Postby Dave on Mon Feb 20, 2006 5:11 pm
Recently purchased a new Toshiba Laptop with 60 Gig Hard Drive and only 128MB RAM. It came with lots of Microsoft “trial” software and I installed Wordperfect 7 (the entire suite) and it seemed to work fine at first. When I tried to create a table in a WordPerfect Document, I immediately get a message that says the program is going to close and I will probably lose all data. Any ideas? Is this just another Microsoft dirty trick or is there a simple workaround? I have attempted to remove all the Microsoft “trial” software but it will not completely go away. Instead, the Microsoft packages are still listed and show a “reinstall” option.

I do not expose this Laptop to the Internet. Much of my work is copyright sensitive and I cannot take that risk with that computer. For Internet communications, I use an old AMD Clone with a slow Modem connection.

Any ideas?

Thanks for your assistance.

Not everything is an evil plot. Most stuff is just bad testing.

I’m assuming that you have the 32-bit version of WordPerfect 7. There was also a 16-bit version–the CD or readme file will say what the system requirements were–if it says ‘Windows 3.1’ don’t attempt to run it under Windows XP.

You’re going to have to explain to Windows XP that you’re running a program that likes an older version of Windows, probably Windows 98.

First, find the icon that starts WordPerfect. Right-click, choose Properties. Click the third tab at the top, marked ‘Compatibility’. Add a check at “Run this program in compatibility mode for ” and select ‘Windows 98/Windows Me’ from the list. Add a checkmark below, at ‘Disable visual themes.’ Click OK.

Then test. If all is normal, fine. If not, try the setting for Windows 95 in the compatibility menu–WordPerfect 7 came out during the early days of Windows 95.

Jerry Stern
Moderator and Webmaster

Postby Dave on Tue Feb 21, 2006 10:26 am
Jerry:

Thanks for the prompt response. I will try your suggestions and keep you posted.

Best regards,

Dave

Postby Dave on Tue Feb 21, 2006 6:53 pm
Jerry:

No luck. I tried changing the settings to emulate Win 95 and later, Win 98, all to no avail. The software works fine for what I consider to be everyday word processing activity but every time I try to create a table, I get the instant threat from “Big Brother.”

I’m beginning to think it might have something to do with memory or the memory management Toshiba is using for this laptop. However, this was not a problem on a similarly configured desktop.

Any other ideas?

As always, thanks for trying to help.

Dave

Postby Graphcat on Wed Feb 22, 2006 9:02 am

Post the full error message, please. And the exact version number of WordPerfect–you’ll find it on the Help, About… screen. It’s probably around 6 digits.

While I could easily blame startupware (see my other site, http://www.startupware.com ), and say that Toshiba did a very bad job configuring the software, that’s actually being unkind–they’re no worse than Sony and better than most. All pre-built computers are shipped overloaded with software that conflicts with each other–that’s the revenue model; software comes free on those systems for a reason, and it’s not all as an inducement for you to buy the computer. Some is to sell you something else, like an antivirus data subscription or a web service, and some is adware or sometimes worse. In general, uninstall all the junk that you won’t use; don’t just let it sit there running in the background; it causes problems like these.

Jerry Stern
Moderator and Webmaster

Postby Dave on Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:03 pm
Jerry:

You asked for the full error message and the version of WordPerfect 7 I am using. Here goes: Appver 7.0.2.19

Error Message:
Banner across top says Corel WordPerfect Version 7 executable

Next, the body of the message states that:
Corel WordPerfect Version 7 executable has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Next, it advises: If you are in the middle of something, the information you were working on might be lost.

Then it provides a link to review the detailed information about the error.

When the link is clicked-on, it lists Appver 7.0.2.19 ModVer User 32dll and Modver 5.1.2600.2622 and finally, offset: 00002ff0c

Then it gives you the opportunity to delve into the mysterious world or programming (as I interpret it) and it also gives you a “CLOSE” button.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Dave

Postby Graphcat on Wed Feb 22, 2006 8:46 pm

Well, the error is too generic to tell me anything except that the error has something to do with a memory violation or fault, which, despite the sound of it, is not a hardware issue. It could mean that it’s crashing, simply, because it was never designed to run with NTFS drives (it wasn’t).

But the version number is old. Go here:
ftp://ftp.corel.com/pub/WordPerfect/wpwin/70/

and click on !index.txt for the description of the available patches for WP7. You’ll want either of the first or second files listed to take WP up to version 7.02.45. Both do the same thing, eventually–one patches and the other replaces the old files. The patch version is probably easier–it’s much smaller. (still 4.5 Mb)

Now here is where ancient history comes in. As I recall from 1997, the ’45’ build was required to run in Windows NT 4.0. As far as WordPerfect is concerned, that’s a LOT closer to Win XP than Windows 95.

Dave wrote:Then it gives you the opportunity to delve into the mysterious world or programming (as I interpret it) and it also gives you a “CLOSE” button.

If it’s a big set of numbers, it’s the mystic world of memory dumps, and of null value. The only thing worthwhile in those messages in the name of the ‘module’ that caused the error, in the first line.

Jerry Stern
Moderator and Webmaster

Postby Dave on Thu Feb 23, 2006 9:37 am
Jerry:

Thanks to your wisdom, I have finally been able to resolve the issue. WP7 is now functioning correctly in the “Table Mode” and I actually made a small table and printed the result just to prove it. I even did a complete shut-down and tried it again from scratch with the same positive result.

Because you suspected the problem was software related and possibly memory related, I decided to visit CNet’s download site and try to locate a free utility called Startup Mechanic. Sure enough, it was available and will easily fit on a standard IBM type floppy. I took the download on the floppy and put it into a USB floppy drive attached to the Toshiba. Then copied it to the desktop. Once it was there, when I “clicked on it” the actual installation began and took only a few seconds.

I had read the CNet reviews on this little gem and it certainly has some limitations. It can disable but not remove softare. Upon opening, it provided a nice little menu, allowed me to search the C drive and then provided 4 categories of software it had found: 1. Necessary; 2. Useful;
3. Un-necessary and finally, 4. Harmful.

Sure enough, there were about 5 harmful listings. I checked them all to be disabled, ran the program and viola! End of problem in WP7 Table Mode.

I sincerely appreciate your assistance. BTW, the Toshiba seems to run a little faster now.

All my best,

Dave

Postby Graphcat on Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:55 pm

Well, you’re welcome.

By the way, do install the WP 7 patch from the Corel FTP site; it fixes some subtle stuff.

‘Startup Mechanic’ started around 10 years back as a free utility in one of the ZiffDavis magazines. Now, there are dozens of products in the category; I use ‘HijackThis’ because it will disable just about anything, and run directly from a USB pocket drive. Handy.

Jerry Stern
Moderator and Webmaster
Author of Graphcat and FileTiger
http://www.startupware.com
http://www.filetiger.com
https://www.graphcat.com