Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft
How to view old Help files in Windows Vista
by Brad Linder Sep 10th 2007 at 5:00PM
Every version of Windows from 3.0 to XP used the same type of help file format. HLP files were basically modified RTF documents that could be viewed using the WinHlp32.exe application.But Microsoft decided to leave that application out of Windows Vista to encourage developers to use more up to date help file formats. There's just one problem. When you buy a new computer or a new operating system you don't buy all new software. So there's probably more than a few applications you run that were designed for Windows XP or earlier. And you can't read their help files using Windows Vista. Not out of the box, that is.
It turns out there are two pretty simple ways to add support for HLP files to Windows Vista. First up, you can download and install an "update" from Microsoft. It weighs in at a hefty 601KB, so I can see why the company left it out.
If you've got an XP machine lying around, or if you're running a dual boot system, you can also just copy WinHlp32.exe from the Windows directory. When putting it on your new machine, you should probably stick it in Program Files or another directory, not Windows. In order to associate HLP files with the application, you'll need to find an old one, right click it and select "open with" to select the default program.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Diane Henke said 11:30PM on 9-10-2007
What does a person do when they have Windows XP?
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Diane Henke said 9:35PM on 9-10-2007
What does a person do when they have Windows XP?
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sphere said 4:18PM on 9-15-2007
> Every version of Windows from 3.0
> to XP used the same type of help
> file format.
Wrong. Every version till XP shipped with the WinHelp (HLP) viewer. However, HTML-based help (CHM) shipped with Windows 98 and has been used by MS ever since.
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