunately you can't use different shells in these systems. You can only set up Talisman as default shell for all users and set up different default themes for each user. 
Another way -  you can launch the Talisman as an application (not shell mode) from startup folder for some users.

Question: Where is my tray ?

Answer: There are 3 modes of Talisman. You can see SystemTray only in first and third mode. But most theme's authors work in second and third modes. 

1) Application mode. As a standard application launched from the Windows shell (explorer.exe). If you want to execute Talisman at startup, place a Talisman shortcut in your Startup Directory (c:\windows\start menu\programs\startup). The Windows Taskbar is visible. (You can hide or show WindowsTaskbar in Properties>Theme settings > Show Windows Taskbar). The Talisman Taskbar, Talisman Clock, and Talisman Tray are not visible. 

2) Application mode without the Widows Taskbar. As a standard application launched from the Windows shell (explorer.exe). The Windows Taskbar is not visible. The Talisman Taskbar and Talisman Clock are visible. The Talisman Tray may only be used in Talisman’s shell mode.
The Windows Taskbar or Talisman Taskbar and Clock may be enabled and disabled in the TOE (Talisman Object Editor), by selecting the Theme tab. You can hide or show WindowsTaskbar in Properties>Theme settings > Show Windows Taskbar. 

3) Shell mode. As a shell replacement instead of explorer.exe. The Windows Taskbar is not visible. The Talisman Taskbar, Talisman Clock, and Talisman Tray are visible.

Question: I have registered Talisman, but have not gotten back my registration key.

Answer: Sometimes the e-mail address is incorrectly entered in the registration form and the e-mail with the key is bounced back as undeliverable. If you haven't received your key in seven days, contact Lighttek from your primary e-mail address.

Another problem: email filters, antispam filters, restricted rights on your email account. Contact your network administrator to be sure that your mail box can accept emails from lighttek.com and other mailserver.

Hotmail, AOL and similar "free" email addresses: If you use one of these "free" services be sure that your email box has free space and still available (not removed). "Free" mail providers very often delete mailboxes after some time if you haven't updated your settings or haven't visited it last month.

Yahoo.com provider - they delete all our emails. Please contact us from any other reliable mail provider.

Question: I haven't received answer from Lighttek Support team on my email.

Answer: Sometimes the e-mail address is incorrectly entered in the support  form and our e-mail is bounced back as undeliverable. If you haven't received the answer in seven days, contact Lighttek from your primary e-mail address and check up your mailbox settings.

Other often mailbox problems: email filters, antispam filters, restricted rights on your email account. Contact your network administrator to be sure that your mail box can accept emails from lighttek.com and other mailservers.

Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL and similar "free" email addresses: If you use one of these "free" services be sure that your email box has free space, still available (not removed) and your SPAM settings do not block emails from Lighttek.com. "Free" mail providers very often delete mailboxes after some time if you haven't updated your settings or haven't visited it last month.

Yahoo.com - they delete all our emails. Please contact us from any other reliable mail provider.

Question: I did an uninstall of Talisman while Talisman is the default desktop shell. How to return my Windows Desktop?

Answer: At first, please read the documentation before shell switching! 

The easiest way to fix the problem:

- install Talisman again.
- start Talisman.
-Select Shell Switcher: MainMenu>Settings>Shellswitcher and switch shell back to standard Windows shell: Explorer.exe.
- restart computer
- after restarting uninstall Talisman from the standard Windows shell.

If you can't reinstall Talisman by any reasons - you can make all necessary changes manually:

Step by step procedure to start Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7 if you uninstall Taalisman in shell mode of Talisman:

1) Start computer.
2) After logining press Ctrl-Alt-Del
3) Press "Task Manager".
4) Press "New Task".
5) Enter: "regedit.exe" and press "Ok".
6) Change the value of register key :
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\
CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell
from "../talisman/talisman.exe" in "explorer.exe"
7) Change the value of register key :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\
CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell
from "../talisman/talisman.exe" in "explorer.exe"
8) Change the value of register key :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\system.ini\boot\Shell
from "USR:Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon"  to "SYS:Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon".
9) Change the value of register key :
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\ Advanced\Separate Process
from "1" to "0".
10) Close regedit.exe.
11) Press Ctrl-Alt-Del and Restart Windows.

Notes: All changes in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE must be made by user with administrator rights.
All changes in HKEY_CURRENT_USER must be made for all users who switched shells before.
After any changes in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE you must Restart computer (not only logoff!).

For Windows 95/98:

1) Restart your computer - either turn it off, then back on or hit the reset button.

