how do you read CHM files?

[Dave]

Hi All,

What program do I need to buy or download to read CHM files?
I am running Windows 2000 SP4 and OfficeXP Pro and have tried to open CHM
files from Word, Excel etc with no luck.

TIA,
Dave

[Pete Lees [MVP]]

Dave,

> What program do I need to buy or download to read CHM files?
> I am running Windows 2000 SP4 and OfficeXP Pro and have tried to open
> CHM files from Word, Excel etc with no luck.

Windows 2000 comes with all the components required to view help files
(if you're interested, they're described at
http://helpware.net/htmlhelp/hh_info.htm#HHUPDComponents). To help pinpoint
the cause of the problem:

* Can you open the help files by double-clicking them in Windows Explorer?
* Is the problem restricted to Office help or do all help files refuse to
open?

Here are a few things to try if none of the help files on your system works:

1) Use MJ's Help Diagnostics to check that all the help viewer components
are properly installed and registered.

http://helpware.net/downloads/index.htm#MJs

(The only section of the MJ's Help Report that is relevant to your problem
is the one headed "HTML Help Run-time Components".)

2) Check the file type associations in Windows Explorer (Tools > Folder
Options, File Types tab). The application used to open .chm files should be,
for example:

"C:\WINNT\hh.exe" %1

3) Delete or rename the file hh.dat, which you should find in this
directory:

\Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Microsoft\HTML Help

The hh.dat file stores user-specific information on all the HTML Help files
on your system (favourite topics, search history, etc.), and can cause the
files to misbehave if it has somehow been corrupted. Windows will create a
new version of hh.dat when you next open any .chm file.

4) Empty your Temporary Internet Files directory. A full TIF directory can
cause HTML Help files to misbehave.

5) Try unregistering and then re-registering the HTML Help ActiveX control
(hhctrl.ocx). To do this, open a Command Prompt window and then enter the
following two commands:

regsvr32 /u <drive>:\winnt\system32\hhctrl.ocx
regsvr32 <drive>:\winnt\system32\hhctrl.ocx

If only the Office help files are affected then you might try the Detect and
Repair facility on the Help menu of any Office application.

Pete