Initial Windows 10 experiences: GOOD

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Sheepdog
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2017 3:41 pm

Initial Windows 10 experiences: GOOD

Post by Sheepdog » Thu Jul 13, 2017 4:26 pm

I knew I had to upgrade to Windows 10. I'm an advanced user, but still dreaded the prospect. Not least because I might have trouble with Kith and Kin.

Yes... there were hurdles to surmount... but Nick Hunter at Spansoft was tremendously helpful, in various ways- not that you need to trouble him directly, probably! RTFM!

"Where I was coming from": I was still using V2 because years ago... after buying V3!... I funked upgrading between V2 and V3, even though I wouldn't (then) have needed to change OS at the same time.

Well... couldn't put it off any longer. Process...

a) Convert my data, for V3 Kith and Kin. Nick did an EXCELLENT guide...

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=243

... and yes, Virginia, if your data is still V2, you DO have to convert it, and you DO have, at least temporarily, to have a machine with BOTH V2 and V3 installed on it.

I'm of a nervous disposition. And may have more time than sense. I had...

pcXP... my old PC, with my "active" family history work on it. Didn't want to "mess with" that. As you can guess from the name I've used, it runs Windows XP

pcW7... a "scratch" PC, running reasonably well, Windows 7, but no "critical" work on that.

pcW10... the target PC. Will become my most important machine. Things there must WORK, must not be chanced on risky stuff.

So... What I did was set KnK V2 and V3 up on pcW7, from scratch. (And yes, my Serial Number/Keys "worked" more than once. Spansoft has done the decent thing by their customers. I hope the customers do the decent thing by Spansoft.)

Copied the folder with my old database from pcXP to pcW7 by normal, basic, OS tools, using removable storage.

Here's a bit I found slightly non-intuitive. (It makes sense on a deep technical level... but that's not obvious until you've seen things you might not look for!) To do the conversion, you need V2 installed (or you need to install the BDE on it's own) on the machine concerned, even though you won't "use" it! (Don't be worried. It DOES work... if you've followed Nick's instructions... CAREFULLY.)

To convert the V2 data, you use the standalone "Database conversion to V3" utility, which will be in the "Start" menu for KnK V3. (You don't launch KnK V3 itself, and dig in the menus here. The Conversion Utility is a separate program.)

I pointed the Conversion Utility at the folder with my V2 data, and it Just Worked. It created a new folder, full of data... V3 data!

b) Then I installed V3 on pcW10.

c) Moved the folder of V3 data to pcW10 (by itself... I didn't do a wholesale move of Lots Of Stuff.) Opened it. (With KnK). ALL WAS WELL! HURRAH!!!

Now. It is early days. I won't promise that I will remain so happy. But I'm ahead of where I am often in circumstances like this!! Everything working just fine, so far.

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Details...

I believe that you MUST have a folder in the root of the drive KnK is installed on, a folder called KKPro3Data. (The install process creates it for you... and fills it with...) and in that, you need four files with names "Timelines..." and "TLEvents...".

(At least I THINK you MUST have that. Makes me a little nervous... Win10 doesn't like things in the drive root, and it is easy to forget it is there. BUT!.... not a big deal.)

Happily, V3 (as V2 was before it) is happy for me to have a folder where *I* want it to hold my KnK data.

I set up a "KnKV3" folder at the "tip" of the following chain of folders....

C:\Users\TBoyd\Documents\Databases\KnKData\KnKV3

In THAT (KnKV3), I put the folder with the data I'd generated earlier.

Launched KnK (V3), used File/ Database/ Open... and with a little browsing, BINGO! I was in.

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When you first open in V3 the fruits of a Conversion, you are told that "The database.... has been converted from a previous version and must have its description fields updated."

Fear not! No big deal. Use "Help/ Search for help on" and look at the entry for "descriptions", if you want to know more. Or just take things on faith, use the V3 menu item "Tools/ Update Descriptions"... three times: Once each for People, Families, and Date. A progress bar will flash, and That Does It!

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In all of the above I've talked about just one set of data, because that's all I use. But the system is perfectly capable of holding several separate sets of data. You'd just repeat the conversion process (if you had pre-existing data in V2 format) and you'd use separate folders in the "data-meta-folder" of your choice, one for each set of data.

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So... THANK YOU Spansoft! Have always loved the product. I knew nothing about family history reseach when I started, but the program "worked" for me, and as I've learned to research better, I have been delighted to find that KnK still takes care of my expanding wants. I haven't outgrown the software as my research methods have improved.

If all else fails??? There's always the Gedcom export option! Nice to know there's an escape plan. Not that I expect to need to use it.

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