Category Archives: Computing

Everything about computers – from new to old. Help guides to general trivia pieces.

Guide – Renaming Files With Trailing Spaces ” ” in Windows Explorer

As part of my job as IT support I see and experience many different issues. Most of them are well documented online in forums, blog posts or in technical documentation, but then there are some that just really boggle your mind. This situation is one of those, and I found the fix by chance in a comment on a blog post!

Scenario

In my case I had an issue with some backup software where it was failing to read some files on a file server, skipping them entirely.

After contacting the backup vendor support they informed me the issue was that the files:

Did not have a file extension
Had trailing space (” “) characters at the end of their file names

These files had been generated by a Linux based embedded system which is used as part of a packaging line for one of our clients. Linux (and apparently also Macintosh) file systems allow you save files with a space at the end of the filename, Microsoft Windows however does not.

When I would open Windows Explorer to the location of the files I found that when I tried to:

Rename
Read properties
Open/read data

I would receive this very ambiguous message from Windows:

Could not find this item. This is no longer located in [Path]. Verify the item’s location and try again.

As the folder path was rather long, coming in at around 288 characters, I first thought there was an issue with the long path name that Windows has suffered for many years – however my go-to fixes (such as using the subst command) returned the same error, file not found.

I went through many different “solutions” online to no avail, until I found the fix which luckily for me and my client is free and very easy to use!

The Fix

Assumptions

The following is assumed:

You have Full Control or Modify rights over this folder
You are able to log in as a Local or Domain administrator to install applications
You are using a modern Windows operating system, no earlier than Windows 7 (although I could see this fix working as far back as Windows XP)
You have the File name extensions enabled in Windows Explorer

Process

Connect to the device in question and log in as a user with administrative rights
Download the latest edition of 7-Zip from their website: https://www.7-zip.org/
1. Download the 32-bit or 64-bit version depending on your operating system architecture
Install the downloaded application
From the Start Menu go to All Programs and then open the 7-Zip folder and then start 7-Zip File Manager
Using Windows Explorer navigate to the folder which contains the problem file(s)
Click in the address bar of the Windows Explorer window and copy the file path
Click back into 7-Zip File Manager and paste the path into the address bar and then hit Return/Enter on your keyboard
7-Zip File Manager should now show the directory that houses the problem files
Right click on the problem files and choose Rename or press the F2 key on your keyboard
Remove the trailing space key and provide a file extension if it is missing
You should now be able to amend/read/modify the file in Windows explorer and all applications should be OK to access these files.

Shovelware Showcase – The Complete Reference Collection: 1998 Edition

Leave a Reply

This is a post covering the content included with The Complete Reference Collection: 1998 Edition CD-ROM by The Learning Company (TLC) as part of the Shovelware Showcase series.

Overview

The Complete Reference Collection: 1998 Edition is part of the Compton’s Home Library series of reference software. This edition is from 1997 and covers the forthcoming year 1998. There is only one item of software contained on the CD-ROM which retains the same name as the release. The software is a navigator/browser type of application which splits into 10 sections:

Encyclopedia
World Almanac
Dictionary
Thesaurus
Writer’s Handbook
World Atlas
Geographical Dictionary
Home Medical Guide
World History
Internet Dictionary

Packaging

Packaging consists of a standard size CD-ROM jewel case with a solid black tray. A full colour front booklet is included with 9 pages of content. The last page of the booklet advertises other titles The Complete Interactive Cookbook and Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia. The rear inlay is single sided and lists the titles included with this compilation.

Identifiers

The rear inlay has identifiers of CRC2844BB and CRC8BB-BI.

The booklet has an identifier of CRC8BB-FI.

The CD-ROM has an identifier of CRC844BB-CD with a matrix ring of MR0242 CRC2844BB MPO IRL 2X.

The CD-ROM is filled 628 MB out of a possible 700MB.

The featured items of software are:

The Complete Reference Collection 1998

Software

Name	Publisher	Version	Tested
The Complete Reference Collection 1998	The Learning Company	1.01I	Yes

Images, Audio and Video

The disc contains various multimedia files which help ‘enhance’ the software.

There are 43 AVI files under the directory VIDEO.

There are 178 WAVE files under the directory SOUND of which all are mono.

The directory MONTAGE contains 9 AVI video files.

The directory BTNSND (Button Sound) contains 25 WAVE files of which all are mono.

The directory ANIMATIO contains 9 AVI video files.

Miscellaneous

The only unusual thing on the CD-ROM is a directory named EREG which contains a bitmap which shows an offer for the ZD Internet Magazine (see gallery below) – through multiple installations on different operating systems I have never had this display during or after installation.

