Previous Page

Welcome to Impulse

 1 Next Page


Explore tab - browse for great deals on software.

Impulse is Stardock's new state of the art digital distribution platform. Impulse allows you to quickly and easily find your favorite game or software and download it automatically to your PC. Through the Impulse store you can browse hundreds of software titles from various companies, including Stardock. No more hunting for an update you heard is out, Impulse monitors software you purchased for new updates and notifies you. Not only that, you can download the update (patch) through Impulse, saving you time from finding a download site with a free, fast connection and without hassles.

Impulse is not just a store, but includes start-of-the-art community features, that allow you to find friends for gaming, chatting, blogging, message forums, view rankings, achievements, and much more! This manual will explain everything you wanted to know about Impulse and more.

Features of Impulse

  • Register software & view registration information in one place.
  • Receive notification of software updates, and perform updates at the click of a button.
  • Quick access to run programs (i.e. games, desktop applications, utilities) from within Impulse.
  • Impulse does not need to run to play single player games or run software.
  • Keep up on the latest news from Stardock.
  • View the online store, browse titles, email a friend about a good program, create a wish list and buy software.
  • Participate in the Impulse community though: blogs, forums, friends list, chat, and more.
  • Create a Friends List to keep in touch with what your friends are doing.
  • Play games on any PC by using your Impulse logon, as long as Impulse is on the computer.
  • Find hosted games to play.
  • View achievements and game rankings.
  • Update video drivers for ATI & NVIDEA video cards.
  • Available free through Impulse: the Impulse Dock, which lets you organize all of your programs together regardless of where they came from.
  • Fast Downloads.

System Requirements

  • Windows XP (32-bit) or Windows Vista (32-bit or 64-bit).
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0.
  • Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0.
  • Athlon/Pentium III (1GHz or higher).
  • 512 MB RAM.
  • 1 GB HD space recommended.
  • Internet connectivity to download, install and activate software.
  • Impulse (Stardock.net, WinCustomize.com or GalCiv2.com) account (free to create, if you do not have one.)

Upgrading from Previous Versions

If you still have Stardock Central (or SDC) on your computer, you should consider installing Impulse since it is the newer digital distribution tool. You can easily move from SDC to Impulse, as all of your registration information will be added to Impulse automatically. Also, Impulse offers many more features over SDC and will continue to grow in the future. You can run both SDC & Impulse on the same computer, if you prefer. Then when you feel comfortable with Impulse, uninstall SDC and use Impulse solely.

Updates

Impulse is self-aware and will automatically check for updates and prompt you for permission to download & install new updates. This is configurable in Preferences.

Location of Impulse

Impulse is stored on your computer in the folder:
Windows Vista (32 bit):  C:\Program Files\Stardock\Impulse
Windows Vista (64 bit): C:\Program Files (x86)\Stardock\Impulse
Windows XP (32 bit):  C:\Program Files\Stardock\Impulse

Support

Please contact Stardock Support at: www.stardock.com/support.   On that page you will find helpful FAQs and other troubleshooting information.  If you are unable to resolve your issue, please click the “eSupport System" link (or go to http://esupport.stardock.com) to open a support ticket to resolve your problem.  Please include as much information about your computer (i.e. version of Windows, type of computer, etc.) along with the version of Impulse found on the About page under Help. This will allow Support to diagnose your issue much quicker and allow for a faster response.

Resources

" Impulse: Road Map" by Frogboy (Brad Wardell, Stardock, CEO/Founder), April 7, 2009.
(http://frogboy.impulsedriven.com/article/345381/Impulse_Road_Map)
" Impulse Phase 3 Support Thread" by Zargon0225 (Stardock, Director of Software Development), April 6, 2009.
(http://zargon.impulsedriven.net/article/345331/Impulse_Phase_3_Support_Thread)
"Do you really want Steam to be your only option? Are you sure?" by Frogboy, February 9, 2009.
(http://frogboy.impulsedriven.net/article/339313/Do_you_really_want_Steam_to_be_your_only_option_Are_you_sure)
Impulse Driven - home page.
(http://www.impulsedriven.com)
Impulse Anywhere - access software you purchased from your browser.
(http://anywhere.impulsedriven.com)
Impulse Affiliate Program - earn a sales commission by putting a custom link on your web site.
(http://www.impulsedriven.com/affiliates.aspx)

Impulse Reactor for PC Digital Distribution of software.
(http://www.impulsedriven.com/developers.aspx)

Documentation

The version of this manual is 3.0 (4-24-09) and is based on Impulse (version 3.21.372 (phase 3)).  This manual was written and is maintained by Jim Kennedy (TheProf).  Please email comments or corrections regarding this documentation to: documentation@stardock.com.

Note: In this manual, the term "default" is used to tell you that a setting was checked or unchecked (in the case of a check box) when Impulse was first installed (the default setting). These default settings are what most people prefer, however you can change these settings to suit your needs.


Previous Page Next Page