Microsoft Vista Installation and Operations With Hirtle Software Products

 

Hirtle Software products install and run perfectly fine under the new Microsoft Vista operating system. Microsoft Vista incorporates many new changes especially in the security arena. As you may have discovered with other 3rd party software products Vista can present challenges in regards to how you install, configure and use many products.

 

Home (single) users without login accounts setup will typically not incur these issues as their computer configuration would be setup to allow them full rights to their machine. These issues tend to pertain to just those users who are part of an organization operating on a network which they must login to.

 

Here are our suggestions as to best handle installation and/or operating software on the Vista platform:

 

 

 

Installing Hirtle Software Products onto Microsoft Vista

 

1.    Log into the computer with a user account with Administrator Rights

2a.  If you downloaded the zip file, unzip it into a folder of your choice

2b.  If you downloaded the exe file then you are set

3.    Right-Click on the setup.exe file or whatever the exe file name is (depending on what you downloaded and if it was unzipped) and select the “Run as Administrator” option. This will start the installation. It’s necessary to install this way even if you are logged in as an administrator.

4.  Follow the installation instruction on the screen and the software will be installed

 

Note: You may receive an error at the end of the installation in regards to an “INF Install Failure” message. This error does not affect the install so simply select OK.

 

 

Running Hirtle Software Products on Microsoft Vista

 

You may have already discovered the acronym UAC in regards to Vista. This feature comes enabled with Vista as a default. When you have multiple users on the same computer this feature controls file changes based on the user who made them. You may have noticed that files a user changes may not appear for a different user or the file isn’t even visible to them. This is a UAC feature of Vista which Hirtle Software products or any other product running on Vista cannot control. We have found that turning off UAC is a much more traditional method for file access between users. However, you should consult with your network administrator before doing so.

 

We have found that the 1st time we run a product that right-clicking it’s icon and selecting “Run as Administrator” provides 100% functionality where Vista doesn’t intercept the products operations. It seems after we run it this why the 1st time we are then able to run it normally from that point on.

 

If you have multiple users running the software under their own logins and you are licensed then the first time each user logs in you may receive the “unregistered” window. This occurs because each user has their own system settings. Simply add the registration code for each user this 1st time and you should not be asked to do so again.

 

For multiple users who do not have admin rights to the computer you may see error messages when you try to open up a testbank file about the file may not be a testbank file. This error occurs typically because the user’s account doesn’t have access rights to the file or folder they are trying to access. The sample testbank files which get installed may be like this for non admin users. The best way around the problem is to create a file share folder on the system or network using an admin account and then set up the folder to allow standard users with read/write permissions. This way all users whether they are admins or standard users will be able to view and edit the testbank files.

 

Our testing was conducted using the 32 bit Microsoft Vista Service Pack 1 operating system. All information we provide in this document pertains to this setup. Suggestions we provide may or may not work using any other configuration. Any changes you may make to your system you should consult with your organizations IT department or a computer expert. Hirtle Software is not responsible to any damage to your computer hardware or software including lost or damaged files.

 

 

 

Software Specific Considerations

 

Below are recommendation based on our Vista testing for specific Hirtle Software products. The one common denominator that all the issues we have found with the Vista operating system is that if you have the ability to run software from an administrator login account you will find less problems than if you run software from a standard user account. This has to do with permissions between an admin user and a standard user. Vista Is much more restrictive than previous operating systems in what it allows standard users access to even on the local C drive.

 

Probably the easiest way to make sure a user has rights to run software and use all the available functionality of that software is to grant the user to have admin rights to the machine they are working on and install the software using their own login account. This method is very often used to make sure a user can operate without running into the many security limits the operating system can impose on standard users. The issues below typically occur when the user is a standard user who does not have admin rights on their machine.

 

 

Random Password Generator-PRO

When the installation folder is created admin users of course have full control to it but standard users have much more limited access. When you attempt to create a wordlist for passwords the .DCT files are needed to pull the appropriate language you have selected. You will get an error in regards to the files may be “corrupted”. In reality it’s because the user isn’t allowed access to the files. The Random Password Generator-PRO folder is typically found at; “C:\Program Files\Hirtle Software\Random Password Generator-PRO”. This folder should be given “Full Control” permissions for standard users. An Admin should set this after the software is installed. This will then allow all users the ability to use dictionary files.

 

 

Random Test Generator-PRO

The samples folder when installed does not allow standard users access to open the sample files contained within. Admin users have full rights to open these sample files. Therefore, after an Admin installs the software they should set this samples folder typically found at; “C:\Program Files\Hirtle Software\Random Test Generator-PRO\Samples” to “Full Control” for standard users.