Alliance, Recorded History and Polishing of Metal are now discontinued products but if you are a Windows OS user, you will know that the operating system has moved on past the original programming of these products. There's good news - although the products may not auto-run as they once did, you might still be able to access the data on them!
The Alliance:
This product was written way back in the days of DOS and the first versions of Windows. Up to Windows-ME it will operate as designed but when XP came out, DOS programs don't execute as they once did. To access the content of Alliance you must:
- Execute the DOS prompt by clicking on the icon or typing 'CMD' at the 'Start' prompt.
- Find the location of the CD-ROM by selecting the disk drive it is located on. Windows is normally on 'C:' leaving 'D:' normally as the location of the disc. Type the drive letter of the disc directly at the '>' prompt like 'D:' or 'E:' (yes use the colon) and press the ENTER key.
- When the prompt returns, type 'ERUN.BAT' and ENTER.
- Typing 'ALLIANCE.BAT' brings up an instruction manual with more helpful information.
- When done, exit the Alliance application and then type 'EXIT' at the '>' prompt and Windows will return. ALT-TAB allows you to switch between Alliance and the rest of your Windows applications.
BIG PROBLEM, however, if you are running versions of Windows later than XP-SP3 as they do not support DOS's full screen mode which is needed to run the applications. If you have a pre-Vista video driver then the above procedure will work, else the data is no longer accessable; the music still is, however, on any audio player.
Recorded History:
Written in 2003, Recorded History knows about Windows-XP, but nothing more. To access the disc enter your 'Computer' icon, select the icon displaying the disc and select the PDF file dispalyed in the main folder, RUNBOOK. Please note that the disc Icon no longer renders correctly and will appear as a shadow.
Polishing of Metal:
Written in 2006, Polishing of Metal knows about Windows-XP, the latest/last itterations of it and handles itself far easier than its predicessors, but it has no knowledge of Windows Vista, nevermind 7, 8, 10 or anything else. To make it run: click on 'View Disk Contents' if the autorun menu launches, else click on you 'Computer' icon and then the icon displaying the disc. Once the disc folder is present, click on 'EMPSTART.EXE'. Be advised you may have to run it as Administrator or skip the launch sequence and click on the PDF file, RUNBOOK.