Using the EXP 5.1 Help System with Windows Vista (32-bit edition)

The EXP 5.1 help system uses a subsystem within Windows known as WinHelp. Microsoft made the decision not to include WinHelp as part of the standard distribution of Windows Vista. The Microsoft Knowledge Base contains an article discussing this issue:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917607

If you want to use the EXP help system with Windows Vista, you have two choices:

Download, install, and configure WinHelp.
This provides the full functionality of the EXP help system, but it has some security implications that are discussed in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article.
Use an alternate HTML-based help system.
The disadvantage of the HTML-based help system is that it is not integrated with EXP and you cannot get context sensitive help for dialog boxes and menu items. However, the two help systems provide exactly the same content. If you would like to use the alternate HTML-based help system, click here.

If you decide to use WinHelp, please follow these steps:

Read the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917607
Follow the instructions to download and install the WinHlp32.exe software.
For the 32-bit edition of Vista, download the file Windows6.0-KB917607-x86.msu
For security reasons, Microsoft has, by default, disabled some of the macro functionality of WinHelp. The EXP help system is only fully functional if all WinHelp macro functionality is enabled. The Microsoft Knowledge Base article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917607 explains the security implications of enabling full WinHelp macro functionality.
If you decide not to enable full WinHelp macro functionality, you can still obtain context sensitive help for dialog boxes and menu items, but the Contents, Index, and Search tabs will not be available.

Enabling full WinHelp macro functionality requires you to make a small change to the Registry of your Windows system. Symbol Dynamics provides a .reg file that enables you to make the required change in a manner that is less error prone than using the RegEdit.exe program directly. To enable full WinHelp macro functionality, right-click here and choose Save Target As from the popup menu to download the file Vista_32_WinHelp_EnableMacros_reg.txt to a folder on your computer.

Symbol Dynamics also provides a file to disable full WinHelp macro functionality if you change your mind later. Right-click here and choose Save Target As from the popup menu to download the file Vista_32_WinHelp_DisableMacros_reg.txt to a folder on your computer.
Using Windows, navigate to the folder in which you stored the two download files.

Rename the two files as shown in the following table:

Download Filename	New Filename
Vista_32_WinHelp_EnableMacros_reg.txt	Vista_32_WinHelp_EnableMacros.reg
Vista_32_WinHelp_DisableMacros_reg.txt	Vista_32_WinHelp_DisableMacros.reg

(This naming trick is necessary because Internet browsers block the .reg extension.)

Right-click the file Vista_32_WinHelp_EnableMacros.reg and choose Merge from the popup menu.
This merges the information into the Registry of your Windows system. After you reply to various security warnings displayed by Windows, full WinHelp macro functionality will be enabled.

If you decide at a later time to disable full WinHelp macro functionality, follow these steps:

Using Windows, navigate to the folder in which you stored the file Vista_32_WinHelp_DisableMacros.reg.
Right-click the file Vista_32_WinHelp_DisableMacros.reg and choose Merge from the popup menu.
This merges the information into the Registry of your Windows system. After you reply to various security warnings displayed by Windows, full WinHelp macro functionality will be disabled.