XP home suddenly gags on scheduler

[jfrent]

I have a two year old Athlon 2600 w/512k ram running Windows XP. I also have a near ancient project manager program (I'm in construction) from about 1992 called On-Target by Symantec. I have continued to use this program up until about 6 months ago and had no problem running it on my present computer. I tried to use it a week ago and recieved an error message. When I tried to reinstall it, I got the same message. Subsequent attempts to fire it up result in the same message. The message is in a grey box with the heading "16 Bit Windows Subsystem". The message reads:

"C:\Windows\System32\Autoexec.NT. The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows based applications. Choose "Close" to terminate the application."

What does this mean and what can I do? Thanks in advance.

[rjfvillarosa]

Have you tried the program compatibilty wizard?

[jfrent]

No, but where is that? I forgot to mention that this scheduling program is a Windows program (3.1 era), not DOS. Thanks for helping.

[rjfvillarosa]

Blimey 3.1 I haven't seen one of them in a while, I am not sure if the compatibility wizard will work on that but it's worth a shot.
Start>Programs>Accessories>Program Compatibility Wizard
Come back and let me know how you get on I would be interested to know if it works.

[glc]

Autoexec.nt rears its head once again.

For yet another time - http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=118705 - post #5.

Stick that thread in your favorites, rjf - I'm sure you've tried to help with this issue several times already and haven't picked up on it yet. I'm guessing that by now I've posted this in at least 15 threads, all of which will show if you search the forum for "autoexec.nt".

[rjfvillarosa]

Sorry gl not seen that thread before, I just had a quick read and it looks good, when I have some time I will take a longer closer look.

[jfrent]

Tried the Program Compatability deal but ended up with this message, under a heading giving the path for "OnTarget.ink":

"This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Creat an association in the Folder Options Control Panel."

I went to the Folders Option but couldn't make any sense out of it. Strangely, I recieved the exact same message as the first one about autoexec yesterday when I tried to open another downloaded project manager which I sought as a replacement for my ancient but satisfactory OnTarget. These are the only two instances of this happening that I can recall.

[jfrent]

I used the link sent by GLC and it worked. I checked the file after downloading and it was already set as "read only". The fix worked immediately but I also did a reboot to see if it stuck and it did. It allowed me to open both my ancient scheduler as well as the download I did yesterday. Thanks to both of you for your help!