Command prompt misbehaving

[Guest]

I have a number of important, old DOS programs (circa 1986) that run
perfectly well on XP but don't on Vista beta 2.

The problems are :-
1. I can't make the window full-screen, even after selecting full screen,
it's full height but only half width.

2. When trying to run my programs, I get the message "NTVDM has encountered
an error".

Can anyone help and I don't mean ditch the DOS programs and rewrite them as
it's too much work?

Thank you.

 

[Guest]

I'm not sure about the full-screen issue, but, I was also getting the message
'NTVDM has encountered an error' when I tried to run DOS commands from the
Command Prompt.

My problem was the antivirus software that I had installed. I was using
avast 4.7. Once I un-installed the program, the error went away.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Unclebub,

I'm running Avast so I'll give it a try later when I'm back at the Vista
machine.

 

[Guest]

According to the Avast Support forums, they (Avast) are working with
Microsoft to address the issue.

 

[Michael Styles]

Command Prompt in Vista doesn't run full screen.

 

[Guest]

Do you have the same problem or are you stating that by design Vista doesn’t
have a full-screen capability.

If the latter is true, why does ‘Properties’ in the Command Prompt have an
option to select ‘Full screen’?

 

[Michael Styles]

Try Alt + Enter (old shortcut to get to full-screen mode). I get a message
saying "This system does not support
fullscreen mode."

 

[Guest]

Thank you Unclebub and Michael.

I uninstalled Avast and my DOS programs are working, albeit in a
ridiculously small window.

There was a Microsoft fix last night so I'm going to try AVG as my AV
software.

Come on Microsoft, give us a fullscreen!

 

[Guest]

The new version of Avast home edition, 4.7.871, fixes this issue.

I can now edit files from the Command Prompt without any error.