Replies

Some other options

Fences: I solved this by simply creating a couple of extra folders full of shortcuts and placing it on my Start Menu. Icondesk (free) hides all the desktop icons to keep it clean.

Soluto: after several months, I didn’t find that it helped. WinPatrol (free) lets you disable or delay startup programs and services and monitors the registry better. I found Soluto’s flash-y interface hard to work with.

SIW: good choice; sometimes too much information.

WinMend: Xylsoft’s Shut Down Expert (free to try; $25) provides a lot of control over timed events: standby, shutdown, etc.

I have an unusual problem…..after using Money for too many years, I’m loathe to give it up without a fight.

On August 27, Installed Money 7 Business/Home on my new laptop running Win7/64 without a hitch and, when I started the program, it initiated a software update and downloaded what I think was an SP2 for Money that came out ages ago. This all worked fine, and I opened my data file and began working away.

Several days later, due to faulty advice from the “tech” people at LapLink’s PC-Mover, it became necessary to wipe the drive in my laptop and start over. Because the laptop is only two weeks old, I figured it was easier to wipe and restart rather than live with the incredible mess that the LapLink people made of my drive. So I started over on September 1.

With a fresh installation of Windows, everything seems fine except that Money will not download the needed update and refuses to start without the update. The error message claims my security is a problem (I turned off ALL security) OR their server is temporarily unavailable.

I have tried this on three different machines, one with XP, one with Win7/32 and this laptop, and all with the same result, so I think Microsoft turned off the server that provides this update on August 31, perhaps because they think no one needs it with the release of the Sunset Edition.

I tried the Sunset Edition, by the way, and it really is THE END. It is not possible to download any banking information.

Is there anyone within the entire Windows Secrets Lounge who might know how to find out whether the server has been turned off? How can this question be answered? I’d be happy to call Microsoft and spend a week or two asking the question, but past experience has shown this to be somewhat futile.

I don’t see any point in trying anything else until I find out whether I will EVER be able to download the necessary update.

Any suggestions?

This is a slight twist on the iTunes credit card problem……

I bought an iPad on July 2 at a physical Apple Store; activating the iPad required me to create an iTunes account and enter a credit card. Also had to create an AT&T 3g account, so all three had the same credit card number (never used elsewhere).

On July 9, someone used my card at a baseball hat website. Fortunately, the merchant called me to verify the purchase and voided it.

This has to be the fault of the Apple store (owned by Apple) or the iTunes website (owned by Apple) or AT&T (chosen by Apple).

On the recommendation by Fred Langa, I downloaded and installed MS SE.

At the conclusion of the installation, an error message informed me that MS SE “couldn’t detect an Internet connection.”

I uninstalled it, and tried again the following day. Same result.

Given that I am pretty much online all the time, it worries me a lot when a product intended to protect me from internet threats can’t even determine whether I am online or not.

It worries me even more because Microsoft designed the operating system that I use and that allows me to connect to the internet in the first place.

It would be *very* hard for me to trust this product. I uninstalled it and went back to the old ways of protecting myself.

That was the point of the first posting. I’m looking for people who ARE interested in re-writing the drivers.

That was the point of the first posting. I’m looking for people who ARE interested in re-writing the drivers.

Yes, I have talked to Aastra directly. They are not interested in this question. When you call them, you get the same answer that you get on their website. In fact, they read it to you. Aastra is not my answer.

Yes, I have talked to Aastra directly. They are not interested in this question. When you call them, you get the same answer that you get on their website. In fact, they read it to you. Aastra is not my answer.

Dave A–

It’s possible you’re correct. However, since the software installed correctly and runs without a problem, and since the phone is designed to use the USB connection only as a data line the same way a serial port peripheral works, it doesn’t really make sense to me that the hardware should be completely incompatible. In my view, the hardware was designed to work and did work with both flavors of Windows (98 and NT) in the past; why shouldn’t it work with XP?

Dave A–

It’s possible you’re correct. However, since the software installed correctly and runs without a problem, and since the phone is designed to use the USB connection only as a data line the same way a serial port peripheral works, it doesn’t really make sense to me that the hardware should be completely incompatible. In my view, the hardware was designed to work and did work with both flavors of Windows (98 and NT) in the past; why shouldn’t it work with XP?

Joe–

Yes, I know Aastra. As I recall, they bought up Nortel’s telephone inventory when Nortel decided to try and make a living solely on networking, or some similar nonsense (like Lucent).

Aastra answers the 9617 question on their website as follows:

[indent]

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1) What operating system is the 9617 USB compatible with?
It is compatible with Windows 95 and Windows 98 first edition. It is not compatible with Windows 2000 and Windows NT.
2) Will there be an upgrade software version?
No, we do not plan to have an upgrade software version for the current Windows 98 version.

---

[/indent]
However, I believe their answer to #1 is wrong. The SYS file makes specific references to NT installation.

Thanks for the suggestion!

I suppose I’m being stubborn about this, but I’m still hoping somebody out there knows how to write INF and SYS files and can make a simple translation of a few lines of code.

But maybe not.

Joe–

Yes, I know Aastra. As I recall, they bought up Nortel’s telephone inventory when Nortel decided to try and make a living solely on networking, or some similar nonsense (like Lucent).

Aastra answers the 9617 question on their website as follows:

[indent]

---

1) What operating system is the 9617 USB compatible with?
It is compatible with Windows 95 and Windows 98 first edition. It is not compatible with Windows 2000 and Windows NT.
2) Will there be an upgrade software version?
No, we do not plan to have an upgrade software version for the current Windows 98 version.

---

[/indent]
However, I believe their answer to #1 is wrong. The SYS file makes specific references to NT installation.

Thanks for the suggestion!

I suppose I’m being stubborn about this, but I’m still hoping somebody out there knows how to write INF and SYS files and can make a simple translation of a few lines of code.

But maybe not.

I went back and gave it the old college try…….every possible way I can think of.

But in the end, the Wizard says it can’t do anything because the SYS and INF files are not executable.

I went back and gave it the old college try…….every possible way I can think of.

But in the end, the Wizard says it can’t do anything because the SYS and INF files are not executable.

Bob–

Thanks for the reply. Although I knew about the compatability wizard, I looked at it again after I read your post. It doesn’t seem to offer any help when the problem is hardware installation. It might be useful if I can ever get the hardware (USB telephone) installed, though,so thanks for reminding me.

Mike