Frequently Asked Questions about Ta1ks

Will Ta1ks run under Linux or on a Mac?

Ta1ks can run on Linux or on a Mac using Wine. Wine is free software that enables programs written for Windows to execute with Linux. No special Wine configuration is needed to run Ta1ks.

What antivirus should I run with Ta1ks?

Microsoft Security Essentials is recommended. Some other security software will prevent Ta1ks from operating correctly. If you are running security software other than Microsoft Security Essentials you may need to configure it to exclude suta1ks.exe and ta1ks.exe.

The recommended location for Ta1ks is C:\Ta1ks. It is OK to install in another location including a removable drive as long as you avoid the C:\Program Files path. Why is that? 

Windows treats the C:\Program Files path in a special way and will relocate your data. Here are some bad consequences:

• The program is no longer portable. You cannot move it simply by copying the Ta1ks directory to another location because some of your data will be in the virtual store.
• If you sign in as another user or run the program as administrator you will see obsolete (or missing) data.
• If you vary how you sign in or launch the program you will see inconsistent data.
• Backups will no longer work properly.

None of these problems occur if you avoid the C:\Program Files path.

How can I install an updated version without losing my data.

Updates for Ta1ks consist of 2 new files, Ta1ks.exe and Ta1ks.chm.  These are packaged into a setup file named suta1ks.exe.  The simplest approach is to execute suta1ks.exe and allow it to replace your older versions of these 2 files with the new ones.  This will not disturb your data files.  If your old version is located at C:\Ta1ks you can accept the defaults when running suta1ks.exe.  If it is in another location you will need to enter that path when suta1ks.exe asks for the location.  It is good practice to make a backup copy of your program and data files before installing any update.

Step by Step instructions

The 'Our Congregation' button is disabled. How can I enable it?

You will need to use the Congregations button at the upper right to add at least 2 congregations including your own. Then the 'Our Congregation' button will be available. 

The 'Hospitality' and 'Readers' buttons are disabled. How can I enable them?

From the main menu open the Preferences dialog. Enable the Hospitality and/or Readers options. 

I need to schedule talks more than 20 weeks in the future.

Use the spin button at the upper left of the Summary tab to advance the working weeks. 

How can I e-mail reports?

A good way to e-mail any of the reports is to install a 'print to pdf' driver.  This software acts like any other printer except that instead of printed output, it creates a pdf file containing the output.  Thus, anything that can be printed in Ta1ks can be attached to an e-mail.  

How do I move the Ta1ks program with data to a new computer?

All that is necessary is to copy the entire Ta1ks folder onto the new computer. No installation routine is needed. Some possible methods are:

Zip up the Ta1ks folder on the original computer and attach the zip file to an email. Open the email on the new computer, detach and unzip the Ta1ks folder to drive C: Create a shortcut to Ta1ks.EXE inside the folder. Ideally the folder should be C:\Ta1ks.

Copy the entire Ta1ks folder to a floppy disk or USB device. On the destination computer, copy the Ta1ks folder to drive C: Create a shortcut to Ta1ks.EXE inside the folder.

Use your CD burning software to copy the Ta1ks folder to a CD. On the destination computer, copy the Ta1ks folder to drive C: Use Windows Explorer or the ATTRIB command to remove the Read-only attributes from the Ta1ks folder and all files inside. This step is usually necessary when a CD is involved. Finally, create a shortcut.

Home