Winlog32 and Windows 7

When I was first licenced I was never off the air then I got the seven year itch and for some years I only operated on RAYNET exercises or occasionally while mobile. In 2005 the changes in the licensing regulation that did away with the Morse requirement re-sparked my interest and I took the decision to change from a paper log to a computerised one. This was sparked mainly by the fact that I could not find my last paper log book anywhere and that I could not wait for a new log book before I started to transmit again.

I started by making an Excel file with various columns for Time, Date, Call Sign etc. I then download every log book program I could find and installed each one in turn to try it. After I had rejected all the others one stood out as better than the rest. It seemed more complex than it really was so I was still unsure, but it was better than my rough Excel file which had become sluggish to load and seemed to get worse the more data I put in to it. The program I choose was Winlog32 and I soon got the hang of it and its advanced features now seem second nature.

My main shack PC ran Windows 98 second edition and Winlog32 has worked faultlessly since I first installed it. I have also run it for short periods on an XP machine also without issue. My new shack PC runs on Windows 7 and I am very impressed. Expected problems with program compatibility have been almost non-existent and I had been running Winlog32 for a few months with no problem until Windows or possibly my Virus Scan software decided to reboot with the log minimised on the task bar. After the reboot Winlog32 opened on the task bar and I could not maximise it again. The first time it happened I reinstalled Winlog32 and everything worked fine again. When it happen a few days ago I got the program back by opening it in XP compatibility mode, although there appears no advantage to permanently run the program in this mode.

I wrote an email to the author Colin G0CUS who replied very quickly. This is not a problem he has come across and he does not have a copy of Windows 7 yet to investigate. The problem can be replicated by shutting down the PC with Winlog32 minimised on the task bar. If anyone can confirm this happens I would be most grateful so as to exclude a none standard set up on my machine being the problem. If anyone knows why this is happening or how to fix it please let me or Colin know. I am going to stick with Winlog32 as I still think it knocks the socks off the competition.