disable scrolling news in getting started window

[instrumento]

I always check the tools/options/environment "Disable ni.com updated in Getting Started window"  (Who's brilliant idea was this anyway?)According to the help popup on this section of the options "If you disable these updates LabVIEW displays information in the Getting Started window based on the last update from ni.com"

How does one disable that and/or delete whatever LabVIEW already pulled from ni.com already?  Sigh ...

[SimonH]

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@instrumento wrote:

(Who's brilliant idea was this anyway?)

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The current implementation (implemented in 2012) was my idea although RSS feeds were added to LabVIEW a few years prior to that.

First of all, sorry you don't like the feature. Here's what you'll need to do to clear it out.

Any cached RSS feeds will be stored in this folder:

<Your Documents folder>\LabVIEW Data\LVRSS

Assuming you have already disabled ni.com updates, if you delete everything in that folder and restart LabVIEW you won't see any news show up.

You can also add the following to the labview.ini file next to LabVIEW.exe to disable the RSS check without having to go through the options dialog (just in case you need to prevent the first check before you have a chance to change the option).

GSW_RSSCheckEnabled = False

Do you mind me asking what about the feature makes you want to disable it?

Regards,

Simon

[instrumento]

Guess I don't like RSS feeds in general, don't subscribe to any.  I do read some online forums, though I crave for the simplicity of the old USENET.  Having the thing on also works like a tracking mechanism, which I'm not interested in providing.

I never clicked on any of the news so I always disable it.  As LV doesn't keep my choice between upgrades I loose that and the silly thing keeps turning itself on.

When I close that last opened VI, and don't want to exit, the Getting Started screen pops up and the scrolling banner just interferes with my peripheral vision.

Obviously the help system was useless in trying to find out on how to disable the ones that made it through, thanks for the instructions.

On some other systems, always auto logged on as a user that doesn't have internet access, the whole thing doesn't even work, so disabling is a must to eliminate the (small) amount of traffic it generates.

[BillMe]

For me, it's a matter of computer security. Any software that tries to "phone home" is going to get scrutinized by our IT and Information Security people. Being able to disable features like this is much more preferable than the less desirable option of explaining to IT why the behaviour exists.

[WNM]

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@SimonH wrote:

Do you mind me asking what about the feature makes you want to disable it?

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Also, an animated "anything" in a window where a user is not interested in seeing an animation is annoying.  Thank you for sharing how to disable it.

[Ranjeet_Singh]

Sorry wrong post

[wildcatherder]

I strongly agree with this "no unnecessary animation" philosophy.  From LabVIEW screens to automobile dashboards, unnecessary distractions are just that:  unncessary and distracting.  Even after talking to tech support, I've found no permanent way to disable the "creepy" automatic tool selection feature which causes my cursor to change "like a crazy monkey" as I drag it around a block diagram.

[WNM]

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@wildcatherder wrote:

Even after talking to tech support, I've found no permanent way to disable the "creepy" automatic tool selection feature which causes my cursor to change "like a crazy monkey" as I drag it around a block diagram.

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What has always worked for me is:  Tools --> Options --> Environment --> Lock automatic tool selection --> NOT checked.

This is true for every version of LabVIEW going back to when it was first an option though it's location within the options may have changed. This has worked for me on every computer and every OS from Win95 to Win7 that I have worked. If it is not working for you then something is wrong.

[wildcatherder]

It still comes up as the default and has to be turned off every time you restart LabVIEW.  Believe me, I spent more than a hour with tech support and never found a permanent solution.  The option needed is LOCK OFF

[WNM]

It is possible that your preferences are not being saved to your LabVIEW.INI file?

For me, it's located here:   "C:\Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2014\LabVIEW.ini"

For 64-bit LabVIEW it may be in the straight "Program Files" folder.

Looking in my INI file I find lines that say "requireAutoTool=False" &  "autoToolOn=False" that no doubt controls this. Look into your file and see if you too have these lines and if they are set similarly. If they do look like this then perhaps you are not looking at the INI file used by your account and you need to search your machine for another. If the lines do not look like this, after exititing LabVIEW edit them to match this (or add them), save the file and restart LabVIEW and see how it behaves. If it then works properly, you next need to question why changing of the options within LabVIEW does not work. I'd guess it's a Windows permissions thing.

It's also worth checking that the lines are not duplicated in the INI file with two different values.