Publisher 97 unable to do Mail Merge - Error: PUBMERGE Out of Mem

[slack7639]

I can not get Publisher 97 to do Mail Merge with Excel 97. Here's what
happens:

Mail Merge / Open Data Source / PUBMERGE Out of memory.
Mail Merge / Create Publisher Address List / PUBMERGE Out of memory.
Mail Merge / Edit Publisher Address List / PUBMERGE Out of memory.

but, for some reason, Word 97 will do Mail Merge with Excel 97, no problem

.. . .

Publisher 97 System Requirements, and what I'm running:

386DX, 486DX: Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz
MS Windows 95: XP
6 MB RAM, 8 MB: 2 GB

C:\WINDOWS\system32\ . . . I have JET Engine DLL 5.1.2600.0

I am thinking that this this could be an issue with System 'Over'
Requirements that I have, like 2GB of memory, and Publisher 97 is not
designed for it.

I read on this page that some have a problem with Access 97 and XP, when
they have over 500 MB of RAM - but I don't have this problem, Access 97 works
fine for me, no idea why . . . still wondering why Word 97 can do Mail merge:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Using-MS-Access-1440/MS-Access-97-Memory.htm

Answer
Yeah, there seems to be a problem with old versions of Access (97 and
before) with Windows XP when the box has more than .5 gigs of RAM, which I'm
guessing you do.

Real easy solution? Dump some RAM. But I know you won't want to do that.

Tougher solution? Make sure you have all the service packs for Office 97 (I
think there are two), and maybe update your Jet engine from 3.0 (what Access
97 uses) to 4.0 (what WindowsXP uses). It's that inconsistency that is the
root of the problem.

.. . .

What I've tried:

- - - - - - -

From this page at the top:
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/forumarchives/publisher/Jan2006/post25974240.asp

1/6/2006 7:42:14 AM Re: Mailmerge Out Of Memory

Have you tried to open your data from another program, such as Publisher 2003?
No, I only have Pub 97

This old article addresses Windows NT but it may help. PUB97: Publisher
Closes Publication if It Can't Read Data Source
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/167894/en-us
n/a - can't even get this far

The PubMerge.dll could be corrupt, might re-name it and do a re-install.
Although you are not getting page fault this article could help: PUB97:
Invalid Page Fault in Pubmerge.dll
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/161549/en-us
Both of mine were the same, in C:\WINDOWS\system32 and on the CDROM
MSJINT32.DLL, 35 KB, 8/6/1996 12:00 AM

Could be a printer thing too. Have you changed printers?
No

Do you get the same message in safe mode?
Yes

Disable your printer before opening Publisher, see if that works.
No

Have you tried the compatibility mode?
Yes. Right-clicking on the program itself, MSPUB.EXE . . . Compatibility
tab / and checked 'Run this program in compatibility mode for:' Windows 95 -
didn't work. Then I clicked on 'Learn more about program compatibility' - I
went through many combinations in this Wizard - didn't work

PUB97: How to Obtain Publisher 97 Knowledge Base HTML Help File
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/185798/en-us
Got it. Do not see anything that addresses this.

- - - - - - -

De-installed in Safe Mode: Office 97, and Pub 97
Re-installed in Safe Mode: Office 97, and Pub 97
Re-installed in Safe Mode: SR1 and SR2b

In the "About" of Excel, Word, and Access, it says that they have SR-2 after
the re-install, even when I had not re-done that yet

Publisher 97 does not say that it has SR-2 after the re-install. Maybe SR-2
does not apply to it?

- - - - - - -

Are your MDAC components current? Microsoft Data Access Components -
includes ADO, ODBC and OLE DB. In the below article is a link to the
component checker. How to check for MDAC version:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=301202

It says that I have this, which looks current:
MDAC 2.8 SP1 ON WINDOWS XP SP2

- - - - - - -

From this page at the bottom:
http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/itanswers/publisher-97/

"I have seen similar errors with older software on newer OS’s and the
problem was that the TEMP environment variable was pointing to Cocuments
and Settingsblahblahblah. I changed the environment variable on an offending
machine to point to C:Temp (after creating that folder) and everything worked
well."

In my System Properties / Advanced tab / Environment Variables at the bottom
/ I changed the "User variable for Administrator" from the long sub-directory
( %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temp ) to:

TEMP (Value = C:\Temp)
TMP (Value = C:\Temp)

.. . . didn't work . . . any downside to leaving it like this? . . .

