MSDOS accounting program display only 25 lines

[lelpeezee]

I have several MSDOS  .exe files that I have been using since Dos 3 to do my double entry bookkeeping and portfolio tracking, and analysis.  I prefer them to these newer Windows applications, and after almost 20 years prefer not to go to newer Windows applications.  I have been copying them from computer to computer as I acquire new machines.

Since getting a new machine with Windows XP home my display for these applications has shown up on the monitor restricted to just 25 lines.  I have selected either Window or full screen in the properties menu, but the display remains just 25 lines.   In computers using Win 3.1, 95, and 98 I get a full screen display.  I have told XP to run these apps as Win 95 apps, but this doesn't help.

Is there anything I can do in the registry or elsewhere to get more than the very irritating 25 line output?

[patio]

Here are the instructions for doing the same thing running Word Perfect for DOS in a command window in XP:

Force 25-line mode for full-screen WPDOS under Windows 2000 and XP

Under Windows 2000 and Windows XP, WPDOS and other DOS programs start by default in 50-line mode when started in full-screen mode. The 50-line full-screen screen font is tiny and almost unreadable, and many standard DOS applications only fill the top half of the screen. To force WPDOS (or any other DOS program) to start in full-screen 25-line mode, perform the following steps:

First, create a WPDOS shortcut on your desktop if you do not already have one. (Help! What's a shortcut?) Modify the shortcut to use the memory settings and other options you want to use with WPDOS. (See the notes on customizing the WPDOS window elsewhere on this site.)

Next, do one or the other of the following (read both procedures before deciding which one you feel most comfortable performing):

Either (a) Create a batch file that contains the following commands (change the WP directory to match the directory on your system):

    mode con lines=25
    c:\wp61\wp
    exit

On the line that launches WP, you can add any command-line switches that you use with WPDOS, such as /r or /dl. The batch file can also include any other commands that you want to run before WPDOS is launched. Save the batch file in your WP directory with a name like WIN2KWP.BAT. Now, return to the desktop, right-click on your WPDOS desktop shortcut, choose Properties, and go to the Program tab. In the Cmd Line field, enter the full path of your new batch file. Click OK to exit the Properties sheet. Use this shortcut to run WPDOS.

I strongly recommend that you apply to this shortcut the technique described elsewhere on this site for setting memory and other options for batch files under Windows 2000 or XP. After applying this technique so that you can modify the options of the shortcuts, apply the same memory options that you may already have applied to a WPDOS shortcut, or follow the suggestions found elsewhere on this site for customizing your WPDOS shortcut.

... or (b) Right-click on your WPDOS shortcut, choose Properties, go to the Screen tab, and select Window (not Full screen). Click OK and launch the shortcut. Either click on the icon in the upper-left corner of the WPDOS window or press Alt-Space; this opens the "context menu" of the window. Choose Properties, and go to the Layout tab. Change the Screen Buffer Size and Window Size to a height of 25. Click OK, then select "Save properties for future window." Exit WPDOS and close the window. Right-click on the WPDOS shortcut again, choose Properties, go to the Screen tab, and select Full-screen (not Window).

Somewhat surprisingly, you may get slightly more memory for WPDOS with method (a) than with method (b).

I would think these should work for your DOS-based accounting program

Good Luck

patio.   8-)

[GX1_Man]

Besides Windows itself, it depends on the graphics adapter and what it is capable of.