# the sims complete collection problem



## socaligirl

Okay, so I just installed the sims complete collection on my laptop which has windows vista and it works great but when i go to save a house, it doesn't let me. an error message comes up that says "an error has encountered while saving the house." Has anyone else have this problem happen or just me? And if so, how do you or did you fix the problem? Thanks


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## FireAngel

I am having the same problem like socaligirl it would be good to find out if anyone has any help for either of us


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## 1jhn2_3_4

I have the same problem with my laptop, only it saved the first time I played it. Now it says that there is an error saving this house. I uninstalled the game and reinstalled, still same problem, and I went to the ea website but got no help the link to tech support is no good, plus they tell you how to install patches but I can't find the link to go to in my start menu there is no place to click for search for patch. And no where on there does it have any information about Vista users!!!  

OH and PS
I have plenty of memory to save.


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## Super-D-38

Sims on Vista?... hmm, that was a win 98 game wasn't it?.. 
There can be all kinds of problems with Vista. Even new games don't like it.



1jhn2_3_4 said:


> OH and PS
> I have plenty of memory to save.


Huh?... You mean hard drive space?.. OK. 

Don't see any patches for Sims Complete.. Or anything for Vista.
A few fixes for XP.. Hopefully EA is working on it.
I read only Sims 2 works on Vista.. 
Bahh.. another reason to hate Vista. :down:


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## Roxdog

Hi people

I don't usually reply to forums but it took me a long time to figure out a fix so I could play 
The Sims Complete Collection on Vista. Either I couldn't save my house or I couldn't use a Sim that I made. I looked everywhere, then tried a fix for another game.

If you have a shortcut on your desktop, right click and click Run As Administrator.
If you don't have a desktop shortcut, go to start, programs, Maxis, The Sims, right click The 
Sims 800x600 or 1024x768, click Run As Administrator. 

This has worked for me and everything seems to run just fine. 

Hope this can help anyone else. Good Luck.


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## chrissy3233

I too never reply to these, but I went to the trouble of setting up an account just to tell you Thank You!! I have scoured the internet looking for a solution. Everyone said to go to Sims2.. that was the only answer, but I just spent $50 on this in December. So, again Thanks! Chrissy


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## Roxdog

Hi people 

You're welcome chrissy3233.  It's a real pain when you're playing a game like the sims and can't save it. I'm glad someone else can use this info.


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## luvduvs

My gf is also having the same saving problem on her Vista laptop.. sounds like its related to Vista?


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## Lausie

I have had the same problem, i can't understand it. It also will let me make a family but then won't let me me move it in. It says it has but no people stand outside and it won't let u go to live mode or n e thing. When u go bk to the neighbour hood the house is still for sale and it's driving me made. Yet it will let u move in a family that is already made. How annoying! Can somebody pls help us, I also have windows vista, not sure if that is what it has to do with or not?


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## Lausie

Thank u so much roxdog! It worked! Yay! Thank u sooooo much!


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## Zoella

I've had all of the above problems with The Sims complete collection. I also have Vista. My problem got worse when I uninstalled the game and reinstalled it. Now it won't install at all; I get a message "unknown error. Aborting setup." 
Any suggestions (other than trashing Vista)??
Thanks


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## syd4me

Just a big thank you to Roxdog t for your explanation for saving Sims my granddaughter was ready to ditch the game in the bin. No more whining, peace for me. She is very happy and so am I. syd4me


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## LILO81932000

hey roxdog does that really work if it does ill be so happy cause i spent my birthday money on this game when i could have bought me some pokemon toys sorry im like 14 and i still like pokemon they are just so cute anyways i had this game for like an ear or more and ive just havent been able to play it but yeah let me try but thanks if it does work


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## Rurebeccalyn

this sucks, i have vista. I just got sims complete today, and everything downloaded fine. when i was exploring everything on the game, i went to neighborhood 2 and it would stop loading, and the whole program stopped responding. Now every time i try stating the game, it starts out in neighborhood 2 and wont stop loading. Does anyone else have this problem?


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## Jummi

I'm trying to play with laptop with Vista.

When I'm trying to start the game, following text comes up:

Continue the installation by placing the Sims Magic disk 1 in your CD-ROM drive. 
(translation from finnish)

When I click OK, nothing happens...