.. . . I like to clear out files in C:\Temp occasionally . . . a question I
have now is if it's ok to delete all the files there, and in the long
sub-directory: %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temp ? I am thinking that the
environment for Administrator in C:\Temp would be ok to delete, but the the
System uses the long sub-directory temp file area, better leave that alone.

 

[Mary Sauer]

1. Open the .xls file in Microsoft Excel 97.

2. On the File menu, click Save As.

3. Click one of the following in the Files Of Type list:

- Text (Tab delimited) (*.txt)
- Microsoft Excel 5.0/95 Workbook (*.xls)
- Microsoft Excel 97 & 5.0/95 Workbook (*.xls)

4. Type a new file name in the File Name box and click Save.

Publisher can use any of these types of files as the data source for a
mail merge.

 

[slack7639]

Yes, a more simple file type like .txt to get something to work - I did try
saving the .xls as a .csv before, based on something I read out there . . .
but this isn't the issue, 'cause I can't even get to that point, of linking
Pub 97 to the data source - I get the "PUBMERGE Out of Memory." error every
time.

Any idea if Pub 97 has memory limitations, or if it's incompatible with some
kinds of memory? That wouldn't make sense though, because everything else
about it appears to be fine. I would think that if it did have any memory
issues, if I put it in the Win 95 compatibility mode, that would fix them.

I wonder why Word 97 can do mail merge. I wonder how it's different from
Pub 97?

 

[Mary Sauer]

Do you have an anti-virus application? Sometimes in the old versions of
Publisher you will have problems, see if disabling it when you merge helps.

This article is talking about a different OS, but who knows...?
PUB97: Invalid Page Fault in Pubmerge.dll
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/161549/en-us

PUB97: Frequently Asked Questions about Mail Merge
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/155635/en-us

PUB97: How to Obtain Publisher 97 Knowledge Base HTML Help File
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/185798/en-us

If you think your pubmerge.dll is damaged there is a free download here
http://www.pcrepaircentral.com/dlldownload_22092.html

 

[slack7639]

.. . . Do you have an anti-virus application? Sometimes in the old versions of
Publisher you will have problems, see if disabling it when you merge helps.

Currently using AVG Free version. Have read that it does not block scripts,
only the paid version does that. Disabling it didn't work.

.. . . article is talking about a different OS, but who knows...? PUB97:
Invalid Page Fault in Pubmerge.dll
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/161549/en-us
Yes, for NT 4.0 and a different error message, seem n/a

PUB97: Frequently Asked Questions about Mail Merge
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/155635/en-us
Do not see anything on this error

PUB97: How to Obtain Publisher 97 Knowledge Base HTML Help File
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/185798/en-us
Got this. Do not see anything on this error.

If you think your pubmerge.dll is damaged there is a free download here
http://www.pcrepaircentral.com/dlldownload_22092.html
This page, and the home page, would not load

****************************************************

Somehow I stumbled back upon this in the Pub 97 Help file. I tried setting
something here before, quickly and without any thought, and it didn't fix it
[keyword: memory] . . .

If you keep getting "Out of memory" messages, you can try setting up a swap
file. This allows Windows 95 to use space on your computer's hard disk as
memory.

If you're not familiar with swap files, read about them in your Microsoft
Windows 95 documentation before following this procedure.

1) On the Taskbar, click the Start button
2) Click Help
3) Click the Index tab
4) Type swap
5) Click Display
6) Follow the instructions for reserving disk space for extra memory

****************************************************

.. . . I now take a second look, since my first attempt didn't work, and I
would really like to figure this out - sometimes if I get a more in depth
understanding of things, I can fix them . . .

.. . . The Swap file in XP is called pagefile.sys . . . I have two 160 GB
hard drives, and 2 GB of memory . . . here's a summary of what I understand
to be the best way to configure your pageile.sys / Swap File / Virtual
Memory, based on these links . . .


1) If you have two physically separate drives (C: with the OS, and D, put
pagefile.sys on the drive that does not have the OS, this enables your
computer to have access to multiple drives at the same time:

"Trick 3: If you have multiple hard drives (and I don't mean multiple
partitions on the same drive) installed on your computer. Consider moving the
swap file to the non-system drive. This way the computer can access multiple
drives at the same time.
http://windowstipoftheday.blogspot.com/2006/12/windows-xp-swap-file-virtual-memory_18.html

"If the operating system has more than one hard drive, place the paging file
on a drive which does not contain the operating system files."
http://www.theeldergeek.com/locating_the_page_file.htm

"The paging file is the area on the hard disk that Windows uses as if it
were random access memory (RAM) This is sometimes known as "virtual memory."
By default, Windows stores this file on the same partition as the Windows
system files. You can increase the performance of Windows, and increase free
space on the boot partition, by moving this file to a different partition."
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307886


2) Be sure to have at least a small pagefile.sys on your C: drive, some
programs expect one to be there.

