Serious problems with the vista explorer and visual basic programs

[Jesper Wolf Jespersen]

I would realy have loved to send this as a support request to microsoft, but
it seems they do not accept it. I hope they monitor this news group and try
to find a solution.

I bought a new computer with Windows Vista Home Premium preinstalled.
The PC is a MEDION 8820 PC.

When running most windows programs I only have the usual problems, having to
run most old programs either in unprotected directorys or letting them run
as administrator.

But a suite of Visual Basic programs written in Visual Studio 6 and using
DDE for interproces communications causes problems.
The programs themselves work allright, just as thety do on Windows 2000 and
Windows XP, but on Windows Vista they cause the Windows Explorer to stop
responding.
The entire display can become messed up and the taskbar either moves to the
top of the display or moves all the icons to the left on the taskbar.
Moving the mouse cursor to the lower left corner where the clock usualy sits
causes Vista to discover that it has stopped working and restarts the
explorer. every time sending a problem report to microsoft.

Since I cannot concieve of a program being able to make an OS component like
the explorer unstable I first guessed the installation was at fault and
reinstalled from the original disk, that made no difference.
So I tried upgrading all the hardware drivers I could think of, audio, video
etc. that didnt change anything either.

Now i reinstalled to the original installation again which is what I am
running now.

Since the program suite is quite important to me I run it a lot and have
become used to resolving this problem when i occurs. But I would very much
like the problem to be solved.

The program suite is the DXlab suite that can be found at
www.dxlabsuite.com, I have had contact with the author who has not had much
Vista experience yet.

But since Microsoft has made the bold statement that Visual Basic just works
under vista this realy is a Microsoft problem.

The program suite has existed for years with thousands of users arround the
world, using Windows from Windows 98 to Windows XP without problems.
But Vista seems to be a different kettle of fish.

I hope i will be contacted bý someone able to help.

It is realy not comforting that I cannot even send an error report to
microsoft, even though my new machine has a 90 days period of free support.

Greeting from denmark.
Jesper Wolf Jespersen

 

[Michael Jennings]

Each computer manufacturer agrees to support Windows when they
acquire it from Microsoft. Microsoft does not support OEM Windows.
I doubt that Medion will be able to help you, but that's your support.
http://www.medion.com/dk/ http://www.medion.co.uk/

If they can't help you, three possibilities occur to me:
1 Return your computer and get a refund.
2 Boot W2K or XP for the dxlabsuite programs.
3 Bump your new computer to 2 Gigs of RAM.

Here's a link for setting up a dual boot, if it comes to that:
http://www.pro-networks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=88231

 

[Jesper Wolf Jespersen]

Hello Michael.

Thank you for responding.

Each computer manufacturer agrees to support Windows when they
acquire it from Microsoft. Microsoft does not support OEM Windows.
I doubt that Medion will be able to help you, but that's your support.
http://www.medion.com/dk/ http://www.medion.co.uk/

I will try and contact Medion but dont have high expectations.
I sincerely doubt that Medion is able to help me resolve errors in the
operating system.
I did not know that Microsoft refuses to receive error reports from OEM
users.
I was reccommended to buy a new machine with the OS pre loaded. Since that
would mean the drivers realy fit the hardware. But that may have been bad
advice

If they can't help you, three possibilities occur to me:
1 Return your computer and get a refund.
2 Boot W2K or XP for the dxlabsuite programs.
3 Bump your new computer to 2 Gigs of RAM.

I have heard people recommend upping the RAM, I dont see how that would
help.
Sure there will be less swapping under load, but there is no swapping now.
The system uses 630 MB (including the DXlabSuite), the pagefile is currently
1.1 gig.
I dont mind putting more RAM in the computer, But I dont understand how that
should help my situation.
If you can point to some information on the impact of RAM on the working of
Vista I would be glad. (functional impact, not just performace).

Here's a link for setting up a dual boot, if it comes to that:
http://www.pro-networks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=88231

Thanks for the link. But a dual boot wont let me run the things
simultaneously.
I have considdered creating a virtual PC and letting DxLabSuite run in a
Win2000 setup.
But that would require more RAM and the new Virtual PC 2007 wants a
professional Vista, not the home Premium that I have. (I did install it and
it does boot, but I havent tried creating an OS image yet, dont know if it
would work
Has anybody tried this ?

It is fun playing with a new OS, I will have to use it professionaly at some
time and prefer to have some experience prior to that.

I am glad I dont have to use the OS professionally in its current state,
most legacy programs have to be run as administrator which realy voids the
new security features.

I have played with the virtualisation with some strange results
Currently I have disabled the UAC to see if that made the Visual
Basic/explorer problem go away, but it makes no difference. (the programs
are allready run ad administrator so I only avoid the anoying popup window
on activation).

Once again thank you for the response.

Greetings from Denmark.
Jesper Wolf Jespersen

 

[Michael Jennings]

The guy who made the freeware you want Vista to run doesn't
feel inclined to make it suitable for Vista yesterday. Microsoft
doesn't feel obligated to change Vista to run the freeware. You
would prefer not to install enough RAM to run a virtual PC.

I sort of admitted to Freudi in the WU group that I'm a lazy swine
when it comes to checking things and citing my so-called facts.

Even though every body is no good, your DXlab applications
would run if you fingered the one whom you can change here.