forums.silverfrost.com

[wahorger]

Eddie, made me laugh, especially your Brexit reference. A good English friend of mine waxes poetic when speaking of all things Brexit, so I understand why you might wish food parcels.

The odd thing about user profiles was the Admin and both other user profiles (one was a guest account, for goodness sake) would work just fine. But not my development profile.

Yes, it has taken around three days (so far). One day of intense work, followed by the next two of just putting back what I needed (and had saved the downloads for). I still have more to do, but I'll take them one day at a time.

One advantage is my boot drive (and SSD) is relatively clean now. I opted to not use Adobe PDF, going for FoxIT instead (a better product in so many ways). And cheaper. I have a couple of pieces of Adobe SW that I'll load back on, but not the full suite as before.

I remember the "good old days" when a rebuild took about 1-3 hours and everything could just be loaded back from the backup device without having to go through installs, crypto verification of users, and other junk.

Ah, simpler days.

And, watch for the U-boats. Don't think the Germans are too happy with the UK right now.....

Bill

[PaulLaidler]

My understanding is that if you need to install FTN95 etc. on a clean machine then you should be able to install your first licenced version and then go directly to installing the latest update.

[wahorger]

Paul, that's good to know. Thanks!

[LitusSaxonicum]

I recommend Helen Hanff's epistolary '84 Charing Cross Road' for food parcel info.

Eddie

[LitusSaxonicum]

German lifts? I was astonished once while in Holzminden to find that my hotel had a Schindler's Lift. Yet that was beaten in the humour stakes by the shop named Blumen Ecke a stone's throw away.

But seriously. The point is that Windows has so many settings and options that sometimes the only solution is a clean install. One shouldn't under rate just how effective it is. Similarly, you shouldn't underestimate the time it takes to get back all the software you used prior to the reinstall.

My view is that one should take the opportunity to carry out preventative maintenance and upgrades at the same time.

Eddie

[silicondale]

Hi Bill - You are not the only one with a Browse_for_folder1@ problem. Just discovered it today. I have the identical problem, and not sure how long it has been there, because most of the time I don't actually create new folders within my software. Using Windows10 on a 64-bit laptop, but still using 32-bit Fortran95. When creating a new user-named folder, it crashes the program without any message, though the folder is created.
_________________
(Steve Henley)

[wahorger]

Steve, was your Windows 10 an upgrade from 7 or 8? I'm thinking there was some incompatibility from that, but I don't believe I'll ever really know.

The reason I say that is I did a nuke and pave of the "C" drive and re-installed my software. The problem disappeared.I would still like a better solution, but I don't have the time to do that. No user of mine has ever complained, so I guess it was only my development system with the issue. The laptop was an upgrade from 8 to 10, but home version, and had fewer applications and drivers installed.

Ah well.

Thanks for sharing. Thought I might be the only one with this issue. Not happy there is someone else with it, but knowing I'm not alone!!

[silicondale]

No, it was a Windows10 that came new, with the computer. I have another more recent computer which I'm going to try it on - exactly the same executable. Different make, different age. (This one is HP, a couple of years old, the other one is Dell, less than a year old).

I'll let you know what happens.

cheers
-Steve
_________________
(Steve Henley)

[silicondale]

It worked fine on the Dell.
So the problem seems to be machine-related.
Both machines are 64-bit, and have latest set of Microsoft updates so I have no idea what the difference would be. The HP has AMD A8 processor, the Dell has Intel I7. But that shouldn't make any difference.
_________________
(Steve Henley)

[silicondale]

OK, I have a workaround, which seems to work on both computers without a problem. Not quite so pretty, but it seems robust. It uses the older function browse_for_folder@ in combination with mkdir@

[LitusSaxonicum]

A problem such as this might have three possible causes:
1. an issue with FTN95
2. an issue with Windows
3. a hardware problem

I think it is fair to say that if it does not occur on every computer, then we can rule out the problem being an issue with FTN95. As to whether it is an issue with Windows, then if it does not occur on every computer then it is clearly not a systematic fault. The acid test on a particular computer as to whether it is a problem with the Windows installation or a hardware problem is �does the issue resolve itself with a clean install?� In Bill�s case, it did resolve, so that is an important pointer to this being a Windows issue on a particular computer.

Why such problems should arise is in my view the result of interrupted or otherwise failed updates of Windows itself or of other software, this cause being more probable than conflicts between otherwise functional applications.

The clean install can be a problem for some users, and to do it requires having the appropriate facilities (including knowledge and courage) and time. Matters are simplified with Windows 10 because one does not need the initial installation material, as this can be downloaded from the Microsoft website to be put on a USB drive (if the computer in question will boot from USB), or put onto optical media. The whole process is made a lot easier if you manage your computer in a certain way. This way is to only have the operating system and applications on a particular drive, and all the data (which includes the source code for Fortran programs) on another. You can find a list of software that will need to be updated by printing a screenshot of the �Program files� and �Program files (x86)� folders.