"***Microsoft and every expert I’ve read state that you should leave at
least a small page file on the OS drive."
http://tweakhound.com/xp/xptweaks/supertweaks5.htm

"you should leave a small amount on C:"
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.php


3) Select Custom Size, and use the recommended sizes (min / max). Make the
initial and max sizes the same. This will keep Windows from having to use
resources to manage the size of pagefile.sys:

"Trick 1: The swap file can shrink or grow automatically, consider turning
off this feature by setting the 'Initial size' and 'Maximum size' to an equal
value in the VM dialog. This should prevent the system from wasting time by
trying to manage the size of the swap file."
http://windowstipoftheday.blogspot.com/2006/12/windows-xp-swap-file-virtual-memory_18.html


.. . . The Excel 97 spreadsheet that I want to use is 136 KB = .13 MB . . . I
have set my Custom Sizes to the recommended min and max (which add up to the
Recommended Total), as follows:

C: [Local Disk] 50 - 50 . . . MB (if the pagefile.sys on C: goes over 50 MB,
I think it must then go to pagefile.sys on D
D: [Backup] 3020 - 3020 . . . MB

Total paging file size for all drives
Minimum allowed: 2 MB
Recommended: 3070 MB
Currently allocated: 3070 MB

and I still get the "Out of Memory" error - with and without Compatibility
set for Win 95 / XP


If you're not getting this error when you click on "Mail Merge / Open Data
Source," may I ask, what your pagefile settings? . . . under:

Control Panel / System / Advanced tab / Performance - Settings / Advanced
tab / Virtual memory - Change

.. . . or in later versions of Publisher . . . if you look in the Help File
under "Memory," or "Out of Memory," do they provide any more specifics on how
to fix?

 

[Mary Sauer]

Hello Slack,
I cannot get the merge to work in 97 or 98. I've re-registered all the .dll's. I
assume it was a security update that did them in. I am using Vista on this
machine but it is the same on my XP. I didn't try the 98 or 95 computers. They
are slow as molasses.

My virtual memory is 1536 with a 3072 max with a 2 MB allowed (XP). My Vista
computer virtual memory is 3624, with a 4980 max with 16MB allowed.

Publisher 2000 merge works okay. If an out of memory error is displayed it is
the Jet database engine failure, which Publisher 2000 uses for mail merges.

--
Mary Sauer MSFT MVP
http://office.microsoft.com/

. . . Do you have an anti-virus application? Sometimes in the old versions of
Publisher you will have problems, see if disabling it when you merge helps.

Currently using AVG Free version. Have read that it does not block scripts,
only the paid version does that. Disabling it didn't work.

. . . article is talking about a different OS, but who knows...? PUB97:
Invalid Page Fault in Pubmerge.dll
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/161549/en-us
Yes, for NT 4.0 and a different error message, seem n/a

PUB97: Frequently Asked Questions about Mail Merge
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/155635/en-us
Do not see anything on this error

PUB97: How to Obtain Publisher 97 Knowledge Base HTML Help File
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/185798/en-us
Got this. Do not see anything on this error.

If you think your pubmerge.dll is damaged there is a free download here
http://www.pcrepaircentral.com/dlldownload_22092.html
This page, and the home page, would not load

****************************************************

Somehow I stumbled back upon this in the Pub 97 Help file. I tried setting
something here before, quickly and without any thought, and it didn't fix it
[keyword: memory] . . .

If you keep getting "Out of memory" messages, you can try setting up a swap
file. This allows Windows 95 to use space on your computer's hard disk as
memory.

If you're not familiar with swap files, read about them in your Microsoft
Windows 95 documentation before following this procedure.

1) On the Taskbar, click the Start button
2) Click Help
3) Click the Index tab
4) Type swap
5) Click Display
6) Follow the instructions for reserving disk space for extra memory

****************************************************

. . . I now take a second look, since my first attempt didn't work, and I
would really like to figure this out - sometimes if I get a more in depth
understanding of things, I can fix them . . .

