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Procomm Plus with Windows 7

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kxboy

Technical User
Nov 6, 2002
152
US
I was concerned the Procomm Plus would not work with Windows 7 and I would not be able to use the scripts that I run daily to help automate my work.

After trying several things, such as a WinXP virtual machine with Windows 7, that did not work out, I was finally able to get Procomm Plus 4.8 to work with Win 7. I found a few other references on the web and collected those to come up with these steps which worked for me.

1. I used Procomm Plus 4.8. I tried 4.5 and 4.7 and Win 7 complained that the program did not install correctly.

2. Removed all of the Fax options during the install. When the Procomm installer Select Components screen is displayed, uncheck both fax options. In the Internet section, uncheck "News/Email". I also unchecked "Scripts" as I did not need any of the old BBS or host scripts.

3. After the install is completed, the Procomm help files did not display, however a windows help box opens and there is
a link to install the WinXP help files. Click on that link and it will take you to a Microsoft help site that will allow you to download the WinXP help files that run on Win 7. After you do this the help files display fine.

4. The default location for the Procomm files was "C:\Program Files (x86)\Symantec\Procomm Plus\*". This directory did not allow me write permissions and some of my scripts that write to files would fail. I changed the path of all the Procomm Plus files (Scripts,Capture,Downlaod) in the Options,Data Options,Paths screen to a directory in the "My Documents" folder. This worked better for me, as I did not have to navigate to the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Symantec\Procomm Plus" directory to look at a file. However, if you prefer to keep the default Procomm directory location, you may need to enable read/write of the directories. To do that follow these steps below for your Procomm Plus file location.

On the Start Menu, Select All Programs, accessories, Windows Explorer, right click, and select “Run as administrator”

Navigate to the C:\ directory where your Procomm Plus files are, typically this is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Symantec\Procomm Plus"

Right click on “Aspect” and select “properties” select the Security tab. Click the Edit, Select your user name, and “full Control” in the allow column. Click apply, OK, OK.

Repeat these steps for the Capture, Download, Upload and Notes directories as needed.

5. All of my scripts run fine. However, scripts that used the sdlgfopen, or sdlgsaveas commands did not allow me to navigate to a different directory. I was using PowerDesk 6, and had the dialog helper option enabled. This gives you additional options with a file open/save dialog box in Windows. Once I disabled the PowerDesk dialog helper. The file open/save dialog boxes in Procomm worked fine. If you have an application that adds additional features to a file open/save dialog box, it may need to be disabled to get your Procomm file dialog boxes to work properly.



 
thanks for the tips! You didn't give up as quickly as i would have but I love procomm! ;>P




 
I also found that if you create a folder called procomm or whatever you want under libraries/documents/public documents and choose that folder when installing procomm that it solves all the problems with write access to the program files(x86) directory. It probably won't install an icon on the desk top but you can fix that easily by finding the procomm .exe file and right clicking on it and choosing "send to - desktop (create shortcut)". The reason for installing it in the public documents folder is so other users will have access. Each user will have to create an icon. It works fine and you can write to the aspect folder and make changes to the directory, keyboard and metakey files.
 
I've come across most of the problems as stated above for programs on Windows 7. It's due to the extra security that Microsoft has applied to certain folders and the root drive.

It's more of a problem if you have a company laptop as I've found that even more security has been applied, even though you might have been given full admin rights by your company!.

This isn't just a problem with Procomm Plus. Please remember that if you have other software / programs that requires capture files or needs changes made to directories etc, then personally I think it's easier to create a new folder to install your programs in such as e.g. C:\Programs etc.

It saves all the hassle of trying to modify your Program Files permissions as stated by kxboy.

It also applies to Macros as I tend to update the Excel conversion utility tool and previously a temp file was always saved to the C:\ drive. On Windows 7, the program failed and it took me a while to figure it out. In the end, I changed the macro to make the temp file be created in C:\Windows\Temp as most computers these days will have this file location.

Best of luck!.

P.S. I still use Procomm Plus on a daily basis!.




All the best

Firebird Scrambler
Meridian 1 / Succession and BCM / Norstar Programmer in the UK

If it's working, then leave it alone!.
 
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