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@n0ads suggests:

Replace the primary spider file it installs (SpiderSolitaire.exe) with the one from the older XP version “renamed” so it matches the new one.

Note: I did this on a Windows 10 PC that has the Win7games installed and it worked so it “should” also work for Windows 11

I have tried this but it still does not work.   I’ll recheck what I have done over the next couple of days.

The initial little window asking which level I want to play comes up, I make my choice, and then nothing.  But a spider icon for the supposedly active program is in the task bar and I must cancel it.

Something is suppressing spider’s main window, preventing it from appearling.

A few more rounds of the online version to think what to do next.

 

@techTango: I should have added, the  Tweaker version is a more recent version, the same as I found on another site.  it is less satisfactory visually for my ageing eyes.

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TechTango

Thank you, All of you for your replies.

The option from @b only works in Edge.  I have two browsers on the go and don’t want to add Edge .

@n0ads is correct that I am after the oldest XP or earlier (?) version

I have tried parts of @n0ads suggestions but no success so far.   I had completely forgotten about the compatibility settings, as  it’s years since I have had cause to use them.  Pressure of other events here has restricted my time in investigating this, but this problem has been irritating me for quite a while and I won’t let it go.   I need to tidy up all the bits of various windows games packages and get down to the one set copied from my Win10 backup. system.

@n0ads also mentions the online version at squidbytes.com and Thank You for that.  Whilst online is not quite ideal, it’s crisp, clear presentation and it’s simple options are very close to the original.  My eyes can relax again!   A delight to play it again.  The only item missing in the online version is the ESC button option to quickly hide it away when ones lady comes in to interrupt one’s cogitation.     (I have never got her into playing anything.)

Thank you for this.

This old spider worked fine on Win 11 until fairly recently and I point the finger at 24H2 without firm evidence but I think it was around that update that it seems to have been “suppressed”.

Thank you, PKCano,  22:00 local time and  she has put her laptop away so we’ll try in the morning.

 

So what is wrong or deficient with the venerable but regularly updated SIW from http://www.gtopala.com?

I have used SIW, developed by Gabriel Topala, for many years; since way back in the noughties anyway. I have old SIW reports still from well over a decade ago. The copyright date stamp says 2005.
I have regularly paid the modest license fee to have an up-to-date and portable analysis tool.

Windows worried about Hibit and there’s a Malwarebytes warning about the gtopala website, but SIW itself passes Malwarebytes’ scan. And Defender did not object in any way.

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Awilliams

Thank you one and all for your comments.

I had some years ago set a static IP address for this printer to avoid some problem with several PCs accessing it.  So knowing the IP address had not been the problem; rather it was what driver to access when none seemed to work properly.  At one stage I was getting endless copies of a single page – a printing loop.

I have now deleted the printer and then reinstalled it from scratch, taking the defaults for driver.    ….. And now it works properly.  Don’t ask me what went differently this time.  I am content that it works and grateful for your interest and comments.

Thank you for responding, Microfix,

It all became so bad I had to restore from an Acronis backup of c: as I had feared would be necessary.   That took me back to 1909 and Windows is now behaving satisfactorily.

It had been “sick” before I was bumped to 2004 (when trying to rebuild), so why it is now OK remains a bit of a mystery.  I am just glad it is working.

It was pleasing to have an Acronis True Image backup work as intended!  I have used it for several years but have never before needed to recover in this way.

David

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Microfix

Oh dear, Good People,   Thanks for your comments.

I may be long retired but I still remember my bits from my bytes … and indeed much of the long irrelevant Assembler, Cobol, Fortran, BPS, BOS, DOS & OS/360 I also learnt over 50 years ago.

I agree with Paul’s comment that there must be some allowance for collecting and packaging data. But with adequate memory (16GB), a fairly recent i7 6600U processor and data coming from an SSD, one would expect the gathering and packaging to be overlapped with transmitting the previous packages.  We used to specifically allocate multiple storage buffers to achieve that!

As well as local backups (to NAS etc), I run backups to the Acronis cloud service.   It is those cloud transmissions that are slow.

My internet connection is neither DSL nor cable.  The immediate link is radio, probably microwave or similar, from a dish on my house to aerials on the top of a tower building 5 miles away, whence it finds its way to the national internet backbone.    (This is a rural area and a company has offered this service to scattered homes and farms.)

Speedtest.net shows 25 – 30 Mbps (yes bits!) in both directions to various servers around the UK.

Alex said there used to be TCP optimisers, as I remember, but suggests those tools are not needed now – and by implication the defaults are good enough?  If that is the case, then that is the answer I was seeking.   So, can others confirm that I should leave TCP and adapter settings at the defaults?  It is an Intel Ethernet Connection I219-LM adapter.

Thanks