Having problems with Coffee Break? Read this list, and see if your problem is on this list somewhere. If you can't find a solution, please contact me at one of the addresses listed in the Read Me. I'll do my best to help you solve your problem.
Q: Every time I restart my machine, Coffee Break turns off the "Pause when saver on" option. What gives?
A: I bet you use Darkside of the Mac as your screen saver, right? This has been a common problem with Coffee Break. If you have both Darkside and Coffee Break aliases in your Startup Items folder, then Coffee Break will start up before Darkside does. When it starts up and doesn't find a screen saver installed that is compatible with the "Pause when saver on" option, it turns that option off.
Solution: Make sure that Coffee Break starts up AFTER Darkside. You can do this by renaming either alias in your Startup Items folder to ensure that Darkside's alias comes alphabetically before Coffee Break's. (Note that a space is considered to be alphabetically before "a".) I recommend renaming Coffee Break's alias to something like "zCoffee Break".
Q: When my screen saver comes on, Coffee Break's timer doesn't pause. Why not?
A: Not all screen savers are compatible with Coffee Break's timer-pausing options. The "Pause when saver on" option is currently only supported by a few savers (see the Read Me for a list). The Pause Helper option only supports screen savers that are applications, not extension- or control panel-type screen savers.
Solution: If you are using one of the screen savers listed in the Read Me, make sure that the "Pause when saver on" option (in General Options of the Options dialog) is turned on. If you are not using one of these screen savers, but the screen saver you use is an application, go to the Helper Options section of the Options dialog, and choose a Pause helper by clicking the Change button next to the appropriate item. If your screen saver does not fit into any of these categories, then it will not be supported by Coffee Break.
Q: I can't view the help. I set a Help helper application, but now when I ask for help, I get some kind of error message instead of help. What's wrong?
A: The Help helper you specify MUST be a World Wide Web browser. If it is not a World Wide Web browser, then you will get errors when you ask for help. Currently, browsers that are known to be supported are Netscape, Mosaic, and MacWeb, since they conform to the standards developed for WWW browsers on the Mac. I have also tested AOL's browser, and have found that it does not work for this purpose. HTML Viewer, a simple application for viewing files in the same format as Coffee Break's help file, is currently unsupported, but I have assurances from the author that he is working on making it support these same standards. The current version, 1.0.9, does not yet support these standards, but there may be a new version out as you read this.
Solution: If you have a WWW browser, simply change your Help helper in the Helper Options section of the Options dialog to specify that browser. If you do not have a WWW browser, and would like to view the help in a plain text file, then you must clear your Help helper selection. To do so, go to the Helper Options section of the Options dialog, and then press and hold the Option key. You will notice that the "Change" buttons will now read "Clear". Click the Clear button next to the "On-line help" item. Next time you ask for help, click the "Save as Text" button rather than the "Set Helper" button.
Q: Whenever Coffee Break warns me that it's time to save my work, an alert appears and it doesn't let go of the processor. This causes anything I had running in the background (downloads, searches, etc.) to stop. How can I avoid this?
A: When Alert Notification is turned on, Coffee Break uses the Notification Manager to send you a "note" that it's time to save. The System actually displays the alert, and unfortunately, does so in such a way that it steals all your processor time. To prevent this from happening, you can turn the Alert Notification off.
Solution: In the Options dialog, select the Notification Options section. There should be four check boxes here. Make sure that the Alert check box is not checked. After you do this, you will never see the warning alert again. To ensure that you know when it's time to save, however, you will want to make sure that at least one of the other three options is on.