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FAQs — Frequently Asked Questions

for Sun.exe, the Windows app

This FAQ page is about the Sun.exe application, also called the Sunrise Sunset Calculator, for use on Windows computers (95/98/2000/XP/Vista/7/8/10). The Sun.exe application is a program that runs in the background, i.e. there is usually no visible window, and it puts a small sun icon in the 'Notification Area' by the system clock. You can see more information about it and download it on the Sun page.




Q: I clicked on Sun.exe or the “zipped version”, but nothing happened. What do I do?

A: To extract the Sun.exe program from a .zip file, simply double-click on Sun.zip. Then you can select Sun.exe and Copy-and-paste it to another folder or your desktop.

When you double-click on Sun.exe the program will place an icon in the “Notification Area,” this is the icon area near the clock in the Taskbar. If you have the Taskbar on auto-hide you will need to mouse to it to see the new icon. When you restart your computer, the Sun icon will not be there unless you put it in your Startup folder, see the next question to find out how to do this.


Q: When I run it on Windows 8 the city list is empty. How can I fix this?

A: Log in using an administrator account and run the program. That will put the cities in the “protected” area of Windows 8. You can then log back in using a normal user account and the city list will be populated.


Q: I would like the Sun.exe program to start up automatically, how do I do this?

A: Add it to your Startup folder.

For Windows 10: Wherever you have the “Sun.exe” file, right-click on it and select “Cut.” On the keyboard, press the Windows key and R— ⊞ Win+R —this will open the Run window. In the “Open:” text box, type shell:startup and press enter. In the right pane, right-click in an empty area and select “Paste.”

For Windows 7: Wherever you have the “Sun.exe” file, right-click on it and select “Cut.” Left-click on the “Start” button (with the little Flying Windows Flag icon) and left-click on “All Programs.” Find the “Startup” folder icon, right-click on it and select Explore. In the right pane, right-click in the empty area and select “Paste.”

For other Windows versions: Wherever you have the “Sun.exe” file, right-click on it and select “Cut.” Right-click on the “Start” button (with the little Flying Windows Flag icon) and choose “Explore.” Open the “Programs” folder under the “Start Menu” icon and select the “Startup” icon. Right-click on “Startup” and select “Paste.”

The “Sun.exe” file should now be in the “Startup” folder (look in the right pane) and it will start each time you log on to your computer. You may need to repeat this if you have multiple users on the same computer. You can also leave the Sun.exe in one location on your computer, make a shortcut (choose Create shortcut after right-clicking on Sun.exe), and copy-and-paste or move the shortcut into the Startup folder(s).


Q: How can I uninstall the Sun program?

A: The Sun.exe does not have an install/uninstall program, all you have to do is find the Sun.exe file and delete it.

If you have added a shortcut to it in your Startup folder you should delete that.

You may also wish to remove the registry entries at (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ SunriseSunset.com \ Sunrise-Sunset \ ver 1.0) and (per user, HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ SunriseSunset.com \ Sunrise-Sunset \ ver1.0), but it will not harm anything by leaving them.


Q: The city list for the Sun.exe program is empty. How can I see them? Also, I cannot edit my Custom Location.

A: The program needs to write to an area of the registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, see next question) that usually only administrators are allowed to update.

For Windows 10: Wherever you have the Sun.exe file, right click on it and choose “Run as administrator.” This will write the city list to the registry. You will also need to “Run as administrator” whenever you want to update the Custom Location. For normal use, run the program by double-clicking on Sun.exe or have it run via the Startup folder.

For earlier Windows versions: Run the program once while logged on with an administrator account and have your User Account Control settings set to allow updating, the lists will be written and then you can log back on with an account that does not have these privileges. You will still need to log on as an administrator to update the Custom Location.

Generally, a user should be able to set their own personal preferences such as Custom Location, but the program was designed to store that city in the restricted area of the registry. Currently, no updates to the program are planned.


Q: Is there any way to save more than one Custom Location in the Sun.exe program?

A: Not through the program, but if you don't mind editing the Windows registry you can adjust the city lists.

Start the registry editor (Start button, Run..., type regedit, click OK) and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ SunriseSunset.com \ Sunrise-Sunset \ ver 1.0 \ Cities. You will find four entries there, choose the folder icon of the list you wish to edit (don't choose Custom, see below) and the cities will appear in the right pane. To add a new city, select Edit from the menu, then New, then String Value. A new item will appear in the list in the right pane, simply type the name of your new city and press enter. You now need to give it the lat/long information, double-click on your new city and in the dialog box enter the latitude, a comma, the longitude, a comma, the time zone number, and a comma then a 1.

The time zone number is -5 for Eastern, -6 for Central, -7 for Mountain and -8 for Pacific. Longitude is positive for west of GMT, negative for east, latitude is positive for north and negative for south. Both numbers should be entered as a decimal number with an optional decimal point.

Your new city will show up in the list the next time the Sun program is started, but it may not be in sorted order, just search the list and you will find it. A simple way to search the list is by pressing the first letter of your city repeatedly until it shows up.

Don't enter too many new cities, the program can only handle 200 total. The number of cities it comes with automatically is 133: 76 U.S., 14 Canadian, 42 international and 1 custom, so unless you delete any of the original cities, you can add 67 of your own.

Note: The program will only read in the first custom city, no matter how many are entered in that folder, so just leave the Custom folder alone.


Q: Has the Sun.exe application been updated for changes of the rules for daylight saving time in the USA, Canada and any other countries?

A: The Sun.exe application, asks Windows for your current DST setting, so if your Windows setting is okay then the Sun.exe times should be correct. You may need to restart your computer or stop and restart Sun.exe if the DST has changed recently.

To check your current setting, double-click on the clock in your Taskbar. Make sure you have the correct time zone selected and, very important for the Sun.exe application, have the checkbox "Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes" checked or not-checked depending on whether your location observes DST or not. Don't try to set the GMT ahead by one hour from where you really are and then expect the program to calculate correct times.

If your question is about the web site, www.SunriseSunset.com, see the rules used on this web site and how DST is shown on the calendar.


Q: Why does Sun.exe display “directly overhead” instead of “solar noon?”

A: The Sun.exe application is wrong. It should say “solar noon.” Currently, there are no plans to update this application.


Q: Do you have an Android, Mac, iPad, iPhone or iPod version of the Windows Sunrise Sunset Calculator?

A: Yes, we have an iOS app for iPhones and iPads. Download it using the Apple App Store graphic (above) or visit the Sun Calendar page on EdwardsApps.com for more information.

For Android users or owners of other handhelds, we have a mobile page for devices with smaller displays. If your handheld has GPS, it may be able to automatically enter your latitude and longitude. A full month calendar can be created using our web pages.

We currently do not have plans to develop an app for Android devices.


Q: I was wondering if you could make the sunrise, sunset times available for other PDAs or computers?

A: Please try our mobile page. If your device has GPS, it may be able to automatically enter your latitude and longitude.

A full month calendar can be created using our web pages.


Q: Do you know of anything that I could put on my Windows toolbar regarding moonrise and moonset times along with phases of the moon?

A: Search the internet for Lunabar.

 

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