Running a 16-bit program in Windows 7

[Dave Davison]

[Quote from post 131151] I felt the same as BobH did about Win XP, when Win 7 came out but I arranged to have the system dual boot so I could go back and forth until I got used to using Win 7. I still have XP dual booting with 7 but rarely go into the XP O\S at all. At one point, I was triple booting with XP, 7 and Vista but after a while, gladly gave Vista the boot. ( pun intended ) So go ahead and make the big jump to 7. You'll learn to love it and of course, we are here in the Lounge to give you aid and assistance if necessary.

Hi again............here I am on the other side of the grave of XP and [as expected] already have -at least- one major regret as it seems W7 cannot cope with a Bibe Study program I have used constantly for the past 12 years. My only options are - as far as I can presently see through the fog- are three-fold. (i) To purchase the lastest software from the makers of the prog which, at the last enquiry, would knock me back some £200 which rules out going down that road.
(ii) Run one of the two old laptops at the same time as the desktop seeing they have the XO OS but that would prove an inconvenience as I often copy and paste paragraphs into my notes & there is little room on my desk to start with.
(iii) Maybe venture down the road explained in post 131151 by Bob but that would (for me) mean taking the computer back to the shop as I don't have the XP installation discs besides, even if I did I have never tackled that chore. SO! BOB.... maybe you can endeavour to enlighten me about the third option which could well save the day for me. Regards Dave.

[HansV]

Hi Dave,

Congrats on moving on to Windows 7.
Have you tried setting compatibility mode for the program? Right-click the program icon or the shortcut to the program, and select Properties from the context menu. Activate the Compatibility tab, tick the check box and select Windows XP (Service Pack 3) from the dropdown list. Then click OK.

[viking33]

Dave, This is just one site that explains dual boot with an existing Win 7 O/S. Step by step.
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/8790/dua ... r-with-xp/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Just Google dual boot XP and WIndows 7 and you'll get many more to check out.
It IS really convenient when you have an app that doesn't like WIn 7.
You can also try to run your app in "compatibility mode" under Win 7. Many older progs will run fine using that mode.

To run the Program Compatibility troubleshooter

Open the Program Compatibility troubleshooter by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, and then clicking Control Panel. In the search box, type troubleshooter, and then click Troubleshooting. Under Programs, click Run programs made for previous versions of Windows.

Follow the instructions in the troubleshooter.

If you cannot install a program, insert the installation disc for the program and, using the troubleshooter, browse to the program's setup file, usually called Setup.exe, Install.exe, or something similar. The troubleshooter is not designed to work on programs that have an .msi file name extension.
Tip

You can also open the Program Compatibility troubleshooter by right-clicking a program's icon or shortcut and then clicking Troubleshoot compatibility.

[Dave Davison]

Many thanks for the directions; I inserted the disc but got the message as shown in the attachment, sort of like hitting a brick wall unless there is some other way unknown to me? Thanks Dave.

[StuartR]

I wonder why this computer is running a 64 bit version of Windows. How much memory do you have? If it is 4GB or less then you would be better off running 32 bit windows.

[HansV]

OK, I see: it's a 16-bit application that far predates Windows XP: the application is 16-bit, while Windows XP was 32-bit. I fear it'll be very difficult, if not impossible, to get it to run on 64-bit Windows 7.
Perhaps dual-booting Windows XP and Windows 7, as mentioned by viking33, would be a solution for you.

[Dave Davison]

The issue of 64 bits means absolutely nothing to me and as for the memory it currently has 2GB with 2more on order. Is the Dual Boot Hans, really an option for me if so is it something the techie will have to do as I know absolutely nothing about the innards or settings so stay well away from them as my ok old Dad used to say "A little knowledge can be dangerous" or in this case costly & troublesome. [I sure would love to get the said software back into harness.] Cheers Dave.

[HansV]

The above sequence of threads was split off from Transfering pics from camera since they are no longer about transferring pictures from a camera, but about Windows 7.

[stuck]

A bit of background on 'bits', grossly over simplified but enough for this context.

When you, as a proficient reader, read a book your brain won't be seeing and processing each individual letter, converting them to words, assembling the words in to a sentence, which then makes sense. Your brain will be taking in whole chunks of text in one go and working out the meaning all in one go. A child starting to learn to read though might sound out each letter before grasping the word and building a sentence that finally makes sense.

In the same way, when PCs were young they read data in small chunks, 16 bits at a time. As they got better and faster they were able to read data in bigger chunks, 32 bits at a time. To take advantage of this increase in performance, code written in 16 bit chunks either could be re-written in 32 bit chunks or the PC could be told how to handle the 16 bit code in such a way that it would not get scrambled as it was processed in 32 bit chunks. This was the world of XP. It could handle 16 bit code but its native working mode was 32 bit.

