MRMap on Windows 7 - #2

[Rob_Brookes]

A small point to be aware of when running Windows 7 and adding MRMap to it. The actual program doesn't install as such, it's just copied to your computer along with the maps etc and from there you create a shortcut on your desktop to run it.

This doesn't apply to the 'MRMap Installer' version which is used by those new to MRMap although it still doesn't 'install' in the accepted sense, it just automates the copying of all the necessary files over to your computer. By default it copies them to the 'C:\Program Files\MRMap' folder assuming 'C' is your main hard drive.

In the case of Windows 7 the 'C:\Program Files' folder is specifically for 64 bit Windows applications. MRMap is 32 bit and should really be in the 'C:\Program Files (x86)\MRMap' folder.

In practice this doesn't seem to actually make any difference to it's operation but Microsoft saw fit to create and use two folders for installed applications, one for 32 bit and another for 64 bit ones. From this you could reasonably be expected to assume that there's a difference between the two that actually matters. Perhaps someone can tell us what it is sometime.

The time to be careful is when for whatever reason, you've used both methods of adding MRMap to your computer. There's just a chance you could end up with one version in the 32 bit folder and another in the 64 bit one. Again, you can get away with this but your desktop shortcut might not now be pointing at the version you think it is. This is most likely to make itself obvious by all your maps disappearing however as they're in the other folder.

I believe Dave is currently looking at compiling a 64 bit version of MRMap.