Maybe someone else has already done this, but I couldn't find any previous info. So to continue the Prontoedit font problem saga....

In a nutshell, I upgraded IE to 5.5 and my fonts in Prontoedit broke. When I tried to go back to 5.01, they still wouldn't work, so I started doing some investigating with my home machine (the one that had IE5.5) and my one at work (which had 5.01).

The result is that 5.5 installs a new version of COMCTL32.DLL (in the WINDOWS/SYSTEM directory) which apparently breaks the font display in 5.01. (Note that I am NOT saying there is a problem with IE5.5 or this file...in fact, I think Prontoedit may be at fault, but this is just to relate what I found and how to fix it).

When I tried to go back to 5.01, of course Windows wouldnt overwrite a 'newer' version of a DLL so the new one remained. To find which file was triggering the problem, I found the DLL dependencies of Prontoedit and compared the versions of these files between my system at work and at home. There were two differences, COMCTL32.DLL and SHLWAPI.DLL. Replacing SHLWAPI made no difference, so I left the updated version.

However, when I replaced COMCTL32 with the 5.01 version....boom, my font display in Prontoedit was restored.

I do not believe that I will have a problem doing this since it is the same version that comes with IE 5.01, and that's the version I'm sticking with. But I don't know what will happen on systems that have any other version (5.0 or 5.5). Do at your own risk, and make sure you make a backup of the original file!

Note also that I have not done extensive testing with my system (I was so happy to find it working I wrote this immediately after testing Prontoedit!), but so far everything looks OK and going back to an older version of the file does not appear to have broken anything else. I really don't expect it to, since IE5.5 was the only thing that installed it, but I'll be sure to post a followup if I have problems.

Hope this helps someone...

Hmm, could you post the details on your file (date, version, size)... the version that works in IE4.0 is 577,808 bytes, 04-20-99, version 5.80.

I was heartened to see this thread. I've been trying to find which file from the IE update was the one to fix my "bad fonts in alias list" problem since I first installed ProntoEdit. I *DO NOT* want to install IE, however.

I currently have comctl32.dll, version 5.80, 577,808 bytes, 04-20-99 (the same one Daniel mentions) and ProntoEdit does NOT show the correct fonts in the alias list.

I'd heard (here, somewhere) that Microsoft's W98 Y2K update would fix the problem. That package contains comctl32.dll, version 4.72.3611.1900, 450,832 bytes, 12-04-98. I used that one to replace the ones in \windows\system and \windows\sysbckup. (I did it from DOS).

Upon rebooting, Explorer died with a GPF, so I never did get to see if it fixed the PE font problem :-) . Replacing the 5.80 version fixed that and I rebooted without problems.

BTW, I'm running Windows 98, Second Edition, Version 4.10.2222 A.

Robert

Just for future notes, I only have IE 4.0 installed on this system, along with Windows 98 original (however all updates are applied). Everything works fine.

Version that I have from IE5.01 is file version 5.81, size 568,592 bytes, product version 5.00.2919.6304.

It is labeled as coming from Windows 2000 OS. The one that is installed with IE5.5 is also version 5.81, but it has a different product version.

Robert, if you don't want to install IE, that's fine, but you might want to consider installing 5.01 just to get all the system files updated and then uninstall it if you want to use Netscape (or whatever). All of the DLLs should stay the latest version.

When you replaced the COMCTL32 file, did you extract it and copy over just that one file, or did you actually install the Y2k update? Installing the update as a whole should not have made your system hang. If, however, you installed it but noticed the COMCTL version in your system directory was still different, then you must have already had a later version (it would not be replaced by the installation ). Therefore, directly copying an OLDER version of COMCTL could very likely cause things to screw up/hang.

I will zip the DLL and place it on a web site, and post the address later.

Brandon,

I only used the comctl32.dll from the y2k.exe package; I didn't install the whole package. I was just testing out the theory that the version of comctl32.dll (by itself) that gets installed by IE updates was the cause of Pronto Edit's font screw-up, and hoping for a minimum hassle fix. I realize that there are many interdependencies between various versions of dlls and that this goal may be impossible.

I may try the IE 5.01 update, if I can still find it anywhere. I do have comctl32.dll version 5.81. Just copying in that file did not break anything, but it didn't fix the PE fonts problem, either. Maybe I'll just wait for Philips to fix their problem. :-)

Robert

Make sure you are using the correct product version, as I wrote in the previous post.

Both the IE5.01 and the IE5.5 COMCTL32.DLL files are version 5.81....you have to check the "product version" in the properties page. As I said, the 5.81 that is installed with IE5.5 does NOT appear to work.

Get the one that works (for me) here....

[Link: geocities.com]

Let me know if using this file still doesn't fix it for you. That will invalidate my whole theory if so.

Also, your PRONTO.TTF is installed and accessible from other applications (like Word), right?

For some reason, the above link doesn't work.

Try this...

[Link: geocities.com]

then click the link.

Brandon,

Thanks! I'll try it when I get home from work. I'll post the results in this thread.

Maybe Geocities will be answering the phone by then. :)

Only Microsoft could have different files with the same name and version number!

Robert

Adding to my previous post...

Yes, my pronto.ttf is installed and accessible from Word. It's not a bad looking font, actually.

I finally did get Geocities to answer and downloaded the zip file. Most likely a problem on my end. I'm behind two firewalls at work and sometimes they don't much care for each other.

Looking at the file properties... My comctl32.dll (also 5.81) was definitely NOT from the Windows 2000 product. Great! I now have much higher hopes of your file working for me. Won't that be a nice entry in the FAQ!

Robert

Brandon, others;

Success! The version you posted on your web site fixed the problem for me. I was wrong about my 5.81 version not being from product win2k. It was.

Here are the particulars on those I tried that did NOT work:

File Version Product Product Version
4.72.3611.1900 Windows NT(R) 4.72.3611.1900 (from y2k.exe)
5.80 Windows 2000 5.00.2614.3500 (origin unk)
5.81 Windows 2000 5.00.3105.105 (from IE upd)

Your version (which did work):

5.81 Windows 2000 5.00.2919.6304

Thanks again! I guess you'll have to keep that file at your web site for a while :) although you may need to prepend this: "These aren't the droids you're looking for."

Daniel,

I hope one of the new features you're working on is the ability for the author to return and edit his own posts :)

Robert [too many smileys for one day] Wallace

Woah! that spacing sure didn't hold up!
Would TABs have been better? ... Nope!

Robert

Could someone please help a Mac user...how do you replace the comctl32.dll file? When I tried to replace it, I got an error message saying the file was in use.

Brandon B,
Your comctl32.dll was absolutely the fix for the font problem. I installed ie5.5 back when it was in beta and had been stuck with the problem since then.

All,
Unzip Brandon's file (URL listed above) to your harddrive (preferably the C:\ directory). Use FIND to find ALL comctl32.dll files in your system. Rename the comctl32.dll file found in C:\Windows\sysbckup\ to comctl32.OLD (otherwise, windows will keep overwriting any changes you make with this file on bootup). Shut down to the MS-DOS prompt. Change to the C:\Windows\System directory. Rename comctl32.dll to comctl32.OLD. copy the unzipped file from c:\ to c:\windows\system. Reboot. Windows will tell you that you are using an older version when it starts up. Click on OK and enjoy unadulterated Pronto fonts!

Cool beans.

Glad I could help. Just remember to hang on to the original file in case you need it.

To the Mac user, uh...I'm confused. Is there a Windows for Mac or something that I don't know about???