Sidekick 98 doesn't OPEN 1

[DougSilver]

This is an odd new phenomenon but par for the course with trying to get this program to continue to run stably under each iteration of Windows. I had gotten it to install and run in my Windows 7 64 machine at work without too many problems but lately it has been hanging on start-up. The opening logo appears with the moving bar which quickly stops moving. I am not sure what is interfering with it opening up but I can eventually get it to open if I close down other things that might be running in the background. I guess this is the price you pay when trying to use something way way past its expiration date.

Doug

 

[jimalex]

Hi Doug,
This is an old topic as you know where something in the background gets in the way. With Windows 7 64, I have had the good luck to have no problem whatsoever but do not know why. 4GB of RAM and plenty of HDD was my first guess but the start up problem is not exclusively Sidekick. I get it with Word, Excel etc and just rate it as the way things are. In fact if you extend it to the "not responding" category, I would rate Internet Explorer as the worst.

 

[DougSilver]

Hey Jim,

I think I tracked it down to something called Lync that runs at startup which enables instant communications among those in the company where I work. If I shut that down then SK98 usually starts. If that doesn't work then shutting down Outlook usually does the trick.

Doug

 

[ebob2k]

Some programs interfere with the opening of older software. The Lync that DougSilver found as the program that was preventing Sidekick 98 from opening is probably only one of many that will do this, even to a 32-bit program such as Sidekick 98 that is properly installed.

Other programs, such as Malwarebytes 2.0, can also cause the same stall when attempting to open (or install) Sidekick 98. As you did with Lync, the solution, if you want to stick with Malwarebytes 2.0, is to right-click your Malwarebytes tray icon and select Exit.

For Sidekick 98 opening stall problems that persist AFTER you’ve shut down the offending programs, open Task Manager to ensure that you only have one instance of sidekick.exe.
If you have 2 (which I've seen many times), select the one with the least Mem usage and click End Process.

Sidekick should then open. If it does not, repeat the steps above for the remaining sidekick.exe, then attempt opening Sidekick 98 again.

I don’t believe that DougSilver’s ‘past expiration date’ reasoning is valid for a Sidekick 98 OPENING problem. It is a 32-bit program that was able to successfully install on that Win7 system, so I believe the other software is the offender. (If the OS lets it install, other programs, unless they have a problem, should not prevent installed programs from opening.)

NOTE:
Sidekick 98’s installer is a 16-bit process. As a result, you might encounter the same stall problem when trying to INSTALL Sidekick 98 on some systems with any problematic software running, even in the background, during the install attempt.

NOTE 2:
There are 2 possible install locations for Sidekick 98 on a Win7 system:
The obvious is C:\Program Files (x86)\Starfish\Sidekick 98. However, if you encounter problems saving your data**, uninstall it completely and reinstall it in the root of C:
C:\Starfish\Sidekick 98

**You can test for that save data problem by creating an entry on any one of your tabs, then saving, closing the program, then reopening it.
You should see your saved data. If not, follow the instructions above for the alternate install location for Win7 systems.