. . . The Swap file in XP is called pagefile.sys . . . I have two 160 GB
hard drives, and 2 GB of memory . . . here's a summary of what I understand
to be the best way to configure your pageile.sys / Swap File / Virtual
Memory, based on these links . . .


1) If you have two physically separate drives (C: with the OS, and D, put
pagefile.sys on the drive that does not have the OS, this enables your
computer to have access to multiple drives at the same time:

"Trick 3: If you have multiple hard drives (and I don't mean multiple
partitions on the same drive) installed on your computer. Consider moving the
swap file to the non-system drive. This way the computer can access multiple
drives at the same time."
http://windowstipoftheday.blogspot.com/2006/12/windows-xp-swap-file-virtual-memory_18.html

"If the operating system has more than one hard drive, place the paging file
on a drive which does not contain the operating system files."
http://www.theeldergeek.com/locating_the_page_file.htm

"The paging file is the area on the hard disk that Windows uses as if it
were random access memory (RAM) This is sometimes known as "virtual memory."
By default, Windows stores this file on the same partition as the Windows
system files. You can increase the performance of Windows, and increase free
space on the boot partition, by moving this file to a different partition."
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307886


2) Be sure to have at least a small pagefile.sys on your C: drive, some
programs expect one to be there.

"***Microsoft and every expert I've read state that you should leave at
least a small page file on the OS drive."
http://tweakhound.com/xp/xptweaks/supertweaks5.htm

"you should leave a small amount on C:"
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.php


3) Select Custom Size, and use the recommended sizes (min / max). Make the
initial and max sizes the same. This will keep Windows from having to use
resources to manage the size of pagefile.sys:

"Trick 1: The swap file can shrink or grow automatically, consider turning
off this feature by setting the 'Initial size' and 'Maximum size' to an equal
value in the VM dialog. This should prevent the system from wasting time by
trying to manage the size of the swap file."
http://windowstipoftheday.blogspot.com/2006/12/windows-xp-swap-file-virtual-memory_18.html


. . . The Excel 97 spreadsheet that I want to use is 136 KB = .13 MB . . . I
have set my Custom Sizes to the recommended min and max (which add up to the
Recommended Total), as follows:

C: [Local Disk] 50 - 50 . . . MB (if the pagefile.sys on C: goes over 50 MB,
I think it must then go to pagefile.sys on D
D: [Backup] 3020 - 3020 . . . MB

Total paging file size for all drives
Minimum allowed: 2 MB
Recommended: 3070 MB
Currently allocated: 3070 MB

and I still get the "Out of Memory" error - with and without Compatibility
set for Win 95 / XP


If you're not getting this error when you click on "Mail Merge / Open Data
Source," may I ask, what your pagefile settings? . . . under:

Control Panel / System / Advanced tab / Performance - Settings / Advanced
tab / Virtual memory - Change

. . . or in later versions of Publisher . . . if you look in the Help File
under "Memory," or "Out of Memory," do they provide any more specifics on how
to fix?

 

[slack7639]

.. . . cannot get the merge to work in 97 or 98 . . . re-registered all the
..dll's . . . assume it was a security update that did them in . . . using
Vista on this machine but it is the same on my XP . . .

Thank you __very__ much for confirming this for me.

Also, I don't know how to do that with the dll's - Thanks again!

.. . . didn't try the 98 or 95 computers. They are slow as molasses . . .

I know what you mean

.. . . My virtual memory is 1536 with a 3072 max with a 2 MB allowed (XP). My
Vista computer virtual memory is 3624, with a 4980 max with 16MB allowed . .
..

After my last post, I thought that I would round my D: drive to the nearest
50 MB, and re-Set my C: drive to 20 MB - mostly for aesthetic purposes - but
also thinking that more on D: would be better:

C: [Local Disk] 20 - 20 . . . MB (if the pagefile.sys on C: goes over 20 MB,
I think it must then go to pagefile.sys on D
D: [Backup] 3050 - 3050 . . . MB

Total paging file size for all drives
Minimum allowed: 2 MB
Recommended: 3070 MB
Currently allocated: 3070 MB

I think this is how one wants it to look, where "Recommended" and
"Allocated" have the same value, but I am unsure - Reason:

Previously, I had both drives set to "System Managed Size" as follows:

C: [Local Disk] . . . System Managed Size
D: [Backup] . . . System Managed Size

Total paging file size for all drives
Minimum allowed: 2 MB
Recommended: 3070 MB
Currently allocated: 4094 MB

One will notice that the "Recommended" and "Currently allocated" megabyte
values are different - Is that ok? Everything appears to be working fine
with these settings, but as I said, I am unsure about this.

