Stopping Winpopup Can Produce Unpredictable Results

ID Number: Q64051

2.00

MS-DOS

Summary:

When you choose to close the Winpopup service from within the Windows

version 3.00 interface, the following warning box appears:

This will STOP the message popup service.

This message is a bit misleading. Although Winpopup is stopped, the

message service and the Netpopup service are still fully functional.

If the machine receives a message in this state, unpredictable

behavior can result:

1. The pop-up may not display correctly (it may be in 43-line mode,

40-column mode, or another undesirable format).

2. Windows may hang when the pop-up clears.

3. The screen colors may change when the pop-up clears.

4. A blank Windows error box may appear when the pop-up clears. The

Window's focus will be completely directed at the OK button in this

error box; and clicking the OK button may actually make the error

box clear, but Windows will be hung, usually with multicolored

vertical bars painted across the screen.

An interesting point is that even when Windows hangs, the message

service and Netpopup services generally remain active. The machine is

essentially hung -- it will not respond to either keyboard or mouse

input; however, it will still field messages and display them on the

screen.

To work around this problem, don't unload Winpopup if Netpopup is

active.