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Autosave is a saving function in many computer applications and video games which automatically saves the current changes or progress in the program or game, intending to prevent data loss should the user be otherwise prevented from doing so manually by a crash, freeze or user error. Autosaving is typically done either in predetermined intervals or before, during, and after a complex editing task is begun.
It has traditionally been seen as a feature to protect documents in an application or system failure (crash), and autosave backups are often purged whenever the user finishes their work. An alternative paradigm is to have all changes saved continuously (as with pen and paper) and all versions of a document available for review. This would remove the need for saving documents entirely. [1] There are challenges to implementation at the file, application and operating system levels. [2]
For example, in Microsoft Office, this option is called AutoRecover and, by default, saves the document every ten minutes in the temporary file directory. Restarting an Office program after crashing prompts the user to save the last recovered version. However, this does not protect users who mistakenly click "No" when asked to save their changes if Excel closes normally (except for Office 2013 and later). Autosave also syncs documents to OneDrive when editing normally. [3]
Mac OS 10.7 Lion added an autosave feature that is available to some applications, and works in conjunction with Time Machine-like functionality to periodically save all versions of a document. This eliminates the need for any manual saving, as well as providing versioning support through the same system. A version is saved every five minutes, during any extended periods of idle time, or when the user uses "Save a version," which replaces the former "Save" menu item and takes its Command-S shortcut. Saves are made on snapshots of the document data and occur in a separate thread, so the user is never paused during this process. [4] Applications need to be updated to take advantage of this functionality, and a number of Apple's built-in programs were updated with the release. Autosave cannot be disabled in Lion.
One of the first implementation of this feature appears in the text editor Elvis.[ citation needed ]
Autosave is common in video games. Many video games have an autosave feature that saves progress during a session. For example, in an adventure game, it may autosave after completing a level or mission, or in fighting games, it might save after winning a match. Such points are called savepoints; sometimes the distinction from a checkpoint is blurred. Some games use autosave as the only method of saving data, and the player must complete a set amount of the game before saving takes place. Still another use of autosaving is as an anti-cheating device; for example, in every Mega Man Battle Network sequel, the chip trader machines autosave upon giving out a new battle chip so the player can't cheat by soft resetting after each try of the chip trader until the desired chip is received. A more serious downside of autosaving is that it can prevent the player from completing a game if a save operation fails due to a sudden cessation of game operation, whether by a crash, freeze, or power loss of the gaming system (resulting in the save file being corrupted), or if a successful autosave preserves the effects of a game-breaking bug or a player mistake (such as making a wrong decision in a game with multiple endings or losing a critical character permanently) that otherwise renders the game unwinnable.
MAME is a free and open-source emulator designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. Its intention is to preserve gaming history by preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten. It does this by emulating the inner workings of the emulated arcade machines; the ability to actually play the games is considered "a nice side effect". Joystiq has listed MAME as an application that every Windows and Mac gamer should have.
The Multiface was a hardware peripheral released by Romantic Robot for several 1980s home computers. The primary function of the device was to dump the computer's memory to external storage. Pressing a red button on the Multiface activated it. As most games of the era did not have a save game feature, the Multiface allowed players to save their position by saving a loadable snapshot of the game. Home computer software of the early 1980s was typically loaded into RAM in one go, with copy protection measures concentrating the loading phase or just after it. The snapshot feature could be used after copy protection routines had been executed, to create a backup that was effectively unprotected against unauthorised distribution. Later models of the Multiface mitigated this by requiring the device to be present when re-loading the dumps into memory, making the dumps useless to people without a Multiface. Software producers also reacted to the threat by using routines that would prevent execution of the product if it detected that a Multiface was present and by loading the software in multiple parts, thus requiring the presence of the original, copy-protected media.
Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy prevention and copy restriction, describes measures to enforce copyright by preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media.
Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless is an application development platform created by Qualcomm, originally for code division multiple access (CDMA) mobile phones, featuring third-party applications such as mobile games. It is offered in some feature phones but not in smartphones. First developed in 1999, as a platform for wireless applications on CDMA-based mobile phones, it debuted in September 2001. As a software platform that can download and run small programs for playing games, sending messages, and sharing photos, the main advantage of Brew MP is that the application developers can easily port their applications among all Brew MP devices by providing a standardized set of application programming interfaces. Software for Brew MP enabled handsets can be developed in C or C++ using the freely downloadable Brew MP software development kit (SDK). The BREW runtime library is part of the wireless device on-chip firmware or operating system to allow programmers to develop applications without needing to code for system interface or understand wireless applications. BREW is described as a pseudo operating system, but not a true mobile operating system. BREW is not a virtual machine such as Java ME, but it runs a native code.
Cheating in online games is the subversion of the rules or mechanics of online video games to gain an unfair advantage over other players, generally with the use of third-party software. What constitutes cheating is dependent on the game in question, its rules, and consensus opinion as to whether a particular activity is considered to be cheating.
A saved game is a piece of digitally stored information about the progress of a player in a video game.
In many video games of the 1980s and 1990s, passwords are used to select a starting level, or to restore the game to a particular state visited in a previous playthrough. Such passwords are given to the player when a level is beaten, or when all continues are used. Overlapping in many ways with cheat codes, passwords are distinguished from codes in that they are revealed to the player outright rather than hidden within the game code, and using them is generally not considered cheating. They are rarely used today, having been largely supplanted by saved games.
Undo is an interaction technique which is implemented in many computer programs. It erases the last change done to the document, reverting it to an older state. In some more advanced programs, such as graphic processing, undo will negate the last command done to the file being edited. With the possibility of undo, users can explore and work without fear of making mistakes, because they can easily be undone.
AutoRun and the companion feature AutoPlay are components of the Microsoft Windows operating system that dictate what actions the system takes when a drive is mounted.
HD Loader is a program for the PlayStation 2 video game console which allows users to play games installed on the optional hard drive peripheral via PlayStation 2 Network Adaptor. The games can be copied to the hard drive from within the program, or by using a computer with image dumping software that outputs to a specific custom format.
In computing, a virtual folder generally denotes an organizing principle for files that is not dependent on location in a hierarchical directory tree. Instead, it consists of software that coalesces results from a data store, which may be a database or a custom index, and presents them visually in the format in which folder views are presented. A virtual folder can be thought of as a view that lists all files tagged with a certain tag, and thus a simulation of a folder whose dynamic contents can be assembled on the fly, when requested. It is related in concept to several other topics in computer science, with names including saved search, saved query, and filtering.
In the X Window System, an X session manager is a session management program, a program that can save and restore the current state of a set of running applications, including window manager.
In computer science, persistence refers to the characteristic of state of a system that outlives the process that created it. This is achieved in practice by storing the state as data in computer data storage. Programs have to transfer data to and from storage devices and have to provide mappings from the native programming-language data structures to the storage device data structures.
Workbench is the desktop environment and graphical file manager of AmigaOS developed by Commodore International for their Amiga line of computers. Workbench provides the user with a graphical interface to work with file systems and launch applications. It uses a workbench metaphor for representing file system organisation.
Cheating in video games involves a video game player using various methods to create an advantage beyond normal gameplay, usually in order to make the game easier. Cheats may be activated from within the game itself, or created by third-party software or hardware. They can also be realized by exploiting software bugs; this may or may not be considered cheating based on whether the bug is considered common knowledge.
A roaming user profile is a file synchronization concept in the Windows NT family of operating systems that allows users with a computer joined to a Windows domain to log on to any computer on the same domain and access their documents and have a consistent desktop experience, such as applications remembering toolbar positions and preferences, or the desktop appearance staying the same, while keeping all related files stored locally, to not continuously depend on a fast and reliable network connection to a file server.
A video game console emulator is a type of emulator that allows a computing device to emulate a video game console's hardware and play its games on the emulating platform. More often than not, emulators carry additional features that surpass the limitations of the original hardware, such as broader controller compatibility, timescale control, greater performance, clearer quality, easier access to memory modifications, one-click cheat codes, and unlocking of gameplay features. Emulators are also a useful tool in the development process of homebrew demos and the creation of new games for older, discontinued, or rare consoles.
In computing, ".bak" is a filename extension commonly used to signify a backup copy of a file.
OS X Lion, also known as Mac OS X Lion, is the eighth major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Mac computers.