Images

: Booklet Cover

: Booklet Rear

: Rear Inlay

: CD-ROM

: ZD Internet Magazine Offer

Software Overview – HomeWise 2.10.06

1 Reply

HomeWise is a home management organiser from 1994 published by GSP and developed by Down To Earth Software Inc.

The software acts as a general home manager allowing the user to keep track of various information regarding their home in a series of lists. The software is separated into different categories to represent different rooms in a home – kitchen, lounge, bathroom etc. Within each category there are various sub-sections such as recipes (for the kitchen) or music collection (for the living room) which allow the user to record information in a database format.

Homewise.wri explains the software as so:

Welcome to the GSP HOMEwise computer program. If you are not very familiar with computers but you have come this far, congratulations – you’re already over the main hurdle. You can now settle in and enjoy the rest of your visit.

This program was developed specifically for today’s “Electronic Family”. Most electronic families have at least one member who is not as experienced or comfortable with computers as the others. GSP HOMEwise was written very carefully with that person in mind – we believe everyone should enjoy computing. At the same time, we wanted it to provide the entire family with a useful, powerful and very worthwhile home computing program.

Two objectives were predominant throughout the development stages of GSP HOMEwise: firstly, the program must be completely understandable by all users – novice, intermediate and experienced, and, secondly, it must be a truly useful tool in the day-to-day management of home and family affairs.

If you have any suggestions about how GSP HOMEwise could be improved, please let us know (see Your Suggestions… in More…) – after all, this program was written for you!!

Most operations are performed with the mouse by clicking on “buttons” – pictures representing the function you wish to use or go to. Specific information is input either by keyboard or by making a selection from a multiple choice list. Most screens offer Help, while the “help bar” at the bottom of each screen shows you what each control does, what each function is and, often, what you should do next.

Editor Thoughts

So far while running through the shovelware showcase series I have mainly come across a lot of boring bits of software. Boring in so much they don’t do anything different – photo editors trying to mimic PhotoShop, word processors trying to be Word and desktop publishers imitating Publisher. HomeWise is by no stretch of the imagination anything super interesting, a simple crossword or backgammon game is 10x more so – but how it is interesting to me is that it simply exists.

Taken down to its bare components HomeWise is just a series of pre-made forms that feed into a very simple database structure. OK I have to remember its 1994 and this application is intended for average Joe and not computer nerd Nick – but it really isn’t anything overly special. What I wondered while flicking through the various views in the application was, who was using this in 1994? Only now in 2019 are people just starting to adopt computers to help them with the running of their homes – mainly with the introduction of “home assistants” like Amazon’s Alexa or Google’s Home product – and even then most people rarely use them for more than a fancy wireless speaker. 1994 computers were huge power hungry beasts with big beaming CRTs usually reserved for a desk in a study or a spare room – how often would family members be consulting their home PC for a list of restaurants they like? Again remembering that this is before the age of always on internet tracking, no Google suggesting places you want to eat via subliminal messaging using the medium of adverts.

Whenever I come across an item of curious software like this I like to go and do some basic research as to what happened to the development house (Down To Earth Software) and if there were any news articles about the software. More and more I find that a lot of these shovelware titles are long forgotten and were old news by the time they were on the carousel stand at the local Wilkinson’s – but not with HomeWise. Firstly the application is still available through the shovelware cesspit that is CNET’s Download.com. where after closing the infuriating auto-play adverts I uncovered some reviews. Not just one, but multiple reviews over the last decade of people (mostly) praising this software stating that they find it very useful. Unfortunately no-one goes into any real detail about what they do with the software which is a disappointment and the last review was sometime in 2010 – but still this means that this software was being used well into the days of smartphones which are admittedly much better suited to tracking things like calendars and shopping lists.

With that bit of research completed I moved onto look at the developer, Down to Earth Software. Down to Earth Software are a small (5 man team) business based outside of Sacramento, California and are still selling their software development services under both Down to Earth and Datavision brands (of which the latter was apparently founded way back in 1978). Searching around a little more for a few other search terms I came across a very sweet little website for which time truly stopped in 2001, Byrd Country. This family website (last updated in 2010) covers the trials and tribulations of Thomas Silverthorn and his wife Meredith who live in Wellston, Michigan. My entry point to this website was this page which appears to be completely orphaned from the rest of the website (searching around there are many pages like this), but navigating back to just the domain name is a real trip. Gradients, widgets, automatically playing background music and some of the smallest pictures I have ever seen they are all here on this website. I highly suggest their website to anyone who likes a bit of internet archaeology. But my journey didn’t stop there, as it turns out the Silverthorn’s also run their own web design business trading as Silverthorn Enterprizes (sic). Looking through their portfolio they are still updating many pages, all equally uh “basic” in nature. I have to give it to them if they can make it work it gives hope for the rest of us, but I really must ask why they don’t consider updating their skills a little bit and embrace the world of HTML5, CSS3 and some simple frameworks like Bootstrap. The tunnel goes deeper as you find that our dear friend Thomas worked at a local Michigan ISP, WMIS – who still in 2019 are offering a 56K dial-up service for anywhere between $9.95 to a staggering $19.95 a month.

