Windows 7 Win7 not quite evil

[CNCOldster]

Folks,

I've joined this forum for a couple reasons.

Foremost is that I don't believe that Microsoft is interested in anything I have to say.

Secondly, I'm using Windows 7 at my office and on my main personal computer and, after getting a new laptop with Windows 8, I realize that I have to make the best of 7 because I will never switch to 8 for any serious work.

Although I like many things in 7, there always seems to be problems with the windows themselves. Not being able to have folder windows remember their size and position continues to haunt me every day.

Also, for my job, I rely heavily on Excel sheets and macros that I've used for quite a few years. When I "upgraded" to Win7, my macro windows started going wonky. I have a dual monitor setup and suddenly my macro windows started opening up on the opposite monitor from where that app was displayed. I had to go in and code EVERY window to open up over the parent app. Nevertheless, that's done now but I have a new problem. I have a couple macros that display information while cycling through sheets and processing data. On XP, these worked beautifully and the window, while it flickered, kept me informed as to where it was. Now the same macro on Win7 freezes after a few seconds. It remains frozen (with a Not Responding tag in the title bar) until the macro ends. Then, most of the time, the window disappears behind the app window. Since it's still the active window, my app is frozen. I've come up with a workaround: I click somewhere on the desktop to de-activate the app, then I click on the sheet to activate it again and my macro userform shows up. Then I can close the userform and continue working on my sheet.

I realize this is a bit verbose but I'm wondering if there's anyone who can help, at least with this macro problem. I've tried various userform settings and none seem to make a difference.

I also realize my problem with windows size/positions is just typical Microsoft "helping" me and I'm just not bright enough to understand their benevolence.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, whether it works or not.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[Mike]

Foremost is that I don't believe that Microsoft is interested in anything I have to say.

You would be surprised. They do monitor these types of forums and others like it to see what the general feeling is online. News outlets also do this. When we first set up winvistaforums.com, before Windows 7 was even thought of, our site was being crawled by some search bot we traced back to Paul Allen. We are not sure if this was the first tests for Bing or something else. This was back in 2006-2007. MVP members are able to extend our concerns or the concerns of our communities to our leads and other members of Microsoft. This can actually be done by anyone who takes the time to look up some contact info. This would be for feedback purposes or what have you.

I realize this is a bit verbose but I'm wondering if there's anyone who can help, at least with this macro problem. I've tried various userform settings and none seem to make a difference.

Are the macros defined in Excel? If so, what version please.

As for remembering Window size and locations, this was probably to save memory. Check out: DeskSoft - WindowManager - Window position and size manager

 

[CNCOldster]

Thanks, Mike.

I'm going to download that utility and give it a try. MS is certainly giving a boost lately to third party developers. With a good window manager for Win7 and a start menu and boot to desktop utility for Win8, I could rule the world. Lack of programming ability is all that holds me back.

My excel macros originated in Office 2003 or possibly even 2000 but are currently running in Office 2010. This is the frustrating thing. They've performed flawlessly through Office 2003, 2007 to 2010 and from Win95 through XP to Win7. The code still executes well. It's just display issues that are plaguing me.

And speaking of versions of office, does anyone know when office will stop supporting the current version of VBA in favour of a dot net version? I've been waiting for that hammer to drop as well. The new MS mantra seems to be, "We know what's good for you and we're going to give it to you, fast and hard!"