I have built my own computers since the days of the 486, and have installed various versions of Windows and reinstalled them on many, many, occasions. In the beginning I followed the norm for commercially assembled computers in having only one hard drive. This is a big mistake, because you have to backup everything before you can even think about a Windows reinstall. I�ve learnt from experience that it is a good idea to have the minimum content on the boot drive. I�ve also learnt that one does not need a very big drive for this, as it removes some of the temptation to revert and keep too much information on the boot drive. I have also found that it is so much easier if the reinstall goes on to completely fresh drive. After all, they are cheap enough. One can take the opportunity of delving into the computer case to do other upgrades at the same time, including on occasions building a completely new computer.

Recently, I have found that price of SSDs has fallen remarkably. 120Gb is actually adequate, and the price for that can be less than GBP20. A larger 240Gb is more than is strictly necessary in most cases, and 480Gb is complete overkill. If you replace a mechanical HDD with an SSD, then it is rather like having a new computer anyway, because the most tedious wait which is when Windows restarts is dramatically shortened.

It is a grave mistake to clone the boot (OS) disk is that merely copies the software errors onto the new drive.

I mentioned above that one needs courage, and this is particularly so if you usually buy completely configured computers and have no experience of delving inside. Such computers normally don�t come with installation media, and Windows 10 resolves this problem. Win 10 does, however, increase the risk of some update issues because updates are done in the background and you have no idea what is being done and whether it has completed before you switch the machine off.

While you are doing a clean reinstall of Windows, it is also a good time to take data discs out and clone them as a form of a backup. So-called �Quickport docks� are very cheap, and the cloning function is done without the dock being connected to a PC. It therefore does not absorb any computer power while even a very large, multi-terabyte, disk is cloned. (Continued ...)

[LitusSaxonicum]

(Continued) My own particular history has left me with rather a lot of hard drives that I have simply replaced. Had I been smarter, and indeed had I had a quickport dock in the past, then I might have been able to reuse them. I rather dislike waste, as in the past I have assembled discarded parts to give away or sell on. A lot of hard disks makes one think immediately of backup. There are numerous lines of approach to backing up that have nothing to do with this thread and so I will put them in another post in the �General� part of the forum.

But, for the issue initially described by Bill, the answer is simply a clean install of Windows. An FTN95 workaround is a great idea, but once windows has any kind of glitch, you are simply waiting for worse to happen in the future.

Eddie

[silicondale]

Many thanks for the detailed explanations, Eddie, and the benefit of your experience. I think you have correctly identified the problem as something in Windows - and in particular, glitches that might have been introduced by failed updates: on this computer (the one which had the problem) a Windows update certainly did fail a few weeks ago. Although subsequent updates worked fine, it's possible that they didn't fix the glitch.

Courage is another matter. This is an off-the-shelf HP Pavilion laptop, and I doubt that I would find space in it to fit another disk or even SSD, and would have no confidence in getting the cabling right. I could partition the existing hard disk, but would need to reorganise the storage. The other computer is a top-of-range Dell which already has a separate SSD C:/drive, but as it works fine I wouldn't need to do anything to it anyway.

The big problem is when I am supplying my software to other team members to use. I just create a standard installation script for them to use. I have no idea in advance what machine they are going to install it on, and am very reluctant to tell them they have to reinstall Windows it it doesn't work properly! Before I set up the MKDIR@ fix in my last post, I told them the workaround was to create any new folders they need in advance, using Windows Explorer. The fix at least avoids that inconvenience, and it seems to avoid whatever Windows problem is giving trouble.

Perhaps another solution less drastic than a clean install might be to run the next cumulative update from Microsoft. Not sure if it's possible to make this go back and fix any problems in previously installed updates. Do you know the answer to this?
_________________
(Steve Henley)

[LitusSaxonicum]

Wow, that was quick!

Laptops are a big issue, as they don't normally have space for spare disks, and the solution there is to partition the single hard drive so that you have a boot partition and a data partition. This is functionally the same as separate disks. I was making the assumption that desktop machines were being considered. I rarely have the back off a laptop! If you have someone who is unafraid, the same procedures can be done: take out the hdd, install a new one, reinstall Windows into a partitioned hdd/ssd, bung the old drive into a quickport dock and reload all the data, reinstall any necessary other software, and Robert is the sibling of one of your parents.

I don't think cumulative updates ever really solve some of the occasional problems, that a minority of users have, in the way that clean installs do. There is another approach that lies beyond my expertise, and that is editing the Registry to discover the root cause of the problem. That, I'm afraid, is well beyond my knowledge and ability, and also contains the necessary elements to make a complete screw-up possible.

Indeed, doing a clean install on a new storage device leaves you with the ability to go back if you screwed up!

For what it's worth, my biggest experience of the interrupted or failed update glitch was that it made my accounts program fail to go full screen. It would launch itself into the taskbar and refuse to come out. Solved by a clean re-install. That machine had a Win 7 to 10 upgrade originally.

y 'installation script' I assume you mean a batch file. Have you considered using a proper installer like Jordan Russell Software InnoSetup? (Apologies if that's what you mean). It has the benefit of putting everything in one file, and automating the process.

Eddie

[silicondale]

Thanks Eddie - It's Innosetup that I am using. And very happy with it! It not only installs my own software but also a couple of public domain VRML viewers that allow 3D visualisation of models (of the geological rather than glamour variety, I hasten to add).
_________________
(Steve Henley)