Windows Help and Support

Hi

I recently did a major upgrade on my PC and decided to move on to Windows 7 64 bit. Probably the biggest mistake that I ever made. I only went for this because I needed my PC to handle lots of memory. If Windows XP had the ability to address more than 3Gb, then I wouldn't have had any problems.
However, I've got 8Gb on this installation now and Windows 7 installed flawlessly. Equally flawlessly, it allowed me to set it up with a sensible desktop that was close to my old XP desktop. Also, the Virtual XP machine set up without a hitch.
Sadly, the problem is with UAC. I've managed to pick up a fair few tips and have got most things working now. Older programs that are not compatible running in the Virtual XP etc. However, that's where the good bits end.
My PC is a base for Flight Simulator, both FS2004 and FSX. I've got FS2004 and it's add-ons installed and working without any problems, but the problem is with trying to activate FSX. Try as I may, it will not activate on line and when I click the 'Activate over telephone' option, it just gives me an error message.
Next problem is my Corel Draw 7. I've used this for years with no problems, so installed into Windows 7 with no problems. However, when I open the program, up comes a "Windows Help and Support" window that insists on telling me that the help for the program was designed for an older OS and would not work here. Fine, I don't need to use the help anyway, but this annoying window won't go away, leaving me unable to use the program and Windows 7 won't tell me how to get rid of the annoying window.
Sorry Microsoft, this just isn't good enough.

Just FYI there is a Windows XP 64-bit which should have been able to handle your RAM though it would still make it impossible to run any older 16-bit programs w/o a Virtual machine but anyway ... now you have W7.

Only suggestions I can think of for FSX: Make sure you are logged in as an Administrator, Disable UAC (set it to the minimum). Right-click on FSX's exe and set it to run in XP SP3 compatibility mode and do the same for any other exe's it may call (may be easiest to do this for all the exe's in the folder). I can't find any issues with activation though I did read THIS article that FSX may lock up while running sometimes.

As for the Help file, try installing Winhlp32. Get the appropriate version from Microsoft HERE.

To be honest it sounds like you are a lot further along than I was when I first switched. It is a big difference and can be quite frustrating but in a few months it will be much easier.

Thanks for your info. I have a Windows 7 expert at work who talks me through the finer UAC points, so it's not all down to my own knowledge. I have all .exe's set to run in compatability mode for XP and run as administrator. I was also advised to install things that I may need to edit into a directory of my own, not a system folder like Program files. I discovered that much for myself with FS2004, when attempting to edit my .cfg files. Whilst installed in the Program Files area, Win 7 wouldn't let me edit and save them.
I have already had FSX installed, activated and running well, then I bought Accellerate and installed that, which also needed activating. Problem with Accelleration is that it's not compatible with some other FSX addons, so I decided to uninstall it. FSX didn't run properly after that, so I uninstalled FSX and installed it again. Again it activated OK. Then following the advice about the installation directory, I uninstalled it again and put it on a different partition, into a top level directory called Microsoft Games, that houses both FS2004 and FSX. Since that time, FSX will not activate over the internet and if I click on the Activate over telephone button, I get an error message saying that FSX may not be installed correctly or any number of any other things. I uninstalled it again last night, which Win 7 doesn't do properly, because it leaves the directory and all files intact, even though it says that it has uninstalled it. I also needed to delve into the registry and remove it's entries from there, which Win 7 is supposed to do, but doesn't. Win 7 is the last straw. I've found a brilliant sim for the Mac, so I'm going over to a Mac. I've used one before, alongside a Windows PC and whilst everything that happens on a Windows PC, Windows blames something else, anything but itself, which is usually the source of the problem, but the Mac carries on with absolutely no problems at all.
I will now have one last attempt at installing and activating FSX again. If it doesn't work this time, it's off for good. It's nowhere near as good as FS2004 with all of the available addons for that. FS2004 performs like watching a movie, it's so smooth in it's action.

Windows 7 doesn't write the uninstall routine, it merely runs what your game provided; both are written by Microsoft but not likely the same department or people. Also, it sounds like you may have introduced problems by installing so many times and to multiple locations and then digging around in the registry; to be fair you can't blame all that on W7.

