I need extra-brilliant help

Hello,
At one of my work computers I'm unable to open chm. I tried a variety of converters and none worked. I tried to register hhctrl.oxc and it didn't help. I wrote a new mkits.reg and merged it, and it didn't help. I played with registry keys and policy settings and still nothing helps.
Does anyone have a streak of brilliance that will help me solve this?
I could bugger our IT guy and force him to format, but I in no mood for format right now. Any super wild ideas?
Mrk

 

What operating system is being used on this workstation ?

shot in the dark....but if it's XP SP2 Microsoft added protection that requires one to right click a chm file and select Unblock

 

Really? That isn't the case here; I'm running Windows XP Home SP2 and there's no block or unblock on the right-click menu for a .chm file. Unless (a) it's only XP Pro or (b) I've already done something to unblock them without realising it...

 

Hi,
Gonna try that tomorrow morning. It's XP SP2 indeed.
The thing is, the machine was loaded with its garbage before it came to my hands. So it's not a comp I like. But I need to run programs like CVI and LabVIEW on it, and their help is chm.
The actual error i get is cannot open mk:STOR something like that...
I went through all options in restriction policies, didn't find anything.
The only clue that I have found is that under registry, I have no system sub-folder in hclm\software\microsoft\windows\components, where a possible restriction - the block you mention - should reside.
But I'm gonna try it anyhow. If the right-click exists at all.
Mrk

 

Hi MRK
Have a read of this
http://www.helpscribble.com/chmnetwork.html

Hope it helps

 

Hi,
No right click option.
Edited the registry, added those from the articles. Nothing.
What a stupid machine...
Mrk

 

Hi MRK
Have you tried the Microsoft support links in the article.
Maybe a reinstall of Internet Explorer will do the trick.

 

Come on, you know it ain't the machine that's stupid, but the o/s, for not having the built-in facility to fix such things when they break. How MS ever got so huge whilst supplying such dross is beyond me.

Continued in

Wilders Security Forums > Software, Hardware and General Services > Microsoft-Bashing for the Cognocenti.



Just another daft thought - have you checked to see if .chm files are associated with the correct executable for viewing? In Folder Options > File Types? Yeah, I know it's obvious, but sometimes I overlook the obvious when fixing things...

 

Hi,
Answer to all questions: yes.
Tried all possible links. Merged dozens of keys and values etc.
Nothing works. It's haunted.
Mrk

 

What happens if you right-click the .chm file, select Open With... and then browse for c:\windows\hh.exe and try opening it with that?

Are you certain that the .chm files you are trying to open aren't corrupted?

Er, running low on alternative suggestions here...

 

Hi MRK

Have you tried Emailing one of the .chm files to one of your other computers then try to open it to test if the file is ok or corrupted

 

Hi,
They open without any problem.
I should have mentioned, but it's an HP machine, one of those with raped bios that show the company logo boot splash screen, and you have thousands of tiny "features" added, all sort of HP applications that no one wants. What can I tell? I have been given it. And any machine that I did not format myself is not a virgin, in my opinion. So I have to cope.
So far, other programming languages had normal help, text or html. But these two cookies, cvi and labview, have the sweet compiled html, and I'm buggered now. And formatting the crap and installing everything back will take me three quarters of an age.
So I innocently thought that editing a bit of registry would work.
Do you think if I take hhctrl.ocx from another machine and overwrite on this one that the files would open then?
Mrk

 

If it's just to access the help for two apps, why not grab something like http://chm2web.aklabs.com/download.php which will convert .chm files to .html files which can be opened with a browser? Then at least you can use the help files you need on that PC, until such time as you feel ready to reformat and start afresh.

 

Hi,
I tried no less than 6 chm to html / pdf converters and none of them proved good enough to do that reliably. I hope this one will work.
Thanks,
Mrk

 

Hi MRK

You could try replacing hhctrl.ocx with another one but do not overwrite it, move the original into another folder then if the new one doesn't work you can always revert back.

You say these files open okay on other computers then why don't you copy them and convert them to say pdf and then transfer them back.

 

Hi,
Possible, indeed possible.
Something we overlook small things.
Copy to another computer, who would have thought about that?
Mrk

 

Hi,
Solved it.
Extracted hhctrl.oc_ from xp installation disk and overwritten the existing file, then registered the control (regsvr32), it worked. Hooah!
Mrk

 

Halleluia!