(no subject)

[deckardcanine]

Tonight I finally felt like trying out my new Flash skills at home -- only I don't have Flash Professional yet. Disconcertingly, my course last week was in CS4, yet Adobe has stopped offering it in favor of CS5. I was about to buy a relatively cheap CS4 copy elsewhere, but then I looked at the system requirements.

Here's the thing: I don't know what's on my system. I don't know where I can look to find the answers. Could someone more Vista-literate please help? If it turns out that I can't even use an outdated version, then I'll certainly stop considering the follow-up course.

Comments

[stevenroy.livejournal.com]

Same way as in Windows XP: Find the "My Computer" icon, either on the desktop or in the Start menu. Right-click it and choose Properties, and you'll get the "System Properties" window. The first page that comes up will have your basic specs listed, such as your Windows version, your processor type and speed, and how much memory is installed et cetera. (Although I don't remember exactly where they appear in Vista; you may have to scroll down a bit.)

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

Okay, the good news is, it looks like I have all I need to download a free sample of Flash Professional CS5. The bad news is, when I ran the install.exe file, the progress bar reached 100% and then nothing happened. Either something's blocking it, or I'm missing a critical feature after all.

[octan.livejournal.com]

I had a similar problem with the CS4 trial back when. I never did find a way to fix it, although I was able to get it to work on the other computer (which has XP) and also when I upgraded to Windows 7. The only possible thing I can think of is that it's interfering with some of the hacks manufacturers usually make to the OS, since both of those setups were clean installs.

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

I sure hope it doesn't come to me having to jump thru hoops for Windows 7.

[stevenroy.livejournal.com]

I'm starting to suspect that this might be a Vista-specific problem that doesn't occur with either 7 or XP. With that in mind, here's one idea that occurs to me:

Have you tried using "Run as" (in the right-click menu) to run the installer with full administrator privileges? (So that the program won't have to prompt you for them?)

Also, do you have a resident antivirus program installed? Try disabling it temporarily. The installer just -might- be programmed sloppily enough to be touchy about those. (And let's just say I wouldn't put that past Adobe!)

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

Turns out I didn't have to do any of that -- the folder appeared on the desktop the next time I booted up! Everything seems in working order now.

[stevenroy.livejournal.com]

Facepalm time. It was probably there all along but the desktop didn't update when it was supposed to. Just had to hit F5!

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

I was unaware of that F5 function. But I do know a few handy uses for F5 in Flash Pro. :)