Hi John,
I must be missing something because I really don't understand the problem. And besides I need to be sure of making changes such as this, because adding "nuisance messages" will raise the ire of more than one user. You say above:
...but if the old brain cells aren't firing quickly enough, I forget to immediately reset the operating conditions in the new file before I start peaking, and the PfE does what you've programmed it to do, it changes the column back to 15 kV, and we have to then spend many minutes realigning the instrument.
But it seems to me that if you load a file setup from the previous run, you will already have the default keV set where you want it. Or just click the Read Conditions button before starting a peaking method.
As for the situation above where you've spent "many minutes aligning the instrument", and you forget to change the default keV for a new run, the easy cure is to just remember to save the column conditions to a .PCC file after performing a column alignment, so that you can recall all that effort with a couple of mouse clicks in the event that you change something accidentally later on. Just learn to save a .PCC file every time you re-align the column. I save a .PCC file after I align the column on my instrument, and also when I re-saturate the filament (at least you don't have to do that on your instrument!). Hey that reminds me, has Cameca fixed the gun problems you were having last year on your FEG?
Alternatively you could set the UseCurrentConditionsAlways keyword in the Probewin.ini file and then it will simply use the current conditions in the instrument.
I'm really not trying to be difficult, but why do we need to burden every user with such nuisance dialogs every time the keV changes? Just one example, this would be a real problem for multi voltage analysis for thin film characterization for example where the keV is constantly changing.
I think a better solution would be to attach a note to the computer screen to remind you to save the column conditions when the "old brain cells aren't firing quickly enough"...
john