Support

I receive an error: "Fatal Error Encountered" and am running Windows XP with limited account users.

This problem is associated with Limited Account users in Windows XP. The High School and some Primary MathsPOWER program(s) were developed prior to the introduction of limited accounts in Windows XP, as such, it does not support limited accounts natively. The problem is related to the fact that limited account users do not have access to all files and registry entries required by the MathsPOWER program.

The simplest way to fix this problem is to either log onto the computer using an administrative account when the student is using the MathsPOWER program or change the limited account used by the student to an administrative account type.

We realise however that some families are reluctant to do this for various reasons, so we have provided a workaround. The steps to this follow:

1. Close all programs currently open, including any MathsPOWER program
2. You must be logged onto the computer with an Administrative user to perform the following steps. If you are currently logged in as a limited account user, you will need to log off and log back on with an administrative account.
3. Navigate to the MathsPOWER installation directory (the default location is “C:\Program Files\”)
1. Click on the ‘Start’ button and click ‘Run’
2. Type the installation path into the ‘Open’ input box i.e. “c:\Program Files\”
3. Click the ‘Ok’ button.
4. Copy the ‘Back to the Future’ folder
1. Locate the ‘Back to the Future’ folder
2. Right click on the ‘Back to the Future’ folder
3. Left click on ‘Copy’
4. Close the current window
5. Paste the ‘Back to the Future’ folder into the ‘C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data’ folder
   1. Click on the ‘Start’ button and click ‘Run’
   2. Type “C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data” into the ‘Open’ input box.
   3. Click the ‘Ok’ button
   4. In the window that opens, click on ‘Edit’ in the toolbar
   5. Click on ‘Paste’
   6. Close the current window
   NOTE: The following steps must be followed exactly, as damage to your system may occur if followed incorrectly. MathsPOWER accepts no responsibility to any damage incurred.
6. Open the registry editor
1. Click on the ‘Start’ button and click ‘Run’
2. Type “regedit” into the ‘Open’ input box.
3. Click the ‘Ok’ button, the ‘Registry Editor’ should now appear.
7. Change the installation path in the windows Registry
1. Click on the ‘+’ symbol next to ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE’
2. Under ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE’, select the ‘+’ symbol next to ‘SOFTWARE’
3. Find the ‘BTTF’ entry and click on the ‘+’ symbol next to that
4. Click on ‘High School Mathematics 5.0’
5. Right click on ‘InstallPath’, which should be on the left side of the screen
6. Click ‘Modify’
7. Replace the existing text with ‘C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Back to the Future\High School Maths 5.0\”
8. Change security settings of the BTTF entry in the registry to allow access by limited account users
1. The registry should still be open from the previous step, if not repeat steps 6a, 6b, 6c, 7a, 7b, 7c
2. Right click on ‘BTTF’
3. Click on ‘Permissions’
4. NOTE: If this step is only necessary if ‘Everyone’ is not currently available in the ‘Group or user names’ list, if it is available, you may move to step 8e
1. Click ‘Add’
2. Type ‘Everyone’ into the ‘Enter the object names to select’ input field
3. Click ‘Ok’
5. Click on ‘Everyone’ from the ‘Group or user names’ list.
6. Click the check box under ‘Allow’ for ‘Full Control’. This will place a tick in both the ‘Full Control’ and ‘Read’ check box.
7. Click the ‘Ok’ button. NOTE: If a security message is shown with ‘Access is denied’ as the message, you have probable logged on as a limited account user and will need to see step 2.
9. The program should now work with limited account users, to check this, log out of the current user and log back in with a limited account user and run the High School MathsPOWER program.

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