I'm running Vista 64-bit on a new computer. Downloaded all my Living Soft and MPD programs and activated them. Also downloaded applicable patches, etc. I cannot get Doll Shop Deluxe to open to more than a postage-size picture in the upper left-hand corner no matter what I try. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Linda in WV

Some customers are continuing to have difficulties getting their Dress Shop program to appear in a full screen window when it is launched. Instead, it may appear as a very small box in the upper left corner of your screen and not be usable in that form. The problem came about when Microsoft made changes to Internet Explorer (IE) that required a change in how the Dress Shop program's launcher works.

The latest build of Dress Shop should open fully if you are running the most recent version of Internet Explorer 7 and Windows. Earlier versions of IE may work better with the older launcher. Since some customers appear to need the old launcher and some need the new one, we have posted patches for both on the Livingsoft products download page:

http://www.livingsoftnw.com/DownloadsNew.htm

What you should do then is:

1. Verify that you have the most recent software installed. If in doubt, download and install. It can never hurt.

2. If it still does not open to full screen size, then you may be running a different version of Internet Explorer than what Microsoft is currently offering. You could update your Internet Explorer if you like. That would probably solve the problem, but there may also be differences in Windows involved. Frankly, we have had confusing reports from different customers and have not pinned down all the things that might be involved.

3. If you still have a problem, just try swapping launchers. Both launchers (the old one that worked before the Internet Explorer change and the newer one) are now both available separately on the downloads page. They are tiny files and install quickly. One of them should work.

Please let us know whatever you can regarding your version of Windows, version of Internet Explorer, and whether one or the other launcher worked for you so we can provide a better answer to others that inquire in the future. I'm sorry this change in IE caught us unawares and that we do not have a simpler solution in place to deal with it.

Thankfully, Dress Shop and MPD are okay (as is Hat Shop). It's Doll Shop Deluxe and Home Dec that will only open as tiny squares in the upper lefthand corner of the screen despite having the requisite I.E., patches, etc. Just wondered if there were anything else I could try.

Linda in WV

quote:

Thankfully, Dress Shop and MPD are okay (as is Hat Shop). It's Doll Shop Deluxe and Home Dec that will only open as tiny squares in the upper lefthand corner of the screen despite having the requisite I.E., patches, etc. Just wondered if there were anything else I could try.

I'm really sorry, Linda, but this kind of report is impossible to give good advice for. There are two launchers for each of these products - the one in the original product download and the one in the patch. Each works with some versions of Windows and Internet Explorer.

With what you reported, I have no idea which version you have tried. You suggest you have installed the requisite patches. So, just to confirm:

1. Did the default version of Home Dec Sampler produce a small screen window on your system? If not, you do not want the patch.

2. If it was a small window, did you install the Home Dec patch, or only the Dress Shop patch? You need the patch that is specific for Home Dec Sampler. Please do not report that you installed the "requisite patches". We really need to know what you installed and that is a bit too vague.

3. Same story applies to Doll Shop Deluxe. Doll Shop Deluxe is NOT a separate program. It is a part of Dress Shop 5/6. If Dress Shop works, Doll Shop Deluxe should work. There is only the one piece of software that supports both products. IF you have installed Dress Shop 5 and Doll Shop in one folder and Dress Shop 7 in some other folder, then you need separate patches for each. You need the proper patch for each product and again, I would need to know which patches you installed for which products before I can suggest what you should do differently.

I'm sorry that this is so complicated. But, there are too many products and too many versions of Windows and Internet Explorer and they just do not all work the same with each other.