Question: We’ve been trying to install Q&A for DOS on a new Pentium PC running Windows. When we start Q&A, we receive various error messages. Since we have many years invested in Q&A, we must find a solution to this problem. We’ve called tech support at Symantec, Compaq, Microsoft and Intel, but nobody has any idea where the problem is.

DOS and Windows 3.x programs—as well as most 16-bit programs that claim to be Windows 95/98-compatible—won’t run properly from a hard drive partition that’s larger than 1.88G. (That could be anywhere from 1.8G to 2G depending on how you measure a gigabyte). If the computer manufacturer didn’t supply your PC with a 2G partition, you can use a program called Partition Magic* (800-379-2566, http://www.powerquest.com) to quickly and safely create a 2G partition on any size hard drive without destroying any data already on the hard drive.

For an altogether different approach to getting Q&A to run from a "too-large" hard drive partition—a solution that doesn't require repartitioning the hard drive—see Lesspace.com on the Free Downloads page. See also the "Give Me Space" tip on page 10 of the August 1998 Quick Answer.

Most newer PCs come with Windows 95 or 98 preinstalled. The best way to install Q&A on such a system is to restart the PC in MS-DOS mode (one of the options on Windows Start / Shut Down menu), and install Q&A as you normally would. Then, restart Windows (enter Win at the DOS prompt) and create your Desktop Q&A Shortcut.

To create a Q&A Shortcut, click the right mouse button on an empty space on the Windows desktop. A small menu will appear. Click New, then click Shortcut.

For the Command Line, click Browse and navigate to the directory where you installed Q&A. Select the QA.COM file and click Open. Click Next, and type in a name for the shortcut, such as Q&A DOS 5.0. Click Finish.

(Optional: If you're using Lesspace.com, you should use start Q&A with a batch file. You can name it STARTQA.BAT, and it should be in your Q&A program files directory and contain the following commands:

lesspace
c:\qa\qa.com
lesspace /U

This way, Windows will start Lesspace.com, start Q&A, then remove Lesspace.com from memory when you quit Q&A. Substitute your own path to Q&A.)

The Shortcut should appear on the desktop with a default MS-DOS icon. To change this to the Q&A icon, right-click on the icon and select Properties from the pop-up menu. Click on the Program tab, and click on Change Icon. Click Browse, navigate to your Q&A directory. Select then open the QA.ICO file, then click OK.

While you're in your Q&A Shortcut's Properties, make the following changes:

On the Program tab:
Comd Line: C:\QA5\QA.COM (this should already show your correct path)
Close on exit (check this box)

On the Memory tab:
Conventional = Auto
Initial Environment = Auto
Expanded Memory = 1024
Extended Memory = 1024
MS-DOS Memory = Auto

On the Misc tab:
No Screen saver (unchecked)
No Fast Paste (unchecked)

The Expanded memory is useful to Q&A 4.0 for DOS and crucial to Q&A 5.0 for DOS. If an Expanded memory option doesn’t appear in the Properties / Memory tab on your PC, add the following lines to your CONFIG.SYS file, reboot the machine, and everything should be fine:

Note: On some Pentium III PCs, the above lines will still not give you Expanded memory. (The manufacturer might even tell you that the PC "doesn't support" Expanded memory.) In this case, see the May and July 2000 issues of The Quick Answer for possible workarounds.

Q&A 5.0 is sensitive to machine type and processor speed (Q&A 4.0 is not) and will have trouble with a Pentium II processor running faster than 180MHz (or a Pentium III) unless you install the Q&A SpeedFix 1.0 patch.

If you’re using Q&A 4.0, you don’t need to be concerned with processor speed. If you have a "plain" Pentium (not a Pentium II or MMX) running at up to 233MHz, both Q&A 4.0 and 5.0 should run just fine on it without having to install the patch.

This question and answer appears in the @Help column (edited by Gordon Meigs and Bill Halpern) of the March 1998 issue of The Quick Answer, revised here to include the Q&A SpeedFix Patch that became available in late July 1998, references to Lesspace.com, the update on PartitionMagic 4.0, creating a Q&A Desktop Shortcut, references to Windows 98 and Windows 2000, and the bit about not being able to get Expanded memory.

Q&A and Windows Me—Still Going!