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## Shortie_Chee

So yeah I have vista as well and it installed fine but when I try to play it, it shows the pop ups like about the superstars and about magic town and all that. It allows four of them to pop up and after the magic one it stops like its about to work and I try to click on something. Shortly after it repeats those same four pop ups over and over again. I've tried running it as Run in Administrator and going to Properties and changing so it plays in Windows XP form but it still has issues. Anyone have any ideas to make this game work?


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## desumAylisaE

I too am having problems with "The Sims Complete Collection".

I installed it the first time, it played. Then I went to play it a second time and this is what I was presented with:

"It has come to attention that you have installed the expansion pack "The Sims Makin' Magic" after "The Sims Complete Collection". In order to play "The Sims" must update your install information."

I click okay and it uninstalls the game, then I reinstall it and the same thing happens.

I am running "Windows Vista Home Basic" so that might be the problem. But if anyone could help me I really do appreciate it.


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## plyrkimber

Rurebeccalyn said:


> this sucks, i have vista. I just got sims complete today, and everything downloaded fine. when i was exploring everything on the game, i went to neighborhood 2 and it would stop loading, and the whole program stopped responding. Now every time i try stating the game, it starts out in neighborhood 2 and wont stop loading. Does anyone else have this problem?


This is the exact problem that I had. I uninstalled the game, reinstalled it, and now it freezes at different points as it starts the main load.

The first time all it did was load and load and load. I left it for FOUR hours!!! It still was just loading away! I am running Windows Vista as well on my new Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop. 
Help!!


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## desumAylisaE

This is what I had to do to get my game to work:

The Original Sims was meant for Windows 98/ME/2000. So, what I did was I downloaded Microsoft's Virtual PC 2007 and installed Windows 2000 Professional under a *New Virtual Machine and then installed the game under the virtual machine. So far all of the problem have seemed to disappear. However I would recommend that you *fully understand how to use Virtual PC before trying this method.

*Note: You will need a copy of 2000 or ME and a copy of 98 in order to install the operating system.

Good Luck!

For help and or question feel free to email me.

Link for email.


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## plyrkimber

desumAylisaE said:


> This is what I had to do to get my game to work:
> 
> The Original Sims was meant for Windows 98/ME/2000. So, what I did was I downloaded Microsoft's Virtual PC 2007 and installed Windows 2000 Professional under a *New Virtual Machine and then installed the game under the virtual machine. So far all of the problem have seemed to disappear. However I would recommend that you *fully understand how to use Virtual PC before trying this method.
> 
> *Note: You will need a copy of 2000 or ME and a copy of 98 in order to install the operating system.
> 
> Good Luck!
> 
> For help and or question feel free to email me.
> 
> Link for email.


Thank you very much desumAylisaE. I am looking into that now. Never even heard of that before. That might help with another program/game I have that I haven't been able to use on my new laptop as well. I will be sure to completely understand it before messing with my computer - I usually do though.

Oh and I do have a copy of those OS's so no probs there.

Thanks again - REALLY appreciate it 
Kim


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## desumAylisaE

No problem. By the way, my name is John. I really loved the original Sims so this was a miracle for me. I also didn't mention that you can use XP too but it will require activation.


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## iSpec

For people that have installation-and-run problems I suggest the admin trick for both installation and running.

Uninstall first, then insert the CD. If the install screen pops up, kill it en go to the CD-ROM-drive in Explorer. Then right-click on setup.exe and Run as Admin. Afterwards, run the game as Admin as well.

I haven't tried this (I so far managed to avoid Vista) but Vista does all sorts of nasty things with access rights to the filesystem on your hard drive. When you run as Admin, no limitations are in effect, which explains why this solves the savegame problems and such.

Good luck.


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## Tiggerspiglet331

I need help please! I can't get my Sims game to play on my Vista laptop. My laptop was bought in November, 2007. I installed Sims, got into it and created a family. I moved my family in, and I'm trying to build them a house, but it locked up. Now I can't get it unlocked up unless I hit CTRL+DELETE, and then End Program. HELP! I LOVE my Sims games and I love my laptop. What do I do? I tried running the game as administrator, but it didn't work. So what do I do, besides buying Sims 2 and running the game as administrator? I'm getting a Sims 2 game soon, but I don't have it yet, and I want to play my Sims game! HELP!!!


