MS Press - Practice files on book's CD

[Jason O]

I have recently purchased the following book:

'Microsoft Excel Data Analysis & Business Modelling' by Wayne L. Winston.
(Publisher: Microsoft Press ISBN: 0-7356-1901-8)

However the practice .xls files on the book's CD are in a .exe file, which I
obviously cannot use on a mac. When buying the book I thought that the files
would be either straightforwardly accessible .xls files, or installers
presented in both Windows & Mac formats.

Does anyone know a means of [A] utilising the .exe file or know of any
other source where the files could be downloaded? I have mailed Microsoft
Press but not yet had a response, although the FAQ on the mspress site
doesn't lead me to having much hope.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as it seems to be the book which most
suits my needs & I'm a bit loath to exchange it for another.

TIA.

Jason
___

 

[Bernard Rey]

Have you tried opening the files with "Stuffit Expander"? I don't know about
these files, but the Auto expandable archives on a Windows PC bear the
".exe" extension. But they can be expanded using Stuffit Expander. So, it's
certainly worth a try if you haven't already.

If you don't have Stuffit Expander (it doesn't come with Mac OS anymore like
it used to) you can download it for free from:

http://www.stuffit.com/mac/expander/index.html


---------------------------------------------------------
Please reply to the newsgroup, and within the same thread.
Merci de répondre au groupe, et dans l'enfilade.

--
Bernard Rey - Toulouse / France
MVP - office:macintosh http://faq.office.macintosh.free.fr



Jason O  :

 

[Jason O]

Have you tried opening the files with "Stuffit Expander"? I don't know about
these files, but the Auto expandable archives on a Windows PC bear the
".exe" extension. But they can be expanded using Stuffit Expander. So, it's
certainly worth a try if you haven't already.

If you don't have Stuffit Expander (it doesn't come with Mac OS anymore like
it used to) you can download it for free from:

http://www.stuffit.com/mac/expander/index.html

Hi Bernard, Thanks for the suggestion. I should have mentioned that I'd
thought of that. It seems like .exe archives can only be expanded by Stuffit
Deluxe, and at $80 it's more than the book cost! I've tried playing around
with the 'File Mapping' file format options in Stuffit's Preferences but no
luck!

Merci de toute façon,

Jason

 

[Mike Middleton]

Jason O -

It seems like .exe archives can only be expanded by Stuffit Deluxe <

My experience is different. When I drag a Windows compressed EXE file icon
and drop it on the Stuffit Expander 9.0.2 icon, my Mac automatically
extracts the zipped files and puts them into a new folder.

What happens or doesn't happen when you do the same?

The Stuffit web site explicitly lists EXE as a supported format for the free
version:

http://www.stuffit.com/mac/expander/index.html

- Mike
www.mikemiddleton.com

 

[Jason O]

Jason O -


My experience is different. When I drag a Windows compressed EXE file icon
and drop it on the Stuffit Expander 9.0.2 icon, my Mac automatically
extracts the zipped files and puts them into a new folder.

What happens or doesn't happen when you do the same?

Initially, I receive a "The destination folder is on a locked volume"
message so I copied the .exe from the CD to my hard drive and tried again
(many times). The usual Stuffit Progress window then appears for a split
second before disappearing. After repeated attempts I get a "The application
Stuffit Expander quit unexpectedly .....<Close> <Report...> <Reopen>" error
prompt?

Am I right in thinking there are different types of .exe files? May this be
a factor? Forgive my ignorance if I'm just mumbling.

Cheers,

Jason
___

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Jason -

Hope the interjections below are helpful:

Initially, I receive a "The destination folder is on a locked volume"
message so I copied the .exe from the CD to my hard drive and tried again
(many times).

That's the right move, as the default location for the expanded files is the
same as the source - they can't be expanded onto the CD, hence the error.
You can also launch Expander & change the Destination preferences to a
folder of choice on your hard drive to avoid the problem in the future. That
way you should be able to do as suggested by Mike & just drag the files from
CD to the Expander icon.

