Starting back in the days of Windows 3.0 Microsoft used .hlp files (WinHelp) as a way of displaying ‘help’ pages in programs. Many programs used WinHelp over the years, but over time Microsoft moved away from that format towards others based on HTML. Last year it was announced that Microsoft would phase out support for WinHelp, and that it would not be included in Vista.

WinHelp does not meet the code standards established for Vista. These standards include security, reliability, and performance. WinHelp is architected in such a way that we would have to rewrite it from the ground up to meet the Vista code standards. And that approach doesn’t make sense given that we have two other Help systems in Vista.

The problem is that, as mentioned above, many programs use WinHelp for their help files, which would be unviewable on Vista. Until now that is. Microsoft is now making available a download that will allow users to install WinHelp on Vista. Also known as the KB917607 Update for Windows, the download comes in the new Standalone Installer format. The only catch is that it cannot be distributed, meaning those application vendors that still use WinHelp can’t include it in their install, their users will have to download it themselves.

I downloaded WinHelp, installed it on my machine, and got a pretty funny surprise. I opened WinHelp, and in the Help menu chose How to Use Help. Another WinHelp window opened with the error message Cannot open Help file. So, WinHelp can’t read it’s own help file! After looking around, I believe this is because it didn’t install one, at least it wasn’t in the Windows directory where the winhelp.exe file is.

I tried opening another .hlp file, this one included with the utility Filemon.exe. This time I got a different error:

Note that the Filemon.hlp file does open fine on XPSP2. I was able to open a help file for another utility I use, Picture Taker, and it seemed to work fine, so apparently WinHelp opens some but not all help files.

All things considered, I think Microsoft did the right thing in this case. Not including WinHelp in Vista sends a strong signal to vendors to stop using it, yet making a download available allows end users to still retain the functionality they need. So, not able to see the help files in any of your programs on Vista? Get over to Microsoft Downloads and download WinHelp now. Just be aware that it may not give you the Help you need!