System Requirements

The software documentation makes no direct remarks to system requirements however within the application the Technical Tips view describes that the software can run on any hardware that is already running Windows (expected to be Windows 3.1). Considering how light this application is in its footprint this can be considered true.

Changelog / Known Issues

The software does not include any changelog or known issues in any of its included documentation.

While testing the software in a VMWare virtual machine we experienced no faults or issues when running the software under Microsoft Windows 98 SE.

Extras

The software appears to keep all of the information input in a standard Microsoft Database file (MDB).

Gallery

: Start Screen

: Add/Remove Users View

: Home Safety View

: Pets View

: Trip Log View

: Vacation Checklist View

: China View

: Dining Out View

: Video Games View

: Video Cassettes View

: Music View

: Family Calendar View

: Recycling View

: Recipes View

: Back-up Utility

: Technical Tips

: Splash Screen

: About Dialog

: Setup

Test Information

Software was tested and installed from an ISO copy of The Multimedia Variety Pack.

Software was run under Microsoft Windows 98SE running in a VMWare Workstation 15 environment with the following spec:

256MB RAM
10GB HDD
VMWare SVGA II graphics adapter at a resolution of 1280 by 960
VMWare sound card with Creative Sound Blaster driver loaded

Around 2 hours have been dedicated so far to the testing of this application.

Designworks 3.5 – Software Overview

2 Replies

Designworks 3.5 is a desktop publishing suite from 1996 published by GST Technology Ltd. It is a slightly more restricted version of GST Technology’s Pressworks software.

See this article for the previous 3.0 version.

Editor Thoughts

This is certainly a curious application as GST were also producing another desktop publishing suite under the Pressworks name. Why cards, logos and certificates are reserved for Designworks and things such as letterheads and bussiness cards are only available in Pressworks is beyond me. I can only see the reason for this being that GST wanted to make a bit more money out of their customers.

The only real difference between Printworks and Designworks is that Designworks appears to be more aimed towards the creation of graphics.

System Requirements

The software package does not list any system requirements to run the software, although the software is intended to be used with Windows 95.

Changelog / Known Issues

The software includes the following changelog items under the Dwk_read.wri file:

Because the internal data structures have changed, the file format has also changed. The program will be able to read old-format files (back to file format 1.02). It will not be able to save files in the old DWK3 format.
The File menu has a new entry, Send Mail. This will only be enabled when you have an appropriate mail support installed.
The new Windows 95 file selector and new Windows 95 controls have been implemented.
The OLE handler, which provides improved display and print quality for Designworks objects embedded in other programs, can be enabled/disabled using the Preferences dialog box.
New Windows 95 right-click behaviour has been introduced, as required for Logo compliance.
Three Help menu entries have moved to the Options menu. These are ToolTips, Getting Started Hints and Cue Cards.
Right-click on the Windows 95 desktop to create a new Designworks picture.
New Windows 95 Help with context-sensitive Help available on dialog boxes has been included.
Centimetres are now the default unit of measurement.
Clipart Browser can now be launched from the PagePilots.
The display and print performance has been improved.

Extras

The software includes some samples including:

1,200 clip-art images in CGM format.

Gallery

: Startup

: Example

: About

: Setup

Test Information

Software was tested and installed from an ISO copy of The Multimedia Variety Pack.

Software was run under Microsoft Windows 98SE running in a VMWare Workstation 15 environment with the following spec:

256MB RAM
10GB HDD
VMWare SVGA II graphics adapter at a resolution of 1280 by 960
VMWare sound card with Creative Sound Blaster driver loaded

Around 2 hours have been dedicated so far to the testing of this application.

Designworks 3.0 – Software Overview

Leave a Reply

Designworks 3.0 is a desktop publishing suite from 1995 published by GST Technology Ltd. It is a slightly more restricted version of GST Technology’s Pressworks software.

This article uses the demonstration edition of the software which is time limited to 30 days continuous use and runs directly from the CD-ROM.

System Requirements

The software package does not list any system requirements to run the software, although the software is intended to be used with Windows 3.1 or Windows 95.

