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- The Basics
- ________________________
- www.macfixit.com
5/24/99
- . Microsoft library
files: Deleting OLE extension; tracking versions
-
- Update: Regarding a tip posted last time,
Darren Hickey notes that Microsoft OLE extension is
not a part of Office 98 and (if you delete it), it
will not be reinstalled by running an Office 98
application. "Office '98 uses OLE v2.2, which uses all
shared libraries, the OLE Extension is legacy from OLE
2.01. I have had numerous problems when applications
(a reinstallation of Quark 3.3) install the Microsoft
OLE Extension (the file doesn't exist, so it gets
installed). System instability and errors in Office
and other OLE aware applications are the common
issues." [Note: I found a copy of this extension
in my System Folder and have deleted it; I am now
tracking whether this reduces the system crashes that
have plagued my use of Word 98.]
- Update: As Chris Erickson reminds me, we
have previously covered the issue of the OLE
Extension. At that time, we suggested that the
extension is part of Office 98, but that the version
installed by Office could conflict with other software
(such as Photoshop). I am investigating this matter
further and hope to report back.
- On a related note, Joseph Boykin found that
Acrobat 4.0 installed three Microsoft library files
(Microsoft Portability Library, Microsoft Controls
Library and Microsoft C Runtime Library) that were
older than versions he already had. "That caused at
least one program to be unhappy (Agfa's
PhotoWise)."
- ________________________
- TITLE Power Macintosh G3: Excel Consistently
Freezes
- Article ID:24909
- Created:5/17/99
- Modified:5/17/99
- TOPIC
- Every time I open a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet my
new Power Macintosh G3 crashes. Is there an
incompatibility between Excel and Power Macintosh G3
computers?
- DISCUSSION
- This is an isolated issue with Microsoft Excel. If
the monitor bit depth is selected as 2 bit or 256
grays, the Excel application will freeze on launch.
The easiest workaround is to select a higher bit
depth. Microsoft has been alerted to this issue, but
there is not any additional information available from
Microsoft at this time.
- This issue will persist even after clean install
and reinstallation of the Microsoft Office 98
suite.
- ________________________
. Updating the
Operating system can increase the memory required for
applications to run. Example &endash; System 7.5.5
Update required some programs to use an additional 23K
of memory. To fix the problem, increasing the
Preferred Memory size of the application by 23K was
the solution to memory error messages.
- . Some system
components are set to a memory partition that is too
small. Printmonitor and Desktop Printmonitor are
classic examples that often need more memory than the
default setting.
- . TIP: to
monitor the memory partitions of active programs
&endash; Choose About this Computer or About this
. Macintosh from under
the Apple Menu, move the window to the bottom of the
screen and check the percentage of the bar that is
used. If an application fills most or all of the bar,
it needs to have it's memory allocation increased in
it's Get Info window. There are shareware and freeware
utilities that will perform this same function
(monitoring memory) in a smaller window or floating
palette.
- . Turning on Balloon
Help will allow you to find out the exact amount of
memory available and used (the only use of Balloon
Help that IS useful).
-
- The Rules
- . Everything in the
system and all applications have a set amount of
memory. If they step one byte out of this memory, you
will see a crash, bomb, freeze, stall or error
messages.
- . If an application
refuses to open a file, won't save, won't print, the
FIRST thing to try is assign it more memory Especially
if the problem file is much larger (bigger, more
pictures) than the files you normally work with.
- . Even programs that
have enough memory to function, may show much faster
response given more memory.
-
- Symptoms
- Printing problems &endash; refusing to
print, with or without error messages, showing all the
steps of printing but producing no output, printing
only the first page (or a portion of the
printjob).
- Saving problems &endash; refusing to save a
file.
- Opening problems &endash; refusing to open
a file &endash; usually with an error message.
- Special option problems &endash; spell
checking failures, export to different file format
problems, acquiring scanners or video capture devices
&endash; usually with an error message.
- . NOTE: the above
problems are due to programs that do not load ALL
their features at open. Some options are loaded into
memory when they are requested, assuming there is
enough memory allocated to the application.
- . NOTE2: it is
possible for problems with an application to appear
when too many fonts are open, or additional system
resources are added (utilities that alter the finder
or the way the system operates).
- Random crashes with or without error
messages across many applications.
Solutions
- . Allocate more
memory to the problem application.
- 1] Highlight the application, when it
is not open or active
- 2] (Command + I) or File Menu:Get Info
command to open the Get Info Window
- 3] Increase the preferred size by 20 or
30%
- 4] Test the increased memory partition,
repeat if needed.
- . Allocate more
memory to your System, using Conflict Catcher or one
of the freeware/shareware system heap utilities.
- . Increase Print
Monitor's Memory to 256k &endash; the default memory
for print monitor can often cause problems. (Desktop
PrintMonitor if you are using Desktop Printing)
- Increase ATM's Memory to 50k per font &endash; use
the ATM (Adobe Type Manager) control panel for
this.
-
- Notes
- . Leave the About
Macintosh window open at the bottom of the screen to
monitor or check your applications memory space. OR
download one of the memory utilities available
online.
- . If you change the
memory size of a program to an abnormally large
figure, remember to set it back for normal
operation.
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