A few weeks ago, I put a post on showing a problem I was getting in Vue 4, with texture display previews. The preview was showing a mess of Windows buttons and program icons, yet this had not been a problem until one of e-ons updates, I cant remember which one. A spokesperson for e-on calling themselves e-on came on the thread and said the problem would be solved if I changed my colour settings from 16 bit to 24 or 32 bit, remembering the problems caused by changing settings to suit an individual piece of software in the past I was a bit reticent to do this. I did go ahead and change it, and yes the texture preview was then okay, but strange little problems developed, things not reacting as normal, and on the fatal occasion Windows would not open. I ended up reformatting, after getting things loaded in I again changed the colour display for Vue to 32 bit, I dont have 24, then just after downloading Windows updates, the system crashed fatally again. Another reformat, and yet still things not working happily, and again I changed the colour setting for Vue. I usually use Norton system works for keeping a check on my system but as this wasnt turning up any problems I resorted to Windows file checker, the result was it showed that Windows file user exe maybe corrupted. Before doing anything else I went on a hunt for the problems user exe' could cause, and I found that Windows not loading was one of those things, plus changing your colour setting to 32 bit, could cause problems with user exe. I changed the colour settings back to 16 bit and file checker is now showing that all is okay again, had I continued to use that setting I may well have been looking forward to another reformat. My advice to anybody, that has a similar problem with Vue texture previews, DONT follow e-ons advice to change colour settings, I am hoping that it hasnt been on the setting long enough this time to cause me further loss of time. Dave

Hey Dave, What type of video card are you using? It is better to run Vue in 32 bit color. Also,It is always best to do all the Windows updates before installing any software. Including any type of anit-virus software.Once you have all you updates done, then go ahead and install your programs. When you do it the other way, the updates write into the registry, which can somtimes cause errors and windows to crash, or other programs. James

Dave I had a similar problem after an update. What I did was remove the update completely and then selected the file with all their updates and after that I had no problem. :) Irene

Thanks James, I would suspect you are right about doing updates before installing programs, but on the advice of a Microsoft engineer, I tried the programs I use most for a while, before the Windows updates, to see if there were any problems with any of the programs after a fresh start. Stupidly I changed the colour depth again, but I hadnt thought to tell the Microsoft engineer about that. I am notoriously bad at remembering to do Windows updates, so usually there are a lot to download when I do it, and I wouldnt normally uninstall all my programs before doing it. Other than the very necessary, about 3, my background running programs are all disabled in System configuration utility, and this is the first time Windows update has proven to be a problem. I would agree on 32 bit colour depth, you should be able to change to that, and the information I got on user exe only says changing to 32 bit can cause problems with user exe, by changing back to 16 bit, file checker was okay. That of course doesnt mean to say all will now be fine, if my particular machine was one that didnt like the change, then other problems could still be lurking. My point is that you shouldnt have to change Windows settings to assist one program, all others work okay where previews are concerned. I tend to think if everything is working okay for the majority of programs then leave the Windows settings alone, I just wish I had stuck with that rule this time. My graphics card is Nvidia GeForce4 MX, and I am on Windows 98. Thanks also Irene, unfortunately I was unable to do anything other than put the computer recovery CD in, nothing was working, and I could not uninstall anything. Dave