FAQs
I've purchased the software but have not received an email with my login details
The current and alert times are wrong
Why does it display 'Updating News' after I change settings?
When I change settings the settings window stays open
Why does Trader News Alerts only work with Vista or Windows 7?
After installing in Vista I can't see Trader News Alerts
Why has Trader News Alerts shown an alert that doesn't appear in the Forex Factory calendar?
I've closed Trader News Alerts - how do I get it back?
I've purchased the software but have not received an email with my login details
The most likely reason for this is that our email has been trapped by a spam filter.
Please first check the spam folder on both your email server and any email software you are running on
your computer (e.g. Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail).
If you are still unable to find our email please use the 'Contact Us' form to let us know - we will
get your login details to you as soon as possible.
The current and alert times are wrong
Trader News Alerts calculates all time values using the time zone settings of your PC.
If the time zone setting of your PC is not correct for your location the times calculated and displayed will
not match your local correct time.
You can change the time zone using the Region settings applet within the control panel or by clicking on the clock
in the bottom right of the window.
Why does it display 'Updating News' after I change settings?
To reduce the amount of processing your PC has to perform Trader News Alerts only updates
it's display once a minute - when the seconds value reaches '00'.
If you change settings just after a new minute has passed the display will not update until the next minute.
Vary occasionally, if your PC is very busy the Trader News Alerts clock may not update every second.
In this case the 'Updating News' message may remain for more than 1 minute.
When I change settings the settings window stays open
After the settings have been changed Trader News Alerts queries the Forex Factory website
and downloads all the news items.
This usually only takes a couple of seconds - however, during peak periods and when the Forex Factory
website is under heavy use it may take longer to download the information. The settings screen remains visible until
the information has been downloaded.
Once the required information has been downloaded the settings screen will be hidden and you will see the standard
information display.
Why does Trader News Alerts only work with Vista or Windows 7?
Trader News Alerts runs as a Windows gadget. This technology was introduced with Vista as the Vista
sidebar. In Windows 7 the sidebar was removed from the operating system and the gadget facility was adapted so that
gadgets can be floated anywhere on the screen.
Unfortunately, other operating systems do not support these type of gadgets.
After installing in Vista I can't see Trader News Alerts
This is likely to be because you have the Vista sidebar turned off.
To turn on the sidebar click on the 'Start' button (bottom left of screen), then select 'All Programs' ...
'Accessories' ... 'Windows Sidebar'.
This will turn on the sidebar, and you should now see any gadgets loaded in the sidebar, including
Trader News Alerts
Why has Trader News Alerts shown an alert that doesn't appear in the Forex Factory calendar?
The public data feed that Trader News Alerts uses is seperate from the calendar that
Forex Factory displays. Generally the information matches between the two.
On rare occassions where there are tentative news items that the calendar displays as occurring sometime
during a multi-day period, that news item unfortunately tends to appear in the data feed at a fairly random
time at the beginning of the period it could occur.
We suggest you keep an eye on the calendar and when a multi-day tentative item is listed, be aware that it could
appear in Trader News Alerts at an unexpected time.
I've closed Trader News Alerts - how do I get it back?
Gadgets can be left on the desktop permanently (they'll stay where they are even if the computer is rebooted).
However, if you want to close a gadget you can.
To get a gadget back onto your desktop after you've closed it is fairly simple:
Windows Vista - Make sure the Vista sidebar is running and right-click somewhere on the it.
You should get a menu which includes the option gadgets. Click on this and you will see a window showing
all the gadgets that are currently installed. Drag the Trader News Alerts gadget from this window
onto your sidebar.
Windows 7 - A very similar process to Windows Vista except that as there is no sidebar in Windows 7
you just need to right-click on an empty part of the desktop window to get the menu. Drag the gadget anywhere on
the Windows 7 desktop to display it.