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## joebananas

Hi,can you let me know if you found a solution to your problem, my son has a similar problem with a vista laptop. it seems to crash when you change neighbourhoods


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## joebananas

Hi, yep great fix thanks. I switched to windows xp compatability mode and then ran as administrator, works fine, my son is very pleased and now at last i can get some sleep  Cheers, Joe


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## sagato119

I cannot even install the game on Vista. My computer won't even read CD1 and kept telling me to insert a disc into the drive. I thought my DVD-RAM drive was malfunctioning but it was reading all other discs fine.


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## Marsefx

I bought The Sims Complete Collection today. Excited~I went home to install it on my new notebook < running Windows Vista Home Premium, 2 gig Intel duo processor, 160gig HD- partitioned, 1 gig ram ... bla bla > inserted the CD, got to the install wizard and clicked next. Then I got this message - Sorry there is not enough disk space on . 3600mb required and only 0mb free. Huh ?

K so I've been reading and here there are problems of all kinds with this game. The steps I have taken to try to resolve the issue < as per advice of EA.com and the help file on my Sims disk > are as follows: 
-I have tried running the set up in Windows XP compatibility mode - same error, 
-I tried in a new user account on Vista - same error, 
-The XP compatibility mode in new acct - same error. 
I have tried it on both User Accounts - Admin and User.

So really I just don't know why I would get an error like that. I've played alot of sims on all kinds of systems and have had many issues, but not enough space on a new machine?

Also, what's with the . in the error message? The wizard had not even asked me which drive or what location I wanted to install, but rather tells me I don't have enough space ON . ??? Whaa ?

Any help would be appreciated. I would really like to start playing

Thanks Mars 
P.S I have read the thread and will now try the right click run as admin. method I'll let you know if it works.


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## Marsefx

Nope ...didn't work ... same error !!


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## mchumps

A big thank-you from me on this issue, as well!
:up:


Roxdog said:


> Hi people
> 
> I don't usually reply to forums but it took me a long time to figure out a fix so I could play
> The Sims Complete Collection on Vista. Either I couldn't save my house or I couldn't use a Sim that I made. I looked everywhere, then tried a fix for another game.
> 
> If you have a shortcut on your desktop, right click and click Run As Administrator.
> If you don't have a desktop shortcut, go to start, programs, Maxis, The Sims, right click The
> Sims 800x600 or 1024x768, click Run As Administrator.
> 
> This has worked for me and everything seems to run just fine.
> 
> Hope this can help anyone else. Good Luck.


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## mike89510

I just restored my laptop which is running vista home premium, it ran sims complete before the install (using the run as admin trick) but since I had it restored, it wont go past about 8% of the instal, then after it gets to 8% it jumps to 95% and says that there is either a cyclic error or the wrong disc inserted. It will not prompt for any other discs and will not do anything except what i just explained, even trying the tricks that have been listed above (i.e. run as admin from setup, run in xp compatibility mode or earlier, and just trying to run it regularly.) so if anyone has help, i am addicted to the sims so it would be greatly appreciated. thanks


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## Zoidberg323

I got the sims complete collection 5 days ago, and it worked the first time i played it, but the second time i try to play it ses Expansion installed after Sims Makin' Magic ...
And it just uninstalls the game and reinstalls it so now i have to reinstall it evry time i want to play it - can any one help (on a Vista Laptop)

Whats worse is i took it back to game 2 days after i got it and they sed they wouldnt refund it 


...The Gaming indistury has bet me again ....


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## Zoidberg323

Roxdog said:


> Hi people
> 
> I don't usually reply to forums but it took me a long time to figure out a fix so I could play
> The Sims Complete Collection on Vista. Either I couldn't save my house or I couldn't use a Sim that I made. I looked everywhere, then tried a fix for another game.
> 
> If you have a shortcut on your desktop, right click and click Run As Administrator.
> If you don't have a desktop shortcut, go to start, programs, Maxis, The Sims, right click The
> Sims 800x600 or 1024x768, click Run As Administrator.
> 
> This has worked for me and everything seems to run just fine.
> 
> Hope this can help anyone else. Good Luck.


