Problems with GEMPACK 9 and Windows Vista, Windows 7 and later Windows

Although GEMPACK Release 9 was created prior to (and does not officially support) Windows Vista, Windows 7 (and later Windows versions), we have found that it runs quite well on post-XP Windows versions. We describe here some annoying glitches and their work-arounds. The problems are reduced or eliminated by GEMPACK 10.

Annoying warnings at install time

Windows is very keen to inform or warn you if a new program is installed on your PC. When you start running a GEMPACK install program, you will probably see a screen like one of those below.

GEMPACK team

The left-hand screen above appears if you are running as a standard user. You should enter in an Administrator password (probably it will be entered automatically) then click OK. The right-hand screen above appears if you are already running at Administrator level. You should click 'Allow'.

Disabling UAC warnings

If warnings like those above drive you mad, you can, against Microsoft's advice, disable them (if your IT administrator allows it). Open up Control Panel, and type in "UAC" into the search box. You'll see the link for "Turn User Account Control (UAC) on or off". Click it. Your PC will be less annoying (and a bit less secure).

Another warning when install finishes

At the conclusion of the install you may be unsettled by the following screen:

PCA Warning Screen

You should click 'This program installed correctly'.
The message seems more likely to appear if you installed directly from a CD/DVD.

Old-Style HLP online help files no longer work

Many GEMPACK Windows programs provide online help files in the HLP format supported by Windows XP and previous Windows versions. For some reason, Microsoft did not bundle with later Windows versions the WinHlp32.exe needed to view HLP files. Read about it here. However, you can download WinHlp32.exe for Vista or Windows 7here, to restore HLP online help functionality.

Alternatively, you can download recent versions of GEMPACK Windows programs that use the newer CHM help format. For GTAP users, latest patches of the RunGTAP and GTAPAgg programs use the CHM help format.

Occasionally users have reported security warnings as they open a CHM file. More about that here.

File association

"File association" is the Windows mechanism due to which (for example):

These happen because files suffixed HAR are "associated" with ViewHAR.exe. Usually the "association" is set up at install time. Ony one program can be associated with each file type -- so programs might compete to possess more popular suffixes. To stop such contests, Windows may prevent any program from changing an existing association. This may mean, for example, that the GEMPACK installer cannot associate TABmate with TAB files (because Microsoft wants the TAB suffix for Visual Studio). In such cases, you must set up the association manually. You can change the HAR file association as follows:

Windows XP annoyances may still apply

Most glitches (and the work-arounds) occasionally seen under Windows XP apply to later Windows versions also. Read about them here.


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