Re: Using Compatibility Wizard

Tech-Archive recommends: Fix windows errors by optimizing your registry

Chigongman wrote:

See my comments inline:

>
> Thanks so much.

You're welcome ;-)
>
> So, can I at least take comfort in your experience, Malke, that this
> is a basic problem of running an old version of GM under XP and
> probably isn't anything wrong with my OS per se?

I don't know about "taking comfort". Remember, this isn't *my*
experience; it is the experience of an attorney client of mine and they
did *not* find that their ancient version of Goldmine worked well with
XP. They needed to upgrade. I don't know how much money or time it cost
because the Goldmine tech support people did this for the client and I
wasn't involved.

> I do occasionally get
> quote/bubble messages above the SysTray saying "Your network is now
> reconnected again" or something to that effect, usually right before
> or after GM acts up by saying it can't find the database, and I've
> been assuming/hoping that that's just a reaction to GM having its
> issues. I never have networking issues other than that.

I have no way of knowing whether the above is coming from Goldmine or
not. A wise move would be to have a local computer professional come
on-site and look at your computers and your network setup. This isn't
really something you can solve via Usenet postings. You need on-site
help and this is a cost of doing business. Naturally, the cost depends
on where you live, but it should not be very expensive to do this. Ask
yourself if your company's computing health is worth spending a few
hundred dollars (or less). Think about whether you would fritter that
amount of money away on something less important than your company's
data security.

>
> I'm really hoping GM continues to maintain its integrity through these
> glitches. It has done so thus far, to the extent that I can tell.
> Sometimes I get an endless loop of error messages saying files can't
> be found, are Read Only, are Locked, etc, and I have to close the
> program with less than elegant smoothness, but so far it has not shown
> any signs of damage/corruption. I run the Maintenance Wizard to do a
> full reindex as well as rebuild/pack/sort/verify pretty frequently,
> and I don't know if it fixes things or has nothing to fix. At least I
> know it's never said it found something it can't fix.

Databases get corrupted. This is a fact. You have been lucky. I hope you
are backing up regularly onto removable media.

>
> I'll have to do that upgrade soon, I know. For now, financial and time
> resources have to go elsewhere. This will not be a simple upgrade
> procedure.

Maybe it will be simpler than you think. Maybe it won't. See my
"penny-wise-pound-foolish" comments in the paragraph above. These are
your choices; just give some thought to what would happen if you have
to manually rebuild everything. Please don't take my comments as
"scolding" (although they are, a little, but only out of concern for
you) - it is just that I have lots of small businesses as clients and I
have seen first-hand what happens to them when their owners won't spend
a relatively small amount of money on their systems and:

1. Run old systems
2. Don't maintain the systems
3. Don't do any proper backups
4. Don't have any security/virus/etc. protection
5. Wait until there is a crisis and believe me, there *will* be a crisis
eventually.

> I'm not clear on the reason to try Virtual PC... not sure I understand
> the steps but, moreover, the reason. What if it tests out okay. Then
> what would I be doing?

Virtual PC is a program that you run on your new host machine that
enables you to create virtual machines running different operating
systems. Virtual PC "tricks" the other operating systems into thinking
they are running on a standalone machine, all by themselves. For
instance, I have a host machine running XP Pro and have virtual
machines running DOS 6.2, Win3.1, Win95, Win98SE, and OS/2. Each
virtual machine operating system is a *real* operating system,
installed just like you would on a standalone machine. The advantage is
that if there is a program that you really need that only runs under
(say) Windows 95, you can make a virtual machine of Win95 and install
that program and use it. Here's a link to Virtual PC's homepage for
more information:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
.

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