By the time Win 7 arrived PCs had grown up a bit more and could handle code in even bigger chunks, 64 bits at a time but as previously they could still handle 32 bit applications because they were told how to handle this 'simpler' style of code. BUT no one ever told them how to process 16 bit code in a way that would make sense when it was handled in 64 bit chunks. Why not? Because by this time 16 bit code was ancient history and 'no one' was using it any more so it was never going to be cost effective to write something to handle 16 bit code in a 64 bit environment. Clearly this idea of 'no one' still using 16 bit software' is not true. There are lots of legacy applications out there that lots of people use regularly but while 'lots of people' is a sizeable number, it's not enough to pass the bean-counter's requirement to make a profit from them.

Which is why even though your Bible Study program is still useful to you and does work on a 32 bit XP system it is never going to work on a 64 bit Win 7 system. If you can't afford the latest version on the application then the two options you outlined:

...
(ii) Run one of the two old laptops at the same time...
(iii) Maybe venture down the road explained in post 131151 by Bob...

are the only choices you have.

Both of these will be inconvenient but, given dual-boot is a whole new world for you, I would suggest you will find it will be less hassle for you to go with option (ii) and use one of you old laptops for the Bible Study program. Your workflow would then go something like:
Boot old laptop, use Bible Study application, copy & paste into notes, save notes to the laptop's 'Shared Documents' folder and/or print notes.

If you need to read/edit notes on the new desktop PC, either at the same time you are using the Bible Study program or subsequently, then boot the desktop PC as well and then, as long as you saved the notes to the laptop's 'Shared Documents' folder (and the laptop is running) you can open the notes stored on the laptop from the desktop PC **see also footnote**. I appreciate you said space was tight but a laptop is portable, you can easily move it to one side when you want to switch to using the desktop PC.

Dual-booting does not mean the desktop PC can run XP and Win 7 at the same time. Dual booting means you must choose which OS you want when you boot and it runs that OS until the next time you boot, when you get the choice once again. In other words, you any notes made while you are running XP and using the Bible Study program will not be accessible until you reboot and choose Win 7 as the OS.

**footnote**
This assumes both your old laptop and the desktop PC are both connected to your router. There can be 'issues' with an XP machine and a Win 7 machine 'seeing' each other on a home network but these are straightforward to overcome. However, any such problems can be dealt with in a separate thread if they crop up.

Ken

[Dave Davison]

Many thanks for the comprehensive replies, doesn't look practical to go down the dual boot route or even have both computers plugged into the modem at the same time (though I might just try that, simply out of curiosity) as the amount of times I copy and paste passages from the software need not to be as frequent as usual and I can use a memory stick if needed. Not the ideal practice but it'll do for the time being. There are numerous other freatures of W7 which I find rather irksome if not annoying but maybe I should reserve them for the W7 section. In my opinion (for what it's worth) the brains at Microsoft -instread of seeking to make things easier when devising a new OS, rather complicate (or leave out) functions that were very simple but extremely convenient. As I said maybe I'll touch on some of them in the approriate section and see what feed back I get. Regards dave.

[stuck]

...have both computers plugged into the modem at the same time...

It is practical to have the desktop and the old laptop both connected to the router at the same time. That's one of the benefits (main point even) of a network, it allows you to share stuff between machines.

Does the old laptop not automatically connect to the router when it boots, i.e. does it have built in wifi? If so you're already more than halfway there. If not, does it have a socket for a network cable? In which case use that to connect the old laptop to your router and once again you're more than halfway there.

Only if the answer to both of those question is no will you have to resort to using a USB stick to transfer data from the old laptop to the desktop PC and vice versa.

Ken
PS In my house there can be as many as six or seven devices (a mix of desktop, laptops and smartphones) connected to my router by either cable or wifi all that the same time. I'm sure others here will have even more extensive home networks.

[Dave Davison]

Hi Ken; next step.....I have opened Biblesoft on the laptop> saved a random paragraph and copied into a "Notepad" doc & saved it in "Shared docs" > plugged the laptop into the modem but the desktop does not recognize it as a drive in W.E. (if that is where it should appear?) Over to you again & thanks a bunch. Regards Dave.

PS is the Shared Documents not now Public folder?

[stuck]

...(if that is where it should appear?)...

No it won't appear as a new drive in Explorer but you do need to use Explorer to find it.

I can't do screenshots to help guide you at this moment so unless someone else can take over you'll have to wait until I get home tonight. Meanwhile all I do is nudge you in the right direction.

With the desktop PC and the laptop running and both connected to the router:
1) On the desktop PC, open Explorer
2) In the left hand pane click on 'Network' and expand it
3) At the very least you should get a list comprising one computer, the desktop PC but you might also see the name of the laptop as well.
3a) If you can that's good, select it and in the right hand pane you should see the list of shared folders on the laptop.
3b) If you can't you can't then you will need to make some simple changes on the laptop (and I'm not good enough to be able to do that from memory so that too will have to wait until I get home tonight.

