Anybody Successfully Run QCharts w/ Windows 7 x64? - Should we even try?

[dcash]

I just installed Windows 7 RC 64 bit on a separate disk in my PC. I noticed some strange QCharts 6.0.3.1550 behavior with intraday charting periods which I never saw running 32 bit XP. If "all sessions" is turned on, I don't see a 9:30 candle unless 9:30 happens to fall on the intraday interval boundary; e.g., a 15 minute chart. If I try an 8 minute chart, I get a 9:24 candle followed by a 9:32 candle. Interestingly, the 9:32 candle OHLC does not match the values I get off of a 1 minute chart. I also tried this with a 7 minute chart, which works fine on XP 32 bit, and similarly did not get a 9:30 candle and seemingly incorrect prices on the 7 minute candles when compared to 1 minute candles.

I'm just wondering if it's worth even trying to use QCharts with Windows 7, or should we just wait till the developers suggest we try it, with instructions on how to get it to work properly.

[jmhuff-2]

I am running Windows 7 x64 build 7100 and qcharts works great.

[dcash]

Thanks for the reply. I have had a chance to do some more testing and I am able to run all the QCharts releases, but with some limitations. In my initial testing I had not changed the default setting of "quickly drawn" to "more accurately drawn."

QCharts 5.0.1.22 was installed in a "user local" program directory under my regular user account and it works just fine.

QCharts 6.0.1.1550 and 6.0.1.1613 will only work if run as Administrator when logged in to a regular account, or run when logged in as an Administrator. The 6.x installers will only run in Administrator mode.

QFAI install was run in XP SP3 compatability mode and is running fine as long as it is run in the same manner as the QCharts 6.x releases; i.e., it needs Administrator rights.

QCharts 6.0.1.1613 performs with about the same responsiveness under Windows 7 x64 as it does under XP SP3 32 bit. The quirks that I see with XP are still there with Windows 7 (incorrect 4 and 8 minute charts are my big issues, along with the current lack of intraday option charting). The big difference I see is that QCharts 6.0.1.1613 takes much more memory running under Windows 7 than it does under XP (150 MB vs. 85 MB using the same workspace). Windows 7 itself, however, takes up 1.4 GB of memory on my PC whereas XP only needs around 450 MB. Also, I have not found it necessary to run any of the QCharts software in XP compatibility mode after installation.

I would really like to see the QCharts development team get QCharts to run under a regular user account. I like to save Administrator account usage for strictly administrative tasks, and running QCharts as Administrator from my regular user account breaks the nView multimonitor software I use as well as XMouse Button Control software when I attempt to control any windows running programs as Administrator.

[bobscott]

QCharts 5.0.1.22 was installed in a "user local" program directory under my regular user account and it works just fine.

If you also install QCharts 6 and QFAI in a "user local" folder you should not have to run with Administrator privileges. Kinda like "what's good for the goose is good for the gander" or whatever the saying is.....

The following image shows how I have installed all the QCharts programs in a non-administrator account (Non-Admin). This is Windows XP but I have done an equivalent thing on Windows Vista with no problems.

~Bob

[dcash]

Bob,

When I install any version of QCharts 6, the install program fails if I am not using an account with administrative rights. It actually displays an error message saying you have to have administrative rights to install. How are you getting the installation done without using an account that has administrative rights?

-Dan

[bobscott]

Don't worry about the Install.

Use an Admin Account and Install QCharts somewhere that you do not need Admin Privileges (Somewhere like a folder in My Documents or equivalent). The reason for this is anytime QCharts or any other program writes files in the Program Files folder you must have Admin Privileges but if you install somewhere else this is not a problem.

Once programs are installed outside the Program Files folder then you can then run from a Non Admin account.

~Bob

[dcash]

Bob,

I tried your suggestion and it does not work. I installed from the Administrator account and placed it in a directory fully accessible to my regular user account. I can run QCharts from the Administator account in this configuration, but it will not run from my regular user account. I get a message box saying QCharts failed to initialize and after clicking on the message box the program exits. I tried installing setting compatibility on the install executable to nothing, XP SP3, and Vista with no change in the results. I guess I will leave it to folks more versed in Windows details than I to puzzle this out.

-Dan

[bobscott]

Dan,

I know full well that the method I described works but I can't tell where you actually installed QCharts. You said "directory fully accessible to my regular user account" but that does not help me very much. Please at least give me a full path as the following for the latest QCharts version on my XP SP2 system.

