The information in this article applies to:
Note: If you are using the Tabs3 and PracticeMaster software Version 15 or later, refer to KB Article R11238 - How Windows 7 and Vista Affect Tabs3 and PracticeMaster Software. Many of the issues present in Version 14.3 and prior have been resolved in Version 15.
Recent Microsoft software releases have some implications on prior versions of Tabs3 and PracticeMaster software. This article provides basic information regarding how these releases affect the Tabs3 and PracticeMaster software.
Tabs3 and PracticeMaster Version 15 programs are compatible with Windows 7. Refer to the Networking Issues section of this article for more specific information. Version 14.3 and prior versions of Tabs3 and PracticeMaster programs may install on Windows 7 successfully; however, they have not been tested to work on Windows 7 and thus support related to their compatibility with Windows 7 is limited.
The Microsoft Operating System, Windows Vista, was released to the general public in January of 2007. We have completed our Vista compatibility testing with Version 14.3 Tabs3 and PracticeMaster software. Several issues have been encountered. One issue is that the Help provided with Tabs3 and PracticeMaster software will only work under Vista after downloading and installing Windows Help from the Microsoft Download Center. There are additional issues, particularly with User Account Control (UAC) and third-party software integration, which are also described in this article.
Version 15 was redesigned to deal with compatibility issues encountered when using Vista with Tabs3 and PracticeMaster software.
It is important to keep in mind that although we have completed our compatibility testing with Tabs3 and PracticeMaster, we expect the testing of integration with our software and various other third-party software under the Vista platform to be completed as each third-party software system is certified as Vista compatible by their respective manufacturer. Therefore, if you plan on using PracticeMaster or Tabs3 software under Vista AND integrate with other third-party software (i.e., WORLDOX, Palm, HotDocs, CompuLaw, etc.), make sure that ALL software is compatible with Vista before moving forward.
Windows Vista is available in five major editions consisting of:
Information regarding the various Vista editions available can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/default.mspx. We are unaware of any differences between Vista 32-bit and 64-bit that would prevent the Tabs3 and PracticeMaster software from running. When running Vista, we recommend that the most current Service Pack is installed.
Note: DOS-based programs cannot be run under a 64-bit operating system. This includes some of the Tabs3 Collection Device Interfaces. Although they can be installed on a 64-bit server, they must be run from a non-64-bit workstation.
The following is a list of known issues related to User Account Control (UAC) and issues related to Administrator rights versus Standard User rights.
User Account Control (UAC) is a feature in Windows that can help prevent unauthorized changes to your computer. UAC does this by asking you for permission or an administrator password before performing actions that could potentially affect your computer's operation or that change settings that affect other users. The current version of Tabs3 and PracticeMaster software is designed to work with administrator users or standard users who have UAC turned On.
Version 14.3 and prior Tabs3 and PracticeMaster software is designed to work in an administrator user environment with User Account Control (UAC) turned Off. When running the software with UAC turned On, installing/uninstalling PracticeMaster plug-ins and changing HotDocs plug-in options can only be done if the software is elevated by selecting "Run as administrator" when opening PracticeMaster. A Standard user with UAC turned Off will not have the ability to elevate the software.
To change your UAC setting, you must be logged into Windows as an administrator. This process requires that your computer be restarted for the change to take effect. (Note: Changing your UAC status will change the UAC status for all users on your workstation.)
To turn UAC on or off
The UAC change will not take effect until your workstation has restarted.
We are currently unaware of any issues that would prevent the Tabs3 and PracticeMaster Version 14.3 and earlier software from running using Novell NetWare Client 1.0 SP1 for Microsoft Vista. If you try to run Tabs3 or PracticeMaster software on Novell NetWare Client 1.0 for Microsoft Vista without SP1, a fatal error will occur. This is a known issue with the Novell NetWare Client 1.0 for Microsoft Vista that was repaired with the release of Service Pack 1.
However, there are known issues with the Novell Client for Vista with Version 15. See KB Article R11238, How Windows 7 and Vista Affect Tabs3 and PracticeMaster Software (Version 15).
We have completed our testing of Tabs3 and PracticeMaster Version 14.3 with QuickBooks 2008 and 2007 under Vista. No issues were encountered during testing.
QuickBooks 2008 and 2007 both require User Account Control (UAC) to be enabled.
Intuit has stated that QuickBooks 2006 and earlier will not be supported on Windows Vista.
There are two known issues regarding the use of CompuLaw with a Windows Vista workstation. These issues occur because CompuLaw does not correctly request elevation before attempting to access your workstation's registry. Elevation is required for registry access, and therefore two error messages can occur: "You are using an unregistered copy of the CompuLaw CRD engine." and "The rule set that you have selected is either inactive or does not have a valid access code." Elevating the program by selecting "Run as administrator" before opening PracticeMaster, or logging into Windows as an Administrator with UAC disabled eliminated these messages. Refer to KB article R10996, "Troubleshooting CompuLaw Integration" for more information.
At this time, Vista is compatible with some Palm Desktop software. Current details regarding the status of their Vista testing can be found on their Web site at http://www.palm.com/us/support/windowsvista/index.html.