Just read through some of the things people sed to do and this works really well
CHEERS Roxdog
If any1 has the same problam as i did it works!
:up::up::up:


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## JoeandDes

We just spent the better part of 2 days trying to install and run The Sims Complete Collection on Windows and ran into a variety of the problems you all are having. EA Support talked me through manually uninstalling the game, including editing the Registry file (be careful!). Then I reinstalled and tried to run in Compatibility mode using Windows XP and still no luck. I finally tried Run as administrator and I haven't had any problems since. Maybe the manual uninstall is the key? Good luck.


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## JoeandDes

To Zoidberg323 - try contacting EA Games. My first Sims Complete wouldn't work and I contacted EA Games for help. When they couldn't help me get it running (on my old computer) they had me return it to them and they send you a new game, still in the wrapper, so you can return it. (At least that's what they did for me.) Hopes this helps.


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## michael2247

First whenever you start the game from now on you have to use the start menu. First go to the start menu and find the sims. Right click it and click on properties. Once there click on the compatibility tab. Finally check the box that says "Run this program as an administrator" Click the "Apply" button and click on the game to launch. This should solve the problem. It did for me.


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## JoeandDes

Is anyone out there having a problems with Sims (especially their dates) getting stuck in booths downtown? I downloaded the patch from the EA Website (http://thesims.ea.com/us/) but after the download, I always get a message saying the patch is already installed. Yet the problem continues. E-mailing EA tech support hasn't done any good...anyone have a solution?


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## Belfastard

I think I've been a bit too hasty!  I've bought The Sims Complete Collection off Amazon for £19.99. I've got Windows Vista, too. Are you worried yet like me? lol I hope there's a reason in this thread somewhere that'll help me! Although, the one about running as Admin. seems to work. Is there ANY chance the game will work WITHOUT any problems? Has there been ANY cases of that? Not that they'll be here, because this is a Tech Support forum


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## vickitighe

i really cant find the run as adinistrator thing. i do not have that option in my right click menu on the sims icon. please can somewon help me. i love the sims and don't want to have to start playing the sims 2, i hate it and really would hate to start having to do my uni work which is what i should be doing. i have vista business addition so that might be something to do with it. help please.


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## Belfastard

Hi Vicki, I don't think it's on the icon (on the desktop), you need to go to WINDOWS > ALL PROGRAMS > EA GAMES > THE SIMS. Then you right click there I believe. Hope that helps you!


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## vickitighe

hmmmmm no. still cant work out how to do it. even your way i still dont have the option to run as administrator. i can play the game but just cant save it. im not very computerry. cheers for the help though. any other suggestions would be greatly recieved. oh does the sims 2 work ok on vista?


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## Belfastard

Unfortunately, no  I too am not very computery. I just got that idea off the people here, HEHE. Try from the start of this thread and browse through other people's suggestions. Hm, The Sims 2 seems to be working OK now, but last night it took a spaz attack when I proposed marriage to 1 of my sims to another. The thing just went back to the main desktop  regardless, I'm not bothered, because I am getting The Sims 1 Complete Collection, but I hope that doesn't do that!


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## tallbloopy

Thank god i found sommet cause i got the sims complete collection 4 xmas for our comp (windws 98) but there wasn't enough space. So i put it on the other comp (windows vista) and all seemed well. But it started shutting down wen i tried 2 go on hols, sumtimes wouldnt let me save, if i went on page 4 the game just kept loadin so i'd hav 2 reinstall it ect. I HAVE 2 REINSTALL IT AGAIN 2DAY AS WELL! I hope the tips help me cause im seriously fed up. As of now, ive installed it about 6 times! Tell me if theres a solution 4 this! Thnx


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## amybondebabe

i have windows vista and i install the sims complete collection then i make he family but it doesn't give me an option 2 give them a persanalty
i save them then play but i can't play cause it wont let me click on anything.i uninstalled an installed.some1 plz help.it says all the help we should b able 2 play it.


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## bhadanaa

ok, mine doesnt even install. After the install shiel wizard pops up and I click next, an error message pops up saying that I dont have enough disk space on <blank space>. and that I need 3600 mb.
I have more than 70gb of disk space & I have vista home premium on my notebook.
any suggestions?


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## hankie

Not sure if this is the answer, but has anyone tried to run this in compatibility mode? Vista will run programs sucesfully all the way back to win 95. Right click on the exe. from the start menu and select run in compatilblity mode.

