Download Personal Address Book : 4.0.2

Version: 4.0.2
Release: March 24, 1999
Author: Rafal Szukala
Download file size: 1113 kB
OS: Designed for Windows 95 but works on Windows XP.

Description (Courtesy of 'Ocean'):

Personal Address Book (PAB) will work on multi-user systems, but you'd have to follow instructions in the tutorial below.

Getting an older program to work on Windows XP

Many older Win95 programs (32-bit/16-bit) will not work right on Windows XP even if you change the compatibility mode. Those that do may not support multiple users, meaning they will only work properly under the user account that installed it (which is usually an administrator). They will be buggy or will not work at all for other users (not even other administrators).

Here is a workaround for one such program called Personal Address Book 4.0.2. It was designed for Windows 95 and was written by Rafal Szufala. The program is not available for download any more, and the author's email address and web site are history. My family still uses PAB. These instructions may work for other legacy programs.

The default install folder for Personal Address Book (PAB) is
C:\Program Files\PAB.

If your machine has multiple users, you must install the program for each user separately. That means you must log in as User 1 and install the program. Then log off (or reboot) and log in as User 2 and install the program, and so on.

Before installing, create the install folder with subdirectories for each user. Make the subdirectories 8 characters or less. You get the idea.

C:\Program Files\PAB\Mom (administrator account)
C:\Program Files\PAB\Dad (administrator account)
C:\Program Files\PAB\Child1 (power user account)
C:\Program Files\PAB\Child2 (limited user account)
C:\Program Files\PAB\Grandma (guest)

You may need to temporarily upgrade the nonadministrator accounts to administrators for the installations. Afterward, you can return them to the appropriate status (limited user, power user, guest)

It is not possible for all 5 users to share the same address book file in a central location (C:\Program Files\PAB or C:\Program Files\PAB\Common). Each user must have their own database file.

Now if you really want them to share the same database file, there is a way. Say that Mom's file is the one that everyone else's will be based on. Simply copy Mom's file into each of the other user's directories. Be sure to save a backup copy elsewhere.

The only downside here is that there is no way to sync them all together. The program's import/export features do not work very well. Any time one user makes a significant change, they would have to tell Mom, and then she would update her address book and copy her database file into everyone's directories. In that way, everyone always has the most current file.

Other older apps will not utilize Program Files at all because they do not support long file names or spaces. In this case you will need to install them in the root directory or in a path where each folder name is under 8 characters with no spaces. Some command line tools are in this category.

C:\ITK\itk.exe (InsertToggleKey by Mike Lin)
C:\Tools\ITK\itk.exe
C:\Tools\MikeLin\ITK\itk.exe

C:\DCS\openports.exe (OpenPorts by DiamondCS)
C:\Tools\DCS\openports.exe

Small no-install programs with only one file can also go in the Windows directory if you use them a lot, so you can easily call them up with Start > Run.

C:\Windows\openports.exe
C:\Windows\system32\openports.exe

Download Personal Address Book (1113 kB)

Download PAB help file (28 kB)