Exclusion layer filter in Paint Shop Pro

What makes up the Exclusion layer filter in Paint Shop Pro? It works a bit differently than the Difference layer filter. The effects are shown below.

In the first screenshot, we see 3 color boxes in a layer called Layer1, set to 100% Normal.  Below that, I have selected 3 more boxes to copy to another layer. If I change Normal to Exclusion, there is no change in the image. This means the Exclusion layer looks the same.  It affects how you see the layers behind it, plus you see the remnants of the Exclusion layer.  Since there is nothing behind it, it shows up Normally on both Normal and Exclusion.  Let's see how it works in layers:

As you can see by my thumbnail overlay on Layer2, I added the boxes I selected from Layer1.  Then I switched the layer mode to Exclusion.  The darker colors are not excluding much... but the bottom brighter areas are shifting.  Look at these ranges: red 100% to white.  But there is a bit of cyan above the 50% mark.  This is the effect of Exclusion.

Here I have removed the color box from Layer1 so that it is transparent.  With nothing to exclude, the box returns to normal.

Instead of transparency in Layer1, what if it was a white box, as shown in the thumbnail?  Here is the effect of exclusion over a white box.  Not only are the colors reversed, but black and white are flipped! This is shown by the fact that the small color select circles have not moved.  This means black and white are both affected, which means this article at about.com is incorrect, as shown by this example.  Black is affected, if you exclude white with black (which the about.com author did not test).

With a black background: here is where the confusion lies. Notice that we flipped black and white above, but here against black we see no effect.  The effect here is "exclude black with black", which leaves us with black. It's a different pixel color calculation than the one above.

As a final test, I have taken a copy of the top box, flipped it, then mirror-imaged it.  What we see now is the bottom box flipped and mirrored, with a normal-looking 3 color box in Exclusion mode above that.  Black color is completely excluded out, another example that all colors are affected with one minor detail: once you hit 0,0,0, you can't go below that. Also, once you hit 255,255,255, you can't go above that.

Hopefully these examples have illustrated how the Exclude filter works in Paint Shop Pro. Unlike Difference, which reverses color and brightness, Exclude works differently, and 'removes' the color from the layer below it.  Also, white and black are absolutes with Exclude, whereas with Difference, they are simply 'flipped'.

New or Used PC Setup - First Steps to Optimize For Speed

Before you install software on a computer, check if you have the Restore CD/DVD.  Run the restore process to return the PC to how it was configured from the factory.  It is best not to deal with any software or licensing issues that come with a used PC, and it's nice to start with a fresh install.  Once you are ready you can begin the process to determine what is on your computer, how it is configured, and what needs to be changed.

The first step is to check the Registry for 'Run' and 'Windows Load' commands to see what starts when the computer boots up.  To run Registry Editor, click Start -> Run and enter REGEDIT.  To find the Run and Load entries in your Registry Editor, search Google for your operating system's "registry locations".  Since the word "run" is used frequently in the Registry, it's best to find the location and navigate directly there.  (Quick tip on finding these entries: Click Edit -> Find in the Registry Editor and search for "RunOnce". Near the RunOnce entry you should fine the "Run" entry. Navigate one level back and you should find the "Load" entry.)

Once you find a branch of Registry keys for 'Run', check each program that is listed.  Search for the program names on Google if you aren't sure what they do.  Disable anything you don't want here by saving the Registry entry for backup, then deleting that specific entry.  Or you can leave the Registry name behind for reference, and clear out the key entry path and executable from the right column.  The Registry won't run any blank entries.

At this point the Registry entries tell you what software is installed on your PC, which will be helpful later.  You also know what device drivers are required by your computer.  To verify that you have checked all start up locations, click Start -> Run and enter MSCONFIG.  Click OK to start the program and check the Startup tab to confirm your start up programs are correct.  This can also be used to temporarily uncheck/deselect start up programs for testing.

Now it's time to check the Administrative Tools or Admin Tools.  If you can't find Administrative Tools on your operating system, search for it at Google by entering "Enable Administrative Tools Vista" or "Enable Administrative Tools Windows XP". It may be hidden by default on your operating system.  For instance, on Windows XP, right-click your Start Menu, click Properties, click Customize, and check the Show Administrative Tools checkbox.

Once the Administrative Tools are enabled, they will show up in your Start menu in a new folder.

Start the Services program in Admin Tools.  Check each Service in the list to determine if it should be disabled. If you are unsure, search for the name of the Service to see what it does.  You can try a Service on Manual, then reboot, to see if the Service was activated by a startup process.

Once you are done checking Services, check the Add/Remove Programs list in your Control Panel to see what you want to uninstall. I usually uninstall trial programs and programs that I don't want to keep. If you have disabled a Service and don't need it again, you may be able to uninstall the application from Add/Remove Programs.  Check Google if you are unsure what a program does for your PC.

Now open your Device Manager and check for any problems.  Problem devices will appear with a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark.

If you can't find your Device Manager, check the screenshots here for Windows XP and Windows 7 Device Manager locations.

