Problems with Windows 7

Q 8.1 When I try to start WinGX, Ortep or WinXD immediately after a fresh re-installation on my Windows 7 machine, I get an access violation error. What is wrong?

A 8.1 The post-installation program is trying to search your hard disk to update the ini file (wingx.ini,ortep.ini or winxd.ini). There is a function in this program which appears to fail under Windows 7 when searching the main (c:) drive (though it works with all other versions of Windows!). A fix is to close down the program and then place an empty file called "wingx.ini" in the home directory. If the problem is occuring with Ortep, an empty file called "ortep.ini" (NOT "ortep3.ini" - this is the old name for the init file!) should be placed in the corresponding home directory . If the problem is occuring with WinXD, place an empty file called "winxd.ini" in the winxd\bin directory where all the other XD executables are located. Doing this should by-pass the searching of the hard disk. If you then start up the program it will write a default template version of the ini file, but you will need manually edit it in order for all the the plugin programs to work (this is not very important for WinXD). You MUST close down WinGX/Ortep/WinXD before you do this manual editing.

Q 8.2. When I try and open a file using the File-Open File menu item in Ortep (and possibly other programs), the program seems to hang, or take ages to give the File Open Dialog Window. What is wrong?

A 8.2. Apparently the cure here (thanks to Robin Bedford for this information) is to delete the icon cache. To do this :
Press the windows (flag) key and r to get the run command (or start - run) then type "cmd" (without parentheses) then hit OK to get the Command Prompt box and then type in this box the line

del %userprofile%\appdata\local\iconcache.db /a