I use Lotus 123 v3.1 dos for a major part of my work. I have written thousands of lines of macros to make it do what it does. Now with my NEW WME machine, I get an error and it says it cannot run in DOS protected mode. I can load the files into Lotus 123 for windows and it sorta works, but not all of the macros are recognized by the windows version. Anyone out there had the same problem and do you have a fix. Greatly appreciated. Ed, a poor guy working for a not-for-profit organization.(REALLY!)

Hey Ed, There is no real-mode DOS capability in WinME. All apps run in protected mode. You have a few options though. There is a patch at http://www.geocities.com/mfd4life_2000/ that supposedly gives you the ability to run real mode DOS apps in Win ME. I haven't used it myself and I don't know how reliable it is. Or you could get rid of ME and install Win9x. Or you could buy an old 486 for $10, get a NIC, and a crossover cable and set up this machine with DOS6.22, WFW 3.11 and run Lotus on that. With WFW you can create a small network with your WinME machine and that way you could save your spreadsheets back and forth between PC's. I've got an old 486DX set up like this on my LAN along with a P3 running Win2K and a P2 running Win98. You can download DOS and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 at http://www.valiant-it.co.uk/downloads/index.htm Jimbo

Or... Just boot from a DOS 7.1 (W98) floppy and run your Lotus from your existing HD. Just seems so much easier. Still BEST, get rid of Win ME. It's obvious crippleware contriving difficulty with the exact task you describe. I run W98se and Lotus 1-2-3 v.2.2 in real mode all the time.

save time and money. buy Lotus notes for the Windows environment. Somewhere there should be a converter for the old DOS macros to the windows version.

Do even better, and learn even more: ditch everything Micro$oft and go for a UNIX variant, like FreeBSD or a Linux distribution; then run a clone of Lotus 123 for free! Just make sure there is apt software support for your hardware. May the source be with you.