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colinsheppard / insalmo-instream-gui

GUI for both the inSALMO and inSTREAM models
GNU General Public License v2.0
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Help fileS do not always work #43

Closed SFRailsback closed 10 years ago

SFRailsback commented 11 years ago

On some Windows machines, the .chm Help files will not open; there is a message about being unable to connect to something... Bret and Brooke are experiencing it. Brooke says it happens when she is connected to the internet.

The probleM is with Windows and .chM, not the GUI; happens oUtside the GUI.

colinsheppard commented 11 years ago

Based on this article:

http://www.west-wind.com/weblog/posts/2012/Jan/11/Problems-with-opening-CHM-Help-files-from-Network-or-Internet

this problem is probably due to a security feature on Windows that treats CHM files downloaded off the internet as potentially malicious and blocks their content.

The short term solution is to instruct users to do the following: -Open Windows Explorer -Find the CHM help files (located under the "Help" subfolder of the inSTREAM application folder) -Right click each file, select Properties, then click the Unblock button on the General tab

The long term solution is to create an installer for the instream/insalmo GUI. Apparently files placed by an installer are trusted by Windows and the problem goes away. A one-click installer is probably more user friendly anyway.

SFRailsback commented 11 years ago

Both Bret (XP) and Brooke (Win 7) say that this "blocking" behavior does not seem to be the problem. File execute permissions?

SFRailsback commented 11 years ago

When I installed SnagIt on Win 7, it told me that Windows removed WinHelp (or whatever the program is that browses .chm files. SnagIt pointed me to a reader that can be downloaded and installed...what was it?? winhlp32.exe

SFRailsback commented 10 years ago

New releases of Windows seem to have a fix; no problems have occurred recently. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Compiled_HTML_Help