Select the Preferences…Time option from the File menu. Doing so will bring up the following dialog:

(Note: The picture above looks unusual because it was taken while I ran Greg’s Buttons, a wonderfully cool extension you should get your hands on!)

The top part of the dialog allows you to enter a value representing the frequency at which ShowShare should ask the Finder to let it update its icon. The value is in sixtieths of a second. The default value is 60, or one second. At this value, ShowShare will ask the Finder to give it a chance to update the indicator icon once per second. This is a very inobtrusive setting, but you may set it as high as 600, or ten seconds.

Keep in mind: other applications can be mean and not give time to the Finder, which will also mean ShowShare doesn’t get time. ShowShare only takes an incredibly small amount of time to draw the indicator, so it shouldn’t slow your Mac down noticeably. Additionally, ShowShare might update more frequently than once per second. This can happen when not much else is going on and the Finder decides there's enough free time to let ShowShare update its icon. The Finder is in control.

Below the update time section are three check boxes which let you set:

• Whether ShowShare should turn on file sharing for you when it is launched;
• Whether ShowShare should switch to the Finder when it is launched;
• Whether ShowShare should turn off file sharing when you quit.

In all three cases, holding down the option key at the moment when the action is to be performed reverses the setting. For example, if you enable the third option and are about to quit ShowShare but don’t wish to have file sharing turned off, hold down the option key while quitting ShowShare.

If you click “OK”, the settings will be saved to a “ShowShare Prefs” file in the System Folder’s “Preferences” folder for future reference.