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/bf416877-c83f-4476-a3da-8ec98dcf5f101033.mspx


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## sysdll

I have followed this thread and visited many other websites for this problem. I have The Sims Complete Collection and am experiencing random freezes. I&#8217;m running it on its original OS, Windows ME with all the latest updates and driver updates. All the hardware is more than compatible with the system requirements. The computer is running flawlessly with everything else but TSCC. If anyone has any ideas I&#8217;d appreciate it as I&#8217;ve run out of ideas.


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## luffuysopp

can i ask if anyone here has tryed right clicking the shortcut and running as admin coz that might solve the problem as it will give the program the read / write rights


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## Nightfire24

I have had nothing but problems installing the sims on Vista. I had about 5 of the expansions packs succesfully installed and then I tried to install The SimS Deluxe (becuz i didnt have Livin Large), and ever since then nothing has worked. I had to uninstall everything and try again. I got Hot Date and Deluxe installed at one point, but when i put in House Party it only gave me the option to "play" even though I hadn't installed it yet. Does anyone have any patches or advice to help get the Sims to work on Vista?


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## Molly44

My Sims is installed, but its not on desktop, and if i go into programs, and into maxis it says (empty). But It Is Installed :S:S So i cant do the run as administrator thing :S:S, does anyone know why this is?


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## Nightfire24

I would try uninstalling it and then installing it again, and when you do, in the beginning of the installation it asks where you want to save it to, so maybe you are having it saved somewhere else than the Programs>Maxis folder. If it _is _saving there but not showing up, you can go to My Computer, and then right click on The Sims when the cd is in the computer, and then do Run As Administrator


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## RaChEltheRabbit

I bought this game a few days ago, installed it, and played with it. But then I went to the Sims Creator Tool to customize some sims. Well, thats where I had the problem. The problem was that the graphics for about 12 Female heads were all distorted, see through, and/or missing parts. Another problem is that the head's eye would be on the cheek area. Most of the heads that had this problem had long hair that was below the shoulder. I thought that maybe it was just the game. Well, I returned that one and got another one, and the exact same thing happened!!!

I just want to know if anyone might have any information on this problem or if anyone else has had this problem. You can e-mail me at [email protected]. I would appreciate it very much if you could!!!

Also, I am playing this game on a Dell Inspiron 1420 Windows Vista Laptop. Not sure if this has anything to do with the problem but just giving out some info about the computer I play the game on.


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## btp.kickoff

THE SIMS COMPLETE COLLECTION WILL NOT WORK ON VISTA UNLESS YOU DO THIS!

I had a similar problem, but at times it would not even work, right click the shorcut you use, and go to properties. Go to compatibility and click "Run this program in compatibility for" and then choose windows xp service pack 2. Disable visual themes and also run as administrator.

This should make the game run as though it were new, and on an xp.



THE SIMS COMPLETE COLLECTION WILL NOT WORK ON VISTA UNLESS YOU DO THIS!


It should solve all of your problems. I had problems saving at first, but then I started getting a message saying to install the newest version of the sims, saying there was a newer pack than makin magic. (wich there wasn't)
I'm sure there are more problems with vista and the sims complete collection.


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## Nightfire24

Do you know if Vista Service Pack 1 has any issues with the Sims? I had lots of problems before and I had the service pack but I don't know if those problems would have happened anyways because of Vista. Right now I am just running Vista and not the service pack and I want to install the Sims but I'm not sure if I should get SP1 before I install it???


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## btp.kickoff

Just follow the advice I gave and it should work on any vista computer.


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## kestieQuietly

Its one of the few that granddaughters like  I deleted my Icons so had to use the start search box and right click on the one I like to "run as Administrator". Thank you for the advice, but hard to follow if there are no icons *LOL* I think service pack ate them, but when I did a search they came up in the program area on the start menu so I right clicked from there and it saves fine. I was worried because it would not minimize when Alt+Tabbing without Administrator, causing a system crash. It works fine in Administrator mode with service pack 1. 

kestieQuietly
Vista service pack one, 1 gig memory, 4 gig memory stick
Acer Aspire 4000= AMD Athlon x2
(It did not work with XP pro x64 trial)


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## xesign

Roxdog!!!!

Thankkkkk yyyyoooouuuuuu very much!!
You resolved my problem!!

Thank you


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## allieBB18

thanks Roxdog, me and my older brother both could not figure out why it wouldn't work but now it does. thank a lot.


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