Yes it is a good idea to use a folder like \Games rather than \program files

It may be a good idea to try an uninstall utility like REVO uninstaller and CCleaner to try and clean up but at this point a reinstall of your OS might be easiest and then just install it correctly to a games folder right off.

Just to be clear a MAC has total control over all the hardware in their machines so it doesn't have near the 10s of thousands of various drivers that all have to work together like a PC does. Good luck to you on your PC or your MAC, whichever works best for you.

Excellent comment re the Mac. If the PC had stayed in IBMs hands instead of all the IBM compatible, then so-called "Windows" PCs, we probably wouldn't have the compatability problems that we have now. I agree that Microsoft do have a nightmare of a job on their hands in trying to make their operating systems work with thounsands of possible combinations of hardware. Not an easy task at all and as someone who writes software, I certainly know the problems encountered there.
Last night, my main PC wouldn't even read the FSX DVDs any more, just kept thrashing them around in the drive. I had to try several other programs in the drive, just to reassure myself that the machine hadn't thrown a wobbly.
Anyway, today was taken up by installing FSX on two other PCs that I have at my disposal, one running XP SP3 and the other running Windows 7 Professional SP1. I installed FSX on both machines and successfully went through the Activate process for both on line and telephone activation. (didn't actually activate by phone, but at least this brought up the telephone activation screen to give me that option).
On the XP machine I uninstalled and reinstalled three times. Clearing out the debris left in the registry each time and it continued to install and activate correctly.
On the Windows 7 machine, I uninstalled it and reinstalled it, but it wouldn't let me activate it. I didn't even touch the registry on that machine.
The proof is there that it is Windows 7 that is preventing the reinstallation.
The attempt to reinstall on the Windows 7 machine gave me the message that the program had failed to install correctly, with the error number 1772. I've seen this error number on other forums when I've been searching for answers, so I'm going to concentrate now on finding out what that means and what is the workaround, without having to reinstall Windows 7 again.
Edit:
Forgot to mention that I went on MS support phoneline and the guy that I spoke to wouldn't listen to what I was trying to explain to him. He just kept telling me to take the faulty discs back to the dealer that I bought them from. They are not faulty discs though as today proved.
I've just googled the error number and came up with one forum listing and found this entry part way down and I quote:

" We also received this error upon installing.
After 4 hours on the chat with Dell to no avail, I called Microsoft. They said They were getting HUNDREDS of calls about this error and are working on a patch for it.
They state it is a totally random thing that could happen on the initial install or any time thereafter. Ours occurred after we installed a larger ramm card. The game worked fine but the multiplayer option and music disappeared. We uninstalled everything, then reinstalled and that's when the error hit. Very frustrting to say the least!
And they have no clue as to when they will have the patch available. "

So all I can say is, come on Microsoft and get your collective fingers out. I know that MS is currently working on releasing Windows 8 pretty soon. Doesn't give one much confidence when they have to replace an OS so quickly, just like Millennium and Vista. No wonder our workplace IT guys won't even think of using it.

It's not Microsoft's job to make sure their Operating System works with all hardware.
It maybe Microsoft's job to make sure that Hardware Manufacturers can write stable drivers for their Operating System.
It's the Hardware Manufacturers responsibility, to build hardware and write drivers that work with the Operating System.

My opinion is this leaves the door open to new possibilities without seeking approval from Microsoft first.

I agree that it's not Microsoft's job to make sure that their software works with all hardware, but they do a heck of a lot of compatability testing to make sure that it does.
However, when I buy a Microsoft product, I don't expect the operating system to decide how many times that I can install, uninstall and re-install my programs. It did something to the disk at one of the attempts to reinstall and now when it does install, it does so without installing a product ID and without that I can't go through Microsoft's helpline process as that requires me to enter the product ID. When I attempt to activate FSX, it gives the excuse that the program didn't install properly, yet the game works flawlessly. The only thing not done properly is that it prevented the installation from installing the product ID on the computer. That is totally out of order and as I said, it's not up to Microsoft to decide how many times that I can re-install my products. The only way that is open to me to resolve this issue now is by paid for support. I do not accept that I should have to pay to make my software work again when it cost so much to buy in the first place.