Any users of the 'ModelEngineersUtilities here?

I have this small program on my computer (W.10) since umpteen years. It shows as version 1.8.0, seems this is the latest version. When I wanted to use it now, I had to discover that it stopped to work correctly. Some of the buttons display now a black background, and the 'captions' are invisible, and 'calculate' does nothing.
The link given in the program (www.alanjmunday.info) is invalid, but a bit of searching found a download site in software.informer.com.

software.informer

I tried to load it from there on my Laptop (W. 8.1), but there I could not even unzip the file...
So I would like to know if there are other users of that really useful piece of software (when it works!), and if they have the same or better experience.

Kind regards,
Hans

I've just downloaded from your link and tried it out. Seems to work OK for me on Windoz 7 Pro.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

Hi Hans

I have Alan Mundays Model Engineers Utilities installed on my workshop notebook computer running Windows XP. I loaded it umpteen years ago also (2011 or so) and mine is also version 1.8. It is still working fine as it always has. I have never tried it on a computer with a more modern operating system.

No help to you, I'm sorry to say.

Jim

Downloaded in Windows 10

Ran it and had an error

Ran it as administrator and unpacked ok to C:\program files\model engineers utilities

Ran the .exe file with no problems all looks ok.

Martin C

Just downloaded a copy, as I'm not sure where mine was filed.
Works fine on Windows 10, and unzipped OK for me with the self extractor built in to the zipped exe file

Bill.

For me Win 10, error from program file folder, but OK when unzipped to desktop.

OK on Ubuntu 19.10, with wine-4.0.2 (Ubuntu 4.0.2-1)

Yes, I to unzipped and ran from a documents folder, rather than program Files.
It's a stand alone program, and doesn't need installing as such.

Bill

Under W8 (and maybe W7 or Vista) you may need to look at the properties of the EXE file and tell it to run in a compatibility mode.

W10 seems to be much more tolerant of running older programs - I run a 20 year old copy of Corel Suite on W10 with no difficulty, with Vista I had to use compatibility mode and with W7 there were some 'quirks' that have now disappeared under W10.

Neil

https://modelengineersutilities.software.informer.com/

From another topic thread, takes you to ME Utilities

Edited By Emgee on 02/12/2019 17:36:38

Edited By Emgee on 02/12/2019 17:38:14

I have it on two computers a Win7 and a Win10 and so far have only used it for drill sizes for tapping and it seems to work OK for that. But I just tried some of the other functions and I get the same as Hans, a lot of black boxes where input data should be. I had it on an XT machine and all functions worked OK.

I've just downloaded it from both sites listed in the above posts and it does the same thing. It does not matter which folder I unzip it to or if I unzip it as administrator, the initial screen comes up fine but when any of the functions are selected they come up with a number of black boxes.

John

Later versions of Windows (8 and 10 at least) do not allow a program to put (and write to) its data files in the install directory \Program Files or \Program Files (x86) which are protected locations.

It was quite common to do that in earlier times and if that's what this program is trying to do, Windows will barf when attempts are made to write to the data files unless you permanently invoke full administrator privileges (not a good idea).

If the install program gives a choice, installing somewhere else ought to work. Also check whether it needs any other windows components (Visual Basic run-times etc) and that you have them.

Hi Hans,

I have tried the ME Utilities program on my W.10 computer, I unpacked it as Administrator and tried to run it as Administrator and the main screen pops up without problems, but when trying for instance the "Speeds" part I too get the black backgound and buttons not doing anything. The screwcutting part seems to work OK, so mixed results on my new computer. When I find time I will try it on my old computer running XP.

Thor

After several tries with the hints given here (installing as administrator* and unpacking into an 'ordinary' data file) I have, on Windows 10, still the same results as described by Thor above.

But, doing the same on my W. 8.1 laptop resulted in a correctly running program! All black on white background, fully usable!

Still wondering what's going on here. As it was running correctly for many years, I suspect 'something' was updated some time back.
Altogether again an example of the help one can get here; thanks to all!

(*) On W10 I had first to find out how to install myself as administrator, but the laptop has 'execute as administrator' in the context menu!

Kind regards
Hans

Versaboss, my understanding is that it is a stand alone program, so as such there is no need to "Install" it , as admin or otherwise.

Just unpack the downloaded compressed .exe file into a folder, somewhere other then Program Files, and from these extracted files run the new .exe file.

In my case, I downloaded the file from the link above.

This was named as meu_v1_8.exe ; the icon associated with it is that of a folder with a clamp around it, rather than a folder with a zip running across it. That means, in this case, that it is a self extracting compressed folder, with the file type of "application".

When you have downloaded the file, and virus checked if you wish, double click on it.
The file should self extract to a folder of your choice.
N.B. Change the default location it gives you away from "C:\Program Files\Model Engineers Utilities" to a normal documents folder or your desktop, using the Browse icon. e.g. D:\My Documents\Engineering, or something similar.

Press the unzip icon.

The program will then self extract to your chosen using the built in "Chilkat zip self extractor" It doesn't need winzip, filzip etc.

Use Explorer to navigate to your chosen folder, which should now contain 9 files (in my case).
one of which is "ModelEngineersUtilities.exe" clicking on this will launch the program.

N.B. it is not launched from your start programs menu, though I guess you could create a shortcut if you desire.

If you are using a corporate PC/laptop, rather than a personal one, the security administrator of your employer's network may have disables the installation of new unapproved software

Bill

Edited By peak4 on 03/12/2019 15:19:31

Bill

When you open the program and select one of the functions (say "cutting speeds" ), does it work normally, no black boxes?

I have just downloaded it (again) to my W10 laptop and installed it exactly the way you describe above and it still does not work. When any of the functions are selected (say "cutting speed" as Thor selected) all I get is a couple of boxes listing inputs ( one is "materials" and the other is "calculate" ) but the rest are just black boxes. I would sure like to know how you get it to work properly on your machine.

It also does the same thing on my W7 platform when installed as above.

John

Edited By John Purdy on 03/12/2019 18:59:07

John, right, now I see the problem.
I'd tried a couple of other functions which work fine. e.g. screwcutting.

A bit tied up for the moment as I'm packing for a couple of days away, but I'll try in on an XP machine.

A quick read around on the net, and this forum in particular, suggests the need for Visual Basic 6 runtime files, but not easy to install on W10. These files were dropped after XP
My other machine is dual boot XP W10 (upgraded from W7) so I guess I last used it on there.

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=48495

Sadly it looks like the author of the software is no longer with us, so don't expect any updates.

I'm not about to play at the moment, as other things to do, but This is a possibility

See also This from Microsoft

Bill

Edited By peak4 on 03/12/2019 20:28:00

Just to show what's going wrong: here a picture of the limits and fits button. 

Oh the troubles, when the .jpg is too big, nothing happens. 

Kind regards,
Hans

Edited By Versaboss on 03/12/2019 22:18:55

Edited By Versaboss on 03/12/2019 22:20:30

Hi Hans,

Your screenshot is exactly what I experience on my W.10 laptop. Here's a screenshot when running Win.XP:

The program works well under Win.XP, and I have tried to tell W.10 to emulate Win.XP when running it, but it still looks like your screenshot. So I have not been able to find a way around the problem, may be others with more computer knowledge can help.

Thor

Edited By Thor on 04/12/2019 06:31:39