I have been using Pegasus mail for many years, since at least 1996. I have moved my email from one ISP to another many times. I recently had a HD crash and have decided to reinstall Pegasus to a different location after my crash. During this process, all my mail is working just fine but I have discovered that my Help system is not. Since I don't access the help system frequently, I am not sure if it was working prior to my crash. I am using W10.

I have read the thread from Tom Barkas from 1/31/23 and still cannot get things working. The weird thing is that if I launch Pegasus from an old mailbox, the help system functions properly. But if I launch it from my currently used mailbox, it does not.

I have confirmed that if I drag winpm-32.phc onto showhelp.exe, it launches the help system. This is visible in Task Manager. However, if I try to invoke the help system from within my current mailbox, nothing happens. An entry is created in Task Manager but it contains no data on the line. Where the data should be is completely blank.

I am attaching the info screens from both mailboxes. "oliveral" (help works) is the old mailbox and "indynet" (help does not work) is the current mailbox. Besides comparing the info screens, I have also examined the PMAIL.INI files from both mailboxes. The old oliveral INI file contains some references to non existant directories. There are references to C:\PROGRAM FILES\PMAIL\MAIL\oliveral. I believe that was the recommended location for files many years ago. But I don't see how that would cause the help system to work.

----oliveral info screen (help works)----
Pegasus Mail for Microsoft Windows
Copyright (C) 1992-2022, David Harris, all rights reserved
Electronic mail to support@pmail.gen.nz.

WinPMail version: Version 4.80.1028, Jan 16 2022, build ID 1028
Language resources: Standard UK English resources (EN,0,LL)
Extension Manager version: 1.14
Operating mode: Standalone
User name and ID: oliveral, 0
Windows version: 6.2
Windows flag word: 0
WINPMAIL.EXE directory: C:\PMAIL\Programs
Home mailbox location: C:\PMAIL\MAIL\oliveral
New mailbox location: C:\PMAIL\MAIL\oliveral
TMP environment variable: C:\Users\aoliv\AppData\Local\Temp
TEMP environment variable: C:\Users\aoliv\AppData\Local\Temp
LAN-based SMTP support: N, N, N
NetWare MHS support: N, N, N
Built-in TCP/IP support: Enabled

• WINSOCK version: WinSock 2.0
• WINSOCK path: WSOCK32.DLLCommandline: -A -I oliveralActive -Z options: 32768PMR variable: (None)PML variable: (None)MAI variable: (None)NB variable: (None)Autofiltering folders: 0 (0 active, 0 inactive)Last new mail count: 21Message size soft limit: 0 bytesMessage size hard limit: 0 bytesAttachment size soft limit: 0 bytesAttachment size hard limit: 0 bytes

----indynet info screen (help does not work)---- Pegasus Mail for Microsoft WindowsCopyright (C) 1992-2022, David Harris, all rights reservedElectronic mail to support@pmail.gen.nz.

WinPMail version: Version 4.80.1028, Jan 16 2022, build ID 1028Language resources: Standard UK English resources (EN,0,LL)Extension Manager version: 1.14Operating mode: StandaloneUser name and ID: indynet, 0Windows version: 6.2Windows flag word: 0WINPMAIL.EXE directory: C:\PMAIL\ProgramsHome mailbox location: C:\PMAIL\MAIL\indynetNew mailbox location: C:\PMAIL\MAIL\indynetTMP environment variable: C:\Users\aoliv\AppData\Local\TempTEMP environment variable: C:\Users\aoliv\AppData\Local\TempLAN-based SMTP support: N, N, NNetWare MHS support: N, N, NBuilt-in TCP/IP support: Enabled

• WINSOCK version: WinSock 2.0
• WINSOCK path: WSOCK32.DLLCommandline: -A -I indynetActive -Z options: 32768PMR variable: (None)PML variable: (None)MAI variable: (None)NB variable: (None)Autofiltering folders: 0 (0 active, 0 inactive)Last new mail count: 165Message size soft limit: 0 bytesMessage size hard limit: 0 bytesAttachment size soft limit: 0 bytesAttachment size hard limit: 0 bytes

Does anybody have any ideas how to get this working again?

• Use a text editor to compare that entry in the STATE.PMJ file in each mailbox directory. They should be different. If not, I am wrong, do not to continue.
• Use a file explorer to make a safety copy of the STATE.PMJ file in C:\PMAIL\MAIL\indynet.
• Copy the PMHELP5= line from the STATE.PMJ file in C:\PMAIL\MAIL\oliveral and use it to overwrite the one in C:\PMAIL\MAIL\indynet.
• Once STATE.PMJ is saved and closed restart the PC to insure any running instance of Help get closed.
• Start Pegasus Mail and test Help.

Brian,

Thank you for your help. With the info you provided I have been able to fix the problem. However, it is not exactly as you described. I shall explain for you and any others who may have a similar problem in the future.

I checked the contents of STATE.PMJ in both indynet and oliveral mail directories. I found that I had a backup of STATE.PMJ apparently created in 2014. Neither the 2014 indynet STATE.PMJ backup or the current oliveral STATE.PMJ files had an entry for PMHELP5=. However, my current indynet STATE.PMJ file had an entry in the [General] section for PMHELP5= as follows: PMHELP5=0,0,0,0,"-32768 -32768 800 39 2".

I am assuming that those 0s or -32768s were out of range for the display. Since neither the old 2014 or current oliveral files had entries, I decided to delete the suspect entry from the current file. I was guessing that Pegasus might recreate an appropriate entry. After deleting the PMHELP5= entry, the Help System opened and ran successfully. After closing Pegasus, I checked to see if there was a new PMHELP5= entry in the STATE.PMJ file and there was not.

The Help System appears to run just fine without it.

Thanks for your prompt help.

That is so strange. I watched that entry change each time I move/resized the Help window. You removed it and your problem was solved. Both events indicate that the PMHELP5= entry is involved. Perhaps it is only created when the position or size of the Help window are changed. Did you move or resize it?

You solved the problem. I had not moved the help window, until now. And yes, it created an entry as: PMHELP5=0,0,0,0,"-2728 -684 990 651 350". And after resizing it changed to: PMHELP5=0,0,0,0,"-2728 -684 790 495 350"

Can you explain the syntax of the x,x,x,x,"-y -y y y y" values? Just curious how they relate to the window on the screen.

I do not know beyond assuming that they are window position coordinates and window size.