# Paid email or phone support NT4?



## uriahsky (Nov 20, 2013)

Does anyone know of anyone who can provide email or phone support for Win NT4? I think I may need more help than a forum can provide. I have a pizza restaurant running a DOS application under NT4 networked to six stations and I think I may need to swap the main computer it into another computer. The DOS program has no install disks and from what little I know they had to do some tweaking of the NT registry to get it working correctly. I either need to install NT4 on another computer and copy the application over or clone the hard drive and try and get it to run on another computer. I imagine there will be many problems. Any idea on who might be able to get involved with this and help us out? Thanks Russ


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

What is the DOS application? If this is the only application you are concerned about, Have you tried to see if there is a more modern version of the program that will run in 2000, XP or a later version of Windows? Using compatibility mode? Or in the GUI of the OS like a regular program? 
If you are determined to keep NT4, you can clone the OS partition to a different HDD.


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## uriahsky (Nov 20, 2013)

The application is a POS program called Rapid Fire and they gave up on it over ten years ago. I am afraid to touch this system because if it dies we are looking at a panic situation where we will be without registers and reports and chaos will ensue, and then up to 30K in trying to setup a new system. So I don't want to monkey around unless I am pretty sure what to do. That is why I need someone who has NT info rattling around in their brain because if I try the wrong thing and it goes down I need someone to call and get it back up. I am going to clone the drive and just try it on another system but I am not sure what will happen regarding the drivers. I know it needs a specific type of network card. I did get a NT4 install disk but reading the instructions it seem quite convoluted. We think the main computer is starting to fail. Thus a need for some one-on-one help. Thanks Russ


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

I am Microsoft NT4 Certified, though I have been working with later versions of Windows primarily. If something worked on NT4 it will most certainly work on Windows 2000. 
First thing, is to contact the POS manufacturer and see if they have an update: RapidFire Support & Point-of-Sale Products - POS Hotline Inc. I'm sure they will be able to help you.


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## uriahsky (Nov 20, 2013)

You would think those two links you gave me would help but Rapid Fire was bought by Radiant Systems over ten years ago and they quickly gave up on the program and want you to buy a newer different program. They provide no help on this version. I have tried contacting them. POS Hotline has been helpful with a number of problems we have had but this current problem is something they are not really able to help with. I was on the phone with them earlier in the week about it. I really don't want to switch from NT4 because I fear creating more problems. My main worries at the moment are using the cloned drive on a different system and encountering driver problems, or other problems because of the change in hardware. Thanks Russ


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

Russ, you may just have to bite the bullet we may have to drag you kicking and screaming into the 21st century. *NT4.0* was upgraded to *Windows 2000* _13 years _ago in *1999.* The world moves forward, you should update your software _and _your OS. Microsoft stopped supporting *NT4.0 *1_0 years ago_ in* 2003*. You are going to have problems running newer hardware, finding drivers, as well as software and since there are no more updates, you are more vulnerable to virus attacks. It will cost a little now but you will have better running POS devices and less problems in the future. 
BTW XP is no longer supported by Microsoft in April of this coming year.


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## uriahsky (Nov 20, 2013)

I understand and if wasn't for the high cost of new system I would jump ship. But we are trying to keep a small pizza restaurant from going under and 15 or 20 people loosing their jobs. Right now a new system may sink the boat so we are trying not to incur any large capitol expenditures. Perhaps when and if things get better we can make an upgrade but now is not that time. Hence, we have to keep this system going for as long as possible. I will keep searching the net and I am sure there is someone with some general NT knowledge out there, I just have to find them. Thanks, Russ


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

You do not need a new system, you do need a new HDD and probably a new OS, Which is 2/3 of the way towards a new/used system. Windows 2000 should work with your old hardware and barely cost anything. Or you can upgrade the whole system from Ebay or Craigslist for not much more.


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## uriahsky (Nov 20, 2013)

I will try and see if Win2K will work but I got to think there are going to be problems putting Win2K in place of a NT4 workstation?. I can't do it all at once because it would need to be done quickly and there are seven workstations and one server and they can't really run the restaurant without the system working. They do have some of these running on newer, ie Pentium 4 machines and I just tried installing NT4 on somewhat newer machine and it fails as soon as it gets to the FAT16 install part. I will try a Win2K install and copy the POS software over and see what happens. So if it works is there anyone who still provides one-on-one support for Win2K?


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

We are all here to help you if you find you can't do it yourself.


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## djaburg (May 15, 2008)

There are some programs to assist in running older, native DOS applications in windows when they just don't want to in "newer" operating systems. TameDOS is one that I've used for several clients that have older DOS based systems. While I've not used it with a restaurant POS, I have used it with several automotive shops that use old programs to run their business. Recently I upgraded computers running TameDOS on windows XP to newer machines running windows 7 Pro. To get things running completely correctly, we needed to load windows XP mode, with TameDOS loaded in it and it's been running successfully now for more than 6 months. There are ways to do it. Nice thing about old DOS programs is they typically do "move" well since there's no registering of dll files and stuff like that, so usually copying the program directories (which usually also contains all config files) works fine.


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