SNV is a Java language program and requires that a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) be installed on your computer. The SNV installation disk ships with installers for JVMs for Windows and Linux machines. See the jre subdirectory on the installation disk. Use the appropriate installer to install a JVM on your computer. Modern Macintosh computers come with a JVM pre-installed. If the jre subdirectory on the install disk does not contain the installer you need for your environment, you can obtain the correct one from Sun's website (www.java.sun.com).

Note that starting with SNV 4.0, a recent version (1.7 release 3) or newer is required for proper operation.

On most computers, this won't happen. But sometimes the SNV Wrapper program is unable to find the JVM even if installed. This can be fixed by the following:

1. Go to Control Panel/System/Advanced System Settings
2. Click on the Environment Variables button near the bottom.
3. Create a new System Variable (the lower "New" button). Set "Variable Name" to JAVA_HOME. Set "Variable Value" to the installation directory for the Java JVM. This should be something like c:\program files\java\jre7. The drive letter and path may change if you installed it elsewhere, and "jre7" will probably change to "jreN" as time goes on and more versions of Java are released.

You should have received an email containing your license key. Copy it from the email (Edit/Copy or Control-C on Windows machines) and paste it (Control-V on Windows machines) into the SNV dialog box. These license keys are not designed for humans to be able to type in - you will be much more successful with cut and paste.

If you are completely unable to get copy and paste to work, you can attempt to type the key in by hand or you can email howard@sci1.com for a workaround.

No, SNV remembers the license key after the first time.

No problem. Simply email howard@sci1.com and ask to be sent another copy.

SNV ships with an online manual. On the menu bar, select Select Help: Help for Shield Nickel Viewer. A browser window should open with the manual.

When SNV starts up, you see a scrollable list of varieties, one per row. Left double-click any row to see photographs of that variety. Right single-click any row to see expanded information about the entry.

For those with single button mice, the equivalent of the right single-click can be performed with a single-click followed by a single-click on the box to the left labelled Show Coin.

Description of the contents of the Comments field may be found in the online manual. Open the online manual, and on the menu selections at the left, choose the one that says Comments Field. The comments are encoded to allow easy searching. As an example, to locate all minor 1872 DDOs, bring up the Filter dialog, select 1872 for the year, and type the word minor into the "Search Comments" box. Click Ok and you are presented with a list of minor 1872 DDOs.

The basic shield nickel design went through several iterations - one major change (removal of the reverse rays) and several minor changes. The hub designations tell you which design hubs were used for the variety in question, and can be an aid to attributions. In the online manual, in the menu section that says References (Links), there is a link to a complete discussion of shield nickel hubs.

On the menu bar, click on Online:D/L Updates. This will automatically update SNV data files. Do note that downloading new data files is a lengthy operation and should only be attempted if you have a broadband internet connection - it will just take too long if you use dial-up. Dial-up users may obtain updates on CD for a small fee to cover expenses.

Program updates (including manual updates) are distributed by downloading a new program installer. You will receive an email message when new program updates are available, including a link to the installer.

Starting with SNV 4.0, there is a menu item File: Relocate Data that will automate the process of moving the data from the distribution media to your hard disk. The manual procedure below is still documented in case you want more control over the process.

First, make sure you have enough room on your hard disk. In the initial release, SNV data files occupy a little more than 4 GB (gigabytes) of space. Computers sold in the last couple years should have much more space than necessary. Then, follow the steps below. These steps are for Windows machines, but it should be fairly obvious what the proper equivalents are on other platforms.

1. Make sure SNV is not running.
2. Choose a place on your hard disk to which the files will be copied. As a suggestion, copy the files to the installation directory of SNV (on Windows machines, this is C:\Program Files\SNV4 by default).
3. Open My Computer and navigate to the directory chosen in step 2.
4. Open My Computer again, and navigate to your DVD drive.
5. Drag the directory snvdata from the DVD drive to the target directory.

Start SNV. Choose File: Preferences. Locate the field labelled Browse: CD Directory. Erase the contents of the field. Locate the field labelled Browse: Data Directories. Add the directory to which you copied the SNV data to the list of directories already present, making sure that the new entry is the last entry in the list. If you followed the suggestion to copy the data to the SNV installation directory, then the correct entry to add to the list is period backslash snvdata, like this:

.\snvdata

SNV uses fixed size windows in one of two sizes, either 1024x768 or 800x600. If your screen resolution is greater than or equal to 1024x768, SNV by default will use a 1024x768 window.

If your screen resolution is exactly 1024x768 or 800x600, then SNV needs the entire display area to run. You should set your Windows Taskbar to "AutoHide".

If your screen resolution is exactly 1024x768 and you do not want to set your Windows Taskbar to "AutoHide", one of the following solutions may help you:

1. Use File / Preferences to change SNV's resolution to 800x600. This will force SNV to use a small window on your 1024x768 screen. The disadvantage is that all of your SNV photos will be smaller.
2. Try changing your screen resolution (right click on the desktop and select "Properties") to 1280x1024. The higher resolution is comfortable for most people on 19 inch monitors or bigger.

If your screen resolution is exactly 800x600 and you are unwilling to increase it to 1024x768, then setting your Windows Taskbar to "AutoHide" is the only solution.

SNV is too much fun - why would you want to uninstall it? On Windows to uninstall SNV go to Start / Control Panel / Add or Remove Programs. Select SNV from the list of uninstallable programs.

On platforms other than Windows you can simply delete the installation directory for SNV.

Windows Only: After I get SNV running and I try to change something in the preferences, I get an I/O error when I try to save the changes.

This is a result of Microsoft's friggin' UAC, introduced on Vista (where it really sucks) and continued on Windows 7 (where it seems less obnoxious). You can get around it in one of two ways:

1. Turn of UAC completely (it's in the System Control Panel). This is what I wound up doing on Vista.
2. Go to the install directory for SNV, right click on snv.exe, select Properties. Select the Compatibility tab. Near the bottom, under Privilege Level, check the box that says Run this Program as an Administrator.