Losing homepage and bluetooth preferences

[diy101]

I recently built a new pc:

ASPIRE X-Infinity ATX Mid Tower Case w/ 350W power supply
Intel D945PSNLK Mobow/ Intel 945P Chipset
Intel Pentium D 930 Presler 3.0Ghz LGA 775 Dual Core Processor
Western Digital Caviar RE 250GB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
Kingston KVR533D2N4K 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2 4200 Memory
SONY DW-Q120A DVD-RW (master)
SONY DW-Q120A DVD-RW (slave)
SIIG JU-91RW12-S2 9-in-1 USB 2.0 Card Reader/Write + Floppy
SAPPHIRE (ATI) Radeon X550 256MB PCI Express x16 Video Card
Microsoft Windows XP Professional version 2002 With SP2
Microsoft Optical Desktop Elite for Bluetooth keyboard/ mouse

I had Microsoft Office Suite 2000, Roxio 6.0, Power DVD, Win DVD and the latest version of Adobe reader installed.
My anti-virus and spyware protection is updated weekly:
Avast anti-virus, Adaware SE personal, Spybot-Search & Destroy and Cleanup-Steven Gould (which I use every time before shutting down for the night).

Everything was working fine until I loaded a couple of software programs:
Printmaster Gold Publishing Suite 4.0 and
Memorex CD Labelmaker 4.6
I also transferred all those file from my old pc.

The programs work fine, but the problem I am having is whenever I start the comp, I lose my preferred homepage (which is the NEW Yahoo homepage). I still have Yahoo as my homepage, but it is the old looking page.
I also lose the preferred settings for my Optical Desktop for bluetooth. The vertical scroll works fine, but I lose the horizontal scroll feature that I love!! I also lose the scroll feature completely on the keyboard (located on the left side of keyboard).
These both worked fine until I transferred and loaded the files and programs about a week ago. When I reset the preferences, everything works fine, until I shut down or restart the comp. Another odd thing, when I reset my internet options to the New Yahoo homepage, and click "OK", I can't go to any other page unless I go back to Tools/ Internet options and click "OK" again. As soon as I click "OK", the next page appears.
I'd hate to have to lose the two programs, as I use them frequently.
Any suggestions??? Thanks folks.

[GaryRouth]

Hi diy101

Neither of those last two programs are particularly compatible with Windows XP.

Version 7 of the Printmaster Gold Suite guarantees compatibility only up to Windows 98, so I would imagine version 4's compatibility wouldn't be any greater. I believe version 4 came out in 1997.

As for LabelMaker 4.6, this is from the Memorex support website: "LabelMaker Verson 4.6 is not fully compatible with Windows 2000 or XP and should be upgraded to Version 5.0." (this is from their FAQs pages). Here are the instructions on how to do that upgrade (it is provided by Memorex free of charge) http://www.memorex.com/html/support_...p3.php?qid=167 --- A link to the upgrade installation file is also on that same page.


Try using System Restore, choosing a date from prior to the PrintMaster & LabelMaker installations. See if that restores your homepage & bluetooth preferred behaviors. It likely will. Then test to see if either PrintMaster or LabelMaker still work. It's somewhat likely that they might not. But - if your lucky star is shining on you this week - it's possible that those oldies will work, the bluetooth & homepage will stay put, and you're work is done.

But I doubt we'll be quite that lucky. Whichever program no longer functions (or if it's functioning destroys your homepage & bluetooth settings) - uninstall that program, and run the System Restore to the same restore point that worked earlier. If it's only LabelMaker that is causing trouble, you can try installing it again, this time using Compatibility Mode [right-click on it's "install.exe" or "Setup.exe", select Properties, and select Compatibility Mode - then choose either Win95 or Win98] -- and when done with the installation, from the program's shortcut icon - right-click & select Properties, then "Find Target", and then right-click on the program's .exe file -- and in it's Properties/Compatibility tab - make sure that it is also set to Win95 or Win98. DON't start the program! Next, you'll run the XP upgrade patch that Memorex provides, this time you won't have to bother with any Compatibility settings. Check your bluetooth behavior, and if all's well: good. If not, try the System Restore once again, and see if you can try the Memorex patch without reinstalling the entire program - that has a chance of working.

If both oldies prove balky, you'll have to try the same song-and-dance for each one (although I didn't see a patch for PrintMaster - you still can try Compatibility Mode - both for the installation, and for the programs executable files.

My first guess is that LabelMaker has a chance to work OK. But PrintMaster doesn't have a great reputation for stability even when you are using the OS it's designed for - so it's a roll-of-the-dice on that. And remember that PrintMaster is a door-crasher special on many weekends at your local electronics stores, you can often grab recent versions for almost nothing (sometimes just the sales tax, since the rest of the cost comes back via rebates).

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[diy101]

Thanx Gary.

I uninstalled both programs and restored my comp. The mouse works fine!!! The homepage problem is still having issues, but is liveable. I went to the Memorex site to download v.5, but their link was invalid (could not find). Memorex tech support said v.5 was an old version and that using the 4.6 disc would work fine. I installed it, and it does seem to be working fine. Thanx for the tips, I'll get a new version of Printmaster Gold soon.

Erik.