Xara/Magix programs - multiple startup problems

Recently when I started Designer 7 Pro, it said that the installation folder was damaged and I had to reinstall it. So I did a repair, and it worked fine after. Shortly after I started 3D Maker, same problem. Repaired and it worked again.

Now today when I started Magix Photostory, I had the same problem. I began to see a pattern, so I tried Magix Music Maker and Samplitude as well. Same problem with these as well.

Have aynone else experienced this? It only affects Xara and Magix programs, I have 200 + other programs installed and had no problems with any of these so far.

Have you run scandisk? First illuminate HDD problems.

Compatibility mode (Win7), Antivirus (disable during install), User Folder Rights (install as admin)?
So you have repaired Designer 7 Pro, Xara 3D Maker, and Magix Photostory, Music Maker, and Samplitude...
is everything working for you now, are you still having problems? What OS ARE you using?

XP, SP3.

Just wanted to know if others have had the same problem or if it's a local problem on my system.

All the programs said the installation folder might be damaged but that doesn't make sense since they all have separate installation folders, and besides Magix and Xara programs are installed in different locations (C:\Program Files\Magix / C:\Program Files\Xara). Must be something else which is common to all the programs. Registry perhaps?

I avoid chkdsk as far as possible as it has messed up my system a couple of times before.

Anyway, they seem to work allright after a repair so no big deal...

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Originally Posted by TaoZen

I avoid chkdsk as far as possible as it has messed up my system a couple of times before.

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a good indication something is wrong would you not think?

if you don't trust scandisk/chkdsk try using your hard drive manufacturer's own utilitiy which you should be able to download from their website - always good to make sure because if it is a hardware problem [say in the registry area] it will likely only come back and just get worse

If nothing else, make sure your backups to a seperate hard drive have been done - just in case.

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Originally Posted by handrawn

a good indication something is wrong would you not think?

if you don't trust scandisk/chkdsk try using your hard drive manufacturer's own utilitiy which you should be able to download from their website - always good to make sure because if it is a hardware problem [say in the registry area] it will likely only come back and just get worse

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Well when I use chkdsk it's because I know or suspect there's something wrong, and want to verify it. Like if I've had a crash because of a bad driver update or whatever.

And if I know or suspect something's wrong I always restore my systems from an image based on the original installaition. I also do it before I update my programs and install new ones, which I always do in batches, about every 3 month. Then I make a new image immediately after and use that next time I restoree. Which means that if I restore an image, all programs in the system (200+) are as if they have been just installed the very same day.

And I had just restored my system the day before I got these errors so everything was as if it had just been installed. That's no guarantee that something cannot have gone wrong, but the risk is very small compared to a system that has been used for several months or even years. In my experience, systems that are older than 3 months usually have problems, particularly if they have had crashes.

As for disk maintenance, I have the probably best program you can get, HDSentinel, running constantly to watch over my disks. This program can tell you a lot about your disks which the manufacturers' programs don't (want to) tell you, like how many weak (= slow to read) sectors they have.

So all in all, my systems are generally always in a much better state than most people's are. ;)

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Originally Posted by pauland

If nothing else, make sure your backups to a seperate hard drive have been done - just in case.

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I have three backups of everything important, one of them at an online service, so I'm quite secure. But thanks for the advice anyway, too many people don't backup their stuff... ;)

It's possible that HDSentinel or another disk-cleanup or registry cleanup utility is actually causing the problem. Offhand, I don't immediately recall having a damaged installation folder after running a clean-up utility. However, I have always had to re-enter serial numbers for Xara apps after any running any disk or registry utility.

My assumption is that it has to do with the way the registry keys are written.