Has anyone used a cooking program called ProChef Plus? I just discovered it and have downloded the trial version and am trying it out. It can be found at:
formatting link
first glance, it looks to have a lot of features that would make itvery useful for baking (breads, etc.) including. A few that caught myeye are:
Scaling without changing the original quantities.
Volume to weight conversion.
Baker's percentages.
Decimal option.
The user interface looks clean and straight forward.
WARNING! This software apparently does not run on Windows 2000. For some strange reason, it runs on 98, ME, and XP, but not 2000. When I installed it, it complained that a couple of files were missing.
The missing files were mscomctl.ocx and mscomct2.ocx.
When I exited the install program, I got a message that looked to be from Windows saying that some files were now missing and that Windows might be unstable.
So far Windows seems to be running OK and ProChef Plus also runs so I'm not sure what the error message was about. I am talking to the developer, but if you have Win2K you might not want to try this program.
If I get a better answer, I will post it.
I have never seen a program that would work on 98 and XP but not 2000.
On my notebook my boot drive is drive F and NOT drive C, as I suffered a hard drive crash and when I switched to the new drive and installed windows on it XP's install and the hardware decided my boot drive would henceforth be drive F. Their trial software will NOT install or run if the boot drive is NOT drive C. They have hardcoded, in it, that one file, msmd6.dll, must be installed on c:\windows\system32 and, of course, my system does not have that at all, so the file, which is required, is not installed. I have written them about this problem and await their answer.
Apparently Top Spin managed to install that one file, so if he cares to send me a copy privately [as an attachment] I will install it on drive F and let you know my view of the code.
From the advert on their web site it appears that the non-pro version does almost all of what the pro version does, but it seems not to be able to convert non-US volume to non-US weight . . . they have restricted this to US volume to US weight conversions :-) . . . proving once more that they have no imagination or knowledge of the rest of the world. Anyway, I too will advise what I find out.
They advertise that they import MasterCook recipes from versions 1 to version 6... and since we are now at version 8, I wonder what else is a little behind the times on their web site :-)
FWIW
RsH
-------------------------------- >WARNING! This software apparently does not run on Windows 2000. For
======================================================= Copyright retained. My opinions - no one else's... If this is illegal where you are, do not read it!
These are very easy to come by, and fairly simple to install.
It does, however, indicate that the people who wrote the program are less than professional. It would have been pretty easy for them to handle this automatically. It's more or less the hallmark of the barely-competent.
Pimply faced geeks often write programs that need them but don't include them or tell you anywhere that you might have to track them down. Often between phone calls at their technical support job.
I wish I had half the computer/programming knowledge of the people around me in the newsgroups. Aside from minor contact with the first pc installed where I worked in the mid-80's, I had no contact with computers until someone gifted me with a very old, cast off, corporate computer in '98, I think. A whole world passed me by. I really regret that. Darn. Janet
Sometimes ignorance is bliss. My husband, the past few days is installing now-tens-of-thousands of my genealogy files and probably a few of the hundred programs and some 15,000+ photos on my new computer. He can do this. I couldn't do it in a million years. Blessed are the husbands. Dee
Oh, I can do all that. And, if the error message is there, I can probably figure out the reference. But knowing that kind of file is easily available and installed, and where you find it isn't part of the self taught knowledge that I have. I will attempt to use the software providers knowledge base, but generalized questions are rarely why one goes to the Help file or Web site. And I'm too darn cheap to spend the time and money for paid tech support. Either I figure it out or I do without. I'm not clueless or dangerous--my husband is. Janet
I understand that you boot on the F drive, but do you have a C drive still? If so, you can simply create that directory structure on it, and copy the required dll from F:...
No drive C, but I [temporarily] renamed drive D to drive C, installed the program, rebooted and renamed C back to D, rebooted again as required and then moved the msmd6.dll file to Drive F, where it is now residing. Then the program works.
That file turns out to be a small file which is their security [number of uses] counter. When the value gets to 30 it stops the trial from working any more, so they insist that the file be installed. Of course once you realise what this file is for, anyone with a Hex editor can negate this sort of check in an instant, by changing the value back to
1 or 0 and starting all over. The program does NOT handle conversions between volume and weight all that well, and is not nearly as flexible as MasterCook, in my opinion, so I likely will NOT keep it around, but at least it is now installed and usable.
I still think that the programmer(s) have a poor install system if they insist on drive C as they have for this one file, instead of what the system actually has.
Anyway, thanks for the question, as it allowed me to remember the way to change a drive's letter value (other than the boot drive) so that I could D to C and then change it back and not screw up the programs installed on D and in the registry that way.
RsH
--------------------------- >RsH wrote:
======================================================= Copyright retained. My opinions - no one else's... If this is illegal where you are, do not read it!
In future, if you need to fake a C: you can do the following:
- Open a command prompt (run cmd.exe) - Enter: subst C: F:\
Now any references to C: is the same as a reference to F:. This will only be true until you reboot your computer.
Any time a programmer has hard coded something like the System Drive or anything else it is a clear indicator that the program lacks some fundamental knowledge. Most often this is because they are self-taught and use the trial-and-error method of learning.
I'd avoid using software from this sort of programmer. These are the type who learn from mistakes and rarely from research. Often their mistakes are reported by the people using their software. In other words, if you buy their software you are basically paying to be their beta-testers.
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