Ken

[Dave Davison]

Thank You Ken...........attached is a screenshot of what happens when I try to open the laptop BUT I can't EVER remember having to enter a password for either the desktop or laptop for them to gain access to the contents.

[stuck]

I can't help you at the moment, I need to be at home where I have a both a XP and Win 7 machine to look at. I should get chance this evening.

Ken

[DaveA]

The simplest way of fixing your "network" access issue, is to have an user account on both machines using the same user name and password.
This user account dose NOT need to be in use but fully set up on all machines connected to the network. It also needs to be of the Admin group. You also must have the sharing turned on. From your XP machine you may get the above screen the first time, just make sure that the right user account and password is used and add the check to "Remember my credentials"

On all of my machines I have a Admin back door, which I do not use unless my prime gets clobbered. This also does what is needed for the issue above.

[stuck]

Before you try DaveA's suggestion please work through the following steps. NB my guidance assumes
*that the XP box is running XP Home Premium and that the Win 7 box is running Win 7 Home Premium
*that neither machines have any passwords on them
*that the accounts on both machines are admin, i.e. not limited, accounts

1) Connect both the Win 7 and the XP machines to the router and boot them both.

2) On the XP machine
a) Open the Control Panel and then open the System applet
b) Select the Computer Name tab and in there, click on the 'Change' button
c) In the bottom half of the dialog box, the section labelled 'Member of'
d) Ensure 'Workgroup' is selected and enter HOME as the name of the workgroup
e) OK out of everything and close the Control Panel

3) Still on the XP machine
a) Open Explorer and in the left hand pane expand My Computer.
b) At the bottom of the list of drives there is an entry for the Control Panel and underneath that there will be a 'Shared Documents' folder.
c) RIGHT click on the Shared Documents folder and select 'Properties'
d) In the dialog box that appears select the 'Sharing' tab
e) In the bottom half, labelled 'Network sharing and security' tick both of the boxes, to share the folder and allow users to change files.
f) The default 'Share name:' will be SharedDocs, leave that as is
g) OK out of everything but leave Explorer open so that you can see the content of the SharedDocs folder

4) Leave the XP box running and turn to the Win 7 machine

5) On the Win 7 machine
a) Open the Control Panel and select the System applet
b) On the left hand side click on 'Advanced System Settings'
c) In the dialog box that appears click on the Computer Name tab
d) In the bottom half of the dialog box, the section labelled 'Member of'
e) Ensure 'Workgroup' is selected and enter HOME as the name of the workgroup
f) OK out of everything and close the Control Panel

6) Still on the Win 7 machine
a) Open Explorer and in the left hand pane expand Network
b) You should see both the XP and Win 7 machines listed
c) Expand the XP machine, you should see a folder called 'SharedDocs'
d) You should be able to see the contents of the folder, which you say holds your test Notepad file
e) Cut any files you want and then paste them into a folder that is actually on the Win 7 machine
f) If you can manage it without going cross eyed, look at Explorer on the XP machine as you do the paste. The file will disappear from the SharedDocs folder as the paste completes

7) In theory you can also access the 'Public' folders on the Win 7 machine using Explorer on the XP box but those instructions are for another day and you don't really need to do that anyway, you only need one intermediate/common folder to:
either:
'pull' the files from the XP shared folder to a folder on the Win 7 netbook
or:
'push' files from the Win 7 netbook to the SharedDocs folder on the XP desktop

I transfer stuff between my XP desktop and my Win 7 netbook in these ways all the time.

Good luck!

Ken
edited to correct the numbering as initially there was no step 4) oops

[Dave Davison]

WELL Ken.......I suspect the entire army of loungers will be waiting to see what (if anything) I achieve as I venture to follow your precise instructions to the letter as I enter this "Last Chance Saloon" in an attempt to surmount this pending "Everest of a challenge" of regaining access to the Biblesoft data which I rely on so much as I seek to further my knowledge of the greatest book ever written. I've scanned the selection of smilies for one that is appropriate and conclude i need to select more than one BECAUSE, after a few attempts I was finally able to set up the two computers to recognize each other and transfer the "Notepad" doc from the XP to the W7 machines. There is one minor glitch but it will be of no consequence because I can open the "notepad" on the screen of the W7 computer and simple Copy & Paste the text into the Word doc being compiled on the W7 machine. As the attachment shows, some idiocyncracy prevents me from "Cutting" the doc from the laptop but I don't think it worth the hassle of trying to correct it. A thousand thanks for the expertise and time you have invested in the overcoming of -what for me- was a gigantic hurdle. Regards dave.

[stuck]

...some idiosyncrasy prevents me from "Cutting" the doc from the laptop...

1) Double check my instruction at step 3) e).
2) Makes sure the file is not still open in Notepad on the XP machine before you try to cut & paste it

Failing that don't cut & paste the file, copy & paste it.

Ken