Vista and Windows 7 Technical Support
Technical support for Vista and Windows 7
Note - these instructions were developed to assist researchers using the Vista operating system to install and use the range of SAG CDs. We believe the instructions given below will similarly work for anyone who has moved directly from Windows XP to Windows 7.This page explains generically how to install SAG or AGCI CDs under Vista. It does NOT address issues particular to those various CDs - for details of downloads etc relevant to those CDs, visit the relevant pages linked above.
Installation under Microsoft Vista
All current SAG CDs were designed and published well before Microsoft Vista was launched. Installing these CDs under Vista is certainly possible, but some tweaks are necessary. These tweaks come under two headings, dealt with separately below.Permissions
Each of the SAG and AGCI CDs allows for search of the relevant database. The process they use for searching includes writing a temporary mini-database of search hits in the relevant program directory. Under Windows this worked fine, but Vista regards attempts to write to any part of the Program Files folder tree as evidence of potential malicious activity, and blocks such attempts. As a result, running a normal installation of these CDs causes an immediate crash.It is possible to over-ride this by changing Vista's "Access Controls", but this is something that's neither simple to explain, nor simple to do - and also carries some risks if you make a mistake.
Until Microsoft comes up with a more user-friendly means of solving this issue, the simplest means of side-stepping Vista's controls is to install your SAG or AGCI CDs anywhere other than within the Program Files folder tree. This is easy to do:
- start your CD installation as normal
- when you're prompted to approve installing the CD search program into, for example, C:\Program Files\SAG\Rookwood Cemetery Transcriptions, type in an alternate directory, not part of the Program Files tree. For instance, C:\SAG\Rookwood Cemetery Transcriptions. If you have more than one hard drive, you can choose something other than drive C. You can also name the directory quite differently - e.g. simply Rookwood. So you might decide to install in D:\Rookwood. The only important thing to avoid is something that starts C:\Program Files\ - or indeed any other name that already exists, unless you really know what you're doing.
- complete the installation in your nominated directory and test that your installation works.
- now visit our other tech help pages - SAG CDs or AGCI CDs, as appropriate - and download any relevant updates to either the installed program or help files
Help files
The help files on each of our CDs are named in the style <filename>.hlp, and all versions of Windows could display such files. With the launch of Vista, however, Microsoft decided not to install the means of displaying them. As a result, a standard Vista installation will not allow access to help files installed by SAG and AGCI CDs. They're not alone - the help files installed by many programs published prior to 2006, including some older Microsoft programs, are in the same boat!Since Vista's launch, Microsoft has relented somewhat, but only to the extent of providing a download from the Microsoft site that allows display of these older style help files. You can find this download at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=82148.