Crystal Reports: How to read the Crystal CHM files on Windows Vista and 7

Each new "version" of Microsoft Windows is basically the same OS under the hood, with a few tweaks added and the user interface altered. Sometimes, these new "versions" have added functionality, and sometimes it seems as if people sat around dreaming up ways to frustrate the user.

Windows Vista was a stepping stone between Windows XP (which most IT people like, because it still is much like Windows NT 4) and Windows 7 (which most IT people hate, because it is overly frustrating to use and doesn't make networking to any previous OS at all easy ).

After Vista failed to gain acceptance by corporate IT buyers, Microsoft released Windows 7. Its acceptance problems were even more severe than those of Windows Vista. One complaint is that the W7 UI hides things you would normally want to access and it makes changing things very, very difficult. The needless networking hassles are also a huge minus.

At the time of this writing, we await with fear and dread the release of Windows 8. Many predict it will make UNIX the OS of choice, given Microsoft's propensity to make things pointlessly difficult for users and administrators. But perhaps we will have a pleasant surprise for the first time since Windows NT 4 was released.

So, back to Windows Vista and the real point of this article. Windows Vista did include some great features that Microsoft didn't have in XP. But, in keeping with the Ballmer era Microsoft tradition, it can be maddening to use. Especially when working with regard to the security aspects.

What Vista does with CHM files can be one of those inconvenient security features. Talk about a cussword generator. Whoever dreamed this up was seriously sadistic.

If you have downloaded any of the help files from the Business Objects web site, you will see that some of these are CHM (Compiled Hypertext Markup language) files. These are a great way to format help information, but by default Windows Vista will block access to these files.

Since users were so extremely annoyed with this default setting, Microsoft made sure to repeat the error with Windows 7.

Is there any logic whatsoever to this default setting? Of course not. Microsoft defaults and logic usually do not co-exist. That's why we spend hours and hours changing defaults, and it's this process that makes installing Microsoft products so time-consuming. It's all needless, which just adds insult to injury. If there is some semblance of a reason, why not provide a pop-up stating why the user might wish to change the setting?

So, what's the fix in regard to the CHM blocking? Well, your default interface to Windows should be Windows Explorer. MS hides that, also. But at least you can still right mouse click the Start button to open it.

• Navigate to the files in question.
• Select the file.
• Right click to select properties.
• At the bottom of the general tab is a Security Option. Vista has discovered that the file was compiled on a different machine, so has blocked access to the files.
• Click Unblock

Now you can view the file in the same way as users on older versions of Windows. The process for 7 is similar. If you were to bet that Windows 8 will hide this or make it even tougher to fix this problem, you would likely win that bet. It's a tough decision as to whether you should tell Microsoft to fix these things. It seems like if they know what truly annoys users, they keep it. If it's something helpful, they get rid of it or hide it.

We can only hope that Ballmer gets softer and less sadistic with age. Or, failing that, replaced.

This particular problem should never have arisen.