Support

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: Forgot My Password
Q2: How do I send instant messages to my friends?
Q3: ThoughtSafe tells me that I'm not connected to Messenger, but I am! What do I do?
Q4: I have less than 1 week of space - what can I do?
Q5: ThoughtSafe doesn’t start automatically - what should I do?
Q6: ThoughtSafe does not load - what can I do?
Q7: ThoughtSafe fails during loading with Debugging Services error - what can I do?
Q8: Some of my Events/Journals are missing - what can I do?
Q9: I’ve lost or broken my key. What can I do?
Q10: What do I need to use ThoughtSafe?
Q11: Why do I have to install the .NET framework?
Q12: Can I use Thoughtsafe as a normal USB memory key?

Q1: Forgot My Password

You must have an Internet connection to request a password reset. ThoughtSafe® will tell you if you don’t.

If you get your password wrong 4 times, you will be offered the chance to reset your password. If you want to change your password then click the ‘Yes’ button. If you think you can remember your password then click the ‘No’ button.

If you choose to reset your password then you will be asked to identify yourself by correctly matching the ‘Securing my thoughts’ questions you completed during Activation. We will only reset your password if you get these questions right.

Once you have matched these questions there is a 1 day delay enforced before your password can be reset. This is done in case someone else is trying to gain access to your diary.

This message tells you when you can complete the password reset. Once this time has passed you can start ThoughtSafe® again.

You will need to confirm that you still want to reset your password. Clicking the ‘No’ button will show the normal login screen. Clicking the ‘Yes’ button will ask you to identify yourself again.

Matching these questions allows you to choose a new password and hint.

ThoughtSafe® will restart with your new password when you click ‘OK’

Q2: How do I send instant messages to my friends?

You need to have Microsoft Messenger installed, then insert your friends' messenger IDs into the correct field inside "Friends". You'll be able to chat with them when they come online.

Q3: ThoughtSafe tells me that I'm not connected to Messenger, but I am! What do I do?

If you want to use Messenger with ThoughtSafe, you need to enter your own messenger id (an email address) into the "Messenger Sign-in" section under "Contacts" in "Friends": During Activation Thoughtsafe will automatically copy the email address provided to this field but if your email address is different to your Messenger ID then you will need to update your entry. To do this double click on your name in the "show my friends list" and then update the field shown.

Q4: I have less than 1 week of space - what can I do?

This can be caused by a number of things. If you use your ThoughtSafe® key to store other files, then they are using the space ThoughtSafe® needs to store your diary entries. In this case, you can move these files to your computer or delete them so there is more room for your diary entries.

Hint: If you delete these files then you need to make sure you empty the Recycle bin, otherwise the space will not be released

Alternatively, you may have used all the available space. To get more space you can:

Export some data to your computer but this will no longer be stored securely (see Export section in the manual)
You can delete any large pictures/ images you have added in the diary
You can buy a new ThoughtSafe®. (See Backups section in the manual)

Q5: ThoughtSafe doesn’t start automatically - what should I do?

Depending on the set-up of your computer, ThoughtSafe® may not start automatically when you put it into the USB port. If this happens, you will need to start it manually through ‘My Computer’. Double click on the THOUGHTSAFE drive. Start ThoughtSafe® by double clicking the StartTS.exe entry.

Q6: ThoughtSafe does not load - what can I do?

You may not have the correct version of Windows on your computer. ThoughtSafe® requires at least Windows 2000 SP3. If you have an earlier operating system you will need to upgrade it.

If you have the right version of Windows, it may be that the Microsoft .NET® framework has not been installed properly on your machine.

To install this software you need to Open My Computer, and double click on your ThoughtSafe® drive. Open the TSafe directory and double click on dotnetfx.exe and follow the instructions to install.

Now eject your ThoughtSafe®. The best way to do this is to click once on the ‘Safely Remove Hardware’ icon in your System Tray:

When this message appears, left mouse click it. If it is OK to remove, then this icon will disappear from your System Tray. Now remove the ThoughtSafe® key.

Wait 10 seconds, and plug it back in again.

If ThoughtSafe® doesn’t start, open My Computer, and click on your THOUGHTSAFE drive, then double click on StartTS.exe:

Q7: ThoughtSafe fails during loading with Debugging Services error - what can I do?

When loading ThoughtSafe the first time on a system (after you have installed the .NET framework if that was missing), you might be presented with an error dialog containing the words below.

TSafe.EXE - Common Language Debugging Services
Application has generated an exception that could not be handled/
Process id=0x554(1364) Thread id=0x5ac(1152)

The dialog may look like this:

Note: the value of the Process ID and Thread ID will be different on every machine.

This is because the "Arial" font on your system is corrupted or an older version. Not a very good error message.

To correct this:
1. Ensure you have administrator rights.
2. Obtain a current Arial.ttf font file from your original CD. Another way to get the Arial.ttf font file is to download it directly from here.
3. Copy the Arial.ttf file into the Fonts directory using Windows Explorer. On some machines the Fonts directory is "C:\Windows\Fonts" and other machines it can be found at "C:\Winnt\System32".
4. The Arial font will automatically be installed by Explorer when placed into the Fonts directory.
5. Though not strictly required, remove your ThoughtSafe key and reboot your machine to ensure it is cleaned up fully.
6. Insert your ThoughtSafe key and it should now work.

If this does not resolve this problem, send us a contact message with the exact details of your problem.

Q8: Some of my Events/Journals are missing - what can I do?

You may have pulled the ThoughtSafe® key out when it was trying to save your Journal/Event entries.

This may be fixed by going to the Preferences menu and clicking ‘Repair’ on the General tab:

This may take a few minutes.

Do not remove your ThoughtSafe® key during this process. A message will be displayed when the repair is complete.

If your Journal or Event is still missing, then you won’t be able to get these entries back and you will need to add them again manually.

Q9: I’ve lost or broken my key. What can I do?

If you have made a backup of your ThoughtSafe® you can restore it onto a new one. To do this you:

Buy a replacement key.
Activate the key as you did with the original one.
Login
Now select ‘Preferences’ window and click the ‘Backups’ tab.
Set the directory to where your backup is located on your computer.
Choose the latest backup from the list, and click ‘Restore’.

When this is finished your new diary will contain all the Journal, Friends and Events entries as recorded when the backup was taken.

Q10: What do I need to use ThoughtSafe?

The minimum computer configuration required is:
CPU:	Celeron 1GHz
Memory:	256MB
Operating System:	Windows 2000 SP3
Preferred configuration is:
CPU:	Pentium 4 2GHz
Memory:	512MB
Operating System:	Windows XP SP2

If your PC does not have the correct configuration, we cannot guarantee the performance of the product.

Q11: Why do I have to install the .NET framework?

ThoughtSafe runs inside the new Microsoft .NET framework. Without the framework, ThoughtSafe cannot operate.

Q12: Can I use Thoughtsafe as a normal USB memory key?

Yes you can. You can access the drive normally though My Computer and use the usual Windows facilities for copying, moving or deleting files.

Note because Thoughtsafe is designed to start automatically you may want to close it if all you want to do is store files on the key.