.. . . Publisher 2000 merge works okay . . .

Maybe I'll look into that on e-bay. This is where I got Publisher 97, to go
with my Office 97 suite, which is great.

I wonder what Word 97 does differently that makes it able to do mail merge?
It must use something other than the Jet database engine.

I can probably do without mail merge working in Publisher, although I would
like to have it working.

I like that this error has gotten me to think about if there are better
settings for my pagefile.sys than what I had.

.. . . If an out of memory error is displayed it is the Jet database engine
failure, which Publisher 2000 uses for mail merges . . .

I have . . . C:\WINDOWS\system32\ . . . JET Engine DLL 5.1.2600.0

I wonder if just replacing this file with what Publisher 2000 uses would fix
Publisher 97?

 

[Mary Sauer]

I don't know if rolling back the Jet Engine would help. There is nothing wrong
with Publisher 97, if you had Windows 98 on a hard drive partition it probably
would work. The wizards still work on my computer however I cannot use the clip
gallery nor open a document, it is the OS not the program.

Publisher 97 was my favorite Publisher version until 2003. If I were to buy an
old version of Publisher it would be 2003. Publisher 2007 has potential but it
is really buggy yet.

I don't have any other advice for you.
--
Mary Sauer MSFT MVP
http://office.microsoft.com/

. . . cannot get the merge to work in 97 or 98 . . . re-registered all the
.dll's . . . assume it was a security update that did them in . . . using
Vista on this machine but it is the same on my XP . . .

Thank you __very__ much for confirming this for me.

Also, I don't know how to do that with the dll's - Thanks again!

. . . didn't try the 98 or 95 computers. They are slow as molasses . . .

I know what you mean

. . . My virtual memory is 1536 with a 3072 max with a 2 MB allowed (XP). My
Vista computer virtual memory is 3624, with a 4980 max with 16MB allowed . .
.

After my last post, I thought that I would round my D: drive to the nearest
50 MB, and re-Set my C: drive to 20 MB - mostly for aesthetic purposes - but
also thinking that more on D: would be better:

C: [Local Disk] 20 - 20 . . . MB (if the pagefile.sys on C: goes over 20 MB,
I think it must then go to pagefile.sys on D
D: [Backup] 3050 - 3050 . . . MB

Total paging file size for all drives
Minimum allowed: 2 MB
Recommended: 3070 MB
Currently allocated: 3070 MB

I think this is how one wants it to look, where "Recommended" and
"Allocated" have the same value, but I am unsure - Reason:

Previously, I had both drives set to "System Managed Size" as follows:

C: [Local Disk] . . . System Managed Size
D: [Backup] . . . System Managed Size

Total paging file size for all drives
Minimum allowed: 2 MB
Recommended: 3070 MB
Currently allocated: 4094 MB

One will notice that the "Recommended" and "Currently allocated" megabyte
values are different - Is that ok? Everything appears to be working fine
with these settings, but as I said, I am unsure about this.

. . . Publisher 2000 merge works okay . . .

Maybe I'll look into that on e-bay. This is where I got Publisher 97, to go
with my Office 97 suite, which is great.

I wonder what Word 97 does differently that makes it able to do mail merge?
It must use something other than the Jet database engine.

I can probably do without mail merge working in Publisher, although I would
like to have it working.

I like that this error has gotten me to think about if there are better
settings for my pagefile.sys than what I had.

. . . If an out of memory error is displayed it is the Jet database engine
failure, which Publisher 2000 uses for mail merges . . .

I have . . . C:\WINDOWS\system32\ . . . JET Engine DLL 5.1.2600.0

I wonder if just replacing this file with what Publisher 2000 uses would fix
Publisher 97?

 

[slack7639]

I was thinking about this (wish I could be more scientifically knowledgeable)
.. . .

It is tempting to have more virtual memory (total) available with the System
Managed Size on both drives - but the idea is to optimize what you have for
speed.

If one has two physical drives, the way to go is for XP to not use the C:
drive for anything other than the OS, and to have your other hard drive
provide the space for pagefile.sys.

A large pagefile.sys on C: might be ok if you could prioritize XP, and tell
it to use the D: drive first, and then the C: drive, but you can't, as far as
I know.