(From the October 2000 issue of The Quick Answer)

Well, once again we got caught up in the You-Must-Install-This-New-Operating-System frenzy from Microsoft. Actually, the real reason was that Q&A users have been calling and emailing us since the day Windows Me (Millennium Edition) was released with that same old question: "Will Q&A run in it?" We proceeded with the installation with trepidation because Microsoft had announced that with this edition Windows would no longer support DOS or DOS programs. We "sacrificed" two computers—a Compaq notebook and a Compaq desktop. Both had Windows 98 SE installed, so we installed the special upgrade version of Windows Me.

Windows ME and Expanded Memory

(From the November 2000 issue of The Quick Answer)

Question: I believe that Expanded Memory is important to Q&A 5.0’s operation. I just bought a new computer—a Pentium III 800Mhz—and installed Q&A on it. When I tried to set my Q&A shortcut’s properties for the proper memory settings, the Expanded Memory section was blank on the Memory tab and there seems to be no way around it. Q&A reports 0 (zero) K on the Expanded Memory line at the Ctrl-F3 System Information screen. Can you help me?

For more on setting up Q&A in Windows 9x, see David Dvorin's article, "Q&A 5 and Win 95: A Cool Combo," Parts 1 and 2, in the October and November 1997 issues of The Quick Answer. Also see Alec Mulvey's comprehensive article, "Installing and Configuring Q&A" (covers 4.0 and 5.0 for DOS) in the February 2000 issue. These back issues can be ordered in printed or Acrobat Reader editions using our Online Order Form.

Note: We have a videotape of Bill Halpern's 1.5 hour presentation at the International Q&A Users Conference 2001where he covers in detail ALL the setup and configuration requirements for successfully installing and running Q&A in all the Windows operating systems from Windows 95/98 through Windows 2000 and Windows ME. This VHS videotape is available as a part of the complete Q&A Users Conference 2001 Tape Set. When the tape set it ready, it will be announced on our Home page. 

How to Post to a Text or Keyword Field  Q&A 5.0
(How to copy the programming to paste into a Q&A 5.0 database)

Suppose you want to add an entry from a field in Database A to the existing contents of a Text or Keyword field in a Database B record. You can't use Q&A 5.0's XPost command in the usual way because it will overwrite the entire target field in the Database B record with the posted value. You’ll need to perform a trick with XPost and @XLookup to get the job done. Here's an example that shows how to post a color (Red, Blue, Green, etc.) to a Colors Keyword field in an external Customer.dtf record:

This sample program posts the Color field’s value (Blue, for example) in the current record to the Colors Keyword field in the target Customer.dtf record, on a match between the Acct No fields.

If the Customer.dtf record Keyword field already contains Blue, a message advises that the duplicate keyword wasn't posted since the target field already contained it. Otherwise, the Colors Keyword group is retrieved (via @XLookup) from the target record, the new color, preceded by a semicolon and space, is tacked onto the end of it, and the modified group is then posted back to the Keyword field.

The trick here is to place the @XLookup inside the XPost command as the "what to post" parameter. This technique works for Text fields as well. It gives you a way, for example, to keep track of all of a customer's invoice numbers in a single field in the customer record (posted from the invoice records), or all the check numbers paid to a vendor in the vendor's record (posted from the check writing database). (For more examples, see "All About Keyword Fields" in the May 1998 Quick Answer p. 5, and "Track Failed XPosts with a Posting Error Log" in the April 1997 issue, p.5.)

Enter 21st Century Dates the Easy Way
(How to copy the programming to paste into Q&A)

You probably use Date fields, and know that Q&A lets you type just the last two digits of the year. For example, you can enter 12 5 95 and Q&A assumes you mean December 5, 1995. For 21st century dates, though, a two-digit year won’t work. Enter 10 5 01 and Q&A will think you mean October 5, 1901.

If you’d like to type a two-digit year for 21st century dates, you’ll need to program your Date field. Create a test database with the following fields and formatting, and choose date format #14 at the Global Format Options screen:

Date: D
Date Internal: T
Date in 4 years: D

Program the Date field as follows:

Add a record. Type 12 5 01 in the Date field, press Enter, and the date appears as 12-5-2001. Enter 12 10 0 (a one-digit year!) and the date appears as 12-10-2000.

Remember, you need a four-digit-year date format for this to work. But with the millennium fast approaching, you should be updating your databases, reports, specs, and so forth, to a four-digit-year date format anyway.

Tom Marcellus
Published in the December 1997 issue of The Quick Answer