XP and/or Vista Full Screen DOS Mode

My books about Secret Code Breaking come with a CD (formerly was a 3 1/2" diskette) that is self loading (has an auto run and a setup.exe program on the CD).

The programs are compiled QBasic programs that do not use any special functions including a mouse. Cursor movement is with the arrow keys. Circa 1996-1998.

I "test" the programs to be sure they run on my machine which is a Windows XP platform. I have never "tested" them using Vista, but no reader has ever complained, so I assume they run under Vista as well.

Recently I received this request from a reader.

"Also I have the secret code breaker program 2 on my computer and the only thing that I am having trouble with is the Radio Direction Finder Program when I run it I get this message "this system does not support full screen mode. Chose 'Close' to terminate the application"

I have deinstalled the secret code breaker program 2 and reinstalled and it still did not work If you have ideas that will work I appreciate it (I have only basic computer skills so you might have to tell me step by step what to do)"

When I execute this Radio Direction Finder program on my Windows XP machine is automatically goes into to full screen mode and the program runs (including the Morse Code signal sounds from the speaker).

Is there a method where-by a Windows Vista machine can be shifted into full screen mode?

A more basic question (excuse the pun) is this. Is there a way to shift ANY current Windows machines (XP or Vista) into DOS mode and run these programs as they were originally written to run (QBasic DOS programs).

I recall years ago Windows had a DOS mode function, but it's been a while since that was the case.

Caution - I know very little about programming (I did not write these QBasic programs) so your answer should consider my level of expertise (novice).

Thanks for any help.

If you need copies of these programs (executables) I would be happy to arrange for placing them on my Secret Code Breaker web site server and providing the info you would need to download zip files of them.

 

I don't have Vista and only a few BASIC executables that don't require keeping a window open longer than a second or two so I can't test anything. But in XP if you right-click the executable and select Properties there is a Compatibility tab that would seemingly allow you to run in a larger window. If it works for your user then I suppose they would have to set the option for each executable in Properties, and it would become the default until changed.

 

Thanks for your suggestions. I'll check'em out.