Now restart your PC and check your Event Viewer under Administrative Tools for any errors on shutdown or startup.  Some programs may cause errors if they are not closed before shutdown.  Also you can find drivers that aren't working, or missing programs.  Sometimes a program will be updated with a new file version to fix these errors.

At this point, run Windows Update and update your operating system.  Then update any programs that are pre-installed, like antivirus applications or productivity suites, or any programs that do not seem to close properly or run smoothly.

Next run DXDIAG from the Run command to check the status of your audio, video and system driver settings and make sure everything is working.  DirectX Diagnostics can also check that your drivers are WHQL-compliant, which means they will work with DirectX applications.

Finally troubleshooting is done and you are ready to install your own software.  I recommend that you run System Restore now and name the backup something memorable, like "Clean Install".  If you have a Home Server, this is a good time to backup the entire system.  Other backup options are: USB hard disks, CD-ROMs, DVDs and USB Flash drives.

If you want to manually back up your computer, follow these steps:

• Export your entire Registry as 'CleanBackup_TodaysDate.Reg'
• Archive or 'Zip up' all of your "My Documents" files into one or two files (using WinZip).
• Zip up your Desktop files into a file called "Desktop_TodaysDate.zip"
• If you want all application settings, My Docs and Desktop items, zip up complete user folders in the Documents and Settings folder (this location name is different for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7).
• Copy your backup files to a USB hard disk, CD-ROM or DVD for monthly backups.

This is also a good time to run benchmark applications on your PC.  If your PC's performance changes in the future, you can go back to these benchmarks for reference.

Monitoring your PC and Useful PC Tools

Search Google for these good PC monitoring tools and utilities:

- For hardware monitoring, such as temperature, fan speeds and battery capacity, check out HWMonitor.

- PSTools and SysInternals for Windows Server maintenance. Also works good for workstations and home PC networks.

- If you need a quick virtual printer driver to archive monitoring results, search for PDFCreator on SourceForge. To change the default print size from A4 to Letter, change it in Document Properties 2 in PDFCreator first. Then open Properties in your Printers and Faxes Control Panel and change the default page size under the Printing Preferences button.

- If you need a quick virtual DVD-ROM or CD-ROM drive to show up in Windows Explorer, search for Daemon Tools.

Advanced PC Check-up

If you're comfortable with your PC, check out SysInternals from Microsoft.  Search Google for SysInternals and click on the latest link to find out what is available and download the latest version.

SysInternals and PSTools allow you to manage all aspects of your PC (without having to program an application to do the same thing).

For example, TCPView allows you to monitor your Internet connections.

Computer not responding. Frozen software. PC locked up.

Hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete.  If nothing pops up or it is slow, something is wrong.  If Ctrl-Alt-Del doesn't show you anything, try hitting the Windows key on your keyboard.  Sometimes the Taskbar hides above where it can be viewed on your monitor.

All of your programs are listed on your Task Manager. To close a program, right-click and End Task.

Could be Safari or another browser is using all of your CPU. Sort by CPU percentage in your Application Tasks list so the highest is on top and determine what is running. Only games run full tilt for longer than a few minutes, so make sure no programs are pegged at 99 or 100%.  (It will show it pegged at 49 or 50% on a HT or dual-core CPU.)  If a program is loading or closing, it may take 100% of your CPU.  If you closed a program, but it is still listed here and/or using 100% of your CPU, right-click and End Task.

If this doesn't help and if you still can't do anything, look for a program called Explorer.exe.  End the Task.

Now click File -> Run in Task Manager and type Explorer.exe to restart it.  It should find it automatically and the PC should act like it is booting again.  The taskbar loads and your tray icons will populate.

At this point, your PC should be fine.  If your computer is still not responding, start closing your programs one by one.  It could be a toolbar extension or a printer driver that is loaded.  Check the Event Viewer or System Console to see if anything is noticable.

If you have questions about how to do this with the Event Viewer or other Administrative Tools, check Google for the settings according to your operating system, as it differs between XP, Vista and Windows 7.

Once you have performed these tasks, update any programs that are having issues, and restart your PC.  Once you have fixed the problem, clear your Event Logs so that future errors are easier to spot.

If your PC is not responding, you can also try rebooting into Safe Mode. Continually tap the F8 button on your keyboard when the computer is booting to get to Safe Mode. At that point, your PC should allow you to control it without anything else running. Check the Registry Run commands and other tasks from my Optimization article above. Also, search Google for specific malware infection information: search for the name of the malware to find the fix.

Antivirus Recommendation

I recommend Norton by Symantec or McAfee Antivirus products.  It gives you the piece of mind of a team of professionals working to protect your PC.  They find old viruses and have a good support network.

AVG is good for free anti-virus protection. Also Microsoft Security Essentials works well, and MSE is now available for free from Microsoft. I have not tried AVG or MSE, but they are running OK on friend's PCs.

Download WebServ for PHP and View PHP in Visual Studio

WAMP:
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PHP color coding in Visual Studio:
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