The usual Stuffit Progress window then appears for a split
second before disappearing. After repeated attempts I get a "The application
Stuffit Expander quit unexpectedly .....<Close> <Report...> <Reopen>" error
prompt?

A couple of thoughts: a) If this is a *new* installation of Expander, did
you run Repair Disk Permissions after downloading/installing it? Try that,
maybe even log out/in before trying to expand the files, b) It may be that
the compressed files copied to you HD are Locked. Ctrl+click it & see if it
is Read Only, if so change the property. I'm not sure Expander is savvy
enough to understand why it can't expand the file, so it just quits.
(Although, if you adjust the prefs of Expander that won't be an issue, as
you won't have to copy the files to your HD before expanding in the first
place.

Am I right in thinking there are different types of .exe files? May this be
a factor? Forgive my ignorance if I'm just mumbling.

Nope, only one .exe (executable file), but different types of files can be
compressed into an .exe, including *other* .exes which might be Windows
applications - such as winword.exe. The worst that should happen, though, is
that Expander will expand the file as a *program* (Word for Windows) that
won't run on your Mac once expanded.

Regards |:>)

 

[Jason O]

Hi Jason -

Hope the interjections below are helpful:



That's the right move, as the default location for the expanded files is the
same as the source - they can't be expanded onto the CD, hence the error.
You can also launch Expander & change the Destination preferences to a
folder of choice on your hard drive to avoid the problem in the future. That
way you should be able to do as suggested by Mike & just drag the files from
CD to the Expander icon.


A couple of thoughts: a) If this is a *new* installation of Expander, did
you run Repair Disk Permissions after downloading/installing it? Try that,
maybe even log out/in before trying to expand the files, b) It may be that
the compressed files copied to you HD are Locked. Ctrl+click it & see if it
is Read Only, if so change the property. I'm not sure Expander is savvy
enough to understand why it can't expand the file, so it just quits.
(Although, if you adjust the prefs of Expander that won't be an issue, as
you won't have to copy the files to your HD before expanding in the first
place.

Thanks for your input. No, ity isn't a new installation of Expander. I've
been using it without problem for months, and have just repaired permissions
& logged out/in but still no luck? I've double checked and they aren't
locked.

Nope, only one .exe (executable file), but different types of files can be
compressed into an .exe, including *other* .exes which might be Windows
applications - such as winword.exe. The worst that should happen, though, is
that Expander will expand the file as a *program* (Word for Windows) that
won't run on your Mac once expanded.

The actual excel files I'm after are in 2 .exe files called setup.exe and
StartCD.exe which (from thinking back to my PC days) made me think they were
something different to just compressed files.

I've mailed the book's author to see if he can help, so fingers crossed.


Cheers

Jason
___

 

[mmmmark]

Thanks for your input. No, ity isn't a new installation of Expander. I've
been using it without problem for months, and have just repaired
permissions
& logged out/in but still no luck? I've double checked and they aren't
locked.



The actual excel files I'm after are in 2 .exe files called setup.exe and
StartCD.exe which (from thinking back to my PC days) made me think they
were
something different to just compressed files.

I've mailed the book's author to see if he can help, so fingers crossed.


Cheers

Jason
___

Any chance you could find a PC-using friend and have him extract those files
and either send them to you or put them on a CD? I agree--that with name
like that, they may need installed on a PC.

-Mark

 

[Jason O]

Any chance you could find a PC-using friend and have him extract those files
and either send them to you or put them on a CD? I agree--that with name
like that, they may need installed on a PC.

-Mark

Would you believe I hadn't even thought of that! And it's so obvious! Cheers
Mark.

Jason
___

 

[mmmmark]

Would you believe I hadn't even thought of that! And it's so obvious!
Cheers
Mark.

Jason
___

Glad it helped. It's amazing how many times I reinvent the wheel rather
than just add a bit of air, so I understand! ;-)

-Mark