XL3: "Illegal Operation" Printing or Viewing in Print Preview

• Microsoft Excel for Windows, version 3.0

SYMPTOMS

When you run Microsoft Excel version 3.0 under Windows 95, and you print or view your worksheet in print preview, you may receive the following error message

   An error has occurred in your program. To keep working anyway, click
   Ignore and save your work in a new file. To quit this program, click
   Close. You will lose information you entered since your last Save.

   EXCEL caused a general protection fault in EXCEL.EXE at 0002:0000111a.

CAUSE

This problem occurs when your default printer is a PostScript printer. When you print or use print preview in Microsoft Excel version 3.0, Microsoft Excel calls Windows 3.0 application programming interfaces (API), which are not compatible in Microsoft Windows 95.

WORKAROUND

To avoid receiving an Illegal Operation error message when you print or use print preview in Microsoft Excel version 3.0, you must run the Make Compatible utility in Windows 95 by doing the following:

1. On the Windows taskbar, click Start. Click Run, and type "mkcompat" (without the quotation marks). Click OK.

2. On the File menu, click Choose Program. In the Choose Program dialog box, locate the Microsoft Excel 3.0 program file, Excel.exe. Click the filename, and click Open.

3. In the Make Compatible dialog box, select the "Lie About Printer Device Mode Size" check box.

4. On the File menu, click Save.

5. On the File menu, click Exit.