"C:\Documents and Settings\Non-Admin\My Applications\QCharts Programs\QCharts 6.0.3.2\QCharts.exe"

In this case,

1. I have created a User Account by the name of "Non-Admin" and have not given that account Admin Privileges.

2. Then I created a Folder by the name of "My Applications" in the "Non-Admin" folder.

3. And in the "My Applications" folder I created a "QCharts Programs" folder.

4. In the "QCharts Programs" folder I created a "QCharts 6.0.3.2" folder.

5. I installed the latest QCharts version into the "QCharts 6.0.3.2" folder using an account with Admin Privileges.

The following image is taken from TaskInfo running QCharts from the Non-Admin account.

I hope this helps.

Best regards,

~Bob

[dcash]

Bob,

I installed QCharts into C:\Users\Regular_User\Program Files (x86)\QCharts 6.0.3.1613. I did the install from the Administrator account. I created the program directory from the Administrator account during installation, so this may have been a problem. I will try again using the method you described. I also am going to put the installation directory someplace else beside in the local user Program Files (x86) directory.

Do you know if QCharts is showing in Task Manager as having UAC virtualization enabled when you run it in your regular user account? Also, when you install in Vista, do you set any of the program compatibility settings available, such as XP SP3 or Vista SP1?

-Dan

[bobscott]

Dan,

I dislike Vista with a passion so I primarily use XP SP2 which has no UAC. However, I do have an old laptop with Vista Home on it and I am in the process of firing it up so I can tell you exactly where QCharts was installed there.

Later,

~Bob

[bobscott]

Dan,

Finally got that Vista dawg running and there is no UAC nor anything that I am aware of. As you can see from the composite QCharts header which shows the path and the Non-Admin status that Non-Admin is a standard User.

What am I missing?

~Bob

[dcash]

Bob,

There must be enough of a difference between Windows 7 x64 RC1 and Vista to matter to QCharts. I have found several other pieces of software (Adobe Acrobat Professional 6 and Nero Media Suite 6, for example) that run just fine in Windows XP and will not run at all in Windows 7.

I will keep trying QCharts with Windows 7 as time permits and post to this forum if I find anything that works consistently and repeatedly.

-Dan

[bobscott]

Dan,

Did you try the setup I said on XP or Vista? If what I have given you does not work on Widows 7 then maybe you should use another version.

~Bob:

[bobscott]

Dan and any others having trouble running QCharts without Admin Privileges, UAC and XP compatibility.

The problem appears to me as strictly a Read, Write and possibly Delete Privilege issue so rather than go to all the the trouble to Install QCharts each time just download my small test program Check_Folder.exe and it will tell you if Read, Write and Delete are either Successful or a Failure was encountered.

A typical Failure to Write would appear as in the following image and since nothing was written in that case the Delete would not be applicable.

Use is extremely easy. Just download the file and save it to any desired folder and then run it (Open it) using Explorer. You can then shut the program down and Cut, Paste and Open in another folder to test that folder.

Best regards,

~Bob

[dcash]

Bob,

I would think it is merely a permissions problem, but QCharts 6.x versions work differently in Windows 7 than they do in XP SP3. To run QCharts and QFAI in XP I install them into the Program Files directory with an Administrator account and then I go back and give my regular user account "full control" access to just these program directories. This works just fine in XP but not Windows 7. QCharts 5.0.1.22 still works this way in Windows 7 but QFAI and QCharts 6.x do not. QFAI pops up the UAC message box and prompts for the Administrator password to allow QFAI-Sel to change the system. Once this is done all versions of QCharts run fine, since QFAI is passing on its elevated privileges to QCharts. If I run any QCharts 6.x directly I get a message box saying QCharts failed to initialize and when I acknowledge the message, Qcharts shuts down.

Since my Windows 7 installation is an experiment on a separate disk, I may play around with granting "full control" to other directories to see if this fixes things. I have played around a little with Microsoft's Sysinternals procmon program, but it spits out so much detailed data that I cannot tell exactly what causes QCharts 6.x to fail when running under a regular user account.

It still seems to me, however, that the QCharts development team needs to change QCharts so it is "well behaved" according to Microsoft standards and will run under a regular user account in Windows 7. I have no problems installing software using the Administrator account, but I do not want to run software using the Administrator account unless it is a system utility or maintenance program that needs unfettered access to the operating system and its files.

-Dan