Changelog / Known Issues

The software includes the following changelog items under the Dwk_read.wri file:

New tools
To make Designworks even easier to use, the tools and controls have been organised into a toolbox and five toolbars. Many new tools have been added as shortcuts to commonly-used commands – these shortcuts enhance the speed and ease-of-use of the program.
New toolbar behaviour
All the Designworks toolbars can either be docked at the edge of the picture window, or left floating in a floating toolbox. Each toolbar can also be viewed in various sizes by expanding and collapsing them using the arrow buttons at the edge of each toolbar.
PagePilots
Three PagePilots are supplied to help you create greetings cards, certificates, and logos. When you run a PagePilot you make a series of selections such as the fonts and clipart you want to use. When you have made all your selections, the PagePilot sends a series of commands to Designworks and creates your picture for you.
Pre-printed paper
Templates are provided to show the appearance of pre-printed paper: packs of certificate paper are available from GSP that can be used in conjunction with the Certificate PagePilot. To find out more, or to order your certificate packs, telephone GSP Customer Services on 01480 496575 or fax 01480 460206.
Nudge control
A new nudge control lets you ‘nudge’ the selected object up and down, or left and right to give you greater control when moving and positioning objects in your picture.
Set View Size control
There is now a Set View Size control at the bottom of each picture window which lets you quickly increase or decrease the magnification at the click of a button.
Summary information
You can now save information about your picture using the new Summary Info dialog. This information appears on the New Picture Options dialog, helping you locate the picture you want to open with ease.
Printing layer zero
If your picture is multi-layered, you can now print layer zero. This is useful if you want a proof of your picture, including the background style, without having to waste your pre-printed paper.
Tabbed dialogs
Several of the Designworks dialogs are now split into several tab cards, each containing a set of related options. By grouping related options into tabs, these dialogs are less complicated, and therefore easier to use.
Enhanced colour bar
You can now specify the number of tints of each colour in the palette that you want displayed in the colour bar. This gives you an even wider range of tints to choose from when designing your pictures.
Font selector
The fonts supplied with Designworks are now grouped into categories, making it quicker and easier to locate the font that you want to use.
By using the FontGroups utility which is supplied with Designworks, you can group all your other fonts into categories, which Designworks will then display in its font selector.
Updated PANTONE support
Including 1000 colours, and separate data for coated and uncoated paper. An icon is added to the Control Panel to allow you to choose the Pantone publication, and to specify the screen and printer for optimum colour matching.
Improved bitmap-graphics support
Image scaling and colour conversion have been improved. Redisplay speed is a lot faster with image cacheing.
Long filenames
When running on Windows 95 – the program supports long filenames for load, save, import and export.
Improved help and hints
Several improvements have been made to the Help system and its related functions to help you find the information you want more quickly:
If you hold the pointer over a tool for more than a few moments, a small yellow flag appears under the tool with a brief (one or two word) description of the tools function. These yellow flags are known as ToolTips.
Getting Started Hints appear whenever you select a tool from the toolbox. These hints provide a basic introduction to each of the tools.
At the end of each PagePilot there is a set of cue cards which guide you through the basic steps of finalising that picture.
Help buttons have been added to all Designworks message boxes, so you can quickly find more information about a specific message.

The Dwk_Read.wri file also includes the following known issues:

SHARE.EXE
If during the installation a message was displayed informing you that it was unable to install SHARE.EXE, you must modify your AUTOEXEC.BAT before you run Designworks. Refer to the section below for full instructions.

Note: This problem is only likely to occur on Windows 3.1 – Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and Windows 95 do not need SHARE installed.

While testing the software in a VMWare virtual machine we experienced no faults or issues when running the software under Microsoft Windows 98 SE.

Extras

The software includes some samples including:

88 clip-art images in GEM format.

Gallery

: Example Document

: Example Logo Document

: Splash Screen

: About

: Setup

Test Information

Software was tested and installed from an ISO copy of The Multimedia Variety Pack.

Software was run under Microsoft Windows 98SE running in a VMWare Workstation 15 environment with the following spec:

256MB RAM
10GB HDD
VMWare SVGA II graphics adapter at a resolution of 1280 by 960
VMWare sound card with Creative Sound Blaster driver loaded

Around 2 hours have been dedicated so far to the testing of this application.

Shovelware Showcase – The Multimedia Vareity Pack GSP Compilation

Leave a Reply

This is a post covering the content included with The Multimedia Variety Pack CD-ROM by GSP as part of the Shovelware Showcase series.

Overview

pending

Packaging

Packaging consists of a standard size CD-ROM jewel case with a solid black tray. A full colour front booklet is included with 2 pages of content, with two blank inside pages. The last page of the booklet lists the software items included as well as loading instructions. The rear inlay is single sided and shows box art for the 9 titles included.