'Old' software on Win 2000 2

[JeanW]

We finally had enough money to change all our (more than second hand)pc's in our little school to Win 2000, coming from Win 95. (and no, no money for Win XP - the Win 2000 is from donation)....

Joy was short, some programs we use (like 'Grandma and Me) for the little kids are working for a little time, then the screen become black.

I know the requirements for this program are for Win 95/97/3.11 and 256 colors. I already changed tje color from 16bit to 256...

Due to the high educational level of that program (kids love the program also), is there a way to make it work on Win 2000 ?

TIA

 

[DTracy]

JeanW-

You say the programs did work for a short period of time and then went black?

This sounds like the workstations are hibernating.

1) Right click on the desktop and select properties.
2) Next, select the Screen Saver tab and then press the Power button. From the Power Schemes drop down box choose the Always On option and also the Turn On Monitor should be set to Always On.
3) Lastly, select the Hibernate tab from that screen and uncheck the Hibernate box.

These actions should stop the workstation from hibernating as well as other sleepy time features. Use a screen saver to protect the monitor.

Best regards,
David E. Tracy

 

[JeanW]

Thanks for reply David.

I carefuly followed your steps...sorry to say, same result.
Although the several item were already on 'never'...

The kids program is an interacting program. They have to click on several different items (like a flower, to see a fly coming out of it, clicking on a door that opens etc.)

After a while (seems to be random), the screen turns black and I get the desktop, with nearly no colors.
The icons are still in color, but the taskbar seems to be black and white and the backgroundcolor (bleu) from the desktop turns black.
The only thing to do is, or, restart the program via start, programs, programname (which popup list is also black and white) or restart the pc.

We finaly could use some programs people were so kind to provide, and now we're stuck with this.
We're really hoping somebody could help us.
All our other programs seems to work fine (Office 97, Triple Play Plus, even FileMaker 6 (whicj is why the harddisk can never be 'switch off).

Thanks for ideas.

 

[DTracy]

JeanW-

Something else you might try:

If the program does not have a desktop shortcut, make one.

Then in the properties of that shortcut (right click on the shortcut) place a checkmark in the box that reads "Run in separate memory space".

Sometimes this will help isolate a program.

Best Regards,

David.

 

[wolluf]

JeanW,

Presuming yuou're running latest service pack (4) for 2k, you should be if not already. This includes a compatibility feature (like XP has) - so you can run program in 95/98/NT mode.

http://www.activewin.com/tips/win2000/1/2000_tips_43.shtml

for howto enable it, then just access the properties of the program shortcut to action it.

May not work - but worth a try.

 

[JeanW]

Sorry for late reply...we don't have internet in our village. Have to take a bus and go downtown to internetcafe...

Wanted to answer before Emily is running over the peninsula (Yucatan)and we hope we will still have a school after that.., had to go back to try things out, but here I am...

@ David.
Sorry to say, "Run in separate memory space" was gray out, no access to checkbox.

@ Wolluf.
I installed all the patches/updates and we're on SP 4, but thanks for reminder...
You have for the rest of your live the gratetude of all the little kids here...your trick/link did it....

@ Both...a star each...
If you ever want to come to Yucatan, let us know, you will have 'native' guides for free...

Thanks again....

 

[Frank4d]

I have several old programs including "Just Grandma and Me", "Ruff's Bone", "New Kid on the Block", etc. You need to set them to run in 256 color mode and also 640x480 screen resolution.