Q1: Sometimes when attempting to do Housekeeping, or backing up, or restoring from a backup (in short, any disk-intensive operation), InfoCentral gives me an “insufficient disk space” error. And I have plenty of disk space.
A1: That is one of those mysteries related to InfoCentral being actually a 16-bit application. Sometimes you have to run it in "Windows 95 Compatibility Mode" in order to get Housekeeping or restoring from a backup to work properly. Sometimes not.
Q2: How can I get InfoCentral to run on Windows 2000 or XP?
A2: You need the last, “NT-Enabled” version of InfoCentral, which came out in October of 1996. It’s available from this link: http://macros.koenecke.us/InfoCentral/SetupIC.exe .
Q3: How can I get InfoCentral to run on Windows Vista or 7?
A3: The only way I have found is to install it in a virtual XP machine under Windows 7. Windows 7 Professional has a native virtual XP machine you can get from Microsoft; for Windows 7 Home you need your own license of XP which will install using VMWare. When I move to Windows 7, perhaps I will be able to figure out a self-contained install using Cameyo Software Virtualization software.
Q4: Whenever an InfoCentral dialog box is open, it sucks up 100% of the processor resources, so that other programs come to a halt. How can I fix this?
A4: Beats the heck out of me. Getting a dual-core processor fixed this for me.
Q5: Is there a way to run a macro from a menu item or shortcut and avoid the startup delay? If you use Macro/Run/NameofMacro.mxe, it runs immediately. Assign "NameOfMacro.mxe" to a menu item and it pauses before running, and there does not appear to be a way to tell it to do "Macro-Run..." for a specific macro.
A5: I don’t know, and this one really bugs me. Anyone? Bueller?
Q6:
Finally, let's face it: when you have to run the thing under a virtual
machine just to get it to work, the writing is on the wall. Running
under a virtual machine really limits its usefulness; and Create
Related File no longer works at all with WordPerfect X6. There really
is not a future for InfoCentral. So, what is the best alternative? What
can take its place, moving forward?
A6: The only products I am aware of which use similar "linking" technology are "mind mappers" like The Brain, which have their merits, but are totally inadequate to replace a structured PIM. With respect to Contact Managers/Calendars, long ago I used Time & Chaos/Intellect, but the deal-breaker for me was that it has no birthday field for contacts, which wipes out dozens of reminders. I tried EssentialPIM, which worked fairly well, but had tiny fonts and no option to resize the view, plus there was no way to copy a standard address (e.g., for use in a letter). So, my current thinking on Contact Managers: Thunderbird Address Book is adequate, has a handy mapping function, and works quite well with the addition of the MoreFunctiosnForAddressBook, ThunderBirthday, and ContactTabs extensions. As for calendars, Thunderbird Lightning can use a Google calendar, which can be accessed anywhere, though there are some questions as to its usability when offline. On the other hand, one can synch with the Google Calendar, and synch with a mobile device. So I am working on a slow transition to Thunderbird Address Book + Lightning Calendar, although I will keep InfoCentral around as long as I can.