World Software Corporation, maker of WORLDOX, announced WORLDOX GX Service Release 1 (SR-1) in August 2007, which provides support for Microsoft Office 2007 and Windows Vista.
A known issue has been found regarding integration with WORLDOX GX SR-1 where new PracticeMaster clients do not appear in WORLDOX. To avoid this integration issue, please update to the most current release of WORLDOX GX. For more information regarding this issue, please refer to KB Article R10656, "WORLDOX Troubleshooting".
The following is a list of known compatibility issues we have found regarding Tabs3 and PracticeMaster software.
While it is possible to install Tabs3 and PracticeMaster software to a protected folder such as C:\Windows or C:\Program Files, this will cause problems if UAC is enabled. Because UAC does not allow data stored within protected folders to be accessed, launching any Tabs3 and PracticeMaster software from this location will cause the data to be copied to a virtual directory within the user's directory and maintained there rather than the original location. While this may appear to work correctly initially, it will eventually cause problems. For this reason, it is recommended that you use the installer's default location of C:\Tabs3 when installing the software to your server. When transferring the software to a new server, use this location as well. This recommendation also applies to single user installations.
In Windows 7 and Vista, you have the ability to add local programs to your start menu or taskbar. In doing so, the Tabs3 and PracticeMaster software can be even more accessible. Because of the addition of a local program directory in Version 15, you can take advantage of this capability.
This option is not available for Version 14.3 and prior of the Tabs3 and PracticeMaster software because the software is installed at the server, and no local program directory exists.
There are various known issues when using Windows 7 or Vista in a networking environment. Consequently, at this time, we do not recommend using Tabs3 and PracticeMaster on a Windows 7 or Vista computer that is acting in the role of a server. This recommendation is changed when running Version 15 Tabs3 and PracticeMaster software, as described in R11238, "How Windows 7 and Vista Affect Tabs3 and PracticeMaster software (Version 15)".
The following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles include information regarding using Windows 7 or Vista in a networking environment:
Mapping drives on a Windows 7 or Vista operating system with UAC On is another operation where the computer will behave differently depending on whether the user is elevated at the time the drives are mapped. Windows tracks two sets of drive mappings, which are based on whether the mapped drive is elevated. With UAC On, elevated and non-elevated domains remain separate. This means that an elevated program which requires you to specify a file location can display a different set of mapped drives than a non-elevated program. When operating Windows as an Administrator with UAC Off, you will always see a single set of drive mappings. If you find out there are several non-elevated drive mappings that must be elevated, please contact your network specialist.
A window with the message "This program might not have installed correctly" may be displayed when closing the browser included with a Tabs3
and PracticeMaster installation CD, a slideshow demo, or a multimedia tutorial.
The message indicates that the program may not have installed correctly.
Although this may occur when closing the installation CD, this message is not
related to the installation of the Tabs3 and PracticeMaster software. Selecting
the This program installed correctly option will prevent this message
from being shown for slideshow demos and multimedia tutorials that are installed
locally; however, the message may be shown again when closing CD browsers, or
when running slideshow demos or multimedia tutorials from an installation CD.
This issue may occur when viewing a Daily or Weekly Calendar in PracticeMaster. In general, non-working hours appear gray when viewing a PracticeMaster Daily or Weekly Calendar. When using a Windows theme in which the background color is white, it is not possible to see the shading in the calendar. To make the shading visible, you will need to change the color settings within Windows, or you can select the Windows Classic theme.
This issue may occur when a Windows Vista computer is running antivirus software and hosting the PracticeMaster Briefcase data. It is caused by a combination of how Windows Vista treats open files on a network and how antivirus software accesses your files. Because of this issue, it may be difficult for a user to complete the check in process over a network. If this situation occurs, the user will be unable to check in the Briefcase data and will need to force PracticeMaster to close. To work around this problem, exclude the STI program and Briefcase data directories from the antivirus software, as recommended in R10760, Antivirus Software Information.
When logged into Windows Vista with UAC On, there is a situation to be aware of regarding program elevation. When integrating PracticeMaster and Outlook, if the first program opened is in an elevated state, then the second must be opened in an elevated state as well. If the first program is opened in an elevated state, but the second is not opened in an elevated state, PracticeMaster will not be able to poll your e-mail. This issue occurs because objects created by an Administrator user cannot be shared with the Standard user. To avoid this situation, either run both programs with the same elevation status, or be sure to open the first program in a not elevated state.
Administrator rights are required when attempting to install or uninstall the PracticeMaster integration toolbar plug-ins on a Windows Vista machine (e.g., the Outlook, HotDocs, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Word toolbar plug-ins). This is because Administrator rights are required for a user to edit the computer's Windows registry, and each of these plug-ins requires a registry setting to be edited. At minimum, these functions require you to login as a Standard user with UAC turned On to allow the option for elevation. A Standard user with UAC turned Off will not have the option for elevation to Administrator rights.
In Version 14.3 and prior, the elevation required to install/uninstall plug-ins is necessary before starting the software. This is because in these versions, there is no access point in the software with which to gain elevated status.
Note: The Microsoft Word toolbar plug-in cannot be installed for the Standard user when logged in as a Standard user with UAC turned On. Installing the Word plug-in under this setting will only install the Word plug-in for the Administrator user.
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