On 12 Sep 2009 at 19:03, Lewis C. Emerson wrote:

> ....  I have copied, to a floppy disk, several games from
> the computers at the local Senior Center here (with their permission),
> and have sent them to her via an e-mail attachment.  In testing them
> on an older computer here, with Windows-95, I often see this error
> message: One of the files needed to run A:xxxxxx.EXE cannot load in
> the 16 bit Windows Sub System because it is a WIN32.DLL My sister
> lives in another state and I do not know what computer she has, nor
> which operating system she's using, and I doubt that she's savvy
> enough to tell me.  Also, I'm along in years too and don't understand
> things I probably should know.  I suspect that the problem is
> associated with the old machine and/or the old operating system,
> but.....  Is there a work-around for this problem other than a newer
> machine and/or a modern OS?

  If I recall correctly, Win95 was the first of the Win32 OSes 
into the hands of consumers; odds are that the games you are 
trying are newer than that and perhaps need a newer OS.
  DLLs are typically supporting modules required by an 
application.  In this case, it appears that Win95 has loaded the 
application's main module as a 16-bit executable and then 
discovered that at least one of the supporting modules it needs 
is 32-bit.  It's possible that Win95 didn't include a way for a 
16-bit program to use a 32-bit module (more recent OSes may have 
rectified that).  It's also possible that the game is really in 
some newer 32-bit format that Win95 doesn't recognize and so it 
is by default trying to load it as a 16-bit program....

  I can't remember any reason that a Windows 95 system cold not 
run Windows 98, so if you can locate a copy of that OS it may be 
possible to correct the issue with the machine that you are 
testing on.  And in the (unlikely, I think) case that your 
sister also runs Windows 95, the same is likely to help her.

  [I think Win95 was the first Windows OS to include a 
"compatibiity mode" list for old applications, but I don't think 
that can help you with applications that are *newer* than the OS 
knows about.]

David Gillett

                Curious about the people moderating your
                   messages? Visit our staff web site:
                    http://freepctech.com/staff.shtml