Old Software in Win 7

I work in a school in developing country. We have a computer class but no suitable software for small kids, the nearest being Mavis Beacon typing tutor - and from that only the Chameleon game holds their interest for a while, but of course it is useless without doing the lessons first... Me and my grown - up son both still love this program and I play it quite happily in my old XP machine when I have a few spare minutes.

I happen to have a Disney Typing tutor which has proven to be a great success with kids of all ages. And you cannot play games unless you have completed the drills. The only problem is that is was designed for Win 95... I installed it into my laptop running win 7 this morning. At first it was working fine except the graphics were psychedelic and too pixelated to see what is going on. I could not find the compatibility program but the school admin did something, he doesn't know what he did (apart from copying the DVD onto my desktop) but after that the program worked perfectly. So far so good.

:-o But when I closed the program it revealed a dialogue program asking if the program was working fine or to use the recommended settings and this idiot (me) went for the recommended settings option! Now the program won't work at all and it won't even install. I've even tried system restore in order to start afresh - I cannot uninstall it because Windows claims that the program is being used- but without success :cry

Any solutions? Also, I would welcome suggestions for suitable, free software for young kids with very limited knowledge of English language.

 

Your best bet, would be to look for a Open Source project, or even look at Linux as the OS, then utilize the Open source software available for it, or even write your own code. If Khmer is their native language, take a look at this site http://beth.typepad.com/typing_to_learn_khmer/ A lot of good info, regarding Cambodia languages. Here is info I got from a search result, regarding Khmer http://us.yhs4.search.yahoo.com/yhs..._lego_portal_home&rd=pref&pqstr=khmer typing

There is also Keyblaze from NCH.

 

I have no control over the computers, there's only one guy working part-time who is allowed to install anything from his flash drive - no computers have CD-drives and most don't have a usb port...

I'm teaching them English so I need typing tutor for English. And as we are talking about under 10 - year old kids, they need something lively and humorous to keep their attention. I cannot write any code, let alone the standard of Disney's software, no matter how old. :-(

Thanks for the Typing link though, I will see if it is an easier to follow than the typing tutor I have: it's a simple program, similar to Mavis Beacon 2, but the instructions are in Khmer, so I don't know what they say...

 

Can't you just set it back to Windows 95 Compatibility Mode?

 

I've read that you have to install the program first, then right click the program icon and choose compatibility wizard. But like in XP it doesn't seem to offer those options...

And now I cannot get that far, as it doesn't seem to install the program at all any more. This is the most baffling bit, as it installed at the first time, even managed to run as normal for a while.

 

So the program is now installed? Or not?

 

You could try this:

1. Shutdown the computer first. Click on the Start button, you'll see the Shutdown button in the lower right-hand side. Next to that button is a triangle or right facing arrow head. Don't click the triangle, just click the word Shutdown. We want a shutdown, not a restart...

2. After the computer is completely off, start it back up. Usually this means pressing the power button on the front or side of the case.

3. Once everything has run in the startup sequence and you have a desktop with all icons, right click the icon for the program in question and click the compatibility tab. Make the options appear as below, clicking OK when set:

Note: Also check the Change settings for all users button, forgot to circle that... :-o

http://i47.tinypic.com/2db809u.jpg

Try to run the program again.

 

DOSBox came to mind first, but may be a bit complicated... http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Basic_Setup_and_Installation_of_DosBox There is also a suggestion at the bottom of this page I had not heard of, but looks to be a real possibility... http://www.classicdosgames.com/utilities/win9x.html