While working in Opus 9, I suddenly noticed that all file/folder names had been shortened to the old 8.3 file naming system, of the DOS days.
I did not intentionally do this, and could not figure out how it happened. I checked the program preferences, but did not spot any such option. I did a HELP sdearch for "short filenames", but could not locate anything there either. Shutting down Opus 9, and reloading seemed to remove that situation.
I seem to have a vague recollection in the past, of seeing somewhere that the 8.3 filename option was available. I wondered why anyone would use that, unless they were working in some enviroment that couldn't handle long filenames.
So, since this capability must be available somewhere, where is it located? And how did I manage to invoke it accidentally? Is there a shortcut key combo that did it, which I could have accidentally hit?
I'm using a fully registered version. I did do a reinstall a few days ago, because of some problems with video playing in the viewer pane. After the reinstall, I copied in my license, and restored all my saved settigns from prior to the reinstall, as the video quirks were still present.
I checked the license window, and all was well.
A day or so later, I get a message about my install being a "trial version". I once again copied my license "block" in, and all was well.
When the 8.3 filenames showed this afternoon, there was no message about an unregistered version. And just closing it down, and reloading it solved the problem.
So I really have no clue what this all about.
I have the version 9 manual fully printed out. Is there something in there (or in help) to explain this? I saw your line re the manual, but the heads up there wasn't clear.
Maybe the program has been corrupted somehow or you have some virus or similar. Although rare, we've seen corruption issues in the past so now all parts of the program are digitally signed for your protection and to support Vista security and AntiSpyware protocols.
Please go to the Opus program folder, right click the program to access Properties. Check the digital signature is valid. If it is not valid then possibly something has corrupted the program in which case you should download the official digitally-signed version and reinstall.
If you still have a problem after this, please submit an official support request from the Support page on the GPSoftware web site with your registration details and we will investigate the matter further with you.
Sounds like something may be "cleaning" the licence file away, or maybe preventing Opus from saving it to disk so that it is only in memory until a restart.
If you're not using ZA, or the FAQ doesn't help, it could be a file-permissions problem. I don't have an XP machine to hand to check on but under Vista I believe this is the path which Opus will try to write to to save the licence details:
It might be under Program Files (i.e. the main Opus directory) on XP but I'm not 100% sure. It should be the only copy of dopus.cert on the C:\ drive so a search should confirm whether it was saved correctly or not.
If Opus cannot create the dopus.cert file in that directory (or the XP equivalent) then that may be causing the problem.
I guess it's also possible that the file is saved in a way which doesn't let Opus read it, if the permissions are in an unusual way. If you find dopus.cert, try opening the viewer pane to confirm that you can see a hex view of the file. (Don't post a screenshot of it, though. It may contain licence details.)
The problem seems to have disappeared, and really only occurred once. The incident with the 8.3 filenames did not bring up and indication of a license problem either.
I do not use Zone Alarm. I had used used it some time back. But it was always having issues with other programs, so I removed it.
I did a search for dopus.cert. It is in the path noted below. That file date was 12/28/08, which was probably when I reinstalled the program, and entered the license.
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\GPSoftware\Directory Opus