With this step timing is critical. As your computer reboots, it will run through a series of checks (memory, hard drives, etc.). After the checks, it will normally display a screen showing your basic hardware configuration. When it does that, push the F8 key (Windows95 and Windows98 do things a little differently here: Win95 shows a statement Starting Windows95, but Win98 does not). Shortly after pushing the F8 key, you will be presented with a menu of startup options.

2) Select "Start at command prompt"

3) When you get a c:> prompt, key in 
edit c:\windows\system.ini 
(if your windows directory is named something else use that).

4) The screen will change and you will be presented with a basic text editor. Most likely, you won't be able to use your mouse, so you will have to navigate with the keyboard. Use the down arrow to get to the proper line (shell=), then change this string in
shell=explorer.exe

5) Exit the editor. The keystrokes are alt+f to open the File Menu; then x to exit; then y to save the changes.

6) Restart.

For Windows ME:

1) You need to have a bootable diskette and start computer from this diskette.
2) When you get a c:> prompt, key in 
edit c:\windows\system.ini 
(if your windows directory is named something else use that).
3) The screen will change and you will be presented with a basic text editor. Most likely, you won't be able to use your mouse, so you will have to navigate with the keyboard. Use the down arrow to get to the proper line (shell=), then change this string in
shell=explorer.exe
4) Exit the editor. The keystrokes are alt+f to open the File Menu; then x to exit; then y to save the changes.
5) Restart.

Question: How can I make buttons for things like My Computer, Dialup Networking, or Network Neighborhood? I've tried drag and drop, but it doesn't work.

Answer: Drag and drop only works with applications. It does not work with the system folders like My Computer, Network Neighborhood, Printers, or Dialup Networking. To make buttons for those folders you need to use special commands in "Command" field of your buttons: mycomputer, network, controlmenu, control, recycle, dialup. For more information see help file, "Internal Commands".

Question: How to disable WIN-keys and CTRL-ALT-DEL on keyboard

Answer: There are 2 ways to disable WIN-keys.

1) Use Talisman as default shell (shell mode). Talisman has an option to
disable/enable WIN-keys: TOE>System>Hotkeys page: uncheck "Enable WIN-keys (shell mode only)"

2) If you use Talisman as application (application mode): 
To disable the Windows key, do the following steps:

• Click Start, click Run, type regedt32, and then click OK.

• On the Windows menu, click HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE on Local Machine.

• Click the System\CurrentControlSet\Control folder, and then double-click the Keyboard Layout folder.

• On the Edit menu, click Add Value, type in Scancode Map, click REG_BINARY as the Data Type, and then click OK.

• Type 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,00,00,5b,e0,00,00,5c,e0,00,00,00,00 in the Data field, and then click OK.

• Close the Registry Editor and restart the computer.

To enable the Windows key again just start regedt32 and delete your "Scancode Map" key. Close the Registry Editor and restart the computer.

Note: you need the Administrator rights to add this key in registry!

Link: Microsoft support article

Disable TaskManager in CTRL-ALT-DEL screen:

• Click Start, click Run, type regedt32, and then click OK.

• On the Windows menu, click HKEY_CURRENT_USER.

• Click the Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System.

• On the Edit menu, click Add Value, type in DisableTaskMgr , click DWORD as the Data Type, and then click OK.

• Type 1 in the Data field, and then click OK.

• Close the Registry Editor and restart the computer.

To enable the TaskManager again just start regedt32 and delete your "DisableTaskMgr" key. Close the Registry Editor and restart the computer.

Question: Does Talisman support Dual Monitors? 

Answer :  Yes, Talisman can work with 2 or more monitors.
But you have to do some manual settings in your theme properties:
- open TOE (Properties), select the object "desktop0"
- press "Desktop Panel Options" button
- unpress all "Align" buttons if they pressed
- set up X=0;Y=0
- set up Width and Height values so big so they will cover all your monitors. Usually "Height"= height of your biggest screen and "Width"= sum of widths of all your monitors.
- if your theme has plugins then you have to change coordinates of some plugins too. Not always, only if you see plugins in incorrect places.
- use 24bit or 32bit color for all your monitors. 

Question: I use windows7 and get an error: Exception EOIeError in module talisman.exe at 000512DC. Error creating system registry entry. What do I do wrong?

Answer: Talisman (build 3200) can not write its settings in registry and initialize Microsoft HTML plugin because you use the "User Account Control" (UAC) function on your computer.

You can start Talisman as an Administrator: right click on shortcut (or shift+right click) and press "Start a Program as an Administrator".

More easy way: just uncheck the "User Account Control" in your user account settings. Talisman will be started without any questions and problems.

This problem was fixed in Talisman Desktop 3.21 (build 3210)

New themes for Talisman