In the ActiView software, select About ActiView > Load CFG.
Navigate to the folder called Configuring and select the CFG that matches your head caps.  For example, if you have Biosemi standard 32 channel head-caps and want the 10-20 labels to be displayed, the file you want is "10-20system32+8.cfg".
Once this CFG is loaded, go back to the Monopolar display tab in ActiView, and check the Decimation Ratio. This indirectly controls the sampling rate, being a fraction by which the AD rate defined by the speedmode (AD rate on the AD box) is multiplied.  If you are operating in speedmode 4 (2048 Hz on the AD box), then a decimation ratio of 1/4 could be used to arrive at 512 Hz sampling rate to file, for example.
After setting the Decimation Ratio, check the settings for the Filters and Reference on the left side of the Monopolar Display tab.  We recommend un-checking (turning off) both of the display filters and setting the Reference to None (Raw). This gives the operator the truest picture of the saved data as data are being recorded.
Next, verify that any auxiliary sensors you will be using have been selected in the Auxiliary Sensors tab.  It is best to select (highlight) only the sensors you will be using (or the superset of sensors you may use) so that unused sensor channels are not added to your data file.
Save a dummy data file in ActiView by selecting Start File, verifying that the right subset of EEG electrodes is selected (in the example case, A1-32), verifying that the EXG1-8 channels are being added if you want them, and selecting Add Displayed Sensors (the ones you selected before in the Auxiliary Sensors tab).
When ActiView asks for a path / file name (it may produce an error message about the default path not existing -- just click to close), navigate to the default folder for data to be saved in for this experiment (or if this CFG will serve several experiments, point to the parent folder that contains folders for various experiments) and enter a file name like this "CHANGE THIS FILE NAME AND PATH AS NEEDED".
Click Stop at the top left side of the ActiView screen to stop writing to the dummy data file.
Navigate to About ActiView > Save CFG and save the CFG file to the folder where the ActiView software executable is located. If you name this CFG as DEFAULT.CFG, it will be used automatically when ActiView opens. If you will have various CFG files for various experiments, then you should save the new CFG with a name that relates to the associated experiment, and be sure to rename the existing DEFAULT.CFG to _DEFAULT.CFG. By doing this, ActiView will force the operator to select a CFG file each time the ActiView software is opened. One important note - if the operator does not close ActiView at the end of a recording, the CFG file will still be loaded, and the next operator may not notice. For this reason, operators should be vigilant about closing ActiView at the end of a recording, and if they enter the lab to find ActiView open, they should close it, then reopen it so that it will remind them to load the correct CFG for their study.