So, I believe that putting the minimum of 2 MB on C:, and the balance on D:
is the way to go . . . here is what I found out:

C: [Local Disk] 2 - 2 . . . MB
D: [Backup] 3068 - 3068 . . . MB

Total paging file size for all drives
Minimum allowed: 2 MB
Recommended: 3070 MB
Currently allocated: 3068 MB ( why not 2 + 3068 = 3070? )

C: [Local Disk] 15 - 15 . . . MB
D: [Backup] 3068 - 3068 . . . MB
Currently allocated: 3068 MB ( why not 15 + 3068 = 3083? )

C: [Local Disk] 16 - 16 . . . MB
D: [Backup] 3068 - 3068 . . . MB
Currently allocated: 3084 MB ( = 16 + 3068 . . . Ok, at 16 MB, the memory
on C: starts showing up in this total - but how do I make it 3070? )

****************************************************************

C: [Local Disk] 16 - 16 . . . MB
D: [Backup] 3070 - 3070 . . . MB
Currently allocated: 3086 MB ( = 16 + 3070 )

C: [Local Disk] 15 - 15 . . . MB
D: [Backup] 3070 - 3070 . . . MB
Currently allocated: 3070 MB

Conclusion: 15 MB on C: appears to be the way to get the Recommended total
of 3070 MB - because 15 MB will not show up in the total

Any ideas on this?

My computer does seem to be a little faster at this setting. Also - it did
seem more jittery when I had C: set at 2 MB.

 

[Mary Sauer]

Slack, If I were you I'd have this discussion on an OS newsgroup or forum. There
are some very smart folks that frequent those places.

 

[slack7639]

Ok, yes - but I think I've got this figured out:

Since 16 MB works, I got this idea, which seems like a better allocation:

C: [Local Disk] 16 - 16 . . . MB
D: [Backup] 3054 - 3054 . . . MB

Total paging file size for all drives
Minimum allowed: 2 MB
Recommended: 3070 MB
Currently allocated: 3070 MB ( = 16 + 3054 )

Thank you for your help!

 

[Mary Sauer]

Slack, I finally turned on my 98 machine. The print merge works on both 97 and
98 Publishers. There are many .dll's that are on this computer that are not on
the XP or Vista.
For example:

msxbse35.dll
mstext35.dll
msrd2x35.dll
msvcp50.dll
According to the Knowledge Base the above dll's among others must be on the
computer for Publisher 98 to perform a merge. It doesn't say what dll's are
necessary for Publisher 97. I have to believe it is about the same. When you
merge in these programs the process is identical.

 

[slack7639]

When they say they no longer support Office 97, I thought that just meant
tech support. They should also say that more current OS's don't provide
support either - and I thought that was supposed to be the beauty of Windows
- infinite backwards compatibility, within architectures. I wonder what the
Compatiblity setting is supposed to cover. Some other memory issues? I
wonder how many kb's they saved by not including those dlls with XP? Well,
Publisher 97 is still usable. If I were to give them a grade, I'd give them
a 95%. Still a happy customer.

 

[slack7639]

One of the above links said that Windows Defrag didn't defrag pagefile.sys -
if you want to do this for speed, you need another program.

I googled "defrag pagefile.sys" and found these two pages - now I know what
the green "Unmovable files" are - it's pagefile.sys (always wondered what
this was, I wonder why they don't call it that) . . .

1.) "the Disk Defragmenter tool doesn't defragment the pagefile, and you
might be tempted to buy a third-party disk defragmenter to do this. However,
you can save your bucks by following this simple procedure to defragment your
pagefile."
http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2004/11/23/defrag_pagefile.html

2.) Enable write caching: This page says that it's for a server, and I have
seen that this setting was enabled by default on my system (XP), but it's
something to take a look at: "Make sure you enable write caching on an IDE
drive that hosts the pagefile as this will increase I/O and improve paging
performance."
http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2004/04/27/pagefile.html

I found write caching under:
Win Explorer / Properties of your hard drive / Hardware tab / Properties of
your hard drive / Policies tab / [checkbox] "Enable write caching on the disk"

Out of curiosity, any idea what Word 97 uses to do mail merge - which works?
I looked for a comparison chart and found nothing. From the knowledgebase,
this indicates that it's different:
PUB97: Frequently Asked Questions about Mail Merge, Q155635
10. Q. Is Publisher's mail merge as robust as Word's feature? A. No.
However, the feature is much easier to use.